Illuvium: The World's First "AAA" Crypto Video Game

[@RavioliGuacamoli]

I worked on Illuvium, here's some info that can help understand the absolute state of this... thing. (I obviously created a new account lol) To understand this (bad) game you need to understand that the 3 Warwick brothers have a massively inflated ego. Like massively massively. I think they genuinely believe that they can pull it off, and make the first AAAAAAA game(s) in history, even if they have no prior knowledge on how to do a very simple game. Grant was posing as a mystery developer who invented a groundbreaking shader on the dev workspace. Kieran often talked about the inevitable Netflix documentary that would be produced about Illuvium. Aaron really think he has written the next Star Wars but like, better. They really really see themselves as geniuses, busy inventing the future of video-games. This leads to obvious problems, like Grant leaving the game because his massive ego conflicted with Kieran's. Apparently, the two brothers hate each other's guts. It seems that having spicy unsolved family issues doesn't help making a bazillion dollars project. Who could have guessed ? Other consequences range from firing a whole part of the team on a whim, changing core gameplay elements after Palworld released (lol that was something to witness), a lack of vision, etc. More importantly, this led them to overlook the ideas of the people they hire. IMHO this is the main reason the game is in this state. Why would they listen to anyone ? They are geniuses ! On one side, the devs do not have any incentive to criticize the bosses' shitty ideas. They are well compensated, and for a lot of them, Illuvium has been a shelter from the many layoffs that happened in the game industry over the recent years. Getting into an argument with one of the brothers could lead to a layoff so the devs shut up, and implement whatever stupid idea comes out of the brain of these millionaire manchilds. The paradox is that a lot of devs are actually very good at what they do. That's why the game is neon-purple (Grant's idea), that's why there is three games instead of just one (iirc, Kieran wanted a NFT thing first, Aaron wanted to make his own TFT, and Grant wanted an openworld RPG), that's why it drains that crazy amount of money : no vision, no experience, every competent dev is too busy playing the Emperor new clothes make-believe. (To be honest, some of them do believe the Warwick's bullshit. ) I really really think that the brothers are the main consequence of this disaster. With that crazy amount of money, you really need to be amazingly bad, amazingly unqualified to make that poor excuse of a game. But the devs have their salaries and the Warwick brothers will end up richer than they were in the first place. Everybody wins... except, of course, the poor people who genuinely believed that it would be a sound investment. And you know what ? It probably won't stop there. They are very very good at getting funds from investors. The company is in Dubai now, and there's probably a few corporate suckers who will fall for it. They might pour a few more millions into the development of this glorified slot machine. But one thing is sure : it will never be a good game.

[@jauwn]

Interesting story; thanks for sharing. This matches up with the stories shared to me by other ex and current Illuvium employees. One thing i never asked though; is everyone actually on payroll, or is it all just contracted / outsourced work?

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

So it only ever has to look good for presentations and even then not that good, just enough to fool nepobabies that never played a video game in their whole lives... fascinating, well at least its good to know that game devs are getting sheltered from the current ruckus. What do you think would be the endgame of this situation?

[@RavioliGuacamoli]

@@jauwn most of the people I know are / were on contracts, through platforms like Deel for example. Some of them are paid in USDC, with bonuses in ILV...

[@AlonsoDalton]

Mind expanding on that Palworld point? Did they change mechanics to mimic Palworld or change mechanics to try and differentiate themselves from it? I'd be interested to hear more in either scenario.

[@NyanGamedev]

As a gamedev struggling to make a living, this is infuriating to read, this industry is rotten

[@chair5805]

Anybody who says this game is fire is referring to the fire it starts as it mines bitcoin on their setup.

[@LOUamber-n9l]

Those are bots reply

[@EphemeralTao]

I've played some very poorly optimized games before, but how do you get performance that low unless there's something else going on in the background? Gotta wonder how many of these are running miners underneath.

[@replikvltyoutube3727]

Kinda reminds FireFall

[@LegendWolfA]

The game is literally fire. It doesn't just burn your wallet it burns your computer

[@vaikjsf34a]

@@EphemeralTao Very high chances that this is the case. It would be difficult to differentiate between legitimate GPU work and miner GPU work. The only problem with this idea is the game eventually will need the GPU that the miner is using, so they will hit a ceiling where they can no longer improve gfx or performance due to the miner running.

[@neutralnarwhal8184]

Why would I try any of these "play-to-earn" "games" when TF2's hat-based economy is right there?

[@DepthVorpa]

Exactly. I lost money on TF2 due to hats, but given some proper trading I might actually make a profit. At least the TF2 economy is less unstable

[@JeanneHamada]

Funny thing was, TF2 economy works since some of the hats and items in the game actually have market value that you can use to buy other games or items outside of TF2 itself.

[@helloofthebeach]

The entire time, I was thinking about TF2,. but the reason they can't follow that model is because tech investors demand immediate returns, even at the expense of long term investment, which is the only way to do what TF2 did. It was _years_ before you could sell hats for money, and the patience required to intentionally build something like that doesn't exist. On the other hand, the only passive income created by TF2 is actually from the Steam marketplace as a whole, and not the game itself. The whole concept is fraudulent.

[@ithrowstuffinavideogame]

Or maybe CS2's skin economy

[@Ametisti]

Yeah! I got pretty lucky, cuz I think if I sold off my hats I'd make a small profit, but only cuz I've not opened much, and got 1 Unusual hat. But I wanted to keep it :)

[@pikmin_79]

"This cost $60,000,000 to make" more like they spent $50 to make the game then pocketed the rest

[@daemoniaque6640]

- Offices $7 000 - Salaries $63 000 - Coffee machine $50 - Power $50 000 -CEO yearly bonus $59 869 950 Someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. My game company is dying.

[@pikmin_79]

@@daemoniaque6640 Give the employees a pizza party

[@snakewithapen5489]

​@@daemoniaque6640 damn that really puts into perspective how big a million dollars is

[@cubee4108]

@@daemoniaque6640 coffe is coffee but worse

[@PijanTheDrunk]

@@daemoniaque6640 spend less on candles

[@TewgyTaylor]

Quite frankly the second opinion section was a stroke of genius. Seeing someone's first exposure to crypto games is not only funny, but also shows the fundamental flaw of these types of games; they just don't actually appeal to anyone who isn't a bag holder.

[@TaCo0oCaT]

The web 2 gamer was obviously biased against the game since he didn’t invest in it

[@raffiihzazuhairnawan2091]

@@TaCo0oCaT well, needing to invest money to play web3 games makes people biased too. They want the system to succeed so that the invested money gets them a bigger profit. It's just like stocks or investments or even gambling in general, you want to win the money. You have to be positive or else letting go of that investment will only be the route.

[@TaCo0oCaT]

@@raffiihzazuhairnawan2091 Oh, sorry. I was being ironic. But I guess some people really do think like this without recognizing their inherent bias

[@raffiihzazuhairnawan2091]

@@TaCo0oCaT no no, I'm the one who should say sorry. I had a thought that your comment was most likely a sarcasm. But the amounts of people actually having those thoughts who come to these kinds of videos are not little, so I took the gamble and thought that it would be okay even if it was sarcasm. So really, I'm sorry 😅

[@TaCo0oCaT]

@@raffiihzazuhairnawan2091 all good my friend! If I was actually genuine I would've appreciated such kind and thoughtful response

[@punishedbung4902]

60 million dollars is an obscene amount of money. That’s 1,563 Hollow Knights. That’s 131 Nine Sols. That’s 3,638 Lisa the Painfuls. That’s 1,173 Undertales. That’s 150 Omoris. That’s 192 Shovel Knights. I can go on.

[@idontevenknow9758]

And 30 a month is insane. World of Warcraft is $40 every 3-4 months with classic and regular included, so just over 10 a month. Almost all the mmos I try never go over $15-20 at the most extreme.

[@GameZeitung]

Absolutely true... but do you know how much skull bones has costed?? way more than 60 millions and we have... yeah, a ps2 title... and after more than 10 years of development XD

[@timmyman9677]

60 Million won't bring Silksong any closer to release.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

@@timmyman9677 Silksong don't need money, it needs some chrono mage to pack 10-15 years into one year (and cast buff on devs to not burn out while they creating everything they decided to according to their insanely overgrown ambitions, damn that's a very well known feeling to me) This is like one of few actual advantages of having publisher - it can send person who will look at your overly ambitious plans and tell you to fucking cut this this up and just complete and polish what you have already. Some creators needs this.

[@humanbean3]

@@GameZeitung wasnt skull and bones a game that they scrapped from one team but then brought back and tried to salvage with another or something? im pretty sure it wasn't one continuous project. i'm not a big fan of ubisoft but they do make playable games. nothing groundbreaking or inspired but very playable.

[@Boomer04888]

I like how the grass renders about 3 feet around your character, it almost looks like a game mechanic or something that should have a lore reason for it. "Everywhere you walk, as your feet touch the ground it inspires blades of grass to spontaneously emerge from the otherwise flat green texture of ground". Edit: Apprently, some people don't realize this comment was made sarcstically. I don't in fact like that the engine is incapable of rendering grass further than 3 feet away.

[@tinfoilslacks3750]

@@Boomer04888 bro just go play Okami

[@aitoluxd]

​@@tinfoilslacks3750 why?

[@Sorrelhas]

​@@aitoluxdIt has the thing OP describes except it is a good game

[@novataco5412]

They also immediately die as soon as you walk away 😭💔

[@kelvariw]

Nah, crafting lore to justify design limitations is too much of a "real dev" thing for these crypto apes. But... play to earn!!!

[@QuintusCunctator]

The last point about the Illuvium player base trying to find ways to convince other players joining in the "fun" to recoup some of their losses should be eye-opening. It's multi-level marketing with a new coat of paint: the founders are the only ones netting a gain, all the others are left scrambling for breadcrumbs. It's a dog-eats-dog proposition, and as you've well explained, a zero-sum game. Of course, thanks for the video, Jauwn! As always, much appreciated.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

Ponzi schemes at its best, or i have to say at its worst. When robbed people not attacking their robbers but trying to spread their lies in hope of return money by robbing others, fresh people

[@enskje]

Crypto currency and NFTs are the textbook example of a pyramid scheme. WIthout new buyers on the marked, the digital goods lose their value. It's a wonder they're allowed to exist in the first place.

[@philbecker6837]

My favourite marketing tactic so far has to be "hey we are the first game in this category... that we invented... and put ourselves in."

[@WholeSomeHomie]

well to be first you kinda have to invent it.... i don't think bro thought before typing

[@yarigumo8798]

@@WholeSomeHomie Probably didn't do the best job of making their point if you don't seem to get it, but what they mean is, instead of doing something innovative and starting a new category, they instead arbitrarily make a new category that will make them sound more special and unique than they are.

[@littleroott8]

“finally! a game for people without glasses!” had me cackling. loved the brother feature

[@ericlamb4501]

As a mandatory glasses wearer, he ain't wrong

[@harkonar4093]

forgetting to wear glasses after waking up and looking at oneself in the mirror be like:

[@embasorangiratina36]

So true. Finally I can expreince the inconvenience of not having my glasses from the comfort of my desk.

[@Cuestrupaster]

"I've never played a crypto game before, but if they're all like this I don't want ever play them anymore..." ~No no no, you don't understand... they aren't all like this one... this is the best one of them all...

[@AtticusKarpenter]

At least best one of those that aren't full rip offs of obscure freeware games

[@PointsofData]

It's ~ ✨️ not like other crypto games ✨️ ~

[@arkanine8076]

I dip my hands in those NFT games a few years ago, and sadly, you might be right... A *lot* of them are just barely-concealed minimum-effort cash grabs, with barely any compelling gameplay or graphics, much less story. Even some obscure freeware games these days have more soul put into them. The only one I know of that's IMO somewhat decent is that one Ni no Kuni game, and even then I think it's partially due to the IP.

[@yinitialize4930]

no, bigtime and parallel are better

[@brendenlyske59]

Free to Play games MUST be enjoyable for a non paying audience. That's not just an ethical statement, it's good business. You simply cannot build a sustainable business in the free to play market if you expect the median player to pay $30 a month in order to get the "full experience" of your main product. That, coupled with the fact that 99% of gamers can't even run the game because of overdone graphics and poor optimization tells me that these guys have no business getting millions in funding. They don't know the basics of operating a business in the games industry

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yup. I've send money in a couple f2p games. Some of them even mobile games. But only those that I genuinely enjoy playing for free. Because the devs are creating and developing this fun and fair game and want nothing in return.

[@Saymaven]

"World's first 'AAA' crypto video game" -literally every NFT game 😂

[@Pablo360able]

nft bros churning out first aaa crypto video games like disney churns out first gay characters

[@TheWoodenshark]

AAA budget - ☑ Pump and dump - ☑ Founders got rich - ☑ Cashgrab quality - ☑ Unsustainable money pit - ☑ Bagholders rekt - ☑ Fun - ❌ Yep, sounds like a successfull NFT game 💰💰💰

[@joshuarussell2052]

Shatterline is next unfortunately

[@planescaped]

I like how the goal of all cryptocurrency is to just convert it into real money. Almost as if the stuff is a useless joke and its value is entirely artificial.... nahh.... It's the future!

[@lenapoolaw211]

@TheWoodenshark Honestly. Sounds like today's Triple AAA checklist too, without the nft 😭

[@yaboye3791]

Here before the cryptobros and thier incessent insistence that thier preffered scam is actually a legit investment opportunity

[@pinkberd4232]

@@yaboye3791 It'll get better bro just wait for the heat death of the universe trust me bro, trust me

[@handsomeboi3767]

I'm pretty sure shitcoins are already known by "da cryptobros" but people still do fall for them even after the countless examples of shitcoins being the ol' pump & dump.

[@CuteAnimeGirl]

Pretty much everything except bitcoin is a shitcoin, and even bitcoin is not performing as well as it really should. I got into bitcoin back in 2014 and it's paid off, but it's all about getting in early and selling during peaks and buying when the price collapses and repeating.

[@ngawur-nc4ks]

@@handsomeboi3767 theres no way theyre actually named shitcoins lmaoaoao

[@antondovydaitis2261]

But if I can sell my 💩🪙 before the price drops, I can make profit!

[@Rynobii]

The genre change is like picking up the revolver at the beginning of ultrakill and instantly starting a chess match

[@MinosPrimeGaming]

Funfact: Ultrakill has chess.

[@CutmanDrawz]

One of my friends actually had a dream where Gabriel had a phase 2 and started playing Chess with you for some reason

[@BetaDude40]

This would actually go so hard though

[@PijanTheDrunk]

Dailys are usually a thing to extend the replayability of game you've finished. Having them be the main thing to do after finishing a tutorial is pretty funny.

[@migueeeelet]

If done well, dailies can help guide a new player to your usual gameplay loops. The issue with aimless dailies isn't in the dailies themselves, but in the rest of the game not offering anything else to do.

[@herby190]

It’s such a shallow impression of a game

[@blargblarg-jargon9607]

it's because the game is in beta.

[@ajeenius7437]

@@blargblarg-jargon9607 It's not unless Illuvium are also clueless as to what a beta entails. It's supposed to be feature complete with only polishing and bugfixing before launch. So your masters are either dishonest or incompetent. Which one do you choose?

[@blargblarg-jargon9607]

@@ajeenius7437 i don't know who you think i am but i played the game and it was fun and bug free, the game is free AND a confirmed airdrop of their coin. i want people to earn free money, don't YOU like free money? honestly i'm beginning to think people like you are just calling the kettle black at this point

[@CheesyX2]

The fact that they use the Unreal Engine default font on some signs (which takes seconds to change) and that they use the cheapest "Advanced Locomotion System" from Epics Store to move their characters in a game that "supposedly" cost 60.000.000 bucks to make, says everything about the game. Thats not even considering that this looks like an old unity engine school project while running in Unreal Engine 5. Also i dare to say it but most of the ground clutter in the overworld and the cliff meshes look like they are straight ripped out from Fortnite. The grass, the flowers, the water, the cliffs, waaay too much stuff looks exactly like Fortnite and these are coincidentially the only parts of the game that look somewhat presentable. This would also explain the bad optimization in this game because it's assets are most likely just thrown together randomly. Even the fact that the grass grows mere meters in front of you is just laughable. UE5 can render grass for miles and with millions of foliage instances with little performance loss (if done correctly of course). Someone should really nvestigate if this is not a massive asset flip of a bunch of stolen/ripped assets. I develop in UE4 and UE5 for many years now and i can pretty much tell from even a still image what goes on behind the scenes and this looks all like stolen and hastily thrown together artwork from other places. Nothing is coherent and nothing looks like it belongs in this game or in it's world. The character skeletons don't even line up with the animations from the cheap Advanced Locomotion System as they have just been retargeted to a different skeleton without any care in the world (this is the reason why the animations look so goofy, because they were meant for the default UE5 mannequin skeleton). The lip-syncs are off because they are pre-canned animations for sure. I can almost certainly assure you that they don't have the technical knowledge to setup their face rigs correctly to use UE5's face animation systems. The only thing in that game that really cost any kind of money is the CG cutscenes and the server infrastructure. Considering the quality of whats on display here, the rest of the game cost probably more around like 500k-1m if even that (because given what trash heap this game is in its beta state, this is a very generous assumption).

[@WakenWanangi]

It's cool to hear such a detailed critique from someone who really knows what they're talking about!

[@selectionn]

default unreal engine font gives me brain spasms its the mark of the beast when it comes to garbage games also stolen assets would make sense, I remember a long time ago some game had a stolen asset and the model has like a billion polygons or some shit, and made the game run like ass.

[@TheWeeky]

didnt catch that its ALS, thought it was lyra at first but ALS makes total sense too

[@antondovydaitis2261]

Thank you for your detailed perspective. It's been decades since I worked as a programmer, but I do enjoy hearing about modern tools.

[@jauwn]

www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/stylized-landscape-5-bioms-stylized-low-poly-forest-orasot-bundle I’m pretty sure all or most of the rock formations are just hue shifted rocks from this pack?

[@joshpatton757]

Using a gun to tag resources for an autonomous drone to harvest is somewhat cool. This concludes the "Pro" section of the review.

[@andrijamartic2403]

haha, my thoughts exactly

[@lasennui]

Please rope your brother into more of these in the future. His "wtf is happening" laughter was so infectious XD

[@jauwn]

i know right. Every time him and I play a game together we end up crying laughing

[@AntiVectorTV]

The UI seems polished, the environments are detailed if a bit generic, there didn't seem to be any game-breaking glitches, and this game actually has competent modeling and animations. Too bad they forgot to put an actual game in there.

[@Zorothegallade-gg7zg]

"It doesn't look that half-assed, they put at least a whole ass in the game" --The AVGN

[@Vitosi4ek1]

The first 10 minutes of the video SCREAMS "we started with a kick-ass intro cinematic and a tutorial, and then tacked on the actual game". So, entirely backwards from how games are supposed to be developed. Which seems to be a common problem with the few crypto games that actually deliver something - the carefully-handheld first 20-30 minutes of gameplay look decent, then once it's over the experience immediately falls apart.

[@sealeo5772]

All the stuff that can be copied or comes free with an unreal engine license is alright. But you can't buy a good game idea or developers who care.

[@aitoluxd]

Should've made it like Pokemon, at least it would be somewhat fun. Instead it's an amalgamation of different game modes/styles to squeeze as much "fait currency" out of players with the least amount of effort. 2/10

[@vaikjsf34a]

@@Zorothegallade-gg7zg kekw lel

[@Jackie777]

"finally, a game for people without glasses" - I like your brother, you should collab with him more often

[@3DGladiator]

The plan was probably never to release a real game. The “founders” and investors made a big profit 3 years ago, cashed out and are now are now trying to avoid legal problems by somehow developing the thing further. The poor artists and developers working on the game are certainly spread all over the globe, from India to Venezuela, trying to coordinate in weekly meetings, always with the fear of not getting paid at the end of the month. I can imagine that some of the monthly expenses go straight into the pockets of the management team. We all know that filling up your Aston Martin is not cheap.

[@NorthStarBlue1]

That's pretty much it. So long as they continue to put out the minimum viable product, the investors won't demand their money back.

[@TuriGamer]

You know they definitely misappropriated the money immediately posing for local news as millionaires on a yacht. Thats not your money dude you cant just take it 😂😂

[@DuckTheFinn]

I've seen their job listings on linkedin while looking for a job. There are too many crypto scam dev jobs in there, and I feel like nobody wants to touch those.

[@ozzie7075]

nah they're australian, they wouldn't get in legal trouble as long as they have money. they're only doing it so they don't get into trouble with the people so they can do it again later.

[@erock1447]

Where the heck did you get this info from? X?

[@ThunderChanter]

I love seeing the "IT's In BeTa GiVe It TiMe!" comments. No, if someone was gonna add uncracked eggs into cake batter I'd tell them "Thats not how you make that", not wait for them to finish and wonder why it didnt work. And thats being nice and calling this cash vacuum a game

[@AtticusKarpenter]

And they constantly fail to differentiate "Well thats a good concept but it need a LOT of polish, also that and such elements make no sense or ruin the rest of the game" (what could be said about ultimately good but flawed game that in early beta) from "this is asset flip vacuum of a game without interesting mechanics but hungry to suck all money from your pocket" (no fucking amount polish is help or needed, game development have to be restarted to make an actual game). It isn't the case that you can say "well, it could improve over time!" about any shitty game and thats it for any critique. There is concept of "room for improvement". Flawed games have it, perfect games and complete shit pretending to be a videogame - don't.

[@bum_sickle]

what happens when the battle royale drops? clearly you can't come back now???

[@Dargos_L]

I love the character builder. It's a very inclusive myopia experience

[@spookysugar]

The fact that both of them, completely unprompted and without previous communication, came up with thicc oompa loompa absolute units

[@ippo4502]

"Still in beta, as all crypto games are" probably my favorite quote of the video

[@arcananetworks1451]

@ippo4502 Dota was beta for 10 years if is still not. And earned millions also gave millions to esport. So what

[@ajeenius7437]

@@arcananetworks1451 That would be a good point if it weren't for this video showing that Illuvium is practically not even a game, unlike DOTA.

[@el10leo]

He says that almost every video.

[@blargblarg-jargon9607]

@@ajeenius7437 ah, there he is. another case of calling the kettle black, eh goy?

[@_smalles]

To be fair, its normal for AAA titles to have a long development cycle. Good games take years to make. You can't expect a finished AAA crypto title yet, the sector is just too young. But games like Off the Grid or Shrapnel are very enjoyable, even in Early Beta.

[@caseyhurlburt3561]

You are one of those creators you come along and binge their entire catalog in 3 days and then just hate yourself for not making it last longer.. I wish you had like 200 more videos.. I would watch them all.

[@jauwn]

Yeah, only a year's worth of videos, I'm still new!

[@joshrodgers9366]

Every time I hear about one of these NFT games I think I lose a small amount of my integrity and slowly come closer to my own crypto rug pull scam.

[@therealdoc]

There's only so many stupid people you can scam. Then again, boomers still glaze WoW when it gets a new expac after dogpiling it for the past 2 decades.

[@EphemeralTao]

It's an awfully tempting scenario, knowing how the crypto-bro psychology works.

[@dimwarlock]

right? you just need to sell digital snake oil to become rich and there's zero consequences. I could provide for my extended family indefinitely and retire at 35... sigh...

[@3oI8kinG]

just had the same taught while watching this video

[@teehee781]

@@joshrodgers9366 Right?? I always thought about this. It seems so easy and all you'd really have to say to refute concerns is "FUD".

[@viligerm6592]

Man......Only if investors gave 120Mil to indie devs

[@Ahnkitomi]

Dan Olsen speculated that one reason people splash more cash around for 'projects' in the crypto space comes down to them unconsciously having to mentally compartmentalize it as unreal funny money, because otherwise the volatility would drive them 'round the bend. I wonder if that's an element here as well, alongside the usual vaporware problem with gullible vcs

[@JuneTheFay]

Doubt it, since so called "Indie Devs" have scammed a lot of money in the past too. These fuckers ruined it for everyone else. Now, the true gems are just gonna seem too good to be true.

[@dimwarlock]

A lot of fake indie devs have also get a lot of money and delivered projects worse than this, just remember Dream World or Chronicles of Elyria. Believe me, as an artist myself I wouldn't ask for a massive budget to fund my project, I'm working at a factory and saving the money to get tools and working on my projects on my free time because I love to do it, not because I want to be recognized as The Best (TM) or earn tons of money, that's just not how indie devs/true artists work.

[@selectionn]

at least we have publishers live devolver, and newer ones like that dunkey guys publishing group, and that new one from the amogus people. honestly we should be grateful for what we have. in an alternate timeline all of these indie games we love dont exist, and the people who made them were hired by ubisoft to make far cry 9. There's also kickstarter, so we can do the job ourselves. a few good games have come from that. Also consider these investors only care about making money. If the corporations who invested in crypto games invested in say, vampire survivors or terraria, we would be paying 4.99 to get the battle pass premium track so we can get a batman or nicki minaj skin for our characters

[@ryngobrody1627]

Indie devs have only a slightly better track record than crypto games, unfortunately

[@fy8798]

If the funds for this game had gone to 50 indie studios, we'd likely now have 50 awesome games, many with sequels underway and active fanbases.

[@tonetraveler992]

That bit at the end you said about how mentally draining the charts are and the relief you feel when you finally just exit hits very close to home. I wish my younger self could've heard that.

[@jauwn]

Same. That's why I felt like it was worth including that little rant. If it helps just one person, then I think it was worth wasting everyone else's time

[@novelezra]

"30 dollars a month" OK, so I've now put 16 days of playtime into Final Fantasy XIV. It's my first true MMO experience and it costs 15 dollars a month (£8.99 for myself). People call these games theme parks and they absolutely are. From doing the thrill rides (the raids, high difficulty bosses etc) all the way to eating at the restaurant at night (hanging out with friends at the Casino and playing mini games. Oh and this casino isn't real money, so it's not even exploitative). That's not even to mention that the game has a fully featured single player story mode. To say the game is huge would be an understatement. The amount of social features at your control is outstanding and the game caters to basically every kind of player. From sweaty hardcore play to casual 'play a few hours after work with friends' stuff. The game has a free trial and even though I play with a sub fee, I can say that it absolutely feels worth it because you can't get this kind of experience from other games. Even many modern games don't feel "alive" like XIV does. So to say that players should be spending 30 dollars a month on a creature collecting game with less features than the average free to play Pokémon game and has an artstyle that basically boils down to "just add purple" is criminal. But does it matter? This isn't a game. It's an investment opportunity. Jauwn is trying his best to view this as a game and good on him - considering deep down he knows in his heart that trying to review this is like trying to review an AI start up. It doesn't exist to have an actual usecase. It exists to gain venture capitalist dollars. It's basically a Ponzi scheme but they can't be taken to court because technically a product exists. It's just that it's dogshit.

[@SypherKyaeon]

It's amazing how many times during videos about crypto games where I've just been like, "Just go play XIV. No, seriously, just go play XIV."

[@novelezra]

@@SypherKyaeon XIV has to create a compelling world and content because otherwise you will stop playing and they won't make money. Crypto games don't need to do that because they offer YOU the opportunity to make money. So theres no reason for these companies to ever make a good 'theme park'. Imagine going to Universal Studios but instead of going on the rides, you just worked there. Yes, you are earning money. It's called a job

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

“It’s not a real casino so it’s not exploitative” Paying 15 dollars a month is the exploitation. That’s over a hundred dollars a year to play a game 😂 you’re getting straight robbed.

[@keneor4468]

@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 What OP meant by this is the in game "Casino" is a leisure place with ton of free activities that don't involve real money, you are not spending all of your playtime there or expecting to earn anything from it enabling bad behavior. You do not pay Square Enix 15 bucks a month just to acess that one specific part of the game.

[@novelezra]

@@misanthropicservitorofmars2116 OK? As long as I enjoy my time with it, how is that being robbed? I buy cheap games, I buy expensive games. I played games on itchio that cost nothing that I've loved and I've spent money on a weeks holiday abroad that's cost 600 pounds. It's all about what you think is worth the price for the time that you enjoy. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldnt be paying. I'd stop paying and play something else. The problem with Illuvium is that they don't care about making something that you want to play, they want you to pay to play it under the prospect that you may make money. I never expect XIV to give me a monetary return on investment, but I don't expect that with anything. I mean fuck, I've paid 40 pounds to see My Bloody Valentine in concert. It only last 3 hours but did I love my time with it? Yes. Do I expect money back? No. That's when the scam comes in. When the argument is "it doesn't matter if the game sucks because you can make money." I don't care about making money. I care about the experience.

[@vewyscawymonsta]

"It's a hyper-optimized syphon from the wallets of the players to the pockets of the developers" Well, they got at least one part of "AAA" right lol

[@Hisnitch]

That whole bit about them expecting people to spend 30 dollars month, just for a chance to progress even slightly, reminds me of the super old mobile games that were coming out on the first really powerful mobile devices where the game was functionally free to play, but after a certain point, they expected you to cough up 20 bucks just to reach the next progression tier. And because the game was obviously constructed in a way that it becomes a payment trap, you could be spending up to 50 dollars, if even that, just to do barebones progression. And if you didn't pay up? Then your progress was stalled across months. Ironically enough, that actually makes those games less scummy (by faint praise) then this game, as they don't completely hamstrung your progression when you do finally pay up. Of course, they want to still keep paying the toll road in order to keep going, but at least there isn't an almost coin flip chance that they just won't let you access to the toll road again and again.

[@robertschnobert9090]

How did you get the star next to your name? 🌈

[@jeffdeadman2370]

@@robertschnobert9090 theyre a member of this channel

[@jauwn]

@@robertschnobert9090they pay me

[@hoangminhnguyen5035]

Is that a MP5 pfp?

[@JuryDutySummons]

@jauwn better investment then this game lol

[@IllyasArt]

Jauwn: Imagine a bucket. Me: Dear God...

[@NeroEsoteric]

@@IllyasArt there's more.

[@stonnacc]

@@NeroEsoteric No...

[@BSJinx]

@@stonnacc It contains a bucket.

[@Rockman9830]

@@BSJinx Dear god...

[@thelongestpage7555]

@@Rockman9830 There's more.

[@marsriver]

illuvium partnering with gamestop is like trying to use sinking rowboats to hold up the titanic

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

If we had known how gamestop ended up, they would've been short squeezed to deatth

[@garretthopkins7035]

“Why is his health bar going UP?!” was such a genuine statement. The bar direction makes sense when it’s like.. “progress to capture state” but the tutorial does make it seem like a “shoot this to defeat it” which intuitively requires a different bar.

[@blargblarg-jargon9607]

"DIFFERENT GAME MECHANICS ARE SCARY" the comment does the wind changing frighten you? hahahahaaaaa

[@Elvalley]

@@blargblarg-jargon9607 it's not the mechanics, but the representation, and the explanation, which create a dissonance with the experience. Sheesh, cope some more.

[@PointsofData]

​@@Elvalley If you look at that accounts comment history they call people re-arded and broke and a Jewish slur, don't pay them any heed. Probably a bagholder tbh.

[@blargblarg-jargon9607]

play free game. give devs money to play more in depth if you like it. point stands, calling out morons for being morons and every one of them starts seething.

[@Nevernamed]

@@blargblarg-jargon9607 Adding "hahahahaaaaa" to your message definitely reinforces the idea that you are a stable and well rounded individual with no underlying anger or disorders.

[@puzza0]

The last part was important. There are a lot of gambling addicts being taken advantage of here. These "devs" should be ashamed.

[@lilwyvern4]

To feel shame, they need to be capable of feeling empathy. Sociopaths are incapable of that.

[@puzza0]

​@@lilwyvern4 Nah, antisocial personality disorder is an actual condition which can be diagnosed and managed. Saying that these guys are sociopaths is almost giving them a pass imo, because ASPD is pathological, lifelong, and not a choice. These drongos are statistically more likely to be greedy businesspeople whose egos have been inflated by this trash pile of a market. They probably can feel empathy. But they've justified this garbage anyway... which is way more obscene. 🤮 But that's just semantics ig. Regardless, I agree that they suck. I'm just glad channels like this are calling it out.

[@liastaob]

@@lilwyvern4 I mean... that's every casino ever, and every backroom bookie. You can add liquor stores and payday loan businesses. They can't all be sociopaths, can they? 😢

[@generalsynnacle23]

Shame is useless compared to a class action lawsuit.

[@ettaetta439]

​​​@@puzza0thank you for calling that out. I hate how normalized it's become to demonize people with narcissistic personality disorder and ASPD. That's a real diagnosis that is given to people. You can call someone a shitty person without trying to label them with a stigmatized diagnosis. Abusers and horrible people come in all shapes and sizes, not just in one or two mental diagnoses.

[@bipolarminddroppings]

This is the first crypto game I've seen that actually looks like a videogame and where the devs haven't just taken the money and ran, so props for that, I suppose. But the game itself is as if someone born in the 1930's had described what a videogame is to an alien and then that alien went and made a videogame.

[@Trelauter]

I have a theory that the over saturation of colours in crypto or nft games is to attract younger audiences that play games like Fortnite or fall guys. Which wouldn't be a bad thing if the games weren't about constantly gambling with real money.

[@infiniteraide1642]

The problem with that is that the game needs to be able to run well in computers that are very common with the youth. As you can see in the video, they failed, hard.

[@wolfetteplays8894]

There's nothing immoral bout childhood gambling. Used to make bets with my mates all the time.

[@MollyHJohns]

@@wolfetteplays8894 with real money? Kids actually gamble with their pocket money like it's normal?

[@joshuahaskell2165]

​@@wolfetteplays8894I did it so it MUST be okay

[@M50A1]

​@@wolfetteplays8894clearly not true considering how you turned out

[@Malao558]

I can see how this did so well with venture capitalists. They actually put some effort in on the production end and the game is graphically very pretty. I can see how some empty suit could believe this is the future.

[@pyramear5414]

Screenshots over substance.

[@helloofthebeach]

You're giving venture capitalists too much credit. They're not like us investing in a Kickstarter (except bigger). They didn't even see a game when they looked at this. They only saw the word salad at 1:48 and said "hell yeah".

[@Graknorke]

​@@helloofthebeach "thirty dollars a month? sounds good let's go"

[@fish2759]

The one nice thing I can say is that I noticed a few creature designs that I unironically like, but there is no way I’d suffer through this gameplay loop to get them.

[@dfmcguck]

"Illuvium is as much Pokemon as fingering your ass is picking your nose" is exactly the sort biting, technically complex analysis I come to this channel for. keep up the great work

[@some-replies]

I guess they both smell!

[@catscanhavelittleasalami]

and only one of those scenarios feel good

[@ettaetta439]

​@@catscanhavelittleasalamiwhich one are you referring to? Genuinely curious. Because picking out a booger that was uncomfortably sticking to your nose can incite a feeling of pure relief, and relief generally feels good. Unless you mean anal, in which case I'm not sure a lot of gay men would agree with you.

[@DemonicAkumi]

I was going to say "Imagine a Pokémon game where it costs you to throw balls at a legendary that refuse to stay in the balls and the balls cost money." Then I remember that GO is a thing. While yes, you can get free of them at stops or whatever, that doesn't guarantee a catch.

[@zerotimeleft]

I'd recommend discarding pokeballs altogether

[@orcashamudeluxeu567]

In defense of Pokemon Go it's whole thing is being free and actually walking around. It's a shell of it's former glory, but I think a good portion of the world has fond memories of encountering rare pokemon on a walk.

[@Vanilla_Dpad]

@DemonicAkumi sure but a catch isn't guaranteed in the main line games either? The game throws so many balls at you just for playing that they're my go-to thing to bin when I need more inventory space. I don't understand how you seem to struggle to have enough.

[@george_denbrough]

@@orcashamudeluxeu567 I totally have fond memories of herds of people blocking traffic because a goddamn Squirtle spawned across the street

[@DemonicAkumi]

@@Vanilla_Dpad The difference though with the main games and GO is there's no way possible to spend real money on extra Poké Balls in them. Same way you can't compare a Scape Doll in Phantasy Star Online and Universe with a Scape Doll in Phantasy Star Online 2. In-game currency is one way you can buy a scape doll rarely or as a rare drop in a mission in PSO and PSU. The only way to get a Scape Doll in PSO2 is real money and no way else.

[@sapphicaxolotl]

So I am a professional AAA gamedev (yeah tomato tomato), and I’m absolutely losing it at their 200 dev number. That’s bigger than the team that made the Mass Effect games? That’s bigger then my current team?? What are these people doing all day, I could make their overworld mode in like a week by myself.

[@3DGladiator]

200 is just a random number. I'm pretty sure the 'team' is almost none existent. Like you've already guessed, I bet that it was a one-man or max two-man show on the development front so far.

[@macaronitony93]

i love your "phones down, eyes up" intro but now i cant see your video :(

[@jauwn]

It's a life philosophy not instructions for viewing

[@ItzYell0w33]

@@jauwn i love your “phones down, eyes up” philosophy but now i can’t video call and text my grandma :(

[@Numbabu]

@@jauwnI followed the instructions you set for viewing but now I only have audio, how do I fix this?

[@jauwn]

Haha i know you're joking but it's really just a message to say; hey, shut off the social media and start doing shit

[@BlisaBLisa]

@@jauwn way more of a power move for it to be instructions for viewing though

[@friendlyspacedragon7250]

Man, paying what is effectively a 30 dollar subscription to have "fun" in a bad game sure sounds so much better than what the boring old web 2.0 games have to offer.

[@dimwarlock]

I like to compare this super expensive experiences to the days were artists used to make fun and quick flash games for free to play for free on browser... ah... the days of the old internet.

[@Farticuss]

If I play a game and don't end up in a fight with my wife about the household finances, am I really having fun?

[@Qobp]

@@Farticuss Your wife hasn't divorced you yet? Smh my head, typical casual cryptogamer...

[@manelneedsaname1773]

If you have me 30 dollars a month to buy games I wouldn't be able to use them all, so idk how they expect someone to spend that much to just have fun

[@allennewhausen2541]

@@manelneedsaname1773 Oh, they *expect* people to spend at least an order of magnitude more than that. I'd bet they'd merely be *mildly tolerating* players who "only" spend $30/month until they get addicted enough to add another zero or two to that number.

[@MopeyFand]

Lol. Your brother is the most brother sounding brother that I've ever heard.

[@overlordpichu5577]

i like purple but man, they really layered it on thick with this game huh.

[@obscillesk]

Yea, I feel like the Covenant in Halo are about the max amount of purple you can have without going overboard (though they also use darker tones)

[@ontoverse]

I also like thicc purple but man ;) Jokes aside, it also seems like they've used the same mo-cap as performed by a female for all characters.

[@ridhosamudro2199]

@@overlordpichu5577 bros tryna be the saints

[@LonelyGamer4]

Man behind the slaughter

[@AtticusKarpenter]

Good things have to come in good measure, temperance is a (almost forgotten) virtue

[@JeanneHamada]

I'm starting to think that cryptobros are the type of people who would've download those fake mobile games voluntarily

[@internalizedhappyness9774]

Fr Fr ✨💯✨

[@chucklesdeclown8819]

at least those had games attached to them.

[@SeraphimKnight]

It's crazy that to think that of any crypto game jauwn has covered this is probably the most "video game" out of all of them. It still looks, runs and plays like a semester project that a college student did for his extra credits game dev class though, so this says a lot about the current and future state of crypto games.

[@bluejay43]

I love how every suggestion for how to get new players is: "let's do this scam" "no, we should do this scam instead" "actually, we should make the game more expensive AND worse to play; that'll get them flooding in!"

[@Pigmedog]

>hyped up release, massive budget for trailers, immense disappointment of a game you're right, it really is AAA! lmao

[@chucklesdeclown8819]

good one XD

[@joripien]

I have seen very few strings of words in my life that spark more instant nausea than 'AAA crypto video game'

[@IstasPumaNevada]

"How much capital did you raise for your game?" "About the third of the budget of Grand Theft Auto V!" "How much game did you make?" "Just enough that we hopefully probably can't get prosecuted maybe!"

[@RikkaCherri]

The 3 guys who came up with it look exactly like what I expect 3 crypto bros to look like

[@ARStudios2000]

I bet those PFPs aren't even real

[@blizzardblast101]

"crypto games are only half crypto - part of it's still a video game" Words of wisdom that no crypto game seems to standby.

[@ProjectXa3-1]

Impressive to hear this one actually get you a bit angry at how crap it is, and that ending speech really is important. This almost feels like an ending of some sort, we've finally hit the bottom and the point of all this, we've covered the heavy hitters and the impressive first impressions, it's all over and time for a nap. Also it was fun hearing you and your bro speak more relaxedly than your usual presentation cadence, a little peek behind the curtain, that's a nice treat for the long-time viewer.

[@bokodasu]

When he said "this is a single-player game" I was genuinely shocked, I just assumed it was another empty crypto game.

[@johnnywakeup5515]

Well he has to get footage so for a little while it is, "a single-player game".

[@NumbersCanBeFun]

Hello again Jauwn! The ending of this video is so perfect and not at all preachy. I mentioned before your videos are an inspiration to me. I used to spend hours staring at charts and wasting my time investing my hopes and dreams into nothing. Now I do my own content here on this platform and I started drawing 6 months ago. I never thought I would become an artist but now people are asking me if I they can hire me to draw stuff for them. It blows my mind that people actually love something I make for them. Think about all the opportunities I would have squandered if I continued to waste my life on pointless nonsense like GameStop.

[@dimarichmain]

>immutable passport >in a decentralised, free and anonymous ecosystem WHAT Imagine the irony of that. Tech bros went full circle.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

Its like free energy generator, work only if you put in batteries somewhere. Only alternative to rampant feast of scammers and hackers is centralised system with huge abilities to interfere and reverse any operations. Anything that libertarian can come up with to solve inherent and insufferable problems of "decentralised free anonymous ecosystems" is just worse version of what we already have in real life, cops, red tape government bureaucracy, all that things (that insanely frustrating, but they exist in such form not because of world conspiracy but because billions of people with their economic and law-related activities is insanely complex thing to operate, you can't ban centralisation and expect everything to work as previous but better and without red tape) And just to copy existing government systems is a success for a libertarian mind, what they usually come up with is just techno-feudalism, which is insanely funny and sad.

[@Simplebutsandy]

I'm here early, that means all the money I spend is GUARANTEED to give me a reward

[@vizthex]

real.

[@DSPsWifesBF]

Dude, you got me morbidly interested in the Illuvium community. You could do a series on this game/community. It bums me out that so many people invested in this and are now in shill mode hoping to get new players to spend.

[@jauwn]

@@DSPsWifesBF lol nice username

[@kongoubongo2970]

It baffles me how cryptobros seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what games are and why people play them. I've never seen a single crypto "game" that wasn't essentially just a shitty job in disguise, it's like they come from a planet were the concept of "fun" doesn't exist.

[@CodecrafterArtemis]

I mean, the entire shtick of crypto/NFT bros is "what if you could sell stuff or earn money while playing". And, for the majority of gamers, I don't think it's something they consider.

[@ARStudios2000]

Most likely because they're the types who scoffed at video gaming over the years and laughed at it. But when gaming hit mainstream and is now the most profitable entertainment medium, they immediately came rushing in, wanting a slice of the pie. These are not people with passion, love, or any creativity. They have no artistry.

[@VagineerHuur]

Those are the same type of people who want to monetize literally everything. They'd monetize the air we breathe if they could make money off of it.

[@timmyman9677]

I don't think they understand the value of a dollar either

[@timmyman9677]

@@CodecrafterArtemis Surely it's easier and far more profitable to make a new account on a popular game, run a bunch of scripts to automate the farming, then sell the account.

[@CoperliteConsumer]

"what if videogames were not fun, but instead work"

[@johnnywakeup5515]

No no, let's call it "Play-to-earn" instead.

[@unknowngod8221]

just work then btw i know this is joke but the response is just work literally work o outside or use your PC to do work please

[@filedotnix]

being convinced a dead planet is living is very much indicative of the current crypto landscape

[@Samsunaattori]

I was wiping my glasses clean when the character creation screen was shown on the video, and I swear the character model looked more sharp before I put my glasses back on

[@redjed100]

I saw your original video on this game just now, and lemme tell you, the reference to “The Day Before” as a “fake zombie game” in it is pretty surreal, especially in hindsight.

[@realdragon]

Fun fact: WoW subscription is 15$/month and it is an actual game

[@keythealien]

Ah, yes, the high-budget mobile game. Gameplay? No. Busywork to occupy you while it runs ten ads a second/mines crypto in the background? Yes. Thank you for another lovely review/essay, Jauwn; always look forward to see something from you✨ (Also just wanted to come back and say how delightful and funny it was to see your brother create a different font of the exact same character you made in the "took my glasses off" avatar creator)

[@jauwn]

Lmao we are extremely similar. He somehow had the same idea as me despite having never seen my gameplay or the character i created

[@nothingworks1881]

@@jauwn Your brother is secretly you in a different mustache, I knew it all along.

[@jauwn]

He can't grow facial hair so no mustache

[@nothingworks1881]

@@jauwn As we say in the business, no mustache is a different mustache!

[@MINIMAN10000]

The most insane thing they did was to have multiple currencies. If you aren't scared away from a week and a half just to put real world money into the game you now have to juggle getting the right currency. They are absolutely insane thinking they can get customers that way. It's not like entropia universe is thriving and at least they made every step of the way easy.

[@biffington]

Crypto. For people who dont trust banks but do trust people who can open the unreal 5 editor.

[@DarnTootn]

Hate how the first thing I noticed was the Fortnite sprinting animation lmao

[@KillerRabbit.mp3]

I noticed that too and I've only played Fortnite like once a few years ago

[@Jartran72]

They also stole almost all of the overworld from Fortnite. That is atlast what a ev working with Unreal engine 5 said in the comments. Apparantly thia is a huge asset flip.

[@Fight4ETH]

@@Jartran72 not even close, some people are so gullible. evert assets is custom I wastched them build them for the past 3 years

[@toye2640]

@@Fight4ETH build what for the last 3 years? This absolute bafoonery of a fucking game? Even mobile games are more interesting than this "game"

[@volgtonnen318]

@@Fight4ETH Bro, you've been had. They took your money and you're still defending them

[@commandercorl1544]

cryptocurrency "investors" seem to be in a state of anticipating a "final victory", all of them insist this is just a temporary loss, and their crypto of choice will one day rise again or whatever.

[@Vodraek]

Otherwise known as "cope"

[@unknowngod8221]

they coping they didn't invest in ai even then ai is really like nft now most of it use case are useless and at best just CEO trying to lower the cost even further even tho it doesn't even gains much profit in return and cost more because server to run those ai cost like million of dollar and more

[@AnymMusic]

Atp they might as well dump it all into bitcoin and say "aight, cya in 10 years"

[@L3X1N]

An apocalypse cult wearing a frayed tuxedo and a mask cobbled together from finance jargon and digital industry buzzwords.

[@LilyoftheLake14]

I think that the crypto bros comparing this to Pokémon aren't actually referring to any of the Nintendo consile titles. I'd bet money (say about $30/month) that they've only ever played Pokémon Go, so that's the specific game they're referring to. Especially since Pokémon Go has several similarities with Illuvium. For 1, the core gameplay of Illuvium is similar to Pokémon Go, in essence both are primarily about collecting resources (at Pokéstops in Pokémon Go) and then capturing Illuvium's creatures/Pokémon, rinse & repeat (plus Pokémon Go has gyms and other things to do). For 2, Both have Microtransactions like Pokémon Go you can run out and then buy more Pokéballs, you can buy eggs to hatch, buy lure, etc...

[@iceblaster1252]

God I hate crypto bros. ‘Play to earn you can’t lose’ like mate I don’t play video games to earn money.

[@LilyApus]

they don't want you to earn money, it's basically an MLM, they want you to THINK you're going to earn money

[@ScreebOnARoomba]

Exactly, video games are meant to be played for fun/entertainment, not as a second job.

[@handsomeboi3767]

don't hate "crypto bros" hate shitcoin's and the people who pull this shit. They hate them too and their usually not the people putting their money on such stupid shit but there are people who fall for such scams.

[@Farticuss]

I guess you just don't have a hustle grindset like me. If I'm not making money every waking (and sleeping) moment of my life, I experience existential dread and extreme diarrhoea.

[@user-fs9mv8px1y]

@@ScreebOnARoomba people who play wow/eve:

[@Narrator1]

Three questions. (1) Where are all those people who said that this game and the ILV token were going to "skyrocket"?🚀🤟To the moon, even? (2) What happened to the avatar character's big, bright, purple butt? That was the most memorable part of your first time playing this game! (3) WHERE DID THE ASS GO!?

[@jjoshaugh]

To Assgard!

[@xic777]

lmao so true!!!

[@Crixer234]

They sold the ass to buy more yacht fuel.

[@SuperLlama42]

0:38 "Normally I'm a fan of your work. You know, your entire channel shitting on crypto projects. But then you shat on MY favorite crypto project, how dare you"

[@WipZedKay]

So the document about trying to get new people into the game acknowledges that there isn't really any reason the play the game if you aren't invested... That's a good sign for the games longevity.

[@ARStudios2000]

At least they're honest about it

[@jumi9342]

GPU usage is probably 20% game and 80% mining in the background

[@NyanGamedev]

I wouldn't even be surprised it's actually what's happening...

[@GrayBeardFPS]

Sounds like ur gpu is running mining software in the background .. it problably has a hidden crypto miner running in the background. This should be illegal

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

Irritable Bowel Game

[@Maxo-bh5ni]

Loving that intro, man! The overlapping audio of dozens of tiktoks has been something that has stuck in my head, and seeing it realized is awesome.

[@jauwn]

Haha glad you liked it. It was actually harder than you'd think to make that; I used PyMovie and wrote a script that concatenates a full folder of video files

[@hazeltree7738]

While it was a good way to show the "Don't get stuck in your phone" thing it also felt _incredibly_ overwhelming and I hated it :'D I still watched the video, I just wish that specific part wasn't in there

[@jauwn]

Eh that's what I was going for, I wanted to make the viewer uncomfortable and overwhelmed to mimic the feeling of modern brain rotting short-form content.

[@Maxo-bh5ni]

@@jauwnexactly what i was thinking. What would happen if you had a human scroll for just 5 minutes, and then played back every single thing they watched all at the same time. It would be so uncomfortable, overwhelming, overstimulating, absolutely humbling for anyone unaware of the scale of the content they consume in such a short time period. As a concept, it’s intoxicating.

[@jauwn]

Late reply but that’s exactly how I made the intro. I scrolled for a minute and then saved every reel I saw, then layered them all at once

[@Neolith_]

Oh, cool, we have the same specs It's absurd how poorly these games are optimized considering their goal is to get as many people hooked in as possible.

[@starcola3035]

This game is nostalgic for me. It takes me back to my days playing F2P games on Kongregate that ran at seconds per frame on my family computer. It was a battle of legendary proportions trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out of a game while the game tried to squeeze every cent of money you had to offer (which for childhood me was, thankfully, $0).

[@EireProductions]

Is every crypto game DELIBERATELY unfun?

[@Argentum_Rex]

Given that cryptobros don't know what fun means, yes.

[@EphemeralTao]

It's because they're so brain-poisoned by the allure of get-rich-quick schemes that they've forgotten what fun is, and have mostly become a bunch of gambling addicts.

[@addtext1374]

effectively yes. These games tout themselves as being able to make a profit via playing the game, and the only way a person would be willing to pay for an item if it was either rare as shit, or excessively hard to get.

[@dimwarlock]

Desert Bus is the definition of deliberately unfun, it has been said by the creator and people still makes content and charity events around it. So crypto games are worse than games that were made to be boring.

[@3_character_minimum]

I think its a function not a bug, a way of finding the deficient ppl to be scammed. Like bad spelling in scam emails. Or supporting Cork in the GAa.

[@JustDatBoi]

I watched an Illuvium town hall type stream and it really was an echo chamber of fake positivity. It reminded me of DSP (DarkSydePhil) and his cult of fans (dentheads).

[@neppuneppu7892]

To those who insist on defending this game: Why? Don't say it's a damn beta.

[@Petrico94]

Remember when someone recommended charging players to get more ammo in the middle of a match? They worked for a real studio and just made a dumb comment of something half the office wasn't even considering, these crypto games took it seriously and filled a beta game with charges and resource farming to get as much money as possible before they have to make a real game. I also like the comparison to Pokemon, a full game that people know for being easy to get into and then seeing a broken cashgrab that corrupts every aspect of it, you can't even play without buying more fuel while Pokemon will at least give you the first dozen wild captures easy.

[@Aciarr]

wasnt it the activision ceo who said that?

[@dr.insignia7361]

@@Aciarr no that was the previous CEO or higher up at EA John Riccitiello. who also nearly killed the unity engine.

[@Tyomak-ov]

@@dr.insignia7361 Yeah I think the same guy who tried forcing developers of games, even free ones, to pay EA every time someone downloads, or even redownloads a game. Imagine making a really good game and EA does the whole "this game is free" and hundreds download it, and you don't get any profit, instead you must pay out simply because of this. The rich always wanting to find ways to get richer by fucking over the people that made them rich in the first place

[@dr.insignia7361]

@@Tyomak-ov most rich folk don’t have a an eye for the long term, just the now.

[@MinosPrimeGaming]

@@Tyomak-ov I think that was Unity

[@Ironman1o1]

You know what my standard for Crypto game is now to be good? "Dont be a Ponzi scam" Still at a 0% rate.

[@mauricioalvarezpino1818]

19:04 Gotta love that you're the only dislike

[@Pablo360able]

Maybe the Pokemon comparison is because it runs about as well as Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

[@ghoulchan7525]

At least scarvio didn't ask me to pay for the 0.02% chance of capturing a pokemon every time i want to catch a pokemon. You pay the admission fee of buying the game itself and it doesn't want more than that. Well unless you buy the DLC. Also it has a story you play through.

[@kira-dk2mx]

Still in beta, where it will remain for as long as humanly possible to farm as much money as possible from other crypto trash.

[@slowlylosingitaaaaaa]

I still don’t understand how these “games” have such enormous fucking budgets and yet can’t produce anything of quality. The only guess I can make is that most of the money was directly laundered to the founders leaving a small handful of money left for development. Like FFS actual AAA games have lower budgets than this pile of shit and they can come up with far better products

[@fuzzydude64]

They're just about always a tiny group of >5 people with no real knowledge or experience in game development outsourcing to the cheapest freelancers they can find. It isn't the slightest bit surprising. Doesn't matter what your budget is if your only experience is marketing and some guy you've never met in Korea

[@asdfqwerty14587]

Making games is just really hard in general. Something like 99% of games are just complete commercial flops (ie. the people who develop it end up earning so little that it would've been more efficient to work a minimum wage job instead of creating their game), and it's not easy to find people that are good at making games that aren't already making their own games (or perhaps more accurately, it's incredibly difficult to distinguish between the people that actually are good at making games and the legions of garbage game developers that on paper look very similar, and by the time you've hired them and you find out that they have no clue what they're doing it's often too late to fix the problems they've created). If you aren't personally talented at creating games, then you probably don't have the ability to judge who is or isn't a competent game developer either, which makes it very hard to hire a competent team with any amount of money unless it's coming from someone that actually knows what they're doing.

[@Echoes-]

I don't think the point is to make a great game, the point is to make huge amounts of money from delusional bagholders by selling hopes and dreams.

[@ARStudios2000]

​@@asdfqwerty14587the pains and troubles around game development really are a hard truth.

[@ShockInazuma]

@@fuzzydude64Literally an Action 52 move. Did nobody learn from that incident?

[@brennanIX]

I will NEVER understand how these games come to exist, and not have the dev immediately labeled as an idiot for the idea. Crypto games where you sell "property" make ZERO sense. There is NOTHING at all of value. Thw "value" relies entirely on finding someone as or more stupid than yourself to be willing to throw their money away on a trade. There's nothing THERE. If the game or server goes down, then your property simple ceases to exist (as if it ever actually existed).

[@ferinzz]

And yet, people will spend days waiting for a property to go on sale in an MMO so that they can buy it and decorate it. While my wife and I were still long distance we were considering renting a plot on second life. Virtual land can be appealing as long as there is a social reason to use/own it. (You're essentially renting server space) However when you market 'profit' first, the majority of people that you attract are profit seekers. You can make money in Roblox, but none of their marketing is around that. The reason? the only way people make a profit is if players not seeking a profit outnumber those that do.

[@travelingsight8314]

Hellllo shroud of the avatar forsaken virtues knocking on your door and goes please sir buy our pretend land and house for money

[@AtticusKarpenter]

ponzi scheme, period

[@rickytickybobbywobbin7430]

I want you to know you’re the only channel I’ve been watching with pre-roll ads for schizophrenia medication

[@thesuspiciousorange2526]

30 dollars a month to play THAT? literally fucking world of warcraft charges _half_ of that a month, are you kidding me. im suffering brain damage thinking about the people trying to justify this scam game.

[@jjoshaugh]

Eve Online charged half of that.

[@Bant_Panorama]

Excited for this video, still waiting for some kind of ROI for dumping my 401K into Jauwn coin though.

[@batsy75]

Maybe, just maybe, one day all those cryptobros will figure out that the venn diagram of investors and gamers feature a very very limited overlap

[@IstasPumaNevada]

"But you didn't give S**t Sandwich from Scamco a fair shake! You can add pickles to the s**t, and also cheese! There are so many topping options!"