🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣

👣 Previously Principal Architect & Lead Game Developer @LostSkiesGame, R&D Product & Lead Dev @Unity, DayZ Mod, Forge Networking ◾ Open Source

[Sandy Petersen 🪔 @SandyofCthulhu]

Like anyone else, game companies can be cheated, and I witnessed this several times. In 1993, we at id Software played Doom together over our internal network. Now, you have to realize that at the time, we thought few people would want to play by modem or over the nascent internet. But we wanted that functionality, because it was super fun and we liked it.

Now, John Carmack didn't want to program the internet code. We hired a guy who lived in (IIRC) California to do the code remotely. The deal, as it was explained to me, was that he was finishing a project for his current company, and doing our code in his spare time, with his boss's knowledge. When his project was finished, he'd join us in Texas.

Well, when we were ready for our internet code, we called his company in California and got the guy's boss. He laughed hard at us. He told us, "This guy is a good programmer, but he is a compulsive liar. He knows he can never hold a job anywhere else, and I get he hasn't done a lick of work on your connectivity stuff. He just took your money." Well ... the boss was right. We'd been swindled.

Worse, we didn't have that code. So John Carmack spent 2 weeks quickly hammering together something that mostly worked, and then we released Doom. There was some kind of issue with the way we did it, that if Doom was being played with a lot of people on the same net, even if they weren't playing each other, it multiplied the information packets hugely and crashed the system. Within a month Doom was banned on basically every college campus in the country.

So we hired someone to give us new, robust, code and in a month or two Doom was all it could be. Of course John Carmack's not to blame - his strength was in 3-D, not connectivity. Plus he had only 2 weeks to throw it together. That dude in California was the villain and he can rot.
1/4

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@jeffdo @80Level There is an assumption trashing things and starting again is trivial to replicate and improve. That is not my perspective of the work completed.

You'd be waiting another 10 years on top of your 10 years to really match anything like unity.

There are dozens claiming it already.

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@jeffdo @80Level Many big Apple fans will also argue it could help as much as hurt Unity and existing directions. And potentially even bring a new era of mainstream Apple gaming (possibly dragging Linux even more forward too).

I'd venture a suggestion that seems reasonable regarding fees

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@jeffdo @80Level OSS is always going to be chasing commercial tech keeping things competitive. It's a long way off being viable for most games and players

Bit of a gloomer take. It definitely could be unfortunate. But there is a lot of pressure either way

creators will also create pressure

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@jeffdo @80Level Too much ground to repeat doing the same thing.

The advantage is already massive. The next steps are small and easy to deliver massive evolution and continued improvement for players, if producers and execs can keep their heads on straight-ish.

No need to invent wheels again.

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@jeffdo @80Level It's the best game development tool around

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@COWCATGames @80Level Surely they hope their investments go somewhere... As though unity ai is something more than an MCP implementation that others aren't doing for free already

If the investment were focused reasonably, game development potential would grow. And overall r&D would still be cheaper.

[80 LEVEL @80Level]

Marek Bakalarczuk shared some recent achievements with Quark Multiplayer, pushing Unity's capabilities to support up to 300,000 players, with the potential to reach 1 million.

Learn more and sign up to try: https://t.co/yisCEVessB

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

https://t.co/EcKSYHfA7Y

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

Despite smashing internal & publisher goals on #LostSkies (Top 15 on #SteamNextFest!), layoffs impacted our team. Proud of what we accomplished—especially the incredible demo results and upcoming release.

I'll be wrapping up my contribution to Lost Skies soon and moving on!

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@Pjbomb2 Oooo nice

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@thomaspetersen Only optional ones for rewards, not forced in the main flow.

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@2AngryGamers Amazing.

Can't wait to share more!

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

Our new public demo (launched today) just hit the Top 10 on Steam!

The team’s incredible work shines in Lost Skies.

Try the free demo now. A positive review lifts the team and fuels our dream.
https://t.co/lF7pDo7uhr

#madewithunity #indiegame #SteamDeck

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@Pjbomb2 Shifting origin large world

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

@sebify Nice

[🏜 MarkusD 🏔👣 @_MarkLab]

https://t.co/3ktY1Q2iuq

Check out our new Gameplay Overview trailer for @LostSkiesGame !

The result is super fun, I'm blown away.

#madewithunity

[blue @bluewmist]

Instead, he believed it was a problem worth solving and approached it without frustration, ultimately succeeding.

This story serves as a reminder: don't listen to those who tell you that you can't achieve something, as many young people today are surrounded by negativity and doubt.

Some people intentionally plant seeds of failure and frustration.

You have the power to achieve your goals, overcome obstacles, and fulfill your aspirations. Simply trust in God and keep trying.”

✍🏽 Steve Gatena

[Alex Malyutin | Graphics Programmer @alexmalyutindev]

PoE2 like Radiance Cascades in motion (wip).
https://t.co/VHfnRaQlxH
#madewithunity #radiancecascades