Radiator Blog

JUNE 2, 2023

Instead there's cutscenes without animation, scripted conversations without choreography, and readables you rarely read because the game never pauses. There's no Destiny-like seamless matchmaking and no Left 4 Dead style good-enough bot AI. that a bigger US AAA or a non-US indie would've failed to capture. But not really.

Studios 246

Studios Co-op Open World Cutscenes 246

Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

This is a convenient diegetic way of locking the player in-place for a cutscene, while also priming the player for an extended cutscene. It is much better than the boring shot reverse-shot cutscene stuff going on in AAA RPGs these days, and makes Skyrim's "sit" mechanic more meaningful.

Open World 130

Open World NPC Cutscenes Terrain 130

Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

unlike Outer Wilds, golden loop here is heavily hard-gated by quest progression, not a "true" information game, compromise with AAA market? sorry if your game happens to crash, or you get a dreaded UI freeze. sorry fix: let players soft-bank / soft-checkpoint some of their progress? Bot invaders often don't interrupt a boss fight.

Fighting 130

Fighting NPC Puzzle AI 130

Keith Burgun

JULY 29, 2022

AAA games are first and foremost products and their “smooth functionality” is prized above all else. The first example that comes to mind for me was the courtroom scene in Chrono Trigger, wherein the fact that I went to pick up a piece of jewelry before checking if my companion was okay was used against me in court!

Fantasy 52

Fantasy AAA Concepts Games 52