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Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

I know some folks see the yellow paint discourse as repeating old discussions. But do you have any idea how much of a repeat it actually is? Here is a video from Egoraptor explaining why players feel terrible about being handheld in less than a minute. Can you guess when this video was released?

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

But wait, there's more! It's all the same arguments everyone is still having all these years, again explained within one minute, and this was made by a non-gamedev at the time!

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

So when I see folks say 'If you're not a game dev, stay out of this conversation!' or 'You try and sit behind playtesters and see how they get stuck!' I am flabbergasted. He wasn't a gamedev, and he explained the problem in 1 minute. And he did this... 13 YEARS AGO www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fpi...

2 reposts25 likes

Sapient PC-98 Tapedeck (Cosette)
@cosettetape.bsky.social

I GENUINELY do not get why this & the related presumptive "easy modes are accomdative" discussions are built on the assumption that someone not engaging with the thing in front of them is a failure of the thing inherently. Same vibe as "Starship Troopers is bad satire bc fascists play along w/it".

Sapient PC-98 Tapedeck (Cosette)
@cosettetape.bsky.social

Signposting is great! Diagetically justified blatant signposting (i.e. the rock art in God of War '18) is good! Yellow paint for the sake of having it is artistically awful & looks cheap. It drags the incredible photoreal assets it's slathered on out of their element & makes them look like props.

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

And for the arguments of "Well, 20% of players will always get stuck, so we just have to have incredibly ham-fisted and immersion breaking UX in our games.", alright, but if: 1. You do not mind the other 80% are now annoyed as hell. 2. You are crunching to get it done. bsky.app/profile/ryst...

Robin-Yann Storm@rystorm.com

And many designers know this. But when an exec comes in and throws away months of hard work on a whim, and then tells you to redesign something better in 1 month, you throw some paint on there and add some self talk to save it. So, it’s a combo of yellow paint and this: bsky.app/profile/mary...

Jeroen D Stout
@jeroendstout.bsky.social

Its bleakly funny how TV discourse is having a moment around Netflix exec's going "what if someone is cooking pasta while watching this show, maybe the characters should announce what they are doing" and people mock it, meanwhile games discourse is often doing a weird defence of the same thing.

Eniko Fox
@enikofox.com

hardly the same. you can't get lost in a tv show or a movie. it's not a spatial reasoning thing. you're either paying attention or you're not in games it can be very easy to get stuck even if you *are* paying attention, this is why signposting exists, and why it's mostly done in 3D games

Jeroen D Stout
@jeroendstout.bsky.social

There's different qualities of signposting for different situations, the yellow paint is just a low bar "what if the character says their feelings out loud in case the audience misses it" type of thing—not in itself wrong, just changes who it is for; like some shows are now for people cooking pasta.

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

"you can't get lost in a tv show or a movie. it's not a spatial reasoning thing." It depends on what you mean by 'spatial' in this case. If you watch the 'Every Frame A Painting' episode I link down in the thread, he mentions how in fighting scenes the viewer *can* get spatially confused by bad cuts

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

The 20% number is as grabbed from thin air as the 80% is, so it's a vibe answered with a vibe. You would have to research for actual numbers. For the 2.5% who are loud: Yes, but that does not negate the other folks who are quietly disappointed. As with any creative work: bsky.app/profile/ryst...

Robin-Yann Storm@rystorm.com

Of course this isn't tied to just game development, which is especially why I find the 'Only game devs should be part of this conversation' train of thought so terrible. All creative endeavors have these problems. Every Frame A Painting did a great job explaining this with Jackie Chan:

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

In most cases the correct answer is "The level design and game design are not meshing together well, and we cannot resolve this for time, political, or expertise reasons. So, just slap some paint on that thing and call it done." and you feel this when you play it. Not your fault, but you do feel it.

Robin-Yann Storm
@rystorm.com

Of course this isn't tied to just game development, which is especially why I find the 'Only game devs should be part of this conversation' train of thought so terrible. All creative endeavors have these problems. Every Frame A Painting did a great job explaining this with Jackie Chan: