Dr D's Deadrop

 The prescription is here

It's a very common dream, for those that immerse themselves in the world of video games, to become a video game creator. It is, however, largely just a dream. Because the realities of making video games is that they're are arduous and painful works that take the combined talents of dozens of different skill sets in order to come together. Nowadays one would need a significant amount of capital, access to creatives, and a damn good idea to get a game together and most people just plain don't have that. A lot of the time you might hear about gaming content creators working on their very own video game only for the topic to dry up once sense drops and the actual scale of that investments comes to reality in their minds. Or the game does come out and it's terrible. One content creator, however, believes themselves not just an exception to that curse, but a worthy challenger to the ranks of AAA game development, as hugely laughable as that sounds. And if you know the scene, you probably know who I'm talking about. (Or you just read the title.)

Dr Disrespect is not a streamer I've ever really watched but I get the shtick. Roleplay as a sweaty, self absorbed, asshole 'gamer' stereotype and try to pretend that you're still 'in on the joke' five years later when you're still playing the same tunes. I get it, it's funny. Kind of. But there comes a time when all the false bravado starts to leak out of the protective container you keep it in and starts to rot the rest of the brain; and that's a proven fact. Actors talk about it all the time, Hugh Laurie gave himself an actual limp by pretending to have one for years filming 'House', Charlie Cox almost gave himself serious eye issues by purposefully unfocusing his vision whilst acting as Daredevil; these are the dangers of lying to yourself for prolonged periods; you start to make it come true. So when Dr D spends years playing the entitled idiot who overestimates his own abilities and worth just because he's good at a few video games... well, it ain't no surprise we're looking at a game like Deadrop.

All this is being developed by The Midnight Society; (as far as video game studio names go, I'll give that a 6/10. Lost points for obvious plagiarism.)  which is Dr D's own studio that's apparently using it's vast wealth to tap some actual industry talent into their confines. But the reason I'm still a pessimist even despite that fact, is because of their 'revolutionary idea' to 'turn the game development process on it's head'. Which essentially means that they sell you the game before they make it. So Kickstarter, then. Except wait... it's not like Kickstarter because, for One: Dr D promises you that there will be a game on the otherside of this (for what little the promise of an Internet influencer is worth) and for Two: you'll be buying into the game on the blockchain through the purchase of an NFT- oh godammit! Can I just go one full week without having to read about something connected to bloody crypto currencies in our video game space? What's next; is it a metaverse too? (Seriously, though; I bet he does that.)

Midnight Society is all about integrating NFTs and Blockchain integration into the ecosystem of their games in order to 'give ownership back in the hands of the players.' In an interview with Paul Tassi the head of the studio, of ex-COD fame, correctly identified the problem with the digital only future we're moving to and the licensing issues it brings up, but presents crypto as a sort of 'back door' solution rather than confronting it with meaningful policy changes and heck, maybe even litigation! But in the effort of being fair I guess you can put this as a 'I'll seek my solution you seek yours' sort of situation; and he was smart enough to put out that their games will not be NFT exclusive or blockchain exclusive. Although I find the idea of two versions of an online game, one off the blockchain and one on it, monumentally moronic. As if split player bases aren't already an issue: start literally cannibalising each platform.

The fruit of this little experiment was the annoyingly named 'Deadrop', which is not another fast food app or a mystery box delivery service; it's an FPS, baby! And it's an FPS that currently looks rougher than sandpaper for it's first snapshot. Oh but don't worry, that's all part of their 'full transparency philosophy' whereupon the team are devoted to putting out playable demos at each significant development milestone so that people can see what they're up to and provide feedback, the whole nine yards. Seems fair, I just wonder why they didn't bother making a really bang-up framework of a game first before going down the Early Access route. I'm just saying, Larian really laid the groundworks for how something like this should be handled. Because what Deadrop currently has going for it looks about 1 step above amateur.

The animations for movement are unrefined, gun handling animations look okay, the 'unique' gun design of that M16 that's doing the rounds looks laughably ugly- seriously, they look like how a 15 year old would redesign a firearm in order to make it look more 'cool'. The firing effect is... I think intentionally poor; because I can't conceive a team of ostensible industry vets slapping that in a game and calling it presentable. I can only think they were rushed to reveal and literally put a stock effect on the weapons, that's the only feasible explanation. Graphically it looks a fine but creatively dull; although that could be the very limited demo that is currently given that impression. Frankly it looks unambitious; which is ideal for a first project from a team that's just starting to get it's footing, but a bit disappointing from a project that the Doc is selling as the game changer industry disrupter which is going to make COD tremble in their boots.

Getting a demo to run alright with pretty reflections does not a make great game. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's vast contingents of gamers out there who will attest that graphical fidelity is literally the last aspect of a game that should be worked on just short of bugfixing and maybe VO work depending on how important narrative and performance is to your particular game. You want a game feeling good, playing well and maybe even sounding well early on, because if any of those elements is wanting you'll have enough time ahead of you to work on that before you bake in systems and engines that are incapable of being manipulated into whatever it is you're looking for. Deadrop is starting from the bottom and just crossing it's fingers praying that everything comes together by the flipside. I'm telling you that is a very difficult order to design in and it might end up dooming this project to be not as solid as it otherwise could have been, but then what did we really expect?

From the word 'jump' the good Doctor has been singing songs about how this will show screenshots that make Call of Duty weep; he's always been about the style of his upcoming shooter over the substance behind the controller. Which is galling when COD has a literal stranglehold on solid shooter controls that it has maintained for over a decade now. You cannot surpass COD on graphics alone and expect to siphon off it's audience, it doesn't matter how big and important you think that you are. Most other shooters bring in unique twists and mechanics to try and live alongside COD, but aside from the weak sci-fi blood running through this game's basic aesthetic, Deadrop has yet to prove it has any good ideas up it's sleeves ready to shake up the play space. So that's a pretty disappointing reveal for Crypto-gaming's alleged golden boy; let's see which way the wind blows come the next milestone.