Hi Zakaria, long time no play.
I have a new demo, this time for the sequel to Redaxium 1, Redaxium 2 aka Generic RPG #777.
https://redratic1.itch.io/redaxium-2
if you're using windows: try r2windemo.zip
if you're using linux: try r2lindemo.zip
Hello there redratic1, I have never seen you here before and you said to me "long time no play" ?!!
I have tried your game and it seems there is an issue! Your game Redaxium 2 does not start, it freezes directly at this screen and no matter what I press it does not work!
I hope you have not put anything like a malware of a mining virus in your game, I work hard in order to help developers here and it is very strange that some developers go far to take advantage of this in a brutal way! I only mention this because I had my horrible moments here, you can check the old posts and you will find some here, most of them delete their posts after I call them out!
If not, please check your files for future users who might come to visit your game page.
2 years ago (+1)
Hello ZG. The game's predecessor and the full game is on steam. This is not malware of the month you seem to be on the lookout for.
To be fair, Redaxium 2 goes by Generic RPG #777 but this is explicitly mention on the steam store page and the itch.io link.
Which btw includes a link to the steam store page.
Yes we've had previously dealing and even then there were issues with the game running. I was hoping this time it would be a peace of cake for both of us.
https://itch.io/t/1225791/helping-developers-test-their-games-making-a-vidoe-on-...
That was for Redaxium which became quite a full game as I said. The account then says redratic.itch.io, but redratic1.itch.io is the current and it definitely has entries for both Redaxium and Redaxium 2. I hope that clears up the confusion.
Getting to the point:
Games sometimes do a preconfiguration on themselves when you run them. Infact i'd wager you've seen this phenomenon tons of times.
preconf.txt says OS=0, or OS=1 Windows/Linux respectively.
preconf_result.txt is generated for debug reasons.
In both cases the files belong to the game. And when preconf_result.txt it is or isn't present it is created anyway.
We're doing this for debugging purposes it should recreated regardless so it's up to date.
That implies deletion ALWAYS.
The bottomline ZG, games touch their own files. Depending on the developer their may be more or less smart/dumb/elaborate/concise with how. Should I create an append-only ledger for this? I guess I could. Should I cram all my debug files into one giant debug.log? I guess I could. But even that would be recreated so I could get the up to date file. Or I must make it into a giant ledger too.
I'd hoped we evolved past this stage where something goes magically wrong because of permissions, emulators, or overly cautious Anti-Virus program.
2 years ago(+1)
Welcome back redratic1, if I had known you are using another user name or account I would have welcomed you regardless of me checking your game or not! After I checked the link you just provided, I knew who you are! Do keep in mind I remember all the devs I help here and all of their games, even if it is not worthy of even called a game! I often test only half a level that some new uprising devs calls a game (Example for this, go to the very first page and look for Danielle's Games, his game is something that no one would be interested in, but I am here to offer my help) But, since I never tested your game because of that issue a year ago! I could not remember it by its name!
Now, let us put what we do here aside, I have showed you some screens from your game, right? I was hoping for me helping you (Keep in mind I had no idea what the game is about nor the developer which is you)! Now, if someone is offering their help for literally free, you don't come off that strong telling them or accusing them with looking for "malware of the month you seem to be on the lookout for"... I had someone similar to the tone of your first sentence here asking me agressively to review his game! With no context and no nothing: https://itch.io/post/6135348 + Another one was so impatient at the start, just after a week he posted the same game as if he is in a hurry: https://itch.io/post/6349949 Of course, I tried to be very understandable to his own situation and offered him other extra ways to get what he is looking for!
I can literally state lots of examples but I decided to choose the new recent ones so you can truely understand how much is so hard to offer your help and still get such kind of words! Please, do not accuse me of looking for "malware of the month" or whatever! Now, let me be understandable to you! I believe you are having some bad days, probably because of your game not having enough attention! And that's fine man, trust me! I am literally there! Most of the time I sleep only 4 hours every single day (It has been like this for the past 9 years or so) Working outside to sustain myself and my family, doing this whole online thing... There are times I literally spend hours and days in making for YouTube and at the end no one watches! Literally NO ONE! So I get it man, I get your anger and what you are passing by will probably be less hard to deal with! Our fathers usually say: "You grow with sturggle and pain..."
Again, I am here to help, but if there is any issue with what I clearly stated at the very first page that clearly goes to harm me or for this example my PC, I can't do that! I can't help on the expanse of hurting myself, I have done it in the past and it is horrible and scary! Man, I am here for the simple deed of helping solo developers and small indie game studios! I hope you can look to that and truely see that! Keep it up and best of luck! Never give up!
With respect,
Zakaria Ghorfati.
2 years ago(+1)
I think you are right ZakaraGhorfati (ZG).
I've got to take into account you can't control which games will be the ones that let you down. So it's a struggle for both parties.
I do see that many of your YT videos view counts are quite low. Which doesn't make sense because you are one of the few people who transparently review itch.io games on the regular. The fact that people aren't giving the videos and thus those games a chance to be "heard", is disturbing.
You sensed right that I was not in a mood to react with any overt politeness. I know how quickly the mob turns on developers and I couldn't afford to pretend as if I did something wrong on the subject of literal malware or not. The fact is I take a lot of pride in my work. I didn't think you were alleging it was malware but the mob may not care if you were or not. That includes other developers too btw who might have their smart kneejerk responses. This thread, your YT, and yourself are valuable, even if much goes underappreciated because we can't pick who gets to be a hit.
I really want things to be as simple as possible for you so you can do your job. Maybe I should remember you aren't paid anything to try these game so it's hard to stay motivated. You review games it seems almost daily, if not every other day.
I also take into account what's enjoyable for me as a developer. I can't be watering down my methods, even if there are counter-examples of people succeeding differently. You clearly have played games that ran correctly i'm guessing on first try. Some not so much.
I knew from our experience before there was an issue but I sincerely felt this time around there wouldn't be one. The game is so much more than the main menu which in all cases we've interacted doesn't even show the buttons!
Let's address the screenshot. It's true the game does things to its own files. The failure of which can lead to the game not running properly.
If your anti-virus is blocking the game from doing what it does in this regard of manipulating its own files, then it's not a surprise the main menu won't load. That might seem strange consequence but the FIRST thing the game does is read/writing to its own files. This more or less a pre-GUI task.
Sadly I cannot fix this order of operations meaningfully, because the game still needs to touch its files eventually.
What I think we've learned here ZG is I need to add a GUI error window that says what has gone wrong. Then you can know what to do.
I'm definitely pretty tired myself and immensely broken by gamedev. Skipping the sob story about game journos not responding and me begging people to even give my game a chance... it's just not easy to fundamentally re-work anything anymore. I've for a long time wanted a more reliable UI at the start that was disentangled from game errors, but there are so many other unrelated issues that are important for the good of the game. I figure if someone really cares they just add the AV exceptions and get on with playing the game.
If you've tried everything then I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Good luck.
2 years ago(+2)
Once can clearly notice from the way you have put these words that you are indeed an understandable person! Of course, you will be upset to see your game not even running, not along for someone to slightley attatch it to having a malware or anything!
You probably have been trying with the gamedev journey for so long! I had tried as well, for a period of time, all I wanted is to make games! Without getting to the sad story of mine with the gamedev, let us just say I got betrayed for my own ideas and hard work (Will never mention names when it is something this bad) It broke me, and I knew developing a game was not right for me at that time (Not even now, maybe a little bit down the road)... So I deleted my past, or at least a huge part of it!
Now, I am doing what you already mentioned in your own nice words! Thank you for that, really! It means a lot to me for seeing things as they are! And I do get it, life is not easy! For the whole YouTube thing, is just a bi-product from my Game Testing passion let's say! I wanted to help ppl out in the best way I can, the whole YouTube thing was just to showcase whta I can! Of course there are times where you think I should just stop this, but there are also times where you feel blessed or happy at least (Yes, me happy for helping others and happier when I know I have truely helped) Examples: https://itch.io/post/6143170 https://itch.io/post/6234690 So there is a good side of everything here!
My humble advice to you sir, you keep on what makes you feel better! Do what you love, but if it does not work for you after many tries, try to change it up a bit! Example of my YouTube channel: I wanted and still want to do Gameplay Walkthrough videos, but it is not going anywhere! So I changed that to game reviews, I even tried Top Best games here, Interviews...etc, So do try to change what you are using for developing your games! Try a different tool, try different assets, styles, coding...etc
Hey ZakariaGhorfati You're probably busy on the next game review. But whenever you gain the time, could you please upload these files, game_debug.txt, preconf_result.txt, and log.txt? They should be in the game folder where the .exe is. I know you couldn't get the game to work, but they could contain important information so I can begin to think about what to try differently. You may choose to review them in a text editor first if you wish. If you could do this for me i'll add you to the credits of the game next update.