Viscera gibs from dispensers

[Hyomoto]

This has surely been said before, and it most certainly needs to be said again: why the gibs from the dispensers? I almost wish someone could explain this to me. In a game about cleaning there is little point in having a required machine make random messes. Understand: you NEED these tools to finish your job and they are treated like a slot machine.

It could be argued that it encourages efficiency in that each request may yield undesirable results but therein lies the problem: it's random. The levels can not be completed with starting buckets, and it can happen as many times or not in a row, so you cannot exactly plan your behavior around it. It's frustration: faulty equipment. Should the machines randomly fail, putting an unknown cap on the total you can get? After all, I need a bucket of water, I cannot complete the level without it. It's most useful trait is eating up the player's time, a feature rarely bragged about.

This is one of those game mechanics that sticks around even against all reason, easily better served removed or as an optional toggle. For the majority it won't enhance the game, and it actually damages certain styles of play (note: the developers did include a speed run mode in which this is disabled, thank you!). It is goofy and asinine at it's best, and more commonly the only effect it has is to take longer to get tools you need as you wait for it to dispense another product you don't want.

DISCLAIMER: I like VCD. This is my opinion. I have given reasons backed with arguments. If you comment, please do the same.

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I'm sure someone can top me, but for the record I've had a machine dispense gibs FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. Five times. It takes five seconds for a bucket to dispense, it takes another three to five to catch or pick up the part and throw it in a bin and hit the button again. It takes ten to thirty seconds to take a bin of gibs to the furnace. The fastest this exercise can take is one minute. Why not just make the machine wait a minute and give me the bucket then? I'll queue it up and come back to see if it is ready. It would be stupid, but at least it could be planned for.

[Grove of Dreams]

-shrug- The devs have stated several times that such events are by design. The game concept is that janitorial work is thankless and frustrating - as such, they bring a degree of that into their video game. In all honesty, it rarely seems to happen to me these days, but if you're actually looking for solutions:

1. Personally carry everything you can to the incinerator.
2. Use mop buckets to mop up blood, etc., then once "used up", place small junk (paper, shell casings, small giblets, etc.) in the bucket and use it as a mini-biohazard-bin.
3. Stagger how frequently you access the machines, and always make sure you use already-provided buckets / bins first.

[Smidge204]

I just want you to know that I'm going to be late for work because I simply *HAD* to make this for you:

http://www.smidgeindustriesltd.com/vcd_troll_dispenser.gif

[Grove of Dreams]

Originally posted by Smidge204:

I just want you to know that I'm going to be late for work because I simply *HAD* to make this for you:

http://www.smidgeindustriesltd.com/vcd_troll_dispenser.gif

Hopefully the cruel taskmasters of Smidge Industries will take pittance on you, wayard Smidge of the Van Haupdstadt Smidges! Though you may have spent precious seconds in errant mirth, blood is still thicker than water!

[Jan Jansen the Turnip Slayer]

Originally posted by Hyomoto:

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I'm sure someone can top me, but for the record I've had it dispense gibs FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. Five times. That's unneccessary and stupid.

Well, I you get six that could be an achievement: Six Sigma Waste Efficiency.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma)

[Grove of Dreams]

Originally posted by Jan Jansen the Turnip Slayer:

Originally posted by Hyomoto:

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I'm sure someone can top me, but for the record I've had it dispense gibs FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. Five times. That's unneccessary and stupid.

Well, I you get six that could be an achievement: Six Sigma Waste Efficiency.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma)

Blast-fax kudos all around.

[Hyomoto]

Lol.

@ Grove - I get that there are ways to deal with it (hmm, unintentional referencing of meme is unintentional). When it comes to buckets you can sometimes grab the gib before it drops and prevent the mess. I also leave a bin and get as many as I think I need first so I can frontload the annoyance. Buckets also make reasonable receptacles when trashed.

But the problem is simply it is a waste of time. Your goal is to clean up so the additional mess isn't what bothers me; I care that a new mess in lieu of the tools I need is entirely random. The mop can create messes. You can knock over buckets, drop/kick gibs around, track bloody footprints, hell the arc welder can create some big messes. But those are all controllable while the machine's random number nonsense is not. You have to spin the wheel, it's pointless.

A good game mechanic allows the player to succeed or fail on their own merits, such as a pit you fall in or buckets you spill. You control that. But what What if each time you cleaned your mop there was a 20% chance you'd knock the bucket over? That would just be annoying and prove janitorial work is a thankless job too; not doing that allows you to trip over it yourself instead.

I'm not complaining to you, so much as at you. I apologize if it seems that way.

[lexilogo]

I'd be ok with disabling it in speedrun mode, and I'd also be ok with some way to prevent it, such as finding some tools to fix up the machines and significantly lower/remove chances of jamming. However, going all the way to remove it? Nah. It's meant to provide a reason for you not to spam generating buckets and boxes to encourage more efficient strategies, such as the buckets as containers one, or using the welder to burn gibs. There'd needs to be some kind of other penalty for overrusing your janitorial tools to replace it, assuming it would be removed. I wouldn't be comfortable with some "par" amount, though. The random gibs seems like a good system for the moment, and I'd only be comfortable with it's removal if something to punish spamming bucket and box generation was introduced that wasn't equally flawed.

[Hyomoto]

There already is a system to prevent spamming: having to dispense, carry and dispose of what you spawn. Using less items and improving efficiency is its own reward and something the player can get better at by playing. In the case of speed runs, the rewards of frugal use is already greater for that very reason.

When you need a bucket, you need a bucket. If you get gibs, it only increases the amount of time it takes to get that bucket, nothing else. You still need the bucket, you still have to press the button. And in the end you'll repeat the process until you have what you want.

[󠀡󠀡aynhse]

removing body parts being dispensed is really easy, heck I just done it myself:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/246900/discussions/4/613935404244715474/

If you want to know how to do it, pm me. But besides that, meh

[Nervatel]

Originally posted by 1mirg:

removing body parts being dispensed is really easy, heck I just done it myself:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/246900/discussions/4/613935404244715474/

If you want to know how to do it, pm me. But besides that, meh

While your at it, you should remove all stains, because the game is so unjustly difficult.

[󠀡󠀡aynhse]

Originally posted by Hanging Closet Monster:

While your at it, you should remove all stains, because the game is so unjustly difficult.

It's a pointless mechanic to keep in the game besides just "trolling" the player. Heck, the way it's even labeled in the game insists that that's the exact reason they implemented this into the game, for trolling purposes.

[Hyomoto]

@ Hanging Closet Monster, if you want to discuss read the discussion. I supported my position well: it has nothing to do with 'difficulty' or the mess they make. I'm not going to repeat what I've already written, you can read it yourself and I suggest you do so.

Read before replying, then take a moment to understand the key points before you craft a rebuttal. That's how discussion works. You don't have to agree with me, but I will expect you to read what I'm talking about first.

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@ 1mirg - Thanks for the suggestion. I'll read up on it but I don't think modding the game is the answer. I know it is pretentious to simply say, "This mechanic doesn't work, change it." so I honestly don't care whether or not Runic makes a change, but it is my suggestion that they should. Based on feedback however, it appears more people like the mechanic than find it cumbersome or tacky and that's okay. I honestly thought less people liked it, I'm a bit surprised at it's defense.

[BlackEagle]

In the next update, spitting out gibs in Speedrun mode will be disabled, since Speedrun needs to be without 'chance' or random factors getting in the way of your performance through no fault of your own.

[Nervatel]

Originally posted by Hyomoto:

@ Hanging Closet Monster, if you want to discuss read the discussion. I supported my position well: it has nothing to do with 'difficulty' or the mess they make. I'm not going to repeat what I've already written, you can read it yourself and I suggest you do so.

Read before replying, then take a moment to understand the key points before you craft a rebuttal. That's how discussion works. You don't have to agree with me, but I will expect you to read what I'm talking about first.

I apologise, I entirely agree with your points. I took a chance for people to understand why modding the game to be easy, is in poor taste, I realize it wasn't a good way of expressing that idea of "removing a mechanic to make it easier, is wrong". I should have written a statement like you did, and not poke fun at removing core game mechanics.

Again, I apologise.

[Beed28]

Originally posted by BlackEagle:

In the next update, spitting out gibs in Speedrun mode will be disabled, since Speedrun needs to be without 'chance' or random factors getting in the way of your performance through no fault of your own.

Good to hear that the spitting out gibs thing will be disabled in Speedrun mode. Could you please add that feature the non-speedrun mode's rule menu? It could do with something after all rather than a useless blank page.