Offline mode : How to fix most games

Last update : 5/10/2024

Introduction

Since I feel somewhat inspired by the Stop Killing Games initiative by Ross Scott of Accursed Farms (despite its issues which I will nitpick below) I might as well take a slice of the action & make my own little take on their stuff. Maybe I'll be adding more soon?

But seriously, online-only game leaves the player at the publishers' mercy & forces the former to buy more stuff they don' need (unfortunately I'm not talking about in-app purchases where you get in-app currencies to waste - I meant hardware to support those online-only crap like more advanced devices - computers, phones, routers, network plans). Consider this page a continuation of my previous mobile gaming rant as well.

Assets

First off, the assets. One obvious way would be to provide archive files (in the universal .tar.gz and/or .zip format; not some proprietary one that can only be used by just one app), which would be extracted by the app. For cross-platform games (like something that supports Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows, and/or any other operating systems you can think of), this should also allow you to take these files from one of your device (whether it's running Android, BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows, or anything else) & play it on your other device that's running some other operating system, and vice versa.

As for expansion patches like new chapters in some games, one way to accomodate it is to update the archive files (at least the parts that got affected by the expansions) for it before making an archive file for it.

Installation executables (.apk, .exe, .msi) also count here, if it wasn't obvious. However, unlike the rest of the assets which uses those archive formats, the executables must use their targeted environment's executable format, and as one universal file rather than several files based off the target's CPU architecture.

Data

Honestly, using online accounts to back up game data is one thing (it's a mark against user privacy but also provides convenience?), but our best alternative for such things would be to use the same shit we use for our assets, but with one twist : Archive files, made by the app / program itself in some parts of its options, using the same format.

For specific genres like roguelikes (as it's the only one with enough reason to justify it), I don't mind not having any backup solution since it could remove one of the core tenets of these games - replay from beginning, learning as you go. Then again, someone out there can be inconvenienced by not immediately having access to their favorite characters, so if any data backups were to be made for these games, any in-game progress shouldn't be backed up.

For inherently online-only genres like battle royales, using online accounts are the only way, unfortunately. But let's not force users to use the megacorp account and/or phone numbers as the default, for email is already servicable enough.

Gameplay

For gameplay, this one highly depends on the game & its genre. Obviously, we can't fully make inherently online-only genres like battle royale & MMO offline-only - maybe their practice modes could but never the important multiplayer stuff these games are really designed for. At best, we should make those online-dependent genres work on user-controlled servers.

Obviously, this refers to making offline play possible for games, and since this is so simple, here's the relevant part : Just make it so it can be played offline by default, but leave event attendance & (maybe) in-app purchases limited to those who plays while having internet access. We already have the assets & the data in place, we should also give the game the offline mode it so deserves.

Case study : Fate/Grand Order

After playing with (or being played by) FGO (the Global / NA build) for 7 years across 2 accounts, I declare FGO to be one of the games that doesn't deserve being welded to Sony's servers.

• Right off the gate, FGO demands an initial asset download of somewhere between 700MB. I haven't really tried leaving it in the background so I couldn't personally answer that one. Optional full asset downloads are available in the lowest sections of the Settings menu (My Room > Game Settings).
• Data backups currently relies on the good old server-generated transfer number (generated in My Room > Issue Transfer Number) & user-input password. The Japanese build also provides an email-based account linking using Aniplex Online Account (but disables the transfer number method). There's the possibility of copying stuff from /Android/data as well, though the only times I've found that to work was the Pie era with Titanium Backup (back then we still have MagiskHide on official Magisk builds so it was somewhat viable to play FGO while retaining root access) so I couldn't really comment on that for now as I haven't tried it yet (or if I tried Neo Backup on FGO).
• The gameplay is the most egregious part. Forced "friend" supports (not just the one in some of the storyline like Shimousa - I'm talking about the daily grinds where you have to pick one) require internet access, NP activation requires internet access for no reason other than asset downloads(?), and that's not before going to everything else which seems to need internet for little to no reason. TL;DR : everything demands internet. Unlike Genshin below, you don't always get dubbed dialogues (but when they do it's all dubbed in Japanese), but at least you can always skip them.

Case study : Genshin Impact

Just by looking at Genshin's gameplay I already know Hoyoverse fucked up. Seriously, this kind of gameplay is NOT suitable for Cloud™ gaming AT ALL. I mean, imagine the two latest Legend of Link Zelda (BotW & TotK), but make either of them online-only. At the very least Nintendo knew their aforementioned two titles doesn't deserve to be ruined the same way Genshin is. And Nintendo is a notorious dick towards its fans, so that's saying something. But then again, I've gone off topic on Nintendo, so let's get back to analyzing Genshin.

• Right off the gate, on 1st open, the game demands a login from either Hoyoverse account (email + OTP), Facebook, Google, or Twitter; all of which might be collected by the tyrants occupying China. After that, it's off to one massive ≥20GB download (probably every graphical asset & English voices?), though you can leave the device to download them in the background (or do something else on that device). This point is based off my experience on the Android build, somewhere in early August 2024 before the Natlan chapter got released.
• As if ≥20GB of graphics & maybe English dub wasn't enough, you have to separately download Chinese, Japanese, & Korean sounds somewhere in the Options menu if you want them. They cost somewhere around 5GB, and can also be left behind just like the graphics asset downloads mentioned above, though it will think it needs to reconnect once the separate assets were downloaded (at least if you leave the downloads to the background process). And replacing these voices also requires restarting the game.
• The gameplay is the most egregious part here. We have everything calculable calculated on the Hoyoverse servers, and nothing in the game justified having Cloud™-based inputs verifying user-made inputs (unless your excuse is making it for its own sake, but then again I want nothing to do with you). I had fun exploring the map, massacring random enemies (whether it's beasts, humans, machines, or something else), & hear some Japanese dubbed speeches (because English dub makes me think most of everyone sound older?) there but unfortunately the fun immediately changes into anger (which is unfortunately vented towards either the device or the router) as soon as the game decides to disconnect from the server, or suddenly get an excessively high latency to the point it thinks it needs "reconnecting"; interrupting everything & resetting progress. Also, all dialogues are UNSKIPPABLE so you WILL waste more time reading and/or listening to them (and have to re-do them from the beginning if you're unlucky enough to "reconnect" in the middle of it all).

Case study : Infinity Blade III

For starters, this is not exactly the best example. IB3 is iOS-only, but Apple deleted them off their App Store, forcing those who want to play IB3 to sideload it. It also doesn't run reliably on newer iOS. But still, here's why IB3 makes for a mostly perfect mix between offline & online (at least when Apple & Chair/Epic supported them).

• Offline mode is your default, just like its predecessors. However, being online allows event attendances & in-app purchases - both of which are optional. Of course, the events are enabled by Chair/Epic & IAPs by Apple; both of which no longer supports IB3 so we can probably just ignore the online aspect.
• As for the gameplay, all damage calculations & stuff are done in-device instead of having it downloaded from the Cloud™.
• In-game assets are directly available out of the gate, without any need for internet... aside from downloading stuff (the .ipa files, sideloading tool, and whatever mods you might want) from whoever's got the files in nowadays.
• As for data backups, I don't really remember it being officially implemented at all (or even tried it out, back then I wasn't even aware of it). Then again, the community seems to have made a patch for it, but I don't have any iOS hardware at this point so I can't test it.

Case study : Shattered Pixel Dungeon

"OH SHIT MY PHONE!!!", screamed the one person who dropped his / her Pixel phone & shattered its display (or back panel; or both). That person wasn't Bob, as he swore something far worse before launching his Pixel 3 to a random bullet train moving at full speed & reducing it to shit I can only display, as not even the camera modules made it.

Pixel phone jokes tied to random personal anecdote aside, SPD is a roguelike - one of those games that will force you to the beginning when you end the game in either defeat or victory. And since it's open source with multiple builds across several operating systems, it makes for a decent subject.

• Offline mode is your default, with optional news & updates checking inbuilt & requiring online access. Both optionals are enabled by default, but can be disabled.
• As for gameplay, all processing are done in-device.
• In-game assets are directly available out of the gate, without any need for internet... aside from downloading the executable file / installer from wherever you'd like to download it, whether it's F-Droid, GitHub Releases, or your device's big corpo app store (not counting iOS - that one 's App Store only).
• Data backups (at least on Android) can't really be done (though I haven't actually tried this out), but then backups are one way to cheat in roguelikes (by rewinding progress to anywhere before your defeat) & allowing it trivializes the game to the point it becomes no longer enjoyable. This is one of the instances I don't mind not having any data backups.

Random deboonkings (because I had fun making this shit up)

BUT...BUT MUH PIRACEEEEE!!! Tone it down will you; you bootlicking cuck?! Look, call it however you like, but any & all attempts to block piracy will only result in making it shittier for those who legally owned them, and forcing people to the seven seas & risking the mafia's unwanted attention just to reobtain something you've abandoned sucks, doesn't it? Therefore, just don't worry about it, since some of those pirates may also be your next customers - scaring customers away ain't good for your bottom line ain't it?

BUT MAKING IT ONLINE-ONLY WILL MAKE PIRACY IRRELEVANT! ...yeaah... about that. You've just tied your stuff to some faceless nobody's servers, which they will have full access to, and who you may never meet in life. From the data they want from you to everything the game needs to run (and the unneccesary spy bloat that got mixed in either by accident or on purpose). Please imagine how your online-only game will age ≥5 years from now. No longer playable because the server's killed, and I don't see anyone getting it running again because it simply isn't possible. ...I don't like saying it but "I told you so"; I suppose?

ONLINE DRM FROM APP STORE!!! YEAAAAH!!! Congratulations, you've just declared that the devices we bought with our own resources belonged to Apple / Goolag / Microsoft + whoever made and/or sold "your" device. For you and your family's sake, stay away from me, otherwise I am bound by duty & oath to permanently ex-ter-min-ate your infectiously loathsome existence & make it an example of what not to do in our limited lifetime. And yes, this applies to shit like SafetyNetPlay Integrity as well.

Conclusion

TL;DR : Stop making online-only games unless the genre explicitly justifies it. Make them work offline. And don't fuck with your customers.

But seriously, there's not much "conclusion" to be made at this point, so I'll point out some of SKG's more nitpickable issues instead. Only allowing EU citizens (there were some petitions for other countries but some got closed) to attend the initiative; only targeting Ubisoft for irresponsibly dropping The Crew; and having a shit website that demands JS & is cuckflared. OK, maybe I could just briefly explain them...

• Ah yes, EU. The most memed country when it comes to consumer goodness, and the most notorious for several "massive" fines against some big corpos. I felt left out, living in one of Australia's neighboring islands, who just so happens to be not invited into the initiative. Setting that little snark aside, if websites could just block EU users (archive.org) due to GDPR (or even ignore it altogether), what makes you think the game producers would comply with the initiative when it's easier for them to just block the gamers from EU and/or just not comply with SKG? Or how about offline mode becoming an EU-exclusive feature like Apple's third-party app store support? And even then, has EU's fines (and/or any court fights) ever made the big corpos repent for the better? Spoiler alert... AS IF. Those fines are coins for them but enough to feed a clan of peasants for years, assuming they were paid at all.
• Ubisoft is just one of the many game makers to provide & kill online-only games. There's EA with some Need For Speed titles (World, 2015, Heat) as well, despite them not being the primary cause behind SKG (probably since NFS World got picked up by the community). And yes, let's not forget the Infinity Blade series (despite being mostly offline-only aside from IB3), which could be considered an indirect victim of Apple vs. Epic Games (starring Fortnite), which the latter lost (resulting in all Infinity Blade games getting wiped off Apple's App Store).
• As for the shitty cuckflared website... that's what I've considered a red flag for any do-good initiatives as whoever's doing this doesn't care about their followers. Now, I don't know anything about Accursed Farms (or the Ross Scott behind it) before Louis Rossmann spoke of Ubisoft (and Accursed Farms were seen commenting on the YouTube post;, but that site put my guard up. Then again, this seems to be Ross' first initiative so I hope his next one (assuming there's one) uses better alternatives. Oh yeah - the only "social" media SKG saw fit for sharing their word is ex-Twitter. The same one that got FUBAR'd by the guy who owns a bunch of big corpos, one of them named after a certain electrician.
Not that I'm not on guard against Louis Rossmann either, as he puts his stuff in either Odysee/LBRY or YouTube, while funding the development of GrayJay (among several FUTO apps) & somehow not banned from YouTube despite constantly (indirectly) yapping about that app. Then again, those 2 are your stereotypical lib-right people - good ideas on things (particularly tech ones in the case of these 2), but spread on a questionable platform.


• Of course, petitioning. If that brought headphone jacks, microSD, unlockable bootloaders, & user-removable batteries on every manufacturer's devices (or insert whatever decisions that were done after a petition is made about it) I'd not put this one here. But then again, you know it never really works. But for a far too kind (bordering on bootlicking levels) version of my wording (which also matches this page's theme), let's hope this works out in the way I see it - all games get offline mode by default, as written in this article. Particularly FGO & Genshin Impact.

But then again, all these are nitpicks & might be small in scale compared to what I hoped Ross had in mind, so here's my unofficial & unsanctioned support I guess...

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