tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-166568752024-03-14T08:17:40.332-04:00Parachronist!It means I'm perpetually late to the party.David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-28484421467255279512011-06-09T00:16:00.006-04:002011-06-09T02:20:28.214-04:00Nothing good can ever come from staying with normal people.Along with a good deal of souls from my generation, I highly enjoyed coming home after High School to watch Toonami on Cartoon Network. It was an incredible block of action cartoons, anime and american alike, from Thundercats and Dragonball Z to more bizarre shows like Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. <div><br /></div><div>And it was <i>awesome</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The host of Toonami was originally Moltar, of Space Ghost fame. Then it moved onto a little robot named TOM, who went through a couple iterations of coolness. They would have random PSAs, game reviews, and just plain neatly edited and soundtracked bumpers - in between commercials and programming. These extras really turned Toonami into a culture force instead of just another cartoon show.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RYUM7h4SVsA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7p_FjTeUzkI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Toonami essentially laid the groundwork for the success of Adult Swim.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm bringing this up because I just found ToonamiAftermath.com - a fan resurrection of all that was right during that period of television.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you too miss one Cartoon Network killed, give it a shot. Just don't give the people in the chatroom much faith. They're a bit... well...</div><div><br /></div><div>A mod called me a douche for calling out homophobia.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, at least there's ReBoot!</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-70108760726351324232011-03-22T18:41:00.005-04:002011-03-22T19:12:26.461-04:00It's BYOND meYeah, that didn't last long. <div id="entrybox"><p class="boxheadblk"></p><p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p></div><div>It's very frustrating, understanding how to script but not understanding the particular programming language. Time and time again, in reference files and tutorials, I find myself thinking "That... doesn't make any sense..." or "But <i>why</i> do I do that?" </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, if by some miracle I find out how to solve my problem, it's almost always something ridiculous. An answer that was just phrased in a fashion that I could understand. Generally, something that makes me say, "Well, why didn't they just<i> </i>say that in the first place?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe I'll take a look at Game Maker. Apparently they have a huge community there that's easy to interact with. (BYOND does in fact have a community of some sort, but it isn't very large. That and the forum isn't very inviting to me for some reason.)</div><div><br /></div><div>***</div><div><br /></div><div>What I'd really like to do right now is play with combat mechanics. I've been playing Darksiders lately, and on a whim visited Vigil Games' website to look at their job openings. They're the folks working on Warhammer 40k: Dark Millenium Online - and that alone can keep my eye on them like Sauron to the Ring. For their Darksiders franchise, they had a Senior Combat Designer posted, which got me thinking.</div><div><br /></div><div>That would be <i>ridiculous</i> amounts of fun. How can I do that?</div><div><br /></div><div>So I think I'd like to make a simple brawler, like a Streets of Rage - but with more dynamic fighting. Something more fluid and lifelike, less of the standard hit-it-til-it-dies. </div><div><br /></div><div>I find that my enjoyment of hit-it-til-it-dies is waning quickly. Perhaps I've just been spoiled on Hit-Point-less roleplaying games, like White Wolf and Savage Worlds.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-76610552275931591042011-03-07T21:10:00.006-05:002011-03-08T02:18:38.889-05:00Into the great BYOND<div id="entrybox"><p class="boxtext">The rant of Brenda Brathwaite <a href="http://bbrathwaite.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/built-on-a-foundation-of-code-game-edu-rant/">concerning the current state of new blood</a> in the game industry hit particularly close to home. I completely fit the mold of the student sent out into the world with design docs and meager skills, without having anything solid to contribute to a game development team. Due to the structure of my undergraduate program, those of us without a programming or heavy art background were forced into support position.<br /><br />Personally, this meant positions like 'project manager' or 'sound engineer' - two things I wasn't intending to focus on at all when I decided to go into game development. For the good of the many, though I did what I could - to the extent of a floundering undergrad's capabilities at least.</p><p class="boxtext">Fast forward a few years, and I am still not a published game dev. Even despite the frantic designer mind and incessant idea brain.</p><p class="boxtext">A few posts ago (which translates to about a year and a half) I was working on a game in Inform 7 - a natural language programming language for Interactive Fiction. It was an attempt to Make Something No Matter What, and it failed. The laptop that the game was being written on is out of order, and some very pressing things happened in my life around the same time. I suppose it is a good thing, however, since I'm not sure I quite have it in me to make that particular game <i>work</i> in that medium.</p><p class="boxtext">Since I don't have any formal training with a programming language, Inform 7's grammatical syntax made it very easy for me to leap into creating a game all on my own.</p><p class="boxtext">Which is probably why I'm having such difficulty with <a href="http://byond.com/">BYOND - or Build Your Own Net Dream.</a> Kotaku recently shared <a href="http://ca.kotaku.com/5768499/nestalgia-takes-the-mmo-beautifully-back-to-1987">NEStalgia</a>, which is like the MMOG baby of Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. I've played for awhile on the Zenithia server and rather like it. The program itself allows you to create your own worlds as well - for free - and seemed rather straightforward.</p><p class="boxtext">I'm stuck, but I know that it has a lot of potential for rapid prototyping of single- and multi-player games, so I'm going to do my darnedest to make it work. More to come later. In the meantime, I made this in Byond's icon editor in no time. Which gives me hope.</p><p class="boxtext"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuXaR3Qp9e0uDyBBeV6ksdKikeE4oLNQ4MqMvOxrpMm8x8wfAklaWk3C8NnJZPk0v0Ow4xewY0qo4xaygjLNDBO5NHuDJLhftMDuUmWJUycfcOXUg3lEzSgVnuZbWvVbeV2hWO/s200/wizard.gif" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 32px; height: 32px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581604775084574898" /></p><p class="boxsig"></p></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-21780043839312978072011-03-07T02:41:00.003-05:002011-03-07T02:58:19.890-05:00Once more unto the breech, dear friends, once more<div>After seeing so many of my friends having such a great time at GDC, I've reached the final stage of admittance.</div><div><br /></div><div>It has been far too long since I've been a part of the industry community, and I need to get back into that sphere. Now that I have stable employment and a tiny bit of free time, I can devote more energy back towards my initial goals. The main reasons for me leaving Michigan and moving to California in the first place.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of which is "attend GDC." So next year, that's exactly what I'm gonna do!</div><div><br /></div><div>(Disclaimer: unless it makes absolutely no freakin' monetary sense for me not to.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to get this post down and get the momentum going again, before I had a chance to tell myself "Ehhh I'll do it later."</div><div><br /></div><div>Next time: "Learning BYOND" or "Why the freaking hell can't I finish a game?"</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-74854778653683955262009-09-24T16:22:00.005-04:002009-09-24T17:03:56.094-04:00Weblit addiction: Eikasia<div id="entrybox">So a friend of mine is the author for the weblit, <a href="http://eighthcirclestudios.com/eikasia/">Eikasia</a>.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It's a serial fantasy story updated every friday. And it's <i>good. </i>The characters are fresh, the world is interesting, there's action, there's romance...<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p>You should read it. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Here's the synopsis from the site:</div><div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px; font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><blockquote>Nyx is an Ailuran, a feline shapeshifter, who chooses to live on the outskirts of life. Elmiryn is an unconventional warrior who seeks revenge. Both are cursed. When circumstance places them together to fight an enemy whose very existence is in question, they find uncommon allies, life-threatening adventures, and cerebral danger waiting.</blockquote></span></div><div id="entrybox">Yes. <i>Cerebral danger.</i> You read that right.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Give the story a chance. I ended up binging the entire thing in a couple nights, I liked it so much. If you do too, be sure to become a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eikasia-A-Free-Fantasy-Serial/131333536739">fan of it on Facebook</a>.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-34485342964578469592009-09-13T03:28:00.003-04:002009-09-13T03:53:26.773-04:00Interactive Fiction attempt #2 - Campus Arcana<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTJsWSJm0PQjHI4hiFSd94EZuOvOVniUivLjskmEoCltYUcVib8G3A1sXqpTt3IMm6a9cfHp3XbjojM-Gz-CYoeBr1mGgG4xPFZnPWweE8Lc8BEa6cqv6gx0lhu8U-aD8C6WL/s1600-h/IFpost1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwTJsWSJm0PQjHI4hiFSd94EZuOvOVniUivLjskmEoCltYUcVib8G3A1sXqpTt3IMm6a9cfHp3XbjojM-Gz-CYoeBr1mGgG4xPFZnPWweE8Lc8BEa6cqv6gx0lhu8U-aD8C6WL/s320/IFpost1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380855741514688370" /></a><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I have an idea for a story I'd like to write one day. At first it was going to be a novel, but then I found <a href="http://inform7.com/">Inform 7</a> and attempted to make it into an Interactive Fiction. This did not go well.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Now that I'm back on track for making progress with my life, I've decided to actually sit down and <i>finish a damn game</i>. For too long I've been telling people I'm "working on my portfolio," without much to show for it outside of networking. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Time to kill two birds with one boulder.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Rever, my pet storyworld, needs some loving. I need to do some hardcore worldbuilding. My plan is to release a tragic Interactive Fiction, where you step into the end of the world. 'The Fall' is the apocalypse that removes the Gods from play, as well as laying waste to the planet. In Campus Arcana, the player is a student studying for a test in a library when it happens. And they're doomed. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I'm aiming to make players want to be curious about the world, and to look for answers as to why the world is ending. If I like how Campus Arcana rolls out, I'd more than likely write other viewpoints - so players can piece together clues from different experiences.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Inform 7 lets me make a game without really learning a programming language. I'm not opposed to it, but right now I really want to have something I can say I Finished. That, and I'm still getting my writing to a worthy ability. Having to describe a lot of things you don't normally think about, while also attempting to guide a player, is a good exercise. </div><div id="entrybox"><br />I just hope I can avoid playing <a href="http://www.lacunastory.com/">Blue Lacuna</a> until I finish, because I think it would absorb my life.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-56038986510454172312009-09-10T20:16:00.005-04:002009-09-10T20:42:33.298-04:00Subjective Space<div id="entrybox">Expanding on what was written at the Artful Gamer on the subject, I wanted to bring up the difficulty of manipulating a player's perception of a spatial environment. It's a bit of a ramble, as I'm just now getting back into the hang of this writing thing.<br /><br />The first thing that comes to mind is how effective straight up text can be at describing a scene. Right now I'm writing an Interactive Fiction, and it's very apparent how a game needs to balance pacing and information in order to give the player the best experience. In such a personal medium like Interactive Fiction, the player automatically fills in a lot of holes with their own imagination. At least for me, this is akin to how pixelated graphics can still portray emotion and style. They only represent spatial positioning in the game, and allow for the player's subjective description to stay on the surface of their thoughts.<br /><br />Generally when something interesting is happening, there's a lot involved with it. Hearing a muffled 'whomph' come from outside can be somewhat alarming, but not as alarming as witnessing the van exploding with your own eyes. The fireball, the shrapnel, the bystanders being knocked back – these details all add to the severity of the scene. If we add more detail like limbs, car alarms, and a visual overlay of concussive feedback the situation turns towards distaste and even annoyance. It may be an extreme example, but I believe it illustrates the kind of balancing I'm referring to.<br /><br />'Efficiently detailed.' That's the phrase. Underwhelmed vs Overloaded.<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p><p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe marginheight="8" marginwidth="8" title="Blogs of the Round Table" src="http://blog.pjsattic.com/roundtable.php?rtMON=0909&bgcolor=FFFFFF" frameborder="0" height="64" scrolling="no" width="256">Please visit the Blogs of the Round Table's &amp;amp;lt;a title="Blogs of the Round Table" href="http://corvus.zakelro.com/round-table/"&amp;amp;gt;main hall&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt; for links to all entries.</iframe></p></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-73846684176286742252009-08-25T22:47:00.005-04:002009-08-25T23:10:09.444-04:00Faceless in Post Apocalyptic Fantasy<div id="entrybox">Much of my now scarce free time is spent participating in or even running table-top RPGs. In fact, as I write this, I have my newest character sitting in my lap while I wait for a new campaign to begin.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">This array of different situations has given me a frustrating irritation when it comes to running my single online game, Rever. Using Maptools is great, allowing for dice macros and gridmaps to be shared amongst players. As it turns out, this was the only campaign which actually <i>used</i> gridmaps. As a gamemaster, I have had a growing hunch that my game wasn't really as fun as it should be. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I asked a player of mine a couple questions to try and get an answer to this hunch.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">A week later, I realized why her favorite session was her favorite session. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I've been feeling obligated to use the gridmap software - to my own detriment. The best game sessions were when I never used the thing aside from showing a region map. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Next Sunday will be a test to see if this is in fact a correct deduction or if perhaps it's more of the faceless table that's causing a problem. I think I'm going to turn the map into a top-down view of a table and see how that goes...</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-36681762459878661052009-08-05T12:14:00.003-04:002009-08-05T12:52:09.018-04:00Relocation Complete<div id="entrybox">Hello everyone, from Monterey, California! Yes, yes, I have moved from dreary and depressed Michigan to weather-static yet economic panicky Cali. However, that I am now working for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and see the Pacific Ocean every day, I can assure you that my quality of life has skyrocketed. Sadly this is at the expense of time spent on the internet. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">And yes, in retrospect I probably could have mentioned that I might be having a hiatus. I opted to instead tell you about the plan afterwards, like a supervillain. That and I was distracted. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Distracted with what, you ask? Roleplaying! I am now in at least four separate pen-and-paper campaigns. Two of which, I'm GMing. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The first campaign I joined was <a href="http://www.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?line=intro">Exalted</a>. "Real ultimate power," I was told as I made my character. There's a high Martial Arts edge to the campaign that's being run, so the game itself is a Demigod-powered mix between Kung Fu Hustle and Pirates of the Caribbean. (It's set in the West.) </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox"> I opted to go Lunar, since it seemed more my style. A high temperance and conviction No Moon who wants to bring social and natural harmony to the West. His animal form is, basically, a Dire Komodo. Though since we're in the West, it can swim. I took some Charms I probably shouldn't have during character creation, so all my character is currently good for at the moment is acting as a soundboard for planning. Still no perfect dodge, and I only have Mantis Form to the form itself. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It's <i>really</i> super fun, though. I'm really glad I've been introduced to the game. The backstory and expanse of fiction is really, really impressive. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The second game I joined was <a href="http://www.swashbucklingadv.com/">7th Sea</a>. Holy jeez, I had not gamed until this system. Swashbuckling through-and-through, with a clever filtering of Europe's history into a great fantasy world. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">My character, Luca Caligari, is a nephew of the Prince Caligari, and one of his Lord's Hands. My virtue spread was very fortuitous for me, as I captain my own (gun)ship. Though now I'm little more than a taxi for the group I joined, it looks like my social and martial prowesses are coming into their own very quickly. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I even got a steampunk/Syrneth ring made up for me at Polycon, to wear during game.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The last two games are the ones I GM. Rever is my post-apocalyptic fantasy world that I use <a href="http://rptools.net/">Maptool</a> to run. I'm currently attempting to switch over from Fate 2.0 to Savage Worlds - last game we used the system and I really, really like it. Savage Worlds is indeed Fast, Furious, and Fun! Considering it's also only 10 bucks, it was well worth the purchase. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Then, finally, my Mutants and Masterminds game. It was meant to be a micro-series, while my roommate was unable to game on Sundays, but the players love it so much they want me to keep going with it. One of them even pulled me aside and thanked me, as he'd never written fiction for any of his characters before this one. Considering I think he's a great GM himself, this was quite a compliment. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The story is actually put together really well. Three separate plots all woven together, with a lot of extrapolation going on that allows me to easily expand the scope of the team's adventuring. It also helps that they all think we're heading for a <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThirtyXanatosPileup">30 Xanatos Pileup</a>. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Alas, the babbling has to come to an end now. Thanks for checking in, and let me know if you want me to expand on any of these next time.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-17213250874573524862009-04-20T08:55:00.012-04:002009-04-22T00:51:08.169-04:00Blogs of the Round Table: April '09<div id="entrybox"><em style="font-weight: bold;">Taking Games Seriously, Making Game Seriously</em><span style="font-weight: bold;">: This month’s Round Table challenges you to design a game that deals with a social issue that personally troubles you. </span><br /><br />While my topic of choice this month isn't exactly something of an inflammatory nature, it leads into a social issue that I believe a lot of people are avoiding discussion about.<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-size:85%;">Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe. "<br />-AutismSpeaks.org</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;font-family:Arial;font-size:12;" ></span></div><div id="entrybox"><br />Autism is, frankly, a genetic epidemic. It is a massive drain on both private and public resources, and individual mental health. Unfortuantely, most people still don't understand the Autistic Spectrum, unless they happened to come across a serendipitous primetime news hour, or an issue of Time that deals with the subject.<br /></div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">This post will be an attempt to design a game that would allow people to understand what it's like to be in the mind of a severely Autistic person. I feel that much more empathy is needed by the populace at large, before they'll be able to make informed decisions on the welfare of Autistic people as a whole. The mechanics will be made primarily on inferance and intent, instead of psychological accuracy. I'll be basing the experience off of the habits of my step-brother.</div><br /><div id="entrybox">I believe the best way to present Autism would be to have a particular Heads Up Display, on first person perspective.<br /><br />The feeling I want players to have is that of frustration, caused by logic-based chaos. Glancing at a row of books would have them automatically count themselves off with both visual and audio cues. Subtlety would work best, so imagine a thin line with a circled number at the end of it. If an object is out of place in the arrangement, the line would be an angry contrasting color, to annoy the player into making things properly organized.<br /><br />My step-brother can bang a plastic drinking glass on a surface in a perfect beat for hours, if his appetite allowed, while balancing random stuff on his head. His tactile sense is heightened and insatiable, compared to an average person's. These two factors will be represented as Hunger and Balance meters. Affected by those will be a Mood bar.<br /><br />If you were to perform touch-based actions, place things on your head, or go swimming, your Balance meter will increase. If you eat, your Hunger bar decreases. And yes, they're supposed to be opposite, for the sake of chaos.<br /><br />As your Mood bar suffers, so does the HUD. Your content semi-singing becomes more whiny or more bold and forced. More objects will be labeled as you see them, and they will be labeled with the most random pictures possible. Flipping the light switch will start producing pictures of dogs, clouds, and writing utensils. (He can also spend a long, long time flipping lights on and off.) Everything that should be producing pictures that group them together somehow, instead display things that have no logical connection.<br /><br />As your Mood decreases, so does that of the people around you. As they become more stressed, they start doing the same thing as objects you see. In your vain efforts to understand what they're feeling, they begin making absolutely no sense in what they say and what they're labeled as.<br /><br />It's meant to be more of a simulation, though attempting to play with the goal in mind of telling the NPCs around you something could work as well.<br /><br />The point behind it all is that I feel very, very afraid about the future of disabled people. What's going to happen if we can't provide for them? What's going to happen when their parents die, and they're delegated to the government to be taken care of? Will their treatment be up to standards of human rights? What happens if the government can't? What happens when the people who need to make decisions, have to do so even though they have no idea about the subject?<br /><br />Who's going to be there to prevent unethical scientific treatment? Who's going to be there to advise the parents after unfortunate genetic analysis of their newly-fertilized baby-to-be?<br /><br />Who's going to answer the question no one can safely ask?<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p><p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe marginheight="8" marginwidth="8" title="Blogs of the Round Table" src="http://blog.pjsattic.com/roundtable.php?rtMON=0409&bgcolor=FFFFFF" frameborder="0" height="64" scrolling="no" width="256">Please visit the Blogs of the Round Table's &amp;amp;lt;a title="Blogs of the Round Table" href="http://corvus.zakelro.com/round-table/"&amp;amp;gt;main hall&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt; for links to all entries.</iframe><br /></p></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-73360936377715411922009-04-17T01:41:00.004-04:002009-04-17T01:48:38.665-04:00Uzumaki Prototyping<div id="entrybox">Had great fun tonight, making progress with the board design for the Uzumaki game. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox"><br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidpSuS96Y3iJgoZRDgpJgYVDQzjkX_lywHgkAgz8zlCw2SB5gW5GAa19U7vG1_6cFR9I7hPGfKSsHyq_HAv4af6bD0U7rATESC28-0dblyeWolSwzfa8voFX8sv-agjAIU0kdC/s320/1edit400.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 207px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325531668866356834" /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">Over the next few days I'll be going through the Manga, again, making World and Story cards, with plenty of different effects to test out. For example, a Story card from Chapter 3, "The Scar," could read: "Spin movement - all other characters move towards yours that many spaces, using shortcuts if possible."<br /><br />Oh, that's another thing. I'm throwing out dradels for a few very good reasons. </div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">1. No dradels = less cost</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">2. No dradels = no losing said dradels</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">3. Using the spinner instead will further reiterate the influence of Dragon Pond on the characters, and the player's influence on Dragon Pond.</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">Brilliant, really. Wish I was the one to think of it...</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-13476901547219035782009-04-10T16:58:00.021-04:002009-04-17T01:50:37.756-04:00Resort vs. Sandbox MMOG Design Part 1 - Immersion<span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As my adventures in Darkfall continue, so does the analyzing of its design concepts. This post was actually started several days ago, and has been slowly germinating ever since. Now it's just too big for its pot, so I'll be splitting it into two parts. Part 1 will v</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; "><span><span style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">enture into the systems which make players attempt to have fun, in Darkfall Online and World of Warcraft. </span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Part 2 will contrast the risk and reward circuits between </span></span></span><span><span style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">both games.</span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><br /><br />Despite Aventurine's self-destructive attitude towards its community, they are in fact continuing to make Darkfall Online a functioning game. Cities finally have gates to go with their gatehouses. They've balanced out more pseudo-exploits that take advantage of the macro mindset. More people have successfully purchased it. However, they still don't give warning before server restarts, even though players can lose their mounts or rafts when that happens. They say they're working on a fix for that, but in the meantime they give the cold shoulder to unfortunate players. Apparently, a clan managed to bring the entire server down just by building a guard tower, which was glitched to the point it attacked its makers. Two steps forward, one step backward, apparently.<br /><br />They may not know what they're doing on a Public Relations level, but Aventurine did pretty well for themselves by designing a world system that empowers its playerbase to make their own fun. Experienced players are self-guided in their playspace, as they don't need missions or quests in order to procure a productive experience. Instead, other players and player-driven situations provide opportunities.<br /><br />Darkfall, simply stated, relies heavily on players being responsible for their own immersion. <div><br /></div><div>A game like World of Warcraft, however, makes the player into a tourist. They're shuffled from one location to the next activity, towards bigger and cooler locations, to more awesome drinks and fireworks. They can give themselves up, and go with the flow. The sweet, turn-off-your-brain river of repetition and reward.<br /><br />Residents of Agon are left to their own devices, with little guidance outside of other players. They become engaged beyond the aesthetics and simple mechanics, quickly joining the rain of pebbles descending on the pond, each attempting to push back the waves from enemy players. In Darkfall, even a newbie can help influence the world stage, if they're at the right spot at the right time. That's pretty exhilirating. </div><div><br /></div><div>For example, you start off in one of the racial starting cities - one of three surrounding fortresses per race Capitol. Quickly getting ordered to kill goblins, you run out with your newbie weapon and start the difficult fight, slowly collecting crappy armor as you watch your skill go up with the weapon. Passing by the city is a small patrol of a large clan, who you strike up a conversation with. Impressed with your outlook, they give you a mount so you can follow them to their home city. Along the way, you manage to spot a large enemy force stalking your party, and you alert your new allies. They quickly alert their clan on Ventrilo, and set up an ambush. </div><div><br /></div><div>Because of you, 10 players lost everything on their characters. And it's your first day.<br /><br />By limiting the game-driven influence on a player, they allow the user to take a larger ownership - and investment - in the game experience itself. </div><div><br /></div><div>Contrast this with something like World of Warcraft, which is designed around holding the player's hand as their character simply follows the giant glowing exclamation marks to their next activity. Naturally more options become available to a player later on the game, concerning what they want to do in Azeroth, just as return visitors know what rides to attend or avoid when they go to Disneyworld.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This isn't inherently bad design, as WoW's success can attest. I do wonder, however, if people in Azeroth become more mesmerized than immersed in the world. I've heard somewhere that the human brain easily goes into auto-pilot when in a sensory-collection mode, as if in a grocery store. </div><div><br /></div><div>Due to the ever-changing conditions that lie just under the surface of Darkfall, though, I find myself almost always engaged on a higher level.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-35783699409917150862009-03-19T23:11:00.011-04:002009-03-20T12:20:29.474-04:00State of Darkfall Online<div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The steady fall of Ultima Online has taken with it the promised land of persistent, hardcore PvP. Nearly all MMOGs since have focused on the EverQuest/MUD-based model of gameplay. By simplifying and streamlining those theories, World of Warcraft introduced a huge audience to the genre. These 'carebears' ended up marginalizing the players out there who desired something more out of an MMOG since every company wanted to take a slice of Blizzard's multi-million-dollar-per-month cake.<br /></div><span><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Being 'gamers first,' and not businessfolk, Athens-based indie company Aventurine has struggled through nearly a decade of development. Often whispered as Ultima Online's 'spiritual successor,' Darkfall would reintroduce the concepts of risk, danger, and control to the MMOG playbook. Full loot, first-person style combat, and character skill-based stats had the hopeful drooling and the naysayers crying, "Vaporware!"<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Finally, late last year, Darkfall entered its Closed Beta. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMzmKFbiWQ4">Not everyone was let in</a>, but I was fortunate enough to participate. While the world of Agon had its glitches, its potential was easy to see. Players didn't have levels, so there was no "you have to be this old to ride the mount" mechanic. Someone could come in game, get geared up by a friend, and start fighting other players. If they really wanted to, at least.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>At the end of February, Darkfall was 'launched' in an absolutely terrible fashion. A sequence of hoops was created, and at the end was a pre-order which would allow beta-testers to have a head start. At least, that was the plan.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>The Account Management that Aventurine used was inadequate for the demand, on top of ISP issues preventing a great deal of people from even seeing the webpage properly to begin with. Some Accounts which were made - like mine - were bugged from the beginning to never work. Others would only pretend to pre-order the game, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_05vPCO58o">instead failing utterly</a>.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Unsurprisingly, the Account Management link that was given out to the Beta Testers as a whole was quickly posted to the forums. Aventurine was too busy trying to get its game launched to even apologize properly (read: give them Accounts) to the beta testers left high and dry. While they've since fixed Account Management and everyone who wants an Account can make one, not everyone who wants to purchase the game can, at the moment. There's just not enough servers for the demand.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>This is all beside mechanics which had yet to be fully balanced while still in Beta. Mounted combat was given a huge boon right before 'launch,' but refinement of the new damage dealt had yet to occur. Sieges - the practice of, not neccessarily including Warhulks and Cannons - were far too rare to have given much accurate feedback. The servers would still shut down for maintenance at the drop of a hat, with no warning, essentially destroying any travel progress one has made along with their mount. <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>However, those who considered themselves fortunate enough to have taken their chance at purchasing Darkfall soon found intense sync issues once back in-game. At its peak, the most profitable thing to do was fish for lobster, since a player was unable to react to the goblins blinking around them.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>While the syncing was being worked on, Aventurine prevented new purchases of the game. There was a new issue, with the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNzUBBuqQ2I">queue</a> to enter the game growing longer and longer. Players were leaving their clients on while they went to work, and were still waiting for a play slot when they returned home. In order to allow people to play Darkfall from any browser, the <a href="http://kzuri.com/">Darkfall Simulator</a> was made - essentially a few images on a web-page showing Darkfall's unmoving queue. In essence, people were paying to wait to play an Open Beta version of Darkfall. <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>For those still in-game, lag is still a major issue when large groups gather. Though outside of that, I'm reassured that Darkfall is very enjoyable for those players who love skirmish-sized combat, as well as having a sense of pride for building a city. <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It bears clarification: the players in-game are a fraction of those who want to be. The community is exceedingly frustrated with Aventurine. I clearly remember stating back in Beta that I would pay the subscription just to sight-see, since Darkfall's settings could be so beautiful. There were times I could just sit down on a cliff and watch the clouds go by. That charm is still there, but its being eclipsed by Aventurine's projected incompetance more and more. <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>It's harsh to phrase it that way, and I agree. If you think I'm overdoing it, you should visit Darkfall's forums. At least I have compassion. I think what Aventurine has done is spectacular, and they have the making of one of the 'essential' MMOGs. However, the cold shoulder that the Darkfall community feels from Aventurine only amplifies the game's shortcomings, and further threatens its longevity. <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>As can be expected, a lot of players and players-to-be are wondering about the true state of Aventurine's finances. It's not a huge step of logic to consider that the company was forced, one way or another, to launch before the game was ready in order to start some sort of cash flow.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Despite a stumble out of the starting gate, Aventurine and Darkfall can still rejoin the pack. There is an obviously neglected niche, which Darkfall (mostly) covers. Aesthetic and social details, which are outvoted by the hardcore PvP types, need to be addressed as soon as mechanics are balanced well. Otherwise, Agon will be a simulation instead of a world.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Even though the community is highly dedicated to Darkfall, 'forumfall' is quite simply too toxic to stand. Players are juggling the theories of arrogance, incompetence, and apathy in order to cope with Aventurine's vague and shallow-looking Public Relations. The company's image needs more than a pinata saying, "There will be ample compensation for any missed game-time." <br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>I believe that offering up some transparency into the operations of Aventurine would go a long, long way. Several studios have successfully used developer video-diaries and mini-documentaries to help with an irritable playerbase. The outspoken players may tend to be fickle and crude but they're actually very forgiving. And patient, too.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>In short, Darkfall is having trouble with its eggshell. Aventurine seems to be an aloof parent doing the best it can. The hatchling isn't exactly strong enough for the real world quite yet, but now that it's here the only option is to nurture it. The beast has a strong heart, and as long as Aventurine can keep itself alive I think Darkfall can grow out of its emaciated and bewildered state into a fire-breathing contender.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px; font-size:13px;"></span><div id="entrybox"><br /></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-77856252608899148872009-03-19T08:49:00.006-04:002009-03-19T12:22:53.309-04:00BoRT: March 09 - January Introspection<div id="entrybox"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Blogs of the Round Table </span>is a monthly extravaganza of talent orchestrated by Corvus Elrod of <a href="http://corvus.zakelro.com/">Man Bytes Blog</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">If you submitted a post to either the January or February topics, feel free to write about the process you underwent in converting literary themes into gameplay. Did you struggle with anything in particular? Are you satisfied that your game design(s) communicated what you intended? Have subsequent comments or idea made you wish you could go back and start he process over? And how much does your design say about you and your own interpretation of the themes of the source material? </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Back in January I <a href="http://nordicninja.blogspot.com/2009/01/bort-jan-09.html">transformed</a></span> Junji Ito's manga, Uzumaki, into a board game.<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p>Well, to be more accurate I was more of a hypnotized conduit.<br /><br />The idea, for the most part, unwound itself into the new medium with little fuss. It was as if I were spinning thread, simply taking from the source and letting it form into something new. As usual, for me, posing the situation to a creative friend (or two) greased the wheels.<br /><br />Due to how readily the process occurred, I'm not exactly about to attribute it to talent. It felt more like serendipity, as if I was fortunate to witness a thematic metamorphosis. The source was prime for being used in such an interactive way - the horror of Uzumaki relies on imagery and dread instead of endangered anxiety. As such, the art is naturally transferable. What was more difficult - and still not perfected despite my confidence - is the matching of plot and gameplay pacing.<br /><br />I don't believe that my interpretation of the manga has detracted from the source or has even been distracted from it. It may very well be that my adoration is blinding me, as I willingly admit I can often become a zealot for my favorite fictions.<br /><br />Nonetheless! I actually think this board game would reinforce the monomania of Uzumaki. It would allow players to further explore the tendrils of its icon into the physical. With some work on pacing, the metaphorical could also be cracked.<br /><br />I intend to do it, too.<p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe marginheight="8" marginwidth="8" title="Round Table" src="http://blog.pjsattic.com/roundtable.php?rtMON=0309&bgcolor=bcd8ff" scrolling="no" width="256" frameborder="0" height="64">Please visit the Round Table's &amp;amp;lt;a title="Round Table Main Hall" href="http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/"&amp;amp;gt;Main Hall&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt; for links to all entries.</iframe></p>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-44377801013108131192009-03-14T01:51:00.005-04:002009-03-14T02:08:35.484-04:00Enter Raptor Valley<div id="entrybox">So Titan Quest is fun, but its mod creation tools are almost as much. Lavinia is there for scale.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox"><img src="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh165/NordicNinja/Misc/rvmarsh1.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 475px; height: 365px;" alt="" border="0" /><p class="boxsig"></p></div><div id="entrybox">A little peek into the transition area approaching the marsh of my level. I'm calling it Raptor Valley, in the hopes that later on I'll be able to replace the main player-character model with one of the 'Raptor' models. Then, I'm hoping to have a branching storyline, using the same map progressing through time - instead of progressing through different areas altogether. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Combat will be negligent, amazingly enough, and will be more about exploration and world interaction. Depending on certain factors when a level ends, the world will change accordingly. Kill too much prey, for instance, and you'll quickly die of starvation. Hunt too many humans, and they'll start hunting you back.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">At least, I hope I can do all of this.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-74598267238217883622009-03-10T00:22:00.009-04:002009-03-10T02:36:23.083-04:00RE 5, Racism, Poverty<div id="entrybox">Yesterday I reached a threshold with this Resident Evil 5 discussion on race. I'm extremely frustrated that everyone is talking about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH5TnjXXPYg">RE5's racist imagery</a>, and essentially ignoring what I'm calling 'perpetuation factors' of African stereotypes. And yes, the trailer itself does have racist imagery, and being able to see it doesn't make you a racist.<br /></div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The Game Overthinker said it really well in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw8DkSmJDOg">his take on the RE5 issue</a>. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">[Africa is] "...a region that's often scary enough what with all the wild animals, crippling poverty, near-constant civil wars, and an omnipresence of AIDS so thick that the local warlord's roving death squads can cut it with their machetes."</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I highly recommend listening to it, as it's an essential side of the discussion. Here's <a href="http://www.bingegamer.net/2008/opinion-resident-evil-5-isnt-racist-you-are/">another article</a> which further highlights the viewpoint of privileged youth. Here's a <a href="http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/10/newsweeks-ngai-croal-on-the-resident-evil-5-trailer-this-imagery-has-a-history/">good interview</a> with N'Gai Croal (may he consult in peace) where he clarifies his take on the situation.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">So yes. Capcom messed up by taking a baseball bat to the anthill instead of a decidedly more tactful approach. Even though the anthill is gone, all the critters are now <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">everywhere</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">really mad</span>. (It's not a perfect analogy, but I think it's close enough.)</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Now, a lot of folks are arguing here and there that gamers as a whole need to start taking this discussion seriously, if games and games journalism are ever going to be taken seriously as a whole. I think that means we need to broaden the conversation from just racist imagery, to include perceptions of Africa. <br /><br />Let me make this clear: I'm not saying that racism and understanding racist imagery is not important, or any less important. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It's a good idea to teach people that yes, a white guy shooting only black people appears racist, and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">this is why.</span> I also think it's a good idea to teach people that yes, many parts of Africa do in fact brutally kill each other on a regular basis, and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">this is why.</span> (Tribal law, religious tradition/superstition, lack of education, suppressing economic factors, etc.)</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">And, naturally, not all of Africa is like that. There is in fact some good in Africa. Probably. Somewhere. I would expect. I hope. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I'm not an expert on African history or culture, otherwise I'd feel much more comfortable going into the points I brought up. I'll see if I can cobble a companion post together, soon.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">If you're still apathetic on why all this matters, or vehemently think it <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">doesn't</span>, than I invite you to take a look at the following two links, courtesy of Brinstar's fantastic blog: <a href="http://www.acidforblood.net/">Acid for Blood</a>.</div><div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; "><a href="http://brown-betty.livejournal.com/305643.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A primer on privilege: what it is and what it isn't</span></a></span></div><div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://blog.shrub.com/archives/tekanji/2006-03-08_146">“Check my what?” On privilege and what we can do about it</a></span></span></span></span></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-51940797947975848892009-03-08T01:51:00.002-05:002009-03-08T03:02:05.305-04:00Fun with Blender<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh165/NordicNinja/Misc/saurianhead1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 688px; height: 415px;" src="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh165/NordicNinja/Misc/saurianhead1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div id="entrybox">Back in college I had an Independant Study to make a small gallery of creatures, in Blender. I enjoyed my time with the open-source software greatly, and didn't realize how much I missed it. </div><div id="entrybox">For some reason, last week, I had a sudden urge to model my trusted roleplaying character, Arcadian. He's a massive Lizardman - like a scaled Brock Samson without the lust. I decided to start with his head, to shake the rust off. The above picture is version 2, which is looking <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">much</span> better than the first.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Not that that says much. The goal is to mix an Iguana with a Tyrannosaur with a Crocodile. I don't think I've screwed myself up quite yet, but it's early in the little project and I have full convidence in my abilities.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I kept the jaws apart, because I may want to animate it opening and closing later on and didn't want to deal with cutting into the model. But apparently that's actually really easy to do in Blender (imagine that!) so there was nothing to be worried about. Oh well.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-84529600554740846202009-03-05T22:51:00.006-05:002009-03-06T00:22:56.827-05:00How not to release a MMORPFPRTSG<div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[The following is mostly casual complaining with a bit of information and opinion thrown in. Hey, at least I'm posting again!]</span></div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">In case you hadn't notice, <a href="http://www.darkfallonline.com/">Darkfall</a> was released on February 25th after several weeks of extensive Beta testing, of which I was a part. Now that Aventurine has taken the liberty of denying me access to something I enjoy, I find I have time to do other things with my life again. So thank you, Aventurine, for sucking really hard at such a convenient time.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Anyway, it all started a few days before the star-crossed released date, when Aventurine figured out that a "large network provider in the US is facing a serious network issue and this is affecting an account management service we're using. As a result account creation and pre-ordering are timing out."</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It's a hunch, but I think it was Comcast. They're prone to sucking.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">On Sunday, February 22nd, we were given this update on the ISP issues:</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">"Two major ISPs, one in Europe, the other in the US are cooperating on the issue we've been facing. We've been supporting them, and they've been working around the clock. The issue has been escalated as far as it can go, and we believe it's just a matter of time before it's solved. The minute it's done we'll likely launch the pre-orders." </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">February 23rd, and the pre-order issue was apparently solved. Personally, this is when I made my account. What I didn't learn until yesterday, however, was that the majority of the accounts made on that day were bugged, and wouldn't nor ever would save information it needed for pre-ordering. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">As can be expected, all pre-orders were sold out long before launch day. On that day, the 'retail' version sold out incredibly fast. A great deal of the beta-testing community, however, was still out in the cold. This is a huge group of players who stuck with the game for the better part of a decade, who believed that it would in fact <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">not</span> be vaporware, despite the majority opinion on the matter. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It seems as though Aventurine has simply decided to let serendipity decide who gets to purchase the game and play. For awhile there, people were spamming their F5 keys, refreshing the Account page, in the hopes that the server would wake out if its stupor long enough to let them pass. Then Aventurine went and got themselves some anti-multi-session software or something to alleviate the stress and auto-temp-ban the folks trying to give them money.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Why didn't they just email all the beta testers personalized links to purchase the game? Surely that would have been easier on... well... everyone.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">It's been over a week since Darkfall launch, and I still haven't been able to buy the game. There is no 'retail box' that needs to be purchased. Are they using pen-and-paper to process accounts? </div><div id="entrybox">So, ultimately, there were people playing the game. Not a lot of people, but enough. Apparently the experience was like Beta Testing II: The Reckoning. A horribly laggy, unsyncable sequel to a a great college film. I don't quite understand how Aventurine went from having a stable game with lots of beta testers, to an unstable game with few beta testers, in such a short amount of time, without patching anything. I didn't particularly care at the time though, due to the large spite-filled tumor that started colonizing my brain.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I cannot <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">wait</span> to read the Post-Partum on this one! Dear Gamasutra, send someone to Greece to stare impatiently at Aventurine until someone talks. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Am I being too hard on Aventurine, an underdog developer trying to fill Ultima Online's big shoes? Maybe, but there's a couple pretty unacceptable things going on. Even now, Darkfall's servers still crash without warning on a semi-regular basis. Anyone using a mount, at the time, loses it. The moons of Darkfall's world can be seen through the horizon when you're in higher elevations. The front page of Darkfall's website hasn't been updated since before Beta started. The world is large and mostly barren of wildlife - despite having beautiful landscapes for them to inhabit.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">This is something Aventurine did very well, that I must commend them for. It adds to my patience with them greatly. Darkfall has the most beautiful god damn sky I've ever seen in a video game. I am completely ready to pay them money to let me sit and watch their virtual clouds go by. That is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">genius</span> art design right there.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">What else would placate me? I don't even mind not playing at this point. I've got enough things to keep me busy. First, I'd stop calling this a 'launch' and admit that things went wrong beyond just the Account Management software. Level with the community on what exactly is being worked on and why, and what the timeline is for further development of the game - as opposed to its infrastructure.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Expect me to go into a much more intelligent consultation on Darkfall's mechanics and design, soon.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Did you get burned by Darkfall's release? Did I skim over anything crucial? Please comment and correct!</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-63037973670902052012009-02-04T20:50:00.004-05:002009-02-04T20:59:47.245-05:00The Upper Hand<div id="entrybox"><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22165">Stardock is growing.</a> They're investing $900,000 in an expansion to their Plymouth, Mi headquarters. <br /><br />This is a super important really awesome thing for Michigan. Getting game studios to open up shop here would be a very strong sign of economic recovery, I think. It's not like the state is hemorrhaging talent because they can't find jobs here, or anything of the sort.<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p><p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-76837769604490687812009-02-03T08:20:00.006-05:002009-02-03T21:12:37.954-05:00Combat AuthorshipOne of the ideas that came shooting out of my small maelstrom of designing, last month, is already getting a couple folks excited. Like a spark to a powder keg, Jane McGonigal's <a href="http://twitter.com/avantgame/status/1162285111">Tweet</a> about a book-writing game sent my imagination into overdrive. The resulting banter in and out of the public eye helped fuel my brain-explosion.<br /><br />The biggest problem that I have with writing - or really, being productive in general - is my inability to focus on doing one thing for long periods of time without becoming distracted. I continually fail to clean my room or finish my laundry because it's just not very interesting. To solve this conundrum, at least for writing, I'm proposing the notion to make it much more of an edge-of-your-seat affair.<br /><br />Many people rightfully bring up National Novel Writing Month (<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>) when discussing new ways of writing. However, even though NaNoWriMo is technically a game in my eyes (at least in the same way as a marathon is) it doesn't have the mechanics I personally need to be productive. The only metaphor I can come up with is that of an engine; I need focus engagement for fuel, and momentum facilitation for the road. Something that goes beyond the driver and passengers all using their feet, as community can easily land somewhere between unreliable and dead weight. <br /><br />Basically, the idea is to add a captivating power struggle to act of creative writing. The concept that stuck in my head most fervently was a split-screen, player-vs-player (or rather, author-vs-author) assault between their two word processors. As each author writes out their drafts, the game would keep track of the syllables being used, the average length of words, perhaps even more difficult concepts like ease of reading. It would translate these into attacks on their opposing document.<div><br />The margins of the player's workspace would have an ablative armor, which followed its relative text as the author continued to type. This would be the primary way of damage control, although mechanics based on particular writing styles could come into play to buff the document's resistance to damage. If a document does take some hits, it just starts losing random letters. I wouldn't want people to have to re-write huge chunks of their drafts, after all.<br /><br /><img src="http://content1.clipmarks.com/image_cache/wobert13/512/8276F24A-4CDB-47C7-8CC7-C7B63B68F4FA.gif" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 107px; height: 80px;" border="0" alt="" />The combat aesthetic is something I'm undecided on, though I do have some definite forerunners. My first idea was that of arbitrary weapons being summoned out of thin air and blasted at your opponant, like those incredibly entertaining gifs.<div><br /></div><div>Another option could be to have two opposing armies along the bottom of the screen, being reinforced based on your productivity. It would be equally minimalist as the previous suggestion - perhaps Patapon like in its graphic style? </div><div><br /></div><div>A third could be a sci-fi ship-to-ship combat, with your diction forging turrets and torpedo bays and lance batteries which blast the crap out of each other at close range. Since I'm a huge 40k fan, I can very easily see this.</div><div><br /></div><div>I do not have much else down at the moment, but it still seems promising to some degree. Hopefully keeping community a part of this kind of game will help foster creativity. Bonus rounds could pit the two authors into casual exercises of creative writing, such as having two of their current characters have a brief, meaningless conversation about an arbitrary topic. Checkpoints could allow you to take a moment, finish your thought, maybe plan ahead a little, and also look over your opponant's work for them.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm very curious to see if authors playing this for fun <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">and</span> productivity will be as petty as gamers can be in first person shooters, quitting the game instead of falling behind in 'points.'</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">EDIT: </span>I hopped into #nanowrimo, and they told me about <a href="http://lab.drwicked.com/writeordie.html">Write or Die</a>. It's a nifty little program that warns and punishes you for not writing. Personally, I find this notion extremely stressing, and when it comes to writing novels I don't think it's something that would be particularly effective for me. Blog posts, on the other hand, and smaller pieces, will probably benefit greatly from it. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">/EDIT</span></div><div><br /></div><div>So, what do you guys think? I wonder if this would be something good to continue to blog about, if enough interest arises. I know I'm going to need help prototyping this thing, because right now I'm thinking that the easiest way to do so would be to make it into a math-based version of the idea and go from there. And just for clarification, the 'competitive' part in this should be considered very light-hearted, and far more closer to 'co-op.' </div><div><br /></div><div>I for one definitely have a novel I'd like to pump out using this thing, if it ends up being useful. </div></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-80957918339277361182009-01-27T18:33:00.022-05:002009-01-31T14:04:37.719-05:00BoRT #2, Jan '09 - The Black Cat<div id="entrybox">We're being given another round for this month's Blogs of the Round Table prompt. Which is good, because there have been some amazing suggestions by its participants. I highly recommend clicking randomly once you reach the drop-down.<br /></div><div id="entrybox"><br />I'm going to go ahead with the game that preceded the short story, 'The Black Cat.'</div><img src="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh165/NordicNinja/Misc/TheBlackCatposter.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 292px; height: 336px;" alt="" border="0" /><div id="entrybox"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">As with my previous post, the game will deal with spoilers in the story.</span></div><div id="entrybox"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>One of the most prominent factors in 'The Black Cat' is the narrator's ability to observe his mind and body turning against him. Not only that, but he eventually gives in, and embraces the damned being he's become. Naturally, that's one of the key ingredients to the game.</div><div id="entrybox"><br />I imagine a first-person vantage point, to really put the player into the narrator's viewpoint. (The Source engine would be more than enough.) During transitions and episodes of mental dissent, having a narrative voice-over should help provide the immersion I'm looking for. Or at least, the foundation for it.</div><div id="entrybox"><br />I don't think the game should take all that very long to play. In the beginning, as can be expected, you learn how to interact with the world. However, this is also a great time to provide backstory. (In retrospect, much like what Fallout 3 did.) For instance, the narrator speaks of how Pluto, the titular cat, would follow along everywhere as his constant companion. Pluto would even try to walk through the city at his side. To build upon the setting, there would be a moment where the character finds himself outside his house one morning, to discover that Pluto has escaped and is running out to join him. The player must then simply scoop up the cat, and return him to the house, to proceed to the next part of the story.<br /><br />During these simple exercises, however, a lot of minor details can be used. In the above example, when the player picks the cat up, a simple animation of the cat resting in his arms will be just at the bottom of the screen. When you approach the house, the character's free hand can automatically pet and scratch the back of Pluto's head, which in turn elicits a loud, obviously playful, and loving purr from the animal.</div><div id="entrybox"><br />To drive home the point that Pluto is inseparably fond of the player-character, every brief 'tutorial' segment would have the cat in a blatantly noticeable, attention-grabbing position. Just as important, Pluto should seem content and happy with this arrangement, as should the character.<br /><br />In 'The Black Cat,' Poe makes the narrator's wife second-string to Pluto. Despite being very complimentary to the narrator, that's all she really is. Her introduction should reflect how much of a side note she is, to the character. All that needs to be done is to have her mention, teasingly, about the superstitious connection between black cats and witches. A friendly banter, culminating in a verbal pat-on-the-head from the player-character. Then she'll return to tending to the various pets, and the player-character will look down to Pluto and give him a playful scritch along the neck.</div><div id="entrybox"><br />Once the player becomes infected with the Demon of Intemperance, it will be time to get into the real horror of the game. By this time, the player should have a definite attachment to Pluto, so the character's desire to be with his cat should hopefully be easily transferred to the player. Coming home one night, inebriated and swimming through a visual filter of blurs, Pluto will avoid the player in the most annoying way possible. Sitting just close enough to appear catchable, then running just fast enough to avoid capture, then climbing high enough to further elude the player's efforts.</div><div id="entrybox"><br />Eventually, after more than likely knocking several things over trying to escape the player, Pluto will slow down enough to be caught. The cat will be hoisted by the throat in front of the camera, gurgling a screech as its eyes go wide with fear. (Personally, I find this sight equally frightening.) Drops of blood will form as the claws dig into the hand. Then, the cat will be lowered, and the screen will fade to black. The rapid beating of a heart should be very noticable, without anything on the screen.<br /><br /><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/10336601_98f664c11e_m.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 182px;" border="0" alt="" /></div><div id="entrybox">I need to make a note about this scene. When first considering this post, I thought about the shock value of actually seeing the pen-knife referenced in the short story, doing its evil work. I then realized that 'The Black Cat' isn't really about violence. It's more about self-destruction. Besides, insinuated violence can affect the player more, when the moment is left to their imagination.<br /><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">A secondary 'point' of the game could (and probably should) be the dangers of alcohol. Making yourself a drink will improve your state-of-mind, which I picture as a status gauge similar to Indigo Prophecy's. However, the longer you go between drinks, the more depressed you become. It's a vicious cycle, and one that directs you towards the climax.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_cQGBfVPp-Y39bOCQawCAmq2jTa3i-BytqbiG5QYf4U9hGdjNIIoKj9Xw0C541QkRrBeUzj9nCDthRrQ0C7qV-ygwcMhbRnOLynOhB1eVd-Un0Ks4ZwpmR_WH9YuPMjnaIatC/s320/ipstatuspic.JPG" style="text-align: left;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 140px; " border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297514034655468194" />Chasing will be a central challenge of the game. From the baby's candy ease in the tutorial, to the mechanically impossible later in the game, these moments will show the intensity of the narrator's emotions. He loves Pluto. He ends up hating Pluto. He replaces Pluto. He ends up <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">dreading</span> the new cat. The player-character will ultimately have to run from the cat, as it chases you merrily, due to the massive emotional trauma it deals you whenever its in range.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Once your emotional state reaches a certain level, the player loses control as the character goes into a rage. It will do everything in its power to either harm the cat, or leave the house. The character's fast heartbeat will echo loudly. As the game progresses, it becomes easier and easier to rage. Naturally, events will follow those of the book, with added context to the scenes. Keeping to Poe's vague descriptions would feel far too sterile.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I imagine the murder of the narrator's wife to be dramatic, but over with very quickly. The player-character randomly stumbles, and sees the cat take off. Rage takes over. The camera looks over to a nearby axe, and automatically moves the character to it. He'll pick it up, and be unable to drop it. The player regains control, and will naturally turn around. The wife will be there, and will attempt to calm down the narrator while grabbing for the axe.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The rage will return, and with one quick swing, down goes the wife.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The voice-over will demand that the cat join her. While the player walks around the house looking for it, bloody axe in hand and vision tainted red, an internal monologue will explain its plans to wall-up his wife's corpse and avoid imprisonment. Once this finishes, which will be connected to searching every area of the house, the scene will end. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">After the next fade in, the narrator will be sitting in his house, nursing a small drink, wondering to himself about his good fortune that the cat ended up running away for good, as it hasn't returned for several days. A knock at the door will herald a party of policemen, and as they perform a search of the house the character's heartbeat will be subtle and calm.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">When the search ends, the character's internal monologue will admit its growing pride, and the fateful arrogance will take over. The ending moments would be a scripted event, with the tapping of the wall and resulting flight across the cellar. The scream needs to be absolutely panic-inducing. A noise that is otherworldly, and as such fills the player themselves with anxiety. The narrator will back away, glancing at the fear-frozen faces of the officers, before stopping to watch them tear down the masonry.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">The camera zooms in, as his wife's seemingly undead body falls partly out of the wall. Then, climbing up onto her head, the emaciated and demonic-looking form of The Black Cat will appear. The character's pounding heartbeat will follow the player into the rolling credits.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="64" width="256" marginheight="8" marginwidth="8" scrolling="no" title="Round Table" src="http://blog.pjsattic.com/roundtable.php?rtMON=0109&bgcolor=bcd8ff"></iframe><br /></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-54976013879020147952009-01-16T16:29:00.008-05:002009-01-17T12:15:05.262-05:00BoRT: Jan '09 - Uzumaki the Board Game<div id="entrybox">I figure that the new year would be a good time for me to join in on the fantastic <a href="http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/">Blogs of the Round Table</a> series over at <a href="http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/">Man Bytes Blog</a>.<br /><p class="boxsig"></p>This month, we're <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Putting the Game Before the book. </span>The question is asked, "What would your favorite piece of literature look like if it had been created as a game <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">first?</span>" </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">Initially I considered Raptor Red, as it's one of my favorite books. That, however, would essentially be a Sim along the lines of Lion or Wolf. Passing over The Giver, I began thinking of Poe. For a time I was desigining something for <a href="http://poestories.com/read/blackcat">The Black Cat</a> - a maddening, Noir-esque piece where you control a hulking madman with an axe as he destroys his house hunting down his taunting pet.</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">I at long last settled on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzumaki">Uzumaki</a>. It's a manga by Junji Ito, set very firmly in the horror genre. In english, the title translates to "spiral." This may not seem very scary at first, but Uzumaki is a fiction powered by monomania. Spirals are taken to the extreme and become instruments of insanity. Snail shells, fingerprints, suspension springs, hurricanes - anything is fair game. Once the insanity strikes, death is generally not far behind. <br /><br />Ultimately, like a maelstrom, there is a point of no return, where you can no longer escape from your doom. The curse is just too strong to flee. I don't know about you, but Inescapible Doom is a powerfully disturbing theme to me.</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh165/NordicNinja/Misc/uzumaki.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 441px;" border="0" alt="" /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">(Read it top right to bottom left!)</span></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">SPOLERS BEYOND THIS POINT:</span></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">I felt that the best way to continue the spiral-madness was to make the town, and its events, into a board game. The track of play would become a spiral, ultimately turning into the swirling longhouse that appears later in the story. In the center of town would be the pond, which the players are attempting to get their characters to, first. </div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">Why would players actively be trying to get themselves to their destiny first? No, it isn't the Cthulhu Cult mentality of 'getting it over with first.' Instead, the player is actually the Spiral-Cave itself. The board, on the other hand, represents the characters' desire to escape their destruction. In other words, spaces on the gameboard will push characters away from the middle, while the player's actions will drive them towards it.</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">I imagine a derivative of Chutes and Ladders for automatic gameboard mechanics. Switching places with another gamepiece, or otherwise moving your opponants around would also be present. </div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">Now, time for the monomania. In the center of the board, inside the pond, is a dial-and-arrow players can flick to select directional effects. Instead of dice, dradles will suffice. Circular event-cards, with a spiral backing, would be an obvious choice for events. My co-worker suggested a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPgxb9rSkEQ">Tornado Rex</a>-style top, that can threaten to knock pieces down at certain spots as it parades around a spiral-track; it's a delightful idea due to the twister-causing troublemakers that show up later on in the story. I'm just not sure if I can have that 'track' built onto the board, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">and</span> have the board roll-up when you're done playing - to get spirals on either end.</div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div id="entrybox" style="text-align: left;">I think the point has been drilled home, though. This board game of troubling events attempts to affect the players the same way the story does: make you obsess over spirals. Personally, I will always remember the horrors of Uzumaki - especially when I have a visual cue that's so subtley prevelant in our lives.</div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe frameborder="0" height="64" width="256" marginheight="8" marginwidth="8" scrolling="no" title="Round Table" src="http://blog.pjsattic.com/roundtable.php?rtMON=0109&bgcolor=bcd8ff">Please visit the Round Table's <a title="Round Table Main Hall" href="http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/">Main Hall</a> for links to all entries.</iframe></p>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-68142841457496682272009-01-14T23:23:00.005-05:002009-01-15T00:23:13.819-05:00Spelunky Goodness<div id="entrybox">I absolutely love procedurally generated content, and it still surprises me how the vast majority of gaming seems to ignore it. I've played countless hours of Nethack, was absolutely enthralled by the first Jade Cocoon, and now I'm steadily losing my life to <a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4017.0">Spelunky</a>. (Thanks to <a href="http://tinysubversions.blogspot.com/">Darius</a> for singing its praises.)</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Imagine, if you will, an Indiana Jones-inspired platformer, forced onto the SNES. It's a dungeon-diving game, with a progression of floors, changing as you get deeper and deeper. For instance, you start off in a cave-temple - but at level 5, a curious overgrowth of forest appears. Monkeys and all. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">Now, imagine that every time you play the game, the levels change. You'll never play the same thing twice. One playthrough, you may find yourself starved for bombs and grappling ropes by the second level. Another, you'll be merrily sending a huge wall-breaking boulder tearing through one of the anomalous subterranean shops. </div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">You'll get to see a lot of different levels, because you'll be dying quite a bit. It's a brutal game - though much more forgiving than Nethack, that's for sure. Healing is often, but taking damage is even moreso. Even if you do manage to stockpile a lot of health, though, there's plenty of one-hit-kills to keep the game dangerous.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">I'm going to put this up there with Dino Run, for quality retro-graphic games. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go play it again. Need my fix, and all.</div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-41023137234636809922009-01-07T19:40:00.001-05:002009-01-07T19:41:49.997-05:00Ciaphus Cain: Hero of the Imperium<div id="entrybox">Once again I find myself vindicated for being so in love with the world of Warhammer 40,000.</div><div id="entrybox"><br /></div><div id="entrybox">A co-worker is letting me borrow "<a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.amazon.com/review/product/1844164667/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?_encoding=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending">Ciaphus Cain: Hero of the Imperium</a>," and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite series.<br /><br />I actually started this post a long while ago, I was so psyked, but I wanted to finish the collection first before singing its praises.<br /><br />For those of you unfamiliar with Warhammer 40,000, it is one of (if not <span style="font-weight: bold;">the</span>) largest Sci-Fi IPs out there. There is an incredible amount of background to the world, and Games Workshop does a great job of maintaining this by asking two questions for every one it answers. It is a grim and gritty pseudofantasy, full of gut-wrenching (and eating) terrors. Life can quickly go from bad to worse, no matter who's side your on. Especially because there's not really a 'good' side and a 'bad' side. There's the "kill them before they kill us" side and the "kill/eat them all" side.<br /><br />40k's tagline is: "In the vast darkness of the far future, there is only war." Obviously, the galaxy is a serious place, 40,000 years from now. Which is what makes Ciaphas Cain such a delight.<br /><br />It's hilarious. Dark, sarcastic humor that plays alongside epic Bond-quality action.<br /><br />Cain is a Commissar in the Imperium of Man. The Imperial Guard army uses the Commisariat to insure that Morale doesn't drop too low. In standard practice, this means putting the fear of the Emporer into soldiers by any means neccessary - which generally ends with an unceremonious on-the-spot execution. As can be expected, most Imperial Guardsman don't like the Commissars attached to their ranks.<br /><br />However, Cain is a coward. He doesn't plan on dying any time soon and does whatever he can to lesson the danger posed to himself. Amazingly enough, this usually ends up getting him in the worst danger possible, which he generally escapes by the skin of his teeth. Due to this unnatural fortune, he's garnered an incredible reputation for being the best mankind has to offer. Which, of course, gets him into even more trouble.<br /><br />If anyone is looking for a good sci-fi series to get into, or are new/old fans of Warhammer 40k, or really dig the Dawn of War series, I highly recommend checking out Sandy Mitchell's work. You won't be able to put it down.<br /></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16656875.post-11926721695383040082009-01-03T11:06:00.003-05:002009-01-03T11:42:05.889-05:00The Beat<div id="entrybox">I was considering, the other day, the meaning of life. Generally, I had taken the scientific route - to reproduce mutable offspring or some such. This goes hand in hand with the similar <span style="font-style: italic;">definition</span> (or at least a facet) - heritable genetics. <br /><br />Now, however, I think the meaning of human life is undeniably attached to Having Fun. Is one really living, if their life is not enjoyable? Is Fun the metaphysical reflection of a pulse?<br /><br />The reason I'm thinking of this, right now, is due in no small part to joining <a href="http://topsecret.ning.com/">Top Secret Dance Off</a>. Essentially, a social networking structure where teams of players get to challenge one another while wearing a disguise. Comments on the posted videos grant the players points for different aspects of the Dance-Off, like +1 Awesome or +1 Style. <br /><br />It's part performance, part production, part social engagement, and all sorts of ridiculous fun. Even though <a href="http://avantgame.com/">Jane McGonigal</a> (who is some sort of High Priestess of Meaningful Play) started it, there's no world-changing purpose to it. It's fun for the sake of fun. <br /><br />That doesn't mean it's not enlightening. One of the players, who is wheelchair-bound at the moment, didn't think dancing was possible until TSDO prompted them to find <a href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=finger+dancing">Finger Dancing</a>. <br /><br />On more personal notes, I'm shedding the rust from my video- and audio-editing skills. Through tangential learning, I was instructed that the act of sleep 'locks in' muscle memory. Oh, and I'm meeting some really amazing people, too.<br /><br />So come join us. You don't even have to dance, to participate. It's fun, I promise.<br /><p class="boxheadblk"></p><p class="boxtext"></p><p class="boxsig"></p></div>David Sahlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09050028448152381194noreply@blogger.com0