Contra Wise

Time Machine

2008-11-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

I came up with a game the other night and tried it out on a couple of friends. It goes something like this:

If a scientist had time machine and allowed you to KILL one person in history and SAVE another person, who would you choose?

Who would you kill? Who would you save? And why? Bonus points for when?

Play as many rounds as you want.

Ari's choices:

I would kill Andrew Jackson, probably just after the Battle of New Orleans. He established the “strong president” precedent. He established the cabinet full of supporters instead of people who were best for the job. Also, he was a dick. Man had duels. Just killed people. For no reason! I just don't see him as having a good systemic effect on America.

I would save Robert F. Kennedy. I like him more than his brother, plus saving JFK seems it would have all sorts of unintended consequences that might be really bad. But RFK had a real good brain on his shoulders and would have been a real good and interesting president. Imagine if we had RFK instead of Nixon. On a personal note; my dad always gets kind of wistful when he talks about RFK. I think a lot of his hopes died with him.

Kyle's choices:

I would kill Josef Stalin, at some point when he was Propaganda Minister. At first I was thinking I would save Trotsky, but he was already on the run in South America by the time Stalin got to him. It's much more efficient to kill Stalin and let Lenin's successor be Trotsky, because that would be some sweet ass shit. Trotsky would have continued Lenin's philosophy. He was a true intellectual revolutionary as opposed to Stalin who was just a thug.

I would save the guy who was gonna kill Hitler. So that Hitler would die and I would get two kills. Power game.

Gary's choices:

I would kill Woodrow Wilson. Because he layed the ground work for the modern presidency, that attempts to conceal dealings from the general populace. Also depending on the outcome of his presidential election will change America's interactions with the rest of the world including entry into world war I.

I would save Jesus of Nazareth. Thus saving him from martyrdom, shaking and uprooting the foundations of the catholic religion, perhaps limiting christianity to its original state under Jesus rather than the Roman Catholic Church of Peter. Changing the makeup of the northern European religious base so that it remained more or entirely pagan.

I suspect that future rounds of this game will involve specifying an historical period or geographic area, but I just wanted to see what people's responses are. Mainly I think this game (is this even a game?) is really good for stimulating intellectual conversations. It's a dialectical game, if I'm allowed to come up with labels. Conversations that stem from this usually involve discussions about unintended consequences and historical trends i.e. how much effect does one person really have.

Bad Arguments

2008-09-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

I gotta come clean. If there was any justice I'd come with a warning label. "Known to make bad arguments." I know it. I make bad arguments all the time. Not saying that all my arguments are bad, but I think a lot are. I try not to, but sometimes I just can't tell.

How do I know then? Because a few hours/days/weeks later, even I'm not convinced by them. And I'm the one who made it in the first place! I use terrible analogies, unfitting metaphors, maybe some hypocrisy, and occasionally some bad logic. Plus a bad habit of playing Devil's advocate or making ironic arguments just for the hell of it.

So please, please, please; when ever I go off on some bullsh*t argument, or when you know I'm wrong, just tell me. Or better yet, convince me. I try to listen to reason, but it can take awhile to sink in so I'll probably be an ass until I realize what a buffoon I am (or hold character for joke arguments). Thanks, in advance, for your patience.

On the colonization of Venus

2008-09-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

So I've recently become intrigued by the idea of colonizing Venus. What I figure is that Mars is dominating the whole space exploration conversation right now, even with talk of moon bases. However, the much maligned Venus which is not being considered for no good reason. I'm no rocket scientist but I just want to spread the meme of Venus exploration/colonization out there.

When I bring up the topic, people give the whole VENUS IS DEATHTRAP thing with the extreme pressure, extreme temperatures, the murder-death-kill atmosphere, yadda yadda. That's when I drop the hidden assumption they've been making on them. "Only at the surface." That's when you drop some evidence on their ass, at 50 km above the surface you have, Earth-like temperatures and pressures, with breathable air being a floating gas because of the thickness of the atmosphere. With the Earth-like gravity and closer distance to home planet, Venus starts looking really good. Some Space Age Teflon to deal with the sulfuric acid (which btw, might be a really good ingredient for synthesizing other important chemicals from) and wow! Their face drops.

The smart ones then figure out I'm basically talking about building Cloud City. Yeah, nothing romantic here....

Also I found a good post about colonizing Venus while writing this. Read that instead of this one.

Another pile of bullshit

2008-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

My dad once related a philosophy on life apparently held my grandfather (or maybe it was his uncle...). The life is like climbing a pile of bullshit, you climb and climb and when you get to the top of this pile of bullshit you'll see there's another bigger pile of bullshit you have to climb. Pessimistic, so I can appreciate the sentiment.

So school year is starting, and for some reason I'm feeling motivated or something. Excited. I'm going to run a few campaigns for the gaming group I'm a part of. That'll be cool, as I haven't run a campaign in a few years, so it'll be nice to be in the ST/DM/GM/GOD seat again. I learned[sic] me some actionscript over the summer, so I can finally start churning out some flash games, and well, this is my final year at college. I hope! Fifth year's the charm, fifth year's the charm.....

Also, I'm going to try not neglecting this blog. We'll see how that goes...

Reading for 5 sec chunks.

2008-04-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

College made me forget how to read. I mean really read. I spend a lot of time reading blogs and such, and most entries of that short and sweet length that is oh so appropriate for internet chatter. But I mean I forgotten how to finish books. The longest things I've actually finished reading are those longer essayish blog posts or shorter philosophy papers.

I read a short story on Boing boing the other day and I felt exhausted. I couldn't understand it. I really liked the story and taking it to completion gave me this wierd feeling, like I felt more exhilarated than I had any right being. I realized that over the course of my college career I have resorted to all sorts of optimizations to deal with the amount of literature I was assigned; skimming, skipping chapters, reading summaries, etc. Doing all this and blogging took up my reading time, so I never got around to actually finishing anything.

But having said all that, I think I'm going to redouble my efforts on reading. You know, actually reading things, from beginning to end. Though, I still got to be somewhat choosy. I've got scholastic appearances to maintain.

possible newer title?

2008-03-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

I think I got it. Maintain Lewis Carroll reference but easier/rhythmic to say plus videogame reference. Better?

possible new title?

2008-03-11T16:53:00.001-07:00

Contrary Wise. I always liked Through the Looking Glass. Is this a good new name for the blog, or should I just chuck it?

GDC: the wrap up

2008-02-25T21:18:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post some parting words, but I had to rapidly decompress from GDC into an academic environment. Now having gotten the nitrogen out of my system, I might be able to type up a final blog post of GDC, so I can get a move on.

- I'm posting more pictures on my Facebook as I find them
- Digital Respect Knuckles to Pat Dugan, Chris Bateman, Tom Long. It was fun hanging out with you guys.
- Also: all the people I've met, had beers with, etc. You made my week.
- I liked not having an agenda at my first GDC. It allowed to talk freely and not deal with the pressure of actually trying to sell myself. I imagine at other GDCs I may go to in the future, this will not be the case.

also: I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog. It's starting to bother me.

GDC: Some pictures

2008-02-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've put up pictures of my San Francisco trip so far on the Facebook. You can check them out:
http://uconn.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2171423&l=b1c09&id=9012024

GDC: well, i made it

2008-02-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

ZOMG IM HERE!!!!111!!111!oneoneoneoneone!

too bad there so little to do there on monday....
instead I explored and will continue to explore San Francisco

preparing for that GDC

2008-02-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

Got my plane tickets ordered.

Got the hotel arranged.

Got a stack of spending money.

Got my business cards printed.

Got a picture on myGDC profile

I'm so ready for this. Hmmmm, maybe I should pack?
pfff, later.

(also I suspect I will be blogging, posting pictures, and such)

Studyin' aint fun!

2008-01-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

I'm surfing Kotaku and I find an article about Dr. Kawashima of Brain Training fame. There's this little gem in there.

"Having fun is not studying. Making them study is not to entertain children but to pressure them to make efforts. People fall to lower and lower places unless they are driven to go higher," he said (linky)

I find that rather sad. He does not see the link between fun and learning? How play can enhance information retention in your mind? Reminds me of the overachievers from high school, all work and no play. They couldn't understand how I ended up in the same classes as they were, and able to talk about what they knew about just as intelligently as they did. "You must be so smart!" Nothing of the sort. I just happen to like learning and playing.

The Undead Monkey

2008-01-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

My Lord,

I am but a humble philosopher, but I heard reports of undead pirate group that has been terrorizing our holdings in the Caribbean. These uncouth criminals must be stopped, but I putting forth my request to allow me to investigate the matter before they are totally eliminate. You see, there has been one thing that has perplexed me ever since I had heard it. Reports mention the pirates have with them a monkey who is similarly afflicted by their unnatural condition. While it may seem like a small matter, this has the potential to changing our understanding of morality and the animal kingdom.

Rumor has it that the pirates were cursed to be living dead for their greed. However, why is the monkey cursed? Was he cursed simply by proximity, just by being the pirates' pet? Then the monkey cursed unjustly, as he would not be responsible for the pirates' actions. This would lend credence that there is some warlock who has great power that cannot be allowed to act with impunity, which would mean that we would need a greater force in the Caribbean that would appear.

Or is it possible that the monkey was punished for his greed as well? Could it that monkeys are able to be greedy, and therefore to sin. And if they can sin, then they are moral agents. If that can be proven, then we have to rethink our whole stance of treatment of (some) animals. While I am not positing that that monkeys and chimpanzees should be treated as humans, but we do have to treat them ethically, if they are capable of making moral decisions. Our claim that we can own animals is based mostly on the premise that they are not agents who can make their own decisions. Similar to how parents can make decisions on behalf of their children and why we do not hold children responsible in the same way as adults. However, if this is proved false, then we have to expand our understanding of justice itself.

I urge you to permit me to accompany any investigation or military force that will sent after this criminals so that I may delve deeper into this matters and discover if what we hold as moral truths are, in fact, true.

My Lord,
Your Lordship,
Most Humble
And Devoted,
Servant

I choose free will

2008-01-22T17:43:00.000-08:00

I believe in free will but perhaps I am just determined to think that way.

Playing the Philosopher

2008-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

So, a funny seed of an idea popped into brain. What about some story-driven game (RPGish perhaps) where you play a philosopher. The philosopher collects different arguments and beliefs and then evaluates them. Criticizing your arguments will make them stronger, but become too skeptical (possibly in conjunctions with other arguments or beliefs) and you can no longer use that argument or hold that belief.

Do that the latter enough, and then you become a nihilist. And goddamn it we hate nihilists. Fuck me! Let's say that they are the enemy or something. You don't want to do that.

In life, I've always considered becoming a nihilist like playing the game of philosophy and losing. You tried to come away with stronger beliefs and you ended up with none. You failed it. Maybe I'm wrong, though. /me shrugs.

Then you take this interesting subsystem and apply it to a broader context. Having certain beliefs allows you to do certain things, like say cast certain spells. Being able to perform certain arguments allows you to do certain things in a social context. Get people to act a certain way or whatever. Or simply just spread your ethos.

I'd work on this right now, if I wasn't busy trying to bang out something else out for the EGW. Maybe after...

The best alignment, truly

2007-12-27T09:48:00.001-08:00

I don't usually do those internet personality quizzes but this one is D&D, so I had to.

I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Elf Sorcerer (3rd Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-11

Dexterity-15

Constitution-12

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-15

Charisma-13

Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society's restrictions and a do-gooder's zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society.

Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.

Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

also: Waaagh!

Philosophizing

2007-12-18T09:48:00.001-08:00

So as part of my finals, I wrote a few essays. Here are two in case anyone is interested. I'm using Google Docs to share them. If anyone wants nicely formatted pdfs, just shoot me an email and I get one to yah. I'm make put them up somewhere if it turns out that there is some interest in it.

Abstraction :
George C. Berkeley in the Introduction of A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge has an argument against Abstraction (having abstract ideas of things) that bothered me for awhile. It's just not necessary at all to his Immaterialism. So I decided to write a paper objecting to that.

Learning and The Extended Mind :
So in the Philosophy of Mind there is this pretty cool theory of 'an extended mind.' The idea is that cognition may be a process that's not entirely in the head. Our brains may be taking advantage of external processes to do some of the cognitive work. Thinking may involve a causal loop that uses both internal and external states. That's the super quick gloss. The paper, really, is still kind of a gloss since the topic is so deep, but whatev. I even got to talk about videogames a little in this paper!

the XP mistake

2007-12-01T02:04:00.000-08:00

You know, doesn't the XP system of computer RPGs and many pen and paper RPGs seem odd sometimes? Doesn't it seem backwards?

I was reading an article my dad sent me about the role making mistakes has in learning. Consistently it was proven that those who think that doing things right was more important than struggling in the process i.e. being smart is better than trying hard, were more motivated to work hard and took on more challenging problems. In short, they learned better.

Playing and learning are intertwined, amirite?

So, shouldn't games reward players for trying rather than succeeding? And certainly XP is the appropriate bonus. A number that is supposed to be abstracting the total experience of the PC should be measuring the mistakes far more than victories. Giving the PC some badass scars would be cool too.

Methinks the "grind" would be discouraged, no?

'Course it requires and RPG where failure doesn't equal death and this is not exactly an original idea. Some RPGs do give XP for battle loses as well as gains, usually tactics games where its units who level up.

Though, I suggest that we do not give XP for successes. Especially if winning already confers enough game rewards. I can't think of any RPGs that do that.

also: this principle would work for use based skill systems.

Expression

2007-11-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

My first 'end' for games is (hopefully) the most egoist of them all. Not in the derogatory sense, just in the sense that it had mostly to do with me and what I want and need. It is simply the fulfill my need to express myself.

Games are a media, and by that I mean only that it can communicate ideas, regardless of any other capabilities it may have. I'm pretty terrible at any other conventional mode of communication. I can't play an instrument, my drawing never really makes it past the crappy sketch stage, and my writing is mediocre. Note that I don't actually give a shit, I will continue sketching or scribbling and such, but I know that I'd like to produce something really nice and I dunno, good.

So yeah, that's one goal I have for my games, but I have others that are not so self-centered.

approaching games

2007-10-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the absence from blogging but who would have thought that having philosophy as major would mean so much reading and writing? Anyways...

I've been thinking about my approach to games (go figure) and I find that I need to clarify my thinking by putting some words down in text, and I intend to subject the Internet with my rambling.

First off, games are means to some end, they are not ends themselves. A game for the sake of itself is silly. You can have a basic end i.e. fun for a game but it is still not for itself. Now, like Aristotle said you can't really reason about ends, only about means.[in Nicomachean Ethics] Strictly speaking, we can choose any end that we want, or that makes sense to us, but of course some ends are better than others...

Having a well defined end makes determining the means much easier. You can tell from the game design blogs out there that those with strong, robust theories and interesting thoughts are those with a firm idea of they want to do. For Perko, one of his ends is creating robust social simulations, for Corvus its story creation. etc... (I know those are really huge glosses but bear with me) One of my problems I've noticed is that I don't have any well defined ends with regards to games. Some vague ideas about creating an "experience" and maybe "weirding people out" but those are so general as to be worthless (or nearly so).

I have been working on this though. Stay tuned...

Clicky : Guantánamo Bay

2007-10-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

"You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it’s a place we send visitors who don’t give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty."

Clicky

This day, these coordinates

2007-09-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

For all those who care to meet me in person, I'm going to the time and place specified in a certain xkcd comic, which is in Boston and will be tomorrow FYI. I'm not sure if anyone who reads my blog will be in the area, but whatev.

^^This is me.^^ Notable feature shorthand list: Dreadlocks, Very skinny frame, ambiguously ethnic. A bandanna is likely.

New Beginnings! (A life update)

2007-09-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

The crisp breeze of September blows in! School's started again. It's like the third week and I think I'm already behind all my classes, which I suppose is typical. I recently moved into my new digs since bumming it for several weeks when the lease for the previous spot went up. It's a pretty sweet place and I finally have my own room and such. However there is no internet hooked up yet, so I've been mooching off the university wireless when I'm on campus to feed my internet addiction.

I also started work at a local pizza place because I needed more Snow Crash in my life. Maybe I can set up a wifi there... Also, many of the people who work there and indeed the people who own the business are foreign, Turkish to be precise. Being asked what words like 'advice' and 'remind' keeps one on their toes on the English language. I'm not used to giving definitions for words and such.

Gamer's Guild, the game club at UCONN is also starting up and such. I'm running a Mage: the Ascension campaign for our beginning game, to get everybody in gear for some awesome gaming this semester. I'm not setting it in the World of Darkness though, because seriously, I did enough of that shit. Also, we have the room for a ridiculous amount of time (for 6 hours), so we could actually probably get two games going. Perhaps, one-day D&D adventures? I'll have to think about this...

Random Observation:
A new person came to the Guild last week, who said he had Asperger's syndrome. During chilling/bullshitting that happens at end of the club, I was showing peoples Overdrift, which I find hilarious. He, however, hated it. He said he hated the bad acting. I was a bit confused by this. One would think he wouldn't notice? Besides, it's ironic.

Birds, Beauty, and What We Eat

2007-07-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

I was watching birds a little today. I was musing on the sexual dimorphism in birds and how extreme it is in many species, and (almost) always the males. The males are brighter and the color more vibrant. Some species have a fantastic spectrum of colors. The females are more subdued and more practical. Well, someone needs to tend to the nest. I was wondering why that is, and not so in mammals. Dimorphism in mammals, if present, tends to be more about body shape, or exaggerated features. In human culture, masculinity has alternatively associated with bright colors or subdued tones.

Then I noticed a bright yellow butterfly flitting about. I thought, well, consider what birds eat. Insects and seeds. Many various insects and seeds are multicolored for whatever reasons. Beauty could be linked to what is good to eat. A constant evolutionary force (because it definitely affects reproduction over long terms) acting with or against practicality.

In all animals, down to the lowliest of jellyfish, the brain is never far from the mouth. Eating is the basic action of life, it would make sense the decision maker be various close to the eating information center. Consider kissing, we explore each other by eating each other. Kind of an odd thought isn't it, but, I'm sure I'm not the first person to think beauty and eating are connected on a fundamental biological level. I should really take an aesthetics class.

What does this have to with games? (not that you were thinking that but it's a nice transition) That eating is an easy verb that should be done more in games. Pac-man and Katamari are not enough!

Boredom Hatred

2007-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

I hate being bored. I'm not ADHD or anything. My patience is at the very least about normal, if not more. But if something does not grab my attention within that span, then I'm bored. And I hate being bored.

When you're bored, you're asking yourself "Why am I doing the thing that I'm doing?" It might be "Why am I listening to this boring old man lecture?" or "Why am I mowing this lawn?" It's because you're brain is tired with what is happening. It's forced to watch the same results from the same actions with no or very predictable changes, unable to switch to thinking-about-something-else mode. It's not being stimulated. That's a very painful state for the brain. The attempts to resist the paralyzing effects fail. It's like a slow rack, slowly pulling your I hate brain paralysis. There is two possible escapes either find something interesting or 'zone out' which is essentially finding something else so interesting, you are no longer paying attention. I've gotten pretty good. I interested and amused by a lot of different things. That's why I don't feel like I deserve to be bored or even zone out. I'm mad when I'm forced to zone out. I shouldn't have to.

Boring games are bad. Games are supposed to be fun! Boring is like diametrically opposed to fun. It's at least in the totally wrong direction. Bad, bad, games. And yet, terrible writing and unbelievable characters make bad movies. Bad, bad movies. And yet I love 'B' movies. I love 'B' comics. I enjoy the ironic joy and laughter watching them. Bad sci-fi is my favorite kind, but I'm not exclusive. Here's the thing that makes good 'B' movies. They do something right. And more importantly, something right that's cinematic. Flashy lights, shiny machines doing stuff, beautiful ladies wearing something hot, invoking schadenfreude, these are things that look good on screen. A 'B' movie needs a saving grace which becomes its raison d'etre. Even if it's just the idea of watching giant insects stomp through a major city.

Of course, you see where I'm going with this. We do play boring games. We enjoy boring games. We sometimes get bored and continue playing. Now a lot of games get boring sometimes. Hell, nothing's perfect. But some games go beyond that at take boring to an excruciating degree. And then perhaps they circumnavigate and end up good. They find a saving grace, a raison d'etre. The enjoyable monotony of smashing things, the strangely realistic action of doing something implausible to see some hot ladies, a intentionally hilarious results, etc, etc...

Game Playing; some results

2007-07-09T17:28:00.001-07:00

Well, I completed a campaign in Battle of Wesnoth; "Tale of 2 Brothers" I think it was called. The writing was atrocious, however the missions were immense fun. I really like the map design in some of the later missions, because it had some really crunchy strategic options and choices. My complaint was that it could have been longer, but whatever. There are plenty of campaigns to choose from. I play around with some more.

I also completed a 'world' in Which Way Is Up. 'World' meaning a set of level. The game is interesting for the rotate level mechanic, which while it created some cool experiences became rather gimmicky after awhile. And it one had one enemy type, so by the end it got rather monotonous. So I wasn't going to continue to world 2, but I got a what-the-heck attitude and decided to try out the second world. Oooo a new enemy type! Oooooo more puzzley level design! Maybe I'll play it some more. But......

I started playing Wilfred, The Hero. Holy crap, this is engrossing. The art design and level design are well done enough that just walking around (usually the boring part of RPGs) is fun. Wilfred also puts in a lot of side bits, which are impossible for you to get right now, but seem enticing enough to make you want to try to get the ability to get them. Treasure chests on islands just out of reach, or behind a big, scary monster. My only real complaint is that there perhaps a little too many treasure chests. They don't exactly feel like uncolored keys yet, but I'm worried that I might be seeing a bit too many chests and then they will bore me. However, for the moment I remain cautiously optimistic. Because seriously, if even I'm wrong, would treasure chest saturation really make this game much worse? I say no, but who knows? The story seems cool enough, but I'm worried it might become too hamfisted for me sit through. Though really, a very subtle RPG story might only exist in parallel universes.

Everything/Nothing Fallacy

2007-07-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

I always hate when I hear someone say something in the form "If you x everything, than you x nothing." Like if you believe in everything than you believe in nothing, or if everyone is special than no one is. The latter, of course, being an always trendy thing for guy into counterculture platitudes. The shorter version is "If everyone's unique then nobody is." The more correct argument is "If everyone's unique than nobody is, in particular." I mean, you wouldn't say, "If everyone's alive than no one is" because that is retarded... I mean absurd. It's also a premise used against an egalitarian distribution of wealth or equal education. Probably other ideas too. Point is, it's a bad argument that keeps getting repeated. Stop it. Please.

Disclaimer: This only applies to non comparative x's. If everything is hot, then nothing is makes sense. Special is not a necessarily an adjective that compares.

Game Playing

2007-07-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

I finished Within a Deep Forest, thus finishing another indie game I just had to. I definitely like atmosphere of it. What I find interesting about both WaDF and Knytt (nifflas' other game, which I finished awhile ago) is that while both have a fair bit of backtracking, it never really felt tedious. Despite the games being low on the enemy count, traveling around was fun and compelling. I figure the blame lies in the fact that the level design in both are quite elegant. The levels were never too hard for too long, often after one difficult screen will be some easy relaxing movement. Also the nonlinearity of these games lends very nicely to exploration fun of it.

I'm now playing Battle of Wesnoth and Which Way Is Up? With Wesnoth, I'm very interesting in the possibility of designing campaigns or modding it in some such way. Turn based strategy is a favorite of mine, so I figure it'll do me some good to mess around with it. Which Way Is Up is 2d platform game done for the PyWeek competition, where python game coders will spend a week on making a game based on a particular theme. The game is obviously inspired by And Yet It Moves, but so far I actually like this one more. Some how the movement feels more polished, but I'm willing to go back just to confirm. I'm also interested in the idea of using open source games written in Python/Pygame with the possibility of playing with the code and seeing if I can make something fun.

Oh and I also started an imageblog, HUD Burn-in. It's an experiment, so I'm just running with it, seeing how far it goes, if keep up with it, etc, etc...

Manhunt bad ... Hostel good!

2007-06-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Mike K over at tooNormal has written just put a post on the Manhunt 2-AO rating issue, raising a point I didn't even notice. Probably because I don't shop at Walmart...

But I want to bring your attention to something that’s generally being overlooked by these articles. Films in the same genre as the Manhunt game. Hostel and Saw. Torture films basically. Hey look! They’re sold at Walmart. What the hell’s going on?

Soul Calibur II Sexiness

2007-06-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was playing a little Soul Calibur II with my little bro today in between cutting hedges and doing some coding while back home for the weekend. I tend to 0wn him but he can and does beat me often enough that I can't take it easy on him. While choosing characters for another match he referred to Yunsung as the "flaming homosexual character." I know he didn't mean it in a derogatory way nor in a way that denigrated his abilities as he did choose him to fight and managed an excellent match. It reminded me of Sexy Videogameland's post on the topic of creating a sexual context for Soul Caliber. For the record I played Yoshimitsu against him when he played Yunsung and won the match.

My brother also got ridiculously sick at playing Ivy, who of course is one of the most sexual characters in the game. (Seriously, his record for Ivy against my Kilik this morning is in his favor) I wonder if he's imagining the same kind of pornographic subplots that SVGL was talking about. Wait, he's 17, of course he is!

BackFlash: Master of Orion

2007-06-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

I've been playing a ton of Master of Orion (the first), with DOSBox, recently.

I love space combat 4x games, although I've played an appalling lack. Mainly this and Ascendancy. I've got Galactic Civilisations (from retail no less!) but somehow, I always end up going back to this. Somehow Galciv feels almost clunky compared to MOO. Then again, I might just be more used to the older game. Still, it feels like there is more variation is Master of Orion, but somehow it seems to be a bit more elegant. It does not feel like any element is extraneous or pointless. The space created by the game by variation of species/races, variety of game types, and just randomness of the board setup is fun to explore.

What I find very interesting about this game is how much personality each race has. The way they acted diplomatically, style of playing the board, as well as the little bits of fiction seem to mesh beautifully and vibrantly. And the oddest thing is that when playing as the one of the different races, just via their advantages you tend to get into the personality of that race. You'll feel like a Darlok, always sneaking around stealing technology and upping your computer power. What's a Darlok? Think Jawa. Anyways, I figured I let you guys know about it.

Relevant Links:

Master of Orion @Wikipedia

Jon Sullivan's MOO I Resources

DOSBox, an x86 emulater with DOS

Terroristic Webcomic

2007-05-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

New Webcomic is welcomed with rave reviews!

"I love this new strip because I’m finding it a lot more minimalist and relatable… also ridiculously funny."

"He was promptly fired and not allowed back to work because people were scared of him."

Only the most badass of men will strike fear into the hearts of people with their art!

To top it all off, he was later visited by police detectives for making a comic about his experience, because it was a “borderline terroristic threat.”

Wow!

72 what now?

2007-05-02T21:09:00.001-07:00

Alright, I'll admit, I didn't come up with the idea for this joke. My dad did actually and he's pretty proud of it. Course as I type it, I am pretty sure that I'm not doing his exact formulation, actually not even close, but such is humor. (I'll subject you guys to my theory of humor some other time...)

So a suicide bomber dies and goes to heaven. He sees George Washington. George Washington walks over to him and sucker punches him right across the face. As the suicide bomber tries to defend himself, Patrick Henry walks up from behind him and holds his arms so the hapless suicide bomber is just getting a beatdown from Washington. Then Patrick Henry throws him down, and Thomas Jefferson comes and just kicks him repeatedly. James Madison also jumps in and all four are just kicking this suicide bomber while he's down. The suicide bomber yells, "Allah! This is not what I was expecting!"

Allah responds, "What? It's 72 Virginians like I promised. What did you think I said?"

I want make a game, game, game and again game

2007-04-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

Via the Corvus shared feed, on Destructoid, I found out about a great piece of art called "game, game, game and again game". When I played I must say I was freaked out. Not because I thought it was totally weird an schizophrenic (it is), but because I've had a similar idea for an aesthetic a while back. I sort of tried to do it, but I eventually got distracted from the project, school and all that. It was about squish bugs mainly, and I was going to give the bugs personalities of sorts, so you could have the ants talk like communists revolutionaries, flies as hedonists, and some other bug as a total nihilist ("Oh what's the point of doing anything if some giant hand is just going to squish me") Still even though he took it a different direction, I totally applaud his efforts while simultaneously feel overwhelming jealousy that he got their first. I bless and damn him at the same time!.

The game is more about semi-non-linear exploration of ideas then anything else, and the mix of text, images, video, and game mechanics definitely makes this a most play. It's definitely a Punk Game to say the least.

I find myself drifting into the abstract

2007-04-15T14:55:00.001-07:00

"Ariel, what going on? You've haven't said anything in awhile."

"You have a very contemplative face on."

"What's your thought process right now?"

It's true. I hadn't said anything in awhile and the small what some space of my Japanese car made my silence totally conspicuous. I was totally concentrating on some internal thought processes. I needed it to recharge, since I was totally jamming out a music festival earlier and
I was still reacting to that. Even though I liked it and had a lot of fun, social situations and large groups do tire me out in nonphysical kind of way.

"There's nothing sinister about my silence. I just trying to forget I have a body right now"

"Umm, please don't. You're driving."

"No, no. I'm concentrating on driving, trying to forget I have a body"

"Oh I see. You feel like that you are part of the car. Or that the car is a part of you."

"Not exactly. I'm trying to forget I have a car to. I am just concentrating on the road. And not what the photons hitting my eyes that my brain is interpreting is a particular road, but the Idea of road."

*pause*

"Wow. That is some pretty deep shit."

Let us play... for honor!

2007-04-13T10:33:00.001-07:00

I learned a new drinking game last night. It's not like most drinking games. Drinking games are usually either: (a) Everybody drinks at the same time, like drinking every time someone says "the Force" while watching Star Wars (b) Drinks are used as a penalty, like beer pong or some such or (c) or drinking is used as an obstacle to overcome such as flipcup. This one is different though. I forget the name (figures), but I remember the rules and they're quite simple.

You need one deck of cards. The dealer has to flip the top card of the deck onto the table, encouraged to do it with a flourish. Before he does any other player may announce that he will drink to the next card. Anyone but the dealer may do this, and any number may announce. The game will not proceed until someone does. When the card is put down face-up, anyone who announced they were going drink must drink sips/gulps/seconds half of the amount of the card rounded down. Aces you drink nothing. J, Q, K, you must drink 6,7,8 respectively. The dealer may pass the deck after three rounds but is not required to. After 3 rounds though, any player tell the dealer to "take a sip and pass the deck."

Brilliant. Most drinking games are about forcing people to drink. This game has totally flipped that around, which of course means that light drinkers can play with even your most grizzled alcoholic. So what's the point? Honor. Pride. That kind of stuff. It's about social status. I find that kind of intriguing. It is a game that doesn't just have a social context, it takes that advantage of that social context instead of just adding it on top. The mechanic also interests me enough to think about coding it. Hmmm, stuff to think about

Ting-a-ling

2007-04-12T13:32:00.001-07:00

No more damn Vonnegut.

I wrote my senior paper in high school on Timequake.

Damn.

(Ting-a-ling is a reference to that book in case you didn't know. It's not is most famous book.)

Guerilla's know how to do it

2007-04-10T22:42:00.001-07:00

(via BoingBoing) This caught my eye. A guy is putting on a Guerrilla Drive in and marketing it in a very interesting way. By broadcasting an access code on an AM frequency from a secret location, which you use to get updates on where its going to play. That's just friggin cool. Too bad it's on the wrong side of New York for me to go. Clicking on the links led me to the DIY instructions on starting your own. Myself, I'm going to Google for any near me, but I somehow doubt it.

Also I wonder if it is possible to harness this spirit for games. I've been every now and then considering how to create community events with games. I've talked about fun for the audience before. Games are supposed to unite people, players and spectators. I've considered the idea of Big Screen gaming events before. People taking turns playing console or computer games. Perhaps I should start this guerilla style?

The Bet

2007-04-03T22:15:00.001-07:00

I have this thing about observing games and play wherever I see it, and most importantly observing the people how they are acting and reacting. Like it always amuses me to see people buying lottery tickets. Recently I experienced an interesting sort of game. Recently a pair of my friends got married. Now, they dated in high school, but it definitely was not a continuous relationship since that time. Then again, even when they were apart all they really seemed to think about were each other, so who knows?

When faced with the sudden surprise announcement, after convincing us that it was not an April Fool's Joke, the other guys were of course conflicted. Would this work? How long will it last? The questions about the fate of these two hung in the back of our minds while we celebrated the beginning of the marriage process. Naturally, after those two left the rest of us started placing bets.

Basically we, three, each put down a bet. One bet that the marriage would last for a year or two before divorce, another bet between two and three years, and I optimistically bet three to four. If no one was right, all the money would go toward a party or something. We had talked about how much we wanted them work but our brains telling us that it wouldn't last. The other two reflected it seemed kind of cold to take bets on that. I firmly protested just because we act this way in the Magic Circle of a Game is not indicative of any lack of respect for two, on the contrary we wanted them to last! We all in fact wanted to lose!

That sent reverberations through my skull. A game we all wanted to lose. An interesting idea, no? It may or may not unique in that respect, especially with the way some people play certain drinking games, but it is certainly not common at all. It seems to come about when there is a cost outside of the game to winning. I'm not sure if that's the only time though. I'd have to think about that some more. The point is that I wonder if one can design a game to be like this. Some games are of course moddable so that this is an out come like a Vampire game where everyone takes the Flaw Dark Fate. Not that Vampire games are 'won' as such, but its close.

What would be more interesting was if the alternate endings in Wing Commander III, which were accessed by losing certain missions were somehow better. Like better ships at the end, or somehow more satisfying and less tragic.

I wonder what a game designed from the ground up to encourage losing would look like.

Carving out the Underground

2007-03-21T19:03:00.001-07:00

That Patrick is definitely on to something (and perhaps on something :D). Punks are where its at. Punks are what's happening. Let's rebel against convention. Tear down anything we can. Graffiti anything we can't. Groupthink drains the vitality of life. Color outside the lines and make a difference. Many more cliches besides. To really feel it though, you gotta find and participate in vibrant community of like minded people. A few punks jamming in their basement is cool, a concert invigorates the soul. So where are the groups of game making punks, cranking out games to express themselves. Oh the punks are out there, Super Columbine RPG!, flow, and the rest of usual suspects, but why does it feel so scattered. It feels like they are justs blips of brillances, I want a whole damn guitar riff of crazy games to blow my friggin mind.

There are attempts in the right direction, but they all seem to fall short somehow. Slamdance might have worked but it pull a courted game because of fear of backlash, the exact opposite of what we need. Manifesto has got the right gusto but somehow it feels too commercial for what I'm talking. They're going to be important distributor and marketer, functioning like indie record label, but that's only part of the puzzle. I'm talking about a community that'll be cranking out game to piss people off that Manifesto will be clamoring to put on their page.

TIGSource is closest thing actually. I've looking at the Indiegamer forums, frankly they are just oo insular for my tastes. Actually, you what's closer, the community of game design + theory bloggers. The problem with them (us? Do I posses the hubris to count myself among them?? Alas no...) is that they don't produce enough. Lot's of great ideas but very little experiments. They don't need to be complete, 40 hour games. Hell, they don't even have to be polished casual games. Just games with a lot verve and ideas.

There was a website, called Bestgameever.com I think, where they wanted to make a game every week roughly. A bit extreme, but that's the kind of thing I thinking of. Creativity should be busting people at the seams just trying to get out. We shouldn't be afraid of putting up incomplete works. We probably should be against sharing some code or designs neither. Sharing is caring! Seriously, though, some collaboration would be cool.

There's more to this. Developing our own aesthetic that's our medium's, the way noir developed for film (yes I know noir was inspired by novels but inspiration is okay, the point is the the style as whole). One besides retro please. And yes, pixel art does not automatically make a style retro. Some other ideas, but hey, who likes long winded blog posts.

Not me.

Man, I really hoped to end this post on some sort of inspirational note, telling everybody to go out and break something or be an individual. I really mucked that up.

Philosophy Majors...

2007-02-27T16:18:00.001-08:00

So I'm was studying with few other people in my Philosophy 297 class which is entitled, "The Metaphysics of Truth" and we worked our brains so much on some nuances of a particular theory of truth we all got really hungry. So we ordered pizza instead of wings (the best foods available) because every time we were about to decide wings, we spiraled into this debate about what is the "nature of wings," "what is it?" "what makes a wing, a wing?" "whether boneless wings are subtype of wings or something else closer to chicken fingers" were all things we discussed until a wave of hunger hit one us reminding us of the immediate problem of feeding ourselves. There's a moral here. I think its don't let philosophy majors make a fast decision.

Nothing about games here, just something funny that happened.

Fun for the audience

2007-02-14T21:24:00.001-08:00

The other day I was wondering why more computer games, especially multiplayer games, don't have a spectator mode. It's implemented in a primitive way in some FPS games (HL, Unreal Tournament) but I wish to see it more developed and widespread. A problem I see with computer games is that they lack the community aspect of console games and any other type of game; board, card, sport, etc. To watch a FPS fight or a racing game bout, the would be observer must become a full participant, and there is only so much room. Of course, there is also the needed skill to have fun playing with your opponents. Crowding around the computer screen is a possible solution, but c'mon, computer screens are only so big.

I became aware of this particular problem at a LAN party, where there was a big screen setup so that everyone at the party, even those not participating could be simple onlookers. I was at once both excited and disappointed. I was glad that I got to watch and cheer my friends on, but disappointed with how crudely the tech was. I wanted to watch the fight, not simply cycle through the views the players. To be certain sometimes it was supremely satisfying, but other times I wanted to take control of the mouse, just so I could see. Wouldn't it be great if I was a newbie and I just wanted to watch some advanced players do what they do. Hell, I could chat it up with some of the others watching the game and have some running commentary going. I think this would be totally cool for racing and fighting games. You have that mimicry fun of cheering in the stands for your favorite, or all of them if you prefer. Honestly, I think the key here is to design the system so that spectators use up much less bandwidth then players.

But what about single player games? Consider this. Imagine playing first person rolepaying game on the computer. I know, I know, I've been using the first person perspective a lot in this post, but it so neatly illustrates the different perspectives of the player and the audience. You've got a cord running from the TV you have so nicely set up into the computer and your friends are watching you play this game. And this would not be just a clone of what you're seeing. First person perspectives tend to get disorienting after too long on a TV for some people. What they see is a more cinematic view. Cutting from various angles as the world calls for it. Possibly also a frequency setting so that you can go from something that's like a Kubrick tracking shot and/or John Ford landscape shot (long takes) to something that is more from an MTV style of editing. Uncluttered by all the UI elements that you as player need to properly play the game, your friends on the couch get to follow and cheer you on your various exploits. You've just turned a couch full of friends into a merry band of minstrels singing songs of how brave you are. And who doesn't like a band of ministrels? Maybe more some elements from sports TV and have stats and other various pieces of info displayed in a easy to read and digest manner on the screen on a part time basis. Sports know how to present their game on TV and get people excited to watch it; it might be wise to learn a little from them.

Slamming Slamdance

2007-01-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

Of course the internet is abuzz with this Slamdance controversy. It is a pretty serious affair. I am a firm believer, not only in freedom of speech, but that every artist deserves a forum for their expression. Skipping over the discussion of "what is a artist?" and whether SCMRPG! is work of art, the fact that they were actively courted by Slamdance and then kicked out of the festival is just despicable. I cheered from my computer chair as other games withdrew in protest. It is well documented how the Comic Code strangled the comic book industry's voice for decades. It wouldn't be too wise to submit another medium to that prison.

So when I first read Jason Rohrer's The Death of Slamdance I disagreed. You have to stand by your principles for them to mean anything, I thought. It would be sign of weak morals if you backed out of your decision to back out. But I got to thinking that line of thought was far too stubborn to be right. It's a little too Dubya for me. I mean, what's there to gain from continuing to stay out of the competition? They've already garnered a ton of publicity for their actions, they've draw attention to the issue; they've accomplished all the goals that an action like that can plausibly have. To continue along that course would be to condemn what could otherwise prove beneficial to our mission*, the Slamdance Games Festival. We should open the avenues of discussion. People from both sides should talk about why this occured, what caused it, and what can be done to make sure this never happens again. If its regretful decision they should be able to talk honestly and candidly about why this decision occurred. If they can't, then we should probably rethink attending next year, but we should at least give them a chance to defend their position, no? They probably won't take it but whatever, it's only fair we at least give them the opportunity. Can't hurt, right?

* which is making awesome games of course!

Messing Around with QuiteBASIC

2006-12-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

So this QuiteBASIC thing is pretty cool. The nostalgia of programming BASIC hit me so hard after messing around I had to put on a Thundercats tshirt while watching Ninja Turtles, playing Pogs and listening to Run DMC. Seriously, I remember picking up a a dusty battered old book in the library circa 2nd grade ('92ish?) called How To Program Games In BASIC. Gosh I loved that book. Technically it didn't open the doors to programming for me, that honor belongs to this Batch File Programming book my dad got me. However, I really got interested after scouring that book. I wonder if I can find the code back from those days...

Anyways, I made a crappy Etch-A-Sketch clone, if you're interested click. The program's long so I don't feel spamming up my front page with 208 PRINT "blah blah" and 215 PLOT s, y, "some color or other"

I think I'll put together a few simple games or something in QuiteBASIC as I think that would be cool.

Recent Purchase

2006-10-29T00:46:00.000-07:00

While I was at EBGames today I got Age of Empires III. You see I'm going to LAN Party called HallowLAN in a couple of weeks. In a fit of RTS hubris, I decided that I'm going to participate in the Age of Empire III tourney they are having. I don't anticipate a high level competition the majority of the focus is on FPS games for this LAN. 'Course I don't have a partner but I imagine that I'll be able to find one at the party.

It'll certainly be pretty interesting to see if I can learn this game pretty well. I'm a on-off RTS player but I'm pretty decent. I'll use a montage or something to get ready for this

I also got a used Meteos and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for DS fun.

Musing about game structure

2006-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about positive feedback loops that one Craig likes to write about this morning.

I mused that most good games are about optimizing a chosen positive feedback loop that is in the game. The fun part lies in the skill in avoid disruptions to that loop. It occured to me that many thoughts on game balance are misguided in that you are not trying to minimizing the positive loop found in a game system. That creates a game that is approaching a point where every move is just as valid as any other. Games of alea aren't as bad as that since the whole point is that one move is better than the others it's just you're not sure what it is.

The goal for game balance is increase the difficulties in maintaining any one positive feedback loop. Add many valid and roughly equal positive feedback loops that are mutally exclusive (i.e. you can fast or tough units). And some wonky negative loops to balance it out, that's what big N did with Super Smash Bros. and its one of the most balanced fighting games I've ever played. Make the positive feedback loops hard to learn and hard to predict. Design it so that multiple systems have to be managed in sync to maintain a positive feedback loop like 4x games do.

Oh, and this is why it's easy to design multiplayer competitive games. Each competitor is trying to maintain a positive feedback loop but they're usually mutally exclusive (you can't both be winning).

MIA no more

2006-10-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I got surprised by an onslaught of ton of work to do at my job as well as school. It ate up almost the entirety of time. I have since been able to balance my time better(sort of, I'm still behind on some homework) so I'll be posting more updates soon. As soon as I read up on all the things I missed. Hmmm, this might be awhile...

Ode to my DS

2006-09-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

I have a DS. It is blue and I love it.

I like having two screens. It's like having two windows with which to see into a world instead of one. Wow! Though sometimes it feels like one is a basement window that doesn't show much of anything. Or a skylight, I suppose.

The stylus is cool. It came with two but I lost one on the first day. With the remaining stylus I can draw shapes, move avatars around, or maybe some other things cannot fathom as I write this. I always wanted to throw things around using the stylus. I should make a Three Stooges game where you throw pies and poke Curly in the eyes. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.

My blue DS matches my blue Gameboy DS. Even though I have both, I still get usage out of the both of them. Sometimes the SP is more convienant. We all still have tons of fun together. They have totally out of control drunken parties though.

My DS has been envious ever since the DS Lite came out. I think it has self-image problems. To help I call DS Lite an anorexic snobby bitch. I told DS that I like its sexy gut. DS appreciated that compliment more than a girl when I told her the same thing. Girls are wierd. DS's are less so.

There is a vibrant homebrew scene for the DS and I can't wait to get involved. My extensive research shows me there are tons of apps out there, that are awesome and sweet. There is a port for my favorite language in the universe for the DS and that alone gets me excited. Also, there is a drum machine program, so that in between games I can lay down some phat beats and freestyle with my homies. My DS is gangsta.

If you have a DS, make sure to tell it, "I love you" every single day. It helps the DS's self-esteem and ensures optimal gaming experiences.

Random Pic: Dance Party!

2006-09-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

I got a kick out of this. I don;t know, maybe you guys will. Whatever.

yawn, oh and giant robots

2006-08-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

Goddamn have I been tired lately. Like due to having to wake up very early for work this week. Hopefully, after this weekend I can go back to sleeping in late. So this update is going to be a bit random, but I 've been wanting to update for awhile and well, I'm devoted to all 5 readers I got. (how do I know I only have 5 readers, well... I don't.)

First off, my current project involves mechas fighting. I almost typed a "mecha fighting game" but I'm hoping it's going to be more than that. My main motivation was that there is an appalling lack of good giant robots in games, and moreover, they're either ripping on the Mechwarrior series without any interesting changes or FPS with different skins.

So its a 2d side scroller at the moment. I'm trying out a new kind of interface I thought up. It involves having floating command boxes around the mecha. The choice of the commands will be based on the internal state of the pilot and the context that the mecha is in. I'll put up a prototype somewheres when I get something playable.

I'm thinking I want procedurely generated levels; i've been playing a lot of Roguelikes recently. Or I was until work sucked up my waking hours this week. And school is coming up, ready to absorb more of my time. Oh well, maybe I'll meet some fun, interesting girls. The trick, of course, is finding those interested in me. A trick I haven't learned yet, but none of that angsty bullshit here! This is a blog for chrissakes!

I've been reading Dinosaur Comics recently. It's pretty funny. It also inspires me to accomplish something similar with games. I'm thinking that I'd have 16 images or so and I'd try to make as many games with those graphics as possible. Could work.

Does everyone have a moment in there scholastic career where they have writer's block, but then write about the writer's block, and then all of a sudden everything becomes easier? Mine was in 7th grade. I think this is like the blog version of that, but I couldn't care less.

YouTube presents: YASD, a Nethack fanfilm

2006-08-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

While sipping on the YouTube Kool-Aid today I have found a pretty neat little fanfilm about Nethack. I find that it captures the tension of Nethack. As well as the ridiculousness of being killed in a most stupid (though admittingly fun sometimes) way that tends to happen in Nethack. Enjoy.

Maintaining Momentum 'n' Motivation

2006-08-16T00:02:00.005-07:00

Because alliteration is key, anyways...

Motivation is a bastard thing and it always seems to elude me. It's pretty fucked up actually. But I do find myself needing it when I want to code up some games. Motivation being a pretty key thing I hear. I am working on a programming environment that is conducive for creating and maintaining motivation. It's rough and it's far from perfect but I am on the right track.

First off, I use Notepad++ to type up all my code. Why? One word: tabs. Yes the main reason is that I use this for the tabs. I've been considering using PsPad and I guarantee you that if I start install the thing and I don't see tabs anywhere I'm clicking the little [X] in the corner and deleting it off my hard drive immediately (read: eventually). It is a dealbreaker. What I need to be able to do is to divide my time between different projects as effortlessly as possible. The most important part of it is the ability to switch between files as easily as possible. I tend to work on a project until I reach an obstacle or problem that I cannot solve immediately, but I'll usually have an idea for another project or more likely, a different part of the project I'm on. So BOOM! I switch on over to take advantage of this bit of creativity. Now here's the cool part, even as I'm 'distracted' by this other task, my mind is still working on the former task, so that when I hit an obstacle/problem with the new task, I'm ready to switch to the first task. I find it maintains energy. Also, keeping the file in view, prevents me from feeling like I abandoned the first task and the demotivating guilt that comes with it.

Oh and multiple windows instead of tabs pisses me the fuck off.

Second, background noise. Usually music of some sort, but recently I've discovered movies to be excellent background as well. I had a most productive session the other night with Tank Girl playing in the background. So not only did I get tons of coding done, I realized that I had forgotten that Naomi Watts was in this movie. (as a brunette but whatever, her hair could be snot green and she'd still be hot in 9 different ways*) Productive!

Third, as here is the part I am working on, fast results. I realize that for a project to reach completion, for me, I need to have moved pixels around on the screen by the time I reach 125-150 lines. Python + Pygame has been really good to me for that purpose. However, I still have a tendancy to work on the design stuff of a game a lot, with no real good way to test it so I end up working on something not seeing a lot of results. And that equals death. I have directory full of projects that died in that fashion.

Fourth, while hanging out around downtown it occured to me how much I respect those who can freestyle rap. I attempt it a lot, and while I'm getting better, I'm not good yet. However in attempting it, I understand the skill it takes to make a good freestyle rap. I guess, I want to be able to apply that spontaneous creativity to me making games. This is really a combination of point one and three, but this is the inspiration for all this, so I guess rappers are my guides in producing art (so are film directors but that's not exactly relevant right now. They take forever.) However you feel about hip-hop, you should be able to admire the way that they can keep producing stuff. (Sure, you may say most of its crap, but I'd counter that most of ANY genre is crap and at least rap fans don't wait 3+ years for a sophomore record)

Five, I've been naming my various scripts after fruit. That is neat.

Six, I've been gathering all my commonly used functions and objects together for better reuse. Yes, yes, yes, nothing new or special, but it's something I keep forgetting. But I'm getting better. I've been starting to collect them in pineapple.py. Pineapple is delicious but not on pizza. (Hawaiian pizza? Yuck, put pepperoni, bacon, burger, chicken, meat, dead animal flesh as toppings on my pizza. Extra cheese is also acceptable)

Seven, never quiting the editor but quiting Firefox. This does wonders. Blogs are fun but it does tend to suck you in.

Eight. What eight? There is no eight. Eight is where I conclude this blog post because I'm trying to code and this has taken far too much time. I'm going to code. or bed. something

Oh and P.S. Does anyone else have a habit of pressing Ctrl+S while typing and Blogger starts publishing way before you've finished? It's so automatic for me to save randomly as precautionary measure. It feels wierd not doing that now. Like I'm unprotected.

*I don't generally prefer blondes (Mandy Moore is hotter as a brunette), but Naomi Watts is definitely much hotter as a blonde than brunette.

Break it down now

2006-08-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

I suppose that I should give myself (and any of you who wandered on to my shadowy nook on the intarweb) a overview of what I hope to write about in this blogs as regards to game design and theory. I am an experimenter before theorist. I love reading and absorbing theory, however I do not have any of my own, really. Really what I do with games is try to break them down in my head into various pieces. Sometimes I'll call those pieces: devices, layers, patterns, metaphors, loops, or whatever. It usually depends on what I'm looking for at that moment. My goal in going through all this trouble is to eventually be able to rearrange and synthesize this game pieces into whole new games. Well, more accurately, new experiences but I'll get to that in a sec.

What I like about reading about theory is that every good post is another lens with which look at games and see how they fit together. Being able to pinpoint where, how, and why a game works or does not work in various ways is very powerful. It's probably why I like a lot of 'bad' movies, because I am able to pull out some brilliant technique or find something enjoyable about a bad movie and focus on that. Ultimately I am creating a magic bag of building blocks with which I can make various games out of. 'Course, when I gather all these pieces, what then?

I want to create fantasies. I want to make someone feel like they are somewhere else. I want to create an experience. I want to ellict specifc emotions. The way I see to do that, is that I can reach into my bag of tricks (Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat) and pick out the ones that support the theme or idea I want to express.

See I have this idea (theory even??), that each infinitesimal piece has an emotion, a feeling, and/or an idea it can convey. The sideways only movement of a Space Invaders/Galaga type game, the health bar, a d20, all of those pieces has a voice that communicates to the player. And all those voices, with the proper designer, can become a chorus.

I think I overused "I" in this post. I'll try to be less ego from now on and a little more id.

OMFG E3 G07 PWN3D!!!!!

2006-07-31T23:28:00.000-07:00

There have been a lot of posts about E3's disappearance. To which I say:

whatever

Apparantly, I'm into independant filmmaking

2006-07-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been recruited to be work on a movie called, "How Myspace Ruined My Life." Its about a guy who goes on a bunch of dates with girls he met on MySpace, hilarity ensues. So not only am I in the movie (as the guy's asshole friend) but I'm also co-writing the script (or what passes as such), assistant directing, and basically production managing (which includes making sure we have everything we need.)

I'm having a blast making this movie. Setting up scenes, doing multiple takes, rewriting the script, the whole process of moviemaking is simply amazing to me. There is something about collabratively making a work of art that keeps the energy up. I'll have to explore this for making my games. I suppose we'll see if this movie comes to fruition and if we come out with something actually watchable, hell funny even. 'Course optimism isn't my strong suit, but what the fuck, this shit is fun.

Oh, the excited director actually made a teaser for the film and put it on Youtube. I'm torn between loving the fact that some of the footage actually hit teh intarweb and the roughness of the footage grating on my nerves.

Mystery Science Arcade 3000

2006-07-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

So I had this idea for an internet show the other day, inspired by Mystery Science Theatre. Basically I plus any friends/puppets I can convince to be my sidekicks play old abandonware games and proceed to heckle them. 'Course I still I have not figured out the layout but it seems hilarious in concept. There's a lot less history to draw on, but I doubt that'll be a problem. Old games are hilarious and plentiful. Plus I get to hit the nostalgia nerve that every good gamer should have.

It's still an idea though and I have tons of questions to answer before I even consider going through with this. Should I use puppets? Do I want to put forth all the extra work of using a screen capture program (which one?? all the ones I've seen seem pay-for) and putting our silhouettes or should I just be lazy and stick a camcorder behind us as we play? What should I name it? I refuse to name it Mystery Science Arcade 3000 as I feel that just adds insult to plageristic injury. Should the play session be uncut, or should I just cut the boring bits out?

The delivery format for this nonsense would probably be a *.blogspot with videos posted to YouTube. I wonder if I should add a wacky storyline? Should I even bother? Decisions, decisions...

Digging through my memories...

2006-07-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

When did I know that games were going to dominate my life so? Hmm, I'm going to have to memory searching...

Perhaps it was when I was in middle school, when I spent hours upon hours play MUDs. (Gemstone and DragonRealms, oh fantastic memories) I even managed to convince most my friends to play MUDs and they all enjoyed it. Organizing the group sessions, getting booted of the MUD because they thought we were Multiplaying when really were just all logging on from the school network. We were such foolish gamers. 'Twas all good times, but I think it was earlier.

Maybe was when I met my best friend due to talking about Starcraft and we realized we both played Magic: the Gathering as well. We formed a partnership of Jay and Silent Bob proportions which continues into the present day and the forseeable future. Hmm, while that was a hallmark of my life, I don't think that's when I knew games were going to important to me. I think that just when I found someone who feels the same as I do. Which, while cool, is not the topic of this Round Table and I'd be basterd to digress.

Well, it could be during the hours I spent playing X-Com: UFO Defense and X-Wing plus it's sequel Tie Fighter during my elementary days and many other games too. The fiero I felt when I beat Tie Fighter I can still feel sometimes. I couldn't beat X-Wing or X-Com, though I still had fun playing them. Somehow I think it was earlier still.

I wonder if its when I found this book at the library for kids on programming games in BASIC. I remember when I found that little gem and ran home to mess around with QBASIC. No, that's when I learned the programming was going to be important to my life (even though I at point I had been programming batch files for awhile) Goddamn, I'm starting to think I'm never going to remember the point. Maybe it was just too early for me to remember.

Wait, I got it. Silly me. It was when I was watching my dad play Wing Commander I or II, I was too young to know the difference. Probably I though. It was such a cool bonding activity for me. Watching my dad fly through space, taking down the Kilrathi (except for Hobbes, who was your boy) well that was just inspiring. I wanted to fly through space and shoot down baddies too! Yeah, that was it. I think I knew then that games was what I wanted to do. So I can blame my dad for all of this. Naturally, he was also the one who introduced to Warhammer 40k, which continues to dominate my life.

What a life decision to make, and I was like maybe 4 years old?

Please visit the Round Table's &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a&amp;amp;amp;gt;Main Hall&amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;gt; for links to all entries.

Warhammer 40k

2006-07-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

So right now, I have once again been immersed into the wonderful world of Warhammer 40k. For those who don't know it's a tabletop miniature wargame. Which essientally means that there is two hobbies going on at once, the actual playing of the game and the building of the models that you play with. I am really into both sides of the game, I love 'converting' models for instance, but really it is the exercise in strategy and tactics that I love about this game. There is a feeling of uniqueness that each unit and army has on the battlefield. It's something that seems a bit lost in most computer games (less so in most turn based combat games, more so in RTS games). I've always felt that most 'tactical' games weren't really all that much tactical. There are of course exceptions,, X-Com, for instance but for most games I always get the feeling that they can be play algorithimically without much hard decision making. The *craft games are good of this. I love Starcraft, but really those and most RTS are about choosing the most efficient 'path' of generating units and seeing whose mob of units can win. There's not a lot of room for cleverness (notice I don't say no room) in these games. I've got Dawn of War chilling on my computer and I've played it maybe once, but it might be a little different, but I doubt it.

Perhaps I'm just bitching because I think I good at tactics but I suck at Warcraft III. But I feel that for a game to be tactical, position of units should make just as much of a difference as which unit is tougher or bigger. At least for strategy games where you are controlling an army. RPGs and Fighting games are a whole different beast all together. Something I may get into later.

Basically, all that rumbling in my brainpan has led to idea of game I want make which sofar as been call 'Position' but the name is crap and I'll change it as soon as I come up with something better. What I want to create is a tactics game in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics, X-Com, and Tactics Ogre, but I want to remove the health bar. I want that grid to mean more than as a way of calculating line of sight.

Making My Own Damn Game

2006-07-02T00:26:00.000-07:00

So I just finished reading Make Your Own Damn Movie by Lloyd Kaufman of Troma fame. It's pretty interesting guide in a making low budget independant movies. Though not directly applicable to me, the making of games and films are quite so I hear, I still feel that it is useful to me. In general, the mindset of an independant artist-rebel doing what he can to create and get an audience is something I need to get into and collecting wisdom from successful auteurs seems prudent. Personally the thing that I need to learn the most is:

It's okay to make crap. As long as I can make something brilliant, enjoyable, and fun, it can certainly be crap. Artists have made careers out of making great crap. Toxic Avenger, Evil Dead, Dead Alive(Braindead) are all low budget crap but it's magnificant crap.

I have this impulse to hold myself back from making stuff, games included, because I feel that what I'll produce will be a pile of steaming shit but I have to tell myself that it's okay if its crap. And of course, I shall be inflicting my crap on the internet because the Lord knows that there is always more room of the internet for mediocrity.

Maybe I should have called this blog Crapgames. :D

First steps are always the hardest

2006-06-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not exactly sure what the first post of a blog is supposed to be like. Should be a pretentious annoucement of a new blog, should be a simple bland introduction, or should I simply get into whatever it is I'm talking about? Perhaps D) All of the above?

The way I figure it really is that the first post shouldn't really mean all the much. I'll write about what I want to write about (probably game design and whatever reading/watching/playing at the time) so there is no real point to telling people what I'm going tell them and who I am will be revealed as I go along. But at the same it does seem a bit rude to ignore doing an introduction, a bit like starting a conversation without a greeting.

So as an introduction the only thing I'll do is explain the name. I asked my dad to describe my humor and he came up with those three adjectives. That's it. Seeya later.