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Killer Wolf
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When you're bound by your own convictions, a discipline can be your addiction.
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Real Social Issues in Videogames
I think Deus Ex: Human Revolution did this fairly well. Obviously, it has the sci-fi treatment slapped on as a topcoat, but a lot of the stuff underneath is essentially a mirror for the world today. It feels like a natural outgrowth of current problems, with applied complications of widespread cybernetics, and the attending machinations of big business to make a grab for control.
A lot of people call Bioware's writing bad, or generic. I get that, to a degree, since they have basically released the same story, with minor cosmetic alterations, for the last decade or so. Every now and then though, you get a "hmmm" moment. The question about genetically modifying the widow's baby in Mass Effect was one.
My main problem with Bioware's writing is that the "evil/darkside/renegade" options are always so clearly defined. In life, a lot of bad decisions can be made in the service of positive outcomes. "I kill you because I'm bored. Die." in a Dolph Lundgren affect is nowhere near as complex or fun as, "You're just trying to provide for your family, I'll let you go." and later the guy gets cornered by law enforcement for another crime and ends up killing a few people. "That would be on you, hero." Delayed bad karma, buddy.
I'd love it if there were a game where you could simultaneously choose what you want to say, and then what the character is really thinking. Like "I hate to say it, but I'm authorizing the enhanced interrogation of this terror suspect." is the dialog choice picked, but then the player gets the option (with thought bubble graphic, perhaps) 'That'll teach this son of a bitch what happens when he tries to pull that shit in MY country,' vs 'I know this is wrong, but, it might save a few lives.'
I don't know if that makes much sense. I'd like to be able to SAY whatever in a conversation, but have my actual karmic swing (if applied in said game) occur based on what I actually do.
A lot of people call Bioware's writing bad, or generic. I get that, to a degree, since they have basically released the same story, with minor cosmetic alterations, for the last decade or so. Every now and then though, you get a "hmmm" moment. The question about genetically modifying the widow's baby in Mass Effect was one.
My main problem with Bioware's writing is that the "evil/darkside/renegade" options are always so clearly defined. In life, a lot of bad decisions can be made in the service of positive outcomes. "I kill you because I'm bored. Die." in a Dolph Lundgren affect is nowhere near as complex or fun as, "You're just trying to provide for your family, I'll let you go." and later the guy gets cornered by law enforcement for another crime and ends up killing a few people. "That would be on you, hero." Delayed bad karma, buddy.
I'd love it if there were a game where you could simultaneously choose what you want to say, and then what the character is really thinking. Like "I hate to say it, but I'm authorizing the enhanced interrogation of this terror suspect." is the dialog choice picked, but then the player gets the option (with thought bubble graphic, perhaps) 'That'll teach this son of a bitch what happens when he tries to pull that shit in MY country,' vs 'I know this is wrong, but, it might save a few lives.'
I don't know if that makes much sense. I'd like to be able to SAY whatever in a conversation, but have my actual karmic swing (if applied in said game) occur based on what I actually do.
Guess that RMN Game!
1a16.jpg
The front row enemies aren't bad, but having the two Turks in the background like that totally wrecks any sense of perspective... unless they grew to Godzillian proportions after a giant industrial accident back at Shinra.
Just another tiny nitpick, but the soldiers give me the impression they don't want to shoot at the party, but rather at something to their right and slightly behind them.
Just another tiny nitpick, but the soldiers give me the impression they don't want to shoot at the party, but rather at something to their right and slightly behind them.
1a1.jpg
The Tifa graphic looks like she spent some serious time on a torture wrack (leg stretcher, especially) and then had a brick dropped on her upper torso. The sprite's proportions may be right, I just don't remember her seeming so... stretched/compressed. The rest look fine, though.
The Customer Is Always Right - Perception Of Designer & Player "Responsibilities" In Amateur & Commercial Video Games
author=Max McGee
I too learned the quote the smug over-educated college hipster *coolshades* non-ubisoft plebeian way. : )
Wasn't making an accusation. As for me, I actually caught it when I started getting into William S. Burroughs back in highschool. My friends would read these normal boring books for book reports, and I just went out of my way to find stuff that would make the teacher regret standing us up in front of the classroom.
Also, I used to have a bunch of Burroughs routines memorized that I would just recite while playing Spades, just to ruin everyone's concentration.
(By which I mean, an (excellent) classmate's story I read in a Creative Writing workshop class from Hassan I Sabbah by way of William Burroughs
This makes me want to dig up one of the papers I wrote in a college comp class. The professor actually started using it as part of the curriculum (as a model of what to do, not what to avoid, I'd hope). There goes my night, rifling through boxes of old notebooks and coursework.
The Customer Is Always Right - Perception Of Designer & Player "Responsibilities" In Amateur & Commercial Video Games
author=Max McGee
nothing is true, everything is permitted has a lot of day to day, real life truth, especially that second clause.
I always liked that quote, ever since my first exposure to Hassan I Sabbah, via William S. Burroughs. For a brief period a couple of years back, it almost made me cringe. I remember when I rented Assassin's Creed and heard it, my first thought was "F-ck, there's another topic I spent library time on getting wide banded."
Holding to my primary source, I'd say it all depends on what city you currently happen to be working your way through, with my favorite variations emphasized below.
Everything is as true as you think it is and everything you can get away with is permitted.
Everything is true and everything is permitted.
Everything is true and nothing is permitted except to the permitters.
Complete permission derives from complete understanding.
This pilgrimage may take many lifetimes.
The Customer Is Always Right - Perception Of Designer & Player "Responsibilities" In Amateur & Commercial Video Games
To me, if I'm not enjoying a game, I immediately feel justified in not liking it, since it pretty much met the criteria for that right off.
I've actually made a similar argument about music before, how even though I didn't like a band's style/music, I could appreciate them for doing something different, and so on. That is all well and good, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to load up my mp3 player with music I can't stand, just because it might have artistic merit, or because the guy put it up for free on his website.
I have a hard time with the whole "deserved" concept.
Someone makes a choice to create something. I make a choice to either partake of it or not. Every step along the way, I make another choice. Do I keep playing or don't I?
As I said before, unless I have agreed to test or review something, if I'm not enjoying it, I feel no obligation whatsoever to keep playing it.
Case in point:
I think a distinction needs to be made. Players do not owe any greater responsibility to an indie game than they do to a commercial one. Anyone who has been asked to test a game, or who chooses to review one, on the other hand, SHOULD be obligated to give the game more of a chance, irrespective of its pedigree.
And no, I don't feel this contradicts my statement about "You're doing it wrong" and "Stick with it, it gets better" being stricken from the Big Book of Development Excuses, since I already had provisions in place exempting testing purposes.
They deserve additional consideration
I've actually made a similar argument about music before, how even though I didn't like a band's style/music, I could appreciate them for doing something different, and so on. That is all well and good, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to load up my mp3 player with music I can't stand, just because it might have artistic merit, or because the guy put it up for free on his website.
I have a hard time with the whole "deserved" concept.
Someone makes a choice to create something. I make a choice to either partake of it or not. Every step along the way, I make another choice. Do I keep playing or don't I?
As I said before, unless I have agreed to test or review something, if I'm not enjoying it, I feel no obligation whatsoever to keep playing it.
Case in point:
I ended up enjoying the game I reviewed for the Secret Santa event, but that was not my first impression of it at all. I was stuck at a boss that could basically one-shot me (not quite, but close) and to get to the boss from my last save I had to walk through a narrow passage that always triggered a "random" battle. Before the boss, there was an scene I couldn't skip. I tried for almost forty five minutes before I had to close the game down, attempting different approaches and gear load outs. It was getting to where I wasn't even making it past the "random" battle without getting poisoned to death because I just didn't care at that point.
I actually drafted a letter apologizing to both the game's creator and to Deckiller, asking if I (and by extension, my game) could be removed from the event because I just couldn't get into the game I'd been assigned. I was very close to hitting send, but I didn't. I'd made an agreement to review the game, and if I just gave up at the first sticking point I came to... what would that review be about, fifteen minutes of the game maybe? That would be complete and utter bullshit. I couldn't put my name down next to, "Nope, can't be bothered even though I said I would."
So, I went back into the game. I still refused to grind/train up for the fight, and eventually managed to stubbornly triumph, only to lose my progress to a game crash thanks to me alt-tab-ing over to add a few more lines to my review notes. By then, it was personal though, so I went back in and slaughtered the boss again and went on with the review. My notes were very dark up to that point, but the further I got into the game, the better things got. I let go of the rage that had been building up and just hit an almost zen like stride where I saw everything objectively.
From a player's point of view, I still think the early balance was WAY off (to the point that I legitimately thought I'd missed picking up a party member somehow), but as a reviewer, it was my job to bull my way through and experience as much of the content as I could so that I could write about it intelligently (somewhat, at least).
I actually drafted a letter apologizing to both the game's creator and to Deckiller, asking if I (and by extension, my game) could be removed from the event because I just couldn't get into the game I'd been assigned. I was very close to hitting send, but I didn't. I'd made an agreement to review the game, and if I just gave up at the first sticking point I came to... what would that review be about, fifteen minutes of the game maybe? That would be complete and utter bullshit. I couldn't put my name down next to, "Nope, can't be bothered even though I said I would."
So, I went back into the game. I still refused to grind/train up for the fight, and eventually managed to stubbornly triumph, only to lose my progress to a game crash thanks to me alt-tab-ing over to add a few more lines to my review notes. By then, it was personal though, so I went back in and slaughtered the boss again and went on with the review. My notes were very dark up to that point, but the further I got into the game, the better things got. I let go of the rage that had been building up and just hit an almost zen like stride where I saw everything objectively.
From a player's point of view, I still think the early balance was WAY off (to the point that I legitimately thought I'd missed picking up a party member somehow), but as a reviewer, it was my job to bull my way through and experience as much of the content as I could so that I could write about it intelligently (somewhat, at least).
I think a distinction needs to be made. Players do not owe any greater responsibility to an indie game than they do to a commercial one. Anyone who has been asked to test a game, or who chooses to review one, on the other hand, SHOULD be obligated to give the game more of a chance, irrespective of its pedigree.
And no, I don't feel this contradicts my statement about "You're doing it wrong" and "Stick with it, it gets better" being stricken from the Big Book of Development Excuses, since I already had provisions in place exempting testing purposes.
What are you thinking about? (game development edition)
Since I am going to start one of my projects over from scratch, I'm considering going whole hog and using custom inventory, equipment, and skill menus. I want to bring in the encumberence and "have your party help carry your gear" elements from older games like Fallout and Arcanum. Of course, that means I'd have to do away with automatic item drops during victories and move to a more traditional "looting of corpses" approach, which is also fine with me.
My main concern comes from the drop-item ability, which is practically a requirement in a system like this. I'd probably only use one event to display the player dropped items. It would cycle through the locations of all active drops within the player's field of vision, on a loop, to show the locations to the player. I'm just concerned that on larger maps, or if someone decided to put a drop on every free square, things could start to get ugly.
My main concern comes from the drop-item ability, which is practically a requirement in a system like this. I'd probably only use one event to display the player dropped items. It would cycle through the locations of all active drops within the player's field of vision, on a loop, to show the locations to the player. I'm just concerned that on larger maps, or if someone decided to put a drop on every free square, things could start to get ugly.
Secret Santa Reviews!
I finally "win" something, and it is by default? Figures.
But hey, it is better than being the only one to guess and still coming in second!
But hey, it is better than being the only one to guess and still coming in second!
Graphics and the sorts
I liked the Xenosaga games a lot, though not quite as much as I liked Xenogears.
I was a total story whore though, so I sat there happily, trying to make the best of the localization that I could. Although I did start to get a little bored now and then. I remember making up a song during one scene, "When I turned into a Gnosis" to the tune of the Misfit's "When I turned into a martian." I think maybe the preponderance of cutscenes actually emulsified my brain for brief stretches of time though, because I thought saying "Diagnosis: Gnosis" whenever they popped up in a cutscene was clever.
I was a total story whore though, so I sat there happily, trying to make the best of the localization that I could. Although I did start to get a little bored now and then. I remember making up a song during one scene, "When I turned into a Gnosis" to the tune of the Misfit's "When I turned into a martian." I think maybe the preponderance of cutscenes actually emulsified my brain for brief stretches of time though, because I thought saying "Diagnosis: Gnosis" whenever they popped up in a cutscene was clever.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
