Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Media
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Misaos
Forums
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Profile
Locker
Play ListsSHINAN'S PROFILE
Shinan
4314
Close
I'm Shinan.
Search
Filter
All
Game Pages
User Statuses
Free professional RTS engine!
Nick's Unclassified Guide to Making Fanfiction Games Part One
I assume that once it gets a couple of prats it'll be about how to make proper fangames. That either don't butcher the canon or butcher the canon so much it's good enough comedy. And perhaps about how to correctly market fangames. Because fangames and fanfiction has an audience. Somewhere.
What's your opinion on "cliched" games?
I skimmed through the topic. I saw it was three pages and thought. No way this topic is on topic anymore and I tend to not want to throw myself into those topics. But here I am. If I got this right this is still almost a bit about clichés but also the portrayal of women and sexiness in... games?
The best part by far is this though:
But on cliché games. The initial gut reaction is to say "I don't mind them" but when I thought about it that is not really all that true. Of course good games can compensate by having really awesome gameplay where you don't really care about the fact that you are saving a princess that happens to be in another castle or slaying the Evil Lord of Evil while throwing out one-liners that would make a rock cringe. Awesome gameplay can beat all of that.
Of course it helps a lot if it isn't there. It's always hard to play a game that takes itself so seriously while falling into every pit on the way.
"I'm a dark and brooding vampire". No shit.
I can easily enjoy games that have a fun time while being a bit of a cliché though.
"I'm a dark and brooding vampire that really, really enjoys ripping hearts out of people because I'm awesome like that." I can dig.
Basically. Someone said in this thread as I was skimming. You need a bit of Style. Max Payne is a classic cliché story about the cop that is disillusioned. But it's done with enough style and reference to what inspired it that it's still enjoyable (and the gameplay is great too)
On the other hand we have the "random FPS that isn't famous" where you take the role of a random space soldier with huge arsenals and kick alien and human butt. That's as low as you get without some style and attitude. Most blockbusters tend to get the style and attitude though. But there's those 5/10 FPSes all over the market that just don't.
The best part by far is this though:
author=RoseSkye link=topic=906.msg12968#msg12968 date=1208930453There are few stereotypes as well ingrained as the 14-year old roleplayer in the basement wearing a cloak (ie LARPing) and trying to talk like an Elven lord from the crappy fantasy novels they've read.
Well if you ever played D&D or LARP you'd know that we describe everything, pretty much in medieval tongue as well.
But on cliché games. The initial gut reaction is to say "I don't mind them" but when I thought about it that is not really all that true. Of course good games can compensate by having really awesome gameplay where you don't really care about the fact that you are saving a princess that happens to be in another castle or slaying the Evil Lord of Evil while throwing out one-liners that would make a rock cringe. Awesome gameplay can beat all of that.
Of course it helps a lot if it isn't there. It's always hard to play a game that takes itself so seriously while falling into every pit on the way.
"I'm a dark and brooding vampire". No shit.
I can easily enjoy games that have a fun time while being a bit of a cliché though.
"I'm a dark and brooding vampire that really, really enjoys ripping hearts out of people because I'm awesome like that." I can dig.
Basically. Someone said in this thread as I was skimming. You need a bit of Style. Max Payne is a classic cliché story about the cop that is disillusioned. But it's done with enough style and reference to what inspired it that it's still enjoyable (and the gameplay is great too)
On the other hand we have the "random FPS that isn't famous" where you take the role of a random space soldier with huge arsenals and kick alien and human butt. That's as low as you get without some style and attitude. Most blockbusters tend to get the style and attitude though. But there's those 5/10 FPSes all over the market that just don't.
Civilization Series Discussion
I really enjoy 4x games. I'm mostly a builder. Focusing on cultural development, building buildings and technology and stuff like that. I always go for peace when possible too and rarely keep a big army around, always thinking it'll be obsolete eventually. Most of my cities tend to have one protection unit and very little military development. Meaning that in a flash-war I can usually lose nearly everything I have before I am able to build a counterforce.
Even in war I try to be fairly peaceful. Always taking a city with the least possible violence and keeping units garrisoned there until they no longer mind.
Eventually I go out and war though. But rarely before the industrial revolution. When I war I tend to have a fairly small elite force that moves on railroads to attack anywhere. Usually having some central production cities that no longer have that much to build.
I guess really my biggest flaw in playing is that I always feel that by the time I've built a big enough army it has already become obsolete because of technological advances.
I haven't played Civ4. I've only played Civ2, 3, and SMAC. And then some space 4x Space Empires (2 & 3) and GalCiv. However my tendencies are always the same. Even in Total War.
Even in war I try to be fairly peaceful. Always taking a city with the least possible violence and keeping units garrisoned there until they no longer mind.
Eventually I go out and war though. But rarely before the industrial revolution. When I war I tend to have a fairly small elite force that moves on railroads to attack anywhere. Usually having some central production cities that no longer have that much to build.
I guess really my biggest flaw in playing is that I always feel that by the time I've built a big enough army it has already become obsolete because of technological advances.
I haven't played Civ4. I've only played Civ2, 3, and SMAC. And then some space 4x Space Empires (2 & 3) and GalCiv. However my tendencies are always the same. Even in Total War.
Nick's Unclassified Guide to Making Fanfiction Games Part One
I don't get your Fandom definition. The classic definition of Fandom is a group of active fans involved with a certain "thing that you can be fan of". I'd say that a better term would probably be "fanboy" or "fanboy freak".
Top Ten Topic: Consoles!
Let's see if I can come up with ten. I will only list ones I've owned. Or... well... The family has owned.
1. PC with Windows XP
It can play a lot. As long as it has decent specs. And even without decent specs if it can run XP it can run a lot of newer freeware. Most of my online gaming has been through the XP and the variety of games I've played are astonishing.
2. PC with Windows 9x
Second best after the XP. I'll just count all the 9x as one even though technically it's more than one. I did play some awesome game on those though. I didn't ever have anything before 95 though so I have no 3.1 or MS-DOS gaming memories. But 95 could play both of those kinds of games so I had fun anyway. And certain DOS games don't run so well on the XP so this "platform" has some semi-exclusive games too. This was the platform I first played Nintendo ROMS on too. Which was fun and games.
3. Game Boy Pocket
Sure I liked my regular Game Boy. But it broke and the Pocket is so much better. In fact it completely substituted my regular one in my memory so once when I saw the original again I was astonished at how damn huge it was. In my memory it was almost the same size at the Pocket. The pocet has everything going for it. Sharper image, less batteries (and at least equal if not longer battery life)
The Game Boy also had the best game ever made. Tetris.
4. NES
Mostly for nostalgic reasons. Loads of fun during beautiful summer days spent indoors with the NES instead of being outside playing football. Though to be honest we did play a lot of football too. Of course we also played football on the NES, Nintendo World Cup, Goal! and Tecmo Cup Soccer. And bunches of games that were really awesome and great looking when we were kids. Imagining up our own games and their mechanics. Such as the (probably far from first) school-attacking game. Where you'd essentially vandalize a school in a platformer. And we didn't even think that it'd be controversial in any way...
5. Wii
Finally we're getting more recent. The Wii kicks ass, not because of it's lacking game library but because of its backwards compatibility and Virtual Console. Essentially it is all the GameCube was only more. With games exclusive for it. So in that way it can't in any way be worse than the game cube and must be higher on the list.
I also really enjoy wasting fifteen minutes on Wiigames. Like shooting zombies or driving a bit in Excite Truck. I'm also hoping that goddamn piece of shit game called Brawl will be out some day.
6. Nintendo DS Lite
The NDS Lite is an awesome system. And it can play my GBA games too. It can't play my GB games so that's why the GB is higher up. If it could it'd be the perfect game system ever. Right now it's just very good. Although I have very few titles for it. All the titles I have have been worth it. Elite Beat Agents and Meteos especially so.
7. GameCube
Not exactly the winner of winners. But I had some good times with it. And we had one of those GBA adaptors so I got to play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance without wasting batteries. I also had fun with my little brother playing those regular multiplatform games on the GC. Namely NHL and FIFA. Combine that with the Resident Evil exclusives and you get a winner in my book.
8. Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance didn't really fill all the dreams I had but still the games I got for it were well worth it. It just didn't become too many of them. Thinking back I should have gotten more of those regular platformer games for the GBA. But on the other hand they all seemed to be SNES remakes. So I don't know. At least I can play them on my DS now.
9. Playstation
Playstation was alright. I played some Final Fantasies on it and that was basically all. The other games I tried didn't seem like much, though most of the PS games I played were demos. Looking back it all seemed kinda bland though. Crash Bandicoot was probably a pretty well done game.
10. Nintendo 64
The N64 had some great games. I had great fun with both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. And not to mention International Superstar Soccer 2000, which had a really funny career mode thingie. But most was probably Perfect Dark.
And a bit of Lylat Wars. And obviously Resident Evil 2. It's kinda funny because I think I've played every single Resident Evil game on a Nintendo console, no that was a lie because Nemesis was on the Playstation. Another reason it's above the N64. I'm a Resident Evil fanboy I guess.
1. PC with Windows XP
It can play a lot. As long as it has decent specs. And even without decent specs if it can run XP it can run a lot of newer freeware. Most of my online gaming has been through the XP and the variety of games I've played are astonishing.
2. PC with Windows 9x
Second best after the XP. I'll just count all the 9x as one even though technically it's more than one. I did play some awesome game on those though. I didn't ever have anything before 95 though so I have no 3.1 or MS-DOS gaming memories. But 95 could play both of those kinds of games so I had fun anyway. And certain DOS games don't run so well on the XP so this "platform" has some semi-exclusive games too. This was the platform I first played Nintendo ROMS on too. Which was fun and games.
3. Game Boy Pocket
Sure I liked my regular Game Boy. But it broke and the Pocket is so much better. In fact it completely substituted my regular one in my memory so once when I saw the original again I was astonished at how damn huge it was. In my memory it was almost the same size at the Pocket. The pocet has everything going for it. Sharper image, less batteries (and at least equal if not longer battery life)
The Game Boy also had the best game ever made. Tetris.
4. NES
Mostly for nostalgic reasons. Loads of fun during beautiful summer days spent indoors with the NES instead of being outside playing football. Though to be honest we did play a lot of football too. Of course we also played football on the NES, Nintendo World Cup, Goal! and Tecmo Cup Soccer. And bunches of games that were really awesome and great looking when we were kids. Imagining up our own games and their mechanics. Such as the (probably far from first) school-attacking game. Where you'd essentially vandalize a school in a platformer. And we didn't even think that it'd be controversial in any way...
5. Wii
Finally we're getting more recent. The Wii kicks ass, not because of it's lacking game library but because of its backwards compatibility and Virtual Console. Essentially it is all the GameCube was only more. With games exclusive for it. So in that way it can't in any way be worse than the game cube and must be higher on the list.
I also really enjoy wasting fifteen minutes on Wiigames. Like shooting zombies or driving a bit in Excite Truck. I'm also hoping that goddamn piece of shit game called Brawl will be out some day.
6. Nintendo DS Lite
The NDS Lite is an awesome system. And it can play my GBA games too. It can't play my GB games so that's why the GB is higher up. If it could it'd be the perfect game system ever. Right now it's just very good. Although I have very few titles for it. All the titles I have have been worth it. Elite Beat Agents and Meteos especially so.
7. GameCube
Not exactly the winner of winners. But I had some good times with it. And we had one of those GBA adaptors so I got to play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance without wasting batteries. I also had fun with my little brother playing those regular multiplatform games on the GC. Namely NHL and FIFA. Combine that with the Resident Evil exclusives and you get a winner in my book.
8. Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance didn't really fill all the dreams I had but still the games I got for it were well worth it. It just didn't become too many of them. Thinking back I should have gotten more of those regular platformer games for the GBA. But on the other hand they all seemed to be SNES remakes. So I don't know. At least I can play them on my DS now.
9. Playstation
Playstation was alright. I played some Final Fantasies on it and that was basically all. The other games I tried didn't seem like much, though most of the PS games I played were demos. Looking back it all seemed kinda bland though. Crash Bandicoot was probably a pretty well done game.
10. Nintendo 64
The N64 had some great games. I had great fun with both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. And not to mention International Superstar Soccer 2000, which had a really funny career mode thingie. But most was probably Perfect Dark.
And a bit of Lylat Wars. And obviously Resident Evil 2. It's kinda funny because I think I've played every single Resident Evil game on a Nintendo console, no that was a lie because Nemesis was on the Playstation. Another reason it's above the N64. I'm a Resident Evil fanboy I guess.
Fewer Mechanics, Better Game (Gamasutra Article)
I agree with what the article's saying in some ways. The simple and awesome approach is one of those that make classic games. Putting in extra features for the hell of it doesn't always work.
BUT. There are genres where you want that extra complexity. But it has to be completely integrated to the overall feel of it all. The genre I'm talking about is simulation. Simulation games are better when they do what they simulate as completely as possible. Even in simulators though, they tend to focus on one thing as the scope of the game and do that one thing really well.
Then there are larger simulators. Simulators that simulate the running of a country like Total War, which has a strategic element with diplomacy, city&army building and maneouvering, and a tactical element in the battles with formations, morale, flanking etc.
Some people say that this divide in mechanics is a bad thing. I say it's not. The reason I prefer Total War is that it has both of the elements and does both elements fairly well.
Then there's the single person simulator. And that is unfortunately not The Sims, which does the single person simulator in a few mechanics (house-building & character-building). It is the Roleplaying game. A roleplaying game is really a simulator game which is supposed to simulate a person in whatever setting the game is set in. The difference between it and The Sims is that the scope is wider.
But with all this anti-simplicity talk I'm also hugely in favour of simplicity when it's reasonable. Portal is a perfect example of perfect simple design. It also has one of the best learning curves I've ever seen. (I suggest listening to the developer commentary on that game it gives great insight in how the game was made accessible)
I'll be perfectly honest though. Simpler games are more fun. Just like blockbuster movies are more fun. But occasionally you want to watch that slightly more heavy movie that make you think. But the blockbuster Inderpendence Day movie will always make more money. And as costs for games are spiralling developers are stuck with doing what appeals to the most people.
Leaving of course all these lovely independent developers that make stuff like Dwarf Fortress.
BUT. There are genres where you want that extra complexity. But it has to be completely integrated to the overall feel of it all. The genre I'm talking about is simulation. Simulation games are better when they do what they simulate as completely as possible. Even in simulators though, they tend to focus on one thing as the scope of the game and do that one thing really well.
Then there are larger simulators. Simulators that simulate the running of a country like Total War, which has a strategic element with diplomacy, city&army building and maneouvering, and a tactical element in the battles with formations, morale, flanking etc.
Some people say that this divide in mechanics is a bad thing. I say it's not. The reason I prefer Total War is that it has both of the elements and does both elements fairly well.
Then there's the single person simulator. And that is unfortunately not The Sims, which does the single person simulator in a few mechanics (house-building & character-building). It is the Roleplaying game. A roleplaying game is really a simulator game which is supposed to simulate a person in whatever setting the game is set in. The difference between it and The Sims is that the scope is wider.
But with all this anti-simplicity talk I'm also hugely in favour of simplicity when it's reasonable. Portal is a perfect example of perfect simple design. It also has one of the best learning curves I've ever seen. (I suggest listening to the developer commentary on that game it gives great insight in how the game was made accessible)
I'll be perfectly honest though. Simpler games are more fun. Just like blockbuster movies are more fun. But occasionally you want to watch that slightly more heavy movie that make you think. But the blockbuster Inderpendence Day movie will always make more money. And as costs for games are spiralling developers are stuck with doing what appeals to the most people.
Leaving of course all these lovely independent developers that make stuff like Dwarf Fortress.
Of the consoles you own, which is your favorite?
I own a NES, GB, GB Pocket, GBC, GBA, NDS lite, N64, GC and Wii.
And a PC.
My PC is by far my favorite gaming platform.
When it comes to actual consoles I'm not really sure. I really like the DS, since it is fairly backwards compatible and so can play what I want it to play. It's also a DS Lite so the picture is sickeningly sharp compared to the regular DS.
Otherwise it would have been the NES. But with Virtual Console Wii is all the other Nintendo consoles put into one. So it's obviously the Wii. (And my NES only works occasionally after a bit of hurting)
But yeah. The PC. Strategy, FPS, what else do you need?
And a PC.
My PC is by far my favorite gaming platform.
When it comes to actual consoles I'm not really sure. I really like the DS, since it is fairly backwards compatible and so can play what I want it to play. It's also a DS Lite so the picture is sickeningly sharp compared to the regular DS.
Otherwise it would have been the NES. But with Virtual Console Wii is all the other Nintendo consoles put into one. So it's obviously the Wii. (And my NES only works occasionally after a bit of hurting)
But yeah. The PC. Strategy, FPS, what else do you need?
Top Ten Topic: Songs of the moment
No order.
Not all "right now" either because some stuff, while not being actively listened to, tends to get into the list.
Ellen McLain - Still Alive
Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains
Muse - Comforting Sounds
Ink Spots - I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire
The Beautiful South - Dream A Little Dream of Me
Nightwish - Bye Bye Beautiful
Rikard Wolff - Fienden
Juno Reactor - Pistolero
A Shoggoth On The Roof Cast - To Life
Raymond & Maria - Ingen Vill Veta Var Du Köpt Din Tröja
Not all "right now" either because some stuff, while not being actively listened to, tends to get into the list.
Ellen McLain - Still Alive
Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains
Muse - Comforting Sounds
Ink Spots - I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire
The Beautiful South - Dream A Little Dream of Me
Nightwish - Bye Bye Beautiful
Rikard Wolff - Fienden
Juno Reactor - Pistolero
A Shoggoth On The Roof Cast - To Life
Raymond & Maria - Ingen Vill Veta Var Du Köpt Din Tröja
Torrents: Do you?
But we're not very far away from being able to download movies as an impulsive buy. With wireless connections nearly everywhere and stuff like the iPhone I bet it won't take long until we see a commercial for a movie somewhere, whip out our portable music-player/video-player/phone/all-kinds-of-stuff press a couple of buttons a voilá, the movie is on your account. Being able to stream it on the portable device or, since you use the same account on your machine at home, being able to (for the same fee) stream or download it to your home TV.
Hell I'm sure it's even possible to do remote controlling. Buying the movie with your portable device through a couple of clicks and it starts downloading on your NotReallWiiConnect24 and ready for viewing when you get home.
The browse-and-buy model won't exactly go away. But it also applies to the digital world. I know I occasionally just browse around torrentsites looking for movies that might seem interesting. Or when I'm downloading music off some network I search for random words, looking for stuff that catches the eye.
The browse-and-buy is far inferior to tell-and-buy though. The one where some friend say "hey, I saw this movie you should really watch it, it's neat." In digital downloads the films are often tied to your account meaning that you probably won't be able to transfer the films over to friends. So when recommending a movie you can't just lend it away but they'll probably have to buy it. But again talking about a movie, whip out the portable device, search for the movie and a couple of clicks and it's on its way home to you.
Of course we're not yet quite there where it's that simple. But the fact is that this is what they're aiming for because to be honest they want stuff to be bought as much as possible as easily as possible.
Hell I'm sure it's even possible to do remote controlling. Buying the movie with your portable device through a couple of clicks and it starts downloading on your NotReallWiiConnect24 and ready for viewing when you get home.
The browse-and-buy model won't exactly go away. But it also applies to the digital world. I know I occasionally just browse around torrentsites looking for movies that might seem interesting. Or when I'm downloading music off some network I search for random words, looking for stuff that catches the eye.
The browse-and-buy is far inferior to tell-and-buy though. The one where some friend say "hey, I saw this movie you should really watch it, it's neat." In digital downloads the films are often tied to your account meaning that you probably won't be able to transfer the films over to friends. So when recommending a movie you can't just lend it away but they'll probably have to buy it. But again talking about a movie, whip out the portable device, search for the movie and a couple of clicks and it's on its way home to you.
Of course we're not yet quite there where it's that simple. But the fact is that this is what they're aiming for because to be honest they want stuff to be bought as much as possible as easily as possible.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
