12.20.2008
12.14.2008
12.05.2008
12.04.2008
11.20.2008
11.17.2008
so i dont keep having to look this up
Sweet and Spicy Squash
serves one
1 acorn squash
2 teaspoons olive oil, or to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Preheat the oven to 375�F. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds. Place in a small pie pan or baking dish. Rub one half with the olive oil, coating the cavity well. Then rub in the curry and chili powders, and some salt and pepper. Rub softened butter in the other half and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the squash comes up easily when scraped gently with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then eat straight from the rind, mashing it up with a spoon.
serves one
1 acorn squash
2 teaspoons olive oil, or to taste
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
Preheat the oven to 375�F. Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the strings and seeds. Place in a small pie pan or baking dish. Rub one half with the olive oil, coating the cavity well. Then rub in the curry and chili powders, and some salt and pepper. Rub softened butter in the other half and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger.
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the squash comes up easily when scraped gently with a fork. Let cool for a few minutes, then eat straight from the rind, mashing it up with a spoon.
11.04.2008
10.28.2008
10.21.2008
9.01.2008
The World is Random
So Scott and I being the dorks that we are decided to kill some time
teaching ourselves MTG in the hotel lobby.
teaching ourselves MTG in the hotel lobby.
It was completely obvious that we had no clue what we were doing. A
nice guy with a southern accent and hip salt and pepper hair came to
our rescue and spent about 20 minutes walking us through our first
game. At one point another dude came up and notified him that the van
was ready.
It turns out our MTG savior was the guitarist for the Old 97s, in town
for Bumbershoot. This is so rad! A pseudo-celebrity was our tutor and
he was super nice. What an awesome trip this has been. Seriously.
Hotel Lobby Post PAX08
So... sadly PAX is over, despite my desperate attempts to record my experiences and keep the spirit alive, which I will continue to do until I run out of crap to say.
However, I am currently chilling in the hotel lobby and the dork quotient remains ridiculously high. This joint is rife with tabletop gaming. Tons of mini D&D sessions, MTG players and board games make me feel like the nerd flames are still burning brightly. This makes me happy. :)
Unfortunately, I must sleep or my sleep rhythm will be fucked for the next week. Goodnight.
However, I am currently chilling in the hotel lobby and the dork quotient remains ridiculously high. This joint is rife with tabletop gaming. Tons of mini D&D sessions, MTG players and board games make me feel like the nerd flames are still burning brightly. This makes me happy. :)
Unfortunately, I must sleep or my sleep rhythm will be fucked for the next week. Goodnight.
From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 2: TTP and the Thermostat Approach.
See Part 1
TTP and the Thermostat Approach
Of course the approach of giving users large amounts of power poses potential risks and monumental challenges in any virtual world. When at least 10% of your base plays as idiots and griefers, you have to expect that they will try to fuck up your game in any way they can imagine. When one of the panel's audience mentions "Sporn" and how user generated content definitely involves a large amount of the lowest common denominator, Dave Williams immediately mentions that his team likes to keep track of TTP: "time to penis" when allowing users free rein over their environment. If they can do it, they will do it. "Always have a griefer on your team" was a sound piece of advice. When you know the worst that can happen, you can prepare for that eventuality. Howver, if player created penises are your biggest concern, you're probably doing pretty well.
When another audience member frets that he expects that any world he creates that allows permanent user change will end a charred universe within hours, Dave's response hints at his engineering background; he recommendes implementing a creation/destruction negative feedback loop. "The more you destroy, the harder it becomes to destroy and the easier it becomes to build afresh." Razing a village? The next one will require twice the army strength. Keep in mind that your universe can be somewhat self-correcting and regulating. You can control some fundamental aspects of the world using ultimate hard and fast rules. Basically, you can't destroy Ironforge. Period.
Don't Make Your Players Bore Themselves Into Quitting
While the next piece of advice from Ed and Dave strays considerably from the previous sections relating to persistance and the delicate balance of flexibility and survivability, it's probably equally important to keep in mind when trying to create engaging, long-lasting, virtual worlds.
Path of least resistance will be the path most often taken. If the grind is the easiest way to max out your level that is what people will do. If there is one path that is super interesting and challenging and involves several story elements, but happens to be 5% less efficient than an epic mindless murloc slaughter which achieves the same endpoint, guess what players will do. Ultimately, this is your fault. As a world builder, creating the balance between effort, engagement and fun is difficult, but should be a high priority. You are competing for a players’ continued time, so if they accomplish their goal, but hate every second of it, they won’t continue playing. You pretty much fail at your ultimate objective, which is to keep people playing.
Soon to be Concluded: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 3: Subtle Psychological Encouragement, Player Manipulation and You
TTP and the Thermostat Approach
Of course the approach of giving users large amounts of power poses potential risks and monumental challenges in any virtual world. When at least 10% of your base plays as idiots and griefers, you have to expect that they will try to fuck up your game in any way they can imagine. When one of the panel's audience mentions "Sporn" and how user generated content definitely involves a large amount of the lowest common denominator, Dave Williams immediately mentions that his team likes to keep track of TTP: "time to penis" when allowing users free rein over their environment. If they can do it, they will do it. "Always have a griefer on your team" was a sound piece of advice. When you know the worst that can happen, you can prepare for that eventuality. Howver, if player created penises are your biggest concern, you're probably doing pretty well.
When another audience member frets that he expects that any world he creates that allows permanent user change will end a charred universe within hours, Dave's response hints at his engineering background; he recommendes implementing a creation/destruction negative feedback loop. "The more you destroy, the harder it becomes to destroy and the easier it becomes to build afresh." Razing a village? The next one will require twice the army strength. Keep in mind that your universe can be somewhat self-correcting and regulating. You can control some fundamental aspects of the world using ultimate hard and fast rules. Basically, you can't destroy Ironforge. Period.
Don't Make Your Players Bore Themselves Into Quitting
While the next piece of advice from Ed and Dave strays considerably from the previous sections relating to persistance and the delicate balance of flexibility and survivability, it's probably equally important to keep in mind when trying to create engaging, long-lasting, virtual worlds.
Path of least resistance will be the path most often taken. If the grind is the easiest way to max out your level that is what people will do. If there is one path that is super interesting and challenging and involves several story elements, but happens to be 5% less efficient than an epic mindless murloc slaughter which achieves the same endpoint, guess what players will do. Ultimately, this is your fault. As a world builder, creating the balance between effort, engagement and fun is difficult, but should be a high priority. You are competing for a players’ continued time, so if they accomplish their goal, but hate every second of it, they won’t continue playing. You pretty much fail at your ultimate objective, which is to keep people playing.
Soon to be Concluded: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 3: Subtle Psychological Encouragement, Player Manipulation and You
8.31.2008
Rising Up Against Lucas
At the Penny Arcade Q&A session a guy just asked if Gabe & Tycho would
support an uprising against George Lucas to wrestle the Star Wars
franchise away from his hands to prevent further harm. Thundering
applause.
support an uprising against George Lucas to wrestle the Star Wars
franchise away from his hands to prevent further harm. Thundering
applause.
Notes from Saturday: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds
Friday we attended two fascinating panels that I didn't write about at all. I have pretty much been taking ass loads of notes in my little moleskine and keeping them to myself.
Every panel involves people who know their shit being asked intelligent questions from an informed audience. It rocks and really has been one of the highlights of the show for me. I have learned tons and really haven't talked about it in this little blog project. It's just seemed too daunting to try and boil it down into essay form. Oh well, here goes.
::
"From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds" was led by two bearded friendly looking middle aged dudes who each had impressive resumes involving tabletop role playing/trading card games and had recently jumped over to designing an MMOG for Red 5 Studios. They couldn't really talk about their current project, but they had plenty of critiques and insights into the current market.
Your Actions Matter or "Tools Not Rules"
Ed Stark and Dave Williams from Red 5 wanted to talk about the best thing about MMOs: persistance. You leave, the game goes on. Ultimately, current bohemoths in the MMOG space (like, say WoW) allow players to make temporary changes to the world but doesn't allow them to make fundamental, permanent changes to their world. SWG allowed this to a limited extent with the "create your own house/vendor tent" and "player city" mechanic but this didn't affect the game in any real way. Ed and Dave envision a world were players on a server can decide the direction their story takes; the player base calls the shots, the virtual world just facilitates their actions. User developed content can create truly unique and engaging experiences and will keep people playing longer.
Soon: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 2: TTP and the Thermostat Approach.
Every panel involves people who know their shit being asked intelligent questions from an informed audience. It rocks and really has been one of the highlights of the show for me. I have learned tons and really haven't talked about it in this little blog project. It's just seemed too daunting to try and boil it down into essay form. Oh well, here goes.
::
"From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds" was led by two bearded friendly looking middle aged dudes who each had impressive resumes involving tabletop role playing/trading card games and had recently jumped over to designing an MMOG for Red 5 Studios. They couldn't really talk about their current project, but they had plenty of critiques and insights into the current market.
Your Actions Matter or "Tools Not Rules"
Ed Stark and Dave Williams from Red 5 wanted to talk about the best thing about MMOs: persistance. You leave, the game goes on. Ultimately, current bohemoths in the MMOG space (like, say WoW) allow players to make temporary changes to the world but doesn't allow them to make fundamental, permanent changes to their world. SWG allowed this to a limited extent with the "create your own house/vendor tent" and "player city" mechanic but this didn't affect the game in any real way. Ed and Dave envision a world were players on a server can decide the direction their story takes; the player base calls the shots, the virtual world just facilitates their actions. User developed content can create truly unique and engaging experiences and will keep people playing longer.
Soon: From Pencil to Pixels: Designing Virtual Worlds Part 2: TTP and the Thermostat Approach.
Notes from Saturday: Pitch Your Game Panel
This panel was held in the annex building of the convention center among the teaming throngs of crazy tabletop gamers. While I was hoping for actual thought out gaming pitches, ultimately, this panel was mostly tongue and cheek, but that didnt make it any less fun. Actually it probably made it more entertaining. Basically the plan was to have two rounds of judging. The first round consisted of about 50 initial pitches of about 20-45 seconds in length which were either ok'd or nixed immediately. Those games ok'd in the initial round made it to round 2. After the second round, the panel judges chose a 3 winners who got some prize (I have no idea what).
One thing that made this panel super interesting was the fact that a guy from a Day 1 panel we attended about actually preparing your serious game idea for a serious pitch to a serious game publisher sat directly in front of us and began making snarky comments along with us as the session wore on. This guy works in Bus Dev for Namco Bandai and informed us during his panel that he gets 1500-2000 pitches per year and ultimately only green lights ~5 games, so it was pretty interesting to hear his opinions on the pitches of fellow goofy con goers.
So...the first pitch: "Think Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit meets GTA 4". This was met with tons of laughs and was immediately pushed into round 2. Turns out that this guy already has Bill Murray and John Leguizamo signed for vocal work and the game should be out sometime around September 5th. Keep an eye out for that one..... See what I mean? Ridiculous and entertaining, but not quite what I was expecting.
Rundown of Some Other Ideas of Note:
1. Two words: Zombie Golf
2. Surveilance Van/Field Agent Co-op Game: Co-op game involving the sexy field agent who breaks into top secret facilities but relies heavily on his/her "Dorito eating fat guy in surveilance van" who completes puzzle games to disable cameras and security systems allowing the sexy partner to advance. (Ultimately this game won first prize. I loved this idea. Dead serious. Love it.)
3. Lords of LARP: role play pasty white kids role playing elves and orcs in a suburban neighborhood ... awesome on several levels. Amazing cosplay potential.
4. All Steroids Olympics .... juicing athletes push the very limits of physical ability and perhaps inadvertently rip off their own arms in the process .. family game, obviously
5. Wild Wild Wii .... lots of western themed Wii mini games ... lassoing, quick draw competitions (I also think this one would sell and work well....but what do I know)
6. Monkees with Guitar Hero mechanic....you play through episodes where your band gets into wacky situations and have to somehow can get out of them through the power of pop music. (I would TOTALLY play this game, but I'm pretty sure that few other people would be nearly as enthusiastic)
7. Ecoslayer (this was a crowd favorite) ... billed as a man vs. animal game ... this basically involved clubbing baby seals for points and murdering manatees with motor boats. Among other things I think this game could benefit from a carbon footprint mechanic.
8. Autism Platformer....this one was almost unintelligible. I *think* it had to do with inserting randomness into the game (you tell your player to do A but he sometimes doesn't comply correctly and does B)
9. Wasteland Tycoon .... you basically play Tina Turner in Beyond Thunderdome and build up your post apocalyptic empire. Panel wanted to insert a 2 men enters 1 man leaves PVP mechanic. (Another crowd favorite and honorable mention)
10. Medieval Tank .... you are a time traveller who is sent back in time to conquer Europe with a single tank. OK, this game won 2nd place from the panel....and shockingly the Namco guy rated this game as his favorite. He told us that he cold possibly see this game making it to publication. My thoughts ...... meh.
11. "I'm a Lawyer, I Belong in Heaven!" - DS platformer where you play a recently deceased lawyer who must argure your way into heaven. Part platformer with certain stages where you must "argue your case" somehow. Funny...but silly.
12. Cyber Noir Text Based game for the DS ... girl in red mohawk pitches this game. Panel loves the idea of bringing back the text game. (This pitch won 3rd place....I think the panel gave her the nostalgia/fashion vote. Nerds and their cyberpunk obsessions.)
Most of the other pitches are a mixed bag of completely retarded and too complicated to explain within the confines of this already too long post. If you ask me I will probably be able to explain some in more depth. But really, the above ones were some of the absolute best. Good times.
One thing that made this panel super interesting was the fact that a guy from a Day 1 panel we attended about actually preparing your serious game idea for a serious pitch to a serious game publisher sat directly in front of us and began making snarky comments along with us as the session wore on. This guy works in Bus Dev for Namco Bandai and informed us during his panel that he gets 1500-2000 pitches per year and ultimately only green lights ~5 games, so it was pretty interesting to hear his opinions on the pitches of fellow goofy con goers.
So...the first pitch: "Think Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit meets GTA 4". This was met with tons of laughs and was immediately pushed into round 2. Turns out that this guy already has Bill Murray and John Leguizamo signed for vocal work and the game should be out sometime around September 5th. Keep an eye out for that one..... See what I mean? Ridiculous and entertaining, but not quite what I was expecting.
Rundown of Some Other Ideas of Note:
1. Two words: Zombie Golf
2. Surveilance Van/Field Agent Co-op Game: Co-op game involving the sexy field agent who breaks into top secret facilities but relies heavily on his/her "Dorito eating fat guy in surveilance van" who completes puzzle games to disable cameras and security systems allowing the sexy partner to advance. (Ultimately this game won first prize. I loved this idea. Dead serious. Love it.)
3. Lords of LARP: role play pasty white kids role playing elves and orcs in a suburban neighborhood ... awesome on several levels. Amazing cosplay potential.
4. All Steroids Olympics .... juicing athletes push the very limits of physical ability and perhaps inadvertently rip off their own arms in the process .. family game, obviously
5. Wild Wild Wii .... lots of western themed Wii mini games ... lassoing, quick draw competitions (I also think this one would sell and work well....but what do I know)
6. Monkees with Guitar Hero mechanic....you play through episodes where your band gets into wacky situations and have to somehow can get out of them through the power of pop music. (I would TOTALLY play this game, but I'm pretty sure that few other people would be nearly as enthusiastic)
7. Ecoslayer (this was a crowd favorite) ... billed as a man vs. animal game ... this basically involved clubbing baby seals for points and murdering manatees with motor boats. Among other things I think this game could benefit from a carbon footprint mechanic.
8. Autism Platformer....this one was almost unintelligible. I *think* it had to do with inserting randomness into the game (you tell your player to do A but he sometimes doesn't comply correctly and does B)
9. Wasteland Tycoon .... you basically play Tina Turner in Beyond Thunderdome and build up your post apocalyptic empire. Panel wanted to insert a 2 men enters 1 man leaves PVP mechanic. (Another crowd favorite and honorable mention)
10. Medieval Tank .... you are a time traveller who is sent back in time to conquer Europe with a single tank. OK, this game won 2nd place from the panel....and shockingly the Namco guy rated this game as his favorite. He told us that he cold possibly see this game making it to publication. My thoughts ...... meh.
11. "I'm a Lawyer, I Belong in Heaven!" - DS platformer where you play a recently deceased lawyer who must argure your way into heaven. Part platformer with certain stages where you must "argue your case" somehow. Funny...but silly.
12. Cyber Noir Text Based game for the DS ... girl in red mohawk pitches this game. Panel loves the idea of bringing back the text game. (This pitch won 3rd place....I think the panel gave her the nostalgia/fashion vote. Nerds and their cyberpunk obsessions.)
Most of the other pitches are a mixed bag of completely retarded and too complicated to explain within the confines of this already too long post. If you ask me I will probably be able to explain some in more depth. But really, the above ones were some of the absolute best. Good times.
Dinner? At this hour? Seriously?
Ok. End of day two. Expect a bunch of updates in the morning about
what I saw today. It was even better than yesterday.
what I saw today. It was even better than yesterday.
Exhibition Hall
Designing Virtual Worlds Panel
Game Criticism/Review Panel
Lunch
Exhibition Hall
Starbucks
Pitch Your Game Panel
Tabletop Gaming
Dinner
Sleep Coma
8.30.2008
Shitty Picture Awesome Game
collect ingredients to make increasingly complex sushi concoctions for
various customers (who look sort of like those litle creatures in the
woods in Princess Mononoke .... What are they called?).
The PAX 10 games are all pretty nifty, but the dev for this one gave
me a free t-shirt. Plus, sushi themed games are sorely under-
represented!
Fable 2 Leftover
How could I forget to Mention the quest line vs mini map change? I
like the glowy quest line, very subtle yet very effective.
like the glowy quest line, very subtle yet very effective.
Tabletop Gaming
Being the ultimate nerds that we are, Scott and I decided to skip the concert. I heard it through the "Twinkle-vine" Coulton rick-rolled the entire crowd at the end of his set. My loss.
We decided to check out the non-digital gaming aspects of PAX. There is so much here. The table top free play allows you to choose from literally hundreds of games. Its like the Family Game Store Saturday Game Night on crack. There are so many game dorks, and I am not even getting into the miniatures, MTG and D&D players that permeate the first floor. To get to normal board gaming, you need to climb a couple flights of stairs. This place is so awesome. I wish you all could be here experiencing it. Totally serious.
There were alot of pick-up games of Arkham going on ... I'm guessing most of them were abandoned part way through. Starting a game of Arkham, when you don't actually know how to play, at 10:30 at night is quite an undertaking. But what do I know about being hardcore. :)
Games I hope to play later tonight: Agricola and Pandemic. There is never any problem finding people willing to play. Did I mention I fucking love this place?
Quick Note for Anne and Eli:
"Lost Cities" in person is no where near as fun as it is on-line. Too much score calculating and its hard to gauge how many cards remain in the deck. Regardless, I still managed to school Scott's ass in our friendly competition. Yay for me!!
We decided to check out the non-digital gaming aspects of PAX. There is so much here. The table top free play allows you to choose from literally hundreds of games. Its like the Family Game Store Saturday Game Night on crack. There are so many game dorks, and I am not even getting into the miniatures, MTG and D&D players that permeate the first floor. To get to normal board gaming, you need to climb a couple flights of stairs. This place is so awesome. I wish you all could be here experiencing it. Totally serious.
There were alot of pick-up games of Arkham going on ... I'm guessing most of them were abandoned part way through. Starting a game of Arkham, when you don't actually know how to play, at 10:30 at night is quite an undertaking. But what do I know about being hardcore. :)
Games I hope to play later tonight: Agricola and Pandemic. There is never any problem finding people willing to play. Did I mention I fucking love this place?
Quick Note for Anne and Eli:
"Lost Cities" in person is no where near as fun as it is on-line. Too much score calculating and its hard to gauge how many cards remain in the deck. Regardless, I still managed to school Scott's ass in our friendly competition. Yay for me!!
Note from From Friday: GH World Tour Booth vs Rock Band 2 Stage
Guitar Hero World Tour is housed pretty much on the opposite side of the Exhibition Hall from Rock Band 2. GHWT has 3 mini setups with virtually no lines allowing any attendee to try their hands at the game immediately and one slightly larger stage with a slightly larger line acting as the main stage. The songs I heard while wandering around: "Space Cowboy" and "Hot for Teacher". My life would still be just as fulfilling if I never heard either of these two tired classics ever again.
Far across the hall Harmonix held court to legions of cheering fans and uber long lines. Rock Band 2 was a major destination. Expert players waited to whore it up on the huge elevated stage complete with cheesy lighting. "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Livin on a Prayer" were the cheesy tracks of choice during my stay, but neither of these two annoy me at all.....weird.
Ultimately, the games are, as expected, very similar, but GHWT is ultimately outclassed in several departments by Rock Band 2. Maybe "outclassed" is the wrong word, but they were colossally out-rocked.
Far across the hall Harmonix held court to legions of cheering fans and uber long lines. Rock Band 2 was a major destination. Expert players waited to whore it up on the huge elevated stage complete with cheesy lighting. "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Livin on a Prayer" were the cheesy tracks of choice during my stay, but neither of these two annoy me at all.....weird.
Ultimately, the games are, as expected, very similar, but GHWT is ultimately outclassed in several departments by Rock Band 2. Maybe "outclassed" is the wrong word, but they were colossally out-rocked.
Notes from Friday: Little Big Planet
The LBP crew made sure that everyone who stopped by their booth got this huge bag for putting other swag in, putting them in hot competition with Resistance 2 for huge bag market saturation. Everyone had mostly empty huge bags from either LBP or R2. Unfortunately, I have been super unimpressed by the swag thus far. But, this is probably the most disappointing part of PAX so far, and its a very minor complaint. I am having a blast.
The first thing I saw was sackpeople riding a boot elevator that worked like a balance. Ride the boot up and continue further on your adventure. Think of it as playing as a burlap person who runs around inside a Rube Goldberg machine. Totally sweet. Competitive co-op is done pretty well here. Players work together to make their way through, but at the end of each stage the winner is declared. On the demo machine here at PAX the winning co-op player the winner got their picture taken and placed on the games' internal digital "Wall of Awesome" to rounds of applause and cheering from the watching crowd. Good times.
In summary, LBP looks ridiculously fun and cool for co-op play but it is just a shame that its PS3 only, because I will never be able to play it more than casually. I don't really think it should be cast as a "system seller", but I must admit that this one game makes me very happy to have a PS3.
The first thing I saw was sackpeople riding a boot elevator that worked like a balance. Ride the boot up and continue further on your adventure. Think of it as playing as a burlap person who runs around inside a Rube Goldberg machine. Totally sweet. Competitive co-op is done pretty well here. Players work together to make their way through, but at the end of each stage the winner is declared. On the demo machine here at PAX the winning co-op player the winner got their picture taken and placed on the games' internal digital "Wall of Awesome" to rounds of applause and cheering from the watching crowd. Good times.
In summary, LBP looks ridiculously fun and cool for co-op play but it is just a shame that its PS3 only, because I will never be able to play it more than casually. I don't really think it should be cast as a "system seller", but I must admit that this one game makes me very happy to have a PS3.
Notes from Friday: Fable 2
I plan on going back to get some play time in on Fable 2 sometime today, but I did spend some time watching others play and asking questions. There are a few weird changes from the original that I gathered from watching yesterday. Apparently there is no will limit (what the hell?) spam any spell all damn day and it doesnt matter. Also, since the game takes place 500 years after the original, I suppose some technological advances could be expected. You now kill baddies with guns rather than arrows.
One of the most striking changes to me, having played quite a few RPGs in my day, there is virtually no visible UI other than the character and surroundings. Contextual information periodically appears, but otherwise the game is pretty immersive, which is nice.
Finally, I like the way they changed the XP collection and split the collected glowing globes into varying colors based on the type of XP collected. The game still uses the basic XP pool scheme with Will, Skill, Strength and General XP allowing continuous tweaking of your character.
Overall I am more excited about Fable 2 than I had been, but playing the original Fable TLC in software emulation has been a source of frustration for me so anything that doesnt hard crash my 360 every few hours will be a welcome addition to my library. Plus I can improve my piss poor gambling skills playing pub games in the mean time.
One of the most striking changes to me, having played quite a few RPGs in my day, there is virtually no visible UI other than the character and surroundings. Contextual information periodically appears, but otherwise the game is pretty immersive, which is nice.
Finally, I like the way they changed the XP collection and split the collected glowing globes into varying colors based on the type of XP collected. The game still uses the basic XP pool scheme with Will, Skill, Strength and General XP allowing continuous tweaking of your character.
Overall I am more excited about Fable 2 than I had been, but playing the original Fable TLC in software emulation has been a source of frustration for me so anything that doesnt hard crash my 360 every few hours will be a welcome addition to my library. Plus I can improve my piss poor gambling skills playing pub games in the mean time.
Day 1 Quick Run Down
Lots of line standing
Exhibition Hall
Free to Play Gaming Panel
Exhibition Hall Part 2
Pitching Games Panel
Sushi (awesome)
Wandering around
Short glance at Omegathon
Tabletop Gaming (woohoo)
Exhibition Hall
Free to Play Gaming Panel
Exhibition Hall Part 2
Pitching Games Panel
Sushi (awesome)
Wandering around
Short glance at Omegathon
Tabletop Gaming (woohoo)
So... I have a ton to write about but at the moment all this iPhone
posting has begun to take it's toll and is really starting to tick me
off. So tomorrow morning I will actually be going a little more in
depth on my trips to the exhibition hall and our experience in general
using an actual keyboard.
8.29.2008
If Dan Deacon made all his music with gameboys
Fallout 3 Exhibit
So I was just reading through the jotstiq post on all the new videos
dropped for Fallout 3 @ PAX. Sounds awesome!
dropped for Fallout 3 @ PAX. Sounds awesome!
Unfortunately, after standing around the "booth" today really didn't
deliver on the awesome scale for me. I know it sounds blasphemous, but
ultimately standing around for 20 minutes watching guys all around me
shoot molerats in the head in a world that felt pretty FPS-ish to me
left me slightly cold. Hopefully I will have more line patience
tomorrow and form my own first person opinion.
So Far
I have done some mini loops around the exhibition hall and seen a ton.
I really saw too much to process. I took lots of notes and pics and am
planning up some posts about my general impressions for the games I
checked out. It's hella crowded but the vibe is pretty chill.
I really saw too much to process. I took lots of notes and pics and am
planning up some posts about my general impressions for the games I
checked out. It's hella crowded but the vibe is pretty chill.
One thing we did sit in on was a discussion about the free-to-play
business model and how to make it viable for indie developers. It was
interesting, but going to a talk like that makes me feel so ignorant
about what is actually out there. Ignorant, yet ultimately extemely
optimistic about the future of gaming in general. So much passion and
desire to do great things. Coming to a place like this is just
inspirational.
Ok. Now on to a neat panel discussion about pitching games to
publishers. More crazy interesting ideas!
Console Freeplay
Featuring a special room dedicated to "classic" consoles. This equates
to several very lonely dudes hoping someone will come play Double
Dragon with them. 6 NESs and 6 SNESs
to several very lonely dudes hoping someone will come play Double
Dragon with them. 6 NESs and 6 SNESs
So say we all for epicly long games
This queue is actually relaxing
So, we are now sitting in line, waiting to get in. This place is
packed with another hour to go before the doors open.
packed with another hour to go before the doors open.
Why, you might ask, am I sitting in line waiting to get in? Because I
am ass tired and sitting in line is relaxing. There is much nerd
watching to be had from my vantage point on the floor.
Just now a guy came on the PA and announced that he was passing out
Family Feud survey forms to a lucky 150 line sitters. Since I am
pretty far from the line edge now, I will probably miss out on a life
long goal. Sad. He jus announced they are all out. Double sad.
Happily, some guys next to us are playing Zombies! and I get to listen
in.
It's got Electrolytes!!!
Ok so the program, which I am thumbing through now, inexplicably has a
half page ad for Brawndo (the thirst mutilator) and informs me that
booth #111 will have free samples. Awesome.
half page ad for Brawndo (the thirst mutilator) and informs me that
booth #111 will have free samples. Awesome.
How many of you are really VIPs?
So ... Standing in line for our will call tickets. It's slow and sad.
Weird thing is (maybe no so weird) is that the VIP/media/speaker line
is even longer. Ha!!
Weird thing is (maybe no so weird) is that the VIP/media/speaker line
is even longer. Ha!!
On the ground, safe and sound
Now I have to figure out how to cheaply get downtown. Fun fact: All PA
announcements come through in both English and Japanese.
announcements come through in both English and Japanese.
8.28.2008
Preparations and Introductions
So I am doing laundry and finishing up Fable finally. I will soon be packing up my nerdy t-shirts, my iphone and very little else and boarding a plane for Seattle.
I have been practicing staying up later so I don't fall asleep at 9pm whilst out there vaguely near the left coast. I hope to be still conscious until at least 1am.
I have put together a tentative loose schedule of shit I want to see and do, but am mostly planning on winging it.
Things I am really interested in: gaming culture, democracy in games, game planning and writing, nerd-watching, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Spore, WHO, whatever Braid has out there (I really, really liked Jonathan Blow's whole approach with that game), any other novel-looking upcoming titles, and table-top gaming plus other stuff I am forgetting.
I can't say I'm really into nerdcore, but if I see MC Front-a-lot, I'm sure I will snap a crappy picture of his royal baldness.
Generally speaking, I'm into RPGs, clever action games and XBLA. I'm really eager to see what I can see with respect to the XNA community presence. I gotta admit to becoming a slight 360 fanboy as of late.
Obvious omission = women in gaming. I am not sure how to approach this whole idea. I can't help but feel that this is slightly patronizing. I must admit a more than casual interest in finding out what the industry *thinks* I want. I'm pretty sure that that the PA panel will be more interested in actually engaging women instead of watching chicks play hula on the Wii fit and making sure guys with girlfriends can game in peace without feeling guilty or nagged. But ultimately, I think the answer to engaging women in gaming is .... make good games.
As far as the plans for this blog goes, I am mostly planning on taking pictures and writing sarcastic, but heartfelt and honest blurbs about my experience. Hopefully, you'll laugh, sometimes uncomfortably, and be informed simultaneously.
So enough about my interests. Any special requests?
I have been practicing staying up later so I don't fall asleep at 9pm whilst out there vaguely near the left coast. I hope to be still conscious until at least 1am.
I have put together a tentative loose schedule of shit I want to see and do, but am mostly planning on winging it.
Things I am really interested in: gaming culture, democracy in games, game planning and writing, nerd-watching, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Spore, WHO, whatever Braid has out there (I really, really liked Jonathan Blow's whole approach with that game), any other novel-looking upcoming titles, and table-top gaming plus other stuff I am forgetting.
I can't say I'm really into nerdcore, but if I see MC Front-a-lot, I'm sure I will snap a crappy picture of his royal baldness.
Generally speaking, I'm into RPGs, clever action games and XBLA. I'm really eager to see what I can see with respect to the XNA community presence. I gotta admit to becoming a slight 360 fanboy as of late.
Obvious omission = women in gaming. I am not sure how to approach this whole idea. I can't help but feel that this is slightly patronizing. I must admit a more than casual interest in finding out what the industry *thinks* I want. I'm pretty sure that that the PA panel will be more interested in actually engaging women instead of watching chicks play hula on the Wii fit and making sure guys with girlfriends can game in peace without feeling guilty or nagged. But ultimately, I think the answer to engaging women in gaming is .... make good games.
As far as the plans for this blog goes, I am mostly planning on taking pictures and writing sarcastic, but heartfelt and honest blurbs about my experience. Hopefully, you'll laugh, sometimes uncomfortably, and be informed simultaneously.
So enough about my interests. Any special requests?
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