Development Journal #04

Switched to Unity.  Liking the decision.  Still a programming n00b, but I've gotten farther with it.

Development Journal #03

Progress is slow (though it has only been two weeks since I even created the concept, so all things considered this might be pretty good progress.  Wouldn't know), as the last two weeks have almost entirely been trying to figure out the Unreal Development Kit.  As far as making the game goes.  I've been trying to learn how SQL servers work for a school project.

If anyone happens to know Unreal Script and would be able to help me figure it out, that would be greatly appreciated.

Why Unreal Engine and not Unity?  Because that's the first thing that came to mind.  I have, however, just learned that Unity also supports 2D games and (which I already knew) the free version also supports C++ (or was it C#?) coding for game systems.  So I'm going to look into that.

Development Journal #02 - Still Getting Distracted on Superfluous Details

Still haven't gotten an isometric camera working, but look!  Custom textures on a redesigned Box Canyon!

Still need to work on getting the tiling to be less obvious, but look how majestic that orb is. 
Majesty Incarnate.

So I'm making something in the UDK

Got a game somewhat designed.

Now I'm going to make it.

First I must learn the Unreal Development Kit

So I started with a box canyon.

Then I added an orb.

Time and Media - Losing Your History

I've heard a lot of people in games industry talk about the short life of games.  How games they enjoyed as a child may not even be playable by the time they have grandchildren.  Or how their Steam libraries may be lost someday when the servers shut down.  While I understand that, what I don't understand is when they claim this to be a new dilemma unique to gaming and the digital age.

Sure, there are new ways for the actual process of losing the game to occur.  Last I heard, movies on DVD didn't have to worry about their servers shutting down.  However, books and movies had their early times as well.  Many early films were lost within a few decades, and not all of the first books were written on long lasting paper.  They also bring up how the game we know today may not be the game of the same name in a decade, or even just a year.  Thus is the way of constant updates, but so too is the way of translation and rewriting.

So while we wonder at how long Homer's "Odyssey" has remained a part of culture and worry about whether or not our kids will be able to enjoy Banjo Tooie, do realize that the former still had centuries of progress in its art to build off of.  Games have only been around for a few decades and we've already recognized and go to lengths to deal with the problem.

I'm optimistic that your Atari Jaguar exclusive "Highlander" game will somehow be playable for the decades to come. You'll probably be able to thank The Spoony One for it.

Unless the apocalypse or something like that happens.  Then you can forget about it.

A Disease within Mobile Gaming

Flappy Bird:

The manifestation of every bad trend in mobile gaming.

Things can go two ways from here.  Either trends will do a 180 and head towards more creative and innovative ideas or the app ecosystem will stagnate and choke out new growth for too long of a time.

But here's hoping things get better from here.

Like the Legend of the Phoenix

Remember when XPlay was funny?  Adam does.

Video Game Pricing - An Exercize in Relativity

So certain people (IGN comments thread people, so that should pretty much sum up this post) were whining about the recently discovered length of MGS: Ground Zeroes, claiming it to be a ripoff.

Story from IGN

I thought I'd give my thoughts on the issue.

Logic

If a program accomplishes its purpose, it must be running.
Though a program may run, it may not accomplish its purpose.

If something is true, it must be logical.
Though something may be logical, it may not be true.
People can start with bad information.

You don't need to know *how* something is true for it to be truthful.
Yet, saying something is true does not mean it is so.

If condition "A" is true, then condition "B" is true.
If condition "B" is true and condition "A" is not true, the statement is true, but "A" still is not.

A -> B

(A = t & B = t) -> (A -> B) = t
(A = f & B = t) -> (A -> B) = t

(B = t & A = t) -> (B -> A) = t
(B = t & A = f) -> (B -> A) = f

Therefore

(A -> B) = t -> (B -> A) = (t|f) and is thus, indecisive.

- Mathematician Proverbs

Character Presentation - A Story Is Only Good If It's Told

Better hide this...

I know a great story that strikes a deep emotional chord and really changes people's perspective on life.

...

Oh, you'd like to know what it is?  Well, it's really great and I'm sure you would enjoy it.

Mods of Note - Graphical Renovations

I don't know about you, but the left picture is where it's at.

Graphical Quality enthusiasts, like myself, may occasionally find it hard to get back into their favorite games due to bad aging on the visual level (I.E.  Oh my word, was that mass of polygons supposed to be a face?).  The weird part is that we remember them looking better.

Well, if you are part of the PC gaming master race, they can look better!  It may double/triple/quadruple the size of the original game files, but Max Payne 3 is over 30 gigs at base, so I don't think increasing the file size of Morrowind by a few gigs will matter much on modern hard drives.

Here are a few update mods I have found to be quite useful.

Morrowind Overhaul at Ornitocopter.net - This is the one highlighted in the above picture.  Less of one single mod and more of a compilation of some of the best visual/audio/gameplay mods available in one easy to install package.  The best part is that it is packaged with a tool for managing which mods are active so one may adjust for computer power/taste.

Mass Effect Texture Enhancement/Improvement - This one is a bit... massive and a bit of a hassle to download, but easy to install (unless you're bad at choosing proper directories).  Been taking this one for a spin and I'm quite impressed, though some of the armor textures have a weird visual distortion.  Nothing major (I kinda like it), but may put off some.

Any ENB series mod by Boris Vorontsov - This one can be difficult to get working by sheer number of options for some games, and a lack of options for other games.  Thus far I've found it best for games like Skyrim and Fallout 3/New Vegas and good presets with more in depth explanations can be found with the preset.  I get my presets from Nexus mods.
Skyrim/NewVegas
(unfortunately, can't get a good link to a list of presets on the site due to the search engine design)

Knights of the Old Republic II - The Odd Things that Stuck

This lady's a jerk, but she has a point...

It occurs to me that one of my most memorable moments in gaming is an old hag lecturing me about giving to the poor.  Except, she was telling me not to give money to the refugee.  To which I told her to shut up, I'm a Light-Side Jedi, I do heroic things like giving money to poor people.

That poor person was then beat up and left for dead by thugs who saw that he had money.  So she was right.  That was not a helpful thing to do.  Seven-year-old me had a hard time accepting this lesson.  Kreia was an uncaring crone before, how could she be right on what is and isn't a good deed?  But it made sense.  The refugee got money, a thing he needed, but I didn't give him the power to keep that money.  In the end, that just made him a target.  Which meant I was wrong and didn't actually know how to help.

That unforgettable dialogue (YouTube clip)

It took me a few years, and more than a couple play-throughs, before I began to see the nuances of Kreia's character.  Yes, she is a jaded, cranky, manipulative person, but it's because she's tired of seeing people's ignorance make a bigger mess in the name of "doing the right thing."  Her philosophy is more than a little pessimistic, and she manipulates without apologies, but she's not evil.  She's just really bitter.

This is why I believe KotOR II, even with the bugs and rushed ending, will always be my favorite Star Wars video game of all time.  Not only did it have quite an effect on my developing sense of morals, but it was one of the first stories I experienced where there was no true evil and no pure good.  The characters had a level of complexity that I couldn't figure out with just one play-through  (granted, I was seven, but even today I'm still realizing things).

It's not often that the "Great Dark Lords" are just a bunch of puppets controlled by a nagging old lady who's trying to teach you something.

OMG *Gasp* Violent Video Games...

The extent of my artistic skills.  Jk lawl, I can so draw a better sun.

It keeps getting brought up in general gaming news, so I figured I'd just go ahead and share my thoughts because this is the internet and someone will care.  If even only one person... I may change that one person's life.

Do video games make people violent?  No

Can they reveal a violent attitude?  Yes, just like movies/books/other people can.

Interviews With Richard Garriott

I mentioned an interview in my last post, so I thought I'd give some links the the videos.  It's in three parts with two extra side parts. 

NOTE:  While the interviews themselves are mostly PG from what I can remember, keep in mind this isn't exactly a professional, wide-audience interview.  ALSO the rest of the site uses very colorful language in case you were wanting to see what the rest of the site is about.

The Interview:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Richard explains the actual creation processes of yesteryear (More topics are covered than just what the title entails):
One
Two

Story Telling In Video Games - Linearity & Progression

I was watching an interview with Richard Garriott when, at one point along the dialogue, the subject of linearity was brought up.  The interviewer expressed interesting opinions on the matter (this was far from what is often considered a "professional" interview):

• All stories are linear
• The non-linear structure of open-world games (Skyrim, Just Cause 2, etc.) causes their stories to become unfocused, losing the sense of urgency that keeps the player engaged.

While an artist of the avant-garde variety may try to prove otherwise, it is quite simple to agree with the first point.  We all experience stories as a linear progression of events with respect to the passage of time (which we have, unfortunately, not been able to manipulate), even if it is told out of order.  Thus we can start to see how the second point begins to hold weight.  But surely a non-linear game is a good thing?  After all, Player agency, and thus choice, is what separates the medium from other arts.

The conflict I see here is that, from initial appearances, it would seem that in order to have a focused and engaging story, one would need to limit player choice, but a fun game relies on having choice available, even if it's just "fail or succeed." (That is, of course, up for discussion, but that's another post).  This choice is why open-world games have exploded in popularity.

So can a game have a good story without heavily limiting player choice?