So I want to talk about my 3rd or 4th favorite game of the year, Dishonored. Dishonored creates an incredible world, a "whale punk" setting that I've never seen before. But I want to mention, specifically, food in dishonored. Just like in Bioshock, you can constantly chomp on bits of food to regain...
The Link's Awakening discussion made me think of this. World building is one of my all time favorite parts of video games and I wanted to start a series/discussion about concrete, specific moments that contribute to it. It's easy to say, "Oh, I was just totally lost in the world of Ico, it's so ethereal and wonderful!" It's much harder to point to specific moments and assets.
So I want to talk about my 3rd or 4th favorite game of the year, Dishonored. Dishonored creates an incredible world, a "whale punk" setting that I've never seen before. But I want to mention, specifically, food in dishonored. Just like in Bioshock, you can constantly chomp on bits of food to regain...
So I want to talk about my 3rd or 4th favorite game of the year, Dishonored. Dishonored creates an incredible world, a "whale punk" setting that I've never seen before. But I want to mention, specifically, food in dishonored. Just like in Bioshock, you can constantly chomp on bits of food to regain...
In this action packed episode with those wacky kids at The Game Shop, the Game Shop loses power! I am pretty impressed with how much they are able to do with just a Game Shop and a few characters.
This just in from the "I am getting old Department" it seems Quake II marks its 15th birthday today! Bethesda and iD Software rang in the occasion with some interesting tidbits from iD's Tim Willits.
...
- Only three artists made all the 2D and 3D art for the entire game.
- One of the original suggested names for QUAKE II was WOR, but the gameās fast-paced, tactile feel felt closer to a QUAKE game than a new franchise.
- āThe Edgeā (Timās favorite deathmatch level in QUAKE II or any other game), has over 50 trick jumps possible in the map. Tim only designed two of them, and the rest were discovered by the QUAKE II community.
...
Edmund McMillen of the Super Meat Boy & Binding of Isaac fame dropped some news on The Binding of Isaac Rebirth. Recently he had a Formsping Q&A on his blog and you needed to be made aware of the details. Your welcome in advance.
"-Rebirth is a totally remade game based on the flash version of the binding of isaac + wrath of the lamb.
-The game is being produced and developed by Nicalis, the guys who did all the cave story remakes and the VVVVVV port.
-Nicalis is working on the port for Ps3/Vita and PC (steam) and is also currently talking to MS and Nintendo about releasing on their platforms. we are also looking into an iOS version if its not garbage.
-The remake...
"-Rebirth is a totally remade game based on the flash version of the binding of isaac + wrath of the lamb.
-The game is being produced and developed by Nicalis, the guys who did all the cave story remakes and the VVVVVV port.
-Nicalis is working on the port for Ps3/Vita and PC (steam) and is also currently talking to MS and Nintendo about releasing on their platforms. we are also looking into an iOS version if its not garbage.
-The remake...
New Starcrafts cartoon short released, linked above. So many times I was foiled by that lone air unit when the brunt of my army had no anti-air. This is why I am not a pro Starcraft player. Fun game though.
Continuing with the Starcraft 2 dev Q&A Blizzard recently posted Part 7:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7994699
I thought this question and answer were particularly interesting(yeah, I sort of follow the Starcraft lore and all that):
"Question: Are Tassadar and the Overmind one now?"
"Answer: Not now, no. But something like the Overmind does not die instantly. Some synapses may fire for a time as it fades away. And at the moment of impact for both of these...
Continuing with the Starcraft 2 dev Q&A Blizzard recently posted Part 7:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/7994699
I thought this question and answer were particularly interesting(yeah, I sort of follow the Starcraft lore and all that):
"Question: Are Tassadar and the Overmind one now?"
"Answer: Not now, no. But something like the Overmind does not die instantly. Some synapses may fire for a time as it fades away. And at the moment of impact for both of these...
I never played any Diablo games, so when a friend recommended it to me I wasn't sure what to expect. He said it involved a lot of hack-and-slash and equip gathering. It didn't seem very amusing, but I decided to give it a shot. Boy was I wrong.
First of all I loved the art style for not being so serious, it was a new experience to me, so it made it all seem less intimidating. I soon found myself playing for hours and never wanting to stop. I do confess only having 3 character choices (and no gender options) bugged me a little, but nonetheless I happily played as an Alchemist, with a wolf for a pet. I spent a lot of time fishing too, and I loved loved loved the shape...
First of all I loved the art style for not being so serious, it was a new experience to me, so it made it all seem less intimidating. I soon found myself playing for hours and never wanting to stop. I do confess only having 3 character choices (and no gender options) bugged me a little, but nonetheless I happily played as an Alchemist, with a wolf for a pet. I spent a lot of time fishing too, and I loved loved loved the shape...
Twelve short months ago, I began playing Planescape: Torment in an effort to motivate my writing and completion of stockpiled games on my Backlog Killer blog. (www.backlogkiller.com) I chose it as my first game because friends, Watch Out for Fireballs, were playing it for one of their episodes and I wanted a little support for finishing such a long game. Even though I had finished it when I was in high school, I wanted to complete it again to see if anything about the game had changed for me. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
Planescape: Torment is an isometric RPG using the Infinity Engine of Baldur's Gate fame. It is based on the Dungeons and Dragons Planescape universe...
Planescape: Torment is an isometric RPG using the Infinity Engine of Baldur's Gate fame. It is based on the Dungeons and Dragons Planescape universe...
Need for Speed: Most Wanted is Just Another Criterion Racer. That may seem dismissive, but it's anything but. Criterion has a knack for making racing games that are equal parts addictive, fun, frustrating and rewarding. NfS:MW is no exception.
It has many of the typical Criterion touches: bright sun reflecting off wet road, leaving you blind; obstacles that blend perfectly with the background; and AI racers that seem hellbent on pummeling you out of their way instead of racing. NfS:MW also includes billboard breaking and gate smashes first seen in Burnout:Paradise. In fact, this game almost feels like Burnout: Paradise 2 at times...with cops.
The single-player is pretty...
It has many of the typical Criterion touches: bright sun reflecting off wet road, leaving you blind; obstacles that blend perfectly with the background; and AI racers that seem hellbent on pummeling you out of their way instead of racing. NfS:MW also includes billboard breaking and gate smashes first seen in Burnout:Paradise. In fact, this game almost feels like Burnout: Paradise 2 at times...with cops.
The single-player is pretty...
Totally awesome and beautiful. Lost it when they went to Mario Kart!
Updated 12-04: Contest rules have changed, please see below
Greetings friends of the Ghost,
You may remember our Borderlands 2 Haiku Contest from a few months back. Now, we're back to bring you the next thing in awesome contests. Like many people we loved Torchlight and after getting our hands on Runic's epic second take on the on the Dungeon Crawler we happily started slaying evil minions, and we wanted to share the fun. So gather round and listen to a tale of how ye will come to possess this shiny Runic gem, this "Torchlight 2!"
We are giving away a copy on Steam Gifts as per usual to drop in one lucky person's Steam account on December 22. No strings attached. Head...
Greetings friends of the Ghost,
You may remember our Borderlands 2 Haiku Contest from a few months back. Now, we're back to bring you the next thing in awesome contests. Like many people we loved Torchlight and after getting our hands on Runic's epic second take on the on the Dungeon Crawler we happily started slaying evil minions, and we wanted to share the fun. So gather round and listen to a tale of how ye will come to possess this shiny Runic gem, this "Torchlight 2!"
We are giving away a copy on Steam Gifts as per usual to drop in one lucky person's Steam account on December 22. No strings attached. Head...
Those are some really great design choices for the game. I was thinking about world building today actually as I was watching a YouTube video showcasing how to play Dwarf Fortress. It was interesting because part of Dwarf Fortress is starting the game and watching time pass quickly. At some point you stop the world flying by and say "I want to start my game at this point in the worlds history." Trees grow and fall as do mountains and entire cultures. Its a really interesting process.
Its interesting because lately I have been playing Minecraft that has these elements too. Its a world and the story is how the world evolves and how you interact with it. From what I gather Dwarf Fortress logs the history of your world in terms of who is born and what happens to them. Its an interesting concept for a full procedural world.
Lately I have been playing a bit of Lord of the Rings Online. Its a free to play MMO and its pretty well done. Recently I went into the Barrow Downs and had a quest where I had to talk to Tom Bombadil. It was interesting because when I entered his house he was dancing around the room. Dancing isn't too popular unless its a Just Dance game, but from what I remember of the Hobbit books he was a dancin' guy. I went on a quest at his bequest and after killin a bunch of stuff, I came up to a Boss fight I couldn't win. He came in a zapped it and the quest ended by him telling me to avoid the dark corners of the earth and stay in the light.
Thing is I don't disagree with him, but I wonder how interesting Lord of the Rings Online would be if I avoiding fighting, a major staple of questing.
I enjoy world building a lot, but it seems like there are two ways to do it. One is to present a back story about the environment and what makes it up. This is often too overwrought and makes the whole mythology unbelievable. Games like Dragon Age pour it on very thick through codexes and, even though it helps to flesh out the world, it doesn't seem organic. Then I think of games like Fallout or STALKER where the environment is only presented but I am forced to fill in the gaps. Hints and small stories can be dropped to make it more realistic, but my own imagination often fills in blanks much more interestingly than writing could. I guess I just like being left out of the loop a little bit because I don't know what's going on in THIS world that much either. If I know all the information, it just doesn't seem right.
I think that's a good point Will. I am currently playing Skyrim a bit at at time. They have tons of books all over the game you can read. I think that is pretty cool for some, but I don't really attach to it.
My favorite games end up doing both. They're both optional and likely to be missed by a lot of players but you can choose your poison. The 3d Fallout games are great at this and an entry is forth coming.
Look forward to reading it.