2013 Year in Review

When reading over our mission statements, I do wonder if I have lost sight of anything.  Actually, I wonder that whenever I post, and I just used the mission statements to reinforce that belief.  Or something.  Anyhow, it is true that I originally spent more time reminiscing about my life and video games, and the influence games on my life.  However, posting at this blog has guided me to become more involved in the video game 'scene' as it were.  Really, the scene is made up of many different 'scenes' and I'm mostly interested in Art Games, Retro Games, free indie games, and higher production indie games available on Steam.  

This was a big year for non-game, games.  2012 might get a little mixed in here, since I don't really distinguish the two years very well, but I've played a few games that bend the rules about what video games are.  So far there's:  Proteus, Dear Esther and To the Moon.  And I'm also set to play Gone Home and The Stanley Parable.  Pretty excited about those two.  And about these high profile games that are so non-traditional.  

Because, let me tell you, when I returned to the gaming scene, I was appalled at how completely saturated it was with First Person Shooters.  I was never a huge fan of the genre, but to my understanding, there are so many generic shooters out there that even big fans of the genre are getting over-saturated.  I guess the good news is that the over-saturation of fps market has created a greater interest in non-traditional games like the ones I listed above, four out of five of which are from the first person perspective.

And then there's Portal.  Technically a shooter, but you don't shoot bullets, you don't shoot people, you shoot walls, and you create portals.  Beautiful and awesome, I still love this game, and had a great time playing through it again.  I also played Portal 2, which suffered a little by being, in my opinion, too long.  I also wasn't that into the whole 'gels' thing.  But I did just the other day get to play co-op mode with Jaconian for the very first time.  I had a great time and I can't wait to do it again.  

There is so much more depth in games than I am experiencing, and co-op mode reminded me of that.  We were just hanging out, playing video games (before we were rudely interrupted by a broken internet connection on my end).  It was nice.  I thought of my non-gaming friends who might not have such an easy time getting into hang-out mode with someone who lives hundreds of miles away.  

Okay, resolution time:   I resolve to play more online co-op (not hard, since my total games last year were 0).  I resolve to work harder on my more complex posts, rather than rushing them out at my self-imposed deadline.  As an amendment to that resolution, I'd like to actually finish the posts about the Console Wars and Graphics in games that I began over a year ago.  Also, to finish knitting the scarf I started, and one more too.  I also learned to knit this year - it's a excellent thing to do while watching TV or movies.  

Alright, acheivement unlocked:  New Years Ramble.

Happy New Year,

-Dr. Potts


P.S.  Here's some lists for the new year:

My Favorite gaming podcasts:  Experience Points, Brainy Gamer, A Life Well Wasted

My Favorite games I played this year:  Proteus, FEZ, SuperBrothers:  Sword and Sworcery EP

Top games I desperately want to play again, but don't have access to:  Journey, Barabari Ball, Nidhogg

Games I desperately want to play for the first time, but don't have access to:  Mario Galaxy 2, Zelda: Windwaker HD, Monster Hunter 3

My favorite posts I can't seem to finish:  Console Wars, What I mean when I talk about Graphics, Tecmo Bowl

My favorite Online video Programs relating to video games:  Extra Credits, PBS Ideas Channel, Hey Ash, Watcha Playin?

The consoles I am most nostalgiac for:  NES, SNES, Playstation 1

Consoles I would buy if, y'know, I had a TV and some extra spending cash:  Wii, Playstation 4 (it's backwards compatible, right?), Steam Box (just 'cause steam is awesome)

P.P.S.  Oh yeah, I lost my job in August, and proceeded to couch-surf for the next four months.  I guess that was a pretty big developement, huh?  Right.  Well, I discovered that even with a bunch of extra time to game, I don't play any more video games than before.  I guess I feel like I earn the time to play more when I'm paying rent.  But I'm going to pay rent at a house with a PS3 come January, so we'll see what develops!

QWOP and proprioception

I recently heard a really cool episode of the radio show Radiolab.  If you don't know Radiolab, I recommend checking it out.  This episode on body-mind connection is as good a place to start as anywhere. The portion I'm referencing is a story on a man with a condition called proprioception.  His body is alienated from his mind - he has no sense of touch. This man has to teach himself to move without the use of the body-mind connection.  Has to teach himself how to make every single, minute movement of his body.  He has to do this using only visual feedback.  It took him a long while, but he got really good.  For more details, give the episode a listen.

Listening to this story reminded me of the game QWOP.  This is a game where you control the movements of a runner by pressing buttons to move his joints.  The results are hilarious, then frustrating, then hilarious, and so on and so forth.  The exercise in unplayability that is QWOP has always been an interesting experience, but catching this Radiolab episode really brought forth a real world example.  I can't help but wonder if QWOP resembles, even a little bit, this man's experience at moving his body without the sense of physical feedback we take for granted.

-D

Play QWOP

Play CLOP (the unicorn based sequel)

Listen to Radiolab episode 

Watch an actual successful run of QWOP!

Ball of Game Ideas

Listening to the Big Ideas episode of A Life Well Wasted podcast, and reflecting on an episode of the Experience Points podcast, Taking Action in Open Worlds episode.

In the Exp Podcast, they talk about the size of the world of GTAV, and all the mini games, and how many hours people can dump into this game.  And then, on the other hand, they also talk about how the mini games are okay, but not that great.  But apparently there are a whole ton of them.  I wholeheartedly endorse the inclusion of bunches of mini-games.  Okay, so combine the idea of an open world game, with an idea for a 3d browser I'm lifting from my friend Ghost, with another idea I had when I played Earthbound and went to the Arcade, and I have a new nifty idea.

So, the Earthbound idea was that I wanted to be able to play games in the town arcade.  I thought that would be so rad.  Like, to move my character to a pinball machine and then play pinball.  Or Tetris.  Or Ninja Turtles or a clone of those games.  I don't know why, but I really really liked this idea.  And I know it exists somewhere in that era... maybe Legend of the Mystical Ninja...No, that's not it...Oh, the Gold Saucer did this in FF VII.

This combines well with the game mechanic article I posted the other day.  The mini game is a game mechanic I always wanted to see more of.  Here's another article on mini games.  Looks like I got my wish, too!  Animal Crossing lets you play NES Games.  But this is a different idea.

Okay, so here's the  idea.  It's for Console makers, Sony, Nintendo, Valve or Microsoft.  So, the browser in your console -- is a game.  Right?  So, you boot up your Wii Z (fictional game system from Nintendo) and you control your little Mii around in some funny in-game world.  Perhaps like Animal Crossing.  Yes.  Exactly like Animal Crossing.  So, in your Animal Crossing world, you can set up your sweet living room with a TV, console and a bunch of games.  Or you can set up an arcade room, where all the games are represented by arcade cabinets.  And you just have to pull up to them, and play the actual games in your library.

But-But-But, the game is also Wii-Sports, and you just have to go to the bowling alley if you want to play bowling.  And, of course, it's the magic inter-dimensional Bowling ally that allows Miis from all over the world to bump into each other online and bowl.  Of course, you can have your own private alley to play with your friends who are actually physically with you.

Right?  This makes sense, right?  The file browser is a game, with its own mini-games a-la Wii sports and Animal Crossing.  But on top of that, you can access and play the games you own from within the browser.So yeah, there's the idea:  Animal Crossing is preloaded into the Game System firmware, and you can access your video game library through it.  All the Social Media of Animal Crossing, combined with your Console Browser.  I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't done this yet, especially with the huge success of Animal Crossing.

-D


P.S.  Also, here's a goofy Animal Crossing/Sim City game idea:  It would be hilarious if one of the disasters in Sim City was that a Katamari would come rolling through your city, snatching up pieces of it.  Same for Animal Crossing... But like, if the Katamari was big enough,  you could just walk around like normal, because it would have taken your whole town as a single piece.

Mid-month update without purpose or direction. Hi!

Right now, it's pouring the-fuck down rain in Austin.  Which has provided me an excellent setting to do some writing.

Another thing about Austin:  Mosquitos.  At least the part I'm in.  There are a lot of f-ing mosquitos.  Like an increase of a factor of 10 over where I'm used to living.  So many that I don't like to be outside.  Like, five minutes is too many.  Which really sucks when I want to sit on the porch for a few minutes, because it's stuffy in the house, or perhaps to make a phone call.

That actually reminds me of a game idea: Mosquitos.  That is to say, if you are traveling in a region that is ripe with them, then maybe you receive 1 damage every few seconds, like a really mild poison.  I don't know why, but I'm frequently thinking in terms of weak status ailments in a mid 90s JRPG game.  Probably because my teenage years were the peak years of gaming for me.  Now that I'm twice as old, I guess I'm just living in the past.

Another thing to mention is that I'm listening to the experience points podcast, which I've mentioned before.  I really like this podcast.  The hosts are articulate and critical, and they're pretty good speakers.  Not a lot of 'ums' and 'uhhhhs' in the podcast.  I just listened to their review of 'the last of us' which is a majorly hyped game, and I really like how they break it down.  I get a sick joy from hearing that it's not 'the greatest game ever' and more of just a great game that does some things really well and other things really mediocre.

I'd also like to mention that out of nowhere, I had a stage theme form TMNT for the nes stuck in my head.  If you'd like to listen, it's the first portion of the stage theme link I've provided, and it goes on for 30 minutes, in case you just can't get enough! hah.  Also, this reminded me that the mini boss theme really is rad.

Also, here's an idea for gaming difficulty:  Start a game on nightmare difficulty - no choice, there is only one setting.  After the first 5-10 deaths, you unlock 'very hard.'  And then after another 10-20 deaths, you unlock 'hard mode'  and so on until you unlock easy mode.  I think that might be a fun way to balance difficulty in a game.  The first difficulty setting change would have to come early, so the player wouldn't just give up.  I'd like to see how this would work with test audiences.

-D

P.S.  Check out this short episode of RadioLab about Quicksand.  I'll give you a teaser:  Apparantly kids aren't really afraid of quicksand anymore.  wha?

BBC indie game podcast and the best indie games of 2011

If you're like me, then you may be perpetually out-of-touch with what's going on right now in gaming.  I recently went to a game stop, and I kept repeating 'Another God of War?'  'Another Bioshock?' 'didn't these games just come out?'  And if you're like me, you probably don't really mind being out of touch.  

Yet another similarity you may have to me is that you may enjoy listening to podcasts,  perhaps while in the kitchen, cooking or washing dishes.  I have a few podcasts that I cycle through; I've always got something to listen to.  However, sometimes I get bored of the same old subjects, and I go out to find something new.  My latest search was for indie game podcasts.

To my disappointment, the first few podcasts I found had not been updated in months or even years.  This seemed odd, given that I think indie games are becoming a bigger part of the entertainment discussion, not smaller.  But, then again, as I mentioned, I am perpetually out-of-touch. I decided to give one a go, and I settled on the BBC-sponsored:  99 coins podcast (not updated since July, 2012).  

I started with the latest episode, titled 'anyone can make a game.'  This is just the kind of sentiment I was looking for.  What I found was a rambling discussion of game-making tools and what an 'indie game' really is.  Nice overall tone, a little hard to catch the details sometimes.  However, the writings and programs they reference in the episode are included in the links. 

The second episode I listened to was 'favourite indie games of 2011.'  I found that this was just my speed.  If being out-of-touch can be quantified, then I guess I'm about a year and half behind the indie gaming scene.  They list of several interesting titles, and even a couple I know of: Minecraft, SpaceChem, Sword and Sworcery EP along with many other interesting titles.

One game referenced is johan sebastian joust.  A game I may never play, but does look like fun.
http://www.jsjoust.com/

Another is the Stanley Parable, a game I almost played once.  I'm going to give this another try.    -D
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-stanley-parable


-D