http://www.exodia.org/og studying what makes our games go Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:37:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've been following Danc's posts at lostgarden.com for a while now, and I've been itching to work on one of the prototype challenges. Last week I finally took the plunge and started taking my notebook with me to work every single day just so I can work on FishingGirl during the ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=24 From Psychochild's post. Hrm, True Neutral does suit me, though I'm mostly Good (tm). Elf Bard/Wizard is just perfect. I Am A: True Neutral Elf Bard/Wizard (2nd/2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength-9 Dexterity-12 Constitution-10 Intelligence-15 Wisdom-12 Charisma-12 Alignment: True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=23 Okay. As I suspected, I was newbing out regarding Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Forget I said anything. Actually, don't. Don't forget. Let's talk about this a bit further. It's a hard game, granted -- and it's got a gazillion combos and stuff, great. And many weapons (cool), with choice of advancement (nice) ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=18 Relive, retry, repose. The three reasons for saving. Once games became larger than a normal human's reasonable play time frame (and I said normal. People who can finish Resident Evil in Insane mode three times in a row just with the pistol need not apply), the save feature became a must ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=16 I hope they fix up the PS3 interface soon. A simple "grab " action, maybe activated by pressing R1, would be more than enough. It's ridiculous that I have to traverse all the games and demos I've downloaded to reach some older (yet more frequently played) game. And no, the ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=11 We didn't always have savegames. In times gone by, there was no such thing as keeping context between play sessions. Galaga, Asteroids, Space Invaders (hmm, lots os space games back then), River Raid, and even Pitfall -- a game that required exploring many levels collecting precious stuff, and therefore naturally ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=10 It *is* about learning. Danc has an interesting essay on the subject, available on GamaSutra, which I happened to read a while ago. As it goes, your brain rewards you with pleasure every time you test a hypothesis and you were right. So when you figure, "hmm, if I press ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=9 Psychochild has a post up about Knytt Stories (PC), the sucessor of the wonderful Knytt (PC). The latter is an exploration game where you're required to travel a maze of caves and hills finding pieces for a broken spaceship -- but wait, wait, that's not the point. The music is ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=8 Warhawk (PS3) is frantic fun. At least once I can get on the game servers. It's not as tactics-oriented as Battlefield 2142 (PC), but it's lots of fun. I keep springing for the "Spotted" command, however, which just isn't there -- enemies show up on the map once ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=7 Asteroids had it right -- wrapping is the way to go. And Super Stardust's (PS3) take on it is the best. Their excuse for wrapping is perfect -- no more disappearing off the screen to show up on the other side. No more Euclidean mishaps. It's all about the orbit, ... http://www.exodia.org/og/?p=6