I didn’t post about the project last week. You didn’t miss much. I needed to add non-visual stuff like camera controls, a debug log, play a bunch of minecraft and that sort of thing.
So now we have a hex grid based world.
 |
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Project Hex Part 3 – Things Get Hilly”
At least they’re not rats. And there’s not ten of them.
So, Spoiler Warning didn’t start as promised. Here is what is going on:
I pitched the show to The Escapist. The other hosts consented, but this move was fully instigated by me. And I’m not going to dress this up: I did it because I was hoping we could turn the show into income. I’m still looking at my options re: employment, and still considering what I can do. Ideally, I’d like to continue doing all of the cool stuff I’m doing now: This website, the Escapist content, Spoiler Warning, my game development. If I have to take a job where I commute for forty-five minutes each way and sit in an office for nine hours, I won’t be able to do these things. I could very quickly take a job that would pay my bills at the expense of killing all the cool stuff we’ve got going here, and I would very much like to avoid that fate.
So I’ve got several small plans for trying to turn these hobbies into income, and this is one of them.
This pitch is a long shot. I get along really well with the staff at the Escapist, but Spoiler Warning would be a really odd fit with the other programming they have on the site. The style, content, and length are all very different from the other video content. Would the show fit into their current ad and video delivery system? Would the Escapist community even dig it? I don’t know. Maybe The Escapist will take us up on the offer. I certainly won’t take offense if they don’t. But I felt this was worth a shot.
We’ve sent them some content and it’s being reviewed now. I felt like it would be a pretty jerk move to pitch the show to them, then turn around and make the show live here without even giving them a chance to think it over, which is why I’m pushing the show back instead of launching it now.
So, it’s my fault. Sorry for the delay. Let’s give this pot a bit of time to simmer. I’ll furnish us with some other content to fill our Tuesdays and Thursdays until this plays out.
And the After After Curfew series comes to an end.
This is a double-sized comic, and I had more material still that I cut. Could’ve run this for a couple more strips at least. But I didn’t want to run this Halloween story halfway to Thanksgiving.
Good Halloween. My oldest daughter went as a princess. The second daughter went as a kitty. My son went as Batman. Again. This wa either the second or third year in a row he’s gone as Batman. He’s never even seen the movies. He just really likes Batman. I went as a guy who sat at home and played Starcraft II.
What was your costume?
The official Twenty Sided Minecraft server is up. For real this time. It’s been running for several days now, and has been full most of the time. Seems to be working well so far. The map updates daily at 5am EST.
Let me give you the tour….
Right at the entry point you’ll see the word TWENTY in water, sand and glass. It’s pretty slick. To the right of that you’ll see…
 |
That’s no moon!
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Postcards from Minecraft, Part 3”
You’ll need to watch this several times if you really want to see everything.
Link (YouTube) |
These animations were made by one person, using keyframes. That means by hand, without using a motion capture studio. It’s all just timing and posing. I’ve done this kind of work before and it is far more art than science. I spent hours just making a very bland walk animation. It’s tough work and this guy has a talent for it.
Several people have said, “Valve should hire this guy!” True, I’m sure he could go to Valve and do fine work. But you know who really needs this? Like, a lot? Bethesda. This guy could work miracles at Bethesda.
It respond to some of the gripes with last week’s litany against Obsidian.
I’ve set New Vegas aside now so that I can binge on Minecraft they can patch the game a bit more. I don’t want the game to be spoiled by glitches.
I will say that the writing feels a little different this time around. One of my other gripes with Obsidian is their antagonistic companions. G0-T0, Handmaiden, Quarra, Neeshka, and several others managed to drive me up a wall. Not in a “oh! interesting conflict!” sort of way but, “Gah. This person is less fun than tooth cancer. Why can’t I kill them or dump them?” This is stylistic grip. I don’t think they’ve been doing it wrong, and lots of people really prefer the KOTOR II characters to KOTOR Classic, but it didn’t always work for me. Alpha Protocol seemed to get it right, though. There were antagonistic characters, but they fell closer to interesting than irritating. (The whole game was shades of gray, both morally and personality-wise. I’m still miffed at how things turned out for that game. It was their most polished game and the one where they were finally able to cut loose and tell their own story instead of making a sequel to a BioWare game. That should have been their moment, right there.) Now we have New Vegas, and everyone in the game is so friendly it almost feels like a BioWare title. I’m not saying this as a bad or good thing. Just observing. Even Benny is sort of a lovable rascal. A bit. At times.
Of course, it’s entirely possible I’ve just missed out on the jerks. But still, I’m having fun with it, and the game has even squeezed a couple of laughs out of my blackened heart.
Alas for the bugs.
Good news: Bethesda bought id software. Imagine what things will be like when Gamebryo gets stashed on a backup drive and these companies get their hands on some well-engineered technology. I have high hopes.
Sometimes in-game secrets are fun and sometimes they're lame. Here's why.
Did you anticipate the big plot twist of Batman: Arkham City? Here's all the ways the game hid that secret from you while also rubbing your nose in it.
Lists of 'best games ever' are dumb and annoying. But like a self-loathing hipster I made one anyway.
A stream-of-gameplay review of Dead Island. This game is a cavalcade of bugs and bad design choices.
Why make millions on your video game when you could be making HUNDREDS on frivolous copyright claims?
The product of fandom run unchecked, this novel began as a short story and grew into something of a cult hit.
Let's ruin everyone's fun by listing all the ways in which zombies can't work, couldn't happen, and don't make sense.
A screencap comic that poked fun at videogames and the industry. The comic has ended, but there's plenty of archives for you to binge on.
Ever wonder how seemingly sane people can hate popular games? It can happen!
Crunch-mode game development isn't good, but sometimes it happens for good reasons.
T w e n t y S i d e d
