Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Apr 1, 2014

Filed under: Diecast 90 comments

 Diecast: GDC 2014Previous Post

Next PostDiecast #52: Goat Simulator, Burial at Sea 

This is it: The great Mailbag Reckoning. If you sent in a question before March 26^th and it hasn’t been answered before, then it’s either answered today, or never. All questions are forever answered, or forever ignored.

To be clear: If your question didn’t make the cut, it doesn’t mean it was a bad question. It might just mean we didn’t have anything to say on the subject. If you ask about something and there’s less than three people that have something to say about it, then we usually set the question aside.

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Hosts: Josh, Chris, Mumbles, and Shamus.

2:00 What are some RPG systems you don’t like?

21:00 What happens when a vocal group of players demands things that are antithetical to the design?

30:00 What are your favorite board games / card games?

36:00 What are your thoughts on procedural content?

51:00 Question time is over. Chris talks about Infamous: Second Son.

1:04:00 Josh is playing Assassins Creed: Liberation.

Have a question for the cast? Address is in the banner at the top of the post. To have the best chance of it making it onto the show:

Try to keep it no more than two sentences.
Aim for subjects that the whole cast can discuss. (So, questions about Good Robot would be bad, since it would just be me talking.)

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Diecast: GDC 2014Previous Post

Next PostDiecast #52: Goat Simulator, Burial at Sea 

90 comments

Assassin’s Creed and Emotionally Resonant Mechanics

By Shamus Posted Monday Mar 31, 2014

Filed under: Movies 138 comments

 Disclorure Alert #29: The Spy-Themed Beard SimulatorPrevious Post

Next PostThe Age of Instant Backlash 

Link (YouTube)

As part of the Errant Signal Patreon Campaign, Chris promised that if he got above $500 he’d do some extra short-form episodes called short-wave transmissionsThese were originally called “Blips”, but since his vids are shown on Blip.tv, that was kind of confusing., as a way of putting more content out there. He hit that target, so here it is. Except, it’s ten minutes long. Which means instead of doing “an additional short episode” he’s basically doing “an additional episode”. So everyoneExcept Chris. Apparently editing is time-consuming? Who knew? wins, I guess.

Going by the feedback I’m seeing on YouTube, I feel like I ought to build a little flame-shied for this episode. Someone already accused him of being a “Social Justice Warrior”. I see a lot of these kinds of responses from people consuming long-form critical analysis like the kind you get on Spoiler Warning, Experienced Points, Diecast, Super BunnyHop, Errant Signal, or MrBtongue. See, here’s the thing…

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Assassin’s Creed and Emotionally Resonant Mechanics”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Disclorure Alert #29: The Spy-Themed Beard SimulatorPrevious Post

Next PostThe Age of Instant Backlash 

138 comments

Diecast: GDC 2014

By Shamus Posted Friday Mar 28, 2014

Filed under: Diecast 100 comments

 Diecast #50: Alpha Protocol, Dark Souls, LA NoirePrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #51: The Mailbag 

Double Diecast this week! Chris attended the Game Developers Conference, and he’s returned with tidings and folk wisdom. Stay a while and listen.

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Hosts: Josh, Chris, and Shamus.

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast: GDC 2014”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Diecast #50: Alpha Protocol, Dark Souls, LA NoirePrevious Post

Next PostDiecast #51: The Mailbag 

100 comments

Thief Autopsy Part 3: Dirty Secrets

By Shamus Posted Thursday Mar 27, 2014

Filed under: Video Games 71 comments

 Thief Autopsy Part 2: Dust to DustPrevious Post

Next PostThief Autopsy Part 4: A Friend in Need 

Garrett brings the ring back to Basso, who then arranges a meeting between Garrett and Orion, the guy who wanted the ring in the first place. I’m not sure if the game says so explicitly or not, but I’m sure he’s also the one that requested the job to steal the primal stone at the start of the game.

I can’t help wondering if I was the only one who found this a little strange. A client asks to meet the Thief? Wouldn’t that be an automatic “no”? Isn’t it Basso’s job to keep Garrett hidden, anonymous, and secret from clients? Not a big deal, but it did strike me as kind of odd.

Orion is caring for the sick somewhere in the slums. When they meet, Garrett has this strange vision where he hears Erin calling out to him and he passes out. I thought this was the start of Garrett coming down with the plague, or some sort of supernatural problem he was having. I figured this would be an ongoing problem. But he never passes out again and I have no idea what purpose it served here.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Thief Autopsy Part 3: Dirty Secrets”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Thief Autopsy Part 2: Dust to DustPrevious Post

Next PostThief Autopsy Part 4: A Friend in Need 

71 comments

Diecast #50: Alpha Protocol, Dark Souls, LA Noire

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Mar 26, 2014

Filed under: Diecast 167 comments

 Diecast #49: Broken Age, OOPS FEMINISM, Dark SoulsPrevious Post

Next PostDiecast: GDC 2014 

Chris was at GDC this week. Mumbles couldn’t make it. This means no Spoiler Warning. It also means the Diecast is a little lighter than usual. But! We’ll have a special GDC-focused Diecast later this week. In the meantime, here is your weekly dose of NERD:

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Hosts: Rutskarn, Josh, and Shamus.

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #50: Alpha Protocol, Dark Souls, LA Noire”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Diecast #49: Broken Age, OOPS FEMINISM, Dark SoulsPrevious Post

Next PostDiecast: GDC 2014 

167 comments

Thief Autopsy Part 2: Dust to Dust

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Mar 26, 2014

Filed under: Video Games 69 comments

 Thief Autopsy Part 1: ProloguePrevious Post

Next PostThief Autopsy Part 3: Dirty Secrets 

Before we go forward, I need to back up for a minute. In the last entry I tried to summarize the cutscene that ends the prologue, and I actually made a hash of it by leaving out several elements. Let me try again. In the cutscene we have:

The Baron, who is leading…
a cult ceremony, which features a book, which is opened with
A key (or keys?) which activates the…
primal stone which creates…
a magical vortex of unknown utility.
Erin falls into the vortex while trying to reach…
the claw. This causes…
Garrett to fall down after her. He may or may not be trying to save her. To break his fall he throws a rope arrow into the leg of the…
Thief-Taker General, who is maimed by this.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Thief Autopsy Part 2: Dust to Dust”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Thief Autopsy Part 1: ProloguePrevious Post

Next PostThief Autopsy Part 3: Dirty Secrets 

69 comments

Experienced Points: Next-gen AI and Next-gen BS

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Mar 25, 2014

Filed under: Column 78 comments

 Experienced Points: Cloning is Good for YouPrevious Post

Next PostExperienced Points: One Platform to Rule Them All 

My column this week is a bit about why next-gen consoles probably aren’t going to bring us any next-gen AI. Although to be fair, it’s been a while since I heard that claim. I was hearing it quite a bit in response to the “The next-gen graphics don’t look so next-gen” comments when the consoles were first being announced.

And while I spent some time talking about strategy AI, I’m not sure how applicable that is to consoles. How often do consoles get complex, multi-layered, turn-based gameplay? They sure aren’t getting Crusader Kings or Civilization anytime soon.

This new gen is off to a strange start. Third party titles have fled Nintendo. Sony’s console is less than six months old and they’re already rolling out new stuff for it. The XBone isn’t NEARLY the disaster I anticipated. That’s is a good thing for the industry in the long run, although I wouldn’t have minded seeing the market rebuke Microsoft a little more firmly for their hubris and creepy approach to digital “rights” and privacy.

I haven’t been following the PS4 vs. Xbox narrative very closely, but every couple of weeks I seeNot that I bother reading the actual article. a headline or forum post detailing how one console is beating the other. Some things never change, I guess.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Experienced Points: Cloning is Good for YouPrevious Post

Next PostExperienced Points: One Platform to Rule Them All 

78 comments

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