NEWER POSTS

Knights of the Old Republic EP13: Save Scums

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Sep 30, 2015

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 160 comments
Knights of the Old Republic EP12: That's No Moon...Previous Post
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Link (YouTube)

In this episode, Rutskarn proposes going through the planets in the order of Tatooine, Kashyyyk….

Hang on…

“Kashyyyk”? Really, Expanded Universe? Really? The Wookiee homeworld has THREE vowels in a row? And all of them are the letter “Y”? And nobody had a problem with this? Not even Georgeee Lucaaas? What are you doing with your proper nouns? This is madness.

ANYWAY.

In this episode, Rutskarn proposes going through the planets in the order of Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan, and then Korriban. You’re free to do the planets in any order you like, but I’m willing to bet Zalbaar’s freedom that this is the order that most people favor for subsequent play-throughs. I suppose you could make a pretty good case for swapping Tatooine and Kashyyyk, but otherwise this seems like objectively the best order.

  1. Tatooine and Kashyyyk each have a party member for you to recruit: HK-47 and Jolee Bindo, respectively. They’re two of the most popular characters in the game, and both are very powerful, so it makes sense to want to get them as soon as possible. The only question is which one you like best.
  2. Manaan has nobody for you to recruit, so there’s no harm in delaying this planet.
  3. Korriban is the one place where apparently people will recognize Bastila on sight, so she stays on the ship. But Bastila leaves the party after the third planet anyway, so by saving Korriban for last you make it so that you can have Bastila available on the other three worlds.

Basically, this ordering will maximize your choices with regards to party composition.

For those of you who played KOTOR more than once: What’s your preferred order?

 

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.

Knights of the Old Republic EP12: That's No Moon...Previous Post
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160 comments

 

Good Robot #34: Guns, Guns, Guns

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Sep 30, 2015

Filed under: Good Robot 82 comments
Good Robot #33: Good Robot at EGXPrevious Post
Next PostGood Robot #35: EGX Feedback

Way back in July, I said the plan was to have the game “feature complete” by September. I think we sort of met that goal. We’ve completed all of the features planned so far, but I think everyone expects to add a few new features between now and the planned February 2016 release. We do have a mild case of Feature Creep, which can probably be managed through medication and therapy.

What we’ve done since July:

  1. The interface has solidified. Actually, it’s not so much “solidified” as “been entirely replaced with something else, which has then solidified”.
  2. The gameplay still has a few remaining question marks, but the core rhythm of the game is there.
  3. The art style has taken shape.
  4. The story hasn’t exactly been written yet, but we’ve stopped re-inventing the setting every time we have a meeting. We’ve settled on a single idea that everyone seems comfortable with.

Last week I talked about Good Robot going to EGX. As of this writing, I don’t have the feedback from the public on the game. Although by the time I post this the show will be long over.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Good Robot #34: Guns, Guns, Guns”

 

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.

Good Robot #33: Good Robot at EGXPrevious Post
Next PostGood Robot #35: EGX Feedback

82 comments

 

Half Time CH1: No Quarter

By Rutskarn Posted Tuesday Sep 29, 2015

Filed under: Lets Play 70 comments
Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 20:
Naval Warfare 101Previous Post
Next PostHalf Time CH2: Hobbit Breaking

Hey, folks, Rutskarn here. I think we can all agree that the one thing really missing on this blog–the one subject you’d demand a website called Twenty Sided cover–is the world of professional sports. With that in mind, may I present my foray into the first videogame adaptation of Blood Bowl.

“Congratulations, lad,” said McGurrt, “you just bought yourself a Blood Bowl team.”

I live a fast-paced life with little room for complications. That morning, I had followed a train of logic that followed: I needed money. Sports teams make money. This sports team was very cheap for probably no reason in particular. To learn any other details before signing the contract would be not only irresponsible, but inconsiderate towards the feelings of others, particularly: Vicker the Shark, Tomag Loansemdollar, Zigler the Shark, Knee Breakin’ Frank, Dickie the Shark, and Mr. I Will Kill All Deadbeats, Esq, whose interests rates were fantastic thank you very much.

“Something the matter?” said McGurrt. “You look worried.”

“What? No. Why would I be worried?”

“I don’t know. I mean, you haven’t even seen them yet.”

“Exactly!”

It turns out I’m not very good at spotting red flags.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Half Time CH1: No Quarter”

 

Rutskarn is a writer, author, wordsmith, text producer, article deviser, prose architect, and accredited language-talker. If you enjoy his contributions to this site you could always back his Patreon.

Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 20:
Naval Warfare 101Previous Post
Next PostHalf Time CH2: Hobbit Breaking

70 comments

 

Experienced Points: Why Do I Need to Restart the Game?

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Sep 29, 2015

Filed under: Column 46 comments
Experienced Points: Please Understand, Nintendo is the Bad GuyPrevious Post
Next PostExperienced Points: Why is System Shock a Big Deal?

My column this week answers the question posed by the title, which means the Title Police can piss off and can’t refer to it as “clickbait”. (Seriously, the Title Police have become almost as annoying as the clickbaiters by this point. But that’s a topic for another day.)

This is yet another topic where you can go an inch deep or a mile deep, and you still won’t hit the bottom. It all depends on how much technical knowledge you demand of your audience. On the Escapist, I tried to keep things broad and accessible for general audiences.

But let’s look a little deeper:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points: Why Do I Need to Restart the Game?”

 

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: Please Understand, Nintendo is the Bad GuyPrevious Post
Next PostExperienced Points: Why is System Shock a Big Deal?

46 comments

 

Diecast #122: Drew Karpyshyn at BioWare, Destiny, Assassins Creed, D&D

By Shamus Posted Monday Sep 28, 2015

Filed under: Diecast 149 comments
Diecast #121: Mario Maker, Metal Gear, Mad MaxPrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #123: Tony Hawk 5, Star Citizen, Patreon Hack



Hosts: Josh, Rutskarn, Shamus, Campster. Episode edited by Rachel.

Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #122: Drew Karpyshyn at BioWare, Destiny, Assassins Creed, D&D”

 

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 #121: Mario Maker, Metal Gear, Mad MaxPrevious Post
Next PostDiecast #123: Tony Hawk 5, Star Citizen, Patreon Hack

149 comments

 

Bad and Wrong Music Lessons: DAWs

By Shamus Posted Sunday Sep 27, 2015

Filed under: Music 35 comments
Bad and Wrong Music Lessons, Part 7: MixingPrevious Post
Next PostMusic and the Desire to Improve

“DAW” stands for Digital Audio Workstation, and is a somewhat sloppy term used to refer to all the various programs people use to make music. It’s sloppy, because the term “audio” can efer to a lot of non-musical work. Or it could be the program you use to mix all the sounds of the real-world instruments you played with your fleshy human hands. Or it could mean – as in my case – the program used to make all the instrument sounds, map their notes, and mix them together. In any case, for our purposes here when I say DAW I mean “the thing I use to make a song on the computer”.

In the past few entries I complained about Magix Music Maker, my DAW of choice. Several people suggested I give LMMS a try. I did, and now I’m really conflicted.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Bad and Wrong Music Lessons: DAWs”

 

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.

Bad and Wrong Music Lessons, Part 7: MixingPrevious Post
Next PostMusic and the Desire to Improve

35 comments

 

Kerbal Space Problems: It’s over!

By Shamus Posted Friday Sep 25, 2015

Filed under: Notices 47 comments
Hangout 9/25: Kerbal Space ProblemsPrevious Post
Next PostMessing With the Site Theme

EDIT: Thanks for watching. We’ll hopefully upload the whole thing to YouTube later this week for those of you who missed it.

Original post:

Today at 6pm Eastern US time, we’re going to play Kerbal Space Program. Well, Josh is going to play KSP, and I’m going to watch. And so are you. Yes, because this will be his first time playing the game. If you’ve never played the game before, it will be an instructive experience to help you get started. If you have played the game, it will allow you to to experience the feeling of smug superiority you get from watching someone else fail at something you understand.

KSP was one of my top picks of 2013, and I still come back to it once in a while. I can’t wait until Josh uncovers all the problems that explain why the game is probably actually horrible and everyone should feel bad for liking it. Because that’s his job. The stream will be live here when the event starts:

http://www.twitch.tv/spoilerwarningshow

If you are irresponsible and have Flash enabled then this countdown timer should show when the event starts:

If not, you’ll have to do the math yourself. Good luck!

 

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.

Hangout 9/25: Kerbal Space ProblemsPrevious Post
Next PostMessing With the Site Theme

47 comments

 
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