I don’t know why I had so much trouble speaking English this week. It’s the only language I know, and it seems like I need at least one to do this jorb.
Link (YouTube) |
It’s Wednesday, and I’m programming. In a few hours I need to set this aside and get my next SWJFOLOL post ready for tomorrow. I’m having a minor little problem with Visual Studio that forces me to restart the program every hour or so to continue working. I see there’s an update available. Maybe that will fix my problem?
I click the button, and Visual Studio spends about 45 seconds updating itself. Then it ends with a message telling me that I need to restart my computer before I can continue.
Ugh. Well OF COURSE I do.
This is more annoying than you might think. I’m running Unity, my image editor, Blender, and (until a few seconds ago) Visual Studio. I’ve got web windows opened on both monitors, one for checking comments on this site and another filled with Google search results for the three or five C# problems I’m trying to unravel. I have several explorer windows opened up and all of these things are positioned in very specific places to facilitate my workflow.
The point is that it takes some time to get all of these things running again after a reboot. But fine. Let’s get this over with.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Windows: The Dread of Updates”
As I’ve alluded to before, I’ve been working on a new programming project. Like most of my other projects, this one is tied to procedural content generation. While the Good Robot project turned into a real video game, most of these projects are intended to be experiments, educational projects, or proof-of-concept demos. I guess this project is all three.
Our goal is to make a procgen shooter level. It probably won’t matter, but I’m aiming for something that would work as an immersive simYes, this is a confusing and awkward name for this genre. It was named back in the 90s when a lot of genre boundaries hadn’t settled in and we were still calling shooters “Doom Clones”., not a turbo-charged run-n-gun shooter. Games like System Shock, System Shock 2, and Prey are some of my most beloved games. I like how the space station setting allows for open-ended exploration without needing to contrive a silly wall around the world to keep the player in the playpen. I like how the isolated setting creates a quasi survival horror vibe, where you’re all alone in a haunted box full of monsters. I like how combat is slow-paced and risky, and I like having to balance my supply of ammunition, weapons, tools, and healing items.
I also give partial credit to games like Thief, Deus Ex and Dishonored for being Immersive Sims, even if they don’t take place in my favorite settings or feature the open-endedness I’m looking for. I give partial-partial credit to the BioShocks for being watered-down examples of the formula.
You can argue over genre boundaries all day, but you don’t need to haggle with me that game X should be included or game Y should be excluded. It’s fine. You can decide for yourself what Immersive Sim really means, but it’s not going to change my design. I’m just trying to make something I’d like, which means a procgen space station / space ship setting.
I’m not going to be adding AI or monsters to fight, so this focus on “Immersive sim levels” is mostly academic. I just want to head off objections that the stuff I’m building wouldn’t work as a shooter because it’s too constrained to allow for insane run speeds and rocket-jumping.
So anyway, back to defining our overall goals…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Project Bug Hunt #1: What Are We Doing?”
People emailed us a bunch of questions, so we talked for a long time until they were all answered.
Link (YouTube) |
Show notes:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #315: Mailbag Clearinghouse”
BD-1 and Cal are on the tutorial planet Bogano. There’s some sort of ruin / temple in the distance, and Cal figures that’s where he’s supposed to go. We get the rest of our tutorials out of the way, fight some local wildlife, and do some extremely gentle puzzles.
These levels are interesting. While the traversal system is very much in the lineage of Prince of Persia / Uncharted / Tomb Raider, this game sets itself apart with its sheer verticality and complexity. The Tomb Raider games usually feature a linear path through an environment. They might branch a bit for cul-de-sacs with secrets, and sometimes you’ll climb up or down, but the main path can usually be visualized in a straightforward manner.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Jedi Fallen Order Part 5: Crazy Cordova”
The trailer for the upcoming Gotham Knights dropped last week. It leads off with a video of Bruce Wayne saying, “If you’re watching this, I’m dead.” As of this writing, there are about 11,000 comments on that video and the vast majority of them are some variation of, “Yeah suuure he is. I’ll believe it when we see the body.”
But while I’m sure everyone is correct and the most profitable superhero of all time is still alive, I think it’s safe to say that the Batman I loved – The ARKHAM Batman – is super-dead.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Gotham Knights: Batman is Dead”
My plan was to do as many mailbag questions as possible, but then Paul asked about my programmingAnd he only did so because I put it in the topic list. and I spent half of this episode talking about coding, gamedev, and Blender.
Also, I should warn you that I was running on half-brainpower because I am once again giving up caffeine. I was a bit of a stumble-brain during the show. Please pretend you noticed so I don’t have to worry that I’m actually this stupid all the time.
Link (YouTube) |
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
No Man's Sky is a game seemingly engineered to create a cycle of anticipation and disappointment.
A look back at one of my favorite games. The gameplay was stellar, but the underlying story was clumsy and oddly constructed.
Yes, this game is loud, crude, childish, and stupid. But it it knows what it wants to be and nails it. And that's admirable.
When the source code for Doom 3 was released, we got a look at some of the style conventions used by the developers. Here I analyze this style and explain what it all means.
Small changes to the animations can have a huge impact on how the audience interprets a scene.
Valve still hasn't admitted it, but the Half-Life franchise is dead. So what made these games so popular anyway?
Deus Ex Mankind Divided was a clumsy, tone-deaf allegory that thought it was clever, and it managed to annoy people of all political stripes.
Why is internet news so bad, why do people prefer celebrity fluff, and how could it be made better?
Here is how I'd conquer the game-publishing business. (Hint: NOT by copying EA, 2K, Activision, Take-Two, or Ubisoft.)
T w e n t y S i d e d
