T w e n t y S i d e d
This has been linked to hell and back, but maybe you’ve managed to miss it up until now.
Link (YouTube) |
Also along these lines: My own take on what Star Wars would be like if it was written today.
Stolen Pixels #44: Onward and Upward
In World of Goo, incompetence kills. Actually, competence kills too, just slightly less.
Sessler’s Soapbox: Innovation Vs. Numeration
Adam Sessler of G4TV has a regular video op-ed titled “Sessler’s Soapbox”. He’s a reviewer who is obliged to give numeric scores to games, and here he clearly comes out against them.
G4TV.com
But what really caught my attention was the part at the beginning where he talks about the difficulty of a game and how it does (or doesn’t) figure in to a review score. This is one of those subjects that calls for a thousand words or none, and I don’t have time for a thousand words. The best I can manage right now is to gesture wildly in Adam’s direction and say, “What he has said is significant.”
Sierpinski Triangle
When I was about 15 years old, I ran into the following set of directions:
- Take a piece of paper.
- Mark 3 dots on it. They can be anywhere, but for aesthetic reasons it is common to pick three points that will form an equilateral triangle. Number these points 1 through 3.
- Get yourself a 3-sided die. (Or use a d6 and divide by 2.)
- Begin at one of the corners. This is your “current” position. Roll your d3, to select one of the points. Measure the distance between your current position and the chosen corner and put a dot at the exact halfway point between the two. This is your new current position.
- Sit there for a few hours or days repeating step #4: (Your current position moves, pick a corner, move halfway from where you are to the chosen corner, and make a dot, etc.) For best results, use a good ruler and a nice sharp writing instrument.
When I heard this at 15, I expected that what you would end up with is a mass of dots in the middle of the paper, dense in the middle and thinning out towards the edges. This is not what you get at all. In fact, as long as you follow the directions you will never ever place a dot anywhere near the middle of that triangle. What you actually end up with is a Sierpinski Triangle:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sierpinski Triangle”
GameScience Dice
Here is a video (broken into two parts) from GameScience, where one Colonel Louis Zocchi makes the case that standard gaming dice are not very accurate (that is, not very random) and that his dice (this is part of a sales pitch, mind you) will perform better during play.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “GameScience Dice”
Stolen Pixels #43:
Build More Prisons
Wherein I deliver a verbal beating to a bunch that has been just begging for it.
Silent Hill Homecoming:
Down is the new Up
To the person in charge of the inputs in Silent Hill Homecoming:
Dear Sir,
You are a mountebank and an idiot. Whoever gave you command of a compiler did a grave disservice not just to your software product, but to the industry as a whole. I am referring, of course, to the blatant and willful omission of a feature to allow the user to invert the y-axis, so that pressing forward results in looking down, and contrary-wise, pulling back will result in looking up. This is a feature offered by every other such product you might care to name, including all of the previous works bearing the "Silent Hill" moniker. I have spent several hours in a state of constant agitation because I cannot comfortably make use of your softwares.
I can only conclude this was an act of calculated malice, the work of an eager and spiteful reprobate. The effort required to multiply the y-axis by negative one is childishly trivial compared to the effort required to overcome eighteen years of muscle memory, which is what it seems you're asking me to do in order to play your video amusement product.
And do not attempt to claim that this was merely an oversight. You clearly offer the option to invert said axis whilst aiming. Thus you are aware of the need for this feature. I can make the controls behave the way I desire during combat, but not during the course of the rest of the experience. I cannot fathom the intent - save malice - that led to this state of affairs. Why would I want to reverse the behavior of one, and not the other? The only thing worse than having the controls work backwards all the time is to have them work backwards only most of the time, and then have them switch once again when the I am under the duress and challenge of combat.
What truly appalls me is not the contempt you have for me, which is palpable enough, but the contempt you show for your own work. Have you no honor? No shame? No basic sense of propriety? You sir, are a villain.
Do not imagine this is the end of this matter. You have not tasted the fullness of my wrath. Indeed, but have not even sampled a tithe of it. Pray you do not encounter me in the flesh, for as surely as I have spent the last three hours spinning in place and staring at the ceiling in your video entertainment product, I will teach you to fear justice the way the wicked things beneath the earth fear the sun itself.
Indignantly,
Shamus Young
From The Archives:
Linux vs. Windows
Finally, the age-old debate has been settled.
Charging More for a Worse Product
No, game prices don't "need" to go up. That's not how supply and demand works. Instead, the publishers need to be smarter about where they spend their money.
Trashing the Heap
What does it mean when a program crashes, and why does it happen?
Video Compression Gone Wrong
How does image compression work, and why does it create those ugly spots all over some videos and not others?
Good to be the King?
Which would you rather be: A king in the middle ages, or a lower-income laborer in the 21st century?
The Best of 2013
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2013.
Punishing The Internet for Sharing
Why make millions on your video game when you could be making HUNDREDS on frivolous copyright claims?
Lost Laughs in Leisure Suit Larry
Why was this classic adventure game so funny in the 80's, and why did it stop being funny?
Seven Springs
The true story of three strange days in 1989, when the last months of my adolescence ran out and the first few sparks of adulthood appeared.
Joker's Last Laugh
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.