T w e n t y S i d e d
Stolen Pixels #3 is up. You could go read it now, if you’re into that sort of thing. You could even comment. Or not. Whatever. I’m just reminding you. No need to get all defensive. I was just tryin’ to be nice.
Sheesh.
Stolen Pixels #3:
Game Developers at the Beach
So one day Will Wright and Cliff Bleszinski decide to go to the beach. Having just enjoyed some hamburgers and ice cream cones together, they now have to wait an hour before they can go swimming. In order to pass the time, CliffyB suggests a game of volleyball.
Will agrees, but then he gets on the same side of the net as Cliff, leaving nobody on the opposite side.
Cliffy makes a face at him, “What the hell are you doing?”
Will Wright smiles earnestly, “I’m going to explore different ways of using the ball. You can do the same. Let’s experiment with hitting the ball. Rolling the ball. Spinning the ball. You know, everyone’s experience with the ball will be different. Maybe we will work together and see how long we can keep it in the air, or we could-“
“That’s stupid”, Cliff sneers, “Get over on your side of the net.”
There is an uncomfortable pause, and then Will suggests that they build sandcastles instead. Cliff shrugs indifferently, which Will takes as an approximation of, “Yes.” He goes off to find a nice patch where he’ll have an open area and access to both wet and dry sand.
Will decides that a “sandcastle” isn’t very interesting, so he decides to build something more elaborate. Maybe a sand sculpture of some sort? An animal? A geometric shape? After some deliberation he decides to go for a seven-foot reclining Buddha.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Game Developers at the Beach”
World of Warcraft:
Counterpoint
OHNOES they’re making fun of our game!
That’s not a quote so much as a summary. I underestimated the intensity of the fanboy backlash I’d get for daring to suggest that WoWcraft might not be a flawlessly executed source of boundless, radiant joy. It’s a fantastic game, but it’s a game with easily observable annoyances, and no amount of e.e. cummings styled flailing at the keyboard will change that.
The WoW posts have drawn in a fresh surge of fanboys who will brook no insolence from “n00bs” who mistake this life-substitute for something so pedestrian as mere entertainment. I can only imagine the coming indignation and rage there will be when I get around to jamming this game into a comic strip.
A number of comments (here, and on other sites) complained that my suggestions would make the game “too easy”. To claim this is to miss the point the point by distances that only a stellar cartographer could appreciate. Like, if that one Mexican restaurant got an exterminator so as to stop inadvertently serving cockroaches in their meals, would you complain because you are now getting less food? “Harder” gameplay should never be mistaken for “deeper” gameplay, and in fact all too often the former is used to conceal the lack of the latter.
No, we are not even remotely done talking about this game.
World of Warcraft:
Nitpicks
I think I’ve finally been with this game long enough to tell the difference between newbie growing pains and actual design flaws. Despite the fun this game has to offer, it is not without its eccentricities and frustrations. This list is long. This is not because the game is rife with idiocy (at least, not more than other games) but simply because the game is so immense.
I actually considered making this a series, but then I decided to just dump the whole thing on you at once. Good luck. This does not mean I won’t write more nitpicks later. All of my efforts thus far have managed to raise a character to level 37, which means a vast portion of the game still remains beyond the horizon for me.
And now begins the nitpicking, which in this case takes the form of a numbered list:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “World of Warcraft:
Nitpicks”
Stolen Pixels #2:
Capturing the Something
I just want to point out that the number of Stolen Pixel comics has now doubled.
I still surf the net the old fashioned way, by going to web pages and clicking on stuff. But if you’ve got one of those new RSS things you can apparently use this to feed it.
Note that I have closed the comments on this post not because I want to discourage you from leaving comments, but because I want to encourage you to leave them over there, in the forum so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors.
Gaming Down Under
What is wrong with videogame publishing in Australia? They get their games months after it hits the shelves in the Yankeeland, the games cost $20 to $40 more, even when the currencies are even, and their ratings system is a hash and is keeping games off the shelves.
I’ve never heard an explanation for why videogame imports are so messed up down there. If I was a publisher I’d want all of my English-language releases to happen at the same time, because doing otherwise just encourages impatient users to head for the torrents.
The extra $20 or $40 has never made any sense either. As far as I can tell it’s not an import tax or tariff or anything else that might be blamed on the government. Certainly other products seem to make it there without having an arbitrary amount tacked onto the price.
So…
- Why?
- How do we fix it?
EDIT: Apparently in the linked post there is a slight dig at my writing. Some people took offense at that, and then other people misunderstood those comments as digs at me, leading to a humors clog of confusion. The author of the original post emailed me to let me know that his comments on my writing were intended as irony.
In any case, no feelings hurt. No reason to be upset here. Just wanted to clear all that up.
World Of Warcraft:
Introduce Yourself
Allow me to take a break from analysis and nitpicking to just use this space as a megaphone:
A bunch of people have jumped on Kirin Tor and said hi to me in-game. I’ve grouped with a few people and had tremendous fun. Chatty DM and I stomped on the vile creatures that plague Bloodmyst Isle. My brother (who you’ll see in the comments here as Skeeve the Impossible) has jumped into the game and seems to be happy with his Gnomeish Mage. My friend Bogan and I have done a run through Deadmines and found various humorous ways in which to have the monsters of Azeroth send us to our deaths.
I have to thank the people who have dragged my diverse collection of incompetent heroes through their assigned quests, as well as those who humored me and all of my detailed questions instead of just replying, “Have you HEARD of Google, Shamus?”
Once again, here are my characters:
Pavelock happened by accident. I was just trying out a Dwarf to see their quests and starting area. Twenty-five levels later I realized I had a new main character. I do regret the name, though. It’s intended to be pronounced like Pave Lock but I’ve already had someone take it for Pavel-ock. Ugh. Someone else saw the “lock” at the end and assumed “Warlock”. I figured every possible compound word featuring stone is probably taken by one of the other million or so dwarves in the game. So “pave” seemed like a good substitute. (And Pavelock is actually a videogame reference.)
I do have trouble keeping track of who is who, in-game. With the proliferation of alts and names I get hopelessly lost. I see people talking about joining the game in my comments and on other websites, and I see new names in the game as people greet me, but I can’t sort out who is who. So, this is an invitation to people to post here and relate their name here in the comments with their name(s) in the game.
From The Archives:
Video Compression Gone Wrong
How does image compression work, and why does it create those ugly spots all over some videos and not others?
Artless in Alderaan
People were so worried about the boring gameplay of The Old Republic they overlooked just how boring and amateur the art is.
Game at the Bottom
Why spend millions on visuals that are just a distraction from the REAL game of hotbar-watching?
Object-Disoriented Programming
C++ is a wonderful language for making horrible code.
The Loot Lottery
What makes the gameplay of Borderlands so addictive for some, and what does that have to do with slot machines?
The Terrible New Thing
Fidget spinners are ruining education! We need to... oh, never mind the fad is over. This is not the first time we've had a dumb moral panic.
Why The Christmas Shopping Season is Worse Every Year
Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
The No Politics Rule
Here are 6 reasons why I forbid political discussions on this site. #4 will amaze you. Or not.
Pixel City Dev Blog
An attempt to make a good looking cityscape with nothing but simple tricks and a few rectangles of light.
The Strange Evolution of OpenGL
Sometimes software is engineered. Sometimes it grows organically. And sometimes it's thrown together seemingly at random over two decades.