What is Your Zombie Plan?

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Jan 23, 2013

Filed under: Nerd Culture 192 comments

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Last week reader Mr. Guy commented, “Ask me about my zombie plan.” This was in the context of talking about The Walking Dead and our criticism of Kenny’s plan to survive by cramming the group onto a rowboat and watch each other die because we have no food, drinking water, fishing gear, cooking supplies, protection from the elements, or common sense. (Or whatever he was trying to accomplish. We don’t see enough of his plan to understand what he was aiming for, long-term.)

As bad as Kenny’s plan is, I think it’s the best one in the game.

  • Doug: Find a group of competent people and fix their iPhones.
  • Larry and Lily: Rule over people like a mad despot until you run out of food or the group turns on you.
  • Lee: Find someone with a plan and follow them around.
  • Ben: Find someone willing to take you in and then help them to death.
  • Bandits: Let’s murder people for prescription drugs until civilization recovers enough to make us more drugs!
  • The St. Johns: Let’s form a soccer team and eat each other!

Yeah. Not a lot of great plans here. I think Doofenshmirtz throws away better plans than these.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “What is Your Zombie Plan?”

 


 

The Walking Dead EP21: The Sewer Level

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jan 22, 2013

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 93 comments


Link (YouTube)

I find it really odd that I forgot basically everything bad about this sequence. Teleporting Molly? Forgot about that. Magical Ninja Clementine? Forgot about that. The absurd and pointless leg-sweep move that Molly performs against an unseen, heaver opponent while doubly covered at point-blank range? Forgot about that. The strange modulating zombie speed that surrounds the group instantly and then takes over a minute to walk the last ten paces? Forgot about that.

It’s odd because this is exactly the sort of thing that normally gets under my skin. I guess I was just really caught up in the moment?

Also, I love how everyone accuses you of being from Crawford, even people who lived in Crawford and left.

I will say this game does not hold up well to repeated viewings.

 


 

Fallout 3 EP6: It’s My Way, or the Subway

By Shamus Posted Monday Jan 21, 2013

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 145 comments


Link (YouTube)

I am amused by the whole “item collection” idea, particularly the ones that aren’t in any way encouraged by the gameplay or story. A lot of people seem to do this, and everyone picks different stuff. In Morrowind, I collected the paper lanterns. I also collected money, because the game would let you drop piles of coins and I liked to decorate with these treasure heaps. In Oblivion, I collected odd clothing. In Fallout 3 I collected Sugar Bombs. In Skyrim… I don’t remember collecting anything. Hm. Interesting.

So what useless items did you hoard?

 


 

Coding Style Part 3

By Shamus Posted Monday Jan 21, 2013

Filed under: Programming 123 comments

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And so we continue discussing the Office document that describes the internal coding conventions of id Software. Why? Because I hate having readers and I’m trying to bore you into going away. So far this plan has backfired spectacularly. You people are just as strange as I am. Let us revel in it.

As before, the style guide is in bold, and everything else is me blathering.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Coding Style Part 3”

 


 

Bacongamer Anti-Bullying 15 Hour Livestream Minecraft Event

By Shamus Posted Monday Jan 21, 2013

Filed under: Links 9 comments

I normally wouldn’t send you off for something like this without watching a bit of it myself, but tonight I’ve got Spoiler Warning, a sick kid, a bunch of obligations, and a powerful need to sleep. So please forgive me the hypocrisy of linking to something I haven’t perused myself.

Bacongamer is running a 15 hour Minecraft event to raise awareness for bullying and to talk about the subject a bit. The thing is running on the always-stellar Twentymine Server. It’s actually a multi-cam view of many different Minecraft worlds.

I would have been more involved (or at least stopped by for a chat) if I had more time. I do hate to miss out on anything Minecraft-related, and I’m curious where this conversation is going. Good luck to Bacongamer and the rest of the team, and I apologize again for this drive-by endorsement.

You can see all the camera views here.

 


 

The Walking Dead EP20: There is no Plan B

By Shamus Posted Sunday Jan 20, 2013

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 118 comments


Link (YouTube)

Towards the end of the episode we wonder about the fidelity of this downtown Savannah set. I did a search for the Talmadge Memorial Bridge and here’s what I turned up:

Here is the building that’s across the river and slightly to the right of Lee as seen in the game:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Walking Dead EP20: There is no Plan B”

 


 

Coding Style Part 2

By Shamus Posted Friday Jan 18, 2013

Filed under: Programming 147 comments

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As I mentioned in the last post, I read the Office document that describes the internal coding conventions of id Software, and I thought I’d go over it. This will be pretty familiar stuff for coders, but if you don’t program this might give you a glimpse of how strange and fussy this discipline can get.

I’m going go go through the standards guide and offer my own comments / explanations on why I think they’re interesting or important. The stuff in bold is from id, the rest is from me.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Coding Style Part 2”