T w e n t y S i d e d
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remastered LXXII: A Truly Thrilling Encounter”
DM of the Rings Remastered LXXII: A Truly Thrilling Encounter
Wednesday Action Log 5-22-24
This week I’ve started playing Stardew Valley with my siblings. We’re not very far yet, so not a lot has happened; I’m hoping we’ll get farther in this time, last time there was too much going on to commit to it. I also played the demo for ROBOBEAT. To me, it’s like if Ultrakill decided that being a FPS wasn’t enough and wanted to become a Roguelike Rhythm FPS with the bonus of being able to add your own music. I only played for a bit, but when I can I will probably buy it for myself. What are you guys up to this week?
SPOILERS: I’m talking about the Fallout TV series
I mean it. If you want to experience the Fallout TV series fresh, without any more foreknowledge than you have probably received already, don’t read this. Because I’m going to be talking about several things IN-DEPTH. Also, TRIGGER WARNING: if you are part of the (honestly small) group of people screaming “I can’t believe they disrespected Fallout like this! They got SO MUCH wrong! It’s horrible!” then you probably need to go away and not read this, either. Because, putting it right up front; I think the Fallout TV series is brilliant; and a wonderful addition to Fallout lore. The writers REALLY understood what these games are about. Not that mistakes weren’t made, but NOT in the lore or the tone. Just in general continuity and storytelling. I unabashedly recommend this series to EVERY Fallout fan.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “SPOILERS: I’m talking about the Fallout TV series”
Scattered Thoughts on Hobbies, SWTOR, and WoW
We need to talk about Thomas the Tank Engine.
No, we don’t actually. But ever since I watched Thomas “TomSka” Ridgewell’s video about Thomas the Tank Engine, that opening line has been stuck in my head. Tom mentions having a, what he believes is quite conventional, relationship to the British children’s show. That is, when he was a child, he watched it. When he wasn’t a child, he didn’t watch it anymore. That seems reasonable. As is, or was anyway, common in England; television programs tended to be produced one series (what Americans would call a “season”) at a time rather than under an open-ended contract. So while the first two series/seasons appeared in the early 80’s, the third didn’t run until several years later. The show picked up…steam…and probably hit peak popularity in the mid-to-late 1990’s. This was when Thomas big-screen movies started to appear. And while the average person, especially us American GenX’ers who only had early exposure to Thomas through the PBS children’s show Shining Time Station; could be forgiven for thinking Thomas probably disappeared sometime early in the new millennium….well, you are wrong. As I have discovered, Thomas…chugged…steadily along until Mattel(!) bought the franchise, and made some decisions that have ONLY RECENTLY left the show in somewhat questionable circumstances.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Scattered Thoughts on Hobbies, SWTOR, and WoW”
Wednesday Action Log 5-15-24
This week I’ve played Content Warning. It’s quite a lot like Lethal Company but instead of getting killed for scrap and The Company, you are getting footage of monsters for your SpookTube channel, it’s quite light-hearted; even when you don’t make quota, instead of dying it just turns out that it was a bad dream. I’ve also finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 VR and aside from me not liking the strider fight very much, it’s a good mod and I had a lot of fun.
DM of the Rings Remastered LXXI: The Spice of Life
Wednesday Action Log 5-8-24
This week I ended up playing a bit of Risk of Rain Returns. Mostly just cleaning up the achievements I missed. I think I’m mostly done with Minecraft. I’ve mined more copper and the cube is now around nine thousand blocks, I also did some of the archaeology stuff and got a sniffer, the plants and sniffer are kind of useless but the archaeology is fun.
From The Archives:
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.
Self-Balancing Gameplay
There's a wonderful way to balance difficulty in RPGs, and designers try to prevent it. For some reason.
Revisiting a Dead Engine
I wanted to take the file format of a late 90s shooter and read it in modern-day Unity. This is the result.
The Best of 2013
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2013.
Bad and Wrong Music Lessons
A music lesson for people who know nothing about music, from someone who barely knows anything about music.
Linux vs. Windows
Finally, the age-old debate has been settled.
The Opportunity Crunch
No, brutal, soul-sucking, marriage-destroying crunch mode in game development isn't a privilege or an opportunity. It's idiocy.
Dear Hollywood: Do a Mash Reboot
Since we're rebooting everything, MASH will probably come up eventually. Here are some casting suggestions.
Why The Christmas Shopping Season is Worse Every Year
Everyone hates Black Friday sales. Even retailers! So why does it exist?
Megatextures
A video discussing Megatexture technology. Why we needed it, what it was supposed to do, and why it maybe didn't totally work.