Penny Ivory Arcade

I'll be late to the party and comment on commentry...at penny arcade.

If I am purchasing games in order to reward their creators, and to ensure that more of these ingenious contraptions are produced, I honestly can't figure out how buying a used game was any better than piracy. From the perspective of a developer, they are almost certainly synonymous.

I wonder if Tycho thinks buying used cars is grand theft auto? (Wait, was that a word play on my part?)

I'll repeat a comment I made elsewhere - So he’s buying it to reward creators.

Okay, so how does that matter in some bigger picture?

Woops, my middle class ivory tower radar just went off – he’s acting as if he’s some sort of patron of the arts when he buys a game. And if he’s doing it, then that’s what everyone else is doing or else.

Sorry bud, perhaps some people are buying objects, not funding starving artists. And by the way, no, THQ doesn't know you even if you do buy a game. Go donate enough of your clearly disposable income money to some charities so that, with what you have left, you don't feel in a 'donate to artists/creators' mood, but still feel like gaming. Your feet might touch the ground then.

Dawg.

Faux Death in video games

After having a taste of perma death in torchlight (twice!), it's interesting to be playing the...I dunno, is there a name for it? Perma death has a name, but not ever being able to die is given no name.

And it's funny - the shadow of death permiates playing with no death. But it's just a feeling. A strong one, but just a feeling because it's not there.

It reminds me of when I first played wow, having only played in imagined game worlds before in table top games where you could die (though to be honest, rarely did).

As in the feeling of possible death gives the world oomph, and yet it's completely BS oomph.

Indeed, when I was playing hardcore, stats became important to me. As important as they seem to get to people who play on no death games.

I'm wondering if, for people who get intense about the stats, the feeling of possible death just does not fade over time with them? When I play hardcore I feel drawn into the world because of the need to survive. Do people who try to collect all the stuff have a feeling of possible death that drives it - it's not just the collect everything urge? It's both?

What do you think?

Torchlight - another lamentable death

One of those tree things that spews poison. Man my health went down fast from full! I think maybe it multi critted me!

Nah - just too much time to get this far with the character. If it had a checkpoint system - say every two waypoints has a checkpoint. If you die, you go back to it at the level you were when you hit that waypoint. Perhaps with no gear (wade through the first levels to get basic gear and gear up again).

Even the brutal hydorah has save points (a limited number)

Trying to do it all in one chunk - well, lets say I've played table top where ostensibly your character could die, but it never really came up (for various reasons). But really we never played for hours and hours with one character. I guess I'm just not into huge permadeath. Not when it actually, and slightly ironically, eats up a large chunk of my own actual life time.

Driftwurld - latest update

 Yay! I've added the next stage, which is harvesting crops so you can trade the food to a shady mercenary, for your first real firepower - omega frag grenades!

But the reason that power is needed is because of the raptors sneaking around!

Once you have 30 tactical skill (the skill aquisition is accelerated to this point) you can harvest.

I like what I've done with the harvest game - it combines the 'spot that your in trouble' keep your eyes peeled game I did with tactical combat along with a memory game, as the raptors north/south position is flashed ever so often and when the time comes to move, you have to remember it so you can go the other way!

I'm enjoying how I'm fitting in somewhat challening obstacles in my game (which is better than I've seen on a professionally laid out vampire game on facebook)

http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/login.php

I think this is a little bit of fun to play in itself, AND your building up your account in the game. There seem to be alot of browser games out there with many players, but the game play just seems to be clicking and not fun. I hope I can draw some people who want game play that's a bit of fun.

I've also made an no log in version if you want to try it out. Of course it's not going to record your results in the database, is it!

http://www.driftwurld.herobo.com/tactics/reapol.php

And congrats to is (screen name: iz) for getting top brawl skill and top tactical skill! If you play the tactical game you can see his victories showing up on the event field!

Thanks for reading!

RIP Torchlight character: Anna Kist

Damn thingie that summons skeletons and shoots out a red crackly beam...but my fault for trying a lost dungeon that I guessed might be a bit over my characters level.

Hardcore mode. You have been warned.

Looking at : Torchlight - very difficult takes awhile to...get difficult

I chose very difficult for my first play of torchlight. Or whatever the highest difficulty there is, but without the use of hardcore mode. Hardcore, which I'll probably try out sometime, as the natural direction to take is to make a waddling tank - will that be fun? I'm curious, but this topic is about difficulty.

But after about seven hours of play only now is it really presenting difficulty and requiring manouvering. On the upside it's doing it on a consistant basis - I'm guessing if I did more side dungeons I'd be higher level and have better gear.

Sadly I obviously went through six hours and 59 minutes of not so challenging play - I don't know why I'm drawn to it. Moth to the shiny flame? Already spent money on it, may as well try?

I think it 'pushed back' so to speak near the start, but really, the solution was to keep the attack or magic button held down and a finger over the heal potion button. That's it. I guess that's a timing skill as atleast these potions take a little time to heal you instead of insta healing you like in diablo. Instant heals just mean buying tons of potions and mashing the heal button over and over will be enough.

Torchlight - Return of the ghost run

Whoa, what a fart, man!

No, not the name of a sequel. It's pretty much looking at something which seems even to be embedded in the upcoming and ground breaking guild wars two.

It's that when you 'die', you pay a bit of money, then go for a jog.

Granted Torchlight has an option to respawn on the spot, but the cost in experience and fame is a mighty one - it seems quite the non optimal path to take.




So instead you pay some gold and get sent back to the start of the level.

Why? Why this jog? Essentially the same as the wow ghost run? And is repeated in guildwars two from what I understand of their death penalty

If no one revives you, you can spend a small amount of gold to come back at a waypoint.

Why? Why send the player back to a waypoint - because it doesn't feel like death if you don't do a little light jogging?

Challenge: Can you NOT win?

Tesh put forth the hypothesis that you can have challenge without risk - risk is like a seperate thing, like oxygen is seperate from hydrogen (...though you can't have water without it...).

So, talk or perhaps make a game and let that do the walking for me!? Introducing proof of (bad) concept!

The bullets, they head toward a ship you can move around. What will you do? If you don't happen to do anything, does it matter at all?
Can you win? Can you not win?

Follow the yellow brick road, follow follow follow, cause googles waiting...

They did realise, didn't they? That those are the flowers that if you frollic through them because it seems like a bit of fun and saves you some time in getting where your going, the flowers pollen seduces and drugs you? Then you fall into a complacent stupour that turns into a complacent coma?

Quake Live: What's happening with log in?

Quake live updated its homepage recently, and although I had firefox remember my password, it didn't seem to work.

Okay, so go to forget password - it says its sent of an e-mail with a password. Nothing has come for days, even after numerous attempts. Then I put in a help request - it sends a confirmation of having sent the request (though it said in the e-mail it repeated what I wrote, yet it didn't?), and still nothing happening?

Anyone else having a hard time getting into quake live? Because I have a slow connection I just play the bots, but all the same...

Being seen - do you like your name in the charts?

I'm thinking of a positioning chart (like a highscore chart) for my browser game - but here's the thing, it'd have four special highscore positions that can't be won by anyone else for say a day or two after they've been won. So there would be a top ten and you could work your way up - but so could someone else an hour after you. But get onto the four long term charts, the fourth position has to be free to get on it. Then the third has to be free for you to work up to it, etc. But the big bonus is you stay there for a much longer time.

But you have the top ten so you can get somewhere as well.

All this and your building up your fighting skill, which will be shown next to your name.

Brief look at 7million...

I've been looking at 7million, which I heard about awhile ago and seems to be freeplay now. Pretty small client at around 150 meg (though maybe it'll download a heap more latter).

Nice premise of being burglars overcoming security systems with minigames that probably give you a mild workout (more so than hitting 1,2,3,1,2,3 on your keyboard over and over)

PS: The video doesn't seem to sit properly in the column - sorry. I'll look into it latter.

Do words control your will?

Imagine this - there is a button in real life, within arms reach of you - pressing it will set off a little program called 'combat'. It'll use some stats called bonus to hit, armour and hitpoints, creating their values from a small random range.

Okay, I've said these words 'Your standing in a big open field that's really really empty with just some grass around and the sun above'

Then I say your in charge, the GM or whatever, and you take it from here.

Assuming you accept that position, would you find some mysterious, magical force stopping you from pressing the button that runs the program called 'combat'?

Cause I'd think not. But if I'm wrong, I'm absolutely fascinated - because I can and I want to learn more about this phisiological difference!

But most of you would probably go 'Wha? Of course I can reach out with my hand and hit the button, don't be absurd!'

I assure you, I'm not so creative as to be this absurd!