And Braid is out, for the Xbox360, which I don't own. PC version coming later this year, reportedly. I haven't played it yet, but that video looks nice.
Interestingly this game is being reviewed very well by mainstream news magazines, in many of them it's the highest-rated game released in that month. I think this is good because it raises awareness of independent developers.
Complaint entry:
I hate when people assume that you don't know something factual and then explain it without even asking if you know it already, especially something that's fairly common knowledge to anyone aware of the world.
I'm not sure why they have that annoying habit, but I've noticed that certain people do it over and over; perhaps their view of human nature is that "people are stupid" and that leads them to believe that they know more than everyone else and have to explain every topic that comes up in a conversation to others, perhaps they're overly abstract and just love to hear themselves talk, perhaps they have no social skills, but whatever the explanation, it's a bad habit.
I'm not excluding myself, I've probably done it before too and forgotten about it, but I don't seem to do it habitually, and there are people who do it habitually. And I don't mean simply writing about something someone doesn't want to hear, I specifically mean writing extensively (briefly mentioning is not annoying) about factual things that most people can be expected to know, as if it were news to them.
I think the best way to avoid this habit is simply to ask if someone knows something *before* you spend paragraphs explaining it.
I hate when people assume that you don't know something factual and then explain it without even asking if you know it already, especially something that's fairly common knowledge to anyone aware of the world.
I'm not sure why they have that annoying habit, but I've noticed that certain people do it over and over; perhaps their view of human nature is that "people are stupid" and that leads them to believe that they know more than everyone else and have to explain every topic that comes up in a conversation to others, perhaps they're overly abstract and just love to hear themselves talk, perhaps they have no social skills, but whatever the explanation, it's a bad habit.
I'm not excluding myself, I've probably done it before too and forgotten about it, but I don't seem to do it habitually, and there are people who do it habitually. And I don't mean simply writing about something someone doesn't want to hear, I specifically mean writing extensively (briefly mentioning is not annoying) about factual things that most people can be expected to know, as if it were news to them.
I think the best way to avoid this habit is simply to ask if someone knows something *before* you spend paragraphs explaining it.
Documentary on the demoscene. I think it makes a good attempt to explain something I've tried unsuccessfully to explain to charbile -- that they aren't generated in the normal way computer graphics is generated (with modeling, rendering, and all that), but in a way closer to how fractals are generated, so in a loose sense demos are discovered rather than created.
( part 2 of the documentary )
Saturated Dreamers ~v0.1 - Ripple Effect from Paul Eres on Vimeo.
Same thing, but in Vimeo -- the video quality wasn't high enough on YouTube to really even see the ripples... this is the first time I've used Vimeo, seems nice so far.
If you look closely you'll see a ripple effect on the reflections. Thanks to Long Dao for the code for that. Unfortunately the effect is too costly to the fps (it lowers my fps from 180 to 80, even with low-quality ripples, and 20 with high-quality ripples), and also unfortunately the effect doesn't work on rotated sprites, so I'll probably have to do without the effect.
Someone playing Starcraft 2 -- a lot of the sound effects and music are from part 1, but they're just placeholders.
Since ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
wynand and charbile are accusing me (somewhat justifiably, but not completely so) of not working on SD, here's a new screenshot showing what I did today for that game: reflections. Thanks to Simon Donkers and Messhof for helping me out with the technique required to code this, as an aside, though I don't believe they read my LJ.
I'm not satisfied with the reflections yet. Some issues are: why would the water reflect the *top* of a flower rather than its bottom part? Also: shouldn't the reflections be somewhat more blue, not just lighter/more transparent? Also: does the perspective even make sense (and if not, does it matter?)? Also if you notice the lilypads and the player's ship/rune do not yet have reflections (I forgot about those, but it'd be trivial to do those too). But even if this is as good as they get, I think it's much prettier with reflections than without.
wynand and charbile are accusing me (somewhat justifiably, but not completely so) of not working on SD, here's a new screenshot showing what I did today for that game: reflections. Thanks to Simon Donkers and Messhof for helping me out with the technique required to code this, as an aside, though I don't believe they read my LJ.I'm not satisfied with the reflections yet. Some issues are: why would the water reflect the *top* of a flower rather than its bottom part? Also: shouldn't the reflections be somewhat more blue, not just lighter/more transparent? Also: does the perspective even make sense (and if not, does it matter?)? Also if you notice the lilypads and the player's ship/rune do not yet have reflections (I forgot about those, but it'd be trivial to do those too). But even if this is as good as they get, I think it's much prettier with reflections than without.
Fedora Spade 4, final episode in the series, has been released. You'll need the GM converter if you are using Vista though (here).
Fedora Spade The Last Job Side A from indiegames.com on Vimeo.
Note: good eyes will detect an Immortal Defense reference in that video (as well as a reference to TIGSource.com, but that one's more obvious).
I playtested the game and proofread it and coded it, it was written, drawn, directed, and designed byorchard_l. Unlike me, he doesn't sell any of his games, so consider donating to him. Your money goes far in Indonesia! He only needs $6 more to buy a game he's been wanting to buy.
Fedora Spade The Last Job Side A from indiegames.com on Vimeo.
Note: good eyes will detect an Immortal Defense reference in that video (as well as a reference to TIGSource.com, but that one's more obvious).
I playtested the game and proofread it and coded it, it was written, drawn, directed, and designed by
orchard_l. Unlike me, he doesn't sell any of his games, so consider donating to him. Your money goes far in Indonesia! He only needs $6 more to buy a game he's been wanting to buy.
Random funny image I came across -- though I think it's foolish to blame Christianity on Jesus (who probably didn't exist in any case), organized religion is a natural result of the state. No state, no religion. Though that guy has a lot of courage holding a sign like that in public, haha.
An interview with John Taylor Gatto. He talks a bit slow but he's interesting, and some of the stuff he talks about here isn't in any of his books. 19 parts, in a playlist.
"Most games, in one way or another, but always in an easily understood way, model life itself. Naturally, each era is reflected in its most popular games and toys." - Boris Nikitin
Nikitin was a "professional father" who wrote a book on how he raised his seven children; this was disliked by the USSR and his family was prosecuted, although his books sold well in Japan and Germany.
I came across an article about him today in Inward Path, a "Russian Magazine for Human Development", from February 1992.
Some of his advice to parents are: never give bedtimes or regular meal times, let children eat and sleep whenever they want. Begin teaching children to walk early (studies have shown that if taught to walk systematically children, can learn to walk by 6 to 7 months, otherwise they may take until 12 months or more if not specifically taught). This also goes for teaching them to sit up and to crawl. Give them lots of sports and games and toys, but be selective and careful about which you choose, because those things are powerful. But let them choose when or if they play with those things, don't force them to (that also goes for teaching them to walk -- do it in a playful way that makes them want to learn, and don't force it when they don't want to). Have your children sleep with you in the same bed until they are around five years old.
Don't treat them as delicate, but realize that they are hardy and can handle minor injuries and extremes of cold and heat just as well as adults can, if not better. Their 3-year-old (note: 3-year-old) could run 2 miles as exercise, and jump down to the floor from on top of a table. At five years old they could join their parents in hiking 12-15 miles, carrying backpacks. Their five-year-old daughter could lift a weight 1.5 times heavier than herself off the floor. Before they were three, they could read, name most of the countries on the world map, and solve mathematical problems. This is likely not through any special genetics, but just through teaching and training, because some of their methods were adopted in preschools in Japan to similar results.
Unfortunately his work is unknown today and it's virtually impossible to get a copy of his books, as I don't believe it was ever translated into English, and the only thing I could find on eBay is this, and I don't know Russian (although I could always give it to my father to translate or something). One is a book on games he invented to help his children's intellectual development, although some of those games are described here too (.RTF file).
Anyway, I'll be sure to read them before I have children if I ever do, because these methods appeal to me.
Nikitin was a "professional father" who wrote a book on how he raised his seven children; this was disliked by the USSR and his family was prosecuted, although his books sold well in Japan and Germany.
I came across an article about him today in Inward Path, a "Russian Magazine for Human Development", from February 1992.
Some of his advice to parents are: never give bedtimes or regular meal times, let children eat and sleep whenever they want. Begin teaching children to walk early (studies have shown that if taught to walk systematically children, can learn to walk by 6 to 7 months, otherwise they may take until 12 months or more if not specifically taught). This also goes for teaching them to sit up and to crawl. Give them lots of sports and games and toys, but be selective and careful about which you choose, because those things are powerful. But let them choose when or if they play with those things, don't force them to (that also goes for teaching them to walk -- do it in a playful way that makes them want to learn, and don't force it when they don't want to). Have your children sleep with you in the same bed until they are around five years old.
Don't treat them as delicate, but realize that they are hardy and can handle minor injuries and extremes of cold and heat just as well as adults can, if not better. Their 3-year-old (note: 3-year-old) could run 2 miles as exercise, and jump down to the floor from on top of a table. At five years old they could join their parents in hiking 12-15 miles, carrying backpacks. Their five-year-old daughter could lift a weight 1.5 times heavier than herself off the floor. Before they were three, they could read, name most of the countries on the world map, and solve mathematical problems. This is likely not through any special genetics, but just through teaching and training, because some of their methods were adopted in preschools in Japan to similar results.
Unfortunately his work is unknown today and it's virtually impossible to get a copy of his books, as I don't believe it was ever translated into English, and the only thing I could find on eBay is this, and I don't know Russian (although I could always give it to my father to translate or something). One is a book on games he invented to help his children's intellectual development, although some of those games are described here too (.RTF file).
Anyway, I'll be sure to read them before I have children if I ever do, because these methods appeal to me.
MSNBC has been covering "controversial" indie games recently:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2583561
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2561786
The comments on these stories are generally more accepting than the stories themselves:
http://helenaspopkin.newsvine.com/_
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2583561
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2561786
The comments on these stories are generally more accepting than the stories themselves:
http://helenaspopkin.newsvine.com/_
Haha:
"In case you are wondering what the best-selling pc game in North America was for the third week of July 2008 – according to the retail sales figures compiled by NPD – well, it wasn’t Devil May Cry 4, which received a score of 8 (awesome!) from Games Radar, nor was it Mass Effect which received a score of 9 (awesome!) from Games Radar. Nope, it was little ol’ Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice. Now isn’t that a crock of seven-out-of-ten!"
http://www.justadventure.com/articles/S
And people say adventure games are dead.
"In case you are wondering what the best-selling pc game in North America was for the third week of July 2008 – according to the retail sales figures compiled by NPD – well, it wasn’t Devil May Cry 4, which received a score of 8 (awesome!) from Games Radar, nor was it Mass Effect which received a score of 9 (awesome!) from Games Radar. Nope, it was little ol’ Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice. Now isn’t that a crock of seven-out-of-ten!"
http://www.justadventure.com/articles/S
And people say adventure games are dead.
A plan for the US changing to mostly renewable energy by 2020, written by an investment banker in the energy sector.
Would cost about 100 billion if you do it through wind (less than a tenth of the cost of the Iraq War), and would only involve increasing our current wind power by 30x, and would lower the cost of electricity by 30%-70%, and can be done within 12 years.
Would cost about 100 billion if you do it through wind (less than a tenth of the cost of the Iraq War), and would only involve increasing our current wind power by 30x, and would lower the cost of electricity by 30%-70%, and can be done within 12 years.
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