Outside Looking In

Movin' on up

2006-04-11T21:36:00.000-05:00

I've moved to http://blog.jeffool.com/.

If you're seeing this, someone fucked up. Probably me, but I'm still hoping to blame you. I've moved the blog and this place is officially dead. If you got this in your feed aggregator, then you subscribed to my Blogspot RSS feed instead of my Feedburner RSS feed. Here, let me help you. The one you want to subscribe to is here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/OutsideLookingIn

So, if you'll be so kind as to change your subscription over to that one, you'll notice that I've finally moved into new digs over at the webspace I bought many months ago and never used. But in the process I've seemingly broke my sidebar. Ah well. One step at a time. Of course, this could also be a great jumping-off point to remove a blog from what is no doubt the 'well over one hundred' that you already subscribe too.

The Amazing Legendary Frank

2006-03-21T19:51:00.000-05:00

Is this technically fanfic? I don't know. But I'm writing some fiction now, and plan to stay in the habit. What have I chosen as my 'enabler' to keep me going? Oblivion. In anticipation of the game, I decided to play through it not as just some virtual representation of myself, but as a character I've created named Frank. No it won't be a fanmade novelization of the game, imagine it more along the lines of 8-bit Theatre minus Final Fantasy, plus Oblivion, with a twist of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Wow, I'm the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper of gaming fanfic! (Ugh.)

You can follow Frank Smith's journey from Seyda Neen shopkeep to savior of Tamriel at TheAmazingLegendaryFrank.com

Some time tonight/tomorrow Frank should wake up in Oblivion.

Trust is a Tricky Thing

2006-03-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

So, Raph Koster asked people about what they wanted in MMOs. Well, I hate MMOs, so I decided to think up an idea for one.

So, Trust is a Tricky Thing.
(AKA, "The Sound of A Link Unclicked.")
(BKA, Crazy game idea by someone unimportant, so you can ignore this post. I just got bored a few days ago and felt like thinking.)

My game is about trust. And the name of my game is 'The TRUST'. Catchy, huh? Let me give you the narrative set up: It's set in 2020, a bit of a nod to the Roaring '20s, full of nice suits and lavish style. The near-future is an extension of our current day paranoia, and in a world where security promises win elections, many larger cities have continued to change their police forces into military-esque organizations complete with surveillance cameras on every street corner. With these rigid social lines drawn has come a ban on private ownership of guns, and just recently, even a rebirth of prohibition in a political attempt to stop causes of violence. Crime is at an all time low, and what we call organized crime syndicates have been been labeled terrorist organizations. And to combat the last remaining vestiges of crime, the Police Force has began a new campaign, T.R.U.S.T., Tactics to Remove Urban Societal Terrorists. Using undercover agents, they hope to infiltrate and gain control of top crime organizations to get information on all involved.

Seeing as I'm designing this for fun rather than actual production, I have the luxury of being able to do things like say "This game is AO," and not have to worry about the fact that it wouldn't sell gangbusters. And even crazier than that, I can say "The player must use their own credit card to pay, and their real name will be used in-game." Yes, as you no doubt assumed by the title alone, this game will deal with the sharing of your avatar's (and to a small degree, your) private information in the course of gameplay. Like I said, bless the luxury of not having to be realistic. You also get a nickname, a fake address, a semi-fake email/chat address, and a voice chat contact. Why? So people can listen in, tap your email/chat, and plan hits on your house. Oh yes, this will get dirty.

If I'm playing I'd go by the same name I use all over the net, Jeffool. So I'm Jeff “Jeffool” Bridges, living at 119 3rd Avenue, Apt A. My cousin would be Thomas “HotDogCart” Warren, (don't ask,) and be my neighbor at 119 3rd Avenue, Apt B.

As Jeff Bridges I am part of the TRUST Task Force, a guild if you will. But as Jeffool, I've joined the Wallace Crime Syndicate. I'm an undercover agent. My cousin? As Thomas Warren he's with the Schibetta Crime Family, and as HotDogCart he's a cop. This makes him a crooked cop. Our missions are the same. To work our way up the ladder of enemy 'guilds' and as one of the 'second-in-command', you try to be voted in as leader. As the leader of a guild, a player has new options open to him such as changing the ranks of other members, or over the period of a few weeks, disbanding the guild.

Most MMOs show players names above their head as if you were omniscient or recognized every single player as a personal pal of yours. I propose that you never see a players name over them unless they properly introduce themselves, at which point you see their name and their 'secondary alliance'. In WoW-terms, introducing yourself would be akin to highlighting a player that you want to introduce yourself to, and clicking on an 'introduce' button. So now I, Jeffool, and my cousin, HotDogCart, see the others nickname above their head any time we see each other. We recognize each other. Everyone you have introduced yourself to recognizes you by your nickname until you die. And if you change your nickname (which you can do on a whim,) friends still see the old one unless you re-'introduce' yourself. And, you can also share contacts (one at a time,) to see others nicknames (like you're telling someone “That guy? He's HotDogCart, with the Wallace Syndicate.”) And if you know someones real name, you can also point that out. Of course, knowledge like that is information.

While in a guild, PvE is as you'd imagine. Cops fight AI crooks, go on PvE sting missions, report to gang fights, and generally try to arrest these people. Crooks rob NPCs, intimidate people into giving them 'protection money', and do break-ins. PvP comes in when when a player finds out the real identity of an enemy, and reports them up to the proper level of their guild. That mid-level guild member can then put a 'hit' on the real identity of the enemy. And if you give that information you get major money, or perform the hit, you get major skill points (assuming they're a higher level than you. Otherwise you're just wiping out noobs and that's no challenge.)

If anyone's read this far, I realize that this is a lot of info, and may be impossible to comprehend in one reading. (Assuming I've written it in a manner that is readable. Here's hoping.) But the idea is to make people have to expect their fellow guildies of being enemies, and at the same time be reluctant to prove that they are not. Would you follow a guild leader who could rat you out and have you bumped off (completely losing all skill points you had built up,) if you didn't trust them?

And why do it? As guilds are disbanded, the final guild “wins.” That server is over. A new one opens up, but each server has a different city name. Everyone on that server in the winning guild for a period longer than X months gets a free novelization of their server from opening to end-state. No matter if the cops or robbers win, the story should be told using the real players names and actions. And the head of the guild should get to open a new guild on any server they choose.

So, you get to actually affect the world in which you're playing. And to remember it, a novel chronicling the history that you lived, of which you may even be a part. I think that's a pretty cool bonus for beating a game. No to mention that the only way to win is to find trustworthy people and 'game the system' together.

Well, at least I like the idea.

Voting power!

2006-03-18T02:26:00.000-05:00

Hi. Yes something's different. Can you notice it? No, I haven't lost weight. Yes I cut my hair but that was months ago...

A button! A brand new button! I found some a while back that I thought fun, but with the advent of the Video Game Voters Network I decided that I needed a button for it, and I offer it to you all to download, steal, and share at will, slightly smaller than the one Jeff Freeman offered (here.) I put it out there to help, even though these guys really should've had all this stuff ready. Let's hope this isn't a half-assed effort. We as gamers really need this.

(Provided by my pals at TG Productions. They'll get a site up eventually.)

Where is YOUR in-game home?

2006-03-16T02:41:00.000-05:00

This month for Corvus' Blogs of the Roundtable (here,) he asked about "home," and where, in what game, did we actually feel like we are at home. Ahhhh home. Remember home? I had a little trouble picking out my video game home. I almost blogged about the first time a pal of mine got a house in Ultima Online. That was amazing, and something that simply can't be done in World of Warcraft (as it would serve no purpose.) But the more I thought about it, my in-game home wasn't even in a game that was 'amazing', but just 'pretty good'. Why? Because I felt comfy there, damn it. And that's what home should be; the place where you always feel comfy. My video game home? Seyda Neen. Here, let me sell you on it.

Are you tired of people dropping in unannounced? Would you like privacy and seclusion while still being only one quick trip from major cities? Is variety in the homeplace important to you? Do you like ocean swimming and/or luxuriating in mudbaths? If you answered yes on one or more of these questions, then boy have I got the place for you!

Come visit Seyda Neen! Most recently known as 'the first town' in the excellent game Morrowind by Bethesda, Seyda Neen is one of few port cities in the land of Vvardenfell that is able to retaining that quaint small-town charm! Yes that's right, this 'out of the way' gem has both a ship port AND a silt-strider port allowing for easy access to both Balmora and Vivec. Given proper instruments (a hefty graphics card,) the serene oceanside view is a great sight to behold, particularly coupled with a forest on the other side, and can be yours for the low low price of massacring a village!

That's right, there's no escrow to worry about with this baby. The only thing standing between you and complete ownership of the entire town is a little massmurder, and really, what's so bad about that? Let's compare the up and downsides to owning your own Seyda Neen. The upsides?

1. Ports. With both a silt-strider and a ship port, Seyda Neen is in a prime location for trading being so close to Vivec and just a silt-strider away from Balmora.
2. Luxury. There's no need to confine yourself to the bad things in life. With just a little work some of these fixer-uppers can be first rate!
3. Grit. If you've watched too many episodes of Les Stroud's Survivorman, go spend the week camping in a shanty in the swampy side of town.
4. Double Decker. Formerly an item store, once you take it, it's yours to remodel as you please! Perfect welcoming area for guests and a spacious upstairs.
5. Fake treestump/safe. Everyone looks behind paintings for the safe, but who looks in tree stumps in the middle of bogs?!
6. A Keep. That's right, a tower, just in case you ever need to store illicit materials or extra supplies.
7. Lighthouse. Seriously. A friggin' light house!

And now let's look at the downsides to taking Seyda Neen into your possession.

1. Residents. You will have to evict some tenants from their homes, but with a little force they soon learn that they would be better not only departing this town, but this plane completely as they shuffle off this mortal coil and head for bright lights in tunnels.

Now, I'm just a real estate agent, not a mathematician, but I don't have to tell you that seven is a lot more than one. And even being a real estate agent, I don't think of myself as selling land. No, I like to think of it as selling 'dreams'. And to tell you the truth, I'm not even making enough commission off of this deal to make it worth my time; I'm just looking out for you, the consumer. I want to make your dream come true by helping you get this little slice of Heaven. Now if you like the hustle and bustle of the big city there may be other spots in Vvardenfell that you'd like, so steer clear of this one.

But if you're looking for a place to call home, and actually fell like you're at home, then this is the place for you. After all, something earned through your blood, sweat, and tears is always more meaningful to you than something given with no effort. So claim what's yours today!

--
Feel free to visit some of the kickass participants in this month's Roundtable:
Please visit the Round Table's Main Hall for links to all entries

Odds, Ends

2006-03-01T02:01:00.000-05:00

Oh this is crazy, this tumultuous world of blogs we live parts of our lives in.

David Jaffe? I previously posted about how he quit blogging, and restarted blogging, on the same night. Well, he's on an indefinite moratorium again, citing his drive to be known for what he creates rather than what he says. (Here.) That's damn admirable. Of course I still like my conspiracy (here,) but that's cool. :D Besides, I'm sure we'll have a post from him when he wins a Game Developers Choice Award, having been nominated in five of the eight categories. (Here.) What can I say? David, his team, and his game kick ass. Good luck, you've got stiff competition.

And Jeff Freeman, who quit and deleted his blog recently, has answered an important question. "What happens when a good blog stops running?" As it turns out, it goes into reruns. He seemingly has no interest in blogging new topics but has decided to reprint old posts that, I must say, are as spiffy the second time as they were the first. Though he has quite a few up, the first reprinted post is the most interesting to me. It tells a story based around the idea of a MMO minigame that's an abstract simulation of sex, and why players would/could use it. (Here.) It even rewards monogamy.

Raph Koster recently asked people what they wanted in an MMO. (Here.) Well, more accurately, what was the spirit of what they wanted? My answer to Raph was:

I want an MMO where:
(a)any single player can effect meaningful change in the world around him,
(b)player skill (items/effects excepted) is what matters and not time spent in the world doing any repetitive task.
(c)a world that would be interesting even with no players. If Days of Our Lives can go for this long and still have viewers interested, I fail to see why an MMO canÂt change the story a tad bit every week/month in a player-participatory fashion. (Not just a static story with additional events tagged on with larger events happening in expansions.)

So, I want a system that's fair to everyone, where everyone can completely change things, and where the world lives. Gee, that's not too much, is it? (Note the sarcasm. I realize what I'm saying, but hey, he asked. I guess I could've asked for a better grasp of grammar as well.)

Reading Jeff's reposts and seeing Raph's 'lessons of MMOs' (Here.) has really got me thinking about what kind of MMO I would play. See, I'm not really an MMO kinda guy. So I think I owe it to myself to spend a post or two talking about 'my' dream MMO. (Do you know what yours is? I'm torn between a 1920s setting and feudal Japan.) And a few posts after that, I'll get around to ending and restarting this blog.

Jeff Freeman: A Free Man

2006-02-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

(Well, at least so far as in he isn't tethered to his blog any more.)

I've been getting lots of people searching for Jeff Freeman due to an old post I made with his name in the title, so I thought I'd sum it up here.

Jeff Freeman packed up shop on February 9th at about 1:30pm. He tossed up an image that mimics a World of Warcraft informational item pop-up:

Apparently he wasn't happy with the amount of blogging he was doing, though it's a shame he deleted it completely. Sometimes people like to read older posts. But hey, it's his blog and I'm not going to tell him how to do it. Well, not too much anyway. The very next day on February 10th, at about 5am, he deleted his blog from blogspot/blogger.

I don't know Jeff Freeman. I don't know much about his past, aside from what he put in a post about his entrance into the video game industry that ended with mentioning the recent changes to SWG. Of course it turned into a SWG-player bitchfest, and was promptly deleted, which is a shame. It seemed like a pretty good insight to him and his style. And I think that Jeff Freeman has some good ideas for MMOs. Wanna read some of them? Here, read this.

That's an old blog posting by Ole Bald Angus, (a pal of Freemans.) Worth noting is that back in the day used to go by "Dundee." So when you see "Dundee," think "Jeff Freeman." Of course, on February 5th, at 1pm, Ole Bald Angus quit his blog too. Admittedly I know nothing of Angus aside from reading him on Freemans and others blogs, but he seemed quite a nice fellow. And the two gelled rather well. So, who knows, maybe one day we'll see a new community blog between them.

Visiting a Carnival.

2006-02-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

I never really post links saying things like "The Carnival of Gamers is up, you can peruse the possibilities at Game.Slashdot this time around. (Though it is, here.) The reason why being that if you're reading my blog, then you likely either got here from the CoG or Corvus' Roundtable (here), or at the very least are aware of them. That said, some slashdotters have apparently talked some shit about gamebloggers, one in particular that raised the ire of Corvus (Man Bytes Blog), Josh (Cathode Tan), and Tony (Button Mashing, the CoG creator.) Personally, I could give a damn about the guy. Few people read what I write and I'm perfectly fine with that. And I usually only post when I've got something to say anyway, so it's not very taxing on those who do. But some others took it slightly more personal. Me? I thought it'd be interesting as I more or less am blogging alone over here. :D The original post can be found on Slashdot (here.)

Gaming blogs are for people that don't actually play the games, and would rather write about them than fire them up and play them.

I get my gaming in with much Animals Crossing: WW and Civ IV, and Guitar Hero should be coming in the mail next week. And next paycheck I'm fixing (and modding) my Xbox. (Though if anyone is rounding up a good group for CivIV, count me in. The one I was with has fallen apart.) Does this meet your standards or should I be playing more Counter-Strike?

I'm sure that there are incentives to being a gaming journalist, but I don't know any "journalist" that has stayed up 3 days straight camping for an Everquest drop (just to get spawn jumped) or bought 14 different mice before returning 13 just to see which gets you the most headshots. You know, attributes of real gamers.

I'm no journalist. I'm just some guy who's curious. Have I played Everquest for three days straight? No. MMOs bore me because the player has no impact on the world around them. Now, I don't even call myself "hardcore" any more, but a 'real' gamer? I wonder if you've ever spent a weekend in an apartment with nineteen other people for games of Mario Kart, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, wrestling games, Halo, Soldier of Fortune, Settlers of Catan, Munchkin, Risk, and then Monday morning you all work your asses off because you didn't do any of your programming homework? (Occassionally interrupted by trips to Denny's, of course.)

And fourteen mice? Dude, have you ever bought a 'real' gaming mouse? Who the fuck are you to be able to afford fourteen at once? Christ, my credit cards don't even go that high...

People that play World of Therycraft[sic] instead of actually raiding. Message board campers that brag about thier[sic] FPS skills. They all share commonalities with people that write about games and game design; they arent real.

Yeah, bloggers are a bunch of assholes because they theorize on gameplay. Go tell that to Raph Koster, Brett Douville, Jamie Fristrom, or any of the game developers listed on the right.

Now, non-dev bloggers? People like me? Sure we talk about what we'd think we like. If you've never started a sentence with "Wouldn't it be cool," then I guess you have a point. I've already said that I no longer consider myself 'hardcore', but 'real'? Man, fuck you. People like you are why Slashdot has become like Fark. Everyone does their best to troll like it's a good thing, and that any attention is good attention.

But this persons complaint boils down to (what I think) the idea of the Carnival is. It's a good way to find new blogs that may interest you. If you like my little corner of the internet, then great! Glad to have you reading! I hope you comment some time if the feeling strikes you. But if you don't the look of a ride at the Carnival, don't get on it. You don't have to click a link just because it's there.

JFK: Revolution

2006-02-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

Remember JFK: Reloaded?

It was the game by the company Traffic in which you became Lee Harvey Oswald and shot Kennedy. Well, Gamecloud.com had a news story about it the other day (here) and in it Traffic's Kirk Ewing said "We did not expect that the game would have that kind of reaction," and I believe him. In this day and age where more virtual World War II soldiers have been killed than there are real ones left alive, who cares if we kill Kennedy a few more times? Apparently many people as the game caught massive flack not only from the mainstream, but from gamers also, who on the news linksite EvilAvatar.com said things like:

"Tasteless."

"Who even thought this shit up?"

"Apparently this company is run by a bunch of crack whores and druggies who give nothing they do any forethought."

"Heck while there[sic] doing that they should create a sidescroller about gassing innocent people and then incinerating their bodies! The faster you can get the chlorine gas cannisters[sic] from storage, the more points! And remeber[sic] folks, PITCHFORKS work great against dead people, when it comes to cleaning up fast."

And this gem: "The fact that they launched it around the anniversary of the JFK killing and offered 10,000 dollars to "whom ever" could reproduce the event closest to the actual killing is in fact tasteless." I point that one out because it could almost be taken seriously if not coming from a guy who calls himself 'SATAN'.

But why would people get so angry about this? Well, okay, maybe the Kennedys have a right to be a bit disconcerted, but that's it! Traffic had an idea that Oswald did it, and that a lone gunman could have easily done it, and wanted to share that idea in the form of a game. Oliver Stone took the exact opposite idea, that there was a larger governmental conspiracy, made a movie of it, and won a metric shitload of awards. (Yes, a shitload is a metric unit. Go metric system!) Of course, Stone also made assloads of cash. (Assloads are a standard unit of measurement.) Because this guy makes it for a different artistic medium, we crucify him. So what if he wanted to cause a little controversy with it? You think Stone didn't?

I not only think that they should still offer the game (that they took down, due to legal threats from the Kennedys,) I want an updated version of the idea with a multitude of famous historical events. I want the ability to become anyone there, and try to interact any way I could. I want to be a bystander at JFK's assassination and trying to run and take the bullet for the President! Could you make it in time, or would the secret service take you out first? Would Oswald still get the shot off? What if someone modded it to give an alternative idea, that of there being a 'second gunman on the grassy knoll' and you were able to be him or take him out?

Yes, it all builds up to the eventual goal of a reality simulation (and the unreality simulation,) and the limitless things that can be done within. But far before we get to that point, we as gamers need to acknowledge the simple idea that games can be used to exhibit and share ideas/arguments, even if we don't like the ideas, the artists behind them, or their execution. Otherwise we'll end up as "Comic Books II," a beautiful medium with amazing potential that is almost completely looked at as childish. We're damn near there already. But hey, maybe other gamers want our artistic pinnacles to be Madden and 50 Cent: Bulletproof.

Y'know, I think this would be a fantastic game for the Nintendo Revolution. It would be great beside my fishing sim, matador sim, and kayaking sim.

What's up with David Jaffe?

2006-01-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

Careful, I could be stringing together posts that have no meaning and/or no relation, but I'm kinda bored so I pose this question: What the hell is up with David Jaffe?

On January 18th David Jaffe posts (here):

A NEW ZORK STATE OF MIND
You are floating in a river with no current.

All around you are bricks of gold and shiny red lips.

It feels nice to float here; like you never want to leave...but it is very hard to swim in these waters. And if you stay here too much longer you may drown.

The bank of the river, off to your left side, is dark and mysterious. You are terrified to get out of the water...but staying in the river will probably kill you.

What do you do ?

Seems odd, no? Sounds to me like a man at a crossroads asking if he should submit to gold and big-talk despite personal loss, or risk the unknown path in an attempt to save himself. Should he tick with what has become comfortable, or take an opportunity to reinvigorate his life by striking out, away from the comfort? Stick with Sony, or leave'em. Then on the 26th, this possibly unrelated post came (here):

The blog is going on hiatus for a bit. Not sure how long…a few days? A few weeks or months? Maybe for good (in which case it would not be a hiatus, but an ending).

I have really, really enjoyed working on this blog and chatting with all of you guys and gals. So much so that I may very well come back in a week and be like: what the hell was I thinking?!?! I can’t give up the blog!

But for now at least, I’m going to give it a shot.

For the last few months, I’ve been toying with the idea…it was something that kept coming up in my mind. But I’ve been reluctant to stop blogging not only because I enjoy it but because this blog has raised my visibility as a game designer; amongst gamers, amongst fellow game developers, and with the press as well. I’ve gotten lots of coverage, gained new players for the games I’ve worked on, and gained lots of great career opportunities. I have to admit I am worried about letting all of that go.

But I’ve always followed my gut. Within my personal life and within my work as well. And it’s never steered me wrong. I started this blog from a gut desire to have a space on the web to share my game development life and it’s been a blast. But right now my gut is telling me it’s time to let the work- and the work only- speak for itself.

...

Thanks for the interest and support. And thanks to Sony for letting me do this crazy thing. You guys have been nothing but supportive even when I’ve said stuff I maybe should not have said! Thanks!

So, he decided to go with his gut and stop blogging, despite at least two blogs before this one. The artist decides to let his art speak for itself, rather than speak for his work. He thanks his readers, his fans, and Sony, then signs off (after recommending potential game designers keep two very important things in mind; Red Lobster and Service Merchandise.)

It's not unheard of for employees to catch shit for their blogs. Though it's more likely he's being sincere and appreciates Sony, that doesn't fit in with my ranting and raving, and I'm going to pretend that's not the case. I believe that David Jaffe has made up his mind to leave Sony, and is trying to convince himself to finish his current projects before leaving. Why else would someone put the kibosh on a blog that has elevated his status, helped his games, and created job opportunities? He's trying to avoid those things so that they don't become a distraction and he can finish his PSP game, "HL." Think about that. If you had helped create a famous IP like Twisted Metal, and given your all in a wonderfully reviewed game based on IP you first through up back in high school ideas (which is now owned by Sony, who optioned it for a movie and gave you a role in the production (that for the sake of this I'll argue was a pleasantry to keep you happy and slightly paid rather than actually involved in the film),) but only achieved a newfound level of respect and popularity after going out of your way to create a free blog on the internet... You may not be perfectly happy with the company that you've been working for. In fact, you may be more pissed at them than you are yourself. And you should be.

But then, good to his word, he soom completely posted his mind and posted an update on the same entry:

EDIT: Ya know...fuck it. I changed my mind....the minute I posted this it just felt....I don't know....wrong. There is SOMETHING about not blogging anymore that feels right....but then the moment I step away from it, it feels wrong....and I miss it very much....I like having a spot on the web.....so I don't know.....I will keep doing this for awhile....but I will keep this post up so you guys can see how confused I am about the whole thing.... :) Take it easy....going to bed....will post soon! Sorry for the confusion!....David

Fuck he's a confusing guy. My prediction? He'll keep blogging, and soon quit Sony. He may even finish the games he's working on, as he seems to be intent on that.

In the comment-section of his blog I asked for him to email me, as he (understandably) doesn't advertise his email address on his site. I realize he's a busy guy and can't email every schmoe who asks him too, but at least I tried to get an interview of sorts. (Not that I'm a big draw. I'm just saying, I tried.) But hey, I still welcome him to call me "batshit insane." I call it "bored" and "creative." :D

Legally? It's just an opinion.

2006-01-22T02:55:00.000-05:00

Inspired by Shivam Bhatt's open letter, I've decided to share two notes with the vastness of the internet. Mostly because writing letters to people is fun, but also because looking up their email addresses would take five minutes I don't wanna waste.

To: Valve
Re:In-game advertising.

Fuck you. I can do whatever I want on my server as long as I'm not enabling people who pirate your game. If you want to host all of the servers, then fine, you can choose to not advertise and decide if you want to go after private servers. But if you're not, then don't complain about what I do on my servers. I'm paying for them and/or hosting them out of my own pocket. You either provide full functionality of the game, or you keep your hands completely off of what I'm doing to provide that. You want to label them as an advertising server on your game browser? Hey, I think that's a fantastic idea. I'm sure a single bool or bit on the server telling if it advertised wouldn't be too hard to implement. Hell, I'm rather sure that most server ops would be honest and set it accurately. You want to not list advertising servers at all? Completely within your right. But if I'm paying for it and doing the work, then you don't get to make the rules.

And no, I don't really run any servers. I don't even really use the webspace I paid for aside from hosting a few files of DJ Z-Trip's excellent music (which I heartily recommend, and you can get at http://ztrip.jeffool.com/) and a few pictures. But I still hold firm the opinion that whoever is paying-for/running a server gets to decide everything about it. Be careful Valve. You've already launched the next great step in publishing with Steam, not to mention you make damn fine games on your own. But remember Image Comics? Founded by a group of guys who didn't like the 'Suits' telling them what to do? Well, it turns out they were just jealous of the Suits, and wanted to become Suits. And most of them failed at it and again make their money off of Batman, working for the same Suits they walked away from. You're going to have to decide. Are you going to go all the way or are you going to go home. Are you going to become those guys you were trying to get away from, or are you going to make them irrelevant?

Jeffool.

Also,

To: Shoe
Re: Moore's Law interview

Don't let Penny Arcade give you a big head. Your interview with Microsoft's Peter Moore was cool, and much closer to what we as readers should expect. But it wasn't overly ball-busting. Well, okay, that 'naming names' bit was fucking hilarious... Here, lemme quote that:

EGM: Wouldn't you be pissed if you paid $400 for a new console and many of its games looked only marginally better than their current-gen equivalents?
Peter Moore: You wanna call out some games? Because I'm not gonna call out any games.
EGM: The 2K Sports games. Amped 3. Tony Hawk. Need for Speed. Gun. King Kong.

hahaha! Hoooo boy. That was fun. But next time, go ask Neversoft about why THAW and Gun looked unimpressive on the 360. Peter Moore didn't make the game, he's in marketing for fuck's sake. We all know where most marketing people rank on the list of importance.

Shoester, I firmly believe that you know just as well as I do that there's an air of change about. And you've placed yourself firmly on the cusp of the coming change. Don't let us down. You owe us. We're not only readers and subscribers, we're just like you. Rather, you're just like us; you're a gamer, and you want better games. So to use the 'cliff' metaphor, when you see the change coming, don't doubt what to do for a second. You jump right off that mother fucker head first. We'll catch you.

Jeffool.

PS. When/If you ask questions that they don't answer, print those questions noting as much. There's little as embarrassing as people knowing you're afraid to answer a few honest questions.

Why you make me hurt you, Games Journalism? You know I love you!

2006-01-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

Warning, below are the half-assed angry ramblings of someone who's annoyed with all the hubbub on Games Journalism.

Twisted Metal and God of War designer David Jaffe complains that Games journalists aren't doing their jobs but merely becoming cheerleaders for games, sometimes regardless of the quality of the game. The argument being "Games are something developers make. Journalism is what journalists make." He argued that if Games Journalism would hold Games' proverbial feet to the fire, then maybe games would be better. Yes, an assistant producer to the game "3 Ninjas Kick Back" wants to be held to a higher standard of gaming greatness. Masochist? No. He wants to do better, and to do so he needs better feedback and critique. That's admirable.

EGM editor Shoe comments on how sad it is that 'cover story' journalistic coverage is up for sale. (Here.) And to put this in perspective, let me remind you that this coming from a man who, literally, sells the cover of his magazine. So that's saying something. (Apparently that ads-for-covers should be an option, just not an open bidding process.) And he caught a little heat for not revealing who did this. Should Shoe have named names? Naaah. It's like he said on his blog, "that's for some news organization to take care of, not EGM." In dereliction of duty? Quite the opposite. His magazine's intentions have never been 'hard journalism of the underside of gaming', of which there is apparently much. He just knows where his strengths lie (in actually covering the games,) and is saddened that his peers don't take their jobs as serious as he does. That's unfortunate.

-
Now the two articles that were the straws that made me think more about this.

Just the other day Slashdot linked to 1UP editor Sam Kennedy's blog where he laments that developers rarely help his job. (Here.) This after he says that "publications like 1UP are still a business -- we're all here to grow. And we're going to deliver (within reason, of course) what our audience wants in order to accomplish that. "

(Speaking to Games Journalism in general here, mind you...) Well, why should developers scratch your back? You're going to scratch theirs regardless of what they do to you. Your aching for their acceptance to 'Gaming' and their input to your magazine has you trying so hard to make it all seem so 'cool' that John Carmack could beat you like an abusive spouse and you'll not only completely gloss over that if got an exclusive review of id's next game, you'd possibly go out of your way to make a Romero joke in the article.

I'm not suggesting take their insulting behavior out on the game critique, but that doesn't mean that you can't express disappointment or anger at a developer.

But Sam Kennedy linked to what I think is possibly the best article of this entire thing. (Here.) And so far as I know, it's just by "some guy," much like myself. Shivam Bhatt says:

How intellectual can you really be when talking about something like final fantasy or metal gear? The medium is barely into its teens when it comes to depth in story telling, and the stories we're being given are as deep as a teenager's high school journal. There's very little subtlty and hidden meaning in games, as producers browbeat us with their points over and over across a span of 50 hours or so. Yes, square, i get it. Catholics are bad. Organised religion is control. etc. Kojima and his obsession with nukes comes to mind as well.

And that's what it's all about. Even David Jaffe's original article. Games aren't even a teen in my eyes, but a toddler. Games are just now developing their own language. After decades they've began to form words to describe the world around us.

Games Journalism, do you remember highschool and/or college? Remember the kid that constantly takes shit from the popular kids just because they let him hang out with them occasionally? Don't be "that guy," Games Journalism. No one likes "that guy." Games are finally beginning to grow a little, and it's time for you to do the same. So the next game that comes out and beats you over the head with "organized religion is bad" for fifty hours by having, gasp, a religious leader using the religion for his own evil deeds? Print "I don't like being repeatedly browbeaten with obvious points. The developers treat the player like a simpleton." And if you call them on it, even half the time, then hopefully people will begin to catch on and demand more. Better to be known as demanding prick than an oblivious suck-up, Games Journalism. And besides, the developers asked for it.

-
That's the end for now. Just had to get that off of my chest. For the record, this started off as three paragraphs, but then I got angry and made it two pages of raving lunacy. Then I tried to cut most of the anger out. (Though, I loved that domestic abuse bit too much to cut.) I mean no offense to anyone mentioned, for the record. Nothing but love for you all. Tomorrow's post? Angry and silly outtakes!

Shadow of the Slashdot

2006-01-06T06:47:00.000-05:00

The Carnival of Gamers is up at Kill Ten Rats (here), I suggest you check it out as there are some cool entries.

But I'd also like to take this post to say, wow, I was chosen of them all to be quoted on Slashdot? (here) Sure it was Games.Slashdot, but it's still classically cool. Especially considering that I didn't know it was there and happened across it. As a bit of a follow-up to my Shadow of the Colossus post, the day I posted that entry was a bad day. It ended that night in my writing that post, extraneous words and all, and then going to kill the final colossus. And I instantly regretted it. (I'm going to catch shit for that, I'm sure.) Without beating it, I figured I hadn't 'won', but I also knew that I didn't lose. Thanks to the excellent design, you obviously figure out something's amiss just by playing. And because of that I resigned myself to living without Mono (the girl) and quitting before I look that final plunge into damning myself, and maybe her, by enacting whatever horrible thing that no doubt awaited my killing of the final colossus.

And that was the, badly relayed, point of the post. Games don't end at the end of the narrative that supports them; games end whenever gameplay stops. That's why I think that so many gamers easily stop playing games before their narrative end. It's easy to do and makes enough sense. (It was all inspired by thought I had while posting on Jamie Fristrom's blog long ago, here. The pertinent data being that only 55% of a focus group finished Spider-Man 2.) If the entire premise behind the medium is the interactivity, then if a game does nothing on any level to the player, it's logical for the player to do nothing in return. There has to be some catalyst that urges players to be inspired and want to continue, and you have to harvest that. Otherwise the player sits the controller down, and that's it. The game's over. And if only 55% of the people that played Spider-Man 2 finished it, that's still no reason to worry. So what if they didn't finish the narrative? The narrative is second to the gameplay anyway. And swinging along New York City was fucking great. I didn't stop playing when I beat Doc Ock. I stopped after I finished swinging.

One last note, sorry that my last post wasn't spellchecked. Seems to be a running gag in my life that things people actually read are horribly written. :D

You got your MMO in my platformer!

2005-12-29T08:37:00.000-05:00

No, actually, Raph Koster's wondering why we don't have more platformer in our MMOs. While playing some other games Raph has gotten curious if people paid attention to more than leveling in MMOs. One example being:

Our environments could learn a lot from games like Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones — at one point my daughter shouted out, “Now that’s a Jackie Chan moment!” when I ran off a wall, jumped off a springy shutter, caught onto a overhanging plank, clambered on, then dove into the gap between two buildings, lodged myself within, flipped around, and dropped down onto an unsuspecting soldier.

He's got the right idea, but it's not environments that we need to learn from this, but the gameplay itself.

Just adding the relatively simple action set [grab, hang, climb, push, pull] to typical small set of MMO actions [run/walk, jump, attack, evoke via spell, use/equip item] would, I think, introduce such a larger variety on the already existing styles of missions/instances that I don't get why it hasn't been done. And that's not to mention entirely new quest/skill options. Sure most MMO gameplay happens on a 2d grid, but I'd say it's true that few games use the vertical dimension to really add to gameplay. (Some examples would be FPS' that use high sniper spots, low trenches to dig in, and let you hide behind objects by ducking or climbing, and some action games like Prince of Persia and Spidey.) But I think creating an interesting world may possibly be easier to do with an MMO than a game like Prince of Persia.

You don't really have to design every nook and cranny of a world by hand. With the simple action set I mentioned above players and NPCs could do a lot of the work in shaping their world for you. I think it's easy to see different types of fun emerging here on it's own for people to get a good grasp of their abilities. (Ever play Halo with friends or online? You'll eventually run into fifteen other people who just want to pile on top of each other and move level objects around to try new feats and gain access to new heights. It's in our nature to be inquisitive.) At most a player just needs a few easy training missions like climbing up a tree and out on a limb to rescue a cat, or swinging across a small stream. So let players/NPCs worry about placement of tables, chairs, fruit carts with springing awnings, barrels, planks/boards, ropes, and all the derivatives they could create with those tools.

By letting players actually place objects that can be physically interacted with (even if players still can't collide, like in WoW), you can free your designers up to worry about larger and more spectacular mission-related interactive environment items like strategic ledge placement, vines, columns, and chandeliers to swing from.

Sure you'll get someone who'll try to make a hundred-barrel pyramid, or fill a tree with chairs, but that's all in good fun and if one wanted could be curbed with NPC 'street sweepers'.

Of course, the problem as always is latency. Though, anyone want to do a broadband-only MMO on the premise of new gameplay that will lampooned as "you can move your own crates!"? Nah, didn't think so.

But I don't want to be a murderer!

2005-12-20T02:15:00.000-05:00

On the internet there's few places that I 'make' time for, even when I don't really have time to be on the internet. One of those places has become, for some reason I can't quite place, EvilAvatar.com. While on a visit there earlier tonight I saw someone post about Shadow of the Colossus. That someone said "It could have definetely used enemies. But I love the game for what it is. But I consider it more of a filler game then anything else,". I shit you not. My reply?

I absolutely loved Shadow, but to want more colossi? I actually made it all the way to the last colossus. The killing has to stop somewhere, people. If the price of love is my soul, I would gladly pay it. But was it love I was fighting for, or my own selfish desires I was commiting murder for? It took far too long, but I came to realize it was the latter. And that's not something I was willing to do any longer. Once I laid eyes on the final colossus, I just sat the controller down. And I turned the game off. I still haven't beaten that colossus and I don't plan to.

That seemed to surprise a few people, who insisted I had to finish it, to see the ending. Now, instantly I could draw the parallel to books or a movie. If you stop reading a book, that doesn't change what happens in the story. The ending to a movie still 'takes place', even if you don't see it and don't know it. But what about games? Particularly one in which the entire game does not progress if the player doesn't initiate it? (As opposed to Mario, if you stop playing, the time runs out and you die.) Is the game truly 'unifinished' just because the player stop playing it before an assumed 'end'?

Most games would have us believe yes, and reinforce that by giving us 'completion rates', but those aren't true gauges that we've exhausted a game's fun or emotional range so much as they are a measure of the amount of content we've plodded through. I propose that this comparison to books and movies does not hold water. Claiming a game is 'unifinished' is just silly. You may not finish the 'story', but you certainly finish the 'game'. When I turn off Tetris, the game is over. When the spoiled kid takes his football and goes home, the game is over. When file Shadow of the Colossus away into my gaming library, it is over. One day, I may just finish the story... But not today. And no time soon. Because I've finished 'my' story. And I didn't have to slaughter every Colossus to do it. Right? Right?

....

Y'know what? Nevermind. I'm already a murderer fifteen times over. My soul is as damned as can be. At this point, if the sacrificing of one life can bring my love back hers, then it's something I've got to do. I'm going right now to kill that fucker.

Anyone up for a game of Civ 4?

2005-12-01T02:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while. But aside from life annoying me, and me getting tiny bits and pieces of programming done, there's one thing that's holding me back. Civilization IV. So now I'm curious if anyone else out there's up for a huge email game. I'd like to set a specific time for everyone to ideally have their turn over with so that we all get at least one turn a day, unless folks are up for more turns. I'm talking a long-term game, though with the development on 'quick', just to help us along.

If you are, go ahead and comment or email me (jeffool at gmail.com) with the, let's say, hour, that you'd like to take for your turn. I'm cool for any time midnight-7am Eastern, so I'm sure that won't be slighting anyone else.

The Mark of Quality

2005-11-11T06:04:00.000-05:00

Have you ever went to buy a game, movie, album or book and wondered if it was an honest attempt to create art? Or, more likely, if it was just another product pushed onto shelves that, while may have had heartfelt effort behind it, and may even be entertaining, did not succeed in being special? How about a label that told you just that? One that said "Quality Book," "Quality Album," or the like? Well, Tadhg Kelly wants to give us that. And he wants to start with games. I recommend you read the article yourself here, where he's quick to point out that "The label is not a '5 star' seal. It's a label that says 'Discerning people might like this'."

I was a bit curious about the boundaries of his tastes, so I asked what kinds of games he felt would be worthy of the mark. I offered a short list of mainstream stuff that I felt was all quality; GTA 3, Spider-Man 2, Max Payne, the recent Shadow of the Colossus, and the not-as-commercially-successful, but still excellent Psychonauts. He countered back with a list of games that he would offer for vote, "Killer 7, Ico, Starcraft, Grim Fandango, God of War, The Neverhood, Cannon Fodder, Worms, Zelda."

Yeah, this is an idea I could get behind. Makes an interesting compliment to David Jaffe's recent critique of Games Journalism, as well.

Sharing links

2005-11-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd take a minute to point out a couple of websites that I didn't know about, and you may or may not either. Firstly, is Raph Koster's. Sure he's had like three other blogs, but he seems intent on keeping this one updated. Seriously. He's even posted LiveJournal-esque quiz answers and poetry. But I'm sure we'll all be better for it in some way. (If you haven't read his book, A Theory of Fun, you're really missing out.)

Another is one that's been around a short while is that of Tom Buscaglia, which the author admits will be updated sporadically. He's not a developer, but an attorney who deals in video game law. He's even given himself the subtitle "The Game Attorney." Want cool points for an attorney? He's even part of a clan. He's shown himself to be rather unafraid about the industry. He's pointed out developers by name for being dicks. He's lamented the fact that 'we' (gamers) have lost Gaming to big business and can only save it via indie games. And while many hesitantly touch on unionization, he grapples the subject unapologetically with:

So, I gotta wonder…why is there so much hostility toward even discussing the idea of some of the bigger studios becoming union shops?

I have a few ideas…possibly it is snoberism. Being in a union is considered working class and most developers consider themselves to be “above” that. Though it is difficult for me to see much of a difference between making chevies on an assembly line and making Madden 2007 on an assembly line. Sure I get it for small creative teams. But not for a line workers and they are the ones getting screwed the most, with the least power, at a time in their careers when they are most vulnerable.

Too bad that senior developers don’t take a bit more responsibility for those on the lower tiers of the industry. I suspect that if Will Wright asked management at EA to please treat those working on his SIMS games a little better, EA would do it. Especially if Will said that if they did not he’d take his next game to Midway!

The Game Attorney is so hippo.

A novel abortion and Jeff Freeman.

2005-11-06T06:39:00.000-05:00

There's this tricky thing about time, it doesn't stop for one second. In fact, in order to make good use of time, you have to take time to make plans about time management. It's insane, quite frankly. And I'm horrible at making good use of time. So, I'm quitting NaNoWriMo. After the first two days and three thousand words, I was feeling pretty good about it. Then I got in this beta for a forthcoming MMORPG, and decided to try it for three days. I mean, I could always make up the time by pulling all-day sessions on my days off of work, right?

Well, that MMORPG, like virtually all MMORPGs I've tried, did nothing for me. S'shame, really. (I'd like to see someone take note of Jeff Freeman's ideas, which you can read via Ole Bald Angus, here. Though, now that Freeman is "Lead Game Play Designer" on Star Wars Galaxies, maybe a few more folks will listen to him. More on him in a sec.)

The point here is that I'm thinking that this time novel-writing and particularly MMORPGing, would have been better spent programming. So I'm going to do more of that.

I mean, after over a week of not doing it, I probably couldn't even program pong efficiently. I'd end up having to google something. (Okay, bit of a stretch, but still.) As much as I want to take on a large project, but first I think I first want to do something small and fun that gives instant results to warm the brain back up.

I'm thinking overhead free-roaming shooter. I love spilling zombie guts.

Though on Mr. Freeman becoming LGPD, kudos to him. Despite his insistence "So don't get the crazy notion that I'm "in charge" here. "The Man" is a many-headed beast called Management. I just try to help it make good decisions. With regard to game mechanics, it even lets me decide, sometimes." He should remember the wise words of my crazy pal Eddie. To be The Man, you must beat The Man! Wooo!

A story from the Montreal Games Summit

2005-11-04T06:52:00.000-05:00

Found a great post via Jurie of Intelligent Artifice. (Who got it via Robin of gewgaw.)

It's a recap of an incident at the Montreal Games Summit as blogged by Kim Pallister, a Microsoft employee of who-knows-what-type. Allow me to repost part of his blog, including the heavy French accent that somehow drives the point home.

"You talk about de need for critical acclaim. And you talk about de need for de big boodget. Der is a painting in France called de monah-leesah. It is famous. It might be very expensif too, if you can buy it, but you can't buy it."

Then he pulls out a peice of loose leaf paper from his pocket and unfolds it, holding it up in front of 600+ people, to show a cartoon drawing. Noticably choked up, he says, "Dis is a picture dat my son drawed for me. This drawing makes me cry, and de monah leesah doesn't effect me one damn bit".

Do yourself the favor of reading his post, here. I love blogs. Without'em we'd never hear these gems.

NaNoWriMo, and a good reason to like David Jaffe

2005-11-02T11:39:00.000-05:00

Crazy-happy-kill-yourself-fun-time. Yes, I also am participating in National Novel Writing Month, like fellow gaming bloggers Josh, Corvus, and Brinstar. Much like Josh, I'm thankful that NaNoWriMo isn't about winning, but about writing. I already know I won't be hitting the 50,000 word mark, but that won't stop me from writing anyway.

Sure it's not exactly gaming related, unless you count NaNoWriMo as a game which I suppose is possible. But it's not a game I'm playing to win. I know I won't be hitting the 50,000 word goal or anything, but I've always meant to get around to writing something of size, and this is as good as an excuse as I'm ever going to find.

On another topic, David Jaffe (dude who made God of War, Twisted Metal, etc.) made a good post today that berates the quality of gaming journalism. He argues that game journalists think that the line between Games and Games Journalism is a thin one. Rather, he argues that they are wrong. And if they truly want to help Games, then they should effectively put up or shut up. That doing their job and scrutinizing games with an honest eye is the best way to help Games. I think he's right.

Admittedly he reminds me of a movie I watched recently, a documentary on Z-Channel that I recommend to all. It talks about how a bunch of people who loved movies (and reviewed them,) were able to change film via distribution, rather than solely critique. (Costikyan, I'm looking at you here, pal.)

In addition to when Jaffe calls for "LESS FUCKING PREVIEWS AND MORE FEATURES!!!!" I find it kinda funny when he brings up their interviews.

Did you see ROLLING STONE with the BONO interview?!? Give me THAT but with KOJIMA....OR MIYAMOTO! And no more of this bullshit about how he plays the fucking banjo and likes to garden. Wow, that's hard hitting! Shit guys, dig into the man and let us know what makes him tick, what he really likes and dislikes, his political views, what his stresses are, what his vices are, does he feel stress to save Nintendo,etc....you know, go and WRITE something!

Seriously. If some anonymous blogger (me) can say 'Hey, I wonder what Alex Seropian thinks about this,' or have Mark Healey tell me "I would love to see all the corporate grey middle men banished from the industry, those that don't care about games, only about cashing in on factory produced crap." then a major magazine should have no problem not only getting big names, but big interviews.

Speaking of which, I should write a review of Rag Doll Kung Fu. In short: Worth the cash.

Reality versus virtual.

2005-10-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

So which one's more real?

Yesterday the Weather Guy at the station I work in comes up to me and says "My sources tell me you've got a blog. I'm going to investigate and confirm if this is true or not." Without thinking I tell him just to visit jeffool.com and he'll be redirected to it. I actually regret it. The accusatorial tone in which he said "My sources tell me you've got a blog." was hilarious. It's like he's just discovered some hidden treasure. (Maybe he was expecting pages of me crying about high school and dark poetry?) I guess I should've at least let him feel like he 'discovered' something, rather than leading the way. Ah well, sorry Chris. But it's okay pal, you're a solid cat.

I never really gave much thought to someone I know in real life finding this. It doesn't bother me; rather it's interesting. It brings up that whole debate of self versus virtual self. CmdrTaco of Slashdot fame had quite an interesting experience himself the other day.

Blizzard said he couldn't use 'CmdrTaco' as his name. That's a shame. Who am I, if not Jeffool?

Wideload Games' Alexander Seropian

2005-10-26T23:18:00.000-05:00

I told a pal of mine "Dude, Alexander Seropian said he'd answer a few questions for me!" He responded with "Who?" and I wept a solitary tear.

Okay, not really. I sighed heavily and said "Damn it... He made Bungie. Y'know. Folks who did Halo? Then he dumped that and made another company, Wideload Games and just released Stubbs the Zombie." Of course then my pal went "Ohhhh." (Of course a Mac-loving friend of mine's jaw hit the floor when I told him that.)

1. On a scale of 1 to 'hippopotamus,' how was working on Stubbs and how was your foray into studio-model game production?

Alexander Seropian: For the most part I'd say full out hippo. Launching a brand new company, business model, and game at the same time is a big challenge, but we had a lot of fun and we learned a lot. Apart from the really long hours at some times, it was a blast.

Personally, I set out to build a work environment that's focused on being creative and the business model that supports it. We've done that, but we still have a lot of potential to fill. I'm looking forward to taking Wideload to the next level.

2. Do you think that the studio model will become the norm, or will it remain an alternative production model?

AS: Yes, I think so. Games will continue to get more expensive and complicated to produce and the quality/accessibility bar will continue to rise. Both of those reasons are big drivers for the Wideload production model. Will every studio be set up like mine? No. But I think most studios will begin using some of our techniques.

3. Every project has its own setbacks and challenges. Did the studio model help easy any difficulties in the process, or produce any new ones that you'll know about next time?

AS: Our model enabled a lot of things for us. But of course, this project wasn't without its hiccups :) The obvious big wins or us were the things we foresaw - being able to work with talent without restriction to location. Avoiding a fifty person overhead. Being able to switch up personnel quickly. There were lots of subtle things that we didn't expct - like how much work it is to get accurate bids, things like that.

4. What is the size of your core team at Wideload, and how does your team break down by field?

AS: The core team is about a dozen evenly split between programmers, designers, and artists.

5. Were those your starting numbers, or did you ever need to change the team size to better suit the project?

AS: The core team has been consistent throughout the project.

6. As a developer who's doing something completely different in the means of production, have you considered also trying alternative means of distribution (Steam, etc.)?

AS: Yes we did, but I felt like there were only so many of those groundbreaking nuts we should try to crack at once.

7. Recently Stephen Spielberg signed a deal to work with Electronic Arts on three games. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9690079/) Do you think that, aside from a development model, there are things that games can learn from films?

AS: Absolutely. Film is an ancient form of entertainment compared to videogames. Film can teach us a lot about storytelling. One thing that we tried to do from the beginning was to make writing an important part of our development process. It's amazing how important good writing is and how catastrophic crappy dialog can be to the whole experience in film or games.

8. Gaming is an industry that's largely publisher branded. Do you think that the attachment of a popular name like Spielbergs will draw attention away from the designers/developers who will actually be making the game?

AS: I'd say no. Regardless of Spielberg's involvement, games bearing his name will be judged on the one thing that matters: how fun is it? From that perspective, I really hope they team him up with some talented game designers. I think that will be the telling part of the equation.

The film studios have tried to make games many times without much success. Game making is a different literacy from film. I'm guessing spielberg understands that fact considering he sold off Dreamworks Interactive long ago and is getting back in through a partnership with EA.

Much love to Alexander Seropian. He was a swell fellow to bother answering my curiosities. For the record, this was actually intended to go along with Corvus' "Blogs of the Round Table" which usually kicks out pretty good articles. I've intended to participate in them all, but have never quite gotten that 'timing' thing down.

And for the record, I'm going to start calling cool things 'hippo'. "That is so hippo."

Help me catch up?

2005-10-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, so after being offline for about a month, I've been trying to catch up with all the stuff I've missed. The two that really have my attention thus far have been the Revolution controller and Greg Costikyan putting his money where his heart is, in Manifesto Games. Talk about something truly commendable.

So, while I'm going back and reading the (literally) hundreds of blog posts I missed, is there anything as equally 'wow'-ing that I'm leaving out?

An 'update' post.

2005-10-10T01:55:00.000-05:00

Y'know the type. The kind that just tells you that I finally have a computer again, though my AIMing will be sparse while my brother and I fight about the computer. I have no doubt that by now my coding abilities have gone to poop. (Try as I may to stay abreast by reading and thinking programming.) And while re-learning to ride that bicycle, I've decided to punish myself by entering NaNoWriMo. Anyone else out there getting into it?

For anyone who doesn't know, NaNoWriMo stands for 'National Novel Writing Month'. It's more or less a genius idea someone had to get tons of money by motivating people to write a ton. But it looks fun. The idea is to register on the site and starting November 1st, write a 50,000k novel by the end of the month. Now the question is which obviously-plotted story do I want to write? The zombie novel, the quarter-life-crisis novel, or the
post-apocalyptic one? Ahhh, decisions decisions.