Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
15 Sept 06
I got about half the work done on the 4X Made Easy draft. I guess I'll finish next week.
So what have I been doing? Well, today, I thought I'd check out Dwarf Fortress. I figured I'd let it generate a world in the background. Then I'd see if I could get things started.
I forgot about the huge learning curve. Even with Bill's posts and the wiki, it took me a while to figure out how to start. I thought I was lucky and found a good world on try six. But no, it rejected it when trying to populate the wildlife. It did that several more times. I believe it was about attempt 120 when we got a good one.
There are a huge number of ways to set up your initial party. I'm sure you could start a few dozen times tweaking the initial skills and load out based on what you learned from starting the previous location. I went with the power skills solution with each party member having a primary job and minimal other skills.
I tried to follow the advice from the wiki to buy many different types of meat and plants. That way you get more barrels and more wagons. Those give you more wood and mules and horses. I must have spent too much on skills since I ended up with only one wagon.
I'm not going to write up too much from this start. I'm learning everything as I go so it's quite possible that the colony will die a horrible death through my ignorance. I'd like to have a reasonable go at it before trying to write up a whole adventure. However if any interesting things happen along the way, I'll let you know about them.
I do worry a bit about the game. Despite all its promise (and intriguing gameplay), it's got a couple of huge entry barriers. It's easy to be overwhelmed or overlook something. There aren't graphics; it's ascii. Almost nothing is simple. The menus are a maze. Finding information can be a chore.
All that will scare a lot of people away. That's too bad. It's fascinating just to watch even when things go wrong. The world feels organic which is saying something since it's made of little letters, numbers and obscure symbols.
It was kind of neat feeling the sense of frustration as my miner left a half finished room because he felt like working on the corridor right then. Of course, I could have only designated one room at a time, but that would require huge amounts of babysitting. Everything has consequences. It's a great way to design a game, but it will scare off the masses.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
14 Sept 06
I was wading through all the new Wii information today. In fact I learned that that is the correct usage. It's just Wii, not Nintendo Wii. See how I suffer for you. I know, most of you don't care. I think it's important since Nintendo is trying to change the landscape of the gaming marketplace.
For Xbox 360 users out there, the Wii doesn't have blades, it has channels. As you might expect, there's a shopping channel for those virtual console games everyone is excited about. They also have weather and news channels that are separate from the internet channel (using Opera by the way). It's internet connection is always on even when off.
There were a couple of interesting tidbits. The Wii does support component connections. Some had worried about that after they dropped component support for the GameCube. The Wii does have built in WiFi. Or you can use a USB lan adapter to connect an ethernet cable. There are connections for GameCube controllers and memory cards. They is a connector for a SD memory card to expand the 512 MB of internal flash memory (in lieu of a hard drive).
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that the Wii is shipping first in North America. For a very Japanese company, that is odd. I'm sure they have the marketing numbers to back it up. The $250 price tag is about what was expected, but Nintendo announced the return of the pack in game. The Wii will ship with Wii Sports. That includes version of golf, bowling, baseball, tennis and boxing. While they might only be fun diversions for hardcore gamers, they're the perfect example games to show and interest the casual gamer that Nintendo is going after. Clever that.
They're promising 30 Wii games and 30 virtual console (classic) games available by the end of the year. The one that has me interested is Battalion Wars 2. If they fixed a few of the flaws from the original and added multiplayer, it could be an instant classic. Reports are that online gaming won't launch until 2007. That might affect the release.
If I didn't scare you all off with the console stuff, you might want to know that the Heroes of Annihilated Empires demo is out. You may recall that's the combination RTS/RPG from GSC Gameworld. It's a sword and sorcery epic with massive armies. It showed some initial promise and is probably worth checking out. It can be found at the Usual Suspects.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
13 Sept 06
Man, did I say Joe at Groovgames.com? I must be getting old. Joemama is Eric at Groovalicious. I'm pretty sure about that. Yeah, Paul is Coz. Anyway, sorry Eric.
I wouldn't mind seeing some impressions (or even stories) in the forums of Joint Task Force and Company of Heroes. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice to see. No pressure.
Speaking of release, Atlus has just release Rule of Rose for the PS2. It's a survival horror game revolving around some creepy kids. It seems to use some disturbing imagery to enhance the creepiness. I'm not too interested in the game, but some people are worried that the use of children might bring more Jack Thompson type heat.
That might be true, but the game that really worries me is Persona 3 also for the PS2. Atlus is bringing that Stateside as well. Based on the movies and previews, one of the key mechanics of that RPG involves simulated suicide to unlock power/magic/whatever. It's got secret societies, occult trappings, violence, and death imagery. Arguably many other RPG's have had those as well. I think this suicide mechanic could push Persona over the edge if it gets into the wrong hands. Did I mention it's set in a school?
I don't want to project too much of my own views on you. I'd suggest you go to your favorite console covering website and look up the game. Look at some of the videos. Then please let me know if it's my imagination or if you think the game should be modified for US release. Personally, I think Atlus should change the game. It might be too integrated to remove, but perhaps a fancy light show could cover up the animation.
Having lost a friend to suicide, I'm not unbiased. Please check it out and let me know if I'm overreacting. As always, your feedback is appreciated.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
12 Sept 06
I was going to put up some press releases, but then realized I could post the important information in a paragraph. Joint Task Force and Company of Heroes have both been released. Both hold plenty of RTS promise. JTF fights with modern equipment while Heroes is set in WWII. I have posted some new JTF videos for those who might be curious. No offense to Company of Heroes. It's just that CoH has gotten tons of press while JTF has flown under the radar. Finally, the FEAR Extraction Point demo is coming out tomorrow. You can find it on the official site. I've got to give out props to Houston developer Timegate (of Kohan fame) for Extraction Point. I have to root for the home team. Yes, that includes the Texans. Finally, Joe at Groovalicious Games send word of a new GRAW multiplayer map pack for the PC.
I'd love to say I have more for you today, but I've just run out of time. Debbie had a doctor's appointment today that ate up most of my free time. It's hard to believe that David is going to be a big brother in a couple months. The next ultrasound is in two weeks. Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
11 Sept 06
Oh, how I loathe thee comment spammer claiming to be from Albania. I know you are just some stupid script that could be run from anywhere. You still waste my time and resources, but I will not allow you to boost your page rank off my site.
To my actual readers,
I have a couple new security measures in place. Please inform me if they cause you any problems. I have a couple more steps I can take if necessary. I will try to keep them from being burdensome to you.
Thank you to the people who pointed out my auto correction for Dwarf Fortress. That is the correct title of the game. I had typed Dwarven automagically. Silly me. Bill's descriptions remind me of my ancient days learning Kampfgruppe on my old Atari computer. Everything made sense, but there were so many abstractions and shortcuts, it was like learning a new language. I don't know if I'll break down and try Dwarf Fortress, but it won't be intimidation that stops me.
I wanted to start today with some thoughts on writing game stories. Most gamers enjoy reading a good gaming story, but few take the time and effort to write one. This site is about helping to change that.
Some people think you have to be a great writer and a great gamer to write a story. Neither is really true. I've read some horribly written pieces that kept me glued to the story. The sheer enthusiasm of the writer and the number of interesting things going on left a great story even if it was poorly communicated. If being a great gamer were a requirement, I'd have to exclude myself. I'm only good at a handful of games. I've never really been great at any. I play to have fun not master any one game. Beyond that, I find that some of my best writing comes from when I'm learning a game and making mistakes. There's more uncertainty, I'll take more chances and I'll explain things better since the game is still foreign to me.
I'm going to try to go over a few main points on this subject this week, but today I want to cover the question I get the most. It's 'How do I start?' I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you get better at writing by writing. You get even better by accepting criticism of your work. That's why I'm always asking for feedback around here. It's nice to hear great story or great site, but I know I can improve things when someone tells me what they didn't like and why.
Here's how I recommend starting. Think of a gaming story you've told a friend. It can be about any game. It doesn't matter. Then try to write up the story exactly as you told it. Don't worry if it doesn't make sense out of context. Don't worry if you use jargon or mention friends. Just write it up as close as possible to the way you told it.
Now read it back. Don't worry about the details yet. Just look at the raw narrative. Ask yourself if you forgot any important details. Did you cover all the steps that got you from A to B so on until the end. If not, fill in any important facts. Keep any insertions as short and as simple as possible.
You have the heart of the story now. You just have to flesh it out a bit. Next, I like to start by writing a brief introduction to the game. Give the basics, name, developer, genre, general background and gameplay. If it's Starcraft, for example, don't go into the history of the Zerg. Just give basic descriptions of the sides involved in your story. Keep it short and simple.
Then transition from the general points of the game to the specifics of your story. Give the initial conditions, goals, resources and general game plan. For instance, I have no idea what a molten core raid actually involves, but I'm sure someone could explain the basics in a paragraph or less. Again, keep it simple.
Here's where you start your rewrite. You can do whatever's comfortable for you. I like to cut all the fluff, highlight the key points of the story and use that as an outline to start fresh. This is the important part. Once you start the rewrite, try to just write the whole thing out in one sitting. Go with the story and write. Then, check spelling and grammar. Once you fix those mistakes, have someone else read it. You can post it here on the forum, give it to a friend, post it on your myspace. Whatever. Get some feedback on it. Ask what's not clear.
Finally, use the feedback to polish the story. It will never be perfect so don't worry about that. Don't rewrite here unless everyone agrees it's a complete mess. Just clarify and tighten. Then let it go. That story is done. Move on to the next. Keep at it. You'll probably be amazed at how quickly you improve.
That's enough for now. Feel free to post your own getting started suggestions or rip apart mine. Feedback will just make it better.
Jason
Read/Post Comments
© Talk Strategy 2004-2006