Daydream Tomb

Intro Video For Sir, You Are Being Hunted

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:27:14 -0400

Intro Video For Sir, You Are Being Hunted:

I cannot wait for this amazing looking game from Jim Rossignol and his team over at Big Robot.

Anyone can replace me

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:21:48 -0400

Richard Hofmeier, creator of the IGF 2013 award-winning Cart Life, said in his acceptance speech that with the tools that are available now anyone could replace him. Anyone could make great games.

Then to prove his point he converted his Cart Life booth on the IFG show floor into a booth displaying Porpentine’s Howling Dogs instead, even spray painting over Cart LIfe’s logo.

Is ethical free-to-play impossible?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:12:41 -0400

Is ethical free-to-play impossible?:

Vlambeer thinks that by refusing to take any more of my money after the first $3, they are occupying a moral high ground that F2P developers have, for the most part, abandoned in pursuit of profit. I think that this is nonsense.

Be sure to read the comments section here as well.

Fairness, Discovery & Spelunky

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:16:45 -0400

Fairness, Discovery & Spelunky:

Spelunky, of my favorite games in recent years, is also one of game designer Jon Shafer’s recent favorites. In this great article from his game design blog he sums up why unfairness is one of the keys to Spelunky’s successful design.

In spite of the first impression it gives off as a twitch game, the quality Spelunky rewards most is patience. Take a methodical approach to every obstacle you face and there’s a very good chance you’ll make it all the way to the end. But that assumes you know how to overcome those obstacles. And here’s where the critics who say Spelunky is unfair have some ammunition.

Reddit as a truly alternative development system

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:07:04 -0400

Reddit as a truly alternative development system:

Reddit lacks [an] algorithm, but it has communities that are extremely good at tearing apart content and analyzing ideas.

"Our increasing inability to recommend or warn against a game before it’s on sale."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:29:59 -0400

"Our increasing inability to recommend or warn against a game before it’s on sale.":

John Walker writing for Rock Paper Shotgun argues against pre-ordering games.

Times are a-changing. Clearly. But not always in the most logical way. Throughout the 90s it was the case that games reviews appeared on the thinly sliced lifeless corpses of fallen trees, usually about two weeks before the game came out. Now, with the lightning-fast reflexes of the internet, a major AAA blockbuster game will likely, er, not have any reviews accessible to anyone until either the moment of release, or moments before. We’ve gone backward. There are still exceptions, like the console version of Tomb Raider this month, but more and more frequently review embargoes match release dates, while pre-order periods can begin at the very moment a game is announced.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Mojang Launching Minecraft Realms

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:09:20 -0400

Mojang Launching Minecraft Realms:

Mojang have announced their plans to start a new subscription-based private server model. They are even toying with the idea of allowing certain mods to run on these servers.

Mods then created with this tool would in theory always work with the game. If that comes to pass, he said, the developers could start hand-picking the most popular mods and add them to Realms for free. The team is also discussing internally if they should start allowing mod creators to start charging for their mods, something that currently isn’t supported.

What Exactly is a Steam Box?

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:02:00 -0400

What Exactly is a Steam Box?:

Nice piece from James Plafke on a confusing issue.

The potential seems to be that Valve’s Steam Box won’t be a product but a brand, which doesn’t make it that much different from any other piece of hardware in the PC gaming space.

Wouldn’t Valve be smarter to take a page from Apple and now even Microsoft and build both the software and the hardware for their own device?

Valve's Business Grew 50% in the last year

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:57:21 -0400

Valve's Business Grew 50% in the last year

The Ball is in Gabe's Court

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:54:51 -0400

The Ball is in Gabe's Court:

Xi3’s CEO Jason A. Sullivan sheds some light on one of the reasons behind the growing divide between Valve’s vision of a Steam Box and Xi3’s Piston.

“Contrary to Valve’s vision, Xi3 believes that the way to take this to market today is to do so with a Windows OS at the core, coupled with the ability to not just get to one platform/store for games, but to get access to all game stores/platforms,” he said. “Studios should have the option to go through Steam if they choose or to go direct to the end-user if they so choose.”

The Opposite of Fail

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:25:43 -0400

The Opposite of Fail:

FTL: Faster Than Light continues to be one of my favorite games. Tracy Lien, writing for Polygon, covers the story behind the game. Great read.

In many ways the Kickstarter campaign should have failed. Its developers were unknown. The game had no existing fanbase. It didn’t have fancy graphics or promise a product so enormous that players would need to hook car engines to their computers to make it work. The developers didn’t set out to make a commercial product backed by tens of thousands of people.

Why I Hacked Donkey Kong For My Daughter

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 23:23:23 -0400

Why I Hacked Donkey Kong For My Daughter:

I didn’t set out to push a feminist agenda, or try to make a statement. I just wanted to keep that little grin lit up on my daughter’s face every time we sit down to play games together.

The first in what will undoubtedly be a great series of videos...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:45:00 -0400

The first in what will undoubtedly be a great series of videos exploring the roles of women in video games from Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency.

Symbiosis: A Creative Commons Art Book

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:06:51 -0500

Symbiosis: A Creative Commons Art Book:

Artist Steven Sanders has created a Kickstarter campaign for his Creative Commons source book. Anyone is free to use the world he illustrates in their own work under the terms of the CC license. Very cool stuff and worth your support.

Consider This a Beta

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:12:00 -0500

Consider This a Beta:

Green Throttle, maker of a game controller for Android devices, has quite an ambitious business model.

The company’s got a three-part business model. Step one is to sell the controllers — and it has plans to offer more types of pads than just the initial 360-esque controllers in the long run. Green Throttle has already begun to develop its own first-party games. Finally, and probably most significantly, it will offer app discovery and advertising options for developers that use Arena.

It’ll be interesting watching Green Throttle and others like Ouya compete in this space.

Ian Bogost is Wrong and a Little Right

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:11:01 -0500

Ian Bogost is Wrong and a Little Right:

Yesterday, games academic, writer and developer Ian Bogost took Polygon to task for changing their review score for Sim City due to launch day server issues. Mincing no words, Bogost told Polygon editor Chris Grant “Your website is shit.”

Patrick Stafford argues that Bogost is both wrong and right, but says Bogost took the wrong approach:

But let’s not just descend into a battle of mud-slinging. Let’s help each other get better. Let’s actually be constructive with each other. Sometimes that’s going to hurt, as all progress does. But it’s better than simply dismissing everything in one fell swoop.

If the bar is low, let’s help raise it together. Give harsh criticism, but make it constructive. Offer solutions. Empathise and invest in making games reporting better. Because if we simply dismiss anything and refuse to help, we become part of the problem.

I agree with Stafford.

explore-blog: The evolution of video games over the past 20...

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:55:00 -0400

explore-blog:

The evolution of video games over the past 20 years, as a musical composition made entirely out of original sounds from games.

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:03:00 -0400

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life:

When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In this moving talk, McGonigal explains how a game can boost resilience — and promises to add 7.5 minutes to your life.

I’ve been playing Spelunky quite a bit since it was made...

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 17:00:00 -0400

I’ve been playing Spelunky quite a bit since it was made available on XBLA and though it is quite frustrating i keep going back for more punishment.

I enjoyed watching even the game’s creator bite the dust, and also seeing some of his advanced (to me) techniques for navigating the world.

Daydream Tomb

Intro Video For Sir, You Are Being Hunted

Anyone can replace me

Is ethical free-to-play impossible?

Fairness, Discovery & Spelunky

Reddit as a truly alternative development system

"Our increasing inability to recommend or warn against a game before it’s on sale."

Mojang Launching Minecraft Realms

What Exactly is a Steam Box?

Valve's Business Grew 50% in the last year

The Ball is in Gabe's Court

The Opposite of Fail

Why I Hacked Donkey Kong For My Daughter

Related to the last post: Game developer and father Mike Mika...

The first in what will undoubtedly be a great series of videos...

Symbiosis: A Creative Commons Art Book

Consider This a Beta

Ian Bogost is Wrong and a Little Right

explore-blog: The evolution of video games over the past 20...

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life

I’ve been playing Spelunky quite a bit since it was made...