On a forum I frequently visit someone linked to this site, I highly recommend viewing it at least once.
http://htwins.net/scale2/
It's as the title says, a scale of the universe controlled by a slider. You can click on things and read a short blurb about them. It's quite cool.
I do like how they add some humerus things like the Minecraft world, which is bigger than the Earth.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Golden Age of Gaming?
Recently I was reading an article posted on ign.pc, (found here http://www.ign.com/blogs/jdavisign/2012/02/16/this-is-the-golden-age-of-video-games) it suggested that we are currently living in the “Golden Age of gaming.”
I don't particularly agree with this statement. While it is true that many great things have come out of the past decade or so, is it really a “Golden Age?” JDavisIGN, the author, gives some of the same reasons that many people give why gaming is great now. Massive AAA titles, social network gaming, massive indie gaming, and that's about it. I felt most of these points were relatively weak and broad. Painting too smeared of a picture to really articulate a single, good reason why we are in a Golden Age for gaming.
I immediately thought of Classical Hollywood Cinema as the closest relatable Golden Age to gaming as both are heavily visually based entertainment.
The time span of the Classical Hollywood Cinema was from the late 1920s up to the early 1960s. During this time films began to express similar concepts of Renaissance ideals, the resurgence of mankind and romanticism. Classical storytelling began to dictate the story, focusing on character progression over a period of time instead of stock characters. Human emotion was more important that lighting or scenery, with the camera staying a medium to medium-long shot to capture the experience that the people were in along with their faces. Uniformity occurred from film studio to film studio so that an MGM picture would look different from a Warner Brothers picture. That doesn't mean creativity and auteurs couldn't exist. Fantastic people were there, actors and directors alike.
The Classical Hollywood Cinema era was more than just big budget movies and independent visionaries. Every little detail from the script up mattered to help create a film that would become a classic.
Does that mean every single film was amazing? Of course not! There were flops, bad actors, bad scripts, bad directors, whatever. The contrary is true, too. Does that mean that, today, we can't have classic movies being made? Of course not! We still have visionaries from the mid 1960s and onwards!
This is where I think that JDavisIGN made his mistake. First and foremost, he sees activity at a broader level indicating a Golden Age. Further, he sees the ability to have a big-budget AAA game and release indie games side by side as a sign of a Golden Age. Both reasons, to me, are simply silly. There is no correlation between these and having a Golden Age. We're simply in a good time, or really, an acceptable time.
Mass-Market AAA Titles
As I already stated, big budget projects does not have a correlation to a golden age. The film industry drops millions of dollars on AAA films, are we in a golden age? No. While it certainly is very nice that we have the means to spend so much money on entertainment, the two are simply unrelatable.
The XBLA/PSN Middle Ground
“The rise of Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Wii Ware, and DSi Ware has given rise to an entire video game category that quite literally didn't (coudn't!) exist just five short years ago.” This is an absurd statement. We're very reliant on 3rd party distributors still, especially for anything on a console. But, for the PC at least, we've been able to distribute games since the dawn of the modern internet. Hell, even before that people would post programming scripts for people to copy in magazines and on the proto-internet news post listings. If you want to stick to the distributor tradition, though, Steam has been doing this type of thing for quite some time now. In fact, many of the games he listed were initially developed on the PC through Steam as the distributor. I see these additional 3rd party distributors as nothing more than console specific knockoffs.
Experimental Success Stories
He uses the word “experimental” as if it is something only a small niche of people ever want. Innovation is a key aspect for many things in our lives and history as a whole. Simply restricting it to gaming, Wolf3D innovated on the original arcade game Wolfenstein. Doom then further innovated the relatively new FPS genre along with new, true 3D graphics. These games were once “experimental.” They're also success stories. Nothing new here. Move along.
Mass Market & Mainstream Acceptance
With this point, I do somewhat agree with him. Somewhat; however, it's a very odd point. While it is very true that the Wii has invaded many households, businesses, and retirement homes alike, do video games really have a mass market appeal and, further, acceptance? People my age (that mythical age of twenty-somethings) may very well be a little more open to gaming as a whole (though I've met quite a few general technophobes), we grew up with video gaming. Mario and Pokemon and Link/Zelda. Nintendo Hard. But for people not of that generation, gaming is still viewed as a time waster, something that isn't an art, something that kills and causes psychological disorders.
It is true that gaming has gained a broader appeal thanks social networking games (those are the real killers! Of time I mean) but this is a very acute niche of gaming. I also doubt their acceptance of my preferred games, having been told by people who play this new wave of social network gaming that I'm wasting time playing Pokemon again. I don't know, while I agree more people are playing video games, I also feel there's a new double standard that wasn't there before.
TL;DR - aka The Resurgance of Long-Dead Ideals
Besides misspelling “resurgence,” his point is that because we have big AAA titles happening alongside indie 2D platformers, adventure games, and everything else, we must be in a Golden Age. Nothing to do with ideals... just... genres of games that have all have been around since the beginning of video gaming (some prior). Just because the FPS genre has been the biggest genre since the mid 1990s doesn't mean everything else simply stopped existing. Hell, FPS was in existence in the 1970s! To me, this logic is like saying no other music exists from 1960-present except rock music, because that's what was/is popular. While other music may not necessarily be at the forefront of popularity, they're still there.
My point is that there is nothing new. We might have more accessibility, thanks to faster internet speeds and more people connected, but does this really constitute a Golden Age of gaming? I think not.
For me, and many others, the Golden Age of gaming has already come and gone. 1995-2005 is (roughly) the Golden Age of gaming where many fantastic games began to innovate and expand graphically, gameplay wise, audiably, and accessibly. Monumental games were created in this time, series began in this time, we innovated and grew so much, so quickly in this time. Moreover, video games were romanticizing themselves. Traditional narrative was normal in this time, humanism the goal. We slowly even began to achieve, though limited, emotion in our characters. The pinnacle in video gaming is Half-Life 2. Especially for the FPS genre. Ever since then we've sort of come down from the high point. We still have many amazing games being produced. But as a piece of art? Nothing has really compared to the overall experience that Half-Life 2 brought us. From graphics, to the story, to the sound, to the gameplay. It's all there.
I could say so much to prove my point, but I'm a bit biased as I, like many others, grew up in this time.
Instead, I chose to simply give you a link to see for yourselves how far we've come.
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/video-game-design-between-1990-2008/
-PancakeDestruction
I don't particularly agree with this statement. While it is true that many great things have come out of the past decade or so, is it really a “Golden Age?” JDavisIGN, the author, gives some of the same reasons that many people give why gaming is great now. Massive AAA titles, social network gaming, massive indie gaming, and that's about it. I felt most of these points were relatively weak and broad. Painting too smeared of a picture to really articulate a single, good reason why we are in a Golden Age for gaming.
I immediately thought of Classical Hollywood Cinema as the closest relatable Golden Age to gaming as both are heavily visually based entertainment.
The time span of the Classical Hollywood Cinema was from the late 1920s up to the early 1960s. During this time films began to express similar concepts of Renaissance ideals, the resurgence of mankind and romanticism. Classical storytelling began to dictate the story, focusing on character progression over a period of time instead of stock characters. Human emotion was more important that lighting or scenery, with the camera staying a medium to medium-long shot to capture the experience that the people were in along with their faces. Uniformity occurred from film studio to film studio so that an MGM picture would look different from a Warner Brothers picture. That doesn't mean creativity and auteurs couldn't exist. Fantastic people were there, actors and directors alike.
The Classical Hollywood Cinema era was more than just big budget movies and independent visionaries. Every little detail from the script up mattered to help create a film that would become a classic.
Does that mean every single film was amazing? Of course not! There were flops, bad actors, bad scripts, bad directors, whatever. The contrary is true, too. Does that mean that, today, we can't have classic movies being made? Of course not! We still have visionaries from the mid 1960s and onwards!
This is where I think that JDavisIGN made his mistake. First and foremost, he sees activity at a broader level indicating a Golden Age. Further, he sees the ability to have a big-budget AAA game and release indie games side by side as a sign of a Golden Age. Both reasons, to me, are simply silly. There is no correlation between these and having a Golden Age. We're simply in a good time, or really, an acceptable time.
Mass-Market AAA Titles
As I already stated, big budget projects does not have a correlation to a golden age. The film industry drops millions of dollars on AAA films, are we in a golden age? No. While it certainly is very nice that we have the means to spend so much money on entertainment, the two are simply unrelatable.
The XBLA/PSN Middle Ground
“The rise of Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, Wii Ware, and DSi Ware has given rise to an entire video game category that quite literally didn't (coudn't!) exist just five short years ago.” This is an absurd statement. We're very reliant on 3rd party distributors still, especially for anything on a console. But, for the PC at least, we've been able to distribute games since the dawn of the modern internet. Hell, even before that people would post programming scripts for people to copy in magazines and on the proto-internet news post listings. If you want to stick to the distributor tradition, though, Steam has been doing this type of thing for quite some time now. In fact, many of the games he listed were initially developed on the PC through Steam as the distributor. I see these additional 3rd party distributors as nothing more than console specific knockoffs.
Experimental Success Stories
He uses the word “experimental” as if it is something only a small niche of people ever want. Innovation is a key aspect for many things in our lives and history as a whole. Simply restricting it to gaming, Wolf3D innovated on the original arcade game Wolfenstein. Doom then further innovated the relatively new FPS genre along with new, true 3D graphics. These games were once “experimental.” They're also success stories. Nothing new here. Move along.
Mass Market & Mainstream Acceptance
With this point, I do somewhat agree with him. Somewhat; however, it's a very odd point. While it is very true that the Wii has invaded many households, businesses, and retirement homes alike, do video games really have a mass market appeal and, further, acceptance? People my age (that mythical age of twenty-somethings) may very well be a little more open to gaming as a whole (though I've met quite a few general technophobes), we grew up with video gaming. Mario and Pokemon and Link/Zelda. Nintendo Hard. But for people not of that generation, gaming is still viewed as a time waster, something that isn't an art, something that kills and causes psychological disorders.
It is true that gaming has gained a broader appeal thanks social networking games (those are the real killers! Of time I mean) but this is a very acute niche of gaming. I also doubt their acceptance of my preferred games, having been told by people who play this new wave of social network gaming that I'm wasting time playing Pokemon again. I don't know, while I agree more people are playing video games, I also feel there's a new double standard that wasn't there before.
TL;DR - aka The Resurgance of Long-Dead Ideals
Besides misspelling “resurgence,” his point is that because we have big AAA titles happening alongside indie 2D platformers, adventure games, and everything else, we must be in a Golden Age. Nothing to do with ideals... just... genres of games that have all have been around since the beginning of video gaming (some prior). Just because the FPS genre has been the biggest genre since the mid 1990s doesn't mean everything else simply stopped existing. Hell, FPS was in existence in the 1970s! To me, this logic is like saying no other music exists from 1960-present except rock music, because that's what was/is popular. While other music may not necessarily be at the forefront of popularity, they're still there.
My point is that there is nothing new. We might have more accessibility, thanks to faster internet speeds and more people connected, but does this really constitute a Golden Age of gaming? I think not.
For me, and many others, the Golden Age of gaming has already come and gone. 1995-2005 is (roughly) the Golden Age of gaming where many fantastic games began to innovate and expand graphically, gameplay wise, audiably, and accessibly. Monumental games were created in this time, series began in this time, we innovated and grew so much, so quickly in this time. Moreover, video games were romanticizing themselves. Traditional narrative was normal in this time, humanism the goal. We slowly even began to achieve, though limited, emotion in our characters. The pinnacle in video gaming is Half-Life 2. Especially for the FPS genre. Ever since then we've sort of come down from the high point. We still have many amazing games being produced. But as a piece of art? Nothing has really compared to the overall experience that Half-Life 2 brought us. From graphics, to the story, to the sound, to the gameplay. It's all there.
I could say so much to prove my point, but I'm a bit biased as I, like many others, grew up in this time.
Instead, I chose to simply give you a link to see for yourselves how far we've come.
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2008/12/video-game-design-between-1990-2008/
-PancakeDestruction
Monday, February 6, 2012
Review: RetroBlazer
I recently came across an interesting indie game that was in development: RetroBlazer. The entire game is a mixture of early to late 90s FPS games such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom I+II, Quake, Jedi Knight, Outlaws, and et cetera. The biggest (and most obvious) inspiration being the Dooms.
I was ecstatic for the change of pace in RetroBlazer. No more quick time events, no grand story, no health regeneration. Just running and gunning, collecting... things (like health packs! Health packs!), and more running and gunning. Do not get me wrong, Modern Warfare was a blast (well, Modern Warfare 3 had its moments, but fell rather flat in comparison to Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, but I digress....) and so are a lot of modern FPS games. It's just the market is supersaturated by these current FPS games that are trying to be the next Modern Warfare (I've said “Modern Warfare” entirely too much. No more of it shall be mentioned). So it is a complete breath of fresh air to have something so completely opposite to the big AAA titles of today. More impressive was that RetroBlazer remained entertaining.
I suppose that the main selling point for RetroBlazer is that it is based off of a quaint era. An era when FPS games began to take root and form their own genre amongst the MUDs and RPGs of the day. Everything that you'd expect is there, or somewhere along the lines of being developed.
You are dropped into a room, without any instruction, with a pistol in hand and a common knowledge that everything must die ahead. You get ready to go... but you realize that the key and mouse commands are all screwed up. Mouse doesn't look... it doesn't do much of anything (though the right mouse button will make you go forward!). A quick five minutes later, with a new (slightly modern) key-config set up, you're off! Then you get stuck in the first room.
*ahem*
As in, I was being derpy. It's amazing how much we (or at least I) have forgotten the days when FPS's just threw you into a game without any guidance. I was completely lost with how to get out, just like I was with the original Doom. Eventually, I found the door texture that opens (they just open, no command key) and I was on my way!
After this first level where you quickly learn how to play the game (or, if you're like me, I still make stupid mistakes regarding the “water”), the next level introduces another enemy, and so on. Level progression is mostly well done, though I do feel that the levels began to be more repetitive with slightly altered scenery. “Oohh... I'm in an Egyptian based... computer... thingy. Before I was in some base... computer... thingy... I think.”
But for a demo (that's still in development!), I'm just being picky. This leads me nicely to, “There are times one can easily tell that this is a game in development.”
There are only three weapons, a pistol, a machine gun, and a double-barreled shotgun... that shoots three balls of energy (I guess that's what the weapons shoot?). They're all quintessential... but after I got all three I was disapointed in finding out I couldn't get grenades (though if you follow their notes and activate alternate firing mode through the console, the machine gun can shoot out grenades, using a different ammo). I was expecting more base weapons.
I often felt that there wasn't enough ammo for the “special” weapons (the machine gun and double-barreled shotgun). But I'm a hoarder in games (especially RPGs), so I was often afraid to use my precious ammo until closer to the end. “But what if I'll need it later?” Perhaps slightly more ammo per drop would be nice. I believe the developers have it almost right where the player has to conserve their ammo wisely... but it's a little too few at the moment. I felt the same way towards health, as well. I feel that it's supersaturated, but in such small amounts that it became silly. I'd rather have both health and ammo be more per drop and have fewer drops.
Enemies are also sparse in differences. There's your basic soldier, a grenade soldier, a big snake thing that comes down from the ceiling, and a hover robot that looks like a bee. I think it'd be cool to have a couple more baddies, or if not generic baddies, some bosses. The ending was very sudden and left me wondering, “Did I beat it?” Since the developers are going for an old FPS feel, true boss fights would be a welcomed addition.
There is only one difficulty, whatever normal is. Since the developers are going with the 90s FPS theme, they really need to have your traditional four difficulties with “Nightmare” unlock-able. I found Normal to be relatively easy, a walk in the park.
And, there are lot of areas seemingly locked out (I may have just sucked and couldn't have found the key/secret passage). I think I sucked, to be honest, but there were some areas that I was just confused about how to get to, or why they were even there. I believe it was in the second level, there is a spot where there is a fence and water underneath the fence. It appears that there is another room past the fence, but how do I get there?
Everything from the visuals, to the sound, to the way the game is played screams of these old FPS games; however, there is a distinct feel to the game that these others did not have. I don't know if it is intentional or not, but whereas Doom and co were very flat in appearance, RetroBlazer feels like a 3D environment with a 2D perspective. It is almost like Rebel Assualt (I or II) had a baby with Doom. Somewhere between those is RetroBlazer's visuals. There is also a distinct color palate being used and it does not give you a massive headache swerving and running around (though I could easily see getting one. The game is a bit fluorescent).
As noted above, the perspective is interesting; A 3D environment from a 2D perspective. There are some odd visuals within the game, such as how drawn the enemies look. This attributes to the 2D perspective. Outlaws had this drawn visual style, but in an time when the max screen resolution was 800x600 and massive pixelation was common, it tended to hide this odd mixture. RetroBlazer does not have this crutch, so everything is nice and crisp... and odd looking. This is a minor qualm, if it is a qualm. I think it's an interesting idea that deserves a little more work.
With sound, is a double-edged sword to me. As a classically trained musician, I find the music horridly repetitive and unlike Mario... it just doesn't work. But the music itself isn't bad. It's just repeated too many times and there is only two tracks. The FX sounds, though, are overall nice. All the weapons sound good – but they're a bit weak sounding, too.
RetroBlazer is an FPS made off of an old, altered Quake Engine, the Darkplaces Engine. The Darkplaces Engine seems to be a solid engine. I experienced no lag or crashes. Just be sure to have your video card drivers installed... I apparently did not and could not run the game until I did so.
Going back, very briefly, to all the throwbacks that the developers have added, one of the most memorable for me is the taunting when you go to quit. Granted, I still like Dooms and Wolfenstein 3D better (they're less... offensive), I laughed for a good minute when I first quit and saw the message come up, “MAN, I OUGHTA SMACK YOU FOR TRYING TO QUIT! PRESS Y TO GET SMACKED OUT.” There are several more of varying levels of offensiveness. Some are the same level of Dooms where they're just silly.
Overall, I'm eagerly awaiting more from RetroBlazer. Give it a try at http://www.retroblazer.com/ It's definitely worth a try! It is available for all operating systems.
-PancakeDestruction
I was ecstatic for the change of pace in RetroBlazer. No more quick time events, no grand story, no health regeneration. Just running and gunning, collecting... things (like health packs! Health packs!), and more running and gunning. Do not get me wrong, Modern Warfare was a blast (well, Modern Warfare 3 had its moments, but fell rather flat in comparison to Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, but I digress....) and so are a lot of modern FPS games. It's just the market is supersaturated by these current FPS games that are trying to be the next Modern Warfare (I've said “Modern Warfare” entirely too much. No more of it shall be mentioned). So it is a complete breath of fresh air to have something so completely opposite to the big AAA titles of today. More impressive was that RetroBlazer remained entertaining.
I suppose that the main selling point for RetroBlazer is that it is based off of a quaint era. An era when FPS games began to take root and form their own genre amongst the MUDs and RPGs of the day. Everything that you'd expect is there, or somewhere along the lines of being developed.
You are dropped into a room, without any instruction, with a pistol in hand and a common knowledge that everything must die ahead. You get ready to go... but you realize that the key and mouse commands are all screwed up. Mouse doesn't look... it doesn't do much of anything (though the right mouse button will make you go forward!). A quick five minutes later, with a new (slightly modern) key-config set up, you're off! Then you get stuck in the first room.
*ahem*
As in, I was being derpy. It's amazing how much we (or at least I) have forgotten the days when FPS's just threw you into a game without any guidance. I was completely lost with how to get out, just like I was with the original Doom. Eventually, I found the door texture that opens (they just open, no command key) and I was on my way!
After this first level where you quickly learn how to play the game (or, if you're like me, I still make stupid mistakes regarding the “water”), the next level introduces another enemy, and so on. Level progression is mostly well done, though I do feel that the levels began to be more repetitive with slightly altered scenery. “Oohh... I'm in an Egyptian based... computer... thingy. Before I was in some base... computer... thingy... I think.”
But for a demo (that's still in development!), I'm just being picky. This leads me nicely to, “There are times one can easily tell that this is a game in development.”
There are only three weapons, a pistol, a machine gun, and a double-barreled shotgun... that shoots three balls of energy (I guess that's what the weapons shoot?). They're all quintessential... but after I got all three I was disapointed in finding out I couldn't get grenades (though if you follow their notes and activate alternate firing mode through the console, the machine gun can shoot out grenades, using a different ammo). I was expecting more base weapons.
I often felt that there wasn't enough ammo for the “special” weapons (the machine gun and double-barreled shotgun). But I'm a hoarder in games (especially RPGs), so I was often afraid to use my precious ammo until closer to the end. “But what if I'll need it later?” Perhaps slightly more ammo per drop would be nice. I believe the developers have it almost right where the player has to conserve their ammo wisely... but it's a little too few at the moment. I felt the same way towards health, as well. I feel that it's supersaturated, but in such small amounts that it became silly. I'd rather have both health and ammo be more per drop and have fewer drops.
Enemies are also sparse in differences. There's your basic soldier, a grenade soldier, a big snake thing that comes down from the ceiling, and a hover robot that looks like a bee. I think it'd be cool to have a couple more baddies, or if not generic baddies, some bosses. The ending was very sudden and left me wondering, “Did I beat it?” Since the developers are going for an old FPS feel, true boss fights would be a welcomed addition.
There is only one difficulty, whatever normal is. Since the developers are going with the 90s FPS theme, they really need to have your traditional four difficulties with “Nightmare” unlock-able. I found Normal to be relatively easy, a walk in the park.
And, there are lot of areas seemingly locked out (I may have just sucked and couldn't have found the key/secret passage). I think I sucked, to be honest, but there were some areas that I was just confused about how to get to, or why they were even there. I believe it was in the second level, there is a spot where there is a fence and water underneath the fence. It appears that there is another room past the fence, but how do I get there?
Everything from the visuals, to the sound, to the way the game is played screams of these old FPS games; however, there is a distinct feel to the game that these others did not have. I don't know if it is intentional or not, but whereas Doom and co were very flat in appearance, RetroBlazer feels like a 3D environment with a 2D perspective. It is almost like Rebel Assualt (I or II) had a baby with Doom. Somewhere between those is RetroBlazer's visuals. There is also a distinct color palate being used and it does not give you a massive headache swerving and running around (though I could easily see getting one. The game is a bit fluorescent).
As noted above, the perspective is interesting; A 3D environment from a 2D perspective. There are some odd visuals within the game, such as how drawn the enemies look. This attributes to the 2D perspective. Outlaws had this drawn visual style, but in an time when the max screen resolution was 800x600 and massive pixelation was common, it tended to hide this odd mixture. RetroBlazer does not have this crutch, so everything is nice and crisp... and odd looking. This is a minor qualm, if it is a qualm. I think it's an interesting idea that deserves a little more work.
With sound, is a double-edged sword to me. As a classically trained musician, I find the music horridly repetitive and unlike Mario... it just doesn't work. But the music itself isn't bad. It's just repeated too many times and there is only two tracks. The FX sounds, though, are overall nice. All the weapons sound good – but they're a bit weak sounding, too.
RetroBlazer is an FPS made off of an old, altered Quake Engine, the Darkplaces Engine. The Darkplaces Engine seems to be a solid engine. I experienced no lag or crashes. Just be sure to have your video card drivers installed... I apparently did not and could not run the game until I did so.
Going back, very briefly, to all the throwbacks that the developers have added, one of the most memorable for me is the taunting when you go to quit. Granted, I still like Dooms and Wolfenstein 3D better (they're less... offensive), I laughed for a good minute when I first quit and saw the message come up, “MAN, I OUGHTA SMACK YOU FOR TRYING TO QUIT! PRESS Y TO GET SMACKED OUT.” There are several more of varying levels of offensiveness. Some are the same level of Dooms where they're just silly.
Overall, I'm eagerly awaiting more from RetroBlazer. Give it a try at http://www.retroblazer.com/ It's definitely worth a try! It is available for all operating systems.
-PancakeDestruction
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