platforming in 3D game is an extremely difficult thing, in my opinion. a game without platformer leaves designers very easy at level design. because gamers can be given one or a certain number of finely crafted path. there are certain elements could be largely ignored, for example, the roof of a building can just be left undone. although there're still a lot of players tried to use a limited platforming ability provided by the games they are playing.
but this is not what i want to talk about though. i want to talk about how to combine platformer with combat. the most basic form of the combination i can remember is Mario's jump on the green turtles, or mushrooms. the most wonderful example i have witnessed was prince of persia sand of time series. it was triumphed in warrior within and perfected in the two thrones. with that in mind, i want to ask. how do i create a game like Oni, with Oni's hand to hand combat and BoD's weapon combat, with a platformer like PoP SoT series? so basically, i am asking how do i have a game with great platformer, great and detailed melee combat, and how do i combine both of them?
there are two main situations for players to explore in action games. one is navigation, the other one is combat. why do i want to combine platformer with combat? one of the reasons is that i am so very excited by PoP SoT series. an action game without platformer was boring. you are just merely going from one level to another. the combat will eventually wear thin and repetitive. it is normal to expect your game might have a cult following, but not mass market product. this might not be a bad thing, however, most action games with before mentioned level design pattern was usually bad. because most combat designed was usually sad. combining platformer and combat was a good way to bring variety to the games, even though one of the elements might be too simple. platformer might even be more important than combat. since it keeps player moving without another mind bothering along side of him.
second reason for combining platformer with combat was because it gives different players a chance to explore same situations in different manners. some people like to fight one on one, pure fighting. the other people might like to running around, find a chance not to fight. thus, open a great door for a feeling for the power of coice. third, it also gives a chance for designers to really develope few different characters with different fighting style. the example i could come up with is neo and morpheus in matrix. when neo faced morpheos in a virtual dojo, two totally different style was so obvious, but also very interesting.
there's a very important issue i wish to see solved. that's the camera. i want a realistic fighting mechanics. by integrated platformer into melee mechanics, i am afraid of characters went out of the camera. and since i wish for a camera style like Oni throughout most of the game, i wonder how do i make a wall jump without displacing camera on the far side of room...
by jolly, this is just a writing to distract myself from wantom destruction. i do not see any future of any improvements on the fighting action games at all. since complicated control is always belonged to a handful of players...
Monday, December 29, 2008
你是啥南北!?
我覺得蠻有趣的. 我記得有這麼一個對話, 出處忘了.
北魏的魏孝文帝仰慕中華文化. 凡事都要說南朝的好. 有一回, 又和他的大臣在說, 南朝多好多好.
他的大臣氣死了, 說: "南朝好, 南朝一年換一帝, 咱們幾十年才一帝."
看來, 那時的南朝就已經民主化了...LOL!!
北魏的魏孝文帝仰慕中華文化. 凡事都要說南朝的好. 有一回, 又和他的大臣在說, 南朝多好多好.
他的大臣氣死了, 說: "南朝好, 南朝一年換一帝, 咱們幾十年才一帝."
看來, 那時的南朝就已經民主化了...LOL!!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
first thoughts on fighting mechanics for TP actioin games
i like blade of darkness' fighting mechanics. It is the most complete design for weapon combat on pc.
i love Oni's hand to hand combat mechanics. It is the best fighting mechanics for TP action adventure games on PC.
i will not stress on the things i love in both games. i will however, stress on the things i wish to have for both games with bits of elements from other games that i wish to be included in the future TP action adventure game.
Blade of darkness doesn't have strafes, which is a huge turn off for many gamers. it could even count as one of the reasons this game failed. the other major reason is because of lacking support for online competition. for me, the decision of no strafe was horrible to me as well. but after watching a match in Rune, i felt i could guess for the reason behind it. my thoughts was that Blade of darkness require higher degree on combos. designers purposely want the fight to be locked on business, so the combo enhanced combat mechanics can then fly. the fighting is suppose to be more meticulous and methodical. but lacking strafe was still horrible for navigating through the corridors. Blade of darkness did not have a grabbing combo and the defense mechanics was a bit lacking, especially when there's no shield. i like the escape mechanics in the game, i think it's a great idea. but need to be improved on maybe variety and precision.
Oni has strafes. but it did not have hard locking on system. it did have a very hard to notice soft lock on system, which automatically fired up when a fight mechanics was issued. Oni featured at least 4 grabbing moves. however, the designers find a way to stop players' abusing the ability. instead let AI cheats, i wish to bump up AI and make evasive moves available. some of the combos in Oni were not realistic enough. i wish for more realistic fighting. we could add a ground grappling system. i wish the evasive movements could be integrated into fighting mechanics.
i also wish to mixed bod with a defensive mechanics like something in the mount and blade. i really loved bushido blade series. what i would love have bushido's elements transfered to BoD is the instant death system, weapons contact reaction system, and body parts hurt system.
i think it's best to have both hard and soft lock on system. each lock on system, i will try to deesign two different fighting mchanics. for instance, the soft lock on system will have less combos, much much less chance for instant kills, but it's best to fight multiple enemies by using platform abilities. with hard locking on system, the combo will be complete, players will have more control over the instant kills, evasive movements are available. but it's best used against one or two enemies, preferable, boss, since switching target will be a huge hassle.
i love Oni's hand to hand combat mechanics. It is the best fighting mechanics for TP action adventure games on PC.
i will not stress on the things i love in both games. i will however, stress on the things i wish to have for both games with bits of elements from other games that i wish to be included in the future TP action adventure game.
Blade of darkness doesn't have strafes, which is a huge turn off for many gamers. it could even count as one of the reasons this game failed. the other major reason is because of lacking support for online competition. for me, the decision of no strafe was horrible to me as well. but after watching a match in Rune, i felt i could guess for the reason behind it. my thoughts was that Blade of darkness require higher degree on combos. designers purposely want the fight to be locked on business, so the combo enhanced combat mechanics can then fly. the fighting is suppose to be more meticulous and methodical. but lacking strafe was still horrible for navigating through the corridors. Blade of darkness did not have a grabbing combo and the defense mechanics was a bit lacking, especially when there's no shield. i like the escape mechanics in the game, i think it's a great idea. but need to be improved on maybe variety and precision.
Oni has strafes. but it did not have hard locking on system. it did have a very hard to notice soft lock on system, which automatically fired up when a fight mechanics was issued. Oni featured at least 4 grabbing moves. however, the designers find a way to stop players' abusing the ability. instead let AI cheats, i wish to bump up AI and make evasive moves available. some of the combos in Oni were not realistic enough. i wish for more realistic fighting. we could add a ground grappling system. i wish the evasive movements could be integrated into fighting mechanics.
i also wish to mixed bod with a defensive mechanics like something in the mount and blade. i really loved bushido blade series. what i would love have bushido's elements transfered to BoD is the instant death system, weapons contact reaction system, and body parts hurt system.
i think it's best to have both hard and soft lock on system. each lock on system, i will try to deesign two different fighting mchanics. for instance, the soft lock on system will have less combos, much much less chance for instant kills, but it's best to fight multiple enemies by using platform abilities. with hard locking on system, the combo will be complete, players will have more control over the instant kills, evasive movements are available. but it's best used against one or two enemies, preferable, boss, since switching target will be a huge hassle.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
my idea of platforming in TP action games
platforming in third person action games should focus on how designers create an engine for competitive platforming. it should require skills from players as well as level designs creativity from the game developers.
the first thing i think should be solved is camera issue though. my idea of ideal camera placement in third person action games is nailed above the back of the character i am playing. but it does have a few problems. first, it minimizes player's estimation for jump distance. second, it sometimes got blocked by the objects between camera and the character; or in the case of cornering, camera could stocked at a weird angle, which then interfered with the gameplay. although second problem was solved in Rune as far as i am concerned. there're still many developers did not use that option. so i say, use something like Rune, please... for the first problems, i'd think that make sure the physics in the game feel right; and make hanging in the air, like gliding an option. in addition to this two, i'd really like to request a weird option, which is design as many camera options as possible. i loved king's quest mask of eternity for a free form camera control although many cried against it. but i loved it. mostly, i'd like to express the wish for good numbers of camera options in the game. for, it's the soul of third person aciton game in my opinion.
Oni was an amazing game. i always loved the quote from avault's Oni review,
"Even a partial list of her moves sounds like a TV commercial for Ginsu knives: “She hits, kicks, runs, rolls, jumps, slides and flips with the greatest of ease! The amazing Konoko!”(Review by: David Laprad) "
and yes, Oni can do all these with never before seen grace, and none can compared to her even today. the problem for Oni was not that she's lacking the movements. the problem for Oni was that there's no meaning for Oni's most of her movements. what i am saying is that you could play through most of the level without using many of the amazingly fluid platformer animations. And in today's standards, lacking wallrun, wall jump, and hanging onto the edge of walls were a big let down also. whatever function game designers were creating for the character, he better assign meanings to it. or otherwise, it got wasted! the jump animation in the game was a bit weird to me too. there seemed to be a gliding senstaion when Oni jumped, which was out of place in terms of physics in the game. at least to me personally, since there're some people who don't feel a thing. Oni did not use a camera like Rune, it used similar but totally different. Rune's camera was not obtrusive because, when cornered, the character can be seen through. Bungie said, no, we don't want that. so they went and designed an environment that when Oni was cornering, players can see through the wall and see Oni... lol
prince of persia SoT series was a prime example of platformer games. the smoothness of doing all the gymastic stuff with the prince was amazing. and since it's a platformer first, combat second, there's almost no waste in prince's gymastic talents. however, there's not much room for competitive multiplayer either. the camera for PC was not very consistent. it seemed to me that some of the platformer manuever, like jump over a long break, was predetermined. players cannot control how far, how strong they are going to jump. the level design was quite linear. however, the best thing in terms of any platforming games was the Dahoka chase. although it does suffer some camera inconsistency, it confirms myself that competitive platforming will be an absolute blast. but camera issue will definetly need to be addressed. and how much player's control over some aspect of platformer game mechanics need to be addressed too.
now let's talk about psychonauts. i loved psychonauts. the camera in the game was quite wonderful until the last level, which was terrible for that type of camera... it has an glide mechanics, which add insurance to the success of a jump. however, there's still not much skill involved. at least that's what i remembered. the feeling of physics was great. which helps in many places. it's a bit different from prince of persia. Prince of Persia's level design was very tight, and linear. but Psychonuats' level design was open and not as linear.
all the games mentioned above, their designers created their platform engine according to their needs, except for Oni, they just created for fun mostly, i felt... now, i haven't tried assassin's creed or mirror's edge. personally, i am interested in mirror's edge right now. because i am wondering what kind competitive platforming do they have? i always felt that with camera placed above my character's back would be impossible to do anything like PoP. However, now i see that i should brainstorm for the new stuff rather than just thinking about PoP. my idea of competitive platforming was from 2D platforming. i remembered that for some jumps, you really need skill to perform in rockman and metroid series. for example, some people could wall jump to the places i could not and the time run trials...etc.
to sum up from what i really said above and questions for further thinking:
the first thing i think should be solved is camera issue though. my idea of ideal camera placement in third person action games is nailed above the back of the character i am playing. but it does have a few problems. first, it minimizes player's estimation for jump distance. second, it sometimes got blocked by the objects between camera and the character; or in the case of cornering, camera could stocked at a weird angle, which then interfered with the gameplay. although second problem was solved in Rune as far as i am concerned. there're still many developers did not use that option. so i say, use something like Rune, please... for the first problems, i'd think that make sure the physics in the game feel right; and make hanging in the air, like gliding an option. in addition to this two, i'd really like to request a weird option, which is design as many camera options as possible. i loved king's quest mask of eternity for a free form camera control although many cried against it. but i loved it. mostly, i'd like to express the wish for good numbers of camera options in the game. for, it's the soul of third person aciton game in my opinion.
Oni was an amazing game. i always loved the quote from avault's Oni review,
"Even a partial list of her moves sounds like a TV commercial for Ginsu knives: “She hits, kicks, runs, rolls, jumps, slides and flips with the greatest of ease! The amazing Konoko!”(Review by: David Laprad) "
and yes, Oni can do all these with never before seen grace, and none can compared to her even today. the problem for Oni was not that she's lacking the movements. the problem for Oni was that there's no meaning for Oni's most of her movements. what i am saying is that you could play through most of the level without using many of the amazingly fluid platformer animations. And in today's standards, lacking wallrun, wall jump, and hanging onto the edge of walls were a big let down also. whatever function game designers were creating for the character, he better assign meanings to it. or otherwise, it got wasted! the jump animation in the game was a bit weird to me too. there seemed to be a gliding senstaion when Oni jumped, which was out of place in terms of physics in the game. at least to me personally, since there're some people who don't feel a thing. Oni did not use a camera like Rune, it used similar but totally different. Rune's camera was not obtrusive because, when cornered, the character can be seen through. Bungie said, no, we don't want that. so they went and designed an environment that when Oni was cornering, players can see through the wall and see Oni... lol
prince of persia SoT series was a prime example of platformer games. the smoothness of doing all the gymastic stuff with the prince was amazing. and since it's a platformer first, combat second, there's almost no waste in prince's gymastic talents. however, there's not much room for competitive multiplayer either. the camera for PC was not very consistent. it seemed to me that some of the platformer manuever, like jump over a long break, was predetermined. players cannot control how far, how strong they are going to jump. the level design was quite linear. however, the best thing in terms of any platforming games was the Dahoka chase. although it does suffer some camera inconsistency, it confirms myself that competitive platforming will be an absolute blast. but camera issue will definetly need to be addressed. and how much player's control over some aspect of platformer game mechanics need to be addressed too.
now let's talk about psychonauts. i loved psychonauts. the camera in the game was quite wonderful until the last level, which was terrible for that type of camera... it has an glide mechanics, which add insurance to the success of a jump. however, there's still not much skill involved. at least that's what i remembered. the feeling of physics was great. which helps in many places. it's a bit different from prince of persia. Prince of Persia's level design was very tight, and linear. but Psychonuats' level design was open and not as linear.
all the games mentioned above, their designers created their platform engine according to their needs, except for Oni, they just created for fun mostly, i felt... now, i haven't tried assassin's creed or mirror's edge. personally, i am interested in mirror's edge right now. because i am wondering what kind competitive platforming do they have? i always felt that with camera placed above my character's back would be impossible to do anything like PoP. However, now i see that i should brainstorm for the new stuff rather than just thinking about PoP. my idea of competitive platforming was from 2D platforming. i remembered that for some jumps, you really need skill to perform in rockman and metroid series. for example, some people could wall jump to the places i could not and the time run trials...etc.
to sum up from what i really said above and questions for further thinking:
- i would like a game character do all the stuff like Oni with new tricks as well.
- i would like a game designed around those tricks Oni had plus new tricks too.
- the camera is mighty important, i would love to have as many options for it as possible.
- how much should be controlled by the designers in terms of platofrm manueverablity?
- should competitive platforming be designed in an open environment or all following a linear path?
- what modes should be in the competitive platforming? what's the reward? and what should be considered skills in such competition?
Tp action game brainstorming
i love third person action games. to me, good action games should always have two satisfying game mechanics, one is melee combat, the other one is platformer. i think every gamer would always dreamed what his dream game would be. I am no exceptions.
i love Prince of Persia SOT series, Oni, Blade of Darkness Severance, bushido blade series, and Psychonauts. so i keep thinking how to combine all of the great elements in those games. I know i need to try to convince other people so i could start my project. (that is...in my dreams...) because doing a third person action game focused primariy on melee combat is a dangerous thing. Oni and Bod Severance were two prime example of it. The market share for this type of games is very limited. it seemed that only the hardcore of the hardcore would be willing to invest time and energy to play through a game, in which the only meaningful gameplay was one repetitive melee combat after another. However, i know there're people who'd die to play this kind games. so what i'd propose to solve the profit problem for this kind game is to integrate melee combat and platformer together. but instead focusing on single player mode, we focusing on multiplayer mode. I mean, console fighting games went online, sports game like madden went online, racing games went online. why not creating a engine to integrate both platformer and melee combat online?
what i have in mind is a very hardcore melee combat mechanics. it is a combination of weapon and hand to hand, or weapon against empty handed combat system. it should be much more detailed and realistic in both departments than in Oni, or BoD Severance. in addition, by adding platformer, i hope to open a numerous modes of online plays, with some integrated with the combat engine. which could include time trials, 2 to 8 people racing, or mario cart style of platforemer racing...etc. i wish to hone the online multipayler to the perfection, but let the players, or modders using both melee engine and platformer engine to create their own stories. The game will be released with simplest game structure, something like Mount and Blades, with level design tools. and for the add-ons, it's not just new single players campaign, or story, it may not even have that. there would be new stuffs modders and gamers could utilize to create their levels, new skins, new movements, new formations for armies, maybe to improve upon the dialogue systems, and many other things. by publishing adds on, it's a service to a huge community. but also a chance to expand our multiplayer experience.
but of course, it's just never to happen ideas...:p
i love Prince of Persia SOT series, Oni, Blade of Darkness Severance, bushido blade series, and Psychonauts. so i keep thinking how to combine all of the great elements in those games. I know i need to try to convince other people so i could start my project. (that is...in my dreams...) because doing a third person action game focused primariy on melee combat is a dangerous thing. Oni and Bod Severance were two prime example of it. The market share for this type of games is very limited. it seemed that only the hardcore of the hardcore would be willing to invest time and energy to play through a game, in which the only meaningful gameplay was one repetitive melee combat after another. However, i know there're people who'd die to play this kind games. so what i'd propose to solve the profit problem for this kind game is to integrate melee combat and platformer together. but instead focusing on single player mode, we focusing on multiplayer mode. I mean, console fighting games went online, sports game like madden went online, racing games went online. why not creating a engine to integrate both platformer and melee combat online?
what i have in mind is a very hardcore melee combat mechanics. it is a combination of weapon and hand to hand, or weapon against empty handed combat system. it should be much more detailed and realistic in both departments than in Oni, or BoD Severance. in addition, by adding platformer, i hope to open a numerous modes of online plays, with some integrated with the combat engine. which could include time trials, 2 to 8 people racing, or mario cart style of platforemer racing...etc. i wish to hone the online multipayler to the perfection, but let the players, or modders using both melee engine and platformer engine to create their own stories. The game will be released with simplest game structure, something like Mount and Blades, with level design tools. and for the add-ons, it's not just new single players campaign, or story, it may not even have that. there would be new stuffs modders and gamers could utilize to create their levels, new skins, new movements, new formations for armies, maybe to improve upon the dialogue systems, and many other things. by publishing adds on, it's a service to a huge community. but also a chance to expand our multiplayer experience.
but of course, it's just never to happen ideas...:p
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
thinking of you
thinking of you.
illusion
for comfort.
but no more
than
illusion itself
think of you
like tomorrow
big smile flow through
the door
yellow
like old comfort picture
burn
yet desire for you to be
here
imagination with wild
amazement
bloom
to spring
hop and hop
and yes
till i drop
illusion
for comfort.
but no more
than
illusion itself
think of you
like tomorrow
big smile flow through
the door
yellow
like old comfort picture
burn
yet desire for you to be
here
imagination with wild
amazement
bloom
to spring
hop and hop
and yes
till i drop
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
boring trends in third Person Action game
i love third person action games. but i feel unease about the current trends of designing philosophy behind this genre.
The first game i bought was king's quest mask of eternity. It's a blend of adventure, RPG, and action genre. i was hooked since then. I played Oni, MDK, Rune, Heavy metal FAKK2, Blade of Darkness Severance, Max Payne series, Devil may cry, bushido blade series, Tenchu series, Outcast, Prince of Persia SOT series, Zelda Wind Waker, psychonauts, and many many more. I found each one of them was an exciting piece of work. i was very excited to look forward for new games to come. But i was disappointed gradually. Very disappointed nowadays even.
the reason for this is because, most of the TP action games went to one of the two directions, shooting or quicktime event. I loved melee and platform in TP action games. I don't hate shooting if designed well, like MDK. most of the TP games now revolved around shooting, not melee. it is degrading in my opinion. because 8 years ago, fighting in TP game was much more diverse and awesome. Oni and Blade of Darkness Severance were the prime example of melee combat excellent games. There are other hardcores would even point to Die by the Sword as a reference.
i'd like to venture a guess for why shooting is extremely popular among the game designers. It's a very easy mechanics to design compared to melee combat. there's not so much collision detection to sweat over. There's not as much animation to grudge about. although today's standard of shooting in games were already raised much higher than MDK. It seemed to me, the whole process still just came down to Person A shoot Person B, Person B react animation to where bullets supposed to register, animations of being shot was then activated. i don't see the need for collision detection. Even it does need to have Collision Detection, the amount of it was largely reduced compared to the real melee combat. And you even need to consider, what happend if the melee combat has multiple enemies. Collision Detection would be hell. animation would be a torture.
The quicktime event... le sigh. it must be one of the worst invention in video game history. From God of War's big battle to Resident Evil 4's wagging to escape situation. To me, the invention is invented to relieve game developers' brain cells. Of course, there's consideration for the gamers as well. But rather than saying it's for the gamers, Market share should be a bigger blame for it. As the video game emerging to become a huge profitable industry. the goal for any coporation is to increase profit. So, nintendo invented the wii, and other game companies, including Sony, microsoft, invented quicktime event to lure more people to gaming. no, nintendo invented Wii alright, others just recycled old stuff and mass produced it. what's quicktime event? as a player, you just randomly pressed buttoms according the queue on the TV screen. What's easier than this? It's also easier for the developers to pull off some dramatic and awesome looking sequences without messing with the control. However, games with quicktime events do not feel like playing anymore. because as players, they are not doing the action on the monitor which translated to mean that players are not playing in my opinion. They are merely like a well trained dog responding to the bell, which reminded them of lunches.
Talking about melee, which made me so sad. when we looked back 10 years ago. everybody is experimenting with their own ideas. from those years, Oni was born, BoD Severance and Rune were born. Heavy Metal FAKK2 was there. Bushido Blade series was out. even crazy as die by the sword attracted die hard fans everywhere. The combat, with hand or with weapon was getting more and more detailed. Some of the game, like Oni, bushido blade, and Blade of Darkness Severance were almost as good as any real fighting games on the market; even had a lot more potention in creating an exciting story line than any of the fighting games on the market. but they withered and died... now, we de-evolutioned into arcadish action games, like ninja gaiden, devil may cry, and god of war. i don't hate those games. i played two out of three from the list. but it's so different from Oni, blade of darkness, or bushido blade. even when the blood was flying like a raging volcanoe in ninja gaiden, i felt detached. i didnt feel empowered or involved when god of war groweled like female cat in Spring time. i cant' even mention about the quicktime event in god of war, it made no sense at all. it's a very sad decade when most of the game developers are trying to make movies rather than games. using quicktime as a device, i felt it's game designers who are playing gamers rather than gamers playing the game the designers made.
as a side note, i am more a pc gamer than console. i felt in this degrading trend for melee combat console was a huge factor. It is very sad and extremely annoying. But there's always a light shine through darkness. For me, it's the arrive of the Mount and Blades. I could almost felt through my hand when my opponent blocked my weapons! it's incredible!
The first game i bought was king's quest mask of eternity. It's a blend of adventure, RPG, and action genre. i was hooked since then. I played Oni, MDK, Rune, Heavy metal FAKK2, Blade of Darkness Severance, Max Payne series, Devil may cry, bushido blade series, Tenchu series, Outcast, Prince of Persia SOT series, Zelda Wind Waker, psychonauts, and many many more. I found each one of them was an exciting piece of work. i was very excited to look forward for new games to come. But i was disappointed gradually. Very disappointed nowadays even.
the reason for this is because, most of the TP action games went to one of the two directions, shooting or quicktime event. I loved melee and platform in TP action games. I don't hate shooting if designed well, like MDK. most of the TP games now revolved around shooting, not melee. it is degrading in my opinion. because 8 years ago, fighting in TP game was much more diverse and awesome. Oni and Blade of Darkness Severance were the prime example of melee combat excellent games. There are other hardcores would even point to Die by the Sword as a reference.
i'd like to venture a guess for why shooting is extremely popular among the game designers. It's a very easy mechanics to design compared to melee combat. there's not so much collision detection to sweat over. There's not as much animation to grudge about. although today's standard of shooting in games were already raised much higher than MDK. It seemed to me, the whole process still just came down to Person A shoot Person B, Person B react animation to where bullets supposed to register, animations of being shot was then activated. i don't see the need for collision detection. Even it does need to have Collision Detection, the amount of it was largely reduced compared to the real melee combat. And you even need to consider, what happend if the melee combat has multiple enemies. Collision Detection would be hell. animation would be a torture.
The quicktime event... le sigh. it must be one of the worst invention in video game history. From God of War's big battle to Resident Evil 4's wagging to escape situation. To me, the invention is invented to relieve game developers' brain cells. Of course, there's consideration for the gamers as well. But rather than saying it's for the gamers, Market share should be a bigger blame for it. As the video game emerging to become a huge profitable industry. the goal for any coporation is to increase profit. So, nintendo invented the wii, and other game companies, including Sony, microsoft, invented quicktime event to lure more people to gaming. no, nintendo invented Wii alright, others just recycled old stuff and mass produced it. what's quicktime event? as a player, you just randomly pressed buttoms according the queue on the TV screen. What's easier than this? It's also easier for the developers to pull off some dramatic and awesome looking sequences without messing with the control. However, games with quicktime events do not feel like playing anymore. because as players, they are not doing the action on the monitor which translated to mean that players are not playing in my opinion. They are merely like a well trained dog responding to the bell, which reminded them of lunches.
Talking about melee, which made me so sad. when we looked back 10 years ago. everybody is experimenting with their own ideas. from those years, Oni was born, BoD Severance and Rune were born. Heavy Metal FAKK2 was there. Bushido Blade series was out. even crazy as die by the sword attracted die hard fans everywhere. The combat, with hand or with weapon was getting more and more detailed. Some of the game, like Oni, bushido blade, and Blade of Darkness Severance were almost as good as any real fighting games on the market; even had a lot more potention in creating an exciting story line than any of the fighting games on the market. but they withered and died... now, we de-evolutioned into arcadish action games, like ninja gaiden, devil may cry, and god of war. i don't hate those games. i played two out of three from the list. but it's so different from Oni, blade of darkness, or bushido blade. even when the blood was flying like a raging volcanoe in ninja gaiden, i felt detached. i didnt feel empowered or involved when god of war groweled like female cat in Spring time. i cant' even mention about the quicktime event in god of war, it made no sense at all. it's a very sad decade when most of the game developers are trying to make movies rather than games. using quicktime as a device, i felt it's game designers who are playing gamers rather than gamers playing the game the designers made.
as a side note, i am more a pc gamer than console. i felt in this degrading trend for melee combat console was a huge factor. It is very sad and extremely annoying. But there's always a light shine through darkness. For me, it's the arrive of the Mount and Blades. I could almost felt through my hand when my opponent blocked my weapons! it's incredible!
Monday, December 15, 2008
random
i read a book about the big predators of the world, their roles in the ecologic realm, their present status in recent years, and the impact of their declination from nature. i read another book with the same attitude a while back, the monsters of god. it's an interesting topic. i wish to know about it more.
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i am not in a good state of mind lately. i could do something alright. but more and more annoyed i became. wished for a tender encounter. but of course, i hated that feeling. not really deserving it in any possible way. comparing with my mom, she's the one that need the utmost comfort. Not me. wished to take her up high, honor her. but the more i think i could not. cursing myself would at the same time cursed her. but how much i hate, despise, resent, look down upon myself. it's absolutely terrifying. now talking about it riled me up with hatred and evil intent. no, not really... that's another sad and funny part, i am too tired to do anything.
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i made a dumpling the second time last Sunday. i finally made a successful fillings this time. when i say successful, i meant there's a soup came out after you cooked the dumplings. i was quite happy. i am not really sure about the reason of the success though. my guess is that compared to the first time i made two weeks ago, the veggie-meat proportion of the fillings a lot more veggie this time around. yet, the fillings did not feel less meaty than two weeks ago. this is an interesting notion.
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i am not in a good state of mind lately. i could do something alright. but more and more annoyed i became. wished for a tender encounter. but of course, i hated that feeling. not really deserving it in any possible way. comparing with my mom, she's the one that need the utmost comfort. Not me. wished to take her up high, honor her. but the more i think i could not. cursing myself would at the same time cursed her. but how much i hate, despise, resent, look down upon myself. it's absolutely terrifying. now talking about it riled me up with hatred and evil intent. no, not really... that's another sad and funny part, i am too tired to do anything.
+++++++++++++++
i made a dumpling the second time last Sunday. i finally made a successful fillings this time. when i say successful, i meant there's a soup came out after you cooked the dumplings. i was quite happy. i am not really sure about the reason of the success though. my guess is that compared to the first time i made two weeks ago, the veggie-meat proportion of the fillings a lot more veggie this time around. yet, the fillings did not feel less meaty than two weeks ago. this is an interesting notion.
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Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Quino's comics
When i was young, my mom brought me many books. For books was and still is the symbol of knowledge, knowledge of all kinds. She even brought me many picture books like comic strips from Tsai Chi Chung(蔡志忠). Few of them survived the journey when we moved to USA. When I got older, I became very fond of a series among those remaining picture books. It's called Mafalda. The author was an Argentina man, Quino is his pen name. Mafalda series was translated by San Mao(三毛). I was so fond of Mafalda, I searched internet for other things created by Quino. The result was a spectacular discovery! There are very few words in Quino's works, even less coversations, especially for the work outside of Mafalda. However, every picture brought something surprising and delightful view of the world. Quino wrote a lot of things with his pictures. Sometimes, it's about politics, sometimes, it's about humanity. No matte which subject, Quino found so many amusing ways to hone his ideas into his pcitures. I shall not describe them with the stupitidy of my pen. Here're a few of them to showcase Quino's great comics.
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