I’m really bad with the camera in this game, constantly moving it around to scan the horizon — like in an FPS. In fact I’m generally bad at marble games, having never had any interest in them growing up.
It’s really weird to play multiplayer with trash talking marbles.
Blake recently introduced me to Etsy, which is an online marketplace for handmade goods such as this OMGWTF patch. Sellers put up their wares and Etsy takes a cut. So far, so eBay, right?
What really caught my attention (and took more words to explain than del.icio.us would give me) is how easy it is to get a bird’s eye view of everything for sale. The Sampler is pretty familiar, letting you sort by top items or top sellers, for example. The GeoLocator shows you nearby sellers, so that you can buy local. Shopping by Color is similar to what you’d find on a tshirt rack in a vintage store. This is pretty useful since most of the content is fashion and art right now, but more importantly, it’s fun to play with. But not as fun as the Time Machine, which uses the mouse wheel to scroll back through the most recently bought items.
As Blake points out, someone at Etsy has read Richard Saul Wurman’s ideas about of sorting information to make it more accessible. Not only is this visually appealing, it’s far less intimdating to peruse than eBay!
Only a Game on Mimicry, via RobinThere are many hardcore players (by which I mean, players for whom playing videogames is a lifestyle priority) who claim that graphics are irrelevant to good games. Such players are probably expressing their own bias towards ludic (formal & rule-driven) play. It is categorically not true of all people that graphics do not matter. In fact, the converse is indicated: as a mimicry enhancer, graphics are absolutely critical to the success of games in the mass market. However, most games fritter away their graphical advantages by delivering play in a more ludic and agonistic (competitive) context - thus appealing to the players for whom the improvements in graphics are at best an added bonus. That said, the step up in graphics between each generation is becoming rather marginal (games on the Xbox 360 look only marginally better than games on the Xbox to the average person): innovative play design is likely to become progressively more important.
Emphasis mine. Interesting thoughts on how graphics are important for mimicry, but that we’re getting diminishing returns by only making more accurate games for FPS players, who focus primarily on the core gameplay. Look at professional gamers, who turn the graphics down to improve framerate, or complain that the HDR in Day of Defeat put players with beefier machines at a disadvantage.
That said, there are casual FPS players — raises hand — that would benefit from prettier games, but certainly fewer than those who would benefit if we focused on different problems, like puppy simulators :)
Edit/Case in Point: Today’s Penny Arcade discusses how they did a preorder for Black, suckered in by the “gun porn,” then realized there wasn’t anything new gameplay wise.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
I’m not sure why ovens don’t yet have built in smoke alarm detectors — adjustable per food type — with an emergency cut off switch. I’m guessing it’s either cost prohibitive, or a safety feature that’s considered outside the domain of what ovens should do. But my space heater turns itself off and buzzes loudly if it’s knocked over.
Happy Buy Nothing Day!
But those of you looking for older but excellent games to buy tomorrow should check out Amazon’s new Games You Should Play section, where I’ve written reviews for Battlefield 2, Full Spectrum Warrior, and Shadow of the Colussus.
I’ve been sitting on the interviewer side of the table recently and it’s been clarifying how I currently think about game design.
Chuckie Eames:“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”
It’s hard to quantify what makes a good designer, but I’ve been looking for abstract thought, the ability to separate mechanics from story, efficiency through asset and code reuse, creativity despite this limitation, and the ability to empathize with other types of players and recognize that what is fun for you may not be fun for others. This is all colored by how articulately one can do this, given some leeway to the awkwardness of being in an interview.
Basically, whether someone can strip a design down to its component parts, prioritize them and make a case for the development time, and then repaint and reuse those building blocks in creative ways that are exploit-resistant — while supporting social interaction, addictive behavior, and scalability for currently triaged functionality.
I also like buzzwords.