Jason Bakker
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Posts posted by Jason Bakker
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Thanks a heap for this podcast, Steve. I'm getting a lot out of these discussions - the thing I love the most is how you get your interviewees thinking critically about their development process, often in a new light. It seems like in multiple episodes now I've heard the interviewees say "I'm realising this as I'm talking about it" or whatever; that's really cool.
Also, I feel like I'm learning heaps about design, story and production with each episode. The point about internal consistency is a very salient one; it doesn't matter how wacky your world is as long as your characters treat it seriously. Thought-provoking stuff!
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This podcast was really enjoyable. And there were many hot scoops! Well done, Scoops.
iTunes hasn't picked up the feed yet, but I downloaded Instacast today (which apparently is better than the default podcast app) which just lets you point it straight at the web feed.
I'm using Downcast (recommended on these very forums by one tabacco), and that is also able to grab it off the feed url.
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Honestly comparing my daily experience (with particular regard to interactions with strangers and in the workplace) with my partner's was a huge wake-up call for me. I began to realise exactly how out of whack things still are equality-wise, and how important a movement feminism is.
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"The Colour Out Of Space" is the secret best Lovecraft story, and possibly my favourite horror story ever.
A couple of years back I read through the Call of Cthulhu collection with the metal cover, and "The Colour Out of Space" is definitely one of my favourites.
His less-great stories still work well for me (I remember enjoying "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"), but I must admit that, especially when reading so many one after the other, there are similarities across stories that make some of them blur together, or feel a bit repetitive.
Similar to how I read Cosmicomics, I found it way better to wait a while between each story. I think I put the collection down for a few months before coming back to it at one point, and that worked really well.
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Linking this op-ed piece by Anna Gunn, the actress that plays Skyler White on Breaking Bad, about the vitriol she's received for playing the part. (Note: it contains mild spoilers, but not for anything recent.)
The situation is depressing, but the way she has handled it is pretty inspirational. I actually stopped watching Breaking Bad early in Season 2 because I found it too dark, but this makes me want to get back into it again.
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/ghost, /idlethumbs and /camposantogames also absent. It's like they don't even care about us.
Fledgling Video Game Studio Shuts Doors After Spending All Time Creating In-Joke URLs
"We're proud of what we managed to achieve"
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I finally signed up to Audible via /wizard a month ago, and grabbed this "Great Course" with my free credit - The Other Side of History - Daily Life in the Ancient World. I've been listening to it like a podcast, and it's been amazing; it has pretty incredible coverage of daily life throughout the growth of Western civilization.. I now feel like there's way more continuity in my knowledge of history than there used to be. Plus it's just an enjoyable listen - who wouldn't want to know what it was like to be an average Mycenaean? (Spoilers: It wasn't great.)
I think I'm going to try out some more courses and see whether others live up to the quality of that first one.
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I knew I was doing something wrong, my bad!
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It's not part of the forums, but wasn't sure where else to post this: on the Dota Today page ( http://www.idlethumbs.net/dotatoday ) the bottom left area has "YOUR SEO CONTENT HERE!" (next to the "More Episodes in the Archive" link). On other Dota Today related pages in that area is the following:
Dota TodayA Lords Management Podcast
Which I'd guess would make sense on the base Dota Today page as well.
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In the game thread I posted thoughts on PvZ going free to play: http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/8817-plants-vs-zombies-2-its-about-time/page-2
I think I groaned the loudest of anyone when I heard that PvZ was going to free to play. But if the game is fucking over anyone, it's the people who pay money and suck the difficulty ramp out of it. This is one of the only f2p games I don't hate, one of the only exceptions to the free to play trend.
This fits with my partner's experience with Plants vs. Zombies 2, I must admit - she's up to the last level and has received enough keys to unlock everything without grinding or spending money. (She has looked up YouTube videos for sweet tips/tricks on a couple of particularly difficult levels, however.) It'll be interesting to hear, Jake, if you ever hit that gross point of feeling the game pushing you toward the in-app purchases.
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Meh... there will always be companies who'd like me as a customer.
The take-away that Twitter person has from that percentage is pretty stupid. Five percent of whatever the total App Store revenue is is still an intensely huge amount of money, and there is no doubt in my mind that it's still a viable market.
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This looks rather engrossing if you have the ability to visualize these spaces. Stevie Wonder is asking developers to make games for blind people on the VGAs? Someone should tell him about this stuff.
On the MUD that I used to play a heap (Discworld MUD), there was definitely at least one prominent player that was blind IRL.
I think the key advantage that MUDs had over MMOs is the same advantage books have over visual media; anything that is describable could exist in the world, and easily. Roleplaying in particular was really endemic to the process of playing the game, as you could just free-write a description of yourself, including what you looked like, what clothes you wore and so forth. Then people would usually find in-world items and abilities to match their descriptions of themselves.
DW MUD is still going I think; you can play it off the site here: http://discworld.starturtle.net/lpc/ .
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Yeah, I just finished reading this today. It's interesting taking a step back and thinking about the themes and reasons why DFW wrote it. I read this (a transcript of his Kenyon College commencement speech "This Is Water") partway through, and I think that framed a lot of what I took away from the book -
not so much the puzzle that you can attempt to piece together at the end of it, but the journey that he takes you on, and the honest exploration of clichéd ideas and human processes.
I really, really enjoyed it. -
This is the third time Sean's mentioned the Queen of Pain Feminism Ban. Somebody make that man a client-side QoP mod already! Maybe a tasteful frock (or the old lazy standby: invisible torso textures) and some dubbing over the more ridiculous barks. (I would use that mod too.)
You mean a "Queen of Spain" mod?
"For Castile!" "Bow to your sovereign!" "Conquistadors, ride!"
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Yeah, I think I was just applying an incorrect interpretation of what "transmedia" means that was based on combining the elements of the compound word rather than the actual definition.
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I've only just started playing Dota 2, but from what I've played of LoL the surrender option definitely felt like it had its place. You did occasionally get the people who whinge on chat calling for surrender votes too early, but the combination of a delay before surrender votes could be started (10m I think?) and delays after failed votes meant that it was only marginally more annoying than them just spamming the chat. The other issue mentioned seems a bit trickier - surrendering when you might have been able to turn it around and win - but in practice if you're in with a shot (and human beings on average seem pretty optimistic about thinking that), you won't support a vote for a surrender.
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While listening I kind of expected Telltale's The Walking Dead to be referenced when Chris was talking about transmedia stuff, but I've since realised that maybe it doesn't count as transmedia, as while it's set in the Walking Dead universe it may not fit into Wikipedia's description of "telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies." It's set in the same universe, but isn't telling the same story as the comic or T.V. show. What do you guys think?
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"This Dota Today brought to you by Potato Doritos"I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Dotato Day.
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You seem really on the ball!
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I uh, think you might be more lucid when you're drunk. Is that possible?
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From that link (another superb piece of prose), on the use of "he":
It didn't make sense to call him "Cromwell", as if he were somewhere across the room. I called him "he".
Similar to many of you, I was confused for a moment at some of the uses of "he"/"him", but definitely feel that it adds to the feel of the prose. For me it made him feel more intimate, and also gave him more of a forceful personality; made him the centre of each interaction, even as he converses with a king, as (*checks previous page*, of course) The Argobot previously mentioned.
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Thanks for your collective insights, I think I have a better handle on framing my thinking on the subject.
For more reading on the exhaustive research Mantel did/is doing for this trilogy, here's the text of a speech she recently gave on British royalty (the speech is actually more about Bring Up the Bodies than it is Wolf Hall, but it's really worth reading and gives you a good idea of how much thought Mantel has put into these books): http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies
Argh, that writing. She takes you firmly by the elbow and walks you through her thoughts.
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Every time Nick chimes in during this podcast after the Neptune's Pride discussion, he seems slightly distracted; he seems to exist alongside the discussion, no doubt as he continues to formulate plans, theories and stratagems.
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I finished this book a week ago, and loved it.
Now, I'll just come out and say it: I hadn't even heard the name Cromwell before; I've got smatterings of historical knowledge regarding certain eras, but my knowledge of Henry VIII's reign consisted of knowing that:
- one of the Henrys had a bunch of wives
- at some point the Church of England was established
I don't even have a third dot point.
So, coming to this book from that perspective was pretty cool; I had no idea that this base-born Cromwell fellow was going to rise to the station that he did, or that he'd play such a pivotal role in history, and learning about that rise as it "happened" was very enjoyable.
I purposefully kept away from Wikipedia while reading, so only afterward found out that Cromwell is usually painted in a negative light, and More positive, which offends me probably overly much, as from my perspective Cromwell is identifiable, big-hearted and well aware of his flaws, while More is just a dick.
Actually, I have a question for the people here who do actually know something about the period - how fictional exactly is Mantel's take on the events that occur? I realise that a lot of the details were probably estimated (for instance how Mantel has mentioned that she put two and two together regarding Cromwell's crying being partially due to the loss of his wife and daughters), but can I give it a similar level of credence I'd give another source of information on the topic that's labelled "non-fiction"?
Your Favourite Book This Year (2013)
in Books
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I should really read some Alice Munro - I remember enjoying her short story "Axis" on the New Yorker Fiction Podcast; it's a subtle and complex story that's stuck in my head since I listened to it.
Like many of you, I read a heap of good fiction this year thanks to the Idle Book Club, but I think my favourite was also Infinite Jest. I can't think of a book that I've read this year (or for a long time, for that matter) that has changed my world-view more than IJ.