singlespace

It's going to be interesting to see what the funding numbers for video game Kickstarters ends up being for 2014. I get the impression that it's considerably less than last year.

I'm not sure how the mechanics will actually work out: they give me a bit of pause as well since some of them are describe in a fashion that seem contrary to the more serene tone of the art.

Kill Screen has an article up, but it's not really about Firewatch and more about the author's own interest in RNS posters: http://killscreendaily.com/articles/firewatchs-design-rich-american-history/ Huh, I guess the link between NPS posters and Firewatch wasn't a stretch after-all: http://blog.camposanto.com/post/100680711679/i-asked-twitter-if-anyone-had-questions-about-the

It is, though there are far more flagrant examples such as the arrangement of buttons and placement of typography on all phone dialers, the usage of virtual cards that act as physical surfaces regardless of how they're aesthetically presented, the shutter sound used in cameras, car doors being intentionally weighted even though it not only costs more to manufacture, but also makes car doors less safe.

Ah skeuomorphism. I have a pet peeve with people using the term because it became a minor part of the general public's zeitgeist via the largely design ignorant press, hence what the general public thinks of skeuomorphism, if they're aware of the concept at all, is wrong. People will often conflate the visual aesthetic and presentation of an element with the actual form of an element, so you'll hear people talking about how bad skeuomorphism is with things such as rich Corinthian leather and 70s wood paneling, but they don't realize that even the most modern UX design using the flat aesthetic still relies heavily upon skeuomorphic cues.

Remember CS ninja-ing?

Anyone have an invite free?

Yeah, that's one of the things I really enjoyed: I'm a 5.12 climber in real-life and it's nice when people take the time to get the details right.

Thanks, I wasn't having much luck with my weak Google-fu.

Does anyone know of actual science supporting these arguments? I like to believe that art has the impact of influencing perception, so I'm apt to believe the presented logic, but is there any hard data to backup it up?

Carmack up in 20

I don't know, but I would imagine it's in the same vein as targeted marketing and demographics where you carefully engineer your content to fit the audience you're trying to ingratiate yourself with. I remember an article on statistical techniques employed by both the Democrats and Republicans in speech writing where they would runs hundreds of trials to determine what specific words and phrasing were most effective at changing the perception of an audience without actually modifying the substance of what was being said. Apparently the technique had been demonstrated to be quite effective by corporations and some of those quantitative analysis folks were recruited. I would imagine it's roughly the same idea, though not nearly to same degree.

It's a really marketing like play, but seem extremely common these days. I was surprised when I found out that the song in the bar scene from Star Trek Into Darkness was different in a whole host of countries. Here's a sample: Australia Brazil France Japan Mexico United Kingdom USA

Sorry, but Vancouver will forever remain as every far flung future location and occasionally Virginia for no apparent reason.

New 30 minute walkthrough!

This is the best possible outcome.

This is the only reasonable solution and should definitely happen.

My issue with discarding works based on contemporary moral standards is that we would necessarily have to discard valuable pieces that played an important role in their respectives arts by virtue of their moral sensibilities of the time. Postcolonial works like Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness come to mind as examples of works that would be struck as does pretty much every work of H.P. Lovecraft. I have friends who love Breakfast at Tiffany's and consider it an important work in the development of the modern American aesthetic for romantic comedy across all mediums. It's a film that won two Academy Awards, was nominated for five, was inducted into the Library of Congress' permanent collection in the National Film Registry and produced one of the most memorable themes in history of film. It also was nominated for AFI's 100 most important American films of the past century. It also happens to be incredibly racist. You could say that we should only strike those works which are clearly racist and have no importance, but who exactly should make that decision? Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been accused of being overtly racist many times over the years even though it's a satirical work that was lauded not only as one of the most important works of American literature, but also an exceptionally anti-racist work especially considering the time in which it was published. Critics and authors were still disputing whether or not Huckleberry Finn was racist or not for quite literally a century. Like it or not, there are many works of great cultural importance that are incredibly sexist, racist, and otherwise morally offensive today. There are undoubtedly many works that we wouldn't bat an eye at right now, which will become offensive in the future. It might seem crass and objectionable to allow corporations and what not to profit on what we consider morally objectionable, but if we start censoring works, how would we identify what is important and what is not? As late as the 1960s, a bit shy of half century after Lovecraft's most productive years, critics were still maintaining that Lovecraft was just a pulp hack and that his works were of little literary worth. Today, almost a century after his first work was published, Lovecraft is largely considered one of the most influential authors of horror. Who would have been the curator and conservator for Lovecraft other than publishers and other commercial entities when his works were considered inconsequential? Who would have protected his so called pulp stories when they ceased to be socially acceptable? More importantly, if these morally offensive works were not available, what impact would it have on succeeding generations? Many authors, directors, and animators credit works that would be considered offensive today as their greatest influences, including contemporary artists such as Joyce Carol Oates and Hayao Miyazaki.

New TGS trailer:

I don't think I've ever heard Chris talking about board games, so maybe he's just not very familiar with many board game mechanics? I found the description pretty easy to follow, but I play a lot of board games.

All Canadians for ex-communicating Sarkeesian for her crimes against maple syrup please raise your hands and say yea.

Hey Javy! Good to have you here.

To be fair, Danielle has done everything eighty times.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

You all are humour terrorists and should be punished to the full extent of the law.