Dewar

Here's the things in free to play that I don't like: 1) FTP mechanics in games that I actually paid for 2) Energy type mechanics that stop me from being able to play unless I pay 3) Random boxes (STO style) that contain a couple of good items but mostly crap that you have to pay to open Here's the things I do like 1) FTP items that are mostly cosmetic like DOTA costumes (which slightly cancels out #3 above in that case) 2) Additional maps (thus ensuring that anyone playing on those maps has still all paid the same amount to get there) asuming that there's some real effort put in there and they're not just crapping computer generated maps 3) XP/Gold Boosts, provided that the actual game is not ballanced so badly as to require these things to make playing it tolerable.

I'm not really into playing the prototypes, but I'm in just to watch the video coverage.

Since no one has floated a time/date yet, I'd like to throw out that I've got time this Sunday to hang around for 4 hours or so. I'm thinking between Noon and 4pm pacific (3-7 eastern.) I'm a bit flexible on time if enough people are interested in joining up.

I agree, as someone who got a Bachelor's in Chemistry and is now working in IT, that working on a lot of games will be better for future job hunting than getting a piece of paper from a university, with the following caveats. First, there are a lot of programming concepts laid down in the first few CS classes that can be really handy in building basic skills such as logical thinking and programming structure. These are certainly things that could also be learned from books or from online classes, all depending on how you learn best I guess. Second, having a degree (no matter what it is in) does prove to perspective employers that you are capable of committing and finishing something. Obviously having a solid and complete game can also fill this gap, but it might trump a lot of half-finished projects. I got my first IT job because I had a degree, even though it didn't have anything to do with the actual job I was applying for. Third, there's a lot of team building that goes on when you're in the same classes with people over several years. Once again, this can be substituted with things like game jams, modding projects, etc. During the times that I've been actively programming, I've found that the podcasts with Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) on tested.com to be a really cool inspiration. In the end, they talk a lot about building things and though they're talking physically and you're working more virtually, there's a lot of useful hints on there regarding inspiration, creativity, etc. The fact that it's not directly about programming makes it a little more relaxing to listen to I think.

I generally look at ingredients and kinda fudge the actual measurements anyway. Plus, I took chemistry so I'm used to thinking in gs and mLs.

I can't think of a specific example right now as I'm installing Unity on my new machine right now, but the types of problems I run into are things that require running calculations on data from multiple places at once. I have a really hard time figuring out where that work should take place and how to make the proper variables visible. I'll try and be more specific when I get a chance to hop back in and take a look at my few-months-old work.

New computer finally up and running. It turns out you need the new fangled UEFI boot to run with drives over 2TB, and for some reason Windows 7 was reporting that my system board wasn't capable of booting using UEFI from my RAID. I've been on tech support with MSI for three days on and off, as well as finally ordered an SSD to do my OS install on to just bypass this whole problem. Right before I was about to give up, I tried the install process one more time. I got the "Windows cannot install on this drive" error, but I just kept clicking install and eventually it went through and everything is working fine. I have no idea why.

What kind of monster cooks with nuts at all?

I could use a good Risotto reciepe. For the Super Bowl party, my wife and I made Gyoza (potstickers) by hand. Not quite from scratch, since we bought the shells pre-made, but pretty close. It turns out that the magic sauce is getting some Miso Paste to mix in with the ground pork, Nappa cabbage, green onion, garlic, and ginger.

The main thing that gets me in Unity (and C# in general) is trying to figure out what has permissions to see what variables and other objects, and getting them to interact properly without just marking everything as public and going for it. Edit: The video tutorials on the Unity site were actually quite good.

Interesting.... I was dabbling in XNA for a long time trying to make an Xbox Live Indie Game. I had a lot of stops and starts, some of which are chronicled here (excuse my poor writting style) http://gamerdork.net/?s=dewar After MS announced that they were canceling XNA, I grabbed Unity and have been dabling a bit there, but not too much as my job has become much more difficult (in a good, i-feel-useful sort of way) and I'm just worn out by the time I get home. I'm presently working on trying to create an Elite/Freelancer type game, except totally turn based so it's more of a relaxing explore the galaxy type thing than a dog fighting simulator. At current, I'm stuck with some economic modeling calculations, but I'll bore you guys with those details later. Edit: I have a microphone setup and would be happy to hang around in Google on occasion. I have some C++ and C# experience, but most of my programming knowledge is back from QBasic before "Object Oriented Programming" was even a thing.

Night terrors man. The same place that at least some of the UFO myths come from.

I played with only Hyun-ae, and I definitely felt like something was missing. I've wanted to go back for a while and play with Mute (or maybe with not bringing over a save file at all) but I dunno. It didn't grab me as much as the first one.

I'm in on this kickstarter, but only the minimum to get the game. I have a lot of fond memories of playing First Encounters (as broken as it was) and I'm definitley in to try another, but it's going to be difficult to stand up against X3 and EVE Online.

I have no idea where else to post this. I want to get myself a limited edition Super Bowl jersey for the MVP Malcolm Smith. Unfortunately, they didn't print any before the game. I'd assume they're going to print some more since he's MVP right?

OK, now the Nick thing is the best joke. Getting to get a jab at him, but then him still recieving something nice is the perfect cross section of Congrats Nick and Congrats Nick.

What I should really do is start into Demon Souls, and then see where things stand when I'm done with that. For all I know, it might take me six months to beat it, at which time this conversation will be moot.

So far I haven't found the dating to be a major focus of the game. I just finally got a GF (Forte in fact) in mid fall. The Black mansion is about when it started to click for me, but I definitely don't think it's a game for everyone. Parts of it are very deep, and others are really shallow.

Summer job? Are you in the southern hemisphere?

Missions from the quest box are the goals for the most part. Once you get to the point where you can do 2 or 3 a day, things start picking up. I'm at the point now where most of my missions are multiday affairs with multiple steps and a lot of work. Also, getting a lot of crafting tables gives you plenty of ways to spend the rest of your RP before you go to bed. I was feeling kinda dissapointed at the beginning as well, but I'm really into it now and am about to beat the second act of the story. How far are you in the actual story, has Venti sent you out to start doing dungeons yet?

There were some pretty ugly frame rate drops on 360 and PS3 in Dark Souls 1, I can't imagine that Dark Souls 2 will look any better. Oh well, I guess I can always buy it twice. I bought Dark Souls 1 twice.

Editted for my stupidity So, four different people pick it up and then network? Do you need a WiiU or something to get the TV portions?

Well that really sucks. I don't really want to play this on PS3.

That's how I felt about GTA4 myself.

I don't see this happening considering that everything is still licensed to devices, not users, but whatever. It would be nice.