clyde

I haven't played Dear Esther, but to be honest I don't typically think about whether or not something is a game when I'm playing it. I haved played Way to Go http://a-way-to-go.com/ and I have referred to it as a "game" when recommending it because I like thinking and talking about it in reference to software like Dirt3 or Wilbler Park with people who are interested in computer-games in general. I suppose that I might refer to Way to Go as theatre instead if I was talking to thespians.

Defining "puzzles" by their length and difficulty/complexity seems like it will probably cause even more confusion. Couldn't large, single-player campaigns be considered labryinths that are gated by puzzles which require varying amounts of knowledge, logic, and dexterity to solve? But then those examples which branch would be best described as "mazes" rather than "labrythinths". So having separate names there would assist consumer-expectations of whether or not their choices change the automation of the puzzle. As far as high-score chasing, that's an arbitrary context that players are agreeing to. Would everything with scores be a "game"? Are credit-scores a "game"? I don't think it's the score that makes pinball a game, I think it's the expectations with which the player approaches pinball. I could approache Skyrim as a tone-poem and get different things out of it than if I approach it as an interactive music-accompaniment. I think "game" is a suggestion that the audience should "play", just like a novel is a suggestion to read text as a coherent narrative. Someone could read a novel as a series of poems if they wanted.

Following this line of argument, wouldn't all single-player campaigns be better defined as "puzzles" rather than games. "Games" could be exclusively used for multiplayer software. Also, should something really be called a "film" if it's digitally captured?

Just some personal anecdotes: -Less than a month ago, I played a piece of software made with Unity that had a narrative component and very little interaction on GameJolt. One of the few comments was that the piece of media shouldn't be on GameJolt because it was not a "game". -I talked with strangers younger than myself at my wife's co-worker's child's birthday-party. They asked me what I liked to do. I told them that I make games. They started asking about Xbox distribution and money and stuff. I was like "No, no, I don't make commercial products, I make games as a hobby; I participate in these things called 'game-jams' where we make games within a couple of days. We also just make little weird experiments and talk about them and collect each other's games, it's super fun, there's no money in it." Then they said "Oh, you make apps!" -In preschool we did this thing where all us toddlers sat cross-legged and slapped our thighs in rhythm with the teacher who would narrate about the environment we were walking through. When we did things like cross a bridge, the teacher would change the way they slapped their thighs or what portion of the body would be the drum for that particular fictional material. The teacher called it a "game" and it didn't seem to negatively affect anyone's expectations. It was super fun, I'd be down to do it again.

Should we do the weekly chapter in this thread or a separate one? I'd be willing to administer it (but if someone else wants to do it that's fine too).

is what helped me make the break-through of understanding what properties, variables, classes, instances, and functions are. I struggled with these concepts for a while even when hearing people explain it fairly well. I'm sure everyone learns in different ways, but I tried to learn a programming language before working directly in Unity and it never caught. Making things happen in a game I was making was the level of feedback I needed in order to encourage me enough to really need to internalize the concepts.

Here's another essay on cultural appropriation. The analogy between restrictive copyright and the (apparent) immediate goals of those who are concerned about a (seemingly) wide threshold of cultural appropriations is along my line of thinking. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2015/10/defence-cultural-appropriation

I just tried adding a basic buoyancy to the character-controller based off of that video. I had to switch to a rigidbody character-controller and make all sorts of fixes for my particular situation. It's goofy as shit, but I kinda like it.

Would anyone else be interested in having a weekly discussion where we analyze one chapter of the game each week (in order)?

@Mington: I imagine James Earl Jones saying "That is my son." in the final moments of your gif. Once I understood a few things and start using the DLT-19 (or whatever the gun is in the bottom right is) and unlocked the jet-pack, I've been enjoying the game a lot more. Unless I'm using my cycle rifle, I don't aim down the sights anymore. This game is all about the hip-firing. The DLT-19 is kinda like a sub-machine gun with pretty good range, so I scope out the situation, jetpack, yell "SURPRISE!" and unload my sub-machine gun into them at close-to-medium range (without aiming down the sights). I was really confused by the maps before I got a jet-pack because I would see someone on a ledge and assume I could find a path up; now that I have the jet-pack, I see how they were getting up there and I have a better sense of where the fire can come from. The Walker-Assault mode is much more fun now that I understand that the stations you want activated or deactivated are not one-offs; the idea is to rack up as many Y-wing icons as possible by keeping those suckers activated. Camping them at a distance is pretty fun because it feels like there are typically 10 or so of us dug in to defend and I like those moments of solid front-lines.

If anyone figures out how to get into the cell in the chapter 7 when the narration is disabled, please tell me. I want to try playing that one as intended.

------- On another note, it's interesting that the accessibility-adaptions don't seem to occur when you play the game with narration disabled.

The beta seems to work fine on a GTX460 even though I think I read that it's below the minimum specs. I think the game does a few interesting things like single sniper-shots as a cool-down ability. I've mostly played the drop-pod game and I enjoy it most when there is enough volley that another drop-pod comes down while we are still fighting over the old one. I don't have a good idea of what direction the enemy will be coming from though (which can be frustrating); that's something I like about Battlefield games and was hoping for here (Walker Assault may be better about this). I might just need to spend more time learning the map. It's alright. I find myself playing it because the beta has a limited time rather than because it compels me to play more. Something about the shooting makes me have a much harder time than usual and since I don't know the maps well, tactical positions and patience isn't much of an option for me.

I downloaded the pre-load last night, but I have doubts that my GTX460 will run it. I decided to try anyway.

This is probably related, but it's not about lighting specifically. It is pretty much what I was looking for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=923&v=roQk5pyd78Q

First I need to just say that nothing I could have said to me-in-the-past would have convinced me to avoid spoilers, but in retrospect, they are completely unnecessary for my personal appreciation of The Beginner's Guide and actually a bit distracting as I was always expecting a twist. But of course I'm going to spoiler tag things I would have freaked out about reading before playing the game: Also, if anyone is interested in playing a game that has uncanny similarities to The Beginner's Guide, I strongly recommend playing Electric Highways http://zykoveddy.itch.io/electric-highways For an additional layer of uncanniness (especially for the maker of this let's play video of Electric Highways) check out this let's play of Electric Highways first level.

Mount & Blade: Warband single-player economy works great because if you play like me, you lose large quantities of your money and loot by underestimating an enemy party. ------------ separate random thought about video games Robert Yang wrote a post about how his development-workflow considers the 95% of people who know about his games, who will never play them. http://www.blog.radiator.debacle.us/2015/10/not-manifesto.html?m=1 The comments are worth reading too.

In single-player campaigns, I think it's just the reality of capitalism mixed with save-scrumming. Players reload losses and when they make gains, it allows them to afford more effective tools for making profit which then allows for more effective tools. There's also nothing competing for the currency-resource (in most cases). In multi-player games, broken economies seem like a way to pander to all players in hopes that they will stay in the habit of playing that game. Some games do economy well, Greed Corp, Wabash Cannonball, and Off-World Trading Company are the ones that come to mind; all of which seem rooted in multiplayer board-games.

I could use that too. I'll look through the live training sessions tommorow; I would think there would be one there.

I just made a large purchase so I don't want to spend 8 bucks right now. Am I going to sound oblivious when talking about hobbyist games for the next two months or so because the public consciousness will have this game in mind as a reference?

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/418642018/disgraced-scientist-clones-dogs-and-critics-question-his-intent

I can't find egalitarian discussion of net.art so I figure we can try to do it here. I'm interested in participating in amateur critique of net.art Does anyone have a particular piece that they want to recommend for discussion or someting they have an opinion about?