Super Blizzard

So Elon Musk just tweeted this article http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/07/intel-curie-spider-drone ...with the caveat "Definitely #signoftheapocalypse". So it was nice knowing all of you. I only wish I had taken the time to post in the Idle Forums more, but I guess it doesn't matter since we'll all be overtaken by swarms of robot spiders controlled by a fist-pumping Intel CEO. Oh well, at least I got to play Bloodborne. (the tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/585893542263791616)

When Chris (at least I remember it as Chris) pointed out the thing with the whistle, I completely flipped my shit and fell in love with this show all over again. It's such a cool little story. I don't remember if it was delved further into (late night listen), but the stick-to-whistle transformation as a metaphor for Cooper using his human intellect to transform chaos into order has been stuck in my head all day. The moment he finally blows the whistle comes right as the case finally has its first real lead, and changes from something unordered (a random, seemingly meaningless act of great violence) into something ordered (a solvable crime, with a possible narrative and a suspect). Gaaaaah I love this show and I can't believe I get to hear two of my favorite Smart Podcast Dudes talk to me about it every week. Currently plowing through the entire show at light-speed just so I can listen to the full episodes without feeling guilty haha

Er, hi again? I signed up for the forums (I want to say) last year, then was promptly swallowed whole by the Great Internet Mouth, been full-on busy making games (with old thumbs episodes as my go-to work soundtrack) ever since. "Recent Video Game Events" got me seriously rethinking where I choose to spend my time and energy on the internet, when suddenly a tweet by Danielle reminds me that the Idle Forums - not unlike a desert mirage - waited just over the next pile of internet garbage, all full of normal-and-not-at-all-terrifying-people who talk about games like Real Adults. So hi again, nice to meet you all!

Ever since the Kickstarter, we've been listening to a VR simulation of the original Idle Thumbs It all makes so much sense now.

"It's the Tony Hawk of movies!" -IGN.com

Okay, I'm getting a shitload of ideas now, I'm going to go code something before my head explodes (or this is announced as Half-Life: Episode 3)

That's actually what I assumed you meant, and what I always (mistakenly) use 'permadeath' to mean in conversation.

Yeah, fair enough. Suppose it's just a matter of preference at the end of the day. I still love Tarantino movies too, so that's probably telling the whole story right there.

That offer code needs at least 3 more 'a's. Oh god I think my eyeballs exploded. I love lo-fi 3D, and those screens've stolen my heart.

I read your post in the 'turning opinions' thread about this, and from what you said there it seems like you just don't like mechanics-driven games. Nothin' wrong with that at all, but like I said, permadeath is (usually) a tool for telling stories in said mechanics-driven games. The entire notion of progression in roguelikes/likes is that the story is created entirely by the mechanics - it's an exercise in controlled creativity. It's like playing pretend with your friends as a kid, except all your friends are robots, and (with the exception of more "pure" roguelikes) you actually get to watch a guy shoot sweet fireballs at a skeleton. Permadeath is a really important part of this experience - when you're pretending as a kid, there are no rewinds or save points (unless you're with that one kid who keeps insisting he has time travel powers every time he dies even though everybody else voted and decided it was unfair, who even invited him to my birthday anyway). When you die, that story's over, and it's a story completely unique to you that will never be told again.

I can see where you're coming from, but I don't exactly see what that has to do with purpose. In Spelunky for example, there is a purpose - to get to the bottom and collect mad treasure sacks. It's the story of a guy accomplishing a goal, just like any other game, the only difference being that the story you tell in splunx is a personal one that changes every time and sometimes has a sad ending, as opposed to a consistent story that you play through over time towards a single point of resolution (or multiple, if the game has many endings). I don't think it has to - I'm just saying that without it, most game stories aren't worth finishing. If a game is specifically trying to be nothing but entertaining (and it succeeds), then that's awesome. Hell, I beat Borderlands 1 countless times for entertainment value alone. My problem is with games that take their stories and worlds very seriously, without actually having anything meaningful to say - and I don't even hate those games, but when there's no other motivation to finish a game except the story, I'm probably not going to finish it unless the story is at least half-decent. I dunno. Maybe saving the world just doesn't do it for me anymore.

I'm pretty sure it's Hideo Games.

Holy crap, I love love love love LOVE local multiplayer, that looks like an absolute blast. The art is great too, and I really like the comic-book style - the whole trailer is dripping with pizzazz. (IGN.com?) I actually just finished my first game a few weeks ago. It was originally going to be an entry into Ludum Dare 26 (48-hour design competition, the theme this year was Minimalism), but I missed the deadline and ended up finishing(?) it anyway. It's a puzzle-action-thing/mini art project where you drag r/g/b soldiers around a grid, matching colors with oncoming enemies. Your characters develop as they win more battles, gaining special abilities, eventually becoming undefeatable legends. There's a bunch of difficulty levels, a handful of artsy-fartsy secrets, and some sweet midi jams for maximum rocking. Once I get some more time on my hands, I definitely want to remake it sans 'programmer art' and with a bunch of things I ended up cutting for time (varied enemy behavior, multiple bosses, even more hipster meta stuff). It's called Chroma Zone (totes free, it's set to pay what you want so you can just pay nothing). Since this is my first released game (I've been using Game Maker for about 7 years, coding for 5, still use GM out of sheer convenience and familiarity), any thoughts you guys have are much appreciated, especially things I could do to improve on the existing mechanics. Thanks!

While it's totally realistic that a good portion of indie developers are ironic hipsters, I think you're missing that a lot of these 'retro pixel-y' games are made to look that way because the devs legitimately enjoy the way it looks, just like how -certain controversial filmmakers- use throwback techniques from grindhouse and martial arts films, not as an ironic nod, but as a genuine aesthetic choice. I know I personally develop lo-fi games because I like the way it looks, it has a feeling to it that I just don't get from games where I can't see the pixels all up in my face-space.

"Rosebud is a skateboard. Spoiler alert!" - IGN.com

Kinda off-topic but, I wonder, has there ever been a game where the environment evolves to 'counter' the player's actions? Not specifically an actual nature/animal simulation, but any game where the AI - or even the levels themselves - change dynamically depending on how you play. Valve's AI Director is similar to what I mean, but unless I'm mistaken that doesn't actually modify level design or enemy AI, only spawning and whatnot (I'm too cool to google these things). If something like that does exist, and isn't terrible, I'm just gonna start throwing money at the screen.

Not to be a spoilsport, but... since when is being good at any video game a useful skill? It's an entertainment medium. Besides, does a game having an ending really give it 'purpose'? Unless you're playing a game with a well-written story that you can reflect on and get some kind of insight from, what purpose is there in beating it? I'd much rather play a game with no story and no ending that forces me to find my own meaning, rather than slogging through a time-consuming quest that ultimately ends with a whimper. I've also got to echo what some other people've said, in that I personally find the increased risk to be a source of motivation, rather than frustration. Like with everything, I think it comes down to what kind of games you like to play - some people view games as a storytelling medium, some people view games as a collection of systems, most people think they're somewhere in-between. If you personally put a lot of value into story (even when it's a Video Game Story) and persistent progression, it's completely reasonable that permadeath would drive you absolutely bonkers. My view is that personal progression of skills and abilities is just as important - if not moreso - as persistent progression towards an 'ending'. Spelunky is a great example. I know some people were frustrated with that game, and felt like they never got any better, but I had the exact opposite experience. Every time I played, I learned something new that helped me get further, and along the way I had some great emergent moments that actually made me reflect on real-life stuff. At the end of the day, roguelikes and roguelike-likes are a genre, just like FPSs, platformers, fighting games, etc etc. Including permadeath isn't something these developers do on a whim, they do it because it's been well-established that fans of the genre enjoy that mechanic. If you don't enjoy games with permadeath, then you don't have to play them. I mean, I don't like war simulations, so I don't play most modern FPS games, and I'm perfectly fine with that. On that note, I've also got to recommend Dark Souls (haven't played Demon Souls) as a game that manages to capture the feeling of roguelikes and their ilk without including some of the things you seem to be not a big fan of (and it's actually worth playing to the end, unlike a lot of 'finite' game experiences nowadays). That being said, it's crazy punishing, so be ready for that.

Been listening to a metric ton of Lis Er Stille recently. Really cool artsy rock outfit from Europe. Some of their stuff can be a bit overbearing if you're not heavy into that kind of music, but when they hit the nail on the head, they really smash the hell outta that nail. They did a live cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" that I basically listen to on repeat all day every day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXcH2jeBElw

Oh hey, I think I quite possibly might be new here. My name's Jesse - I'm a white-male-creative-type (complete with obnoxious patchy beard in the wintertime) in my early 20s who digs post-rock, hip-hop, and David Lynch movies, a completely unique and beautiful human paradigm that has obviously never before been achieved (obviously), complete with needlessly self-deprecating introduction (that actually kinda comes off like I secretly think I'm super-awesome) and the ability to play exactly 3 Matchbox 20 songs on acoustic guitar. Not sure if any of that paragraph makes sense, but introducing yourself on the internet is hard, soooooooooo I'm just gonna go with it. I'm also an aspiring indie developer, whatever that means. I've been dicking around in Game Maker for the past 6 (7?) years without much drive, then a few months ago I found Idle Thumbs (immediately ran through most of of the episodes like a fat plate of flaky biscuits), and it flipped the switch for me. I actually finished my first game early this week, and most of the time I spent developing it I had Thumbs going in the headphones to keep me motivated. But anyway, I like games? I do, I like them a lot. I was always one of those "one-console-behind" kids (aka broke), meaning that now, of course, I'm too poor to afford modern consoles, only a PS2 and my crappy desktop. Most of my gaming comes from low-demand PC titles (lots of indie stuff), otherwise it's the small (but weirdly cool) PS2 collection I've gathered over the years. Metal Gear Solid 2 is my favorite video game, as well as one of my favorite pieces of art-music-movies-games-tv-whatever in general, but I promise to try my absolute hardest to bring that up as little as physically possible.