miffy495

So for an upcoming class project, I'd like to mix it up with my students a little bit. I teach fifth grade here in Canada, and have a room full of 25 eleven year olds who are working on their writing skills and finding new and interesting ways to apply them. Our science unit on wetland life is wrapping up, and I've been toying with the idea of having them put together a project in which they pick an animal that we've studied and have a player go through the stages of its life cycle, hitting branch points along the way and making decisions that will impact that specific animal's outcome. I've done some experimenting with TWINE and it's totally within my students' capabilities, but there is one particular thing that's preventing me from getting started, so I thought I'd put it to you developer-types. How in the hell can they save a work in progress? I'll be more specific. I know that if they downloaded the TWINE editor, they could save things and continue working on them later no problem. Thing is, to get the TWINE editor approved and installed on all of the school's computers would likely take me beyond the end of the school year at the earliest. I also know that there's a web version that saves your works in progress to your browser. The problem with that is that from what I can tell it's saved specifically to the browser on that machine and that machine only. In a school setting where every time we need computers we check the available laptops out from the library, there's no guarantee that from one period to the next students will have the same OPERATING SYSTEM (our school is 50/50 Mac and Windows), let alone the same machine. What I need is some way to use a web editor so I don't have to install anything and can avoid the ridiculous approval process, but also be able to download a work in progress so that the students can save their work to their network drives and then upload and continue working on it the next class. Is there an editor out there that lets me do this? I have everything else about the project worked out and would really love to do it, but this is a showstopping roadblock for me. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Awesome! Congratulations, Dr. Gormongous!

I opened the page on the gamepass app for this about 20 minutes ago. Worth a shot, then? I've been using my gamepass lately to get into the Outer Wilds, but on seeing it expand to PC, Vampyr stood out as a "I remember people speaking really positively about this" title...

I had a chance to try a Vive at a friend's house for the first time last night. On the one hand, I was convinced to finally buy Beat Saber for my PSVR. On the other, given the difference in price and tech, I expected a dramatically improved experience to my "console baby" headset. It felt... pretty much the same? In fact, after having now bought and played Beat Saber on my own system as well, I think I actually prefer the Sony set. I expected better tracking, less screen-door, etc etc, but really didn't see it. The only real advantage that it has is that it can see behind me, which the PSVR can't. As long as designers account for that though... I dunno. I got my PSVR with two games for 1/5 the price of a Vive and it feels like 4/5 (at least) of the experience. Given all of that, I can't imagine being interested in one of the sets that you mentioned any time in the near future. I agree that of all of them the Quest seems like the biggest potential things, but that storage is so low and the price is still pretty prohibitive. It's out of my budget for sure. I'll be keeping an eye out, but for now I remain very impressed and happy with my PSVR and the experiences it's bringing me.

I do find it really funny the way it colours how I talk to my students about games. For example, a kid got God of War for Christmas. "Oh yeah, that was a good one. I sat down and powered through it last spring break. The Valkyries were pretty tough, but I had a fun time." "You... you BEAT it!?!?"

I too bounced off MP2 when it first came out due to difficulty. I think I was like 14 at the time, for what it's worth. Going back as an adult in the Prime Trilogy, I got through the entire game with no issue. I'm also having a lot of the "games I thought were super hard when I was young are actually fine" experience as I go back to replay things. It's not like my ability to interact with a controller has changed much from age 16 to age 31, so I'm not sure exactly what happened there, but you're right that a lot of these things do turn out to be a lot easier than we had built up in our heads. I'd say that maybe beating them once flips something in our brains and makes us remember that it's achievable, but I didn't actually beat MP2 back in the day, so I don't really understand it either. Oh well. I loved playing through the game, regardless, and highly recommend doing so.

The advice I find myself giving is that employers just want evidence that you will commit to something, and a degree is handy proof of that. You're right that it really doesn't matter what, though. Luckily, I'm Canadian and it's (relatively, still not easily) affordable to go to school here. In the States, my understanding is that having to meet that requirement would really screw you over.

I replayed 1 and 2 about two years ago. Been wanting to do the same with 3 recently as well. I have the Wii U still hooked up, and the Prime Trilogy installed on it. I'll give Nintendo until E3. If they announce an HD remaster before then, I'll hold off and do it all at once. If they don't, I'm MP3 bound on my Wii U...

I love Brad, but he drives me crazy at goty. He is the most stubborn of all of them by far and I find he ends up coming off as really closed-minded. Dan had a lot of good points about RDR2, the rest of the crew seemed on board, and getting Brad to budge on that added like an hour to the process, which even then he grumbled the whole way through the resolution. RDR2 is a good game. It also let down a lot of fans of RDR. Those are not incompatible statements. Brad comes off like kind of a jerk during that conversation.

Wow, is that Austin? Texas has never been on my "to-visit" list, but you certainly make it look appealing. Very nice!

To be fair, these are completely different games, not remasters or rereleases (with the exception of U Deluxe). I have played all of them and, while weaker than other mainline Mario games (I would also put Yoshi's Wooly World and both of the Donkey Kong Country games above them), they are definitely pretty good and worth looking at. NSMB2 on 3DS is the weakest by far, NSMBU is probably the strongest. Especially the Soda Jungle section. I honestly would put this one and 3D World about on par with each other. 3D World is more creative and I like a lot of what it's doing, but the level format didn't really do it for me in 3D Land and still didn't there. I really liked it for a while, then it wore out its welcome and I started to feel like finishing it was an obligation rather than a joy. NSMBU, by contrast, did not wear out its welcome. It was less interesting in some ways, but the traditional 2D level design was rock solid. My only real complaint about it is that it has the same problem that EVERY Mario game has had since the N64: inertia. In 3D, the games are so differently designed that being able to stop on a dime doesn't really matter, so it's harder to notice. When they started making 2D games with 3D models though, it's been a real sore spot for the NSMB games. It just feels way too loose compared to the classic sprite-based Mario games, which leads to a lot of deaths that just feel completely unfair and like there is no way they would have happened in SMB3 or World. Mario takes too long to stop, turn around, etc. I also feel this way about 64, Sunshine, Galaxy, and Odyssey, but the levels don't punish you nearly as much for it as they do in the "New" series. How much of a deal breaker this is would vary by person. I put up with it, but it's definitely a thing. So yeah. I bought it, and played about halfway through this weekend (I'm at Soda Jungle again! Looking forward to re-experiencing those levels!) and will keep plugging away for the next week or so. A good game, but a stopgap. I'm looking forward to Yoshi's Yarn-tastic Knit-venture (I can't be bothered to look up the real name right now) when it comes out in March, as Wooly World was great and Yoshi physics have ALWAYS felt squishy so it isn't as much of a bother for me in that series. This will hold me over until then.

I got a bunch of gift cards for a local instrument shop! My girlfriend and I have been talking about learning to drum for ages. We both play other things (her: bass, me: guitar, banjo, and bass) and trading off with one of us keeping rhythm while the other plays something else has always appealed to us. We live in a shared house, so noise is a concern. I've been looking at decent entry-level electronic kits that are on the quieter side as a result. I think I may actually go try to get one this week. As a bonus, if I get one that has a 5-pin midi out plug (not USB midi) it looks like a relatively simple process to get it working with Rock Band pro mode as well (NOTE FOR OTHERS INTERESTED IN THIS: This simple process requires two specific adapters which are hard to find but I luckily already have for other reasons), which would certainly motivate me to practice a tonne. After years of dithering, I may actually take a drum lesson and try to learn some things. Fun!

Merry Christmas! I saw the video when I was 16 and can still see it sometimes when I close my eyes...

I also have continued to keep my Christmas avatar from 2010 or whatever since the day. Christmas-Russian-Muppets-Poster-Animal is who I am now.

Fine, yeah. But also not for me. I also picked up Okami again. May actually get past the second big dungeon this time...

I was fully on board until I learned that you don't actually battle wild pokemon. Now I'm very unsure about this game and so am waiting for reviews and impressions to hit. Remake Pokemon Yellow as a stopgap while waiting for a new game? Excellent idea. Replace the battles with Pokemon Go? Umm...

Damn, that's really rough. I'm also in the "long term partner with anxiety/depression" boat, although things have been looking up lately. It got bad enough that she spent two months in hospital around this time last year, but in doing so was able to actually connect with a therapist who has been helping her and things have been getting better. I have definitely seen some of the things that you mentioned, but am also seeing her own them and work on them. To not have that latter part would be really bad. I'm sorry you went through that and glad you seem to be seeing the other side of it now. Credit to you for seeing the situation clearly and taking action.

Hopefully the forum is not dying. It's been a part of my life since I was 16, and it's really weird to think how much this particular community was a part of me becoming the man I am today. I don't check in daily anymore, but I still usually do so once a week. Don't post nearly as often either, as the post-kickstarter flood of people felt like they were always having more conversations faster than I could keep up with. I was actually super comfortable back in the pre-podcast "dead" days when the forum was running as a relic of a once-super-great blog/news site, just a small network of people that I actually really got to know and played the only online games I ever really got into with. Like SAM and Rodi, I'm not really interested in getting on board with slack, and that seems to be where everyone has headed to. Good for you all, I suppose, but I hope enough people keep checking in that this remains a thing. It's been a good 14 years, and it would suck to have it end on such a whimper.

I have never played the game, but seeing it for $65 is putting me off a bit. I finished Octopath's last character quest tonight and need my next thing. Worth full, or wait for sale?

Back to Octopath: I am about 15 hours in. I am really liking this game, but the story has been the least interesting part for me. I have finished the first chapter for all 8 characters, and chapter 2 for Primrose. I am currently halfway through Therion's chapter 2. I actually quite like both of their individual stories so far, though I definitely started with them because I found them the most interesting. I'm not getting the vibe that these stories will link up at all. Actually, it's looking like this may actually just be 8 distinct JRPG short stories that have much more personal stakes, meaning that some will probably hit and some will miss. If you're ok with that, go for it. I will say that this is a very good JRPG and I am enjoying it immensely. At 13 hours I unlocked a job system on top of everything else, and it's completely changed the way that I play. New stuff coming in this late is a good sign. I'm very impressed.

I feel like the game really hits its stride around the end of the internment camp section. If it's still not for you then, there's not much else to say. ...I still love it (and TNC) though.

I just sat down, started, and then finished Gorogoa. It's delightful, throwing something new at you at just the right pace, and the final segment brought a huge smile to my face when I realized what I was trying to do. I don't want to say too much else because the discovery is this game, but I really recommend it. It's like if Amanita Design said to themselves "Ok, we can do weird, but what if we tried surreal?" EDIT: Probably worth saying I played entirely on a touch screen on my Switch. I don't think I'd want to play this with a controller. Mouse or touch screen feel pretty integral to this one.

I mean, also one of the best things about those games is that they DO get to the fireworks factory. They just take their time getting there and are oddly slow-paced for a game named "Wolfenstein" along the journey. The tonal swings in those games are HARD.

I think I relate the most to Vinny's "wait... what?"

I found the New Order really hard to get into. Both it and New Colossus play in a very unique style that feels more like a very bombastic immersive sim at times than it does a traditional shooter. Lots of sneaking, lots of exploration, but when you finally do go loud with dual wielded shockhammers, god damn is it satisfying. Basically, that blend worked great for me once I found my groove, but I found both incredibly and frustratingly hard for the first few levels while I found it. I also know that it didn't work nearly as well for a lot of people. Most common complaint about both that I heard from others was "man, it's too bad that the game feels so weird to play because the story is amazingly fun and surprisingly good at times". Then there's me off in the corner quietly saying "noreallyguysit'sgoodjustdon'tplayitlikeanormalshooter..." Long story short, I hope you get into it and am curious to see how this goes for you.