Tommy Gun

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Posts posted by Tommy Gun


  1. It's interesting to see people learn about how much video games cost to make. $300,000 (the original budget for "Adventure" -- not including the $100K for the documentary) was for "three people for six months", according to Schafer.

    That sounds insane until you break it down:

    Three people earning $33,000 per annum, each, for six months. In other words, they're earning ~$33K a year, but are only getting six month's work. It's not like they're paying themselves a ridiculous sum... and that's all the money gone!

    33K * 3 people = 100K annually, divided by 2 (for six months) = total budget of 50K. Am I not following you? Shouldn't it be:

    300K budget / 3 people = 100K each for six months, which would be 200K annually? Of course there's music, voices, and whatever else they need to pay for that should be added in.


  2. I love the bit where Schafer lays down and gives a thumbs up through the lava, unlocking the achievement "I know now why you cry."

    :clap:

    Awesome. I didn't catch that he was doing a thumbs up, though, so it took me forever to get that reference!

    My kinect isn't getting a whole lot of use, but I have a bunch of friends who would love playing with this! (Not druggies.)


  3. Kickstarter works the way funding art works. They use words like "backing" and "donating" for a reason. You're not investing.

    Yeah, I think it would be interesting to change the model a bit, though. What if, say, an album went on to sell millions after being funded by $15 donations (basically pre-orders)? They could give the initial backers their $15 back, so the backers got the album for free. If the album tanked, the backers wouldn't get any money back, but the album still got made so they're happy. It would encourage more people to get on board early for projects they believe in. (And it would be clear in the terms that the backers have no creative control.)

    But I don't know if there's a time limit on Kickstarter. Anyone know?

    It says on the page -- 33 days left.

    Someone just pointed out that Kickstarter actually takes a 5% cut,

    Amazon also takes 3-5%.


  4. Yes (that strip is actually filed under the "semantics" category). The comic is about "grammar and words and stuff!" -- it's about writing in general, and anything related to language. Glad you're paying attention, though. :tup:


  5. Man, and I just replayed the whole game on Xbox 1. Don't own it on Steam, but will definitely buy if it ever goes on sale (I have no problem buying it multiple times, I actually own three copies of the Xbox version, but I know I won't play the Steam version for a while). I really hope they do release an HD version on 360 though, day 1 buy!


  6. gamestop-preorder-650x185.gif

    Last week I wrote about how GameStop is lying to everyone on their wish lists; every game is listed as a "hot item" with low quantities:

    new-copies.jpg

    See what other games are also considered "hot": HOT NEWS ITEM! GameStop's Wish List lies

    Today I'm trying to help them change their ways, and detailed some things they can do to be more open and honest, such as adding quotation marks:

    deals650.jpg

    ...and adding asterisks:

    trade-in.gif

    Read my full article here to see more:

    Cracked Rabbit Gaming: How to Fix GameStop.com


  7. I just finished the rest of the challenges. They were all fairly short, and only a few of them are difficult (frustrating?). Some of the ideas in the challenges are really great, and it makes me wish the main game incorporated some of them (can't really be specific without spoiling them). Still, I loved the game, and hope they make a sequel or some great DLC.

    The thing that bugs me the most is how urgent the whole game is. You barely have any time to breathe in some levels because a tsunami is coming, or fire is about to burn everything down. The challenges are basically puzzles, but they always take multiple tries because you need to start building immediately, before you even know what to do. For instance, I wish you could trigger the tsunami, so it was more about figuring it out, completing the steps at your own pace, and then sending the tsunami when you're ready (more likely they would increase the timer to, say, 10 minutes, and then give you a "fast forward" button).


  8. There are also more cutscenes than Metal Gear Solid. A tsunami appears in a cutscene. You gain control back for two seconds, then another cutscene occurs when the tsunami almost hits your village. Ridiculous.

    This comment is ridiculous. The only cutscenes are between levels (which is basically just a loading screen). Maybe in the demo/first time a tsunami comes it takes control of the camera to point it out (I don't remember), but never after that. You have full control over the camera, you can zoom out and look at it, or zoom in to see it from the villager's perspective.

    Plus the camera angles are terrible. Everything is too far away in normal view and zooming in on villagers doesn't help you tell where they are. Completely zoomed out is OK, but you'll be picking up the wrong element all the time.

    I rarely had a problem picking up the wrong element, and I beat the whole game and almost all of the challenges. I use the zoomed out view almost always.

    --------

    I mean, has anybody played the full thing? Do the later scenarios open up at all? I know, at the very least, the scope of the powers available to you broadens pretty dramatically as you continue playing. It certainly doesn't seem to top out at being a "vacuum cleaner" sim.

    Yes, I have. You gain a bunch of other powers, and there are also fire trees/water trees you can move around. You can move your villages to better locations if you want, so that adds some more strategy too. I wouldn't say the game changes dramatically, but I love it and never got bored. The later levels keep changing; there's one where the ground keeps shifting up and down (causing water to flow back and forth), and one in a volcano where it erupts and then rains, back and forth.

    If you're looking for a village building sim, then you'll be disappointed. It's very much a protect-the-villages-and-get-them-to-the-exit game.


  9. I got it last night on XBLA (with The Maw for free), and beat the main game today. I still have most of the challenges to do, and I've heard some of those take a long time. The controls were totally fine for me, there's no need for them to be super precise because it all "melts down" anyway.

    I didn't have much trouble with any of the levels, except for the last one which is kind of a bitch at first. Definitely recommended! :tup:


  10. The first day, I played through the story on guitar/vocals at the same time (pretty difficult because I don't know the lyrics THAT well, but tons of fun), and beat the game. Then I basically played the whole game again on drums, and got tons of full combos. However, surprisingly, all the songs were fun to play! The difficulty actually didn't bother me at all, because despite being somewhat easy, they're not boring, like some RB DLC that's just a basic drumbeat throughout the whole song.

    And to reiterate what I've always said, if nothing else, get this game for the karaoke!


  11. Shadow Complex sounds sweet, but it's name is so forgettable that every time I hear it I have to be reminded what it is.

    I keep mixing it up with "Alpha Protocol." These games fall under the "let's take two cool words and put them together" genre.


  12. I've spent so little time screwing with the avatar that I don't even know: Does it ever "do" anything other than when you log in or see your friends? It's not like the Wii's "Mi's" (Me's? Mii's? ... fucking Nintendo) that can actually show up in games.

    They can show up in games -- Joyride is a racer that will use them, and there are already some other games. There's a whole category for "avatar games." And of course 1 vs. 100 uses them.

    I really like the idea of unlocking stuff along with achievements, because then you actually have a (somewhat real) reason to go for the tough achievements (e.g., if I could unlock a Rock Band drumkit for my avatar). But paying for this shit? If they were 25 cents per shirt, that would be okay, it would basically be paying for someone to add the new stuff in. But there was a suit for THREE BUCKS, and a giant Qtip for $2. Hell no.