Murdoc

Ah... I just listened to that part again a few times to make sure I interpeted everyones comments correctly and didt just write what ws already stated... and I think I did just that. So I'm pretty sure I misinterpreted originally, but as I take the comments now(which shouldn't have been so hard since its exactly what was said); Sean believes they wanted to make a Bullit-like game but needed to tack on a gamey feature and come up with a b.s reason for it. Chris thinks the idea came first and the narrative was built around it in order to support the feature in the universe they established(with reference). So, anyway, for whatever reason I thought Sean was bringing up that point using Driver as an example for a broader topic about the industry... he wasn't so my jibbersh was moot. However caring about the Driver franchise/fiction aside,

Finished the episode. Agree with Chis about the Driver thing, but I think what Jake and Sean were talking about the gaminess of it with the bs fiction for it wasn't that they cared about the fiction of Driver, but in the broader sense of why games feel the need to do things like that when they had a very competant looking period driving game going. However, Chris made a good point too with the fact that they wanted the game feature and needed a reason for it, so really its back to the old struggle of game design vs. narrative. I really like grounded video games, I also like zaney video gamesas long as they don't take themselves seriously but it's really hard to get that middle ground, which is areally problem a lot of games face these days. So it's a choice of sacrificing a cool/fun game feature to keep your narrative consistant, or you sacrifice the narrative to get your game feature in there and hope you can handle it properly, but very few people have figured it out.

Yeah, sorry, what should I call it? Low budget game seemed to be more derogatory when I was writing.

They are working on this yet still no EP3!! Or how about another 100 hats for TF2? Ha, seriously though, I'm sure it'll be a fun game for those who like this game type and maybe to some who don't normally. I'm just a little surprised/confused they would release a mini-game like this with the full Valve brand. I know Valve is very different and have some heavy mod roots in them with pride, but I'm just used to every other company doing these little games and/or experiment by not dilluting their main company/brand name. The little emoticon didn't really explain my full confusion\bewilderment\concern. PS: I am in no way saying that this would impact the Valve name in anyway, I'm just saying every other company seems to think that way and has become te norm. edit: Actually, maybe it isn't so strange; I think ID uses their main brand name for their mobile division so I guess this Valve mini-game release isn't so strange.

This is from valve? really? |:/

Oh sorry, I'm just talking about more boring things like engine architecture and systems. On the developer(what you need to do to make stuff in the engine) being the pipeline stuff all being similiar between all those engines at Ubisoft but then familiar with what I saw at Rockstar as well. So nothing design or game-play wise, just architecture that makes the games play and made being similiar.

Yeah, totally. Though I'll just throw this out based on my limited experience, but the Farcry 2 engine is similiar in the same idealogical sense, which reminded me of the GTA engine as well.. which pretty much leads me to believe a lot of progamers just read the same technological papers and use the same ideas for open world games and rendering tricks.

Wtf Chris, you've never seen the Wizard? I know it's a shitty movie and most people should avoid it, but damn, of all people. Edit: @Jake (You sound weird on my laptop, or you have a cold) Assassin Creed 1 was originally started by the Sands of Time team; so it's more or less an evolution of PoP. I always thought a better "gotcha" moment would have been to tie the properties together by revealing that the assassin was just the prince who eventually became immortal in his journeys; if they wanted the scifi fantasy stuff. The technology seems different enough from Sands of Time to call it something different, but the engine totally comes from it, or at leas the construction principles as the pipeline and set up are really similiar. Prince of Persia (there are a couple of them, so this may not be true for all of them) is still using an evolution of the old PoP, Assassin Creed, Sean White, and something else are using the same engine and Farcry 2 is using it's own engine which is probably an evolution of what they got from Crytek after buying Farcry.

Just a reminder I was using Dibs suggestion on builds. Oh and you just need to generate a world, use it, quit the game, then transfer your save over and it will work. Not sure if that makes a different but it's what I do.

William Gibson; which is odd because I've only read half of one of his novels. So at least it isn't a conscious decision... also, he might be a terrible writer. edit: Reading what Gerbil got, I also used a forum post as an example, so that pretty much confirms(sure?) that William Gibson writes like an average(again, sure?) Idle Thumbs forum post.

http://www.yelp.com/map/the-grizzled-wizard-seattle It's a shame it's so far away.

I was thinking of going this year since I'll bein Vancouver, but this pretty much sells it.

Hm, really strange. FatCat, give it a shot and if doesn't work I'll just package up the entire thing. Im visiting family on a really crappy computer, but I've continue just playing around with it, it'll be really interesting to see where other people will take it and theres a lot of surprises(at least for me) which are interesting an interesting challenge. But even on my alternative dimension Lungfurnace, it's doing realy well. So this might be a good thing. hehe

:/ I know I've been shitting on what we know so far, but really my enthusiasm is pretty friggin low at this point. Odd since DA was my favorite game last year and i put more hours into in during one month then I did in TF2 all year(which is shocking for me). Looks like the new visual style wasn't as extreme as the firstconcept shots wre proving and actualy pretty subtle. It's cleaner, like the ME stuff at least. These look like really early set up shots companies do where they take some models, a peice of terrain and set up a couple fight scenes; so I doubt it speaks much about the final product. But they aren't winning over my imagination with sily designs. Dragon Age: O may have had the cookie cutter lotr designs, but at least set an estalised mood. The stuff in this looks more like they are trying to merge GuildWars designs with their current drabness... which quite frankly looks amateurish and silly. Lighting is pretty generic but at least doesn't contain some of the horrifying artifacts of the orignal; but since these are just diaorama bullshots, it's hard to really say if it'll look like that in the game. Honestly it sounded like the PC was the focus for Origins and the consoles got the port, but for 2 it sounds like consoles are the focus and PC is getting the port... case in point the "angular stylization" seems more console polycount. If they had to do that for performance, fine; but look at your concept art for direction; the atmosphere and styled anatomy was pretty cool. I should say this isn't surprising, but then I remember Origin actually being amazingly successful on the PC... wasn't?

Sorry I had to split the files into two parts because of Box.net; they should unrar into the same folder making a complete region-1-spring 1052 folder. Just tried it in a seperate clean folder and it worked, so should be good to go. Also, what's the normal etiquette for succession forts; do they read the reports? I assumed so, as things could get overly complicated down the road. There wasn't much to say and its a bit dry for the first year, but at least would provide some background on what was going on, hehe.

I think we can always just delete older files as thereis not much point in keeping them, or just start additional accounts, hehe. The save files are like 25mbs, so we can at least keep a fair number on there. Also I made the new post for the accounts of the first year for our first succession fort! LUNGFURNACE ▪▪▪Contents▪▪▪ Year 01 --Murdoc Stouthate-- ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪

Sorry this is taking so long guys, first try seems to have some hiccups...also Im not near a computer often and when I am, it's pretty crap. Anyway, Dibs, Fatcat, can you guys PM me a email address you use so I can send you guys link? I'm going to share the fort on box.net I can give you guys editor priviliages if you want, so you can just dump stuff there(though Im on a free account with 1 gb)

I think by eliminating some identities will help narrow down the current players; but up to you guys. Though really you guys probably have a pretty good idea who is who.

I believe the ones not logging in anymore(probably being taken over by AI right now) are actually not connecting to the net. Those that seemed to stop playing aren't posting in blogs or other places as well, so there could be some technical difficulties and other issues on there end. Stuff happens, I guess.

Alright, I've completed the first year and went a bit into the spring of the second, sorry about that, I just get caught up with it. Things are going good, but theres a lot of half finished stuff, which I'll report in my post(I think I'll make a new thread for it with a table of contents that the first post can be edited so people can easily get to just the reports) One thing, the save folder is 28 megs, but looks like there is a raw file with a bunch of graphics and stuff... I can probably leave that out and rar the wholet hing to send to people; right?

A couple of Afkers?

The character's nameis Hawke? /groan. Not obe crapping over this because Im sure it's neat, its just that Dragon Age(origin stories aside) was about my character and my decisions, not me playing a character figuring out what some nob named Hawke would do in this sitution.

I've been given the shorter development time answer a lot as soon as I voice my discontent with the decision and personally I think it's pretty bunk. Granted, the origins stuff was pretty robust and would take a ton of time; however a pre-determined characer feels, to me, like a complete departure from one of th core designs on the original (IE: the first franchise game that should be used as the foundation for the others since it did so well) Dragon Age 1 took so long purely because they were developing something new, the projct had a lot of hurdles, growing pains, and exporation(trying features, scraping them, repeat) even though it was based on a formula they have done before. Also, the game was nearly 200 hours, it was cool, but I mean really? How about scrap the predetemined character, keep the awesome open ended western pc rpg aspect and just make a 60 hour game? That would shorten dev time considerably and allow them to keep a core feature for the series. Also, let's not forget they now have a proven, well executed foundaion to build off of, and not starting from scratch.

Alrighty... sort of back. Not so much online a lot, but I can do one or two years of Dwarf Fortress and then a post or so. Just wondering who else wanted to actually participate so I can add them to the original expedition team?

Dragon Age 2 with improved graphics and enhanced visual style.... YAY! Pre-determined character? :(:( My lengthy exploits(the entire month of November 09...literally) where I talked at length how much I lovedwhat they were doing with the game and cringed at the main story\fiction\presentation and visual designs. The main point of improvement was cleary visual for me so hearing Muzyka mention that months ago and the confirmation this time around excites me. Even the concept art is intriguing if thats the direction of style they are going in and the designs are staying grounded while feeling a bit fresh(though not as fresh as the GuildWars stuff) The pre determined characte is an absolute stab at what Dragon Age executed so perfectly. We discussed this in Goty about how it was FarCry 2-esq in the fact that Dragon Age made me feel like I was the character in the game, that the decisions I was making through dialog, quests, and exploration felt like I was making them. I even pointed out how this was the first Bioware game(or any game?) where I was playing with a set of intentions and morals(based on my real life versions... just more bold/extreme) and got slapped in the face by the outcome of those decisions because Bioware's intentions/world fiction disagreed. This very thing made it fucking amazing. That point doesn't disapear with a predetermined character, but I think the impact is seriously diminished because of this. I understand the voice in Mass Effect really made a main character part of the success and I liked it in Mass Effect( I even nerd raged about the first 2 minutes of ME2 where they didn't record the dialog for Shepherd in one line) but Dragon Age is a different property so it would have been nice to treat it very differently. I wanted Mass Effects execution in fresh art direction and fiction along with a pretty solid presentation(music/UI/etc) for Dragon Age, but that's about it. While feeling luke warm about the slick, streamlined ME2 I was really banking on DA2 to step it up and become my new favorite. (though its hard to beat space and the universe ME has established)