Plug your shit

[Forbin]

I like the parallax scrolling. I think it'd be interesting to experiment with y-scrolling as well.

Peeked into the code, some comments:

- ( (ratio-1)*A + (ratio-1)* = (1 - ratio) * (A +

Which would mean that a 1:1 ratio value would never be affected by the scroll adjustment (1-ratio) = 0. Anything less than 1 would move left faster than normal, and any cell with a ratio > 1 position would accelerate right relative to it's natural position.

As to the content, I have to agree with others. The text is not just difficult to read due to it's structure, but visually hard to digest. Black on pink is hard enough to read, but while it's moving and in a complex font, it's very straining on the eyes. I recommend you find a container that's more of a whitish gray and switch to a simple font.

Personally I'd drop the pink all together, but that's more from a usability point of view than from an artistic one.

[MrHoatzin]

Hey, you're right, that does simplify. Thanks. I feel like I should've noticed that... It's been a while since I've had to dick around with math... the process of coming up with that equation was far more trial and error than I thought would be necessary. It's a humbling experience to not be able to envision mathematically what it is that you want to take place. I guess the 1 - ratio does make some sense—as I don't so much need the ratio of side lengths as the ∆ ratio of side lengths, but I have not entirely internalized the logic of it. And yes, the second container, the one that has the village, the kid with the dog, and the wall with the poster are in the 1:1 layer, so it doesn't slide relative to the window/body/narrative.

As for the text legibility, I disagree about the need for a different typeface. Georgia or Arial will just not cut it conceptually. I initially wanted to use some sort of Blackletter, but opted for more legibility, hence this one. You don't have to be scrolling as you try to read, you know, you can just stop and read... then continue scrolling. As for the fuchsia background, I tried giving the narrative block a simple background of its own, but it looked tacky—it nerfed the impact of the background in a way, made it less daring and relevant as a part of the composition, excluding it and pushing it back rather than having it tie everything together like a passe-partout should.

The first page will not have much text anyway and the background color is arbitrary and will change on the following pages. I'd say the usability is merely brought to the very edge of permissible insanity, rather than completely thrown out the window here.

Are you on a Mac, by any chance? I noticed that the font is especially fat on Snow Leopard (but not on Leopard or iOS, somehow), but it looks fine in XP. The exclamation mark is particularly weird because the spacing between the dot and the stem is hard to notice, so ! ≈ |I1. Other than that the typeface is fine.

[ThunderPeel2001]

The text is not just difficult to read due to it's structure, but visually hard to digest. Black on pink is hard enough to read, but while it's moving and in a complex font, it's very straining on the eyes. I recommend you find a container that's more of a whitish gray and switch to a simple font.

Personally I'd drop the pink all together, but that's more from a usability point of view than from an artistic one.

I agree (apart from the bit I struck out -- those sort of recommendations never work out).

From a usability/reader point of view, the text doesn't seem to be part of the artwork.

Also, I was thinking about the whole "what is an opinion" question, and it vexed me a while. But I think I've figured out why Thompson's explanation doesn't work for me: An opinion isn't something that can withstand facts. If contrary facts are presented, then it changes to a lie or a delusion, not an opinion. Likewise, if an opinion is proven to be true, then it is no longer an opinion, but a fact. So anything that can be countered by facts isn't classifiable as an opinion (in my opinion).

Which is backed up by this dictionary definition: A belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty. If your statement is on ground that sufficient to produce complete certainty (either for or against), then it isn't an opinion.

Anyway, that's my 2c on the (quite interesting) matter.

[JonCole]

It's been a little while since I plugged this, so I'll give it another go. I've been doing a podcast for a little while with the guys from CastMedium.com and we recently changed the format of the show. Instead of being primarily news oriented as we've been in the past, the show is now dedicated to a single topic every week in games and tech. We try to keep it fairly topical, though we've left a lot more room to be creative.

Anyways, here are some of the shows we've done since the change (and I'd appreciate feedback, of course) -

CM Podcast 069 - Sony NGP

CM Podcast 070 - Multiplayer gaming

CM Podcast 071 - Mobile World Congress (webOS, Nokia, and Sony Xperia Play)

[Noyb]

Made a short, darkly satirical choose-your-own-adventure game about IGN's hiring process for a two-hour game jam. (Windows, OSX, Linux)

http://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/1614

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha, that was depressingly funny Noyb. I'm really glad the editor didn't go as far as I thought he would, as it was getting sort of nasty for a second there.

[twmac]

It just went up today, and I feel like some people (The Wire fans) here might get a little laugh out of it:

http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2011/02/stay-alive-the-film-the-review/

I reviewed Stay Alive, I didn't really review to be honest but the film is so terrible that it really doesn't deserve a proper one.

And to reply to a different thread, Snooglebum, there is now more content so the site looks like a real one now.

[Denial]

Oh, wow. Stay Alive. I love a terrible film about an entertainment the creators barely understand - I've seen Mazes and Monsters, damn it - but I couldn't sit through this one. Not even the hope that something awful might happen to Cody Banks kept me in the game. Didn't they end up discovering that you can avoid being killed by the eldritch forces in the Video game by pressing pause?

[twmac]

It's been a little while since I plugged this, so I'll give it another go. I've been doing a podcast for a little while with the guys from CastMedium.com and we recently changed the format of the show. Instead of being primarily news oriented as we've been in the past, the show is now dedicated to a single topic every week in games and tech. We try to keep it fairly topical, though we've left a lot more room to be creative.

Anyways, here are some of the shows we've done since the change (and I'd appreciate feedback, of course) -

CM Podcast 069 - Sony NGP

CM Podcast 070 - Multiplayer gaming

CM Podcast 071 - Mobile World Congress (webOS, Nokia, and Sony Xperia Play)

Have downloaded the first one and have it lined up for the next listen at work.

[Denial]

Will also listen to the last one, Jon.

I... write a bit, I guess? Partly about gaming. And I guess I unspool on my blog, over here, where the value of solid editors probably becomes very clear very quickly.

[twmac]

For the Turian horse armour.

JonC - Have you made these podcasts shorter and more focused to meet deadlines, or is it because you would prefer to keep to one topic more-or-less?

Enjoyed the two that I listened to (including the shout out to the Grand Thumb Auto multiplayer), but I couldn't face the mobile phone one. It might have been good but I don't really care about phones (I don't even have a land line) and I think that might be a bit of a problem with the current format given that some people will be put off my by the almost singular topic matter.

[JonCole]

For the Turian horse armour.

JonC - Have you made these podcasts shorter and more focused to meet deadlines, or is it because you would prefer to keep to one topic more-or-less?

Enjoyed the two that I listened to (including the shout out to the Grand Thumb Auto multiplayer), but I couldn't face the mobile phone one. It might have been good but I don't really care about phones (I don't even have a land line) and I think that might be a bit of a problem with the current format given that some people will be put off my by the almost singular topic matter.

Well, we had a more broad-news approach where we'd tackle anywhere from... maybe three to six different pieces of games and tech news. We found that while we were able to hit just about everything, we couldn't really dive deep into any one thing too much without breaking our self-imposed time limit (30-40 minutes).

As for why we keep it that short, we just kinda feel like most podcasts more than overstay their welcome on a regular basis (I mean, 1.5 hours is okay... but some go 2.5-3 hours? Really?)

[twmac]

Fair enough, but like I said, there will be some episodes I just won't listen to at all due to the fact it is on a topic I have no interest in.

I agree that is a good idea to stay focused but it might be worth making it a tinsy bit longer and covering maybe two disparate topics?

Anyway, I still liked it and will be sure to follow your stuff, you might want to slow down your twitter announcement, have been able to catch it so far.

[MrHoatzin]

So I listened to feedback and nerfed the quinacridone background in favor of something that makes your eyes bleed less. The second page is going to have completely different colors anyway. I'm thinking something like this. From left to right: site bg—accent—set—characters—highlight.

[Lu]

That's some awesome looking animation in the glass magic orb. Well done.

[Kolzig]

I say it looks even better than before, it does help my eyes now that the surroundings are gray, but the purple color really makes the world look sinister. Interesting that the screen gets darker in the sixth page that's a cool effect. As the sixth page is clearly supposed to be dark psychic's room, is that on purpose?

I like this a lot!

P.S. I'm still sad that Herzog the Vile stopped a long time ago...

Edited February 25, 2011 by Kolzig

[MrHoatzin]

Interesting that the screen gets darker in the sixth page that's a cool effect. As the sixth page is clearly supposed to be dark psychic's room, is that on purpose?

Someone had to put in the bg-color-animating code… It is not accidental.

I like this a lot!

P.S. I'm still sad that Herzog the Vile stopped a long time ago...

Thanks! And yeah, we tried to restart work on Herzog many times through the years and it would always get more convoluted and difficult to conceive, rife with plot hole trap doors and missing motivations, but we may yet bring it back. Zog is not dead, he is just confused and dormant. Since Herzog has been not-happening for so long, Hobo Lobo is an attempt for me to start something going, lest my creative glands atrophy.

This one is very, very likely to be finished, btw, I promise! Finishability was one of its primary objectives while it was being conceived. I am also sketching out another project with Mrs. Kingzjester which is going to have a yet completely different flavor from both Herzog The Vile and Hobo Lobo, so stay tuned.

There is a little Zog easter egg in the hobolobo site, you can see it if you turn off styles.

[twmac]

There is a video doing the rounds of guy being so wrapped up in getting to gamezone (Montreal) in time for the midnight release of Marvel vs Capcom 3 that he inadvertently screwed up his chances with members of the fairer sex.

Well he actually writes on Arcadian Rhythms, so after this video went viral, we gently mocked him (see bottom of page):

http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2011/02/clones-drones-and-sex-its-friday/

The best part is that the piece he wrote for the site was on games he was looking forward to and amongst those was MvC3.

[Snooglebum]

My new album, Alchemy, is totally out! Go and buy it! Or at least give it a listen. Here, let me attach the redone Shotgun Kiss.

qRUJ3ZicBag

[syntheticgerbil]

The Snooglebum album? Neato!

[Snooglebum]

The Snooglebum album? Neato!

It's supposed to be called "Alchemy", but because I'm an idiot and typed the wrong name, it's called " Snooglebum". With the extra space in front of it. Sigh.

[Tanukitsune]

I actually have a metric ton of "shit" to plug... I have a ton of games and movies I'm going to put on sale soon and I was thinking of offering them here first...

Would anybody have any interest in relatively in obscure old PC games?

I could create a thread for this, but if nobody wants old PC games I won't bother.

[syntheticgerbil]

I think you're supposed to be plugging things you created not stuff you want to hock.

[Tanukitsune]

Oops, sorry about that.

[MrHoatzin]

I made a proper art. Donated for an art auction to benefit the nonprofit Sala Diaz gallery in San Antonio. All of the participating artists were tasked with making something with a bicycle helmet.

Great Fucking Investment Opportunity Arguably NSFW or the prudish.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Kingzjester