Jake

Idle Thumbs 75: Save the Razzin'

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Jake seemed pretty hard on Black Mesa Source for only having played an hour of it. They didn't add iron sights to the guns - they only added them to the revolver, and even then it was because the revolver had the added zoom + accuracy secondary fire in HLDM so they decided to recreate that because they also play to recreate HLDM. I think BM:S is super well done and it's a really interesting remix of the original. For a game that in large parts I basically have memorized, it's really wonderful to see another team's take on it. Things like moving the crowbar location or changing the weapon order keep things fresh and more importantly help me reflect on the sorts of choices Valve made (and on the ones the BMS team made) because I now have a pretty good comparison. Because I don't make or test games I don't have a lot of opportunities to play for myself the difference between getting a weapon in place X and getting a weapon in place Y and it's neat to see how changing something like that ends up impacting my experience. There are lots of great touches, too, like how when you reach a ladder that the NPCs can't follow you on, they'll make some remark about it instead of just being left behind in silence.

Black Mesa has taken on an incredibly mighty task: Update Half-Life 1. I am enjoying Black Mesa and am going to keep playing it, and yes, seeing someone else's interpretation is interesting. I didn't mean my remark of having to think about Black Mesa as basically 30 frame a second fan art as a pejorative. I think fans reinterpreting an original work within the same medium as the original work is crazy. I also think seeing Black Mesa the research facility in higher res is super fun. I can't help but notice the details and moments which are missed. Sometimes it's the absolute tiny things, for instance in the start of the original Half-Life, we fade up and the train is already moving down a tunnel, from an unknown point of origin to an unknown destination, while in Black Mesa we fade up in the train, but it's stationary -- nothing is moving in the scene -- and we're at a station! It's tiny tiny stuff, but they change the meaning and implications present in the very first shot! A bold task.

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I think you're right about that, and it's also a little sad that the Black Mesa team misses those little touches, but one of the virtues of BMS, I think, is that it brings those to light. It's a perfect tool for analyzing the original Half-Life, because you can look at those changes and think about (and talk about) their implications, what was left out, whether anything was improved, and so on. Certainly it's possible to analyze the brilliance of Half-Life without having to use BMS as the comparison class, but it's hard to deny that having BMS there is incredibly useful. Let's take your example about the train, for instance. I agree that the Half-Life way of doing it has much different implications than BMS' way of doing it, and that Half-Life's way is better. But some people wouldn't even think about that without noticing the contrast between Half-Life and BMS, and even if we would think about it even without BMS, having the contrast there can make it easier to realize what it meant for the original to do things the way it did things.

And although I agree that they missed a lot of stuff, I think they even improved on some things. The most pedestrian example I can think of is the choice to give the player more magnum ammo and to introduce the magnum earlier than the shotgun. I think that works better than Half-Life, where the magnum gets relegated to the "I wish I could use this more" pile pretty early and where it has to play second fiddle to the shotgun the entire time.

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It really goes to show how different the experiences are for people over the same game. Jake was talking about how great the machine in the test chamber is, and all the care behind recreating that was obviously something valued by the remake's developers. But for me personally the machine itself wasn't all that special. It was the moments following it (the resonance cascade) that stood out to me more. So I think everyone is going to have some experiences of things being recreated that they noticed and loved, and then some things being cut or just not given the same care. The BMS team put forward their treasured moments of the game, and yours might not line up the same.

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One of the qualities that makes games with audio diaries compelling is that they can be sort of mysterious, and not on the same chronology as the player, such as finding a dead body in room one, and learning their story and beginnings by room 30. On it's face an audio diary is kind of cynical and bare bones!

The obvious issue with non-linear play in many types of games would be boning a sense of character progression, unless you were slipping through time or something.

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I'd argue that games don't typically go for non-linear storytelling because of the way a player's character will become stronger and more competent through the length of the story—and jumping around in time typically muddles that arc. (A common exception to this rule is the abilitease,)

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I'd argue that games don't typically go for non-linear storytelling because of the way a player's character will become stronger and more competent through the length of the story—and jumping around in time typically muddles that arc. (A common exception to this rule is the abilitease,)

That seems pretty surmountable, even if jumping around a lot, as long as the requisite information about those abilities is provided in a clear way. Many games also don't have mechanically-driven character development, which would make the issue moot. What might be harder to get around is the notion of the player's (as opposed to the character's) level of skill improving over the course of the game.

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What might be harder to get around is the notion of the player's (as opposed to the character's) level of skill improving over the course of the game.

I can vaguely remember Jake talking on a cast about how the boss of the first level of Bad Dudes eventually shows up as a generic dude when you get far enough in

That pretty accurately summarises my experience with that era of video games, in terms of the very present difficulty ramp

It's probably attributable to arcade game design more than the post-2005 "cinematic blockbuster Unreal Engine 3" thing that seems to be the expectation now

I can beat most games on normal or hard these days without having too much trouble, but I'd still not be able to get to the later worlds of Mario 3 on one attempt

It's interesting that no-one on the cast brought up Black Ops, which is both non-linear in its storytelling and historical/period fiction

The whole Call of Duty series (as far as I know) features multiple perspectives within each game

Pretty significant given they're likely the most-played narratives of this generation

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Playing a game again is a unique type of none-linear story-telling.

Like the idea that you can play Walking Dead again in a weird "What-if" scenario is unique to games and kind of a weird new concept. I guess like Majora's Mask is built on that, playing 3 days again and again with different decisions to find out new facets of what's going on.

I dunno, just throwin it out there. The game designer in me is all like "HHHMMMMMM..." about that.

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It's interesting that no-one on the cast brought up Black Ops, which is both non-linear in its storytelling and historical/period fiction

The whole Call of Duty series (as far as I know) features multiple perspectives within each game

Pretty significant given they're likely the most-played narratives of this generation

I think most people shrug off that series' storytelling because it's transparently so they can come up with a bunch of different scenarios and shoehorn them together into a plot, with no concerns for character continuity because you're always switching. That said, it's weird when it comes to games but—as noted in the cast—not that weird compared to everything else which is why no one really gives it too much scrutiny.

A fuller answer may be that games have figured out how to sneak non-linear storytelling within the wider envelope of a linear plot: see the audio diaries in Bioshock, or even the mind levels in Psychonauts embodying that character's formative experiences.

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I think most people shrug off that series' storytelling because it's transparently so they can come up with a bunch of different scenarios and shoehorn them together into a plot, with no concerns for character continuity because you're always switching. That said, it's weird when it comes to games but—as noted in the cast—not that weird compared to everything else which is why no one really gives it too much scrutiny.

A fuller answer may be that games have figured out how to sneak non-linear storytelling within the wider envelope of a linear plot: see the audio diaries in Bioshock, or even the mind levels in Psychonauts embodying that character's formative experiences.

"The game only came up with the narrative to justify the gameplay" describes much more than Call of Duty. BioShock's narrative, audio diaries and all, did not come first - the idea of ripping off System Shock came first, and the narrative only came much later. In fact, the audio diaries came before the narrative, because they're an element from System Shock.

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Thanks to this episode, I bought Super Hexagon. I was aware of it, but hadn't gotten around to trying it, so thanks for the reminder.

It's great. I just now finally passed a minute in the first mode, and I'm terribly excited about it.

JP Sniper mentioned Space Giraffe, and that is a very similar experience for me… I find I do best when I sort of unfocus and take in the whole image at once and get lost in the music. I love games that really induce getting "in the zone." I don't understand what it is, but I know I like it.

Space Giraffe is one of those things that I know I'll always want to go back to from time to time. It's the only game in which I've ever purposely hunted down all of the achievements. It's unbelievably good.

I have more to say about this, but I'm still in a weird mental state from playing Super Hexagon, so I can't calm down and order my thoughts.

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Probably the foremost example of non-linear (in the non-gaming sense) storytelling in games is a work of interactive fiction called Photopia.

It's short and powerful. A great example of using interactivity and non-linearity to tell a story that couldn't be experienced the same way in any other medium.

(Also, very little puzzle-solving to get stuck on.)

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I think sine mora is completely non linear, there's time travel, multiple characters/stories and I think the chapters are non sequential

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James Benson's Half-Life stuff is so good! Also that guy is a reader. I wrote him once about those HL animations and he replied back asking for more Thumbs episodes :shifty:. He's working on some sort of indie game full time now, which I hope is public soon.

I am talking to him right now! I am telling him he should post on here.

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Hey... just because I couldn't find a better place to post it, here's my old "X-Com strategies" email, for those who care. I wrote it for folks at my previous studio and have passed it on a few times since then:

The first XCOM is still really awesome and highly recommended for anyone who likes turn-based games. Plus I think everyone should have it on Steam because of the 2K employee unlock code we got. If you've never played it before, you totally should off hours. There have been several XCOM-like games since, but none of them quite as definitive and consistently excellent.

However, the game's difficulty and learning curve are definitely of 1993 vintage. I know multiple people in recent years who have tried to play it for the first time and been repelled by this. In some cases, having some seasoned players of the game around to help made all the difference - I'm happy to give pointers and I'll bet there are some other vets on the team as well. In the absence of that, there's this:

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Starting_Your_Shadowy_Paramilitary_Organization

The rest of this fan wiki has a ton of useful strategy and info.

My beginner's strategy, in brief:

1. Place your base over a large land mass so you'll get lots of early opportunities to shoot down UFOs and salvage.

2. In your new base, immediately start building Alien Containment, Large Radar Array and some more living quarters and storage. Buildings take time, so they'll be online right around the time you start needing them.

3. Immediately buy some scientists and engineers. The more scientists you can get, the better.

4. Immediately sell off the auto cannon and heavy gun, they're pretty much worthless.

5. Buy some flares in case you get stuck doing a night mission.

6. Buy some Stun Prods so you can take down aliens non-lethally, and thus interrogate them back at your base after the mission.

7. Once your scientists arrive, start researching laser weapons right away.

8. Once that research is complete, manufacture laser pistols, then rifles.

9. Once you salvage some alien alloys from a mission, research them and then build armor - it doesn't help that much, but every little bit helps.

10. Early but not immediately, build a Missile Defense for your base. Aliens will **SPOILER** invade your base in force if you don't have this by the mid game.

More general tips for the rough early game:

- When you shoot down a UFO, wait until the sun is up on that area before landing your skyranger or you'll be fighting aliens in the dark.

- Line of sight is everything during missions, so position your guys for maximum redundant view coverage at the end of each turn and they'll spot (and sometimes shoot!) lurking aliens.

- Auto-shots (bursts of 3) are usually well worth the Time Unit cost compared to more accurate shots.

- During missions, make sure you know which of your soldiers can be depended on to hit shots (Firing Accuracy) and make reaction shots (Reactions). I always rename new recruits according to their strongest (or exceptionally weakest) stat, eg Gunther Sniper, Alice Paranoid, Marcus Coward.

- Expect a fairly high attrition rate for your first few missions. The ones that survive all that are probably going to be decent soldiers.

- Take any chance you get to do a mission on a UFO that has landed (green X) versus having been shot down (yellow X) - undamaged alien craft have Elerium, which is the super awesome resource that lets you start making cool shit

- Terror missions (the ones in cities) can be a total nightmare, so you may actually be justified in skipping one early on. Try one though, they're also the most fun and challenging.

- A bit later into the game, research plasma weapons so you can use alien pistols and rifles - the damage is much better and you'll have plenty of ammo from salvage.

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Black Mesa has taken on an incredibly mighty task: Update Half-Life 1. I am enjoying Black Mesa and am going to keep playing it, and yes, seeing someone else's interpretation is interesting. I didn't mean my remark of having to think about Black Mesa as basically 30 frame a second fan art as a pejorative. I think fans reinterpreting an original work within the same medium as the original work is crazy. I also think seeing Black Mesa the research facility in higher res is super fun. I can't help but notice the details and moments which are missed. Sometimes it's the absolute tiny things, for instance in the start of the original Half-Life, we fade up and the train is already moving down a tunnel, from an unknown point of origin to an unknown destination, while in Black Mesa we fade up in the train, but it's stationary -- nothing is moving in the scene -- and we're at a station! It's tiny tiny stuff, but they change the meaning and implications present in the very first shot! A bold task.

Oh wow. It struck me at the time that the opening scene was exactly the same except different, but I wasn't entirely sure why. I didn't even realize the difference of that first moment until I read this right now.

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Hey JP, speaking of X-Com tips... I'm sure a million people have all picked apart every single thing you did "wrong" in the stream by now, but the one thing that really bugged me was that you kept having your guys run around trying to juggle a two handed rifle and a flare or a grenade at the same time. They actually get a pretty significant penalty to your accuracy when they do that, so they could've been much better shots than they were.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.

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I had made it to Ljubljana castle. Now all I had to do was find the funicular.

post-24417-0-31922400-1349615455_thumb.jpg

Aha! A clue.

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Just follow the arrows. Nothing could go wrong, could it?

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I was getting nowhere. Fast. Maybe a trip to the virtual castle would help focus my mind.

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Finally, I had nearly made it. I was so close that I could smell it.

post-24417-0-41127200-1349615489_thumb.jpg

Success!

post-24417-0-61399900-1349615491_thumb.jpg

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One-way on the Funicular Railway is the title of my forthcoming novel.

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Will it be about a retired high-wire artist agent who reminisces about his life during a one way trip to the Sacré Coeur, where he'll be attending the funeral of a former client, though he can't remember anything about?

33283b5842cdbd3ce5eea7edf664f.jpg

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Late to this thread, obviously. But I loved the part of this episode where you talked about trying to play Super Hexagon while inebriated, as a demonstration of alcohol's effect on our motor functions even when we feel like we're not seriously impacted. I decided to try it out.

Now, to be clear, I'm not very good at Super Hexagon to begin with. My high score is 63 seconds, and that's on "Hard", the lowest difficulty. But that is the best I've been able to do so far, stone sober.

Having had a manhattan (2 shots of bourbon and some vermouth), I'm definitely feeling the alcohol at least a little, though I'm certainly able to hold a conversation and consider myself pretty much fully functional. The best I'm able to do so far under this condition is 61 seconds. So, only 2 seconds off my high score.

It may be that I suck at Super Hexagon to begin with - I mean, I already accepted that as true - but the alcohol isn't making me feel much worse at it than I already was. I don't think I have alcohol-resistant superpowers, but I'm definitely not seeing the dramatic results you experienced, having gone in eager to be made a fool of by the game. Maybe "Hard" isn't punishing enough to demonstrate the disparity.

EDIT: I bumped it up to Harder, and now I'm capping out at about 30 seconds (28). I'll have to come back when sober and see if I do noticeably better.

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