June 12, 2009
But i love it.
I guess its a love hate realationship really. i know that its a neccessary thing for every good designer to know, but its a strict bitch.
having said that, i wish to announce that I am done with the spring quarter of college. It was fucking hell. I took to much time procrastinating. almost killed me in the end, i just hope for god’s sake i can pass. if only just.
Pass or not, i’m going to start posting a little more often in order to build up my writing skills and learn to stay on a schedule of sorts. Need to learn to do that either way.
E3 turned out to not suck, which is good, lots of original IP’s and tech coming out. I hope to see less remakes and sequals, and more original stuff. it also seams to be the year of the Console MMO, with champions, DC universe, and SW: Old Republic making a solid showing. Champions and Old Republic has got my brain up and running.
its tempting to bitch about being poor and shit right now, but thats what twitter is for.
Toodles.
Posted by johnwedd under blog | Comments Off
May 1, 2009
Twitter / Home.
hello internet, i am still alive.
I am so fucking behind on my homework, but i’m putting it off, but NOT ANY MORE!! after grey’s anatomy of course.
i now have a wacom, and i’ve been putzing around with it alot.
my browser resolution has been acting funky. but i fixed it earlier.
figured out my random computer shut-downs are related to my cpu over heating. i think the fans are miffed.
a splash of lemon juice in diet coke on ice is very nice, and best when drank through a straw. the lemon gives it a snap that i like.
i’ve been reading the book NEXT by micheal chriton, and like most of his books, the world is goning to go to shit because of science. Sometimes, i wish that it would go to shit just to shut his ass up.
ooh, everyone is poor now, so drop cable TV and start watching TV online like the rest of us. Use open source, and spend money where it counts, (porn, weed, video games, and junk food), to stimulate the economy.
haven’t been able to keep up with my comic books, but webcomics i check like clockwork. I still think Scott kurtz is a douche bag.
I’m doing a second play through of Gears of War 2, i find that the upped difficulty doesn’t mesh well with the environment and the vechicle sections become more frustrating for no reason. I should right an article about that.
i looked into the Ubuntu 9.04 live CD, i didn’t try to install it. it looks better, act a little bit more behaved, maybe when 10 hits the net, i’ll give it serious consideration. at least until Windows 7. Mac OS X snow leapoard is still a douche bag.
that reminds me, why does chrome still say beta? and how can i install user scripts?
my wife kelly recently had a falling out with her guild (Unified on Spinebreaker) in WoW. much drama. she started talking about it and i kinda phased her out after the the third repetion of “and I DID NOT blah blah blah”. Now she gets bored easy, so i tell her that constructive hobbies like blogging, art, or writing would do her good and enrich her mentally. She has stubbornly said no. I blame her being both lazy, and a bitch; but mostly lazy.
i like pie.
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April 18, 2009
Here is an interview with an indie/hobbyist developer i ran across while screwing around on twitter. His games are well made and you can find more of his work here. Follow him on twitter if you’re so inclined. His games are worth the few minutes it takes to download.
johnwedd: so I’m on freezer 2, very nice concept.
ravuya: that one was actually really quick to write
johnwedd: really? including the scripting language?
ravuya: the scripting language I lifted from a friend, he had been working on it for a few months and I just integrated it
johnwedd: what inspired you to make freezer 2?
ravuya: it’s a sequel to the first game, which was along the same lines – I didn’t have a particular inspiration in the plot
johnwedd: the plot seems irrelevant but fun, psycho who thinks aliens are coming to eat brains, where in the only recourse is to kill everyone and pack them in freezers,very funny.
ravuya: it was definitely hard to explain to people who asked about it
johnwedd: i got it right off the bat
ravuya: well, I mean to people who ask what the game is about when I was working on it
johnwedd: i like the mechanic though, much like the MGS mechanic of stealth killing, and hiding the bodies.
ravuya: it’s a bit stealthy – I experimented with things like respawning police but they didn’t really work out
johnwedd: the AI is primitive but well implemented, what did you learn in this game that you applied to other games, like Glow or what not?
ravuya: I learned a ton about game organization, control, polish and debugging
johnwedd: i notice that most of your games, although simple stuff, are well organized,polish and what have you
ravuya: yeah, I try to apply good engineering practice. one thing I noticed about freezer 2 is that almost nobody talked to people before opening fire
johnwedd: yeah, a few times you do at first, but after a bit you just start shooting
ravuya: a lot of the game (the control, the way weapons are set up) directly influenced glow
johnwedd: i can see that, will there be a Freezer 3? that impliments the refinments of glow?
ravuya: I’d like to do a fully 3D Freezer one day
johnwedd: instead of the 2.5D that glow is?
ravuya: yeah
johnwedd: that would be difficult
ravuya: it’s a lot more work and content
johnwedd: yup, i’ve also noticed, you don’t have any clones in your portfolio, have you tried to make a clone game or two to use as a base?
ravuya: a few, a lot of my learning games are not posted
johnwedd: CSRPG was obviously a big learning game, is it that exceptional
ravuya: I think it’s more important to have since I also have the second one
johnwedd: i didn’t mean that its bad, just looks like you refined it alot. The second one is very well planned out.
ravuya: yeah, the first one is not very solid, the second one was properly designed and built from the start
and then I did a bunch of effort polishing it.
johnwedd: are you planning on making a version three?
ravuya: yeah, but it would be a big one
johnwedd: what are you plans for new projects, more sequels?
ravuya: I’m doing a sequel to Glow currently, and after that I think I’ll do a racing game
johnwedd: and “afterGlow” of sorts?
ravuya: yeah, Afterglow is the name
johnwedd: i noticed that you like to play with AI a bit, have you tried to make a game centered around that?
ravuya: I write really simple AI, I want to spend more effort making it better,that’s probably a good idea for a weekend project
johnwedd: you mentioned a few times on your site that good art is hard to come by, have you tried places like DeviantArt?
ravuya: no, I was always under the impression they were devoid of sprite artists
johnwedd: since you’re using OGL via PyGame, you should be able to use formats like PNG and GIF, which are very prevaliant in dA
ravuya: yeah, I use PNG/GIF,I just need to find a sprite artist who is willing to do the set of work.
johnwedd: have you ever seen the PyGame Programming Jams,where they are given only a short amount of time to make a game from scratch
ravuya: I have seen some people doing 48-hour competitions with it for ludum dare, yeah
johnwedd: have you tried something like that?
ravuya: I ran my own short competition twice before it became a lot of effort: Here and Here
johnwedd: well good work on you’re games and i hope to talk to you more
ravuya: thanks
Posted by johnwedd under article, gaming, news | Comments Off
April 11, 2009
Netbooks and Linux: A Complicated Story by PC World: Yahoo! Tech.
just to rub it in the fanboy’s faces a little.
Posted by johnwedd under blog | Comments Off
March 27, 2009
Unreal Engine 3 New Features GDC 2009 Trailer Videos – G4tv.com.
FYI: I am Johnwedd, and Necro is actually Warsaw.
this is a conversation i had with Warsaw about level development.
Johnwedd says:
have you been following GDC
?
Necro says:
Not really.
Johnwedd says:
you should, the Unreal engine 3 looks awesome
http://g4tv.com/video_detail.aspx?video_key=37413
Necro says:
Ah yes. Saw it. Looks fantastic
Johnwedd says:
its the engine so much as the tools
level building has always been easy on Unreal games, but it looks like they’re avoiding the actual editor all together.
Necro says:
Why do you meen
Johnwedd says:
well, in level designers, they rarely work on the level editor to make it easy, its not what they are selling, they are selling the engine itself.
alot of the time, game companies modify the fuck out of the editor to fit there own needs
that being said, the busiest programmer on the team is usually the tools developer.
but no one really sits down and takes into consideration the actual level designers
Necro says:
So there making it easy
for the level designers
Johnwedd says:
not really
Necro says:
?
oh
so they dont care?
There just selling the engine
and its like “do it your self bitch?”
Johnwedd says:
pretty much
Necro says:
DO IT YOUR SELF
Johnwedd says:
well, look at it this way
the tools made shouldn’t interact like hacked together code made by coders for coders, it should be like Photoshop, where its made to fit the level designers
Necro says:
ah
Johnwedd says:
if photoshop was made strictly for professionals that had access to a programmer or are one them selves, it would look more like GiMP, only harder to understand.
Necro says:
So it would be…
RETARDED AND IN LEATHER
BASAZIZIZIZIZIZNGNGNGNGNGNGNGGN
Johnwedd says:
….. like an inbred dominatrix
Posted by johnwedd under funny, gaming | Comments Off
March 23, 2009
As dedicated players and fans of the game known as Bioshock, we have been waiting for an excuse to return to Rapture. However, the news i have been hearing about the upcoming sequel has me somewhat disheartened. I guess the fact that it is to be a sequel rather than a prequel, like i was hoping for, is my primary concern.
Throughout the game i was constantly imagining Rapture as it was, before the fall if you will. I want to see rapture right at its peak just before it all hit the fan. Have it be a running battle as the splicers emerge, using plasmids and eventually having to choose between joining the splicers, or attempting a risky escape to the surface.
The whole concept behind Bioshock is the same concept behind Animal Farm, a cautionary tale of the objectiveness concept. We should examine it right at its downfall, a stark but necessary contrast to the aftermath presented by the original.
I’m not saying that if it is a direct sequel i will reject it on principle, but i would be disapointed with its creators if they make a game that a sequal in name only.
Posted by johnwedd under article, gaming, news | Comments Off
March 1, 2009
Tabula Rasa’s shutdown salute schedule – Massively.
Lets look at the concept that Tabula Rasa, and Hellgate: London have in common. It was the idea that the very popular FPS action sub-genre could be molded with the equally popular MMO sub-genre.
They both failed, unfortunately, and for much the same reasons. I could go on and on about the techinical aspects of each one, or the artistic pitfall both faced, but in reality, it came down to design and content.
In the case of Tabula Rasa, they designed it to be big with very little end game content (they misjudged the speed of dedicated gamers.), and thosly, made it pretty pointless to go beyond the level 30 mark. The mechanics where valid and sufficient, but ultimately pretty low end. In a sense, it could be seen as the most generic MMOFPS framework. Granted, i don’t agree with the “Everything must be a gun” mentality of the content creators, they stuck to it and made a solid game. Yet it wasn’t enough to deal with the gorilla known as WoW.
Hellgate: London however messed up the design aspect.
Being as they had a great idea and went through the aweful business of leaving Blizzard with a concept in the hopes of completing a full and unique NON-Blizzard game (not diablo, warcraft, or starcraft).
But they spent so much effort in the avoidence of blizzard practices that they made quite a few mistakes.
bottom-line, third times the charm.
Posted by johnwedd under Uncategorized | Comments Off
February 15, 2009
Bespin | Google Groups.
I like the idea of cload computing, i just want the option of it also being available offline.
I like food.
Also, I beat BioShock, the good ending.
it was worth the 12 hours of play, 40 bucks tho.
I tried out Halo Wars for the xbox, as much time and effort that was put into the game, it is yet another example of why RTS’s don’t really work out to well on the console. This is not to say that it won’t be enjoyable, it would just require alot of patience. I think warsaw and maybe Miss n00b might have something to say about that.
i actually hit a homerun this valentines day, chocolates and cute electronic toys with a plush puppy kicker.
Watched the premerie of joss whedon’s “dollhouse” thought it was cool.
i like pie.
Posted by johnwedd under blog, gaming | Comments Off
February 9, 2009
for those that really reads this blog.
Aiglos|celt| and Warsaw are making a come back.
let the geekery commence!
Posted by johnwedd under Uncategorized | Comments (1)
February 8, 2009
Halo Wars. A war against humanity, and it isn’t winning. I recently played Halo Wars, then gave up on it. I’m playing it again through the tutorial then through the two campaign missions to give a full impression review.
At first glance it’s okay. The first thing I notice is the horrible voice overs all round. There is a bunch of little problems I don’t like either. When you do a move, your units don’t stop to attack like they would in any other RTS. They keep on moving as they attack. I’m not sure if I can change this yet, but it’s a very annoying design choice. I would of preferred if the units stopped once they were in range. As far as visuals go they are fine. The terrain looks pretty good, but the units, and buildings suffer from a lack of detail. Well I just completed the tutorial so I’m moving unto the campaign.
I’m starting the campaign and it’s showing me a nice little cinematic cut-scene. The visuals they use look pretty good. It’s a shame the game quality doesn’t stand up to the same bar the cut scene’s set. One problem I noticed with some cinematic cut scenes is that in some games they suffer from to much drawn out dialogue. This first cut scene suffers from this, and when it’s in one cut scene I usually expect it from the rest. I did see a montage on YouTube and the-Ugh the voice work is so bad.. -on youtube and the cut scenes looked very nice-WTF is with this chick!? Ugh.. these characters suck- The first time I watched this cut scene I just ended it, because I couldn’t suffer through the voice work. It’s already ended so I’ll just leave it at, the cut scenes are visually good but the sound quality through out the whole game causes everything to suffer.
I’m in game. Again it looks fine except for the units. One thing I do like is that each unit has a secondary attack. Nothing like running over grunts using your warthogs secondary attack. After you get into it the game isn’t half bad. You get use to the voice work (It’s still horrible for the Covenant. I played them in a skirmish game earlier and they need a lot of work) They do try to make some parts a little more epic. An example is where you drive your warthogs over cliffs and such. It’s kind of rewarding to see. It makes it more interesting then just driving across flat land for sure. The main voice work that gets on my nerves is the computers. When you select units and such. They really should of hired a better actor. This guy doesn’t even sound like a professional actor, just someone they used from the dev team. Another bad design choice is there is no equivalent to the shift and click that you can do in PC games. So you have to move each unit one by one, or select everything which I don’t want to do. Both left bumper and right bumper select all units, why not make one a shift function so I can select individual units into a group myself? I just finished the first mission. Overall it’s alright but there are things that definitely need to be changed when it comes to the controls to make it a more friendly RTS. It’s games like this where you can PC fan-boys going “look at halo wars! RTS on consoles suck!” They wouldn’t suck if the developers used half of their brains when mapping out the controls. Anyway, onto the second mission!
Another cut scene. It did have some Covenant voices which were fine, but then goes back to the human voices. They are horrible. It’s as if they just had there whole developer team pitch in for the voices. The Covenant voices could use some work, but they arn’t nearly as bad as the human voice work. One thing they do have is supply boxes across the map. The problem is they offer so little it doesn’t really make a lot of sense for multi-player. You aren’t going to have people rush for the supply boxes on each map. I think the problem is the game is to simple. There’s not enough thinking involved. It doesn’t make for a hardcore RTS. This is a problem, because your now cutting off a huge portion of buyers. RTS attract a very hard core group, more so then FPS IMO so when you’re game lacks that appeal you’re cutting off an arm in profits. Remember how I talked about not being able to group together you’re own squads? It’s becoming a huge problem when I’m trying to micro my units, and deploy them in cover. On a good note I like the fact they put SOME cover in the game. Okay, I found one way to group together units! If you double click on a unit it selects all of that type, but it still doesn’t allow for you to make your own groups. I’ve just destroyed a Covenant base, and the way bases disappear is kind of….IDK. Unrewarding. They fall apart and disappear. Then you have upgrades. Each unit has a few upgrades but it seems like the only realy stratigy of the game is simply to upgrade your units. Its a real tech fest. It doesn’t make for good strategy, just tech. When this converts over to multi-player I really don’t see skill being a huge factor, which makes for a shitty game IMO. I just complete the second mission. It’s not like it’s a horrible game, but its far from stellar. There was another cut scene after. If anything the game is worth playing for some kick ass cut scenes that you don’t see a lot of… well any anymore. Games might have a introduction cinematic but it seems like Halo wars has one after each mission. This makes the game at least rewarding to play. I’ll probably pick it up sometime in march to give a fell review.
Game-play 8/10 – Everything is pretty even. There’s nothing stellar about it. There’s also a lot of bad design choices in the controls. The over all size of battles…. it’s all very lack luster.
Graphics 8/10 – The terrain looked good, but the unit details really held it back for me.
Sound 8/10 – Most of the effects are okay, but the horrible voice work just destroys any enjoyment that I could possibly have of the game. It does have some of the halo 3 sounds in it so that’s kind of a boost for halo fans of the FPS.
Story 7.5/10 – It’s halo. I was never much into the halo story, but from what I saw of this game I really don’t see the story having any twists or anything gripping.
Overall demo impressions 7.9/10 - I feel I was genenous for this game. I feel like I should score it lower. The only really reason I Would play this game is for the cutscenes. Sure the game isn’t horrible but it just lacks so much in every aspect.
Posted by Warsaw under article, gaming, review | Comments Off