Official Off-Topic Thread

[Carnivac]

Any builds of this beauty floating around anywhere yet?

Soonish.  The engines pretty much sorted but there's several crucial things I need to finish before a demo can be released such as a few level objects and notice the lizardy trooper guys aren't paying any real attention to the player character in the top right shot.  They're what I'm working on right now.  They're a bit more complex in behaviour than what I would normally do but I think it's worth the extra work.

[JJ Naas]

I've been playing Braid and I feel a need to express some criticism. The graphs are awesome but I detect a lot of dodge/burn brush usage.. it would've been better with less of that sort of thing. The gameplay is good abd responsive, but playing itself feels more like work than having fun, because the levels and puzzles are built in a way that you can't ever relax and fool around, you need to be giving a 100% performance all the time in order to beat the levels. Some simple monster bashing levels here and there would've made playing it less exhausting.

[Helm]

At times it's not a fun game to play and at other times it demands that you put it down for a duration, I feel both are warranted emotions given what the game's about.

[JJ Naas]

At times it's not a fun game to play and at other times it demands that you put it down for a duration, I feel both are warranted emotions given what the game's about.

I suppose so. It feels good to solve a puzzle, but it doesn't get you hooked like puzzle games normally do.

 Anyway, what I'd really like to play is a platformer which obviously has good controls but is also atmopspheric, not too hectic (the pace being mid-tempo or slow) and that's sort of traditional and relaxing, has some puzzles, gem/fruit collecting and monster bashing in it.. no need for fresh or contemporary ideas (like in Braid or Littlebigplanet). Maybe the Giana Sisters DS would be just the game for me.

[Ben2theEdge]

I haven't played all the way through Braid, the only thing that threw me off with that game is the writing. There's poetry and then there's pretentious essays... and Blow falls on the wrong side of that line.

Speaking of indie games has anyone played Machinarium yet? I'm a good ways into it and it's lovely - good example of both games as art and games as a storytelling medium. I haven't been this charmed by a game since Little Big Planet.

[ptoing]

I got Machinarium and I finished it. Very nice game, charming art and music.

It has a bunch of slight annoyances but nothing too bad.

[Larwick]

I played the demo for Machinarium and really liked the atmosphere and design. Might get it.

[Rydin]

Oh man, I love Machinarium.  I'm taking it in real slow and savoring each little bit.

[Mathias]

Jad, everyone wants to use my incredibly original name!

Yes, lovely graphics in Machinarium. I wish I had the patience/motivation to play through it so I could all of the cool gfx in it, but like most games - I do not . . .


--And Happy Day, I've finally gotten myself to take a serious stab at digi painting. Watched several process vidoes on youtube, studied up, and am now practicing. My justification for the time needed to understand how it's done is a current project featuring cartoony illustrations of character they had me come up with, so what I'm going for is clay-modeled looking cartoonyness with bold black outlines . . . yeah.

All I'm really using is a hard-edged brush, with lots of opacity stroking, layering on the color slowly/gradually. NO DODGE/BURN used at all, goal is to use none. Wow, Tool Presets is a wonderful thing I've found! (oh, I'm using Photoshop, as usual)

[Dex]

lookin' good, Mathias!

Happy thanksgiving, everyone! I'm off to have a wonderful meal with my entire family :O