LittleBot Blog

My vote is Mass Effect 2 :)

2010-03-10T21:22:18.035-07:00

My vote is Mass Effect 2 :)

experiment :) and my vote is for ME2.

2010-03-10T17:33:50.841-07:00

experiment :)

and my vote is for ME2.

I thought you did talk about Borderlands briefly i...

2010-03-10T16:13:54.485-07:00

I thought you did talk about Borderlands briefly in a couple posts. Anyway I'll read them however you like to write them.

My favorite stuff to read about is the designer-y stuff with discussion of how different aspects of the game affect it and ideas for how they can be improved (if they come to mind). I enjoy thinking about them in the context of creating a new game and borrowing/adapting mechanics.

I haven't played any of the games you listed but I intend to play Mass Effect 2 so I will avoid spoilers if that one comes up and save it for later. As you saw, I end up with many more comments if I've actually played the game also, but I do enjoy reading about ones I haven't played and don't intend to... how else would I get any benefit from the design decisions in those games? : )

I like the split reviews, and you've piqued my int...

2010-03-10T16:01:47.545-07:00

I like the split reviews, and you've piqued my interest in Demon's Souls. Still, I think you ought to try the Kotaku review style too.

Curious as to your take on Bioshock 2, since that is a game I have played.

Indeed?

2010-03-09T15:54:42.755-07:00

Indeed?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeheheheh :D

2010-03-09T13:24:00.711-07:00

eeeeeeeeeeeeeheheheh :D

I'm excited about it, too. Most exciting to me is ...

2010-03-09T09:37:09.653-07:00

I'm excited about it, too. Most exciting to me is the debugging support and the single editor, multiple target platforms thing. They also announced Unity 1.6 for iPhone which adds generics support for .NET, which is nice. I'm hoping with 3.0 they are making it so that you can put in your own Mono install so that you can keep up to date even if they don't want to...

Loved the Colbert link!

2010-03-08T19:39:36.184-07:00

Loved the Colbert link!

Ugh, no edit button. ; )

2010-03-05T10:47:58.452-07:00

Ugh, no edit button. ; )

That sounds about right, in my opinion. I think a ...

2010-03-05T10:47:01.931-07:00

That sounds about right, in my opinion. I think a game themed around alternate universes would lend itself well to the assist mechanic without needing to be difficult, and if done right I think the messaging could also be interesting for something like that. I kinda have the feel of the anime Noein (although it gets weird at the end, but then again so do most animes) in my head as far as the alternate universes thing.

It could feel kind of like a "massively single-player" game, not really in the way that Spore meets that description, but more that it's sort of a single-player storyline-based game but you have the sense that almost the same events are playing out in parallel for others out there. Perhaps have a limited selection of characters involved in the story that are playable, and when the assist players are brought in they are alt-universe versions of the character they chose, so you would end up with more than one of the same person... I dunno, that sounds kinda cool to me. : )

Now I'm imagining the characters would have the same basic face for every game but clothes and hair and tattoos and stuff could be customizable so the alt-universe versions would look like alt-universe versions... anyway, kind of a tangent. : )

I agree that the thing about being able to invade a game at any time wouldn't work so well for a more accessible game, but maybe the player-as-a-boss thing would if, as you said, it only happens once in the game and stuff. There are a lot of games where toward the end you have to fight a mirror or evil version of your character... this would make that fight a lot more interesting.

Interesting. Do you think its more original mechan...

2010-03-04T14:12:15.017-07:00

Interesting. Do you think its more original mechanics would work well in a less daunting, more accessible game? Maybe some but not others? Which?

Ha. It's awesome to see what "goes too far" for ot...

2010-02-25T10:32:29.472-07:00

Ha. It's awesome to see what "goes too far" for other people. Thanks for all the comments!

Oh, and also because to me them being able to do t...

2010-02-24T23:18:39.699-07:00

Oh, and also because to me them being able to do the Leap of Faith isn't all that much more ridiculous than Ezio and Altair being able to do it. It's a ridiculous stunt to begin with, so my disbelief was already suspended. : )

Yeah, I can see that. I just let it slide with my ...

2010-02-24T17:56:34.902-07:00

Yeah, I can see that. I just let it slide with my own assumption that that may be the one thing they were all capable of. ; )

And what do you know, it's letting me post a comment here again. Maybe the AC2 one was too long? It turned out better in a full post, anyway, though.

Thanks for the link. : )

I was just reading that reports of social networki...

2010-02-21T10:02:18.663-07:00

I was just reading that reports of social networking sites causing a loss in productivity are actually short-sighted. Humans weren't built to stay focused for a long period of time - breaks are essential to efficiency.

I remember coming in on a Saturday once to work on...

2010-02-19T15:59:29.405-07:00

I remember coming in on a Saturday once to work on VH with you. And you kept shooting one of the toy pistols over and over (felt like right next to my head). I held my tongue, but I wanted to kill you that day. :-P

I write down notes before I go home for the weeken...

2010-02-19T15:53:14.252-07:00

I write down notes before I go home for the weekend if I'm in the middle of a big programming problem. It lets me focus on other things over the weekend but more than that, it really is more so that I will be able to figure out where I was and pick it back up again when I get back to it. I think I've gotten fairly good at leaving that stuff at work when I go home, especially when there's a whole weekend between work days.

Of course that doesn't really work for my own projects at home, but lately I think I've also gotten better at recognizing when I'm not going to get anything done because I'm too tired. I've burned out a few times after a week or two of intense problem solving and when that happens I tend to not pick back up where I left off for an extended period of time. Knowing that the only way to make any progress is actually to take a break and/or get some sleep can really help prevent it from getting to the point of actual physical pain. That, in turn, eases the stress and ultimately lead to more continuous productivity.

For personal projects, the rest of my life has to also be going well enough that I have the energy and time (energy is more important, as if there's enough, I will make the time) to work on them.

yay ^_^

2010-02-18T21:24:46.967-07:00

yay ^_^

So true.

2010-02-18T14:26:59.189-07:00

So true.

I was there for his speech when he came to BYU, an...

2010-02-17T16:31:54.971-07:00

I was there for his speech when he came to BYU, and it was much like this one. Also, this post would have been better if your photo of him was overlaid with a poorly spelled caption in bold white letters.

Tool! The audio device got muted somehow. Who care...

2010-02-16T08:17:46.515-07:00

Tool! The audio device got muted somehow. Who cares how... I'm back to bidneh; random levels here we come.

yeah! like baby-proof bottles for lobster people b...

2010-02-15T13:02:54.587-07:00

yeah! like baby-proof bottles for lobster people but with a 'destroy the rings' pill inside.

It kinda reminds me of the vault in Lost, but with...

2010-02-12T10:04:15.539-07:00

It kinda reminds me of the vault in Lost, but with more lobsters. I approve of this use of brain power and human resources. *stamp*

Let's just throw a bunch of crap up there now so w...

2010-02-12T09:11:07.620-07:00

Let's just throw a bunch of crap up there now so we can enjoy our junk rings, but set a system in place that must be updated regularly by a human (tiny pinky buttons that claws can't access). When the last human dies out, nukes automatically sail into space to obliterate the junk rings. My plan is flawless.

I think even my doofus kids are old enough to lear...

2010-02-12T09:07:38.730-07:00

I think even my doofus kids are old enough to learn about credit and financial responsibility. But I think two things would need to be in place for that to work:
A) Some type of income---most credit problems result because people get credit without income (wouldn't work in my case because I don't give my kids an allowance)
B) Real consequences for credit problems that parents would actually enforce (eg. Co-signing parents pull the kids' allowance until the balance is paid off)

In other words, parents need to have a backbone and not back down when their little boy starts whining about really wanting another game. And based on what I see, that is a very rare quality in parents.