spore scores for review

There are two interesting points about spore and its "review" scores. The first is the anti DRM amazon user review issue. I think this really exposes how gamers consider low review scores to be a slap on the wrist rather than any objective indicator of the content.

Don't get me wrong I agree that DRM is retarded, useless and only hurts the ones you love.

However, deciding to give an otherwise perfectly good game a low score over something that the developers have no power over is dumb. Let me say that again, the people who made the game have no power to change this, it's a publisher decision, driven by publisher brains, it is a decision made simply because they believe doing so will net them more money. It doesn't actually mater if it does or doesnt, they believe in it and that is what is important.

Publishers love the idea of DRM, it makes them feel empowered.

This response is however the same mentality that decides a game is worth 20% less because you where expecting techno or only like games with cars or cowboys in them. This is what review scores represent to the fanboys. A vindication of their continual love for yet another sequel in their favorite JRPG or a slap on the wrist to developers who didn't suck up to the gamer press enough and had the hordes of morons unleashed upon them.

Most developers understand that at best DRM is pointless and at worst counter productive. If you want to get that message across to publishers you need to empower the developers. All that is being proven with the Amazon backlash is that review scores are bullshit random numbers that people arrive at for all sorts of wrong reasons.

Next we have the professional review scores, some people are upset that spore is scoring "low" in reviews with the comment being that it lacks depth.

Well yes, it lacks depth, it's designed to be accessible to the average gaming moron, the sims player if you will. Do you have any idea just how dumb this person is? I really wish there was some hidden game play depth to spore rather than the simple grind it is but I've met the audience and I agree. This is all they can understand, it is probably already too much and needs to be dumbed down even more.

I say spore is not dumbed down enough :)

So armed with the understanding that the grindplay is mediocre some reviewers decide its an 80% sort of game rather than a 90% sort of game. This number is of course meaningless and as random as any other number reviewers are expected to give a game.
So again, we hit another prime example of how a final review score is pointless useless information.

It seems unfashionable to suggest that games, just like all other forms of media can be designed for different audiences but this is a perfect example of just that.

So there we have it, two different issues, both exposing the same underlying problem of review scores not really meaning anything, to anyone.

PS I still suspect spore will not generate the revenue that EA needs it to generate to be considered a success. Remember we are talking replacing the sims as a cash cow here. The result being a pulling back by EA of this sort of funding. Maybe pulling back is the wrong word, as it indicates an existence of funding in the first place :)

story time in a platform world

Platform style games that tell a story

trapdoor
another world ( out of this world )
flashback
heart of darkness
ico
shadow of the colossus

Platforms style games that do not tell a story

braid

If braid was anywhere near the first list I would be bending over backwards to let it take me roughly in every orifice.

Unfortunately it isn't and it doesn't even make up the shortfall with game play. The problem with attacking the integrity of all other developers is when it comes time to slap your own cock on the table and get the tape measure out.

Also fuck journalists, they are part of the problem.

It's not even Jonathon Blows braid its David Hellmans braid, without the art the game would be awful. Thats the problem and it's also why indie doesn't mean shit, creator owned which is to say anyone that worked on the game still owns their work is the only definition that means anything and as far as I can see braid is not that.

Most developers try hard to do the best they can, very few are in the industry to make money, largely since becoming a developer to make money is an incredibly retarded thing to do.

However making games is expensive, it takes a lot of time/effort/skills/tools and therefore money. Funding this sort of behavior is where the problems arise. I have met many people capable of creating games of wonder, they are of course working hard on sponge bob square pants tie ins. This is the problem with the games industry and it is the fault of the audience.

Creating a good game will kill you, and the better it is, the more soul you put into it, the more money it will lose you and the more the audience will tell you to eat shit and die for the greedy act of just trying to break even. Giving it away for free will also get you hate mail.

Not only is it more socially acceptable to develop a major drug addiction than a game but it also provides far more opportunities for profit.

Some people will like it though, yeah sure, unfortunatly as far as I can see, whatever you do, and I mean anything you do, some people will like it. It's just random noise, any actual response to your creation will be drowned out totally by the sea of morons. This segment of the audience, that "likes it", will also turn on you in an instant.

I don't hate braid, its OK but just not for my tastes. A lot of what Mr blow says isn't that bad and some of it is even correct but I don't perceive him as having the talent or ability to back it up but at least he is trying. He is, as far as I can tell, just a frustrated writer who is good at self promotion.

This is all the standard problem of having to over hype something for 3-4 years to stand even a small chance of not losing money.

I blame the audience and I am right.

post op pussy

First the short animation, behold, MOAR available at http://4lfa.com/ where it lives



Second all the files that build it. Yup thats right the souce for the above animation is available here.

http://4lfa.com/work/004-pussy

I figure I want to keep that in svn anyway it might as well appear on the webby webby woo.

So some production notes, the animation is built in blender, lip syncing although retarted is handled by papagayo and a little custom script to apply it to the scene.

After a few tests and since I wanted some nice motion blur on the kitty as its supposed to be moving quite fast I am using a combination of motion blur and fake motion blur via blenders compositor. Nothing special but it looks to me like a combination of both gives you the best results for your render time. Just using motion blur doesn't give enough blur and the fake velocity motion blur filter goes wrong too easily. Together they cancel out each others flaws.

Again mostly fake lighting from the ambient occlusion, the lighting model may not be real but it certainly looks more real than real and thats all I care about :)

"your plastic pal who's fun to be with is more human than human"

There are two scenes in the blender file, one for rendering and one to composite the images that I get back from respower into the final result. Mixing images fades and sound.

If you pull down the work directory you will find .ogg files, blender doesn't read .oggs they need to be converted to .wav before the blender scene can use them. They are just checked in as oggs to save space.

Problem wise there are also some old wav references in that file that shouldn't be there. I have no idea how to delete them, they seem to be referenced from somewhere but I know not where.

Unhappy with the voices still, really need to get some kind of decent recording gear and work out a plan of attack for this but hey fuck it, it doesn't have to be perfect and we will get better.

But I do like the bouncing cat and the 3d cat itself which like the other characters went from original 2d to 3d perfectly.

the problem with interactive storytelling

A little statement that is prompted by this brainy gamer blog post and is in no way an attack. I'm Just pointing out exactly where the real problem is.

For films to tell a story they require an audience prepared to shut the fuck up and sit in a dark room for an hour or two.

For games to tell a story they require an audience comprised of rational humans to interpret and react with skill to an ongoing situation of unknown length.

Do you perhaps see where the weak link in interactive storytelling lies?

:)

moar rendermosity : ass fro

which should now be available inside the 4lfa poop stream here

http://4lfa.com/page.php/20080730/054139/VIDEOPollyMorfs_Ass_Fro


on jewpube here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU82vMmAz4o


or, well, embedded right here



yay, I'm happier with the lighting on this one which is using blender internal+AO rather than yafray. AO is a "cheap" trick that really does seem to work well.

3dvideovision

4lfa.com now available in 3d and audio and video and pictures and words and everything in an extravaganza of full sensory entertainment

pull my finger for added smellovision

behold

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