Posts by Thrik

  • Going to the gym is like a korean MMORPG

    Lol, that locker thing is shitty. The gym I've signed up for fortunately requires that you bring your own padlock (or buy one from them), and they can only get into your locker by physically cutting the lock. Which is good because I might use their permanent locker service and keep my gym shit there.

  • Going to the gym is like a korean MMORPG

    Haha, yeah I signed up for a fancy gym right after that Ryan Davies shit (My name is Ryan so it's even more likely I'm going to die!!!!!). Unfortunately I then realised I had no suitable gym equipment or money left for buying it until I just got paid, so I should be going for my induction and first session tomorrow.

  • New web filter to block forums

    EOT is completely non-existent to non-registered people.


    Of course it depends how the filtering works. Some ISPs like TalkTalk have web filtering in place right now, but you have to enable it. I've no idea how dumb they are but they can't really do much beyond block sites added to a blacklist and detect words used on pages.

  • New web filter to block forums

    I'm kind of just waiting to see how it plays out. Obviously I am vehemently opposed to this considering I run a forum where free speech is encouraged as much as possible.


    This wouldn't be the first time this UK Government has said things like this that have never gone anywhere, and there's been a lot of backlash from the media and public. Even one of the Prime Minister's own former members of parliament (a woman) has publicly disagreed with the idea of rape porn being disallowed because over half of women have rape fantasies.


    Already there're signs that they're backing down with these ideas after endless technical experts have made it clear how impossible this truly is. Also, some very real concerns that I share have been brought up: if we start filtering out certain terms, what happens when people go looking for suicide help websites (sometimes such sites talk people out of suicide), sexual health websites, etc?


    And then there's the business aspect. We know that filters block sites when they shouldn't, so what if certain businesses' websites and blogs start getting blocked by anyone using these filters? Companies could end up getting shit performance on their websites and never know why. And what if someone wants to actually read a news story about porn, sex, etc? Are sites like the BBC going to start getting blocked?


    Unless everything is blocked manually according to very open and transparent procedures, there's no way this can work. And even then, even the biggest team on Earth couldn't block everything satisfactorily. It's a futile and naive proposition coming from people who know nothing about technology. Cameron saying that 'the brightest minds will figure it out or the law will make them' or some shit doesn't make it any less impossible.


    I'm personally against any kind of web filtering, believing that education is the way to go so your kids know what to expect — and not letting them on the internet when they're too young for it. I know that web filtering software has been around for years and also a number of UK ISPs now offer them as opt-in services, but I really wish parents didn't use them because it causes problems as described above. Trust your god damn kids.

  • Fez 2 cancelled, Phil Fish to quit Game Industry

    Jesus, that Twitter log. That's a full-blown meltdown right there.


    If you can't handle the swathes of criticism you're guaranteed to get from the press and fans then you really shouldn't be directly interacting with them, as mentioned above use someone else to handle that. Characters like AnnoyedGamer do strike me as dicks, but letting them get to you so much speaks of someone not really possessing a mind capable of handling criticism or insults. Imagine this guy in a traditional workplace where he's got to take orders and criticism — doesn't sound like it'd go too well.

  • Where's They Hunger: Lost Souls gone?

    Weirdly a comment was posted on the Mod DB page yesterday:


    Quote

    Neil Manke isn't ill. I asked Tad Goddard about him ( Guy who made soundtrack for BWG ). He said Neil is fine, but he's working with Tad's friend in Kamloops. Though I asked about TH LS i got no answer. If anybody would get information on it We'd be grateful!


    Oh and it looks like Cry of Fear came out a few months ago.

  • Ouya console

    I really can't see a good future for Ouya. A year or so ago it was all the hype, now I never hear anybody mention it and I don't think I know a single person IRL who even knows what it is.


    I just can't see what kind of market it's hoping to win over. It can't compete with the main home consoles because they're on a whole different level in terms of capabilities (better graphics, control options, software, interoperability), and it can't compete with casual game devices because people are already perfectly happy with playing them on phones and tablets when they're not in the mood for a proper cinematic experience. It just seems to be fulfilling a purpose nobody is really asking for apart from the technology geeks who like the concept (same people who bought OnLive consoles).


    It's interesting to see another player in the console arena but this kind of thing isn't going to cut it. All they've done is shown Google and Apple what not to do if they do ever decide to take on the games industry.

  • F.E.A.R. Online

    I can kind of see the idea of a horror-based multiplayer being good, but it seems like it'd be something incredibly hard to pull off to the point where it'd actually scare you. There's just too much potential for assholes to ruin everything.

  • Rome Total War 2

    So yeah I was watching one of the E3 demos of this, looks pretty sweet:


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


    Holy shit though, that interviewer. If you can go through a few minutes without watching to slap him upside the head with a metal pipe you're a better man than I. The guy being interviewed was clearly starting to lose his patience at 8:55 or so. I don't know what's up with the geeky-looking fuck, does he just hate this series or something? If so WTF was he doing interviewing someone about it?

  • Weird fps problem with my map

    Looks like it's down to VIS issues so you need to figure out where the engine is peeking beyond where it should and fix it.


    I haven't used Hammer for some time, but I do know that when I did it was extremely undesirable to have brush faces touch each other because it caused them to split into extra brushes when compiled which had a dramatic effect on performance as well as caused VIS concerns. You should also never have brushes go through each other. If either of these things need to happen, use something like func_detail instead.


    A simple example is walls. This is how you should do a corner (you can also join the outer edges so it looks less weird if it can be seen from both sides):


    [Blocked Image: http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll245/mjownzu_07/hammer-1.jpg]


    From the inside of the room it looks the same as if the brushes were just resting against each other. This same principle applies to floors, etc — you shouldn't just have a huge brush that everything sits on top of, but brushes that fit perfectly around the walls only connected by corners. This is how everything should be built: from the player's perspective. What the player can't see shouldn't exist. Nodraw isn't enough.


    Another big issue is your sky box. You should never have a huge sky box around your whole map, it encourages lazy mapping. This is probably why you're not getting the leaks 99% of Source mappers have to deal with. The map shouldn't have an 'outside' if you use the above technique, you just put sky brushes where the player can see the outside (ie: windows, a 'ceiling' across outdoor areas, etc).


    This means that if you've got VIS issues, you'll get an actual error when compiling and know something has been put together badly. At the moment you've probably got VIS leaks everywhere that'd crash the compiler if your sky brushes were done properly. But because your giant sky box is containing them all, you're still able to compile.


    I'm guessing this is what Squad meant when he mentioned sloppy brushwork. If you build your map like it's made out of Lego you'll end up with issues. You need to build in an engine-minded way rather than just adding nodraw textures and hint brushes afterwards. It should be like a floating network of pathways and rooms, even outdoor areas should be like rooms with sky brushes used for walls and ceilings. Anything outside those accessible areas shouldn't be there.


    As said above, you should open up some well-made maps and play close attention to how they're built. That'll explain the above much better than words and it's down to you to figure it out. Looking at your screenshots you'll probably have to completely rebuild it to really get it in a fit state.

  • What are you playing now?

    lol. The possibility had occurred to me but the criticisms are pretty valid if you go back to it now. The game hasn't aged very well at all.


    It's kind of weird to think that such influential, classic games will probably be seen as a piece of shit by future (and even current) generations. If you asked any kid to look at Half-Life 1 who's grown up with the 360 the reaction would be hilarious, yet that's like having a similar reaction to Blade Runner or some shit.


    I'll be able to show my kids the films and TV shows I grew up with and they'll probably enjoy them, but the games they'll be like 'wat. fuck off dad'.

  • What are you playing now?

    roflmao

    Mario 64 was great but going back and playing basically the first 3D platformer probably isn't going to go so well.

    That said, I did briefly return to it at one point and was surprised by how well the gameplay and camera movement, etc hold up — shamefully better than some modern games at times.

    The gameplay is pretty standard fare for 3D platformers: you complete quests in worlds to get items that're used to access more levels in the overworld. Granted it was basically Mario 64 that invented the idea but it caught on.

    If you're looking for something similar from the same era but better: Banjo-Kazooie. Rare took everything great about Mario 64 and made it better, prettier, funnier, and it is just a fuckin' classic. Probably my favourite 3D platformer of all time.

  • Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

    To be honest I've been waiting for a truly great pirate game for years so if it takes the cash behemoth that is AC to make it happen I'm cool with that. I've been getting huge sequel fatigue but after skipping AC3 and only really skimming Revelations I'm about ready for some more.