Posts by zaphod

  • go-kart model

    totally, the ice lake is way too bright, it gets blown out. When I get to driving around on this one I will probably have to make a higher rez road texture and will probably end up scaling down the lines in the process.

  • why I hate physical media

    I guess in essence, you could still call steam physical media since it is sitting on your physical hard drive. I guess I feel like I'm getting more for my money with steam because it's more like a form of insurance against any kind of need to physically keep track of my game over the course of my life. I don't ever see myself being separated from an internet connection in the future, so having a record of my ownership of this game online seems more secure to me than something I can lose in my couch cushions.

  • go-kart model

    so after playing super mario galaxy I wanted to try adding rim lighting to an entire environment and see how it looks. This was probably the wrong level to try it on since it's already so bright, but here it is anyway. I'm trying this vimeo site to host videos, not too sure about the quality:

    http://www.vimeo.com/387045

    so far my impression is that the rim lighting works especially well in super mario becuase of how rounded all the environment elements are.

  • free-to-play digital game distribution app?

    I don't see why they need to be exclusive, I think part of the appeal of it would be the "no-strings-attached" element. Almost all the games on steam are not exclusive to that platform and lots of people still go there to get games anyway. It should be a matter of convenience and mutal benefit rather than exclusivity.

  • why I hate physical media

    Just a little rant about why I will always cheer the death of physical media and embrace digital distribution:

    I buy a copy of Guitar Hero 3 for xbox, one of my rare console game purchases. I get home anxious to shred, slip in the disc, and go to plug in my guitar to the xbox. As I'm lifting it ever so slightly by the corner to find the hole through the flap of darkness, I hear a KACHUNK. "What the fuck was that ?" I exclaim. Apparently I learned a 64 dollar lesson about being anywhere remotely near your xbox 360 while the disc is spinning inside, as of course it had slipped out of the tray and proceeded to get utterly trashed bouncing around inside my unit.

    Microsoft tells me to talk to the store I bought it from, the store I bought it from wont touch it, I emailed Activision to see if there is anything they can do to replace my disc, but I am pretty sure I am effectively fucked. Apparently with the current system of physical media, I am not purchasing a personal license to play a game with my 60 dollars, but just a little round piece of plastic.

    Digital Distribution cannot come fast enough!

  • free-to-play digital game distribution app?

    I think you could display ads in a few unobtrusive places. There could be traditional banner type ads in the interface while you are browsing games, there could also flash an ad or two for a small number of seconds before or after you launch a game.

    The community control would be along the same lines as Kongregate, youtube, digg, etc. Games would be rated by users, sorted by popularity, user reviews, etc.

    As far as it actually being launched, someone would have to develop the client and the technology associated with it in order to be able to handle all sorts of different applications in the same manner as steam. Then you would have to advertise it and getting people to put their games on it.

  • free-to-play digital game distribution app?

    Some of the trends I am most excited about in gaming are digital distribution, free-to-play model games, and models where the public are the gate-keepers. I love the direction of things such as Steam and Kongregate. Kongregate to me is a shining example of a new way for game authors to monetize their efforts where there previously was no easy avenue to do so. Steam, catering to larger more traditional games - is less open, but has the same philosophy of bringing developers one step closer to their audience, as well as a neater way to manage a collection of executeable games. So there is Kongregate on the small end of the spectrum, serving up free, fast, flash games - and there is Steam on the opposite end, serving up commercial larger scale executeable games.

    The question I am posing is: is there room in the middle? What if there was a steam-like service that had a large collection of free to play executeable games? Like Kongregate, all these games would be free to play, but there would be ads displayed somewhere in the process, with the authors of all these games getting a majority cut of the revenue. Brainstorming, here are some bullet points that this distribution method would feature:

    - One application for all features: As with Steam, all applications and other functionality are launched through one app.

    - free to play: free, free, free. No (financial) barrier to entry.

    - as few gate-keepers as possible: like Kongregate, almost any game is accepted into the system and the system is entirely transparent.

    - democratized content: the community decides what games are showcased through the system

    - easy to use: browse, click, download, play, all stored in one place (like Steam).

    All these things have been done and are being done currently, in different places and in different pieces. What this platform's goal would be is to take all the free indie downloadable games that are sitting in their own small dusty neglected corners of the internet, and creating an opportunity for authors to monetize them, while at the same time and perhaps more importantly display them somewhere they can get many eyeballs at once, all the while fostering a community around them all.

    What do you think? Is there any demand for something like this? Is this already being done as described? Is it even technologically possible given the wide gamut of dependencies and such needed for downloadable games?

  • go-kart model

    [Blocked Image: http://marshmonkey.com/kart4wire.png]

    should be able to wrap this one up tomorrow, it's all done except for the texture. I was having issues with baking an ambient occlusion map from within maya so I tried out this tool that someone posted on devbump:

    http://devbump.com/story.php?title=xNor ... aping_tool

    it's actually a pretty sweet little tool apart from it's UI being strange. I'm probably going to be using it for all my AO from now on.

  • go-kart model

    I don't mind any crits, some are useful and some aren't. The wheel tread might stay backwards since right now in the game the wheel is only one model that get duplicated and flipped 3 times in code.

    Thanks for all the positive words, they really help to keep me motivated which is why I keep sharing. You guys are a pretty good sounding board and not afraid to be honest if you see something you don't like.


    There is also a growing possibility that I may start working on this game full time in the coming months, which is very exciting and something of the sort I have been wanting to do for some years now. I have become a very large proponent of Independent games and I would love to put my money where my mouth is! It would mean a lot more updates for sure, probably on a separate development blog or something.