Posts by Furyo

  • To PS3 or not to PS3

    I'm also thinking of getting a PS3, but with real life kicking in it will have to wait. The main reason I'd get one is to play the exclusive games on it. Because outside of exclusive games, the PS3 games almost always are of lesser quality than their X360 counterparts, for simple and easy dev realities anyone in the industry knows.

    Blurays are getting cheaper but remain expensive for most of them, and I'd also have to buy a TV, so that PS3 purchase is soon going to be north of 1500 bucks minimum....

  • Left4Dead 2

    Yeah actually I should have got it for the CAMP team work I did back then. Many on the team got a partners account and the OB to go with it, but I had already preordered it so it waited a bit longer.

  • The first DirectX 11 benchmark

    Yeah the only way this is a major improvement is if the entire data is stored in the normal map and it's just procedurally generated. If you still have to model all of this, the only improvement is "look we can now render even more polys" and we've been there done that...

  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Teaser

    You guys should listen to the latest Bonus Round to hear what Pachter has to say about this and Microsoft's strategy for XBL. It's not mindblowing because anyone who can read between the lines has seen this coming for years now, but it does a nice job at summing it all up in one sentence.

    My experience with MP is only PC based. And not only that it's only Valve based. I have never played a MP game that wasn't a Valve game, so the list adds up to a grand total of 4 games. I was always a SP gamer back in the 90s, and the only thought of having no control over who I play with makes me go offline. I won't pay for XBL for what it is today. I'll start paying for such a service once it's as mundanely mandatory as paying for your ISP.

    And no I'm not a PC elitist. Again the games I play on the PC all come from Steam, and judging by my list of games, 90% of them are Valve games. Any other game I play is on my 360, and the only reason is I'll play on the console any game that's multiplatform and has a PC version that's a port. If the game was built for the PC first, then it's played on the PC. Easy as that.

    I do believe most publishers have a tendency to roll every PC gamer into the same crowd and dismiss them as the sales are low. There is more than a single crowd of PC gamers, and mine is a market for both platforms. It's the crowd that can purchase on either platform. And a large part of the reason why PC releases get delayed past the console version. If I'm impatient enough I will get the console version over the PC version, so the argument that delaying the PC release ends in lost sales gets torn to shit. And you still win over those who would have downloaded it illegally if they want it bad enough.

  • Brütal Legend

    I've been disappointed with this one. I am as fond as ever of the worlds and stories Schafer creates, but the gameplay lacks a lot to be on par. The RTS elements are as incomprehensible as they're boring, to the point where I don't want to try again to go past where I got stuck on my 4th attempt. I was almost at the end too. Brutal Legend overall lacks depth in every single department except the story, and even that has to be explored to be enjoyed.

    There is absolutely no need for the open world to be there as it's largely underused with absolutely mundane and boring side missions that bring nothing to the player. The upgrades tree and economic systems are laughable at best as you unlock everything in a matter of a couple hours of doing those side missions and roaming the world (which happens to be the most enjoyable thing so far).

    I can seriously say that I don't see why this game would take 4 years to make (assuming they started right after Psychonauts). Take the theme and story apart (Schafer's work) and look only at the gameplay and there is a game that can be shipped in a year by a team of 50 people.

  • MapCore Job Census

    I just added you two back to the list, congrats

    I also deleted the project names for the GBX guys since they're both (almost) shipped titles. It's just a pain to keep the list up with this kind of time specific info. I'll take care of my own entry when I finally know what I'll be doing next

  • John Crewe - Level Designer

    I would rework the resume too. No recruiter is going to care one iota what GCSE scores you got, or what your hobbies are. If you can do the job, you'll get an interview and if these things come up you can mention them. There is, to me, generally too much text on your pages. I still think the site is easy to navigate so that's a plus, but as others said some of the work you display simply doesn't have its place there. On a side note, if you're looking for work at Ubisoft let me know

  • The best approach to building a Level Designer portfolio

    I stand by what I said. See, your friend who got hired with all his docs got a different job than the one he was going for in the end... Yes you should be able to document things. But working knowledge of a modelling program and world editor will get you a lot further. Most take it for granted that everyone can communicate their thoughts and ideas well. I do take that for granted, and again if it isn't the case that's going to be a huge red flag when you get interviewed.

    If you want to have docs on your portfolio, fine, but include download links to PDFs and what not. A huge chunk of text is just never going to be read by potential recruiters.