Posts by Serenius

  • METRO 2033

    Picked it up on sale from Steam over the weekend. Really terrific atmosphere, digging the story and setting, and the gunplay is alright. I'm not too keen on the sections involving human bad guys, but the parts in the tunnels with the mutants and other little surprises are absolutely awesome.

    There are a few irritating bugs though. I'm out of filters, so I can't take off the gas mask, and the damn thing just refuses to break, so it's a little irritating looking at the world through a half-shattered visor.

    The stealth segments would be really great if there was some grey area between the human AI being oblivious to your presence and every enemy knowing exactly where you are at all times. They put in all those cool elements like knocking over objects, broken glass, and sound traps to give away your position, so going the extra mile to add the guards searching for you would have really enhanced those parts of the game.

    Glad to hear they're doing a sequel. Hopefully this one is doing well so they can afford that extra polish on the bugs and AI to make the next one really shine.

  • Best mice for teh level designz?

    I use a Logitech G9, but the scroll wheel does not like to be depressed and held, so I don't recommend it if you have to use that button a lot (like measuring distance in UnrealEd). Other than that issue, it works great. Lots of buttons, on-the-mouse controls for DPI increasing/decreasing, free scroll or click scroll settings on the mouse, and with the right weight and grip, it's super comfortable for long periods of use.

  • Stop the presses!!! dux likes a console game

    Quote from Sentura

    i'm getting a feeling you'r either misunderstanding my post or disagreeing deliberately. i'm not saying console games are simple, i am saying they have become more casual; their mechanics are clear cut in comparison to what i know of the titles flourishing on the PC (take for instance something such as dota).EDIT:

    i think this explains what i mean nicely.

    Maybe you're not communicating your point properly. What it sounds like you're saying is that companies embracing tenants that are considered good design philosophies of games being easy to pick up, hard to master, is making games too casual. Additionally, Yahtzee is not a good example to back up your argument, especially when he's just going on a tangent about motion controls.

  • Stop the presses!!! dux likes a console game

    Quote

    ":363h33h9]Yes, PS3 does support mouse and keyboard. But most games don't support them. (Mainly because of pace and difficulty, imagine playing KZ2 online with a mouse, you'd own everyone)

    I would think games not supporting a mouse and keyboard on a PS3 would have more to do with them being designed for the dual analog sticks, pressure sensitive buttons, and six-axis portions of the PS3 controller.

  • Red Dead Redemption

    I was 100% sold on the game when I passed a bush and heard a rattlesnake. Then I jumped off my horse and walked back to the bush to see if there really was a snake there, or if it was just ambient sound. Then I got fucking bit twice and died as the little bastard snake slithered off. Incredible attention to detail with little things like that.

  • Designing for single player

    I like to start out by doing a Layout Flowchart in Microsoft Visio, connecting each area where roughly the spaces would line up, and use a brief bullet point system to describe each area's visuals and rough events. Then I do a high level layout flowchart along a similar style but without the descriptions to give a rough idea of the layout. Then move on to an event layout, going into more details of the events of each space, how long should theoretically be spent in each area, etc.

    To analyze the pacing, I like to assign ratings to each area ratings like in Mark Davies' Pacing Analysis (link: http://%7boption%7d), ranking Movement Impetus, Threat, Tension, and Tempo from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). Then add those those values up to measure player stress, and plot out an Excel graph with time in seconds as the X-axis, and the Player Stress measurement on the Y-axis. I'm a huge data nerd though, so that might not be for everyone.

    Once that's done, I'll create the actual layout in Photoshop, marking all key points of interest, like the player start, critical player path, enemy spawns, area labels to match up with the flow charts, etc.

    Then it's on to the prototyping phase in the editor.

    Note: I didn't put that much planning into the maps I posted on here, but I am doing so on the current team project I'm on.

  • What have you purchased recently?

    Quote

    ":2vstoy0i]Man, now and then Kotaku comes up with really interesting articles.Trying to make up your mind whether or not you should get a ps3? read this:

    http://kotaku.com/5559983/should-you-bu ... ystation-3

    Quote from Kotaku Article

    So I've Bought A PS3...What Should My First Three Games Be?3) Metal Gear Solid IV, because, yes, this game actually lived up to its hype.

    This writer's credibility was shattered right here.