- First off, Elmify reminisces about college, and points out the potential danger of benches (although in my mind benches have always been party to pretty good moments).
- Next Rosanna Pansino makes skittle vodka - Diablo 3 potions, which I thought were pretty cool (and possibly cooler than the game itself).
- Then John Green delve's into religion and gay marriage.
- Next Ze Frank suggests ways to chase the happy! (But seriously, happy typing, always happy typing!)
- Finally from great moments in Table Top, Wil Wheaton is joined by Colin Ferguson, Amy Dallen, and Anne Wheaton. The game is a lot of fun, but there's a moment in this game that lives on in table banging infamy. (Not like that you dirty dirty people). - Also the Seattle Calgaries, what a team! All these videos live in my favourites, but this one is honestly one of the best!
Friday, September 06, 2013
Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 38)
In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, Happy Typing! And some other stuff, but mostly Happy Typing! I mean college, potions, gay marriage and the best Table Top episode about trains are all important and cool, but HAPPY TYPING!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Blog: Thoughts on Super Mario Galaxy
I have a confession to make: I've never finished a main line Mario game. Not the NES ones, not the SNES ones, not 64, not Sunshine, not Galaxy, not New Super Mario Bros Wii (or Wii U) Galaxy 2, not any of the DS or 3DS ones. I've played almost all of them, but I've never actually played any of them through to completion. This is a bit of a short coming in my gaming history I feel and so I've set out to fix that.
Super Mario Galaxy is my favourite Mario game, in terms of style, tone and gameplay so I thought I'd tackle it first. I've now finished all Mario 120 stars and am starting on the Luigi play though, but I think I've done enough for the time being to call this one "finished".
The number one thing I liked about Super Mario Galaxy is the ambiance. When you start up the game after leaving for a while you're hit with happy music and bright colours and it feels like everyone is happy to see you. This happiness caries over to all the places in the Comet Observatory and into all the levels as well. This isn't rare for Mario games, but it really makes you happy as soon as the game turns on and it just keeps going.
The number two thing I liked about Galaxy is the control. This is an obvious point since the quality of control has been the factor that's made Mario one of the top gaming franchises (if not the top). You never ended up feeling like you weren't able to make Mario go exactly where you wanted him to go and when things did go awry it was easy to see exactly why (as in, I shouldn't jump into that space).
The thing I most didn't like about Super Mario Galaxy is the power-ups, which were either difficult to use, not that interesting or had time limits imposed which made them less useful and less interesting. Spring Mario is probably the worst of these as it only serves to make Mario harder to control. Additionally because it allows Mario to jump significantly higher, it causes the designers to use put everything up out of camera frame so that you are forced to spend a lot of time trying to get up high enough to see the level. The biggest problem however is that it is very difficult to tell where Mario is, in 3D space and so you frequently jump into things or off the edge of the platforms because you can't tell the difference.
The time limits on the fire and ice flowers were also annoying. In the 2D Mario games when the fire flower power up (or later the leaves or the feathers or any of the costumes) you were able to keep it as long as you didn't get hit and you didn't die. They opened up your ability to play because you could do things you couldn't necessarily do without them. Here they actually reduce the options presented to you, "You got the fire flower? Better hurry to kill the thing that can only be killed with the fire flower!"
I liked Cloud Mario and thought that it was a lot of fun to be able to jump far away from where you could normally make it to. Bee Mario was fine, but I never really felt one way or another about it. The other powers ups, though, all failed to make the game either more interesting or more fun. In the cases where they added difficulty, it was fake difficulty and really only frustrated me.
The other big problem with the game is that the "end" of the game comes halfway through. Once you collect half of the total stars, you can fight Bowser and be "done". I can see that this was added so that it was possible to finish the game without going on to do the challenging levels, leaving those available to people who want to be "hardcore".
In and of itself this would be fine but there's no difference between the levels before you fight Bowser and the levels after (even the levels that are only opened up after you fight him). After you win the game dumps you back at the title screen, when you go back to your save file the game goes "oh you came back, well let's keep going" and then nothing changes. Peach remains kidnapped, except that you can't do that mission again (and get a star for it anyway) and everything else is exactly the same.
I would really appreciate the game noticing that I'd "won" already. It doesn't have to change the gameplay or any of the levels, but some changes in the hub world would be great. For example, assuming you rescued Peach at 60 stars, the game could go "Great! Mario you're a hero! But don't you think you could help all these other people get their starship powered up again so they can go home?" Then Peach would hang out with Rosalina, be generally encouraging and the rest of the game would go on.
One of the things I noticed most pointed about this game is that 3D platforming is still hard. I haven't played enough to be sure that this really is the pinnacle, but I certainly can't think of a 3D platformer that's considered better. However it's still really easy to get lost in 3D space, not be where you think you are and die when you thought you were doing something super reasonable. Maybe I'm getting old and maybe I just never had the eyes for it, but I think that Super Mario Galaxy is one of the factors that pushed Nintendo to focus so much on moving the Mario games towards the 3DS.
There are two things I'd keep in mind for a game of my own based on Super Mario Galaxy. The first is ambiance and the second is fine controls. There is nothing more frustrating in gaming that knowing what you want to do an being unable to execute it. Mario games are generally the best examples of control in video games and for any game where control is important the developer should strive to live up to this level.
The ambiance is important, not only that bright happy games are fun to play (although, I would like to make some games that give this bright feeling) but that everything about your game should build towards the feeling that you would like your players to have.
I love this game, despite what seems to be an overabundance of complaining above. I think among the 3D Mario games it's my favourite (although that may change as I play through the others). It brings a lot of fun to the party, which is, at the end of the day, the point of playing.
 |
| Super Mario Galaxy! - From GameFAQs |
Super Mario Galaxy is my favourite Mario game, in terms of style, tone and gameplay so I thought I'd tackle it first. I've now finished all Mario 120 stars and am starting on the Luigi play though, but I think I've done enough for the time being to call this one "finished".
Things I Liked
The number one thing I liked about Super Mario Galaxy is the ambiance. When you start up the game after leaving for a while you're hit with happy music and bright colours and it feels like everyone is happy to see you. This happiness caries over to all the places in the Comet Observatory and into all the levels as well. This isn't rare for Mario games, but it really makes you happy as soon as the game turns on and it just keeps going.
 |
The number two thing I liked about Galaxy is the control. This is an obvious point since the quality of control has been the factor that's made Mario one of the top gaming franchises (if not the top). You never ended up feeling like you weren't able to make Mario go exactly where you wanted him to go and when things did go awry it was easy to see exactly why (as in, I shouldn't jump into that space).
Things I Didn't Like
The thing I most didn't like about Super Mario Galaxy is the power-ups, which were either difficult to use, not that interesting or had time limits imposed which made them less useful and less interesting. Spring Mario is probably the worst of these as it only serves to make Mario harder to control. Additionally because it allows Mario to jump significantly higher, it causes the designers to use put everything up out of camera frame so that you are forced to spend a lot of time trying to get up high enough to see the level. The biggest problem however is that it is very difficult to tell where Mario is, in 3D space and so you frequently jump into things or off the edge of the platforms because you can't tell the difference.
 |
| Nothing can possibly go wrong! - From GameFAQs |
The time limits on the fire and ice flowers were also annoying. In the 2D Mario games when the fire flower power up (or later the leaves or the feathers or any of the costumes) you were able to keep it as long as you didn't get hit and you didn't die. They opened up your ability to play because you could do things you couldn't necessarily do without them. Here they actually reduce the options presented to you, "You got the fire flower? Better hurry to kill the thing that can only be killed with the fire flower!"
I liked Cloud Mario and thought that it was a lot of fun to be able to jump far away from where you could normally make it to. Bee Mario was fine, but I never really felt one way or another about it. The other powers ups, though, all failed to make the game either more interesting or more fun. In the cases where they added difficulty, it was fake difficulty and really only frustrated me.
The other big problem with the game is that the "end" of the game comes halfway through. Once you collect half of the total stars, you can fight Bowser and be "done". I can see that this was added so that it was possible to finish the game without going on to do the challenging levels, leaving those available to people who want to be "hardcore".
In and of itself this would be fine but there's no difference between the levels before you fight Bowser and the levels after (even the levels that are only opened up after you fight him). After you win the game dumps you back at the title screen, when you go back to your save file the game goes "oh you came back, well let's keep going" and then nothing changes. Peach remains kidnapped, except that you can't do that mission again (and get a star for it anyway) and everything else is exactly the same.
I would really appreciate the game noticing that I'd "won" already. It doesn't have to change the gameplay or any of the levels, but some changes in the hub world would be great. For example, assuming you rescued Peach at 60 stars, the game could go "Great! Mario you're a hero! But don't you think you could help all these other people get their starship powered up again so they can go home?" Then Peach would hang out with Rosalina, be generally encouraging and the rest of the game would go on.
Things I Noticed
One of the things I noticed most pointed about this game is that 3D platforming is still hard. I haven't played enough to be sure that this really is the pinnacle, but I certainly can't think of a 3D platformer that's considered better. However it's still really easy to get lost in 3D space, not be where you think you are and die when you thought you were doing something super reasonable. Maybe I'm getting old and maybe I just never had the eyes for it, but I think that Super Mario Galaxy is one of the factors that pushed Nintendo to focus so much on moving the Mario games towards the 3DS.
 |
| I mostly know where you are ... - From GameFAQs |
Things I'd Include in a Game
There are two things I'd keep in mind for a game of my own based on Super Mario Galaxy. The first is ambiance and the second is fine controls. There is nothing more frustrating in gaming that knowing what you want to do an being unable to execute it. Mario games are generally the best examples of control in video games and for any game where control is important the developer should strive to live up to this level.
The ambiance is important, not only that bright happy games are fun to play (although, I would like to make some games that give this bright feeling) but that everything about your game should build towards the feeling that you would like your players to have.
Final Thoughts
I love this game, despite what seems to be an overabundance of complaining above. I think among the 3D Mario games it's my favourite (although that may change as I play through the others). It brings a lot of fun to the party, which is, at the end of the day, the point of playing.
 | |
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Friday, August 23, 2013
Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 37)
This volume of my favourite YouTube videos is a bit old school, with a bunch of faces (or hands) we've all come to know and love.
- The first video in this volume is "Doodle Music" from viheart.
- Next, we get to discover what happens if you give Felicia Day a chainsaw. (You knew the answer was awesomeness, right?) Also maybe that it's best to stand well back when she sees baby animals.
- Next, John Green pretends to be Charlie McDonnell while getting things done (like signing a contract for the TFiOS movie).
- Next, Ze Frank (and I hope you didn't think that one wall to wall volume of him was all we were going to get) puts up a new video about a new song.
- And, finally Watsky raps "Energy".
Monday, August 19, 2013
Project 4: Snake Version 0.3.1 - now with a little less crashing.
Version 0.3.1 of the snake game fixes a problem where pressing the 't' key to give yourself points before the game starts caused the game to crash. All the cheat keys (and the control swap key) now only work while the game is playing.
All the other features introduced in version 0.3.0 remain unchanged.
You can download it here:
The Windows Versions (32-bit, and 64-bit)
The Mac OS X Version
The Linux Versions (32-bit and 64-bit)
All the other features introduced in version 0.3.0 remain unchanged.
You can download it here:
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