Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 60)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get to enjoy music in boxes and music about boxes and learn together.

• First we have a guy making music in boxes. No not that guy. This guy! Even if the song doesn't grab you the video magic will! 
• Next Brentalfloss and DemonTomatoDave wax (on and off) reminiscent about the first ever Gameboy Mario game.
• Finally, John Green goes to TEDxIndiianapolis at how we learn together and how communities such as YouTube can help draw people together to learn.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 59)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we borrow a theme song, escape a labrynth using graphs and ride on a (no longer) new rail line.

• The first video in this set is Pomplamoose's theme song for "Hey It's Pomplamoose" (Their live streaming show). Also, they talk about a live stream that we can't go to without a time machine. Also also, I think Jack might be hard to live with, "How did you even get drums UP there?"
• Next, Numberphile and James Clewett unravel some Choose your Own Adventure books.
• Finally, The City of Calgary (my hometown) put up a video of the trip in to downtown on the new leg of the CTrain which opened late in 2012. I still haven't actually made the trip all the way out myself, but this video makes me happy.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 58)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, Hank tells us 151 jokes. Not sure how I never favourited these before now. Possibly BECAUSE I'M DEAD. (But no.)

• I regularly tell the elephant jokes.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 57)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, Ze Frank tackles us with a trio of videos.

• First, Ze ask questions about questions about sex.
• Next, Ze reminds us of that time...
• Finally, Ze makes some sounds for us to listen to

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 56)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we go smart and old-school, celebrate a kilovid of vlogbrothers and guess Doctor Who.

• In the first video in this volume, composer / YouTuber Bulbamike renders the QI theme in 8-bits. Also he renders Mr. Stephen Fry in a slightly odd aspect ratio, but never mind that.
• Next, we wish John good morning for the 500th time. A lot has changed and a lot will change, but I'm always thankful that I have all of the things that Hank and Jon produce in my life. Also I can't figure out when I started watching vlogbrothers, but I'm happy to postdate myself to that very first "Good Morning".
• Finally, Karen Kavett remixes a Guess Who board into a Doctor Who Guess Who board. I can't say that I've felt I needed one of these, but the process of taking something and making it definitively yours is really cool.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 55)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, things are adorable, things are triumphant and things are sad. Also we've wrapped around back to that point I was doing Cool Things. (I gave that up, but still kinda keep the tradition going on twitter.)

• This volume starts with the introduction of Mr. Charlie McDonnell's Blippid Book. What's a Blippid Book? Well you'll just have to watch to find out, won't you! But you can rest assured Charlie was just as adorable when he was one as he is now.
• Next, Dodger tackles "They Bleed Pixels" which is a super unforgiving, but awesome looking platform. She never finished the game, but I really liked watching all the videos in this series since there's a lot of triumph when she beats the super hard parts. I also really like the way the wall jumps work in this game.
• Finally we have a memorial Coffee Time vlog by Dodger for her Papa, who sounds like a pretty amazing guy.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 54)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos sings us a song, then doodles us some math and some art.

• First, Nataly Dawn (the less bearded half of Pomplamoose) sings to us about Areceli. 
• Next, ViHeart tackles the boredom  of parabolas and doodles her way to ... well, I won't spoil it...
• Finally TEKSTArtist draws the Holstee manifesto. This is your LIFE...

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 53)

This musical volume of my favourite YouTube videos will be with you in a minute, but it has some questions about your philosophy (and also your building codes).

• Brentalfloss opens this volume up with the BioShock song. I find it hard to believe that I started following him because he seemed like a smart guy who could play video game music. Now look at him. Interestingly he also just released the BioShock Infinite song, if you enjoy this one.
• Next, Hank Green has his annual wizard rock song from 2012 with some questions for the wizards. Given that these feel a lot like the questions I run across when I'm looking at video games, I feel a bit like this song is an anthem for questions. 
• Finally, Pomplamoose will be there in a minute. (Minute, minute). Out of their original songs, I think this one is my favourite. I also like the dance for busy people who might have to pee.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 52)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we deal dealing with with death, how raspy throats lead to the labour movement and how everything seems to be linked to everything and that's pretty ok.

• First, Dan Misener (CBC producer and guy who reads stuff he wrote as a kid), ukuleles the joint up a bit covering "She's Dead" by Jim's Big Ego.
• Next, Hank Green got sick enough that he could sing on of my favourite songs, "Sixteen Tons" so he did.
• Then John Green reflects on a Leaky Con, is forced to read something he wrote as a kid (it's all circles) and discovers more circles and reflections in being.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 51)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get a look at public relationships, cosplay in action and acting, and the children of gods who are themselves gods (or something).

• First in this volume, Charlie McDonnell talks about entering into a public relationship. I debated a little, whether or not I should include this video since the relationship didn't last the time between then and now, but I think that the problems Charlie faces are still important to talk about.
• Next Adam Savage sits down with Norm from Tested to talk about his No Face costume. I thought their remarks on the theatre that comes out of cosplaying interesting. I always like seeing characters who have an established relationship meet at a con.
• Finally we have the first episode in Chuggaconroy's Okamiden Let's Play. As with all Let's Plays I'm including the first episode as the placeholder for the whole series. If you're looking for a long format play through of a fun, charming game, with a fun and terribly punny commentator this would be your target.

Blog: Thoughts on Ni No Kuni

This is a post I've been sitting on for a very long time. It's been most of a year since I finished playing Ni No Kuni, but I haven't felt like finishing and getting this out the door. Aside from normal procrastination, I think the problem is that, while Ni No Kuni is a great game, I had far too many hopes for the future of good JRPGs riding on it. I loved it and enjoyed pretty much every minute I spent playing it, but I always wanted it to be a little more than it was. It's a game that's easy to recommend to anyone willing to put a little time into a game, but it's also an illustration that it's the little things that separate very good games from the very best games.

As always with my Thoughts on posts, there will be spoilers for the whole of Ni No Kuni.

Things I Liked

I loved the visual style of Ni No Kuni. Animated by Studio Ghibli, everything is beautiful, charming, exotic and fun. Characters are easy to identify. Environments are beautifully rendered. Places are easy to see and navigate and remember. Animations are complex and realistic.

Running through the forrest.

One of the small things, that speaks to the attention to detail the developers put into the game, is how well the main character Oliver transitions between different animations. You see him hop as he crosses a stream or jump from one mushroom to the next in the forrest and it's all simple and fluid with no weird grabbing of the character or stopping to load the animation (I'm looking at you Tales of Graces). When Oliver goes up stairs he steps on each step.

You can also see this in Oliver's main companion in the story, Mr. Drippy Lord High Lord of the Fairies. He's very animated as he follows Oliver wherever he goes. At first I thought the he was just doing idle animations, but eventually I realized that he was subtly reacting to many of the actions I was taking in the game. In particular you can see him react when you cast magic, which given the story of the game makes sense.

The story is also very strong. Ni No Kuni might be dismissed as "kiddy," but there is a lot of depth and complexity to the story. In the early game Oliver's mother dies after rescuing him from the river, which he fell in due to a certain amount of irresponsibility. For a significant part of the game Oliver is trying to either resurrect his mother or find the instance of his mother in the other world. However, when it eventually becomes apparent that this isn't possible, he accepts it and stays strong under the other responsibilities he's been given. There's none of the general weak wishy-washyness that tends to accompany RPG (and particularly JRPG) protagonists and that makes the game much more enjoyable.

Walking to town is a little like walking into a Ghibli film.

The end of the game caries through on this as well. There are no punches pulled at the end, no deus ex and no sudden then they all lived happily ever after. It's also heart-wrenching when Oliver dies in game and says "I'm sorry Mom".

Another thing I liked about the game was the Wizard's Companion. As a student wizard it makes sense that Oliver would need a text book and this makes having a manual for the game seamless. I regret not preordering the Wizard's edition of the game which came with a printed version, but having access to the manual as part of the game was very useful, although it would have been nice if the book reader was a little more usable. As a book lover having a book as a central pillar of the game both in universe and out was very enjoyable.

Things I Didn't Like

The biggest problem I had with with Ni No Kuni is the combat system. They've opted for a real-time, Pokemon-style approach, where in you switch out a series of monsters to fight along side your heroes. They've included a lot of factors in the combat system including the monster's affinity for different aspects of the heroes' personalities, different elemental rock-paper-scissors dynamics and different types of moves.

There are three big problems with the combat. The first is that during combat everything is extremely hectic and complicated. You and each of your two active allies (and you can eventually switch to a 3rd ally as well) can either fight yourselves or switch out with any of your three monsters. Everyone on your side has a large number of different powers they can use, all of which are very flashy. Meanwhile you are fighting several enemies all of whom have their own set of powers all of which also create a lot of visual noise. When viewed all at once can make it very complicated to see what's actually going on, beyond the complication of figuring out which tactics you should be using at any point in time.

It's easy to see what's going on here ... right?

This leads to another problem with the combat system, which is that the AI is not very helpful. You're unable to directly control all three heroes at once, so you are required to rely on the AI for two-thirds of the actions your group is performing at any point in time. In some games with this real time system, it's possible at least to define some rules that the AIs can follow to be more useful, but in Ni No Kuni you only have a few options available. You can attack using all your magic powers (which means you never have magic points when you need them), you can attack using none of your magic powers, or you can heal (which means that they heal you all the time, again running out of magic points, but then also never attacking).

Beyond having poor control at the macro-level they also make poor choices at the micro level. Your partners will cast fire spells on fire monsters for no damage, heal you for conditions you don't have or put out the monster that is most vulnerable to the attack that's coming next. They tend to have very little beneficial impact on the game play. I can understand not wanting to have a game that wins itself without the player, but having useless partners is not a good either.

The third combat system problem is much larger overall. There is a huge range of choice available in monsters, monster training and equipment, however there's no real reason to make any of these choices. Now, I freely admit to having not wanted to invest too much time into the combat system, so I was happy to have a team that was "good enough" most of the time. That being said, switching between different monsters was mostly an aesthetic decision (aside from ensuring that I had coverage of the three elements), and powering up the different stats of the monsters was something that I did when I had too much stuff in my inventory (as determined when I was going through too many things, not a hard limit). Even managing weapons and armour was largely useless. With sixteen heroes and monsters, I really have no idea what anyone was equipped with at any point in time. Money was tight enough in the game that you had to limit what you bought, which tended to mean that I'd buy a couple of things for the most "interesting" team members and then let everyone else use hand-me-downs.

I'm sure that, for the interested, there's enough meat there for anyone to spend a significant amount of time maximizing their party's effectiveness, but I never had trouble that simply grinding for a half an hour (perhaps another issue with the game, but an aspect of the genre I'm willing to overlook) didn't solve.

Aside from the combat, another problem that the game really suffered from is an excess of potential solutions for problem solving. You spend a lot of time building or rebuilding bridges in Ni No Kuni, but there are at least 4 different spells that you can use to build or rebuild a bridge and the game not clear on why one would work while another wouldn't in a given situation. This results in your arbitrarily standing in the marked "use magic here" spot and casting every spell you know until you find the one that works.

This tends to be true every time magic is the solution to a situation, and considering the excessive hand holding that the game tends towards, it's very frustrating when the game suddenly abandons you to your magic list with no guide and no clue.

Better still would be to let all those different possibilities work. Oh, you figure out to rewind time until the bridge was there again, cool. Oh, you made a new bridge out of ice, cool. There's no reason in this game to not give the player points for trying something. It would also let the game be more interactive and immersive with it's help, "oh hey, I can see you're trying to freeze the lava with the ice spell and that's not working, but did you know that there used to be a stone bridge here? Maybe that would be helpful".

The over abundance of solutions caries over to the alchemy system as well. In Dragon Quest VIII (also made by Level-5), the alchemy system was frustrating because of the long delays in creating items, but you had a fairly clear idea what you were trying to do. In Ni No Kuni creating new items doesn't have long delays but it's often not easy to determine what you needed. Additionally, finding ingredients was frustrating (they're mostly released at certain points on the map at random moments). The items you end with can be useful and powerful, but for me at least it was almost never worth the time to make them and faster to go with the buyable alternatives.

Considering that I've already praised the game for the attention to detail put into it, there are some points where very simple details are missed out on. For example, you spend the whole of the game helping an NPC couple travel the world, learning all the things they need to know and getting all the supplies they need to start the worlds best store. In the very last stage of the game you're given access to a kick ass store with all the greatest items and weapons ... who runs this store? Totally different characters.

If I had to sum up the things I didn't like about the game it would be that the game is over built. It has more in party NPCs than it needs, it has more fighters than it needs, it has more mechanics than it needs and it has more solutions than it needs. I think the thing that would have taken Ni No Kuni from a very good game to an ageless great game is a serious round of editing.

Things I Noticed

I found the companions in this game a strange addition. On the one hand I think they helped form a lot of the story, but on the other hand I think the story of a lonely boy with his only friend the lamp-nosed fairy dude might also have been very compelling. As I already mentioned the AI in combat was at best unhelpful, so mechanically I don't think they were necessary. I also know that the story in Ni No Kuni is dark enough as it stands and having Oliver's friends travel with him gives the game and the story some brighter points to hold on to.

Another thing that would have been nice to see would to have seen how the concept of one of the greatest wizards / sages in a very long time effected the game world. I think this would have been interesting in two ways.

Firstly it would have been nice to see Oliver's magic getting stronger over time. For example, in the beginning your fast travel spell might just be able to pop you out in a few locations, but as you get stronger you can jump to each city and then eventually to anywhere you want in the world. This does a few things, first it cuts down a lot on the late game running back and forth where you need to meet someone who's a very long way away from a touch down point.

Secondly it allows the game to show you as becoming increasingly powerful outside of the combat system and outside of being told what a strong wizard you're becoming. It gives you the chance for a more subtle interaction with the people in the world, if you use your strong magic around them all the time it stands to unnerve them, so it becomes a choice on your part as to whether you frighten people both in Motorville and the other world or whether you avoid them.

You'd better be afraid of me!

Things I'd Include in a Game

There are four things I would take, directly or indirectly, from Ni No Kuni to include in a game of my own. The first is that your power as it is represented and needed for the plot should both be effected by the game play and effect the game play. This could be implemented simply in better stats when you fight something, but it would be much better to feel the game mechanics change through the application for your power. A strong wizard should be able to do more with a spell, a diplomat should be able to suggest more radical solutions or a general should be able to implement more dynamic actions. The scale varies with the game, but allowing the mechanics to grow with the players power allows the player to feel more invested.

The second thing I would take is that there need to be several solutions to a given problem. Especially in an RPG where the player is investing their time and personality into the player it does nothing to punish them for not guessing the right answer from a list. Letting different possibilities exist can be difficult, since you either need to predict them ahead of time or develop dynamic systems to manage them at the time they happen. However it gives the player more feeling of power (and cleverness) if they're able to proceed without being hindered by the "game" mechanic of the game. At a minimum the lesson to take from Ni No Kuni is that it's necessary to give clear hints when a particular mechanic should be applied.

The third thing is perhaps a given, but all of the elements of the game should build together in the same direction. In Ni No Kuni the story is supported by the style and the theme. These are supported by the game play (which is maybe not as thorough as it could be but still leads in the same directions). It makes the storytelling much more coherent than many games. Could Ni No Kuni have handled this better? Yes, there are times where they break the other elements for a game mechanic and there are times where a few extra mechanics would have made it easier to believe in the game. Overall however the polish they put on the game in this way is important and should be emulated.

Finally, I think including an in/out universe manual like the Wizard's companion is a must, at least for my own edification. Old books are cool and having a great thing to read about the video game I just got was one of the highlights of my childhood. I'd like to pass that feeling on.

Final Thoughts

Ni No Kuni is a great game. It doesn't, as I'd hoped, have quite enough strength to be one of the greatest games. Perhaps for me it's simply an aspect that nostalgia makes some of those greatest games (such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy VI) seem better than they were at the time. Perhaps some of Ni No Kuni's rough edges will wear off over time and I'll feel more strongly for it. Even if it never does, it's a highly polished quality game that everyone should play.

Ni No Kuni is a magical journey?

If you like JRPGs or you like Studio Ghibli films and you haven't played Ni No Kuni then there's no question that you should. It's worth the time investment, for the story as much as for the game play experience. It is linear so if you only somewhat interested I'm sure a good Let's play would give you nearly as good a feeling of the game. If you have the time to commit though I fully recommend playing it.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 50)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos is a little rough. Ze Frank helps us with public speaking, but doesn't escape the evil cholesterol. Then we have a memorial video to a musician and YouTuber.

• First, Ze Frank talks about the public speaking and also the wearing of pants, which is crucial to the public speaking.
• Then, he has to face the evil cholesterol and the tomorrow monster that lives in our heads.
• Finally, we have a memorial to Nathan Wills. A very cool musician and YouTuber who's vlogs were always interesting because of his focus on mindfullness and being centred. 

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 49)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos is a chance to stop and reflect on the things you want to hold onto and the things you want to let go. Also the things you're going to pack for your next con...

• First, Hank Green, talks about Esther Day and how the value we bring to the world isn't measured in what we create nearly so much as it is in who we're with.
• Second, Ze Frank talks about the Finishing Book and the things that we're ready to let go.
• Finally, Karen Kavett, talks about the things you should take to Leakycon...

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 48)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we go back to our vlogbrother roots. Also, John sings in this one...

• First off, John addresses Hank's new found buffness and his plan for reciprocation, a treadmill desk.
• Then John (and John and John) play in the Carling Cup with the Swindon Town Swoodlillypoopers. There's no topic to this one, but you have to enjoy the nail-biter ending (if you're into imaginary games of football (as played with the feet)).
• Finally we see that Hank can't possibly be that buff. He's been tumbling down tumblr!

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 47)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get a little frisky, hurt our brains with physics and resolve our cliff hanger from the last volume.

• First in this volume. Ninja Porn. Didn't expect that did you? Also that seems like better music than most porn gets ... I'm just saying. (From SMPFilms)
• It also turns out that the Universe is Weird. As you might have noticed if you've ever spent any time listening to Hank Green.
• And finally: Did Nathalie rescue Jack? Did Jack learn his lesson? Is Batman AWESOME? Pomplamoose resolves your tension! At this Bat Time in this Bat Volume!

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 46)

In this very musical volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get some nostalgia, some laughs and some tension!

• Firstly, LeVar Burton and the crowd at w00tstock 4.0 sing the theme to reading rainbow. Included at no extra cost, squees from Mr. Wil Wheaton.
• Next, Husky and his friends sing his overlord song. I could maybe explain what's going on here, but really why would I ruin your fun.
• And finally we see a seminal moment in the life of Pomplamoose, while they mash up Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know and Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe. What will happen to Jack? What will Nathalie do with unlimited power over the creative direction of Pomplamoose? Will another meme from the sumer of 2012 be able to save our heroes? DON'T. PUSH. THAT. BUTTON.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 45)

Sometimes my favourite YouTube videos feel timeless, but this particular set feel very tied to the summer of 2012. They still seem interesting so here they are:

• First off Ze Frank pushes himself out to the edges:
• Next Ze handles business. All of these missions and projects are long since wrapped up, but still it's cool to see that point of action on so many cool things. Also Hank Green dreams strange dreams (just like the rest of us).
Finally Philip DeFranco set the world record for Ninja (again) and that was just cool.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 44)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos takes a look a two very important constants in the universe, mass, and love.

• First ZeFrank and Hank Green talk about the discovery of the Higgs Boson (and also spiral hotdogs).
• Next John Green talks about how John Green and John Green met and fell in love while playing for the Swindontown Swoodilypoopers. While this might seem confusing, just trust that John Green (one of them) knows how to tell a story. 

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 43)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos is a grab bag of thinking.

• The first video in this volume is "A Letter from God to Man" from Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip. This is one of my favourites in its own right, but I also really like the  "Planet Telex" sample.
• Next Hank Green talks about online video, why he created VidCon and he speaks a lot for me about why I'm making these posts.
• Finally, Charlie McDonnell plays the Mario theme on his face. Oh and I guess talks about some stuff. That's kinda cool too.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 42)

There's speculation that this volume of my favourite YouTube videos will hold the answer to life the universe and everything. I'm not saying that's true, but I'm not saying it's not.

• First off George Watsky would like you to know that "[He] Does Not Give a Fuck". 
• Next, Tessa Violet,  Meekakitty,  lipdubs several songs, including and most importantly "Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf" by Rob Cantor. Also, these always entertain me for no particularly good reason.
• Finally, Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip lay down some commandments.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 41)

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos lets us think a little bit about how math, and society works and how to solve the problems that face us.

• I don't think there's much selling that needs to be done to tell you that a ViHart video is awesome, but I'll give it a try anyway! MATH! HISTORY! PYTHAGORAS! PROOF BY MURDER! BEANS! ... Did that work?
• ZeFrank puts together some very good thoughts on how the culture of the Internet works and how much energy is required to act. Also, if I ever figure out how to bottle that post movie viewing energy I'll be well set for life.
• And if you have some problems that need to be solved, John Green is the person to help you solve them.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 40)

Organizational Note: I'm reducing the number of videos per Favourite YouTube Videos post to three to reduce the strain on browsers (primarily chrome). I have also reduced the number of posts displayed on the main page from 5 to 4, which I hope will also help. Unfortunately, I'm not able to reduce the number of posts shown at a time using categories/tags or searches. 

It's the start of a new year and it's that time when people starting thinking about improvement. Fortunately my next three favourite YouTube videos all help with a little self improvement.

• First off, Hank has some productivity tips:
• Next, Ze Frank talks about what we leave out: 
• Finally Pomplamoose, will help you learn how to communicate through dance:

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 39)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get musical, beautiful and designy.

• First, Hank sings to us about the Subway where he used to go (and then lays down the facts about advertising).
• Then we have a live version of Watsky's 4am, one of my favourite's of his songs. 
• Next Cory Williams flies us beautifully over his hometown.
• Then Karen Kavett shows us what she's been up to when it comes to interior design.
• Finally we end on a lip dub from Meekakitty, which combined with Hank's video above might be the best indication of the state of music in the summer of 2012. (Also Tessa's crazy-eyes really sell this video.)

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!

• 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!

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! - 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.

It's bright and even if it's going to kill you at least it looks nice - From GameFAQs user Nicholas761

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". 

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)

Project 4: Snake Version 0.3.0 (Almost Undetectably New!)

The Snake game has still been holding my attention, so I've put together the newest update. This new version however is primarily changes to the design and organization of the game.

Does this mean you won't be able to tell the difference from version 0.2.0? Not entirely. The new structure has made it easier for me to switch things in and out and make things a little easier.

The biggest change is that now the controls are modelled after those implemented in Nibbles. This means that when you're heading in any direction you can now only turn to the side rather than back on yourself. However if you liked the original controls, all you have to do is press 'k' to switch between the two controls.

Furthermore if you want to make things easier or harder on yourself there are some cheats available:

• Press 't' to add a point to your score, this moves the target and is just like you hit the target on your own.
• Press 'y' to add a level. This levels you up, speeding up the game.
• Press 'u' to turn off collisions, so you can go on forever without worrying about running into yourself. Press 'u' again to turn them back on again.

That's pretty much the update for this time. Lots of changes that mean more to me than you, but it should make it a lot easier to do the things I'm thinking for the future. Speaking of which Version 0.4.0 will be along in a little while and should bring a GUI and different kinds of worlds to play.

But for now you can download Version 0.3.0 below:

Edit: See the Patched Version 0.3.1

• The Windows Versions (32-bit, and 64-bit)
• The Mac OS X Version Edit: There seems to be a problem with the Mac OS X app. I will investigate as soon as I can.
• The Linux Versions (32-bit and 64-bit)

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 36) - ZeFrank Special

This volume of my favourite YouTube videos is a bit special, first of all it marks the point in time where ZeFrank had just started doing a show. This is special in and of itself, and caused me to have several of his videos in my favourites in a row, but somehow I managed not to favourite "An Invocation for Beginnings" which is possibly my favourite ZeFrank video of all time. So I decided to slip that one in and add in one extra to give us a totally ZeFrank focused volume.

I'm going to let each of these stand alone.

• "An Invocation for Beginnings"
• "Thinks Like Me"
• "Make. Beleive."
• "TMMTO :: Comfort"
• "2601 People Wrote This Song"

Project 1: Third Season of The Blog

Happy Birthday!

Well, not birthday. Happy Project Ending Day and Happy Project Start Day. More precisely, Happy Blog Start and End Day!

Today is the last day of the Second Season of the Blog. Today is also first day of the Third Season of the Blog.

The Second Season of the Blog was not all I'd hoped it would be. I wanted to be really good about regular updating, which I haven't really been. I've managed to post in every month of the second season, ranging from 1 post to 11, but not as regularly as I'd hoped.

By far and away I've been best about posting my "favourite YouTube videos", managing 27 of them in total. I've also managed to post 5 "Thoughts on Games", which is fewer than I'd hoped. Finally I tested out "Cool Things of the Week", before deciding that it would be better served living on twitter.

I'm glad I've managed to post as much as I have, although I would like to write more and more regularly. I did manage to finish my PhD coursework and my candidacy during that time, which certainly has more priority.

That being said, I've managed to keep up with the blog for a whole year and for that much at least I'm pretty happy.

The Third Season of the Blog starts now. I'm not planning to change my content that much although I'm hoping to change my schedule/quantity and improve my quality.

Ideally I want to post twice a week for the foreseeable future. This would mean one favourite YouTube videos post, probably on Friday and one other post sometime during the week (hopefully on Tuesdays, but no promises). This other post will be thoughts on video games or something else, if I happen to have a project update (and ideally I'll have more of these than I have so far) then that will count too.

As far as quality, I'm hoping to spend a bit more time writing each post. I also hope that my quality will naturally improve simply by getting more practice.

Hopefully I can keep this up for another year. So the third season will last until August 1, 2014.

Thanks for reading, and keep getting excited and making things.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 35)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get the chance to talk about creativity, hats, story telling and bowser's arms.

• The first set of videos are from Charlie McDonnell. A while ago he decided (if that's the right word) to have a "YouTube Midlife Crisis" and he talked about some of his creative stresses. He also talked about some of his rules for YouTube videos, which I think are also interesting rules to look at for any creative endeavour. Interestingly I didn't favourite Part 2 of his rules, but had to watch that video immediatly after I watched Part 1 so I decided to throw it in as a bonus.
• Next, did you know that Team Fortress 2 has a story? Well now you do, and it only took a minute, thanks to the Lore Team.
• For all that I like Belated Media, I wasn't exactly sure why I'd favourited this video ... until the last 5 seconds. Stay tuned kids. Stay tuned. (Although it is a bit spoilery for A Cabin in The Woods)
• Finally, we have the kick off episode of Chuggaconroy's Let's Play of  Super Paper Mario. As with most Let's Play's I tend to favourite the first episode if the whole series is worth while and this one is. It's a lot of fun and is apt to keep you distracted for a while to come.

Project 4: A Further Surprise Snake Update (Version 0.2.0)

So it seems I still have a lot of procrastinating to do. I've managed to turn out another version of Snake. (This time version 0.2.0).

This version introduces:

* Awful Sound Effects - it's weird old beeps, that kinda appealed to me
* Mute - press 'M' to turn off the awful sound effects (this doesn't preserve between games yet)
* Scaling Snake Colour - now as the snake grows it fades to grey towards the end of it's tail. This makes it easier to see which way you're going (especially when coming back from pause).

Please play and let me know in the comments if you run into any problems or bugs or any thoughts at all really.

You can get the game from these links:

• The Windows 32-bit version and the Windows 64-bit version
• The Mac OSX version
• The Linux 32-bit version and the Linux 64-bit version

Thanks as always!

Project 4: A Surprise Update on the Snake (Version 0.1.0)

Again, my skills in procrastination have allowed me to get things done. This time, now that I don't have it as an active project, I managed to put out a revision of the Snake game.

This version introduces a couple of new features:

• Pausing! Now you can press 'p' to stop the game whenever you want. To resume the game just press any of the arrow keys and start going again. 
• Bouncing Scores! I'm sure I'm the only person who cares, but now when you hit a target the score bounces up and down a little bit. It's not amazing animation, but it's something.
• Proper key handling. This doesn't change the game at all, but I was able to apply a lot of the things I've learned about Processing.org and realized that the tutorial I'd followed way back in the beginning had a strange way of handling key presses (relying on the main loop of the program). Now I've updated it to use proper event handling. 

You can download the update:

• The Windows Versions (32-bit, and 64-bit)
• The Mac OS X Version
• The Linux Versions (32-bit and 64-bit)

If you'd care to beta test this for me I'd really appreciate it. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 34)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get the rest of the launch of Geek and Sundry. meaning we get to geek out about board games and books and we'll also get the chance to geek out about cake and sex, relationships and words too.

• The first videos in this volume are from Wil Wheaton's Table Top. Here we watch him play games with a bunch of cool people (This week, Grant Imahara, Sean Plott (Day[9]) and Jenna Busch). This show is great for the witty banter and it also let's you see people playing your favourite games or learn about cool games you may have missed. They also include some extra footage of their guests which are also pretty cool (and here we see Grant Imahara's).
• Next up, Rossana Pansino and CourtnyPants make rainbow unicorn cake on Nerdy Nummies. (The cake does not actually contain unicorns.) If you wanted to know how to make a cake of many colours, this is a pretty good guide.
• The next video in this volume is the inagural video episode of Sword & Laser (or The Sword & Laser ... I'm not sure they ever sorted that out). Here, Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt talk about the lastest and greatest in Sci-Fi and Fantasy books. The audio version existed long before the video one started and continues on now that the video show has run it course. They also have a strong community over on Goodreads.
• Finally John Green talks about sex and relationships. The most important advice he gives I think is maybe the most important advice for any situation. "USE YOUR WORDS!"

Project 4: Snake: Update and Wrap-up

It may have taken me nearly a year to do a few afternoon's worth of programming, but the first version of my Snake game is finally done. (Spoilers: You can play it using the links at the bottom of the article.)

This was quite a bit of fun to put together. One of the nice things about programming a game (especially one this simple) is that the results are immediately visible. It's also nice to have small targets to hit that are fairly easily achieved.

The game plays pretty much like any instance of snake you may have run across in the past. I did choose to have the edges of the world wrap because I was entertained by the math, but I also enjoy that it does cause you to think a little extra since the snake is not always apparent as adjacent to you. Right now the game speeds up for levels 1 - 10, but the game doesn't end until you reach level 33.

For the record though you can technically win the game, however I'm not sure how possible that is in reality. I've found the responsiveness with my Mac Book Pro to be insufficient at the higher levels, but with a different key board it may be easier. It's also somewhat difficult because there's no boarder around the snake and so it's very difficult to see where the snake is at any given point in time.

I'm pleased with the level and score markers that pop up. It would be nice to have them fade in or out, or for the scores to bounce a little. I decided to stop where I got to and if I'm able to put those in as extras in a later version. Additionally in later versions I'd like to add some game modes and manage difficulty better than I am right now.

I'd really appreciate some help testing out this version of the game. If you have a little time I'd like to know:

• if/how it works on different platforms (links are below)
• if there are any bugs
• is it fun? What could make it more fun?

Comments in the comment section would be appreciated.

For now it needs to be downloaded, it's not really worth making it embeddable.

• The Windows Versions (32-bit, and 64-bit)
• The Mac OS X Version
• The Linux Versions (32-bit and 64-bit)

Control the snake with your arrow keys. You can quit with the 'q' key and win with the 'w' key. From the game over screen you can start playing again by hitting the space bar.

These should all run with the included files. Processing has an automatic generator and I've found that the Windows and Mac versions seem to work for me. I haven't had time to test it on Linux yet.

Thanks for your support. I'll do another version but for now it's on to other things!

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 33)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos we get to be nerdy (I know, what a surprise!). Video games, video game music, being Felicia Day and being at that end of undergraduate education.

• The first video in this volume is from that time when Jeff Cannata answered my question on the (now sadly defunct) Weekend Confirmed video extras. This question came in light of Mass Effect 3's rather botched ending and so I was interested in what games the WC crew thought did their endings right.
• The next video is an a cappella (and humorous) version of the "Theme from the Dark World", from the "Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" by Demon Tomato Dave. It's a dark place and menacing.
• Next, another in the a cappella (although not humorous) vein, is a cover of the over world 1-1 theme from "Super Mario Bros". This one is from csvy (who only has the one video and hasn't updated his blog in 3 years).
• The fourth video in this volume is the first edition of Felicia Day's Flog. In this one she learns how to be a blacksmith (well sort-of).  
• Finally Elmify goes over her plan in light of being rejected from med school. Most important:  Step 47: Wind Machine. (Spoilers: she's doing pretty well, even if she does seem to suffer from graditise.) As always I'm astounded by her editing.