Category: Gaming
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Starbound Farm
Just made a new character in in Starbound 1.0 and hunger is a thing. I think the rate is a bit more aggressive than in Minecraft. Have yet to harvest my crop, but I think its a good start. Also helps that the starting planet has rain.. because i don’t have a watering can.
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Quakecon 2015
Wed 11:07PM Got all my stuff packed up at mi casa
Thu 9:27AM Unloaded at the Hilton Anatole
Thu 9:43AM The hotel let us use a cart briefly to get our stuff in from the outside, then they had to take it back. Fortunately, we befriended a father and son duo that were nice enough to share their cart with us. Next year: cart is mandatory. They’re so handy and it seemed like everyone had one this year. We talked to some people about their carts and it sounded like decent ones can be had for cheap.
Thu 9:54AM Daunting line
Thu 10:29AM Got barcoded!
Thu 10:39AM Daunting line moving relatively quickly
Thu 12:17PM My seeeeeeat! I really really really really wish we had one of these big giant sturdy tables for the apartment. When I have my computer at a proper desk and chair as opposed to a tv stand and sofa, I really miss being able to sit upright and use a keyboard and mouse properly. Anyone in the DFW getting rid of a long table like this?
So this is pretty much what my screen looked like the entire time. Skies of Arcadia on the right, and something else on the left. Sometimes it was the FAQ, sometimes it was reddit, sometimes it was hearthstone. The setup worked quite well. Avery and I would take turns playing/browsing, one on the controller, the other on the keyboard and mouse. Its definitely not uncommon for people to play games split-screen at Quakecon, but this is the most I’ve “shared” a computer at Quakecon, and I’m very pleased with the experience. I think it worked out really well! Also you can see Twitch running in the browser. Avery set it up so that we could stream Skies of Arcadia with the ambient noise of BYOC on top of it. I plan on streaming the remainder of my Skies of Arcadia playthrough when I get setup again at my apartment.
Tools of the trade
New keycaps! I got a few others in the baggie but this was my favorite.
Avery and travnewmatic
WTB girlfriend ad written on half a paper towel posted on the Quakecon Craigslist
Sunday morning, got our stuff hauled out of the BYOC
Making our way back to the front of the hotel
Guard duty while waiting for Mike to bring the car around
Obligatory 2015 BYOC shirt and badge pic
Fantastic year this year. Kinda feels like a blur right now. Sooooooo many random battles in Skies of Arcadia. While I didn’t accomplish my goal of completing Skies of Arcadia.. or completing the first disc of Skies of Arcadia… I still had an awesome time. I am reminded of how great of a game it is, instilled with a drive to finish it once and for all.. also feeling good about learning how to stream stuff on twitch, at least the basics of it. Glad its over, really looking forward to getting home tonight (currently have 5 more hours at work).. Made a few new friends.. Another successful year! -
Continued Dreamhold
Worked on Dreamhold tonight.
The game was made specifically to be a beginner/tutorial IF, and it has “narration” of sorts, coaching how you how to play this IF, and IF in general.
I like the idea of it, and I think I’m doing alright, but mapping it has been a pain in the butt! I don’t have very many IF under my belt but mapping this “beginner” IF sure does require some not-so-beginner cartography skills.
No, its not part of IFcomp, but I saw it and just had to play it. And what I have done so far I have enjoyed… The mapping has been more frustrating than anything else… And perhaps with some of these games that proclaim themselves to be beginner IF’s, it may not be necessary to map everything. Since I’ve already started mapping it and taking notes on it, I’d like to continue that… If only for the sake of completeness (I did that for Lost Pig and Body Bargain… although I didn’t do that for 9:05).
Anyway, it’s really late and I should probably get some sleep as I do work a double tomorrow… ciao!
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Finished Body Bargain
Just finished Body Bargain. And, my stomach is a little upset. I get the feeling that there are multiple endings to this game. And, while I could play through this game again to explore and find out what those other endings might be, I’d rather play another entry in IFComp 2012.
Upon reading the walkthrough, there are indeed other outcomes than the one I experienced. And actually, before I move on to another one, I may go back and do the other playthroughs. An alarming level of interactivity in 388k 😉
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Semi productive day
Worked, ate lunch with good buddy lazer. Came home, took a nap, ate dinner, studied for a bit, watched tv with the rents… And now I’d like to have some one on one with Body Bargain…
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Started Playing Body Bargain
Started playing Body Bargain. Its a horror game, and its also competing in this years Interactive Fiction Competition. Feel free to Google the flip out of it, just be wary of spoilers! Wish me luck!
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Finished Lost Pig
I managed to finish Lost Pig tonight. I did it with the help of a walkthrough, and I don’t think I would have been able to finish it otherwise, as I am still developing my IF skillz.
No pigs were harmed in the making of this game, no need to worry 🙂
I took a LOT of notes when I was playing this game. Not just notes about this game in particular, but about the game of interactive fiction as well. Like… read everything, and pay attention to everything. Don’t disregard descriptions of things as fluff. Although there is a lot of that.. and I suppose that’s the challenge of IF, knowing what’s important and what isn’t. I think that carrots that are dangled so to speak, things that are obfuscated or hidden… are worth investigating. Writing things down definitely helps. This game also used some commands that I didn’t know existed, like WAIT, for example. IF has a language, and I suppose some games have a greater language than others. 9:05 had significantly less vocabulary than Lost Pig.
Here is a great beginners guide to IF from Adame Cadre. It gets into vocabulary and such, verbs that may be useful on your journeys. Adam Cadre has created many gems in the world of IF, including the aforementioned 9:05. I’m sure there are others out there, but I feel like his site, the way he presents his games, makes IF very accessible to a variety of tastes. Definitely recommend his site. Oh, he also did Photopia as well, the first IF I played.
Well I better get some sleep, I have my second day observing tomorrow, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. And again, work at night. Planning on getting together with Michael after that so we can geek out on all this stuff. Happy reading!
Found another potentially useful IF resource: Planet IF
