an open letter to...
Saturday, February 02, 2008
...this guy.
Hey man, let's get Reflex published already. The latest revision is bug-free and ready to go (the version I posted on AtariAge so long ago is old and slightly buggy). I think the documentation is 90% written... maybe missing some acknowledgments, but I can tie that all up fairly quickly. The manual needs to be designed though. The last time we talked about it, I think we liked the idea of simply reusing the label art you had done. Do you still have the artwork files? I was thinking I could start an Illustrator document, drop in and lay out the content, then hand it off to you for artwork and polish. I know very little about print, so...
Anyway, what's spurring this on is continued interest in the game. Earlier this week, I was contacted by a hobbyist who builds carts and sells them on ebay, and offering royalties for doing so. I figure, the game is languishing, there's no reason not to publish it. All the hard work is done. So let's just do it! :)
GO TEAM!
spore love and purple sharpies
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Will Wright, the father of all things Sim, gave an educational keynote on storytelling in games, and (naturally) demo'd his highly anticipated new game, Spore... which is, of course, the last game we'll ever need to play. I just hope it comes bundled with an upgraded CPU, RAM, and video card.
But enough about that... After his wonderful presentation, I jumped over a few people to make my way towards the stage with my original copy of SimCity (Amiga version) and a purple Sharpie (loaned to me by Ashley) and managed to 1) Shake hands with Will Wright himself, and 2) Get his autograph on one of the SimCity disks.
I was sure he was going to get swarmed after the keynote and fully expected to have to push, squeeze, and bite my way to where he was sitting, which is why I bee-lined it to the front, but all was relatively calm around him (except me, apparently). I stood in front of him, disk and Sharpie in hand, waiting for eye contact. Meanwhile, other attendees verbalized their delight in seeing an original copy of SimCity. Then Will looked at me, I said I was a big fan and asked him to autograph my disk, he looked at the disk, and said "Hey! That's the half-bright version!" just before autographing it.
Wow! I totally forgot about that. The Amiga version of SimCity came with both a 512KB and 1MB version for those with the extra memory. I was handing him the 1MB version, which took advantage of a special graphics mode called "extra half-bright" mode to achieve more colors. It made me wonder if he'd actually worked on coding the Amiga port himself. How cool. :)
Labels: amiga, gaming, sim city, spore, sxsw, will wright
burning kitchen
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
It seems like only yesterday that World of Burgertime was a mere glimmer in my eye. It's been such a whirlwind that I apparently forgot to announce the release of "The Burning Kitchen" expansion. So, for the dozen or so people who don't play WoBT, here's a screenshot of what you're missing:
world of burgertime
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
I had this idea for a classic videogame-themed MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game, for those of you that are Karen) called World of Burgertime. Naturally, it takes the best of the current hot trends in MMORPGs and mashes them together with nostalgic 8-bit bliss like so much boiled potatoes. What you get is a retro, colorful world that hearkens back to the hey-day of quarter-activated amusements... The early 80's.
A typical conversation between players might go something like this:
LettisSuks9: "What's your WoBT character?"
FallingPatty: "Level 39 egg. You?"
LettisSuks9: "I'm a level 60 pickle slice. Almost have a complete set of epic condiments."
FallingPatty: "Cool. What pieces you missing?"
LettisSuks9: "Just Mayo. We're fighting Chef tonight, so hopefully he'll drop it. Last time, we wiped right at the very end... his pepper AOE spell's a bitch. Stunned our main hotdogs, then took out the rest of us with sliced tomatoes and sesame seed buns."
elite: pretty much the best game ever
Friday, January 12, 2007
The classic game Elite has been enjoying a bit of a renaissance in my home lately. I’ve been giving the PS3 a break since (quickly) beating (the average) first person shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man, to enjoy some good retro-gaming (plus, I’m not about to fork over sixty bucks on another game that’s just ‘meh’… get on the stick with those true next gen titles, Sony).
Anyway, I’m fortunate enough to have a full copy of Elite for the 8-bit Apple //c — box, docs, and all. Having only superficially explored this game as a teenager, I never really appreciated the size of its virtual universe or the depth of its gameplay. It is truly Grand Theft Auto: Space in shear size and open-endedness.
Elite spans 8 galaxies, has 250 planets per galaxy (that’s 2000 planets!), and fits on one side of a 5.25-inch disk. That just blows my mind. Plus, the gameplay is astonishingly well-balanced. I’ve found myself consistently challenged and have graduated from one goal or strategy to the next in a very organic way.
At any point in the game, I may pursue the path of a trader, smuggler, bounty hunter, or pirate, or some combination thereof, and must deal with the challenges that each path presents. While these aren’t new roles in the space-faring genre, Elite implements them with incredible fluidity, particularly for an 8-bit game. You’ll find yourself shifting gears based on a number of factors like ship capability, storage capacity, money, and desire to achieve the ultimate space pilot status of ‘elite,’ naturally.
So, basically, this old game still holds its own and I highly recommend you dust off an old copy and give it another go for old time’s sake… back when games made up for hardware limitations by actually being fun and unique.
Labels: apple ii, elite, gaming, ps3, resistance