A somewhat neglected topic here on FreeGamer are classic puzzle games, and OGS Mahjong is definitely one of the gems of this genre:
The stable 0.9 release of this game can be expected shortly, so brush up your Mahjong skills or take the opportunity to finally learn the rules of this age-old classic (like me).
Chủ Nhật, 29 tháng 1, 2012
Thứ Bảy, 28 tháng 1, 2012
Shabbat Gaming
Tal and I ate lunch at Abraham and Sarah's. While waiting for Tal to arrive, I played my third game of Ticket To Ride (this one with the 1910 Expansion) with Abraham and Sarah. It's soooo light. It's ok and all, but I just don't see it as comparable to The Settlers of Catan. I can see it as a gateway game; I admit that Settlers has a few more rules, which can discourage newer players. But Settlers also has more depth and more involvement.
Maybe it's just a matter of what flavor you go for. Or maybe I haven't played it enough to appreciate its depth.
We only got about a third of the way into the game, and I enjoyed it well enough. Both Abraham and I were planning to complete our three short routes and then spend the rest of the game making random six routes to end the game. Oh yeah: the ability for one player to hasten the end of the game in a way that doesn't have to do with winning is another mechanic I don't care for.
After lunch we played Tichu. Tal and I scored 965 to Abraham and Sarah's 335, but shabbat was over so I decided to call it a draw. I pulled lots of bad hands but managed one tichu. I still don't know how Aaron called and made so many grand tichus against me at BGG.con.
Maybe it's just a matter of what flavor you go for. Or maybe I haven't played it enough to appreciate its depth.
We only got about a third of the way into the game, and I enjoyed it well enough. Both Abraham and I were planning to complete our three short routes and then spend the rest of the game making random six routes to end the game. Oh yeah: the ability for one player to hasten the end of the game in a way that doesn't have to do with winning is another mechanic I don't care for.
After lunch we played Tichu. Tal and I scored 965 to Abraham and Sarah's 335, but shabbat was over so I decided to call it a draw. I pulled lots of bad hands but managed one tichu. I still don't know how Aaron called and made so many grand tichus against me at BGG.con.
Thứ Năm, 26 tháng 1, 2012
Thứ Tư, 25 tháng 1, 2012
Coldest: Mech AI and Playtesting with the Dev!
Trees in Coldest
Video: Coldest's Crazy Bots
Bots were added to the mech fighting game Coldest. If you would like to help playtest the game together with the developer, follow the project's
news feed (there will be an announcement for a session sometime soon) and get the git version via:git clone git://coldestgame.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/coldestgame/coldestgame coldest
Thứ Ba, 24 tháng 1, 2012
Mass Blaster: Ambidextrous Abstract Shooter
Synchronized shooting in Mass Blaster
Mass Blaster is one of the most intense arcade shooters for Windows and Linux. You will take control of two ships simultaneously to blast away at the invading Square Army. On your left, take down enemies with the red n' rad Trigerus. On your right, command the cool blue Pythagora to wipe out your foes. Choose from 4 modes of difficulty to fight your way through 10 gutsy levels. Only those with the skills to pilot both ships at the same time will go on to become High Score Heroes.
This game shares a vein with games like Avoision and pumps adrenaline. Intended for one player, Mass Blaster plays superb with two pilots as well. Just get a keyboard emulator and a joystick to avoid key locking.
Code is under GPL, while all other assets are under the not-so-free CC-BY-NC.
Thứ Hai, 23 tháng 1, 2012
Movie Reviews
The Artist - An "ode to a bygone era" film. At their worst, films like these, while clever and precise, capture too much of the era to which they ode (often an era is bygone because we have progressed to better things since then) and concentrate too much on the technicalities of the capture and not enough on the soul (i.e. weak story, flat acting).
The Artist manages to escape this by about 70%. It recapitulates the story of an actor left by the wayside when the film industry moves to talking pictures. Unlike most movies with this story, this one is done (almost) entirely as a silent picture. The plot is actually closer to A Star is Born, and might be familiar if you know who Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were.
While the story is not earthshaking, it's entertaining. It doesn't capture the exact feel of silent films in several ways: the leading lady is too forward (I think her era regression stopped at about 1975), the acting not as absurdly stylized as it was in silent films, the pacing too modern and smooth, the camerawork too intelligent and diverse. On the one hand, these are good things; on the other, they are a little unsettling.
The film has a few deliberately jarring moments ala Pleasantville and Silent Movie. A nice film, but not an important one.
Fireflies in the Garden - A quiet family drama about a man mixing with his family after the death of his mother. In particular, the man confronts his tyrannical authoritarian father, who appears not to have learned much since the son has been away, except that his son doesn't like the way he was brought up.
The principal actors - Ryan Reynolds is the son, William DaFoe the father, and Julia Roberts the mother - as well as the rest of the cast do a fine job. If you had a father like this one, it may be a bit hard to watch at certain points, but it never gets too graphic. A "slice of life" film.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish) / The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (American) - Yes, I saw them both. Guess what? They're both good. The American version is not a remake of the Swedish version; it's another movie based on the same book. Certain events and characters are left out of one and not the other, sequences of minor events are shifted, etc. The acting, directing, and photography of both are equally good. There's no need to see both of them, and it doesn't really matter which one you see.
The story is about a reporter who faces jail-time for libel. The story he published was (probably) true, but his sources recanted at the last moment. Before going to jail, an oligarch hires him to find out what happened to his niece who disappeared 40 years earlier; one of his family was probably involved. The oligarch hired a girl to compile a dossier on the reporter before he hired the reporter; this girl has troubles of her own with her state-appointed legal case worker (who controls her money until she is 25). She is eventually hired to help the reporter on the case.
The story is based on a best-selling book, and the movies do a reasonable job of covering its main points.
It's Kind of a Funny Story - Keir Gilchrist stars in another movie adaptation of a book, this one about a boy who feels parental and academic pressure and checks himself into a mental facility for five days. While there, he gains perspective by meeting other people who are sick and he experiences many happy Hollywood moments.
It's a feel-good by-the-book formula movie, which annoyed me. It skips over some of the real disgusting, dirty, and depressing things that you will find day-to-day in a real mental facility. However, for what it is, it works, and even a shallow exposure to a mental facility is probably better than none (most people's understanding ends at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which they haven't seen, but they imagine)).
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - This was actually better than it had a right to be. The action sequences were thrilling - I expected to be jaded by such things by now. Cruise actually hung from the Burj Khalifa tower to film his stunts; lord knows why. Oh right: it's Tom Cruise.
The movie manages to keep the series in pace with the Bourne series. In this series, characters make elaborate plans that, one at a time like clockwork, go wrong. Just enough goes right each time that the mission can be fulfilled by a series of last-minute chases, falls, bumps, and dumb luck.
Good summer fun.
Moneyball - The kind of movie you would expect Robert Redford to direct, this is a baseball movie about geek gamer statistics and how they changed major league recruitment. Hiring "all around good players" was the old-school way to make a team; the new way is to focus on players who do exactly what is needed to win: get on base, score runss.
It's a clash between old-school and geek, and there's no surprise who wins, though the story (which is true) doesn't follow the usual formula exactly. A good movie.
The Muppets - I was expecting this to suck badly given all the promotion I saw (usually a lot of promotion means a bad movie). Instead it was pretty good. I'm a little hazy on remembering the details, but I think it was suitable for young kids, which is who it's really aimed at. The plot doesn't quite hold together enough for grownups: things turn around too quickly, too often.
The idea is similar to The Blues Brothers: Muppets have to reunite from their disparate locations and vocations to stage a benefit to raise money to save Muppet theater. Meanwhile, the main characters have be true to themselves.
The comedy, singing, and dancing are nice. If there was still a Muppet show on television, this movie would prove that the Muppets are still relevant. Without one, it's hard to see that the movie will revive the franchise. The YouTube videos aimed at grownups are doing a better job of keeping them alive (for grownups, at least).
One Day - Another movie based on a book, this one is the story of a couple told over the course of several years. Each scene focuses on the same day in the next year, wherever, and with whomever, the two leads happen to be. It all goes well until a major plot point which takes us into cliched romance territory, which was both predictable and disappointing.
Forgettable chick-flick.
The Time Traveler's Wife - Yet another movie based on a book. Like most movies based on books, people who love the book love to hate the movie because they think the movie left out this or changed that. Grow up, people. A movie based on a book is a retelling of a story, not "the book in film format". It must be judged on its own merits.
The movie is lovely. Like most time travel stories, parts of it make no sense, and you have to give them a pass for those parts. The story is about a man whose main life stream is constantly interrupted as he travels suddenly back or forward in time - and space - but only to a very specific range of time and space, much of it in close proximity to his own past, the past of the girl he ends up marrying, or his future daughter (only as a young girl).
The sci-fi, like all good sci-fi, is used a metaphor for a man who is not always present, or about the course of a relationship. It's artfully done and romantic, but a bit sentimental for those who don't like that kind of thing (definitely a chick-flick). It inspired me to buy the book, so that I can become one of those people.
The Artist manages to escape this by about 70%. It recapitulates the story of an actor left by the wayside when the film industry moves to talking pictures. Unlike most movies with this story, this one is done (almost) entirely as a silent picture. The plot is actually closer to A Star is Born, and might be familiar if you know who Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were.
While the story is not earthshaking, it's entertaining. It doesn't capture the exact feel of silent films in several ways: the leading lady is too forward (I think her era regression stopped at about 1975), the acting not as absurdly stylized as it was in silent films, the pacing too modern and smooth, the camerawork too intelligent and diverse. On the one hand, these are good things; on the other, they are a little unsettling.
The film has a few deliberately jarring moments ala Pleasantville and Silent Movie. A nice film, but not an important one.
Fireflies in the Garden - A quiet family drama about a man mixing with his family after the death of his mother. In particular, the man confronts his tyrannical authoritarian father, who appears not to have learned much since the son has been away, except that his son doesn't like the way he was brought up.
The principal actors - Ryan Reynolds is the son, William DaFoe the father, and Julia Roberts the mother - as well as the rest of the cast do a fine job. If you had a father like this one, it may be a bit hard to watch at certain points, but it never gets too graphic. A "slice of life" film.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish) / The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (American) - Yes, I saw them both. Guess what? They're both good. The American version is not a remake of the Swedish version; it's another movie based on the same book. Certain events and characters are left out of one and not the other, sequences of minor events are shifted, etc. The acting, directing, and photography of both are equally good. There's no need to see both of them, and it doesn't really matter which one you see.
The story is about a reporter who faces jail-time for libel. The story he published was (probably) true, but his sources recanted at the last moment. Before going to jail, an oligarch hires him to find out what happened to his niece who disappeared 40 years earlier; one of his family was probably involved. The oligarch hired a girl to compile a dossier on the reporter before he hired the reporter; this girl has troubles of her own with her state-appointed legal case worker (who controls her money until she is 25). She is eventually hired to help the reporter on the case.
The story is based on a best-selling book, and the movies do a reasonable job of covering its main points.
It's Kind of a Funny Story - Keir Gilchrist stars in another movie adaptation of a book, this one about a boy who feels parental and academic pressure and checks himself into a mental facility for five days. While there, he gains perspective by meeting other people who are sick and he experiences many happy Hollywood moments.
It's a feel-good by-the-book formula movie, which annoyed me. It skips over some of the real disgusting, dirty, and depressing things that you will find day-to-day in a real mental facility. However, for what it is, it works, and even a shallow exposure to a mental facility is probably better than none (most people's understanding ends at One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (which they haven't seen, but they imagine)).
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - This was actually better than it had a right to be. The action sequences were thrilling - I expected to be jaded by such things by now. Cruise actually hung from the Burj Khalifa tower to film his stunts; lord knows why. Oh right: it's Tom Cruise.
The movie manages to keep the series in pace with the Bourne series. In this series, characters make elaborate plans that, one at a time like clockwork, go wrong. Just enough goes right each time that the mission can be fulfilled by a series of last-minute chases, falls, bumps, and dumb luck.
Good summer fun.
Moneyball - The kind of movie you would expect Robert Redford to direct, this is a baseball movie about geek gamer statistics and how they changed major league recruitment. Hiring "all around good players" was the old-school way to make a team; the new way is to focus on players who do exactly what is needed to win: get on base, score runss.
It's a clash between old-school and geek, and there's no surprise who wins, though the story (which is true) doesn't follow the usual formula exactly. A good movie.
The Muppets - I was expecting this to suck badly given all the promotion I saw (usually a lot of promotion means a bad movie). Instead it was pretty good. I'm a little hazy on remembering the details, but I think it was suitable for young kids, which is who it's really aimed at. The plot doesn't quite hold together enough for grownups: things turn around too quickly, too often.
The idea is similar to The Blues Brothers: Muppets have to reunite from their disparate locations and vocations to stage a benefit to raise money to save Muppet theater. Meanwhile, the main characters have be true to themselves.
The comedy, singing, and dancing are nice. If there was still a Muppet show on television, this movie would prove that the Muppets are still relevant. Without one, it's hard to see that the movie will revive the franchise. The YouTube videos aimed at grownups are doing a better job of keeping them alive (for grownups, at least).
One Day - Another movie based on a book, this one is the story of a couple told over the course of several years. Each scene focuses on the same day in the next year, wherever, and with whomever, the two leads happen to be. It all goes well until a major plot point which takes us into cliched romance territory, which was both predictable and disappointing.
Forgettable chick-flick.
The Time Traveler's Wife - Yet another movie based on a book. Like most movies based on books, people who love the book love to hate the movie because they think the movie left out this or changed that. Grow up, people. A movie based on a book is a retelling of a story, not "the book in film format". It must be judged on its own merits.
The movie is lovely. Like most time travel stories, parts of it make no sense, and you have to give them a pass for those parts. The story is about a man whose main life stream is constantly interrupted as he travels suddenly back or forward in time - and space - but only to a very specific range of time and space, much of it in close proximity to his own past, the past of the girl he ends up marrying, or his future daughter (only as a young girl).
The sci-fi, like all good sci-fi, is used a metaphor for a man who is not always present, or about the course of a relationship. It's artfully done and romantic, but a bit sentimental for those who don't like that kind of thing (definitely a chick-flick). It inspired me to buy the book, so that I can become one of those people.
The silver lining of the MegaUpload shutdown
It's been big news online lately that MegaUpload was shut down. Along with it, many of the other annoying, wait-60-seconds-and-fill-in-this-captcha-or-upgrade-to-premium file sharing services have stopped offering public downloads. A lot of people are understandably upset about this, since in the case of MegaUpload, they don't even have access to their own files anymore.
This blog post isn't about whether it was right for MegaUpload to be shut down. There's plenty of debate going on about that, and it's something that I'm not personally interested in taking part in. What we do know is that there were a substantial number of people using MegaUpload to distribute pirated media, and, let's be honest: a lot of people are pissed off because piracy just got a lot harder. If you're one of those people, and you're angry and suddenly in search of ways to entertain yourself in the wake of the big shutdown, this post is for you.
You may have already realized that to some extent piracy creates buzz about media. If people enjoy a movie or a game or an album or whatever, they talk about it, and the word gets out, even if the person doing the talking pirated it. This is not a justification for piracy, mind you. If someone wants to make content and then threaten to send you to jail for using it the wrong way, that's their prerogative under copyright law. On the other hand, people and companies who do that don't deserve your business, and they don't deserve the buzz that you create by talking about their media. This is particularly true given the fact that they're spending the money you give them to curtail your freedoms through draconian legislation and copyright treaties.
Ask yourself this, dear reader: Do I need the RIAA to tell me what music I ought to like? Do I need the MPAA to tell me what movies to like? Do I need crappy, DRM-loving, morally-bankrupt game studios like EA to tell me what games to like? I mean, seriously, have you seen big budget movies lately? Most of them are complete lowest-common-denominator tripe. As intelligent individuals, we can do better than that.
There's an awful lot of media out there released for free (or at least very cheaply in some cases), directly by the artists, musicians, cinematographers, and game studios that make them. Some people like to argue that piracy doesn't harm anyone if you never would have paid anyway; I would contend that by pirating big budget, mass-market crap, you're hurting dedicated artists who are releasing their work for free, because the time you spend finding a pirated copy of whatever it is you want to download could have been spent discovering and talking about their works.
Even better, you could spend some of that idle time creating entertainment rather than just being entertained. If you haven't worked on your own art, music, movies, or game projects, I would strongly encourage you to try it out. Creating entertainment for other people to enjoy and getting their feedback on it can be immensely satisfying. As an honest aside here, even a brief browse through open media libraries will make it obvious that movies are by far the weakest link in this chain, followed by games. Music, being easy now for individuals or bands to produce on a large scale at home with a few hundred dollars worth of equipment, is by far the strongest. If regular people like us are willing to spend the time helping to create games and movies, we can close the gap. It'll take time, but if we can pull it off, it'll be worth it.
Media doesn't have to come from a feeding tube. Go out, look around, and see the world. There's a lot more out there than the big studios would like you to believe. And while it's not yet equal in some ways (special effects, etc) to the big budget stuff, your interest and contributions can help it get there, and at the same time help render the big studios and their anti-consumer copyright laws irrelevant. The big studios may, to some extent, be able to make it more difficult to pirate their content. What they cannot do is force us to give them money -- we can always choose not to watch their stuff.
Here are some places to get started.
Viewing:
Creating:
P.S. If you agree with this, tell people about it. Retweet, reblog, upvote, +1, whatever. I can talk about this all day, but we need a real movement if this is going to change anything, and that means we need people to be aware.
This blog post isn't about whether it was right for MegaUpload to be shut down. There's plenty of debate going on about that, and it's something that I'm not personally interested in taking part in. What we do know is that there were a substantial number of people using MegaUpload to distribute pirated media, and, let's be honest: a lot of people are pissed off because piracy just got a lot harder. If you're one of those people, and you're angry and suddenly in search of ways to entertain yourself in the wake of the big shutdown, this post is for you.
You may have already realized that to some extent piracy creates buzz about media. If people enjoy a movie or a game or an album or whatever, they talk about it, and the word gets out, even if the person doing the talking pirated it. This is not a justification for piracy, mind you. If someone wants to make content and then threaten to send you to jail for using it the wrong way, that's their prerogative under copyright law. On the other hand, people and companies who do that don't deserve your business, and they don't deserve the buzz that you create by talking about their media. This is particularly true given the fact that they're spending the money you give them to curtail your freedoms through draconian legislation and copyright treaties.
Ask yourself this, dear reader: Do I need the RIAA to tell me what music I ought to like? Do I need the MPAA to tell me what movies to like? Do I need crappy, DRM-loving, morally-bankrupt game studios like EA to tell me what games to like? I mean, seriously, have you seen big budget movies lately? Most of them are complete lowest-common-denominator tripe. As intelligent individuals, we can do better than that.
There's an awful lot of media out there released for free (or at least very cheaply in some cases), directly by the artists, musicians, cinematographers, and game studios that make them. Some people like to argue that piracy doesn't harm anyone if you never would have paid anyway; I would contend that by pirating big budget, mass-market crap, you're hurting dedicated artists who are releasing their work for free, because the time you spend finding a pirated copy of whatever it is you want to download could have been spent discovering and talking about their works.
Even better, you could spend some of that idle time creating entertainment rather than just being entertained. If you haven't worked on your own art, music, movies, or game projects, I would strongly encourage you to try it out. Creating entertainment for other people to enjoy and getting their feedback on it can be immensely satisfying. As an honest aside here, even a brief browse through open media libraries will make it obvious that movies are by far the weakest link in this chain, followed by games. Music, being easy now for individuals or bands to produce on a large scale at home with a few hundred dollars worth of equipment, is by far the strongest. If regular people like us are willing to spend the time helping to create games and movies, we can close the gap. It'll take time, but if we can pull it off, it'll be worth it.
Media doesn't have to come from a feeding tube. Go out, look around, and see the world. There's a lot more out there than the big studios would like you to believe. And while it's not yet equal in some ways (special effects, etc) to the big budget stuff, your interest and contributions can help it get there, and at the same time help render the big studios and their anti-consumer copyright laws irrelevant. The big studios may, to some extent, be able to make it more difficult to pirate their content. What they cannot do is force us to give them money -- we can always choose not to watch their stuff.
Here are some places to get started.
Viewing:
- SoundCloud
- Jamendo
- Some open movies
- Wikipedia's list of web television series
- Wikipedia's list of free and open source computer games
- Indie Game Reviewer
- GameBoom
- Armor Games
Creating:
- Scirra Construct
- OpenGameArt.org (disclaimer: yeah, it's my site ;) )
- WeAreTheMusicMakers on Reddit
- BandCamp
P.S. If you agree with this, tell people about it. Retweet, reblog, upvote, +1, whatever. I can talk about this all day, but we need a real movement if this is going to change anything, and that means we need people to be aware.
Chủ Nhật, 22 tháng 1, 2012
Flesh Snatcher: Bloody Java Polygons
Scenes from Flesh Snatcher
Flesh Snatcher is a bloody jME2 fps with fast movement and dodge-bullets gameplay that is low poly and low-tech enough to run smoothly on a netbook (tested: Asus EeePC 1000H).
Most models were made by the author, Arbaro was used for tree generation, FSRad (shared source, noncommercial) was used for lightmap generation. FOSS-incompatible textures from CGTextures were used.
The code license is not all that clear, I seem only to be able to find the jME license in the archive.
This active thread reveals more info and gives an opportunity to talk to the developer.
The Puerto Rico Slaughter
Nadine slaughtered me, Bill, and Shirley in Puerto Rico.
Bill and Shirley are newer players. The position order was Nadine, Bill, me, Shirley. Bill's effect on me was to take coffee before my coffee; neither one of us produced coffee until past mid-game. I was already behind Nadine who had an early Factory and then Harbor, and I made the mistake of taking Factory on turn 8 or 9; that gave me lots of useless money by the end of the game but no points. I also made the mistake of not taking a Wharf a few turns before the game ended, instead taking buildings to complete my Guild Hall. I didn't anticipate how often I could have used it by the end of the game. Not that it would have made much difference.
Shirley's effect on Nadine was give her an early trade; this let Nadine get an early Factory and then Harbor. Nadine went on to get Custom's House and Wharf. Shirley also had a Harbor, so it was in her interests to keep taking Captain; this let her ship 4 or 5 points to Nadine's 9 or 10 points and also let Nadine take Craftsman again (instead of having to take Captain and Craftsman on alternate turns). My money-heavy strategy was only sufficient to beat Bill and Shirley.
Shirley had a tobacco monopoly which she used for trading but only occasionally for shipping.
Scores: Nadine 79 (44 shipping, 11 Custom's House), me 55, Shirley and Bill 52.
Bill and Shirley are newer players. The position order was Nadine, Bill, me, Shirley. Bill's effect on me was to take coffee before my coffee; neither one of us produced coffee until past mid-game. I was already behind Nadine who had an early Factory and then Harbor, and I made the mistake of taking Factory on turn 8 or 9; that gave me lots of useless money by the end of the game but no points. I also made the mistake of not taking a Wharf a few turns before the game ended, instead taking buildings to complete my Guild Hall. I didn't anticipate how often I could have used it by the end of the game. Not that it would have made much difference.
Shirley's effect on Nadine was give her an early trade; this let Nadine get an early Factory and then Harbor. Nadine went on to get Custom's House and Wharf. Shirley also had a Harbor, so it was in her interests to keep taking Captain; this let her ship 4 or 5 points to Nadine's 9 or 10 points and also let Nadine take Craftsman again (instead of having to take Captain and Craftsman on alternate turns). My money-heavy strategy was only sufficient to beat Bill and Shirley.
Shirley had a tobacco monopoly which she used for trading but only occasionally for shipping.
Scores: Nadine 79 (44 shipping, 11 Custom's House), me 55, Shirley and Bill 52.
Thứ Sáu, 20 tháng 1, 2012
Traction Edge: Squad-Based Tactics, Roguelike Interface
Traction Edge is a story driven, turn based strategy game set in a Steampunk Victorian England. Gameplay is similar to the Gollop Brothers UFO or Lasersquad series in that you have "Action Points" to spend during your turn. The game also borrows heavily from roguelikes in both look and feel.
Traction Edge is currently under development and is considered alpha software. It is playable but limited. v0.2 was released for the Annual Roguelike Release Party 2011. It is distributed as source only and requires SFML 1.6 (not 2.0) and cmake to build.
Current Features:Planned Features:
- Turn based gameplay
- 2-4 member squad teams
- Destructable terrain
- Victorian Steampunk setting
- SFML based, rescalable on the fly, 16x16 graphical tiles.
- 16-20 static levels with full story arc
- Random content, procedural maps
- Procedural tech tree
- Civilians
- Z-levels
You can keep track of all development activity using this feed. The Linux distro that I use doesn't support SFM 1.6 any more, which makes me unable to test this interesting sounding and looking squad tactics game.
this feed. The Linux distro that I use doesn't support SFM 1.6 any more, which makes me unable to test this interesting sounding and looking squad tactics game.Thứ Năm, 19 tháng 1, 2012
Jerusalem and Raanana Session Reports
Raanana report by me: Power Grid, Antike, Ticket to Ride Norway, Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix. And by Ellis: Power Grid.
Jerusalem report by Nadine: Nile, Year of the Dragon.
I played Mancala on Friday night with a young girl during dinner. The rules with which we played: 6 bowls on each side, 1 bin on the right for each player. 4 stones per bowl. On your turn, pick up and deliver, skipping opponent's bin. If you land in your bin, go again. If you land in an empty space on your side, take the stone and all stones in the opposing bowl and place them in your bin, but only if opponent has at least 1 stone in the opposing bowl. Keep playing until all stones are in bins.
I won the first game and we tied on the second. I think she was used to winning, which is why she stopped after two games. But she handled herself pretty well.
Jerusalem report by Nadine: Nile, Year of the Dragon.
I played Mancala on Friday night with a young girl during dinner. The rules with which we played: 6 bowls on each side, 1 bin on the right for each player. 4 stones per bowl. On your turn, pick up and deliver, skipping opponent's bin. If you land in your bin, go again. If you land in an empty space on your side, take the stone and all stones in the opposing bowl and place them in your bin, but only if opponent has at least 1 stone in the opposing bowl. Keep playing until all stones are in bins.
I won the first game and we tied on the second. I think she was used to winning, which is why she stopped after two games. But she handled herself pretty well.
Thứ Ba, 17 tháng 1, 2012
Annex: Conquer the world Beta2 released
A new beta of the Megaglest based standalone game Annex: Conquer the World has been released recently:
Most important news for me: real Linux support out of the box now ;)
But there are also a few other nice changes, like additional tileset and units etc. The game also has its own master-server now, thus not depending on the Megaglest one any longer.
Most important news for me: real Linux support out of the box now ;)
But there are also a few other nice changes, like additional tileset and units etc. The game also has its own master-server now, thus not depending on the Megaglest one any longer.
Chủ Nhật, 15 tháng 1, 2012
TremZ updates
As reported previously, the release of the Tremulous "reboot" TremZ has been pushed back to Spring 2012 and with news of their project lead "Volt" having stepped down due to burn-out, things don't look too bright for that date either...
However the new guys in charge seem to try hard and aim to improve community relations (see their slightly older forums) further by opening up a development blog.
Here they also posted a link to their PR image dump from which I took this very recent picture:
I have to say that I am really impressed by most of their artwork so far, and last time I asked they assured me that it will be almost completely licensed under the CC-by-SA (with a sad exception of a few audio works that will be CC-by-SA-NC upon request by the creator).
So I hope I will not be proven wrong when saying: TremZ will the THE FOSS game of 2012 :)
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| Showing off the high art quality of the new alien models |
Here they also posted a link to their PR image dump from which I took this very recent picture:
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| The new human marine model (high-poly base for normal-maps) |
So I hope I will not be proven wrong when saying: TremZ will the THE FOSS game of 2012 :)
You're Fired!
Definition: "Fired", as in "Fired up!" - On fire, hot, doing great, doing great work.
Hey managers! Your task today is to go around your office and randomly tell people "You're Fired!" Tell them loud enough so that their coworkers can overhear. Pump your fist in the air and make the "Woo Hah!" sound, too. It's a great way to increase morale!
Hey managers! Your task today is to go around your office and randomly tell people "You're Fired!" Tell them loud enough so that their coworkers can overhear. Pump your fist in the air and make the "Woo Hah!" sound, too. It's a great way to increase morale!
Thứ Bảy, 14 tháng 1, 2012
RetroBlazer Alpha demo
Looks pretty nice, this Darkplaces based game, doesn't it? And you can download a RetroBlazer alpha demo now... take it with a grain of salt though as my intuition tells me that this is probably planned to be a commercial release based on a FOSS engine like SteelStorm. While this is of course not bad in general (in fact personally I think there should be more FOSS based commercial games), I always get a lot of flak in the comments for posting about games with un-Free media or such ;)
On a side-note however (after playing the demo for a short while) I have to say that it is a bit too retro for me (no proper mouse aiming? is it like 1996?). I was hoping for more of a hybrid than a strait Doom reimplementation ;)
Thứ Năm, 12 tháng 1, 2012
Jerusalem and Raanana Session Reports; Hypnotism
Raanana games played: Power Grid.
Jerusalem games played: Jungle Speed, London.
Hypnotism
I was in an audience with a practicing stage hypnotist. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting my reaction: I was disgusted. I walked out.
The subjects were made to forget their names, the number three, etc. When they could not (or would not) count, the audience laughed. The subjects smiled sheepishly. The hypnotist did not use any hypnotic induction; he just passed his hand over their heads and held it in front of their eyes for a moment, and then announced, out loud, what the subjects were going to do incorrectly.
My first thoughts were that, of course, this was bunk. But, then again, not necessarily. Although magic is bunk, some odd things about the human mind and body have some truth to them, even if the stories that surround them are nonsense. E.g. acupuncture apparently does have some real effect on reducing pain.
My second thought was that the performance, whether real or fake, was obscene. It's one thing to laugh at TV people being idiots for fun in a sitcom, or people in power (like politicians) being idiots. It's another thing to laugh at friends who are under the influence of suggestion. Even if they agreed to be hypnotized, they are being made to look like fools while helpless. It's embarrassing, like laughing at the handicapped. If it was a serious demonstration, I would have found it interesting ... scary and creepy, but interesting. But not for entertainment. So I walked out.
I asked the subjects after the fact, and they both denied any sort of collusion or trickery on their part. Neither was embarrassed at what had happened.
The odd part is that Israel is one of the few countries where stage hypnosis is absolutely illegal. I don't know how this guy gets away with doing it in public. He was a good stage magician, so the hypnosis wasn't necessary for his act. I have no problems with magic acts.
Jerusalem games played: Jungle Speed, London.
Hypnotism
I was in an audience with a practicing stage hypnotist. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting my reaction: I was disgusted. I walked out.
The subjects were made to forget their names, the number three, etc. When they could not (or would not) count, the audience laughed. The subjects smiled sheepishly. The hypnotist did not use any hypnotic induction; he just passed his hand over their heads and held it in front of their eyes for a moment, and then announced, out loud, what the subjects were going to do incorrectly.
My first thoughts were that, of course, this was bunk. But, then again, not necessarily. Although magic is bunk, some odd things about the human mind and body have some truth to them, even if the stories that surround them are nonsense. E.g. acupuncture apparently does have some real effect on reducing pain.
My second thought was that the performance, whether real or fake, was obscene. It's one thing to laugh at TV people being idiots for fun in a sitcom, or people in power (like politicians) being idiots. It's another thing to laugh at friends who are under the influence of suggestion. Even if they agreed to be hypnotized, they are being made to look like fools while helpless. It's embarrassing, like laughing at the handicapped. If it was a serious demonstration, I would have found it interesting ... scary and creepy, but interesting. But not for entertainment. So I walked out.
I asked the subjects after the fact, and they both denied any sort of collusion or trickery on their part. Neither was embarrassed at what had happened.
The odd part is that Israel is one of the few countries where stage hypnosis is absolutely illegal. I don't know how this guy gets away with doing it in public. He was a good stage magician, so the hypnosis wasn't necessary for his act. I have no problems with magic acts.
Thứ Ba, 10 tháng 1, 2012
Winter Shorts 3: Wizznic Cursor, TORCS Music, Knights Deathmatch, Humm and Strumm Specs, SuperTux Contest
Wizznic! received more GUI enhancements [video (00:57@YouTube)]
TORCS 1.3.2 brings menu music into the game [.ogg (05:50/7.1MB)]
Knights 0.19 features deathmatch [description]
Humm and Strumm is an in-dev co-op game engine [design .pdf (156kB)]
SuperTux' level contest has four entries so far [submission thread]
Chủ Nhật, 8 tháng 1, 2012
Winter Shorts 2: Wizznic! Mouse Input, Me and My Shadow New Look, Epiar Cleanup, GemRB Platforms and Games
Wizznic!
Wizznic! supports mouse & touchscreen. [Video] Code available on GitHub.
MeAndMyShadow
MeAndMyShadow 0.2rc1 is out. It features tutorial, in-game help, a new default visual style and an improved editor.
video: Epiar 0.5.0 game start
Epiar 0.5.0 has been released:
- UI clean-up
- Expanded missions system
- Sound and music additions
- Main menu
- Editor greatly expanded
- Misc. bug fixes
GemRB logo
GemRB 0.7.0 was released recently. Their wiki received a clean-up as well. The engine re-implementation runs on Android and iOS. BG, TotSC, BGII, ToB, IWD and HoW can be played start to end. Some features are missing and there are some new features too.
Thứ Bảy, 7 tháng 1, 2012
Two Near Car Crashes
Friday Morning I went to see a small exhibit of Chinese/Japanese prints in the library of the Japanese embassy in Tel Aviv. The prints were lovely, but the exhibition was small, so I was done looking around quickly. While my friends were talking, I looked through the books until I found the Go section.
Bill and I drove from there to Jerusalem together, while Shirley and the others took the bus. I stopped on the way to do my exchanges in my first Israeli math trade. I traded In the Shadow of the Emperor for Through the Desert, and Aton for both No Thanks and Lucca Citta. This required stops in Petach Tikvah and Maccabim/Reut.
As we were driving from Reut to Maccabim, some guy (talking on a cell phone, natch) entered from my left and swerved into my lane (on the right). He didn't see me until my car tires were screeching as I jerked over to the right to avoid him. He glanced at me and continued on his way.
From Reut to Jerusalem, I was in the left lane trying to work up speed on an incline. A car a few hundred meters in front of me in the center lane suddenly started screeching and stopped. I reacted a little slowly, but finally slammed on my brakes when I saw that the car had halted right in front of a couch stretched across the middle lane and some of the left lane.
Although I stomped on the brakes, my car continued to slide forward, screeching the whole time. I was headed straight for the car in the center lane, but I couldn't turn my car; I had absolutely no control over the direction; stopping was taking a heck of a long time.
I saw we were not going to stop in time and I braced for impact; it looked like we were going to hit the side of the car. No one was going to get hurt, assuming that the guy didn't decide to open his car door or something. However, in the end, my car screeched past the other car, missing it by a few inches and stopping just shy of the couch.
A flatbed was ahead on the side of the road, obviously the one off of which the couch had fallen. I pulled over to the same side and took a few breaths to steady my nerves before continuing on. I said bircat Hagomel in shul the next day.
I saw Eitan, Emily, Bill, and Shirley after dinner on Friday night, and Bill and Shirley went out to a movie on Sat night. Two more weeks and they go back to the US.
Bill and I drove from there to Jerusalem together, while Shirley and the others took the bus. I stopped on the way to do my exchanges in my first Israeli math trade. I traded In the Shadow of the Emperor for Through the Desert, and Aton for both No Thanks and Lucca Citta. This required stops in Petach Tikvah and Maccabim/Reut.
As we were driving from Reut to Maccabim, some guy (talking on a cell phone, natch) entered from my left and swerved into my lane (on the right). He didn't see me until my car tires were screeching as I jerked over to the right to avoid him. He glanced at me and continued on his way.
From Reut to Jerusalem, I was in the left lane trying to work up speed on an incline. A car a few hundred meters in front of me in the center lane suddenly started screeching and stopped. I reacted a little slowly, but finally slammed on my brakes when I saw that the car had halted right in front of a couch stretched across the middle lane and some of the left lane.
Although I stomped on the brakes, my car continued to slide forward, screeching the whole time. I was headed straight for the car in the center lane, but I couldn't turn my car; I had absolutely no control over the direction; stopping was taking a heck of a long time.
I saw we were not going to stop in time and I braced for impact; it looked like we were going to hit the side of the car. No one was going to get hurt, assuming that the guy didn't decide to open his car door or something. However, in the end, my car screeched past the other car, missing it by a few inches and stopping just shy of the couch.
A flatbed was ahead on the side of the road, obviously the one off of which the couch had fallen. I pulled over to the same side and took a few breaths to steady my nerves before continuing on. I said bircat Hagomel in shul the next day.
I saw Eitan, Emily, Bill, and Shirley after dinner on Friday night, and Bill and Shirley went out to a movie on Sat night. Two more weeks and they go back to the US.
New FPS updates
As the FPS resident gamer here at FreeGamer (I am playing usually under the nick poVoq btw ;) ) I am keeping you up to date to the newest FPS updates:
Hot of the press: the cosmic edition (1.2) of Red Eclipse was just released; Lots of new maps and feature additions (and they toned down that annoying hit-sound a bit). Sadly their trailer-contest has not resulted in a cool video yet that I could post here, so take this opportunity to make a cool one ;)
Another new release (7.53) comes from the AlienArena guys, which seem to have made some nice updates to their engine to speed up the performance on higher settings.
Quick rundown of other news:
War§ow got a new website, and there is a nice teaser webpage up for TremZ (no surprise to me btw, that they pushed back their release date by 2 months). But the engine (OpenWolf) they are using is making nice progress also as you can see here (and here in a video: integration of Newton Physics and more).
Hot of the press: the cosmic edition (1.2) of Red Eclipse was just released; Lots of new maps and feature additions (and they toned down that annoying hit-sound a bit). Sadly their trailer-contest has not resulted in a cool video yet that I could post here, so take this opportunity to make a cool one ;)
Another new release (7.53) comes from the AlienArena guys, which seem to have made some nice updates to their engine to speed up the performance on higher settings.
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| Alien Arena 7.53 |
War§ow got a new website, and there is a nice teaser webpage up for TremZ (no surprise to me btw, that they pushed back their release date by 2 months). But the engine (OpenWolf) they are using is making nice progress also as you can see here (and here in a video: integration of Newton Physics and more).
Thứ Năm, 5 tháng 1, 2012
Stunt Rally 1.4 Release & Trigger Rally 0.6 Videos
From an announcement email:
Hi, after some months of silence we've released version 1.4 with a huge changelog. Some highlights:
- 71 tracks
- 2 new cars (TC6, NS)
- Fixed shadows (self shadowing, lightmapping)
- Better looking shaders (fresnel effect, reflectivity/specular maps)
- SSAO effect (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion)
- Sound effects and particles for water or mud areas
- Improved in-car camera
- Rear gear throttle-brake inverse option
Also, installing this game just got a whole lot easier for linux users as there is now a binary Linux release (32 and 64 bit).
- Downloads page (Linux and Windows):
- Project's page (including info and links):
- Screenshots gallery:
Trigger Rally 0.6 has been out for two months by now but now there are some high-resolution gameplay videos available:
The game is much simpler in all aspects than Stunt Rally but it runs well on netbooks. There is a community effort going on to replace copyright/trademark-problematic assets right now.
Maybe you can help by answering this strange question: would you consider these 3D models to be infringing on proprietary car designs?
Raanana and Jerusalem Session Reports
Raanana: Ellis' report here, and my report here. Games played: Gobblet Junior, Sushizock im Gockelwok, Power Grid, Ticket to Ride Europe, Ticket to Ride Scandinavia
Jerusalem: Nadine's report here. Games played: Notre Dame, Microscope (RPG), Puerto Rico, London, Lo Ra.
New and returning people at both events.
Jerusalem: Nadine's report here. Games played: Notre Dame, Microscope (RPG), Puerto Rico, London, Lo Ra.
New and returning people at both events.
Thứ Tư, 4 tháng 1, 2012
Ten Weird and Wonderful Song Transformations
Here are ten weird and wonderful cover songs on Youtube in no particular order, covering but utterly transforming an original smash pop hit. Most of the original songs are Hip Hop. Most of the transformations are soul or folk.
1. Tori Amos covers Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit
Tori Amos does a lot of soulsy covers of odd source material, including heavy metal and death metal originals (e.g. Raining Blood by Slayer).
2. Einat & Hakim cover The Black Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling
These guys are pretty funky Israelis.
3. Alanis Morissette covers The Black Eyed Peas' My Humps
A joke, but shows that Alanis can't help sounding good even when she's not trying.
4. Jonathan Coulton covers Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back
Also a joke, I suppose, but it's hard to listen to this and think that he's not singing something profound.
5. Pomplamoose covers Beyonce's Single Ladies
Pomplamoose has a number of odd, weird, funky covers, including an awesome cover of Lady Gaga's Telephone (which itself has an entire bevy of weird covers, from country rock to classical).
6. Sarah Bareilles covers Beyonce's Single Ladies
Another cover of Single Ladies, this demonstrates Sarah's talents, which go far beyond simple pop and ballad numbers.
7. Karmin covers Chris Brown's Look at Me Now
The most viewed cover on Youtube (56 million views and counting), the cover is funny, sweet, and silly; the original song is none of these. It's dumb, racist, sexist, stupid, and talentless. Karmin does a number of other interesting covers.
8. Mat Weddle covers Outkast's Hey Ya
Mat is aka Obadiah Parker.
9. Butch Walker covers Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me
Taylor twitted about how much she liked this cover and invited Butch to integrate his sound into one of her performances. Skip to about 2:40 if you don't want to see Butch peeing.
10. Greyson Chance covers Lady Gaga's Paparazzi
There are lots of kids and amateur wannabees covering pop songs on Youtube, but few can transform a recognizable smash pop hit and - astoundingly - make it better. And he's only 13, for crying out loud.
Bonus
Birdy covers Bon Iver's Skinny Love
Bon Ivers is relatively unknown, and the original song is folk music. But it's still amazing. And she's only 15 years old.
1. Tori Amos covers Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit
Tori Amos does a lot of soulsy covers of odd source material, including heavy metal and death metal originals (e.g. Raining Blood by Slayer).
2. Einat & Hakim cover The Black Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling
These guys are pretty funky Israelis.
3. Alanis Morissette covers The Black Eyed Peas' My Humps
A joke, but shows that Alanis can't help sounding good even when she's not trying.
4. Jonathan Coulton covers Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back
Also a joke, I suppose, but it's hard to listen to this and think that he's not singing something profound.
5. Pomplamoose covers Beyonce's Single Ladies
Pomplamoose has a number of odd, weird, funky covers, including an awesome cover of Lady Gaga's Telephone (which itself has an entire bevy of weird covers, from country rock to classical).
6. Sarah Bareilles covers Beyonce's Single Ladies
Another cover of Single Ladies, this demonstrates Sarah's talents, which go far beyond simple pop and ballad numbers.
7. Karmin covers Chris Brown's Look at Me Now
The most viewed cover on Youtube (56 million views and counting), the cover is funny, sweet, and silly; the original song is none of these. It's dumb, racist, sexist, stupid, and talentless. Karmin does a number of other interesting covers.
8. Mat Weddle covers Outkast's Hey Ya
Mat is aka Obadiah Parker.
9. Butch Walker covers Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me
Taylor twitted about how much she liked this cover and invited Butch to integrate his sound into one of her performances. Skip to about 2:40 if you don't want to see Butch peeing.
10. Greyson Chance covers Lady Gaga's Paparazzi
There are lots of kids and amateur wannabees covering pop songs on Youtube, but few can transform a recognizable smash pop hit and - astoundingly - make it better. And he's only 13, for crying out loud.
Bonus
Birdy covers Bon Iver's Skinny Love
Bon Ivers is relatively unknown, and the original song is folk music. But it's still amazing. And she's only 15 years old.
SuperTux Forum and January 2012 Level Contest
SuperTux level design mistakes to avoid
SuperTux just got a forum on FreeGameDev.net and started a level contest.
Rules:
- A snow tileset theme
- Submit your levels here until the 27th of January, when voting will start
- Voting on levels will end on the January 30st
- Winners will be announced January 31st
- Have fun
- One level per person
- Top few levels will/can be made into an add-on or
- If admins are okay with it top levels will get added to incubator island (if winners are okay with it - pick cc0 or cc-by-sa for your level)
- One entry per person
- Please make a new level. (not from and existing worldmap/levelset)
- Don't vote for your self.
- Voting will take place in a new forum topic.
- Feel free to comment on peoples levels, most people would like to hear what was wrong or good with their level.
Get the editor, read the editor guide (and just play around, as the guide is incomplete ;) ) and check out the style guide.
You can upload submissions in this thread.
Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 1, 2012
Winter Shorts: Bits & Bots, Goblin Camp 0.2, BASE PRO 0.4b-r2, FlightGear Interviews
Bits & Bots: controlling two robots at once
Bits & Bots is a real-time puzzle game about figuring out the codes to moving robots around and get them to their targets most efficiently. It comes with binaries for 32/64bit Linux and Windows. Gpl code, by-sa art.
Goblin Camp 0.2, probably running some fancy tileset
Goblin Camp 0.2 brings a stockpile of changes:
- Piles replace Stockpiles. Everything is allowed and containers get automatically shuffled to where they are needed.
- Diseases will weaken and eventually kill your population if you don’t do anything about a growing population.
- Migratory animals will sometimes cross the map
- The spawning pool expands and spreads corruption in a smoother way, it’s improved from the abrupt way it was before.
- Cowardly creatures can now also panic if they encounter another panicking creature
- Death messages have been improved to give a bit more information, and a bit of variety has been added to them as well.
- Constructions strobe under the cursor now, to better visualize where one stops and another one begins.
- Portable mode. Just create a file named goblin-camp.portable in the directory where GC is installed and it’ll store all the files it needs in a sub-directory in that folder, instead of in the operating system’s default folder.
- Skeletons no longer bleed and other assorted bug fixes.
BASE Pro is a Windows-only base jumping simulation game. Its community and news can be found on this forum.
Community member LedInfrared got the hang out of gameplay video recording and shared videos of STK and Xonotic on this YouTube page, including download links to original video material!
Stuart Buchanan: FlightGear contributor
FlightGear's news section has seen quite a high activity lately, including three interviews:
- Oliver Jacq: scenery designer/scripter
- Gijs de Rooy: modeller and scenery designer
- Stuart Buchanan: coder and aircraft designer
Thứ Hai, 2 tháng 1, 2012
HTML5 Defense: MiniMek Urbie Defense
Two 'towers' down in MiniMek Urbie Defense
A little top-down defense game was released under GPL (art & code) as a new year's present. It shows nicely, how libre art can be used for small game programming projects.
These use some art assets from megamek (http://megamek.info/) and therefore these games are also licensed under the GPLA straightforward interpretation of the GPL applied to assets. I'm afraid though, the images of MegaMek might be incompatible with the GPL, due to Battletech copyright and/or trademark.
The game has good performance but little complexity except for a Missile Commander-esque twist: getting hit reduces player's spacial ability to shoot.
According to the project page, more games with the same graphical theme are to be expected. I'm looking forward to them!
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