I have two projects due this week and two midterms next week so all I’m going to say is: Go see The Cabin in the Woods. It’s a non-traditional horror movie, and I hardly like horror movies at all. That’s all the detail I want to get into because it’s really a movie you should go see with as few expectations as possible.
More …From a game design standpoint, Dota 2 seems like an objectively bad game. There are several design decisions (that I suspect are mostly due to the series’ origins in the Warcraft 3 engine and its restrictions) that appear from the outside to be pretty darned stupid. Somehow it all comes together for a clearly very successful game, though.
More …I had a chat with my friend James Hawkins about The Atlantic’s article on Jonathan Blow that has been getting a fair bit of attention lately. Blow seems to take his games very seriously as a medium to convey a message, and looks with disdain on the many mainstream games that aim for entertainment instead. As a result he’s seen as a bit pretentious to some (not much of an insult in gaming as Chris Remo points out) or even arrogant, but I think he recognizes gaming’s potential and feels frustration at being the lone (loud) voice on the topic.
More …Mmm, if there’s one thing I love it’s procedurally generated games. Roguelikes are probably the best example of this, having been around since the 80s, and I enjoy them but am usually overcome by their complexity. My favourite one is Spelunky, featuring a near-endless sidescrolling adventure downwards towards more treasure and more danger, but I recently discovered a new one, TowerClimb.
More …I’ve wondered what makes certain games ‘feel’ better almost as long as I’ve noticed it. I asked Reddit what they thought and it made me realise that it’s even harder to answer this question people seem to have different definitions of what game ‘feel’ is anyway. Something about the controls being responsive, cohesive interactions with appropriate feedback, a consistent aesthetic, as well as a half dozen other indicators factor in, apparently.
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