spacerobotfive

06:48 pm: I figure if I start typing, there is a chance that my thoughts will solidify into something worth repeating. The network is down here in my neighborhood coffee shop. This is probably a good thing, as it means I might actually work on something that matters, rather than reading random web pages.

Hmm.. Gestalt... Metroid Prime. GameCube controller. Deadlands. Poker Deck.

Nothing.

Well, I will try again later.

Too bad.

06:38 am: Coffee is good in the morning
A good, well made cup of coffee is a wonderful thing. I have one. I also have a little bit of bandwidth, a comfortable seat, and a few minutes of time.

And nothing to say.

I have stuff to say all the time when I am on the bus, but when I actually get a quiet minute in from of my iBook: nothing. A nice peaceful nothing, but nothing none the less.

So I will entertain you with nothing.

I will regale you with tails of ineffable void.

I have delusions of designing and publishing video games. At times I feel solely inadequate for the task. I will read a well written review over at Insert Credit, and I am left with nothing more of than a shell of my former ambition. How can I expect to ever even approach the level of thought, detail, and gestalt of the excellent incumbent game designers?

At other times I am filled with great confidence: If I can tell what is wrong with my projects, there is at least hope of fixing them. If I am designing them to be both fun and interesting, not trying to simply crank out a cash cow, if I am true to my self, I will do awesome things.

I don't imagine my works will be remembered, nor my name be known to the next generation of aspiring game designers. But I do believe that I can put something together that is truly excellent.

At least something that is better than 90% of the crap that is pushed out by the major publishing houses.

Far too many game designers have no sense of the gestalt. No vision of the whole. Two excellent counter examples to this would be Metroid Prime and Deadlands.

I will talk about one of these next time. You pick.

09:30 pm: *enjoy the sauce*
There was an article on Kiro5hin a recently about the translation of pen and paper RPG's into computer games, specifically the rule systems. The author made some interesting points, some valid, some not.

It got me thinking.

The only reason to do a straight translation of a rule system from a pen and paper game to a computer game is marketing. Many times, a system lends itself to a straight translation: in fact many things that can be tedious in actual pen and paper play are eliminated. Look at the Colossus port of Avalon Hill's Titan or the many RISK clones for example.

But games with more complex rules, it tends to be silly. Complex rules in a pen and paper game are not usually there to increase the strategic depth of the system, but rather to increase it's vocabulary. In a computer based system, increases in vocabulary can be had in many other ways (graphics, sound, &c.).

Complexity should only be added to a computer system when it adds to the strategic value. An example from the pen and paper realm would be the terrain bonuses and penalties in Titan. The add a good deal of complexity and lots of special cases to an otherwise very clean and elegant strategic combat system. But the increase in depth they give the system is huge. Without it, Titan would be a different game (and not a very fun one at that).

What is the difference between depth and vocabulary, you ask? This is best explained by example.

Take Fallout: In combat, you can kick or punch somebody. You have different stats for both, and they may have slighty different characteristics, but essentially they are the same attack, from a strategic point any way. They are simply added vocabulary. And this is a good thing. It adds to the reality of the game. It also comes at no cost in comlexity, as they rules do not vary for the different attacks, only the graphics and a few minor statistics.

Once again Fallout: Different weapon classes have different effects on different types of armor. This ads stategic depth. Should you keep a Desert Eagle around, even though you have a plasma rifle? Should you keep a knife in your spare hand? All these decisions have strategic value. This ads depth. Depth is better than vocabulary.

06:53 pm: Paranoia and Paradox
I am always wary of posting anything on the internet. No matter how ephemeral any given forum may be, any post can exist for [pause for dramatic effect] All Time. Which makes me reluctant to say anything at all, and quite content to lurk.

I have this paranoia of someone looking at old posts of mine and seeing everything from punctuation and spelling problems, to logical fallacies. Or worst of all, what if I change my mind on a given subject? Sure I can make new posts that correct things, but I cannot in anyway ensure that everyone who has read my old faulty post will be privy to my new enlightened post.

Yet none of this really matters.

The real reason I avoid posting, is that writing exposes ones soul to others... And this I have feared as long as I can remember. Yet I have this deep burning desire to create and to share those creations. In all this, the following holds true: artistic creation is the ultimate exposition of the artist's soul.

This is my paradox.