Another company that always gets mentioned -- and for good reason -- is Spiderweb. They make solid, fun to play, RPGs with intriguing and well-thought-out stories. I'm particularly fond of the new "Geneforge" series.
It's a great series, because of its depth and interesting characters. The books are quite long, and get fairly complicated, but that just pleases the fan who only wants more. I'm really glad that the author took a B5-like approach of defining a definite beginning, middle, and end to the story rather than letting it roll out forever (like the inevitably compared Wheel of Time Books.
Anyhow, yes, it's good. Go and read them.
Watchmen references
on
Altered Carbon
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I thought that the first Matrix movie did two things well...1) had great, fantastical action sequences, and 2) messed with Neo's head and thus our heads.
it sounds like they decided to drop the latter and concentrate on the former. too bad, but maybe they are just doing what they are good at.
3.2 broke binary compatability with 3.1, right? and 3.1 (modified) is what is used in OS X 10.2. Does this mean Apple will have to do a lot of munging to use 3.3?
I found the classic Maxis game SimEarth to be both informative and addictive. Informative in that you had to work within a particular system to nurture your planet, and addictive because of the sense of accomplishment that you got from exploring the many different possibilities. I remember my first dinosaur civilization, and the first time I realized that my planet was overheating and becoming unlivable.
The good part about it was that it broadened my horizons and introduced me to new possibilites, encouraging me to learn more about planets, ecosystems, and the solar system.
I kind of liked the isolation of SS2. it was a large part of what made the game so spooky. You kept thinking that you'd run into somebody, until finally you realized that you were incrediably alone.
But maybe the formula could be changed in a sequel. I don't know, set it on Earth or a colony world or something? have the Many come back somehow? or think up something altogether new.
Sure, he started on the Mac. and he has Windows ports. and the games are great on both! no one in the Mac community seems to care.
His model of shareware for his RPGs is to allow you access to maybe one quarter of the game's areas until you unlock the rest. by that time, you're addicted. no nag screen!
Fans of singer Happy Rhodes long ago started talking about other musicians on their mailing list Ecto, much like other music lists. These conversations were officially declared "on-topic", and a rich cross-pollenation began.
Eventually, someone decided to put some common musical recommendations and observations up on a web site, and the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music was born. If you agree with some of the basic tastes of the listmembers, you'll find an amazing database of interesting new musicians, with many comparisons and cross-references.
also talked about this in The Wizard of Earthsea, where the wizards had to deal with a certain "conservation of weather" -- bringing rain to one place would bring drought to another, and so on. A lot of the philosophy espoused in those books is related to the Tao De Ching, of which she did a translation.
Hmmm, I must have read a severely truncated version in high school, because I only remember three supernatural creatures in "Beowulf" -- Grendel, Grendel's mom, and the Dragon.
Speaking of Grendel, there's a great novel by the same name written by John Gardner.
I don't see anything about a port for Darwin/MacOS X on the Mono web site. A full Aqua-# project would of course be a lot more work, but it would be fun to see it started in console mode or X-windows.
Yeah...some episodes are certianly less quality than others:) but I really like the setting and some of the problems it puts the characters through. It's sort of like "Fallout." I trust JMS to develop a great long-term plot, and put us through some changes. I still haven't seen the end of the first season, so I'm reserving judgement until then.
just another "me too" -- I really like Firefly, and will miss it. At least Jeremiah has a complete season, with a second one coming up. It must really suck to not even be allowed to complete a whole season. Or maybe the Babylon 5 fan in me over-emphasizes the narrative unity that can be found in a whole season.
I, for one, am really enjoying Firefly. The characters have to deal with fairly authentic problems of running a small ship in space. I like the "skin of our teeth" setting; reminds me a bit of Star Wars or _Downbelow Station_, while staying a bit closer to home. The writing is decent, too.
Slashdot Mirror
Another company that always gets mentioned -- and for good reason -- is Spiderweb. They make solid, fun to play, RPGs with intriguing and well-thought-out stories. I'm particularly fond of the new "Geneforge" series.
The article isn't about reinventing the wheel. It's about using (dare I say leveraging) Chimera/Camino in other Cocoa apps.
There are, like, Ten copies at my local library system.
It's a great series, because of its depth and interesting characters. The books are quite long, and get fairly complicated, but that just pleases the fan who only wants more. I'm really glad that the author took a B5-like approach of defining a definite beginning, middle, and end to the story rather than letting it roll out forever (like the inevitably compared Wheel of Time Books.
Anyhow, yes, it's good. Go and read them.
I, too, can't read the name "Kovacs" without thinking of Watchmen.
didn't Ryan Gordon do both the Linux and the Mac ports?
I have a lot of respect for the folks who made Earthworm Jim and Sacrifice.
I thought that the first Matrix movie did two things well...1) had great, fantastical action sequences, and 2) messed with Neo's head and thus our heads.
it sounds like they decided to drop the latter and concentrate on the former. too bad, but maybe they are just doing what they are good at.
I found
Scott Kurtz's review very interesting.
3.2 broke binary compatability with 3.1, right? and 3.1 (modified) is what is used in OS X 10.2. Does this mean Apple will have to do a lot of munging to use 3.3?
some of their location choices and even filenames remind me very much of BeOS.
I found the classic Maxis game SimEarth to be both informative and addictive. Informative in that you had to work within a particular system to nurture your planet, and addictive because of the sense of accomplishment that you got from exploring the many different possibilities. I remember my first dinosaur civilization, and the first time I realized that my planet was overheating and becoming unlivable.
The good part about it was that it broadened my horizons and introduced me to new possibilites, encouraging me to learn more about planets, ecosystems, and the solar system.
I kind of liked the isolation of SS2. it was a large part of what made the game so spooky. You kept thinking that you'd run into somebody, until finally you realized that you were incrediably alone.
But maybe the formula could be changed in a sequel. I don't know, set it on Earth or a colony world or something? have the Many come back somehow? or think up something altogether new.
that's the scary, story-based sequel we need.
A crazy movie with an all-star Hong Kong cast. sort of Kung Fu Monty Python. One of my all-time favorites.
Sure, he started on the Mac. and he has Windows ports. and the games are great on both! no one in the Mac community seems to care.
His model of shareware for his RPGs is to allow you access to maybe one quarter of the game's areas until you unlock the rest. by that time, you're addicted. no nag screen!
Fans of singer Happy Rhodes long ago started talking about other musicians on their mailing list Ecto, much like other music lists. These conversations were officially declared "on-topic", and a rich cross-pollenation began.
Eventually, someone decided to put some common musical recommendations and observations up on a web site, and the Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music was born. If you agree with some of the basic tastes of the listmembers, you'll find an amazing database of interesting new musicians, with many comparisons and cross-references.
also talked about this in The Wizard of Earthsea, where the wizards had to deal with a certain "conservation of weather" -- bringing rain to one place would bring drought to another, and so on. A lot of the philosophy espoused in those books is related to the Tao De Ching, of which she did a translation.
I seem to remember BO affecting quite a few people.
cool. I wonder what the original listeners thought those creatures were? The evolution of the elf through the ages...
Hmmm, I must have read a severely truncated version in high school, because I only remember three supernatural creatures in "Beowulf" -- Grendel, Grendel's mom, and the Dragon.
Speaking of Grendel, there's a great novel by the same name written by John Gardner.
Back on topic, Gardner wrote an interesting article on Tolkien and his world.
I don't see anything about a port for Darwin/MacOS X on the Mono web site. A full Aqua-# project would of course be a lot more work, but it would be fun to see it started in console mode or X-windows.
Has anyone tried building Mono on MacOS?
it is pretty funny to see a dire warning about my firewall. Sort of like the daily IIS hack attempts I see in apache's log. good ole OpenBSD!
Yeah...some episodes are certianly less quality than others :) but I really like the setting and some of the problems it puts the characters through. It's sort of like "Fallout." I trust JMS to develop a great long-term plot, and put us through some changes. I still haven't seen the end of the first season, so I'm reserving judgement until then.
just another "me too" -- I really like Firefly, and will miss it. At least Jeremiah has a complete season, with a second one coming up. It must really suck to not even be allowed to complete a whole season. Or maybe the Babylon 5 fan in me over-emphasizes the narrative unity that can be found in a whole season.
I, for one, am really enjoying Firefly. The characters have to deal with fairly authentic problems of running a small ship in space. I like the "skin of our teeth" setting; reminds me a bit of Star Wars or _Downbelow Station_, while staying a bit closer to home. The writing is decent, too.