Sierra very recently started re-releasing many of it's classic games as series collections, powered by DosBox. I picked up the Space Quest and Police Quest collections, myself.
What you're describing is fighting with the parser. And that's what I was getting at in my first paragraph; the PnC interface limits you, as there are no modifiers. In HQ, you *could* do things like touch the tree, and expect a description of how it feels. With a PnC, you're spending as much time figuring out what the developers might have the interface do as what you're supposed to do.
Of course, with a text parser, you're spending lots of time figuring out which magic combination of keywords it's looking for.
Re:Spycraft: The Great Game
on
Torture in Games
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Spoilers Ahoy.
One of the main mission sequences in Saint's Row 2 is a progression against a gang that starts out with slipping nuclear waste into the tattoo ink of a guy that pissed you off, and later progresses to 'rescuing' (then delivering the Emperor's Mercy) to one of your lieutenant's who's been chained to a truck and dragged around town, to kidnapping the guy's girlfriend, putting her in the trunk of a car, then sticking that car on a monster truck course that the guy is going through.
Some of it is played for laughs, and some of it (like the character's reaction to his lieutenant's bloody, broken, road-rashed body) is played disturbingly straight.
My basic premise is that an Adventure Game is an exercise in abstract puzzle solving -- you could represent the same game with a parser or a point and click interface and still have the same underlying puzzle structure, and required player actions. What the interface does affect is how the player specifies those actions. Point and click games typically have a bare handful of verbs compared to parser games, where the player is forced to describe the desired interaction much more precisely in a way that doesn't lend itself to brute force fiddling.
That's not a premise, that's an observation. Anybody who's really played the original verisons of, say, Hero's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry 1, with text parsers, then played the remakes Quest for Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero and LSL1VGA will tell you that. There are responses you simply cannot get out of the point'n'click versions because they couldn't dedicate an icon to a one-off action. Further, branching conversation trees really give things away compared to the text parsers.
On the other hand, again, the two games are pretty much identical in terms of puzzles and solutions; clicking your hand icon on a tree isn't much different than 'climb tree.'
Well, there's four places. There's the Hammock Hut, that's on Third. There's Hammocks-R-Us,that's on Third too. You got Put-Your-Butt-There, that's on third. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.... matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; that's the Hammock Complex on Third.
That's easy enough; increase axial tilt by 90 degrees.
Suddenly North/South America and Africa (possibly including Europe) become the long-axis continents, and Asia is buggered. Albeit, possibly not as buggered, as unlike North/South America, it doesn't narrow down to 10s of miles in the middle.
Well, that's the issue. You've been able to write software for Windows that allows for non-admin since 1999. My Documents, no user files in Program Files, non-admin logins, the whole nine yards.
But, of course, developers are lazy. They don't want to write proper software.
Can Microsoft force it? Of course. They tried it with Vista and UAC; pop up a little 'fuck you' every time a program does something the Windows 95 paradigm. And they got raked over the coals for it.
An American fighter pilot is out flying around Afghanistan. He sees some light flashes on the ground. 'Base, this is fighterguy. I see shots on the ground, request permission to engage.'
'Ah, that's a negative, fighterguy, we show friendlies in the area.'
'Negative base, these are not friendlies. Engaging.'
'Ah, fighterguy, do not repeat NOT engage, there are friendlies in the area.'
In most cases, the session is transitting Bell's network to an interconnect point, wherein it's handed off to the third party and terminates an on LNS.
Generally, the third party doesn't have fiber going to each CO and interconnecting directly to the DSLAM.
Not quite. Bell has turned on shaping at the DSLAM, meaning that DSL connections are throttled, regardless of who's LNS it's terminating on. Dial in with a Bell PPPoE username, a Teksavvy username, an IGS username, whatever, the same shaping policies get applied.
So, the CRTC answered the complaint they were given. "Hey, we think Bell is unfairly throttling us!" No, Bell does it to themselves, too, so it's a level playing field. The *real* question is 'should Bell be allowed to unilaterally shape traffic that is going to terminate on third party LNS equipment?' The answer to that, of course, is 'hell no. But Bell can, and will, by the Gods charge you for each and every bit that transits our network. Feel free to shape your customers, pass the cost along, or eat it yourselves.'
I figured out that Sims 2: Freetime has SecureROM when, after I installed it, on execution, it would pop up a 'I won't run until you uninstall Nero Burning ROM' message.
But having your allies do the fighting for you just kind of proves my point. And I'll point out that it goes two ways; your allies will get awfully pissed of those mutual defense treaties are unilateral.
Actually, games like that are excellent demonstrations on the need for force. Or, at least, the need for the ability to project force.
All the diplomacy, strategic locations, wealth, economy, and so on, aren't going to help when the Meklar (or Mongols) decide they want your planets/cities.
After all, if violence begets violence, pacifism begets slavery.
In that case, don't play the Tom Sawyer cover in RB1; instead grab the various Rush master tracks (including the full Moving Pictures album) off of DLC.
Slashdot Mirror
Sierra very recently started re-releasing many of it's classic games as series collections, powered by DosBox. I picked up the Space Quest and Police Quest collections, myself.
What you're describing is fighting with the parser. And that's what I was getting at in my first paragraph; the PnC interface limits you, as there are no modifiers. In HQ, you *could* do things like touch the tree, and expect a description of how it feels. With a PnC, you're spending as much time figuring out what the developers might have the interface do as what you're supposed to do.
Of course, with a text parser, you're spending lots of time figuring out which magic combination of keywords it's looking for.
Spoilers Ahoy.
One of the main mission sequences in Saint's Row 2 is a progression against a gang that starts out with slipping nuclear waste into the tattoo ink of a guy that pissed you off, and later progresses to 'rescuing' (then delivering the Emperor's Mercy) to one of your lieutenant's who's been chained to a truck and dragged around town, to kidnapping the guy's girlfriend, putting her in the trunk of a car, then sticking that car on a monster truck course that the guy is going through.
Some of it is played for laughs, and some of it (like the character's reaction to his lieutenant's bloody, broken, road-rashed body) is played disturbingly straight.
That's not a premise, that's an observation. Anybody who's really played the original verisons of, say, Hero's Quest or Leisure Suit Larry 1, with text parsers, then played the remakes Quest for Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero and LSL1VGA will tell you that. There are responses you simply cannot get out of the point'n'click versions because they couldn't dedicate an icon to a one-off action. Further, branching conversation trees really give things away compared to the text parsers.
On the other hand, again, the two games are pretty much identical in terms of puzzles and solutions; clicking your hand icon on a tree isn't much different than 'climb tree.'
Let us not forget the most important ratio known to man: 4:1:2.5 +/-25%.
Well, there's four places. There's the Hammock Hut, that's on Third. There's Hammocks-R-Us,that's on Third too. You got Put-Your-Butt-There, that's on third. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.... matter of fact, they're all in the same complex; that's the Hammock Complex on Third.
That's easy enough; increase axial tilt by 90 degrees.
Suddenly North/South America and Africa (possibly including Europe) become the long-axis continents, and Asia is buggered. Albeit, possibly not as buggered, as unlike North/South America, it doesn't narrow down to 10s of miles in the middle.
Well, that's the issue. You've been able to write software for Windows that allows for non-admin since 1999. My Documents, no user files in Program Files, non-admin logins, the whole nine yards.
But, of course, developers are lazy. They don't want to write proper software.
Can Microsoft force it? Of course. They tried it with Vista and UAC; pop up a little 'fuck you' every time a program does something the Windows 95 paradigm. And they got raked over the coals for it.
Presumably, you've paid with a credit card. Call up your CC company and dispute the charges.
I'll point out that Street Fighter 4 is coming out soon.
An American fighter pilot is out flying around Afghanistan. He sees some light flashes on the ground. 'Base, this is fighterguy. I see shots on the ground, request permission to engage.'
'Ah, that's a negative, fighterguy, we show friendlies in the area.'
'Negative base, these are not friendlies. Engaging.'
'Ah, fighterguy, do not repeat NOT engage, there are friendlies in the area.'
'Base, fighterguy, bombs away!'
And four Canadian servicemen were killed The algorithm would have said 'no shoot.' They're dead because he was human.
And there's your answer. Don't rebuild your former employer's software; rebuild your fomer employer's *competitors* software.
Only if you call him Ponter Boddit.
Need Another String Attached
In most cases, the session is transitting Bell's network to an interconnect point, wherein it's handed off to the third party and terminates an on LNS.
Generally, the third party doesn't have fiber going to each CO and interconnecting directly to the DSLAM.
Not quite. Bell has turned on shaping at the DSLAM, meaning that DSL connections are throttled, regardless of who's LNS it's terminating on. Dial in with a Bell PPPoE username, a Teksavvy username, an IGS username, whatever, the same shaping policies get applied.
So, the CRTC answered the complaint they were given. "Hey, we think Bell is unfairly throttling us!" No, Bell does it to themselves, too, so it's a level playing field. The *real* question is 'should Bell be allowed to unilaterally shape traffic that is going to terminate on third party LNS equipment?' The answer to that, of course, is 'hell no. But Bell can, and will, by the Gods charge you for each and every bit that transits our network. Feel free to shape your customers, pass the cost along, or eat it yourselves.'
*sigh* I know, I know. It's tragic. The market for good old video games, RPG books, and the like, is just terrible. Well, the online market, at least.
People fear that which they do not understand; they hate that which they do understand.
--Me
I'd just like to say that I have a copy of MoO2, boxed, still in original shrinkwrap. Offers welcome. :-)
When I played the demo, my first thought was 'Holy shit, it's first-person Assassin's Creed!'
Interesting looking product, but I don't seem to find any pricing or way to buy; just a demo request.
I figured out that Sims 2: Freetime has SecureROM when, after I installed it, on execution, it would pop up a 'I won't run until you uninstall Nero Burning ROM' message.
Actually, I just realized, I meant Klackon. :-)
But having your allies do the fighting for you just kind of proves my point. And I'll point out that it goes two ways; your allies will get awfully pissed of those mutual defense treaties are unilateral.
Actually, games like that are excellent demonstrations on the need for force. Or, at least, the need for the ability to project force.
All the diplomacy, strategic locations, wealth, economy, and so on, aren't going to help when the Meklar (or Mongols) decide they want your planets/cities.
After all, if violence begets violence, pacifism begets slavery.
In that case, don't play the Tom Sawyer cover in RB1; instead grab the various Rush master tracks (including the full Moving Pictures album) off of DLC.