Re:The demo was very good.
on
Prey Review
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· Score: 1
Ahyes, after re-reading it's a bit unclear: It's indeed a little mod, made by a third party.
The demo was very good.
on
Prey Review
·
· Score: 1
I really liked the demo: It gave me a very good impression of the game (both single player, as multiplayer), and immedeately bought the game.
The innovative gravity-shifting is great, and the other extra options make a great base for some fun mods/maps.
Also funny to note is that the main weapon in Valve's Portal, has been recreated in Prey; Still a few bugs, but the basic idea (shooting an entrance-portal, then shooting the exit-portal) seems to be working.
Also, last night I found out that Portal has been based on Narbacular Drop (afaik the Digipen students got either hired, or at least compensated for their initial idea), which you can download from here.
Ok, back on topic: I've bought Prey, and am very happy with it; This has partly to do that I create maps myself, and there are alot of options that these new gamemechanics bring.
The single player (think I am halfway through at the moment) is great, and gives me enough diversion to not bore me: The multiplayer is also quite good, definitely considering I never quite liked DM other than Quake 1; But the wall-walking definitely adds some groovy... sometimes nausiating... new gameplay.
Only lacking thing, as always with single player shooters, is the AI; Which isn't too complicated, and has some flaws where enemies don't quite react the right way, or are stuck in their loop of walking from one spot to the other.
Well, I assume blind people use text-readers as one of their tools; So this pretty much would make any Flash-based site useless.
I also think proper html-tags might help, so they can easily distinguish content from options/framework.
Ugh, giving up my chance to mod this post down, but to hell with it:
Over here in the Netherlands, the ads had been running for some time, and there were no visible complaints anywhere. It's such a shame that the over-political correct people have to censor what -I- get to see... from -their- country. WTF ?
As this post points out, there's an equal one where one black woman is, (less agressively, I will admit that) attacking the white woman on the floor.
Why does that, conveniently, gets pulled from the reports/complaints?
Not that we don't have our own problems over here (currently, people from Marocco/Turkey have been bigger targets of racism, probably partly due to 9/11), but the black/white-issue is -much- more apparent in US society, than it ever has been in the Netherlands: So I find it hard to swallow that Sony will budge after getting complaints from another country.
Even worse about this all is that the definition of 'racism' is getting stretched, and is losing much of its effectiveness. Before I know I will be put on trial for putting a dot with a black marker on a sheet of white paper.
Politically correctness zealot : "Don't you people see he is depicting how the black people are surrounded - opressed by all the white around it ? If this isn't racism, then what is?!"
Ugly or not it'll probably be much more fun than some other major titles.
Erm, actually no: Point me to an open source (FPS-)engine that -isn't- an exact copy of games that have allready been tried and done.
Most of these engines only have deathmatch, with a few gems of them sporting some alternatives gametypes.
It's not that I want to discourage people from downloading it: I think you're right that if you're able to download games like these (and you like them) you always should give them a try because of the few gems out there.
I just don't agree with your use of 'probably' in that sentence, as it's an often repeated meme, but it just isn't true.
Or... how about: Something -completely- different from the ones you mentioned.
The problem with these Open Source games is that they lack quality (as in, visual quality): When having to choose between CS (which can be bought for about 5 bucks nowadays) and this engine replicating the exact same gameplay: Most people wouldn't bother with this.
One of the few ways how such a project can be picked up imo, is if it's different than the rest of what's out there: And for projects like these there are no constraints from any publishers/outsiders: Only their own imagination.
Savage (an RTS/FPS hybrid),while not open source, is a perfect example of this.
If you haven't played Savage allready, be sure to give it some playtime, since they just released it as Freeware:D : For more info/download links go to this site.
I like their effort, but it doesn't come close to, for instance, the Quake III source (released under the GNU license).
Besides being graphically superior, Quake III also has the advantage of alot of tutorials/documents being available (mostly made by the community).
Allthough I have to give credit to Ogre (which this engine seems to be based on), which was one of the few engines which had some nice wiki's/community to help you through.
But hey, as said, I like their effort, and maybe within a few builds it will shape up.
mmm, nice, so someone can upload his movies to all these sites and enjoy the revenue of all of 'em: Someone, quick, write me a script for auto-submitting stuff to all those sites!:D
Would be seriously cool if creative people (no, not the people who cut 1 minute from Family Guy's episodes) could earn themselves a nice buck with their stuff that way (and there is always the opportunity to lead people to your own site, where they would be able to buy the high def version of the movie)
Wasn't Google about to do something like this too?
Either way, good to see that besides free hosting (don't underestimate that), people also are getting a share in revenue: I think this might lead to more creative/fun little movies being made.
Seriously, why is every, -every- idea immedeately shot down because of -some- negative rammifications it might have: Ohyes, don't warn people of nearby pickpocketeers, as it might certainly hint other people to pickpocket in that area!
As soon as I read the article summary, first thought was that this is finally an active (and not too expensive) stance against this sort of vulnerabilities: All the time people here on Slashdot complaint that Joe Average doesn't know shit about protecting his own computer/connection, but when that exact information is delivered... right to their front doors... it's still not good enough for some people.
I can only wait for the tinfoilhat-posts who will condemn this project, because 'they' might also snoop on your browsing!!!!oneeleven!!!
To me, "level design" doesn't mean "designing the visual look of a level." That's an aspect of it, but not the most important part. More importantly is designing the layout of the level--where various paths lead, and where various obstacles occur, and where enemies lurk.
My personal opinion on this (and out of experience as a heavy fps-gamer, and a mapper), there is a nice balance between the two: I agree that in the haydays of Doom, the layout of the level itself was of greater importance than the visual look (every room looked almost the same), but over the years the two aspects (there are more; coming back on that later) have significantly gone towards eachother.
Think of how, for example, in Half-Life there were areas where a player would be 'drawn' too: Think of a particular lighting, or showing a visual button/lab-area:
As more design studies, and experience, is being put into practice, we also see people getting, almost subliminally, hinted at where to go in a level, so you're not stuck for ages: One example (hopefully you played Half-Life 2):
In HL2, when you are using the hovercraft, there is a little puzzle which uses blue barrels' boyancy (spelling?) to lift up a ramp, so you can use the hovercraft to jump over the wall.
When first stumbling upon this place, it's not yet clear what to do, but the visual appearance of the blue barrels (I remember one being displayed on the left side, in a sewer exit), which have not been seen in the game before that, are very cleveryly placed: One of the most important one being the barrel allready underneath the ramp, locked in the cage there: Being a clear example of where the others are supposed to go.
When you consider leveldesign, you take the layout and visuals as being aspects, but seem to forget mentioning sound/music: Which importance also has grown -alot- over the years.
One of the best examples of this imo has been the use of, as I call it, dynamic sounds: As soon as your character sees an enemy/gets attacked by an enemy/any other event, the music dynamically fits the mood, or better said: dictates the mood.
So in my opinion, when only taking layout and applying visuals in the level in consideration: Layout, while very important, should have an equal share in the aspect of leveldesign as creating the extra visuals around it.
Very offtopic: What's with this slashdot banner?
on
Dealing with Phishing
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· Score: 0, Offtopic
I just had an, imo, very 'intrusive' ad here on the frontpage of Slashdot: The reason why I report this is the fact that I am not a subscriber, but also don't use any ad-blockers on Slashdot (nor on other sites), as I think it's a fair deal: I get to read/write for free and they serve me ads which will give them some money in return.
I don't mind the banners, animated or not: But I think this one (have a look at the screengrab ) got a bit too intrusive, or at least very annoying: Once you roll-over the normal banner, it changes in that one shown in the screenshot, taking up almost half of your screen.
Going back to the original banner (by hovering off the big-size banner), I noted that, in smallprint, it warned (?) that, on mouse-over, it would pop-up the bigger one: That, imo, does not justify it though (since the banner is on top, there's a big chance of hitting it by mistake with your mouse pointer).
Again, the reason why I made this post is not that I think (as a non-subscriber) I got any right to 'complaint' about something I receive for free: Just that -because- normally the ads are non-intrusive, I don't bother with blocking them.
I don't necesarily want ads removed from games: But since it's an extra source of revenue for the developers, I -do- want to see this reflected in a lower price for the game... But I guess I won't.
On another note: I hope that when (PC's) first-person shooter ads are really setting off, that server-owners would -also- see a small compensation for their servers acting as a platform to serve those ads: Once again my hopes here are also not likely to become true.
I have to admit I'm also guilty of posting the occasional inflammatory story, but I find it's usually best to suffix the title with a question mark, and let our ever-knowledgeable readers hash out the issue and decide for themselves.
Ohwait, make that : Dvorak Admits To Trolling Mac Users ?
You just hit the nail on the head. If gamers shoot people in the face, why is it that there are hundreds of millions of gamers and only a handful of them have murdered someone...
The stats are very much skewed: Stealth games like Metal Gear Solid are getting very popular, so they clearly still go on random murdering sprees; they just got -alot- better at disposing of the bodies/evidence.:D
Off topic; The [p] -tag now just acts like putting in a linebreak [br] : Weird stuff.
A (clean) Windows XP machine, albeit not 3 seconds, is also very quick when starting up: I am more interested in getting a more meaningful figure of the start-up time, eg. a machine which has at least installed a few apps, of which a few will be running in the background.
Peter Griffin: (to the Stewardess) Hey, where are we right now? Stewardess: On an airplane, sir. Peter: No. This room. What is this room called? Stewardess: The flight deck? Peter: No... Stewardess: Control room? Peter: No... Stewardess: Cockpit? Peter: (guffawing) HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HO, HO!!! AH, HO, HO!!! Oh, god! (to the pilot next to him) I told you I got her to say it! AH, HO, HO!!
Slashdot Mirror
So John Romero wants to make you his friend now?
Ahyes, after re-reading it's a bit unclear: It's indeed a little mod, made by a third party.
I really liked the demo: It gave me a very good impression of the game (both single player, as multiplayer), and immedeately bought the game.
The innovative gravity-shifting is great, and the other extra options make a great base for some fun mods/maps.
Also funny to note is that the main weapon in Valve's Portal, has been recreated in Prey; Still a few bugs, but the basic idea (shooting an entrance-portal, then shooting the exit-portal) seems to be working.
Also, last night I found out that Portal has been based on Narbacular Drop (afaik the Digipen students got either hired, or at least compensated for their initial idea), which you can download from here.
Ok, back on topic: I've bought Prey, and am very happy with it; This has partly to do that I create maps myself, and there are alot of options that these new gamemechanics bring.
The single player (think I am halfway through at the moment) is great, and gives me enough diversion to not bore me: The multiplayer is also quite good, definitely considering I never quite liked DM other than Quake 1; But the wall-walking definitely adds some groovy... sometimes nausiating... new gameplay.
Only lacking thing, as always with single player shooters, is the AI; Which isn't too complicated, and has some flaws where enemies don't quite react the right way, or are stuck in their loop of walking from one spot to the other.
You're pathetic :) Have a good day.
Well, I assume blind people use text-readers as one of their tools; So this pretty much would make any Flash-based site useless.
I also think proper html-tags might help, so they can easily distinguish content from options/framework.
Ugh, giving up my chance to mod this post down, but to hell with it:
Over here in the Netherlands, the ads had been running for some time, and there were no visible complaints anywhere. It's such a shame that the over-political correct people have to censor what -I- get to see... from -their- country. WTF ?
As this post points out, there's an equal one where one black woman is, (less agressively, I will admit that) attacking the white woman on the floor.
Why does that, conveniently, gets pulled from the reports/complaints?
Not that we don't have our own problems over here (currently, people from Marocco/Turkey have been bigger targets of racism, probably partly due to 9/11), but the black/white-issue is -much- more apparent in US society, than it ever has been in the Netherlands: So I find it hard to swallow that Sony will budge after getting complaints from another country.
Even worse about this all is that the definition of 'racism' is getting stretched, and is losing much of its effectiveness. Before I know I will be put on trial for putting a dot with a black marker on a sheet of white paper.
Politically correctness zealot : "Don't you people see he is depicting how the black people are surrounded - opressed by all the white around it ? If this isn't racism, then what is?!"
Ugly or not it'll probably be much more fun than some other major titles.
Erm, actually no: Point me to an open source (FPS-)engine that -isn't- an exact copy of games that have allready been tried and done.
Most of these engines only have deathmatch, with a few gems of them sporting some alternatives gametypes.
It's not that I want to discourage people from downloading it: I think you're right that if you're able to download games like these (and you like them) you always should give them a try because of the few gems out there.
I just don't agree with your use of 'probably' in that sentence, as it's an often repeated meme, but it just isn't true.
Or... how about: Something -completely- different from the ones you mentioned.
:D : For more info/download links go to this site.
The problem with these Open Source games is that they lack quality (as in, visual quality): When having to choose between CS (which can be bought for about 5 bucks nowadays) and this engine replicating the exact same gameplay: Most people wouldn't bother with this.
One of the few ways how such a project can be picked up imo, is if it's different than the rest of what's out there: And for projects like these there are no constraints from any publishers/outsiders: Only their own imagination.
Savage (an RTS/FPS hybrid),while not open source, is a perfect example of this.
If you haven't played Savage allready, be sure to give it some playtime, since they just released it as Freeware
I like their effort, but it doesn't come close to, for instance, the Quake III source (released under the GNU license).
Besides being graphically superior, Quake III also has the advantage of alot of tutorials/documents being available (mostly made by the community).
Allthough I have to give credit to Ogre (which this engine seems to be based on), which was one of the few engines which had some nice wiki's/community to help you through.
But hey, as said, I like their effort, and maybe within a few builds it will shape up.
mmm, nice, so someone can upload his movies to all these sites and enjoy the revenue of all of 'em: Someone, quick, write me a script for auto-submitting stuff to all those sites! :D
Would be seriously cool if creative people (no, not the people who cut 1 minute from Family Guy's episodes) could earn themselves a nice buck with their stuff that way (and there is always the opportunity to lead people to your own site, where they would be able to buy the high def version of the movie)
Wasn't Google about to do something like this too?
Either way, good to see that besides free hosting (don't underestimate that), people also are getting a share in revenue: I think this might lead to more creative/fun little movies being made.
They probably just put up a blog.
Seriously, why is every, -every- idea immedeately shot down because of -some- negative rammifications it might have: Ohyes, don't warn people of nearby pickpocketeers, as it might certainly hint other people to pickpocket in that area!
As soon as I read the article summary, first thought was that this is finally an active (and not too expensive) stance against this sort of vulnerabilities: All the time people here on Slashdot complaint that Joe Average doesn't know shit about protecting his own computer/connection, but when that exact information is delivered... right to their front doors... it's still not good enough for some people.
I can only wait for the tinfoilhat-posts who will condemn this project, because 'they' might also snoop on your browsing!!!!oneeleven!!!
What other cartoon do you really enjoy? And what cartoon (either classic, or still being made) would you like to do voices for? And of course, why?
And keep up the good work.
My personal opinion on this (and out of experience as a heavy fps-gamer, and a mapper), there is a nice balance between the two: I agree that in the haydays of Doom, the layout of the level itself was of greater importance than the visual look (every room looked almost the same), but over the years the two aspects (there are more; coming back on that later) have significantly gone towards eachother.
Think of how, for example, in Half-Life there were areas where a player would be 'drawn' too: Think of a particular lighting, or showing a visual button/lab-area:
As more design studies, and experience, is being put into practice, we also see people getting, almost subliminally, hinted at where to go in a level, so you're not stuck for ages: One example (hopefully you played Half-Life 2):
In HL2, when you are using the hovercraft, there is a little puzzle which uses blue barrels' boyancy (spelling?) to lift up a ramp, so you can use the hovercraft to jump over the wall.
When first stumbling upon this place, it's not yet clear what to do, but the visual appearance of the blue barrels (I remember one being displayed on the left side, in a sewer exit), which have not been seen in the game before that, are very cleveryly placed: One of the most important one being the barrel allready underneath the ramp, locked in the cage there: Being a clear example of where the others are supposed to go.
When you consider leveldesign, you take the layout and visuals as being aspects, but seem to forget mentioning sound/music: Which importance also has grown -alot- over the years.
One of the best examples of this imo has been the use of, as I call it, dynamic sounds: As soon as your character sees an enemy/gets attacked by an enemy/any other event, the music dynamically fits the mood, or better said: dictates the mood.
So in my opinion, when only taking layout and applying visuals in the level in consideration: Layout, while very important, should have an equal share in the aspect of leveldesign as creating the extra visuals around it.
I just had an, imo, very 'intrusive' ad here on the frontpage of Slashdot: The reason why I report this is the fact that I am not a subscriber, but also don't use any ad-blockers on Slashdot (nor on other sites), as I think it's a fair deal: I get to read/write for free and they serve me ads which will give them some money in return.
I don't mind the banners, animated or not: But I think this one (have a look at the screengrab ) got a bit too intrusive, or at least very annoying: Once you roll-over the normal banner, it changes in that one shown in the screenshot, taking up almost half of your screen.
Going back to the original banner (by hovering off the big-size banner), I noted that, in smallprint, it warned (?) that, on mouse-over, it would pop-up the bigger one: That, imo, does not justify it though (since the banner is on top, there's a big chance of hitting it by mistake with your mouse pointer).
Again, the reason why I made this post is not that I think (as a non-subscriber) I got any right to 'complaint' about something I receive for free: Just that -because- normally the ads are non-intrusive, I don't bother with blocking them.
Gamepad Hero!
Ohwait...
So what makes a MMORPG mouse MMORPG?
:D
Marketing.
I don't necesarily want ads removed from games: But since it's an extra source of revenue for the developers, I -do- want to see this reflected in a lower price for the game... But I guess I won't.
On another note: I hope that when (PC's) first-person shooter ads are really setting off, that server-owners would -also- see a small compensation for their servers acting as a platform to serve those ads: Once again my hopes here are also not likely to become true.
The stats are very much skewed: Stealth games like Metal Gear Solid are getting very popular, so they clearly still go on random murdering sprees; they just got -alot- better at disposing of the bodies/evidence. :D
Off topic; The [p] -tag now just acts like putting in a linebreak [br] : Weird stuff.
A (clean) Windows XP machine, albeit not 3 seconds, is also very quick when starting up: I am more interested in getting a more meaningful figure of the start-up time, eg. a machine which has at least installed a few apps, of which a few will be running in the background.
Peter Griffin: (to the Stewardess) Hey, where are we right now?
Stewardess: On an airplane, sir.
Peter: No. This room. What is this room called?
Stewardess: The flight deck?
Peter: No...
Stewardess: Control room?
Peter: No...
Stewardess: Cockpit?
Peter: (guffawing) HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HO, HO!!! AH, HO, HO!!! Oh, god! (to the pilot next to him) I told you I got her to say it! AH, HO, HO!!
Shouldn't that be 'Coke and dogs' ?
But thanks for the geography lesson :P