I had to pull off some erroneous files from the server, we were at 99.06% capacity! I took off Enrons Italia files (28MB) and the ActionShots (6.5MB). I backed them up locally, so if anyone wants them, just ask.
BTW, Lt. Lee has been with the squad since it's inception! As navigator, you have only a very small range of fire from your gun. Art can back me up/explain better, but I think you have a small rear facing gun that can only shoot at 6 o'clock high, so it is your mission to get us where we are going, and only very occasionally have the opportunity to shoot the guns!
Eek!
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
I got my iron for the month!
Ja -El I think you joined the Navy with me. And then the commander in chief El Presidente Hass will add you to the bomber on their second mission. No training, just straight up, here hold this flight control yoke and I hope you like your new job. What a dick. You'd think he was working for the Germans. That and he hates you. That's his job in life.
Elzar: I agree with you on the game play. I like the unfolding of events. It is a story in itself but more fluid. Winning is nice, but not really my ultimate goal. BTW, awesome narrative.
O: Yeah I still have those sweet die rolling streaks, but not as bad as I used to.
D>M>
Ja -El I think you joined the Navy with me. And then the commander in chief El Presidente Hass will add you to the bomber on their second mission. No training, just straight up, here hold this flight control yoke and I hope you like your new job. What a dick. You'd think he was working for the Germans. That and he hates you. That's his job in life.
Elzar: I agree with you on the game play. I like the unfolding of events. It is a story in itself but more fluid. Winning is nice, but not really my ultimate goal. BTW, awesome narrative.
O: Yeah I still have those sweet die rolling streaks, but not as bad as I used to.
D>M>
White Beach Con!
Yay, I'm going to Aninouan, which is a white beach, rural, pretty untouched by population. It's going to be pretty fun I guess. My first trip to the outdoors. If your detecting a little mixed feelings, you're right. But not because I don't like going out, I just don't like nature much. TV, aircon, and the general Human Invented Gizmos, is what I'm all about. None of this hiking shit. So I hope 1) there will be something interesting, like snorkeling, or jetskis. or 2) lots of chicks so i'll get lucky and pass time that way. Whatever the case, i'm in for a treat.
A-on, the software compliments the boardgame. You retain the aspects of 6 people playing together, but the software just fills in some of the functions in the game, such as random events, combat resolution etc... With software you can increase the complexity of the game, and not just determining fate by 1d6 with rolling "1"s or "2"s to hit. etc
Finally, nothing much is new right now... and yeah, I'm tired of spending $$$ for online games. Just playing some old offline games at the moment. It doesn't have as much interaction, but games for me is just a mood balancer. Takes my mind off of shit otherwise I'd be thinking about and maybe I'd do something stupid.
Rude, glad you find my advice helpful. Just to let you know, I got interviews with Oracle, Logitech, Synnex, Creative labs, askjeeves.com and some others less notables, all through online (finding the contact person to talk to). I could have got some of them but I think part of my mood at that time was pretty depressing and it reflected in the interviews. Think positive!
Johnny
EDIT BLAVE: WTF? Did I avoid the draft? Or I was piloting the Messershmidt?
Yay, I'm going to Aninouan, which is a white beach, rural, pretty untouched by population. It's going to be pretty fun I guess. My first trip to the outdoors. If your detecting a little mixed feelings, you're right. But not because I don't like going out, I just don't like nature much. TV, aircon, and the general Human Invented Gizmos, is what I'm all about. None of this hiking shit. So I hope 1) there will be something interesting, like snorkeling, or jetskis. or 2) lots of chicks so i'll get lucky and pass time that way. Whatever the case, i'm in for a treat.
A-on, the software compliments the boardgame. You retain the aspects of 6 people playing together, but the software just fills in some of the functions in the game, such as random events, combat resolution etc... With software you can increase the complexity of the game, and not just determining fate by 1d6 with rolling "1"s or "2"s to hit. etc
Finally, nothing much is new right now... and yeah, I'm tired of spending $$$ for online games. Just playing some old offline games at the moment. It doesn't have as much interaction, but games for me is just a mood balancer. Takes my mind off of shit otherwise I'd be thinking about and maybe I'd do something stupid.
Rude, glad you find my advice helpful. Just to let you know, I got interviews with Oracle, Logitech, Synnex, Creative labs, askjeeves.com and some others less notables, all through online (finding the contact person to talk to). I could have got some of them but I think part of my mood at that time was pretty depressing and it reflected in the interviews. Think positive!
Johnny
EDIT BLAVE: WTF? Did I avoid the draft? Or I was piloting the Messershmidt?
Monday, March 27, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Mechanoramics
They were infact both ME109's and FW190's and some 110's! But in my notes, everything got all jumbly....
As far as mechanics go, it is a dice fest and random events generator for the most part. When decisions are made is when you determine who shoots and where, based on where the fighters are attacking from. And then the real good stuff happens when the fit hits the shan and you need to put out fires, move ammo around, fix systems if you can, drop from formation incase the heating goes out, where to move the wounded, etc. By and large, it's a sit there and watch events unfold sort of game; very thematic, which lends itself to little stories about the game. But I like rolling dice and looking up charts, so it's perfect for me.
One could easily make a computer game out of this, and automate most everything, but I am a traditionalist and enjoy the hands on approach. Infact, I am almost completely off of computer games! Particularly since my new addiction (Street Soccer) has arrived at my house in BG format, I no longer need the java version to get me through the day!
Actually, I have found more and more that I enjoy a game where I can watch event's unfold, and see the story played out infront of me. Regardless if I win or lose, I like to focus on recalling the events of the game, and replaying them in my head. Sure, I get bummed if I am getting smashed to pieces, and I am trying to change that about myself, and of course I am usually trying to win, but I really enjoy watching a game be played just for the sake of watching. You know?
Watching the poor, poor Butcher march behind what he thought was a wall of steel to his utter, and totally one sided demise by the hands of that bastard, Enron, was a terrible sight to behold, but man, I still think about that game in story terms, and replay the battle cinema style in my head all the time!
They were infact both ME109's and FW190's and some 110's! But in my notes, everything got all jumbly....
As far as mechanics go, it is a dice fest and random events generator for the most part. When decisions are made is when you determine who shoots and where, based on where the fighters are attacking from. And then the real good stuff happens when the fit hits the shan and you need to put out fires, move ammo around, fix systems if you can, drop from formation incase the heating goes out, where to move the wounded, etc. By and large, it's a sit there and watch events unfold sort of game; very thematic, which lends itself to little stories about the game. But I like rolling dice and looking up charts, so it's perfect for me.
One could easily make a computer game out of this, and automate most everything, but I am a traditionalist and enjoy the hands on approach. Infact, I am almost completely off of computer games! Particularly since my new addiction (Street Soccer) has arrived at my house in BG format, I no longer need the java version to get me through the day!
Actually, I have found more and more that I enjoy a game where I can watch event's unfold, and see the story played out infront of me. Regardless if I win or lose, I like to focus on recalling the events of the game, and replaying them in my head. Sure, I get bummed if I am getting smashed to pieces, and I am trying to change that about myself, and of course I am usually trying to win, but I really enjoy watching a game be played just for the sake of watching. You know?
Watching the poor, poor Butcher march behind what he thought was a wall of steel to his utter, and totally one sided demise by the hands of that bastard, Enron, was a terrible sight to behold, but man, I still think about that game in story terms, and replay the battle cinema style in my head all the time!
Woot! Home safe and sound.
How appropriate that Aaron "Lucky Dice" Killen would take the first shrapnel hit of the tour? LOL.
Small nitpick.. It's either Focke Wulf (FW) 190 or it's Messerschmidt (ME) 109 (or BF, depending on who the manufacturer was for the plane.)
=)
Can you tell us a little something about the mechanics of the game? Are there many decisions involved, or pretty much all randomly generated events?
How appropriate that Aaron "Lucky Dice" Killen would take the first shrapnel hit of the tour? LOL.
Small nitpick.. It's either Focke Wulf (FW) 190 or it's Messerschmidt (ME) 109 (or BF, depending on who the manufacturer was for the plane.)
=)
Can you tell us a little something about the mechanics of the game? Are there many decisions involved, or pretty much all randomly generated events?
Mission One
During the crew’s breakfast this morning, my co-pilot, Lieutenant Mangual, asked me, “What’s on the agenda today, Captain?”. To be honest, I had no idea. I mean, I knew that an airfield in Cherbourg was our mission, but I had never flown over France before, never flown a bombing mission, hell, I’d never been in combat before. How could I imagine what would await me and my crew over France? Not wanting to let on my own doubts, I replied, “the first of our 25 missions, and then we get to go home.”
I knew how unlikely it was that any of us would return home, but as Captain of the Action Team Annie, it’s my job to lead, keep morale high, fly the plane, and cross my fingers…
Bomber command tries to treat their new planes and crews somewhat gingerly, so we were fortunate to be sent on a mission with plenty of fighter escorts, and we were also kept well to the interior of the formation with a nice buffer of more experienced planes to keep the enemy fighters off of us.
Our first contact with the enemy came over the English Channel. Lieutenant Nikisch, our radio operator, notified me of a small flight of ME109’s made it through the layers of planes protecting us on all sides. However, before any of the crew were able to take a shot, our escorting Hurricanes chased them off.
As we made landfall over France, we made contact with another flight of enemy fighters, this time we were not be so lucky and it would be up to the crew to keep these fighters off of us. 3 ME109’s came at us from our 12 and 3 o’clock. Lieutenant Anderson opened up with the nose gun, Master Sergeant Munro with the top turret, Sergeants Petersen, Killen, Takara, and Walsh with the Ball Turret, port and starboard waist guns, and tail gun. Under the hail of fire, one fighter was hit and was forced to turn off the attack, but another fighter made it through, and unleashed hell on my plane and on my crew.
When it was all over, my starboard wing flap had ceased functioning, and Sgt. Killen had taken a nasty ricochet, tearing open a gash across his forearm. Fortunately, Killen was able to bandage his own wound and continue fighting. Then the flak started as we neared our target.
Though none of the flak hit us with any significant force, I did see the Southern Belle, who had been on our starboard wing the whole mission, go down in a ball of flame. I saw no one bail out before they dropped from formation and out of sight.
At least the skies were clear and Lt. Andersen had an unobstructed view of the target. So clear in fact, that he reports in the range of 92% of the bombs hit the target!
As soon as the bomb bay doors had closed, the formation turned around and headed home with surprisingly little to no resistance from the Germans. Over the English Channel we had a brief run in with a lone ME109 who had snuck through the defenses, the crew missed with all their shots, and fortunately, the 109 missed and peeled off as well.
The skies were clear over England and enabled us to make a safe landing. I called over the radio, “Congratulations on a successful first mission, gentlemen. One down, and before we know it, we’ll be going home.”
We were all a bit rattled from the day’s events and needed something to take the edge off. Walsh had been keeping a bottle of Champagne in his footlocker since we arrived in England, and the crew felt a little celebration in order. We toasted to the maiden flight of Action Team Annie, and promised ourselves we would throw ourselves a proper bash when we finished our 25th.
I really hope we are all around for that party.
During the crew’s breakfast this morning, my co-pilot, Lieutenant Mangual, asked me, “What’s on the agenda today, Captain?”. To be honest, I had no idea. I mean, I knew that an airfield in Cherbourg was our mission, but I had never flown over France before, never flown a bombing mission, hell, I’d never been in combat before. How could I imagine what would await me and my crew over France? Not wanting to let on my own doubts, I replied, “the first of our 25 missions, and then we get to go home.”
I knew how unlikely it was that any of us would return home, but as Captain of the Action Team Annie, it’s my job to lead, keep morale high, fly the plane, and cross my fingers…
Bomber command tries to treat their new planes and crews somewhat gingerly, so we were fortunate to be sent on a mission with plenty of fighter escorts, and we were also kept well to the interior of the formation with a nice buffer of more experienced planes to keep the enemy fighters off of us.
Our first contact with the enemy came over the English Channel. Lieutenant Nikisch, our radio operator, notified me of a small flight of ME109’s made it through the layers of planes protecting us on all sides. However, before any of the crew were able to take a shot, our escorting Hurricanes chased them off.
As we made landfall over France, we made contact with another flight of enemy fighters, this time we were not be so lucky and it would be up to the crew to keep these fighters off of us. 3 ME109’s came at us from our 12 and 3 o’clock. Lieutenant Anderson opened up with the nose gun, Master Sergeant Munro with the top turret, Sergeants Petersen, Killen, Takara, and Walsh with the Ball Turret, port and starboard waist guns, and tail gun. Under the hail of fire, one fighter was hit and was forced to turn off the attack, but another fighter made it through, and unleashed hell on my plane and on my crew.
When it was all over, my starboard wing flap had ceased functioning, and Sgt. Killen had taken a nasty ricochet, tearing open a gash across his forearm. Fortunately, Killen was able to bandage his own wound and continue fighting. Then the flak started as we neared our target.
Though none of the flak hit us with any significant force, I did see the Southern Belle, who had been on our starboard wing the whole mission, go down in a ball of flame. I saw no one bail out before they dropped from formation and out of sight.
At least the skies were clear and Lt. Andersen had an unobstructed view of the target. So clear in fact, that he reports in the range of 92% of the bombs hit the target!
As soon as the bomb bay doors had closed, the formation turned around and headed home with surprisingly little to no resistance from the Germans. Over the English Channel we had a brief run in with a lone ME109 who had snuck through the defenses, the crew missed with all their shots, and fortunately, the 109 missed and peeled off as well.
The skies were clear over England and enabled us to make a safe landing. I called over the radio, “Congratulations on a successful first mission, gentlemen. One down, and before we know it, we’ll be going home.”
We were all a bit rattled from the day’s events and needed something to take the edge off. Walsh had been keeping a bottle of Champagne in his footlocker since we arrived in England, and the crew felt a little celebration in order. We toasted to the maiden flight of Action Team Annie, and promised ourselves we would throw ourselves a proper bash when we finished our 25th.
I really hope we are all around for that party.
Gamers Grind
Isn't that basically what the computerized versions of Axis & Allies and Civ were. Certainly Civ was hugely successful, albiet quite an adaptation. Axis & Allies I never played, but it sounds good in theory. Blood bowl is another example. The BB online java was pretty slick, although a bit tempermental. They were very close to the rules. Or ASL, Ricochet Robot, or Ticket to Ride are other similar examples. The problem with games like that is they still serve a niche market. Most people do not want a boardgame simulation. Besides, you still need to know the rules to be good. Otherwise, you are kind of grasping since you would not know how the engine works.
Getting rid of the vast amounts of die rolling and calcs to concentrate on the atrategy of the game certainly has been tested and used to varying degrees of sucess. I still really like the die rolling aspect and the modifiers/calculations of most games. I also prefer the tactile/visual nature of most games that tend to be lacking in their video convertions. Magic online is a good example. It just didnt have the feel of the cards. I think computerized versions serve their purpose for gamers to fulfill their desire to play those games in the absence of opponents or against AI for practice. Besides a subsection of gamers is a small market. A subsection of a small subsection of the market.
D>M>
Isn't that basically what the computerized versions of Axis & Allies and Civ were. Certainly Civ was hugely successful, albiet quite an adaptation. Axis & Allies I never played, but it sounds good in theory. Blood bowl is another example. The BB online java was pretty slick, although a bit tempermental. They were very close to the rules. Or ASL, Ricochet Robot, or Ticket to Ride are other similar examples. The problem with games like that is they still serve a niche market. Most people do not want a boardgame simulation. Besides, you still need to know the rules to be good. Otherwise, you are kind of grasping since you would not know how the engine works.
Getting rid of the vast amounts of die rolling and calcs to concentrate on the atrategy of the game certainly has been tested and used to varying degrees of sucess. I still really like the die rolling aspect and the modifiers/calculations of most games. I also prefer the tactile/visual nature of most games that tend to be lacking in their video convertions. Magic online is a good example. It just didnt have the feel of the cards. I think computerized versions serve their purpose for gamers to fulfill their desire to play those games in the absence of opponents or against AI for practice. Besides a subsection of gamers is a small market. A subsection of a small subsection of the market.
D>M>
Board game / computer software hybrid
Something similar to this nature was tried prior and failed. Anyone remember TV football or WWF wrestling etc. I think the only VCR tape/ board game hybrid that were successful is the trivia type ie film & movies.
But I was thinking if you can create a random event generator software and then use that in conjunction with a board game or a card game setup. With computer software you can have endless possibility & events generated. It would only take a laptop. You can also have patches and make it collectible along with the cards/pieces.
By doing that you get rid of the endless manual calculations which we all love about computer versions of games, but still have the board game style. Even combat resolution can be randomly played out by the computer so that the players can focus more on the strategic portion of the game.
The possibility is virtually endless. You can do combat resolution as well, but I think most gamers like the die rolling aspect of board games.
Thoughts? comments? Flames? Feel free to add anything to this brainstorm.
Something similar to this nature was tried prior and failed. Anyone remember TV football or WWF wrestling etc. I think the only VCR tape/ board game hybrid that were successful is the trivia type ie film & movies.
But I was thinking if you can create a random event generator software and then use that in conjunction with a board game or a card game setup. With computer software you can have endless possibility & events generated. It would only take a laptop. You can also have patches and make it collectible along with the cards/pieces.
By doing that you get rid of the endless manual calculations which we all love about computer versions of games, but still have the board game style. Even combat resolution can be randomly played out by the computer so that the players can focus more on the strategic portion of the game.
The possibility is virtually endless. You can do combat resolution as well, but I think most gamers like the die rolling aspect of board games.
Thoughts? comments? Flames? Feel free to add anything to this brainstorm.
Myke Dennis failure.
And so, even with my retarded over-large posting trawling for responses from some team mebers, only Rude dog responded. This leads me to conclude what I already pretty much knew: It will be jon, me and a BART ride to the ecstacy of gaming. Boo... Oh well, you can all live vicariously through us.
Video gamin': You know, I think I do less video gaming right now than I have done since before nintendor NES was out in circulation. I just dont seem to have the time for it. If I game I sacrifce other things. I have mixed feeling about this. I miss the sweet sweet escapism and overstimulating action. I guess part of it seems to revolve around the state of games right now. Nothing really seems to get my rocks off. Most games like WoW and other MMORPG just turn me off. When Diablo I & II reigned supreme I liked the online portion, but, not for the random gamer factor. I liked the ability to make a closed server. I tend to be seriously anti-social online in games except with people I know in the real world. When I played Diablo, I played only with other Action Team dorks instead of the general public. Something about the anonymous nature of online games seems to bring out all the worst irk-some parts of peoples' personalities.
Plus, everytime I go to EB world, I am reminded how much the PC is slowly becoming the reheaded step child for the game development industry. The number of console games is so much larger than the PC. I like PC games more I guess. The console seems canned or limited for a lot of games. Besides consule game controllers flare up my wrist RSI. Stupid GT3 and GTA3
Plus, if I tore your legs off, you would look like snowmen.
D>M>
And so, even with my retarded over-large posting trawling for responses from some team mebers, only Rude dog responded. This leads me to conclude what I already pretty much knew: It will be jon, me and a BART ride to the ecstacy of gaming. Boo... Oh well, you can all live vicariously through us.
Video gamin': You know, I think I do less video gaming right now than I have done since before nintendor NES was out in circulation. I just dont seem to have the time for it. If I game I sacrifce other things. I have mixed feeling about this. I miss the sweet sweet escapism and overstimulating action. I guess part of it seems to revolve around the state of games right now. Nothing really seems to get my rocks off. Most games like WoW and other MMORPG just turn me off. When Diablo I & II reigned supreme I liked the online portion, but, not for the random gamer factor. I liked the ability to make a closed server. I tend to be seriously anti-social online in games except with people I know in the real world. When I played Diablo, I played only with other Action Team dorks instead of the general public. Something about the anonymous nature of online games seems to bring out all the worst irk-some parts of peoples' personalities.
Plus, everytime I go to EB world, I am reminded how much the PC is slowly becoming the reheaded step child for the game development industry. The number of console games is so much larger than the PC. I like PC games more I guess. The console seems canned or limited for a lot of games. Besides consule game controllers flare up my wrist RSI. Stupid GT3 and GTA3
Plus, if I tore your legs off, you would look like snowmen.
D>M>
I'm cautiously pessimistic about Oblivion. The last one in the series, Morrowind, the previous Best Thing Ever, was an ugly and buggy piece of shit; it was also boring. The one before that, Daggerfall, was also an ugly and buggy piece of shit.
Besides the random bugginess/shittiness, the real problem with those games, from my point of view, is that they were essentially plot-free sandbox games. I find those kind of games boring... there's so much to do, that there's nothing to do. Basically Morrowind had the plot and NPC depth of an MMORPG, without the other players to interact with.
That said, the screen shots are nice, and it sounds like they've tightened things up in this iteration. Maybe the third time's a charm.
Besides the random bugginess/shittiness, the real problem with those games, from my point of view, is that they were essentially plot-free sandbox games. I find those kind of games boring... there's so much to do, that there's nothing to do. Basically Morrowind had the plot and NPC depth of an MMORPG, without the other players to interact with.
That said, the screen shots are nice, and it sounds like they've tightened things up in this iteration. Maybe the third time's a charm.
yeah dude, i've been hearing some pretty good shit about it. i never played the one before it, Morrowind, but i'm hearing mixed things on which one is better (eh, nu-fanboys vs old-fanboys maybe.) yeah, in the process of acquiring it right now... slowly... 12k at a time /slashwrist. (hey, if i can save $50 bucks, more power to me, lawls.)
Oblivion
Have you guys SEEEEN this? Holy shit! Everyone I talk to is telling me to stay away from it, because it will eat up every last minute of my day and I will never sleep, eat or be with my family again. I've been looking up some info on the net about gameplay and it sounds like this is the best thing in non-linear gameplay EVAR. Even the NPCs use AI routines to decide where to go in their environment to eat, sleep.. what to say.. if they want to buy something, steal, fight.. whatever. WOW.
I'm thinking about picking it up, but I'm afraid I'll neglect everything that is really important in my life. LOL.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm
Have you guys SEEEEN this? Holy shit! Everyone I talk to is telling me to stay away from it, because it will eat up every last minute of my day and I will never sleep, eat or be with my family again. I've been looking up some info on the net about gameplay and it sounds like this is the best thing in non-linear gameplay EVAR. Even the NPCs use AI routines to decide where to go in their environment to eat, sleep.. what to say.. if they want to buy something, steal, fight.. whatever. WOW.
I'm thinking about picking it up, but I'm afraid I'll neglect everything that is really important in my life. LOL.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_overview.htm
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