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Boundless Discover: The Majesty of Adventure in Games
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Games as a medium are about letting you enter a new world, step into the shoes of someone else, and see majestic things. They are different from other kinds of media like film or literature because you have to interact with them. A movie will keep playing, a book will keep going, no matter how you wish to proceed through it, but a game requires you to interact with it, and this interaction can change the course of the story.
More and more games are being built around open worlds and non-linear experiences. They let us as players take this sense of adventure that is so inherent to games and amplify it, and there is no better example than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Paid Mods and Giving Creators Their Due
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Bethesda just cannot catch a break. This year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), along with announcing yet another version of Skyrim, they stated that they would be implementing a system whereby they would be able to begin charging for select modifications for their games.
This has made a lot of people very angry, and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Almost immediately, the collective game community had a conniption, with resurfacing memories of the Valve paid mod debacle of 2015. Part of this is probably due to broad opinions about and distrust of Bethesda, but another part of it is due to a general unwillingness to pay for things within the games community. Especially things that were once available for free.
E3: Where Do Games Go From Here
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There is a certain attitude within the broader game community where we see ourselves as the scrappy underdog, an industry supported by impassioned and oft-misunderstood fans that is constantly maligned by the mainstream media in favor of more traditional entertainment industries. Where the only thing that keeps game companies afloat is die hard fans, and the worth of a game is measured by the community engagement online.
We've had this attitude for years, because for a long time, it was kind of deserved. Games were a hobby for silly kids and "nerds" socially undesirable and turning towards a digital medium for comfort.
But we've left that attitude behind a long time ago. Video games are about as mainstream as it can get, and playing games is no stranger of a hobby than watching sitcoms, cooking, or hiking.
Ludonarrative Dissonance
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Games are a rather interesting medium to critique because of the crucial role that interactivity plays in how a story is interpreted. With a film or book, we are stuck in a single viewpoint and experience the story as if we were locked onto a roller coaster: tightly restricted and controlled. But in games, the player adds a crucial X-factor of randomness into the story that the creator has to try to control for.
To see all of the story, the player has to advance forward, completing a certain set of tasks, but sometimes the very function of the gameplay is at odds with the themes of the story being told. It is a familiar feeling within media, but games stand alone in that the layer is forced into "choosing" to do the tasks even if they don't want to.
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When we discuss games, especially those within the horror genre, this idea of "atmosphere" comes up again and again. I reference it rather frequently in my own writing, but one thing that we commonly neglect to do is actually say what we mean when we use it.
As it is right now, it exists as one of those, oft-used game review buzzwords, sitting alongside other repeat offenders: "visceral", "moody", "tight", and countless others. We use it because it is easy, a simple way to get across a complex idea about the situations a game puts a player in, and the wide array of emotions that it evokes within you, and it would greatly benefit us all if we took the time to examine this sense to see what we really mean when we talk about atmosphere in a game.
Roguelikes and Story
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I've written about roguelikes before, but one thing about these games has always been limiting, at least in my opinion. The implementation of a story (or lack thereof) constrains these titles, prevents them from being something other than a casual endeavor to pick up and play when the mood strikes, and then drop after a particularly frustrating death. As a genre, it hinges on gameplay and mechanics so much because mastery and its pursuit is what keeps players coming back.
The idea of "grokking", of not only understanding the mechanics of the game, but absorbing them enough that it enables you to look at the game differently, is the bread and butter of the Roguelike/lite genre. Sure you want to reach the end of the dungeon and fight the last boss, but even after that, you will endlessly chase the perfect run, the platonic ideal of what a playthrough could be, where everything comes together just right, with all of the correct pickups and weapons to make playing a breeze.
Bethesda's Review Policy
Much has already been said about Bethesda's decision last year to stop sending out early review copies of their games to let "everyone, including those in the media, experience our games at the same time." It is bad for many people, like those behind large websites, but most importantly it affects the consumers and how much information they have when they go to the store to pick out a product. It does actually benefit one other group besides Bethesda: small sites like ours that would never receive these copies in the first place. I'm not a fan of this policy by any means, but it allows me to sit on the same playing field as a writer for IGN, Polygon, Kotaku, or others.
When Dishonored 2 came out, I got it the same day that everyone else did. I was able to play through it twice that weekend, and four days later I published my review. I managed to beat a lot of major publications to press (due in part to my ability to focus on one review instead of many things at once), and while being able to do this did benefit our site, letting us see a tangible traffic boost from it, it had no way for me to help those people that wanted to buy the game on launch day.
We don't get many pre-release copies of games at this point. Most of our reviews come one to two weeks after a game has launched, and are aimed at the smaller group of players who are waiting to buy a game. But a large portion of a game's sales happen launch or in the week following, and we cannot help these people. Traditionally, this is where larger outlets have been able to come in with Day One or pre-release reviews based off of early copies provided by the publisher. This lets Day One purchasers make informed decisions about how to spend their money and if the new game is worth it. Read More…
Living Life Down the Barrel of a Gun
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For all of the broad range of experiences that games can offer to us, the actual ways in which we are allowed to interact with them is rather limited. Most game screens look remarkably similar from a UI point of view. There is some sort of health bar, possibly a map or objective indicator in one corner, maybe a crosshair in the center of the screen, but invariably, the bottom right corner of the screen is almost always taken up by a gun. There are a few games that don't follow this, but in the mainstream, first-person games that don't shove a gun into your hands are the vast minority. And if your hands are filled with a gun, they have a knife, or a sword, or a bow, your weapon is offscreen, waiting to be pulled up with a single button press, aching to strike out at someone.
Twitch, Youtube, and "New Media"
The online landscape has shifted drastically over the course of the last five years. Websites and blogs used to be king, with dedicated reader bases coming back day after day to read the newest posts. There was a golden period of growth where anyone could make a website, and if they were dedicated, it would probably do pretty well. Coverage of games was done extensively through written articles, blog posts, and reviews, and there was a stable, if slightly adversarial, relationship between these companies and the companies that made games. Sites would get early review copies of games, access to developers for interviews, or in-depth press kits to help prepare coverage. In return, websites agreed to not post coverage of these titles until an agreed upon date. An equilibrium was reached.
Then YouTube came along and changed things. By virtue of its audience, content creators on YouTube relied on heavily edited videos, showing only the most exciting moments of whatever they were talking about. The massive Let's Play community grouped around different games, and audiences had truly immense amounts of content at their fingertips. Search the name of the game, and they can find dozens of highly edited, exciting videos making it look to be fun, or small communities of super fans religiously playing and dissecting the game for years afterwards. You can see it with Counter Strike, or League of Legends, or DOTA, or Overwatch.
Companies noticed, and they took advantage of it. Many of these videos bordered on advertisements already in how they catered to audiences to draw them and in keep them interested. YouTube content creators live and die by audience retention, so they want to show viewers that they can come back day after day to consistently exciting and engaging content. Companies started reaching out to these channels, sending them free promotional materials or copies of the game, and any mention of this becomes positive advertising for the company. If someone receives a special Skyrim hat from Bethesda and shows it off on their YouTube channel because they feel special, it alters the appearance of Bethesda in the mind of consumers, changing them from a faceless corporate entity into an attentive and caring company that looks after its fans. They don't have to ask for positive press from the creators, because any mention of them is good.
Compare this to the way in which video game websites handle the same situation. People don't want to read an article about a special Skyrim hat that the author got from Bethesda, because it reads like an advertisement. Swag, or promotional materials, have been a part of the games industry, and indeed many others, for a long time. But unless the readers can get the exact same item, they don't care. They view the pieces published by the website to be the statements of that website, regardless of who wrote them. There is less of a connection between the reader and the writer in most cases, and with this personal connection lost, appeals to the consumers work differently. Websites (outside of fan websites) don't care about swag, because the audience doesn't care about swag.
As YouTube has gotten larger, smaller content creators have slowly been getting crowded out. The platform enormously favors those with the time and the budget to produce consistent, daily, high quality, ten-minute plus videos, and the number of channels that can do this is low, in the grand scheme of things. Combine this with the too stringent DMCA policies that make it much too easy for a video to be taken down or removed from monetization, and many creators have been forced to diversify.
Twitch was there to pick up the pieces. Communities are only reinforced on Twitch, which shows categorizes livestreams by what games are being played while highlighting high profile streamers. However, on Twitch, channels did not have the benefit of editing to support their content, and personality reigned supreme. Tight knit communities form around streamers as they interact with their audience every single day to the point where a relationship is built. And companies have taken advantage of this. If a streamer is allowed to stream a game early, they are given a sense of exclusivity, and an implicit recommendation of the game from them to their fans. Anything that the company does for the streamer, from joining them on stream to sending them packages of promotional material, brings that company into the community.
There is nothing wrong with marketing or advertisement. It is how content creators can survive, and it is an integral part of the development and release of a game. It is a very necessary force. Print and online media have a whole host of ethical questions relating to companies that are being covered, ostensibly impartially, while these outlets are simultaneously running advertisements for these games. It's a conflict of interest, and one that needs to be tackled and disclosed.
The issue with marketing comes when it stops appearing as marketing, when companies are manipulating fans and creators into giving them good press without revealing it, when content creators are being paid to create promotional videos without disclosing these facts, when the influence cannot be seen.
So where does that leave sites like ours, sites that don't exactly fit into any of these molds? How do they survive? Do they attempt to extend their reach, diversify into different areas, start advertising the products that they are covering, or do they hunker down in their niche, trying to carve out a spot? The second is, without a doubt, more difficult. Staying truly independent is a challenge that all websites will face, and whether or not to stay that way is a question that every site will have to answer at some point during its lifespan. It is a question that we struggle with every day, and it is one that we eventually hope to answer.
Tom has been writing about media since he was a senior in high school. He likes long walks on the beach, dark liquor, and when characters reload guns in action movies.
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Sequels and Reviews
Earlier this week, we publish an article about sequels and how they are viewed in relation to their preceding works, and we wanted to take the time to clarify our position on how we address this concern when writing a review for a sequel. While we do our best to look at each work on its own merits, we cannot discount significant advances or steps back compared to other works within the same franchise. Read More…
Updates and Reviews
When we are reviewing a game, we have a unique issue that we don't encounter with any other type of media. When a game launches, rarely will it stay in the exact same state over the coming days, weeks, months, or even years that it will be in the public. It will be updated and changed over time. Sometimes these updates are small: balance tweaks to multiplayer, text fixes, or subtle adjustments that no one will ever really see. But on the other hand, some alter graphics, story, gameplay, or more. At the root is this idea: patches are fixing something wrong with the game, no matter how big it may be. So how do we deal with this as reviewers. Read More…
Humor in Games
Humor is really hard to nail in games. Its either hit or miss, and when it misses, it can be bad. There are a few games that manage to absolutely nail it (Day of the Tentacle, I'm looking at you) but so many more just absolutely flop, and in doing so, manage to pull you out of the experience entirely.
In the last month I've played two big games that have been really bad about it. Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Mass Effect: Andromeda, which both tried to work semi-edgy humor in alongside their more serious stories to varying levels of success. Every time I heard one of these bad jokes, it pulled me out, actively reminding me that I was playing games, poorly written ones at that. Read More…
The Uncanny Valley
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Mass Effect: Andromeda has been catching a lot of flak for its facial animations in the past few days, and by all rights it should be. They are off in a fundamental way that just makes them creepy. For the most part they are ok, but for a few characters (like lead Sarah Ryder) the animation quality is simply terrible. Any conversations about animations eventually drift into discussions about the uncanny valley. But what exactly is the uncanny valley and how does it affect animation, both in video games and otherwise?
The Captivating Simplicity of Idle Games
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Games are built around feedback loops, obscured behind complex systems and mechanics, designed to draw us in and keep us there. We want to play the games so we can level up, become stronger, defeat new enemies, and get more and better loot. We play to get better and more efficient at playing, and in the last few years a new genre of games has stripped away this veneer and laid the inner workings bare for us to explore.
Do the Right Thing
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Moral choices have long been a part of gaming. They offer the chance for a player to leave their mark on a game, affecting the outcome and changing the course of a game. These binary, good vs. evil choices are so often structured in the same way. Evil choices are flashy and violent, giving you a small amount of short term gain in return for a karmic hit. Good choices then should be the opposite, giving up personal gain in exchange for doing the right thing. But this isn't how they manifest. You are almost always rewarded for doing the "good" thing, and frequently the long term gains outweigh the gains from evil. The only real difference ends up being different achievements, or possibly some different dialogue at the end of the game.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands - First Impressions
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The beta has ended and in one short week Ghost Recon: Wildlands will be in everyone's hands. So we sat down this weekend and tore through all of the content that the beta had to offer, both solo, and together in co-op. There was a huge amountof content to be found, and more than a few baffling decisions made. I don't know if it feels like a Ghost Recon game, but it was damn fun. You can clearly see the influence that other open world games have had on its design. It's an amalgamation of different ideas and tones that come together surprisingly well.
Loot Boxes
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It's notable now when a game doesn't try to incorporate some form of micro transactions into their multiplayer modes to extend their revenue streams out for as long as possible. This speaks to an attitude where companies are competing to be the single game that players buy, keeping them in their ecosystem from as long as possible, and they've taken many lessons from the massively popular free-to-play mobile games that dominate the handheld marketplace. But there is a juggernaut that many people ignore. Valve's moves towards long-term monetization of their stable of multiplayer games has changed the video game industry tremendously, adding a virtual slot machine mechanic to most large multiplayer games that come out. While the gaming community has poked fun at the "hat simulators" for years, we have seemingly ignored the way the crate and key mechanics of Valve games has created this landscape.
Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey continues to baffle me. I don't always fully understand the decisions that Nintendo makes, but somehow they generally work out for them. So when they released a trailer for the new Mario game for the next real generation of Nintendo consoles, I was actually excited in a way that I don't usually get about Nintendo products. This is how we got Mario 64 and Galaxy, and the entirely-less-cool Sunshine. New Nintendo consoles ideally drive innovation in gameplay and graphics, so the first real new 3D Mario in years enticed me. Read More…
Gun Porn - Our Fascination with the Firearm
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We love guns. Big and small. As long as it goes bang, we want to be able to sit and watch. Guns are ingrained in the American culture and they fill our media to the brim. It is hard to play a game or go to the movie theater without seeing a few of them. It has gotten to the point where the depiction of guns in movie and games crosses the boundary into the real world. You can see it in gunstores across the country, where teenagers stare at racks of rifles and pistols, lusting after the high-tech weaponry like a dog with a bone.
Scalebound and Platinum
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As many of you already know, a few weeks ago, Microsoft cancelled Scalebound, a title that at first had me united until its disastrous E3 showing this last year that made the game look like the worst kind of generic action, calling back unfortunate memories of Lost Planet as I watched. I had a moment after the announcement of the cancellation where I realized something. The Platinum Games name doesn't really mean much to me anymore. And of course I'll offer this disclaimer that we haven't yet seen Nier: Automata and I truly hope that it blows me out of the water and makes this whole post worthless.
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It is dark outside and a pair of headphones wrap around my head. I can't hear my family, but I can see them standing next to me. On screen, I watch as my gloved fingers sink into the top of a demon's skull and split it in half like an apple. My brother laughs, my mother gasps. I had gotten him DOOM for Christmas, and he insisted that I try it out on his new TV. My dad used to play the original with us when we were kids until our mom made him stop after one of us got too enthusiastic about the usage of a chainsaw.
Politics of Play - Games with an Agenda
Video games can be a powerful tool. They are unique in media in that they allow you to directly interact with the text in a way quite unlike anything else. And as time goes on, we are seeing games being leveraged in entirely different ways than we might have imagined when we first got our hands on the text adventures of the 1980's. Instead of trying to make a game "fun", creators are making games with messages. By allowing players to interact with the work in a meaningful way, the message carries so much more impact. Read More…
Dark Souls Without Difficulty
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I love the Souls series. Over the years I've put a lot of hours into them and died a countless number of times, mostly by rolling off of cliffs. There is a lot to be praised about the game and the design, but somehow the conversation always centers on how difficult it is and how much you'll die. It speaks to a certain attitude within the gaming community that praises "hardcore" games and decries "casual gamers." Difficulty is king to many people and for that reason, the Souls series is frequently praised. If you can't handle it, you just need to "get good" and deal with it. But what if you had to convince someone to play Dark Souls without ever mentioning its difficulty? How would that change our conversation about the game?
Dying to Win - Death as a Gameplay Mechanic
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If you've been playing games for any period of time, you've likely died a lot. You've thrown yourself against the video game meat grinder and come out the other side. There are games almost built around the idea of death as a crucial part of the game and players treat their completion like a badge of honor. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, Rogue Legacy, and so many more take death and turn it from an inconvenience into a mechanic. But on the other side you have games like Super Meat Boy or Bioshock, which do their best to make death as little of an inconvenience as possible, and making it a fun part of the game.
Going Back To Call of Duty
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It has been interesting to see where Call of Duty has ended up. I came to the franchise back in 2005 with Call of Duty 2: The Big Red One and got hooked when I first picked up the original Modern Warfare. Call of Duty 4 changed the face of the modern shooter, and when it was announced that it was being re-released with this years integration of the franchise, it felt like it was time to go back and see where modern Call of Duty games began, and where they began to go off the rails. I have not been drawn into the last few titles and a part of me missed the simplicity of the older titles. While they kept the fast-paced, frenetic action, they shortened the feedback loop and added in so many different systems that started to overwhelm me. There was always something going on: a different medal, award, or unlock. It got to the point where there was always something flashing across my screen, and it started to lose its attraction.
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For years, we have heard that the future of gaming is not with big AAA console releases. Since the widespread adoption of the smartphone as the de facto standard, the message has been that the mobile platform is the future. Small, cheap/free games that subsidize themselves through ads and in-app purchases. I scoffed at this idea initially, like many of you reading. How could Clash of Clans replace Call of Duty? But in this new console generation, you can watch as games trend towards these ideas. This does not match the vision of a future in which consoles no longer exists, and you life revolves around your phone, but it also doesn't match what we imagined when we were kids playing Nintendo games. It has raised interesting questions about what makes a game, what a game includes, and what place micro transactions have in our hobby.
Who is the Next Enemy?
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lt is no secret that video games have you kill a lot of people. If you have played them with any sense of regularity, chances are that by now you have gunned down tens of thousands of monsters, terrorists, and soldiers across the ages. Every few years, games go through distinct phases where enemies all seem to be the same type. We've had the World War 2 era, where Nazis were the cannon fodder of choice. Before that we had monsters and mutated freaks. Russian and Chinese soldiers were the flavor of the month for a while, and the zombie craze is still ongoing. Generic terrorists are always a good fallback, and it's no surprise when a popular game relies on one of these clichés for their antagonists. But as our world becomes more complex and our threats become more fluid it has raised interesting questions for players and developers, and it asks us: Who is the next target?
How Much Do You Need To Play?
I've been playing games for a very long time. I've been reviewing them for years. And over this time, I've noticed a trend towards longer and longer games. As a player, this is a really exciting trend. I love the push towards a more intense, story-focused experience for a player. But at the same time, it is beginning to get a little out of hand. I've written about this before in regards to every games desire to have an expansive open world. It seems like every game wants to be an epic, 40 plus hour-long experience, following the chosen character as they save the world/galaxy/universe.
This raises an interesting question for reviewers. How much do we need to play? Read More…
A Case Against Open World Games
It's not often that I argue against adding features. It's counter intuitive. It goes against everything I normally stand for, and everything everyone else normally stands for. We want more. We want our dollars and cents to be giving us a tangible experience, as massive as possible. We want the cost benefit analysis to be as positive for us as possible. To be able to milk every single last hour and minute out of a game. Read More…
Movies and Games
Like many of my peer in the critical space, my interests follow a certain path of pop culture and pop media. I love everything from books, to music, to movies, to games, and more. And fortunately for myself, I was born at what is perhaps the most perfect time in the world to enjoy these mediums, as a huge growth of creativity is taking place, a veritable Cambrian explosion of creativity and tech for me to play with. Unfortunately, the one are in which this innovation is lacking is with movie tie-in games, a genre oft overlooked by fans, and for very good reason. Read More…
Left 4 Dead - A Love Story
By now, every so-called "Hardcore Gamer" knows where the modern video game came from. Everything we know was spawned from the cultural phenomenon known as Dungeons and Dragons. It introduced us to the concept of the modern role-playing game. It gave us the idea of a persistent character and dungeon crawling epics. From there, the video game scene exploded. CRPGs flourished until the advent of the video arcades, which popularized the quarter crunching games of the eighties and nineties. Read More…
Skyrim and Individual Experiences
I want to talk about Skyrim. Well, I guess not just Skyrim, but I recently dove back into the game and it really started to make me think. When I first played the game back in 2011, I had an experience similar to many others who picked up the game. I ran through the giant world, stealing everything I could lay my hands on, murdering everything in sight, and grabbing every piece of loot I could find before finally putting it down, 200 some odd hours later without ever having completed the title. Read More…
On The Act of Killing
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Death is one of the most significant events in our lives. It's one of our only assurances. It is going to happen at some point. Whether you like it or not. Death will visit us, touching someone, somewhere, somehow. It's an event that forever changes those who it touches. It has an impact that cannot be understated.
Let's Talk About Fallout 4
Let's talk about Fallout 4. I'm a pretty big fan of the franchise, and while it might be sacrilege to some to mention, my favorite game of all time is Fallout 3. It really made me love games like none other, and it got me into this whole criticism thing. It's the first game I ever marathoned, playing it for seven hours straight the first day I had it, as a weird thirteen-year-old sitting in my basement in front of my TV.
So when I heard that a sequel was coming out, I was a little bit excited, to say the least. From the announcement to the release I could barely contain myself, and when the day came I kicked my friends off of my TV so I could play my preloaded copy. And as I first dove into the game it was amazing. It controlled so much better, and I didn't have to rely on the crutch of V.A.T.S to make my way through encounters anymore.
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Kentucky Route Zero
It's hard to talk about video games without using references to games that have come before them. That's why we have we call games "Roguelikes" or "Metroidvanias". Because when we encounter a new experience, we look for ways we can relate it to something we are all familiar. Maybe it is an old game like Rogue, or a massively popular series like Metroid or Castlevania. But what do we do when we encounter a truly new experience? That is the question I found myself asking when I first picked up Kentucky Route Zero. While I could see elements of its predecessors within it, I found it hard to truly describe it to others outside of simply saying that it was different. Read More…


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We are looking back at Suzanne and Brian's engagement from back in 2014. We know, it is hard to think about winter in the heat of the summer, but sometimes I enjoy a quick break to look back and then I can enjoy the heat again! I love their use of the metro system. We overlook it's beauty because we ride it, often in frustration every day. But if you take a moment to look around, the tunnels, the trains, the ceilings, it really has some beautiful aspects!
Danielle Cover Photography

subset: commoncrawl


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Kicking off the year was the Saywell track day at Goodwood where the newest member to the fleet was a 599 GTO. Also in attendance was the first public outing for BAC with their MONO, a car which IŐve seen many times since.
Over 130 exotic cars descended on Cliveden house and the sun once again obliged for the day. The following weekend was the Dads Day Out over at Dunsfold. My daughter enjoys this every year, this time in a 355 with Larni exhaust. In 2012 this event will span two days so should raise even more money for a worthy cause. Gumball 3000 was again in town, although this time it was mid-week and starting from Covent Garden. Whilst the rain meant I got a good soaking it did help thin the crowds out and also make from some evocative shots.
My only Goodwood Breakfast Club of the year was the June Sporting Legends one where I was quite taken with the old Bentley in the car park. On the topic of Goodwood, the Festival of Speed was the highlight of the year. I had some test drives and rides during the Thursday Moving Motor Show which I thought was great but this was eclipsed on the Saturday when in the morning I got a ride up in the Fiat Abarth 695 and in the afternoon I drove the prototype Lexus LFA Nubrig with my wife and daughter somewhere in the crowd cheering me along.
Keeping in the area my only PH event was the visit to the Rolls Royce factory where my daughter and nephew had fun and for the most part behaved themselves. After missing last years Wilton House event I made sure I got to it this year, even though it meant a 4am start. Still, being in a 6.0 Lamborghini Diablo VT kept me alert. I was also able to have my first proper look around both the new Lamborghini Aventador and McLaren MP4-12C.
Rounding off my year was the all-new Top Gear Live show where I was also helping out LCUK on the Friday. The benefit of this meant I was able to get some good shots and video without the crowds.


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Remember latitudes and longitudes, those criss-cross lines you saw on the globe and forgot after middle school geography? Latitudes are the imaginary horizontal lines that run East-West from the Equator, to the North and South Poles, 0 to 90 degrees both ways.
Source: etsy
Did you know that places lying on the same line of latitude on the Earth have similar climates? So if you walked in a perfectly straight line from, say Mumbai (on the 19 degrees North line, technically), towards either East or West, the weather would change only because of the presence or absence of water bodies like the sea, or a major range of hills. Curious to know how the world on the same street as Mumbai looks like? Read on!
1. Anegada, British Virgin Islands
Source: blogspot
Famous for: Horseshoe Reef, the longest barrier coral reef in the Caribbean, and a popular tourist haunt for a mind-boggling variety of flora and fauna.
2. Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Source: go4travelblog
Famous for: Mayan archaeological sites, mainly Chichen Itza, and natural limestone sinkholes called cenotes (pictured), used by natives for ceremonies in the past.
3. Roca Partida, Mexico
Source: alertdiver
Famous for: Marine life in the water surrounding this uninhabited islet, making it one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world.
4. Hilo, Hawaii, USA
Source: sbhawaii
Famous for: Pleasant weather throughout the year, stunning beaches, the seat of Polynesian culture.
5. Babuyan Islands, Philippines
Source: wikipedia
Famous for: Active volcanoes like Smith Volcano (pictured) and the winter ground for humpback whales.
6. Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam
Source: svietnamtourism
Famous for: North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacking American destroyers, eventually leading to the infamous Vietnam War. Such a beautiful place, such bloody history!
7. ...And back to Mumbai, India
Source: esushi
So a lot of beaches and amazing destinations for a trip! Want more of this? Let us know in the Comments below!
Title image: audiocomp
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PNC Arranges Johnson Outdoors Financing Agreement
Johnson Outdoors, a global outdoor recreation equipment company, announced a streamlined structure of the company's debt. The new loan agreement replaces the company's revolver and is expected to reduce annual borrowing costs. PNC Capital Markets arranged the transaction.
Key highlights of the new debt financing are:
capital needs during that period. PNC Capital Markets arranged the transaction, and PNC Bank is the lead agent of three participating lenders in this revolving credit facility.
The company's existing term debt facility, arranged by Ridgestone Bank of Brookfield, WI, remains in effect.
"Our new credit agreement recognizes the success of our efforts to strengthen operations and deliver consistently improved financial performance, and also reaffirms the confidence of our lenders in our ability to achieve sustained, profitable growth long-term," said David W. Johnson, vice president and chief financial officer.
Johnson Outdoors is a global outdoor recreation company that designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of brands across four categories: watercraft, marine electronics, diving and outdoor gear.


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Infographic-How Organizations Structure Social Media Teams
Infographic by- GO-Gulf.com Web Design Company
Instagram Vs Vine
Instagram and Vine are two of the most popular video sharing Apps. Both these applications operate in a similar fashion yet they have a vast difference among themselves. Face book users love their experience with Instagram and Twitter users simply cannot stop speaking about Vine. The question remains, which is the best amongst the two. A brief comparison among the two giants of short term video Apps may help you to understand what suits you better.
- Video Time: Instagram is more generous than Vine in the context of video length. Instagram allows you to share videos up to 15 seconds as compared to Vine's bare minimum limit of six seconds. Decent video length allows you to shoot interesting and fun videos without bothering about the time limit. Though 15 seconds may seem like eternity if the video is tad boring. This could be one of the reasons that Instagram videos are higher in quality as compared to Vine.
- Ease of Shooting: Instagram offers tap-to-focus option while shooting and this allows the video recorder to switch from background to fore ground. This can be brilliant when dealing with multiple angles in video. It also sports Nifty feature that can stabilize your video even after you shoot it. The only drawback is that you need to use a big red button on screen to shoot on Instagram whereas Vine allows you to record by clicking anywhere on the app.
- Looping: Vine sports a loop feature that enables you to watch short videos at length. It is especially good for animation videos as the visuals appear better after looping, Instagram does not capitalize on looping probably because of extended video length.
- Edit options: Instagram scores on vine on editing fore front. Users have ability adding signature filters as well as deleting sequences from the video. Signature filters can definitely help you to improve visual quality of your video
At the moment, Instagram tends to be far ahead of Vine when you consider usability and features, though Vine is gearing up and has already announced that it may provide ability to save video drafts in near future.
Infographic-How Businesses use Social Media
Social media has become an integral part for businesses. Business owners are using social media platforms to make the effective use of the marketing campaigns. Small to medium-sized businesses are looking for its growth prospects through Facebook, twitter and the likes.
I came across this infographic by Invesp which helps you understand "Activity Levels of Businesses on Social Media".-
Infographic-Social Media Etiquette:How To Say Thank You
Social media sites like Faceook, Twitter, Linkedin are important communication platforms for all of us. And in this virtual world it is very essential to follow social media etiquette.
Today I came across Social Media infogaphic by SYNQK which explains 6 ways to say thank you on social media. Sharing it here- 🙂
Social Media Campaign- Flying High With Pinterest
Pinterest has been recognized as the third most popular and biggest social networking site after Facebook and Twitter. It is interesting to see how business organizations are tapping into this social medium that works as a picture board. Most of the organizations and SME's use Pinterest to pin their product images however two most innovative and successful social media marketing campaigns that were created using Pinterest were by Jetsetter and British Midland International.
Social Media Marketing Campaign #1- Jetsetter
Jetsetter created wave on social networking site Pinterest with their unique giveaway campaign. Aptly named 'Pin it to win it', this contest required the participants to create an ultimate destination pin board under four categories, escape, adventure, cosmopolitan and style. The pin board had to include 'Jetsetter curator' in the name and the pins required to have hashtag #JetsetterCurator.
Winning boards were selected by panel of judges and each winner won a three day stay at the destination in each category. This campaign also incentivized people for sharing the content by rewarding the most followed pin board with $1000 jetsetter credits. This campaign increased Jetsetter's web traffic by 150% and enhanced their fan following on Pinterest by 3000 members. This campaign integrated simple and effective principle of enhancing visibility and incentivizing sharing to gain more followers.
Social Media Marketing Campaign #2- British Midland International
British Midland International created the first ever lottery contest on Pinterest. Users had to do is Pin up to six images from seven destinations on their Pinterest boards. All the photos are given a number from one to 63. Every week.
BMI chose a photo at random and if the photo belonging to user got pinned, the user would win a free BMI flight to selected destination. This campaign gained lot of exposure from different sites and soon it became the talk of the town. BMI benefitted from enhanced web traffic and mass scale branding with this campaign.


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An international conference, Centre for Intermedia, University of Exeter, UK, 26-29 March 2009
• Matt Adams, Blast Theory http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/
• Tim Etchells, Artistic Director, Forced Entertainment http://www.forcedentertainment.com/
• Adrian Heathfield, Professor of Performance ands Visual Culture, Roehampton University http://www.adrianheathfield.com/
• Lynn Hershman-Leeson, media artist http://www.lynnhershman.com/
• Hugo Glendinning, photographer, AHRC Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts, University of Exeter http://www.hugoglendinning.com/
• Ken Goldberg, artist, Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR),, UC Berkeley and Director, Berkeley Centre for New Media http://goldberg.berkeley.edu/index-flash.html
• Mike Pearson, Professor of Performance Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth http://www.aber.ac.uk/~psswww/shared/general/pearson.htm and Mike Brookes, artist http://www.mikebrookes.com/
• Paul Sermon, media artist, Professor of Creative Technology, University of Salford http://www.paulsermon.org/
• Michael Shanks, archaeologist, The Omar and Althea Hoskins Professor of Classical Archaeology, Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu/~mshanks/
• Marianne Weems, Artistic Director, The Builders Association http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/
• Krzysztof Wodiczko, Professor of Visual Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology http://architecture.mit.edu/people/profiles/prwodicz.html
The conference will engage with a wide range of disciplines, art and performance practices, technologies of presence, theory and modes and practices of documentation. Key questions may include:
• What are the chief signifiers of presence?
• How is presence achieved through theatrical performance?• What makes a memory come alive and live again?
• How are practices of presence connected with senses of self and identity?• Is presence synonymous with 'being in the moment'?
• What is the nature of the 'co-presence' of audience and performer?• Does presence imply distance?
• Where does performance practice end and its documentation begin?
• In what tense does documentation take place?• Can technology produce presence?
• Is presence a form of immersion?
• Is documentation theory or practice?
• What happens when documentation becomes time-based and ephemeral?
• Where does practice end and its documentation begin?
• In what tense does documentation take place?
Monday, October 13, 2008
Labels: academy, art, edu, interactive multimedia, mixed reality, new media, performance, research, science, stage design, theatre
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text:
Kirkland Organic Natural peanut butter disappeared after the Salmonella peanut scare a few years back. Finally it's BACK, more expensive than before, but only $3.42/lb for organic peanuts! Thanks, Melissa, for letting me know...about the cashews too! Nut Butters are Neat-O!
The new thing here is that these Kirkland cashews are UNSALTED! Even if you like some salt, you can buy some of each and mix them up, for half the salt! Eat for Energy -- Whole Grains and Nuts -- Top 6 Reasons!
Antioxidant Solutions Fresh Frozen Triple Cherry Blend is unsweetened and delicious. These literally seem to melt in my mouth! Lucky 7 Sipping Suggestions!
Great Valley Healthy Expectations Multigrain Rice Blends Whole Grain Fusion (whew!) is a delicious grain that can be eaten with your favorite veggies, beans, or meat, or even all alone. When this is cooking, my whole house SMELLS fabulous! What's SO Big about Brown Rice?!
Tasty Bite Channa Masala is another great dish that can be made in a hurry! Note the ingredients: onions, water, chickpeas, tomatoes, sunflower oil, coriander, garlic, ginger, salt, mango powder, spices, chilies, bay leaf, turmeric. Everything you could go buy at the store and your second grader could read! Delicious on the rice above! If you don't use the microwave, easily warm it on the stove! There are other brands that have healthy, yummy, quick versions of Indian dishes (but they often have dairy :(...)!
Ah, to end with some sweetness! These Kirkland Dark Chocolate Super Fruits are fabulous! The best part is the chocolate that they are made from! These are a great substitute for an old favorite of my Brookside Foods which provides no information about where their chocolate comes from on its website, so considering my new knowledge of Fair Trade Chocolate, I am happy to go with a product that highlights this information on the packaging! Details below!
"Costco Wholesale has co-created an ongoing program to develop a more ethical and sustainable cocoa supply. Our goal is to procure cocoa beans that are traceable, of high quality, and grown in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
What does this mean for the cocoa farmers and their families? It means they get fair prices for their high quality cocoa beans. It means they learn better skills for managing their farms through pre- and post- harvest training.
This program is bringing about improved community infrastructure, farmer livelihoods, education, and healthcare."
COMMENTS: Do you remember the Amy Mihaljevic abduction and murder? It happened in the town beside mine, Bay Village, and was all totally unbelievable when it was happening and since. She was my age. Well, James Renner was also a kid then, and a few years ago, he investigated the whole unsolved mystery. He wrote Amy: My Search for Her Killer, Secrets, Secrets and Suspects in the Unsolved Murder of Amy Mihaljevic. I'm not done reading it, but I am intrigued and am quickly making by way through it, and only wish there could be a happy ending! Apparently, James is STILL looking...I'm going to finish the book before I read this!


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Season of Goodwill
Womb empties the Temple
to the world.
Wisdom bends on knees.
The Divine symphony plays
as to earth comes
Emanuel .
To a hungry world
the Creator comes.
Spreading His arms.
He offers His cup
to fill our hearts
with His song.
Sometimes sorrowful, sometimes joyful
Always truthful and peaceful.
Eternal Love
Grab our hearts
This Christmas season
And teach us
What the Christmas spirit
really is, so we
as your servants
can help fill
a hungry world.
Peace on earth God's will to all.
Tracey Griffith December 4, 1998
Please feel free to e-mail me at email@example.com with any questions or if you just want to drop a line and say hello.


text:
ESPN 12-1-12 Susan Combs
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download
Today's show
- We interviewed Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs
- Now that F1 has past we are going to learn about the next races at COTA
- Toni Calderon, President of Casus Management Inc (Motorsports Consulting)
- Grand-Am Education
- Local car stuff
SCCA announces U.S. Majors Tour schedule, includes on March 8-10, 2013. http://bit.ly/StK9aa
GM's new Austin call center to teach in-car technology. Sending specialists to dealerships to train drivers. http://bit.ly/WvaRNP More new car technology. LINK


text:
OKBD1. No ID. Rare Boudoir Card Photograph, measuring 5 1/4″ x 8 3/8″ titled Main St. Lisbon OK. June 4th. There is a coach at center. Several signs can be read: "Lunch Room," "Gillen Lumber Co." VG. $1500
OKBD2. Needham & McDonald, Portrait and Landscape Artists, Oklahoma City, Indian Territory. Oklahoma Looking East, After the Rain. Rare view of Oklahoma City in the early days. Chipped as shown o/w G. $500
OKBD4. [Walters & Evington, Guthrie]. Crowds waiting for the land rush. Boudoir card, 5 1/8″ x 8 3/8." VG. $650
OKBD6. [Mitchell & DeGroff]. Opening of Oklahoma Territory for Settlement April 1889. VG. $500
OKBD7. W.L. Sawyer, Purcell, Indian Territory. Everyday Scene on Main St., Purcell, I.T., Dec. 16, 1889. Holes in corners. G. $650


text:
FreeBASIC Games Directory
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16.02.2019 - Round one of our "A Love Letter to FreeBASIC" competition has finished, and you can vote for your favorite entry here:
. Don't forget that the competition is continuing with a round 2, lasting till 18th of March, 300 USD first prize. Stay tuned!
FreeBasic Games Directory Forum
FreeBASIC Game Development
Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
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Topic: Gameplay Compo Competition Results! (Read 16006 times)
Lachie Dazdarian
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Forum Sage
Posts: 1291
Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
January 25, 2011, 04:06:38 PM »
Man, I have a splitting headache. And I'm not very productive lately. But back to the issues at matter. The results of the Gameplay Combo competition are in! The theme of this competition was to create a game that combines different gameplays.
Check the original rules here:
The submission period lasted from
2nd November of 2010 till 17th January of 2011
and in that time I received
6 valid submissions
The entries and final scores:
by Mitchell: 15/90 (6th place)
Face Invaders
by Brick Break: 20/90 (5th place)
Bad Cave Guy
by Kristopher Windsor: 24/90 (4th place)
Adventure for Breakfast!
by ssjx: 52/90 (3rd place) -
50 $ prize
Plix TowerDefense ver.1.0
by Tusike: 64/90 (2nd place) -
100 $ prize
Witchcraft Adventure ver.1.1
by N3trunn3r: 73/90 (1st place) -
200 $ prize
Witchcraft Adventure ver.1.5 (post competition release):
Plix TowerDefense ver.1.2 (post compettion release):
Winner, Witchcraft Adventure:
2nd place, Plix TowerDefense:
3rd place, Adventure for Breakfast!:
Congratulations to the winners!
As you see, I decided to award the 3rd place with 50 $ as well. I think the first 3 games really stand out from the rest, and I feel the effort invested in them should be rewarded.
To the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place holders, please contact me via email (
) with info on how you want to be paid (PayPal or MoneyBookers), with needed payment details. I hope that won't be a problem for anyone.
I wish to thank all who participated. Each entry counted for the overall success of the competition.
For the detailed scoring and my final thoughts continue reading.
Witchcraft Adventure
Game design (34/40): An entry that came like a very pleasant surprise to me, because N3trunn3r kept it a secret until the final moment, while it boasted in quality in all aspects. From the starts it appears like a very well produced game, developed by a dedicated and concentrated designer who had a clear goal and sense of what a good game must deliver. Witchcraft Adventure introduces a really cool and novel idea of combining two types of lite-RPGs, one first person and the other top down. But the novel idea is that the player, after dying while in the first person point of view (scene by scene movement), continues playing as a ghost with a top down point of view. While a ghost he can pass through the walls, explore the area, and then revive himself on specific locations. While just not being a great idea, it results in really cool and different gameplay, where dying and reviving works rather nicely with one another and adds a whole new level to the first person RPG experience. I also like the fact that the game is more adventure oriented, where the RPG elements are very present, but kept on a smaller scale, a scale that suits my personal preferences. I'm not saying that this influenced on my score. I'm just glad that this cool idea was introduced in a game I could immerse myself easily. There are some problems with this concept, where dying can be used to kill difficult monster with sheer persistence, but then again, this can be considered a part of the gameplay. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel perfectly right.
Gameplay (7/10): While the idea of letting the player continue to play the game as a ghost after dying in different perspective is great, this game suffers a bit in few gameplay aspects. One annoying element of the game is the necessity to eat and drink to survive, which in itself is not a bad feature, but when the player is pit against complex maps and is forced to explore a lot, this becomes a problem. And despite the fact that you can almost always help yourself by eating grass or drinking from puddles of water (which is slow but maybe has to be like that), once you spend all the "regular" food and water in the level it doesn't fix the situation completely - the food and water depletes too fast. Perhaps for the future version the developer should consider lowering the ratio of food and water depletion for each move. I can understand how he made the game a bit unbalanced in this part as he was play testing the maps he was quite familiar with. The other problem is the sense that you can abuse the ability to revive yourself by having an option to kill a strong monster with several tries, which I mentioned earlier. You can always come back again after reviving. Not sure if this is fixable, but should be noted as an imperfection of the concept. But despite all of that, the sheer amount of features/content the game offers, interesting puzzles, challenging but beatable levels, well coded engine, novel idea of two perspectives that is fully integrated in the gameplay, is all enough to make this game very enjoyable and rewarding.
Progression (4/6): It is very good, but due the dungeon graphics being quite limited in its variety and somewhat daunting maps, the game can feel a bit monotonous and discouraging on some places. But despite that, each level introduces new content, new characters, new puzzles, all enough to reward the progress in the game.
Replay Value (4/6): The game has quite few secrets you can miss, and the experience you gather by completing it once can make playing it again a much less frustrating experience. Nevertheless, as this is more a story than gameplay driven game, I think the motivation to dabble with the game's tricky places might not be the same the second time around.
Graphics (5/7): Wasn't sure about the score in this category, but one point up wouldn't mean anything. The game graphics are well designed, retro, and quite skilfully drawn. The graphics in the story intro are a bit improvised, and you do feel the lack of variety in the look of very dungeons.
Sound/music (6/7): Bunch of well picked/made sound effects, cool and very suitable music tracks, original performed speech in the game intro. What could I ask more? I don't know. For the music to be original? Also, for some reason the music in the game started and stopped playing at random (I assume), diminishing the experience.
Personal likeness (3/4): I would love the give the maximum score to Witchcraft Adventure in this category, but my positive impression of the gameplay declined a bit after prolonged playing. All of this I commented above. The other issues is the low resolution most people can't play full screen (including me) and clunky save/load feature (this sort of game NEEDS more save game slots!). I do think this is an excellent game with a great concept, but it's not great itself.
Community vote (10/10)
Total: 73/90
Latest version:
Plix TowerDefense
Game design (31/40): Plix TowerDefense introduces a really cool concept of combining resource management and classic tower defence game, which in its design already mixes different gameplay elements. This game combines these two separate sections wonderfully, where in one area you need to build mines/structures and guide the resources into your main building, while in another area you need to stop the invading plixoids to reach the first area by building defence towers. You also control a shooter which moves between these two areas (sections), but it will be mainly helping the towers in the tower defence area. If the plixoids reach the red zone (tower defence area exit) and enter the main area, 3 droids are spawned there for each plixoids that passes and then the only weapon against them is the shooter. On the top of all this, the game features various defence towers, ability to upgrade both them and the shooter, option to build various upgrades and additional buildings in the main area as well. Destroying plixoids brings money, while in the main area you gather energy and steel. All of this is used to build/buy stuff, while energy is also needed to power the towers and the shooter's weapons. The game does lack some sort of story and purpose to all of this, and the whole content of the game appears detached from something tangible. It all feels symbolic.
Gameplay (8/10): None of this content would carry much weight, if it wouldn't result in fun gameplay. And this is where Plix TowerDefense succeeds, in my opinion. The resource management part is not just a filler of some sort which could be easily automated, but it requires planning a careful decision making in order to have enough resources to support your towers and be able to buy upgrades/new towers in right time. The tower defence part also doesn't fail, with featuring several different types of towers to build, ability to upgrade them, ability to use the shooter, and above all different types of plixoids that add a lot to the variety and excitement of this section of the game. The game does feel a bit unbalanced/under-tested in some parts, and I would have to give benefit of doubt to believe that all of its elements work perfectly. It is definitely a type of gameplay that requires much more play testing to tune it to the best possible state, for which the developer didn't find time during this competition.
Progression (5/6): Very good. As the game progresses new types of plixoids are introduced with new modes of moving/attacking, and you also earn/gather more resources to buy/build new types of towers and buildings. In other words, the game features a very good influx of new content as you advance in it.
Replay Value (5/6): Also very good. The presence of different difficulty levels, two game modes (one excludes the resource management part) and even cheat keys, all add a lot to the overall replay value.
Graphics (4/7): The graphics are very simple, but also very clean and consistent. They appear symbolic, inline with the vague theme of the game, but everything is well placed and coherent.
Sound/music (2/7): A couple of useful sound effects, but nothing better to note of.
Personal likeness (3/4): Plix TowerDefense features a very potential concept that is already fun to play in the imperfect state it was released for the competition. So we can only hope it will improve if the developer continues to work on it, in this form or in the form of a sequel. Simply, an original, fun and exciting game that could become much more if it had a chance for better (commercial) production.
Community vote (6/10)
Total: 64/90
Latest version:
Adventure for Breakfast!
Game design (24/40): ssjx delivers once more a competition entry that is adequate in all aspects, but doesn't quite impress in any area. It is a short (10-20 minute play time) and very cutesy designed top-down action/adventure game, in the vein of The Void. It is a story-driven game that connects various mini-games through the main area the player happens to be placed in (a village, I guess). In order to solve his mission (gather various items) the game hero must visit different parts of the map, each containing a mini-game of some sort, although most of these areas are based on the main screen by screen scrolling engine (pac-man area, boulder dash areas). It is not a terribly innovative way to deal with the competition theme, but it is an approach I personally find appealing, and because of that was excited about this very entry. Still, I wish ssjx's game offered more varied and challenging mini-games, with the emphasis on varied.
Gameplay (5/10): The main engine and the mini-games are adequately coded, and it all works as it should (clean gameplay). The problem is in the very mechanics of these different gameplays Adventure for Breakfast delivers. In my opinion, they fail to be both varied and challenging enough. And because of that they don't provide a sense of excitement and urgency. Adventure for Breakfast is basically a pleasant stroll through the park. But thinking about the title now, maybe that was the point.
Progression (4/6): Being a plot-driven game it unlocks new areas as you progress, revealing new content and story details, definitely motivating you enough to complete it.
Replay Value (1/6): Erm...not so sure it has much of replay value. Being so short and easy, I don't see much excitement in playing it more that once, two times maximum.
Graphics (4/7): Very nice and balanced retro-graphics, on which I don't have much to complain on. I only dislike the usage of the default font and the lack of better looking title screen, and interface in general. In other words, more work could have been done on presentation.
Sound/music (2/7): 4 sound effects in total. Although well picked, it's...4 sound effects in total. I also wish ssjx's picked some retro tune to play in the background (optional, of course).
Personal likeness (2/4): A very solid quick game by ssjx, definitely worth playing once, but I doubt it will stay terribly long in your memory (unless ssjx makes a sequel). ssjx has all the tools to make a very good game, but I think he's style calls for more dedication and time concentrated on one project. These small games are fun, but in the end don't leave much impact on the player. But don't get me wrong. I think I'm the same type of developer who simply needs more time to deliver something more lasting and of more substance.
Community vote (10/10)
Total: 52/90
Bad Cave Guy
Game design (9/40): Bad Cave Guy is basically an ASCII UrthWurm clone with a shot-out boss level. I have the same complaint on this game as on Brick Break's Face Invaders, where there is basically a single gameplay with two levels, which change very little in the gameplay mechanics (but still more than in Face Invaders).
Gameplay (4/10): The game is very short. It is challenging, although a bit unbalanced in that sense. The cave part is moderately difficult, while the boss battle is insanely difficult (more unfair than clever in this). Being an UrthWurm clone, it is a single key controlled game, which has it's perks.
Progression (2/6): The game does deliver two different levels, and there is a sense of progress and excitement once you reach the boss battle. Nevertheless, a disappointment follows once you realize the game ends after that.
Replay Value (2/6): Not sure about this, because I didn't figure out the scoring in the game, nor the score is displayed while you play it. With that in mind and the game being overly difficult as it is, I can't say that racking up a higher score in Bad Cave Guy is encouraged, although you are motivated to some extent to play it until you beat it.
Graphics (2/7): Simple ASCII graphics of single color. They get the job done. For what it's worth.
Sound/music (0/7): None.
Personal likeness (1/4): An ok ultra-short ASCII game that failed to impress me in how it deals with the competition theme.
Community vote (4/10)
Total: 24/90
Game design (9/40): All points go to the premise of combining chess and pong and the way these two game modes are connected (the advantage in pong given to the player who took the opponent's figure), but nothing further was really done to pack this into a proper game (I assume that there was no time as the game was developed in haste toward the end of submission deadline). Both gameplays appear unfinished and bugish. The very chess interface was solidly done. But despite seemingly original premise, it's still a question how much even a properly polished game of this sort would be attractive to play. Chess players would be annoyed with the fact they would have to confirm their good moves with a pong game, while action gamers would be annoyed with chess rules applied to the movement of their figures on the playfield. In my opinion, a battle of varied pong paddles of some sort on a sector-based playfield, but still with some rules that give the advantage to attackers, would be very interesting to play.
Gameplay (2/10): Simply not complete. The chess part is functioning, but I don't think any proper chess AI was imported/implemented. The pong part is ok, but you can't go much wrong there, and there are cardinal bugs present, like being able to move off the screen. For some reason runs too slow on my PC as well. Also, the game lacks some sort of pause and indicator that shows you between which two chess pieces the pong battle is about to start. When it's computer's move, you have no idea which chess piece it attacked.
Progression (1/6): Not sure how to rate the game in this category. It's a rather straightforward game, not introducing anything new later in the game. If it had different types of paddles for different figures or something...I don't know.
Replay Value (1/6): More for curiosity sake, than to actually experience anything new.
Graphics (2/7): Very crude and simple graphics, but adequate for what the game is trying to do.
Sound/music (0/7): None.
Personal likeness (1/4): In one sentence, Chack is an interesting concept hastily packed in a barely function game.
Community vote (0/10)
Total: 15/90
Face Invaders 2020
Game design (8/40): The problem I have with Face Invaders versus the competition theme is that it doesn't really exploit the idea of the competition properly. Actually, it seems like it employs a cop-out. Basically, the game delivers a single gameplay with two types of exchanging levels, where in the first the enemies invade from the bottom, while in the second from the right side of the screen. Nothing is changed in the gameplay mechanics. Also, none of the game elements are connected with some goal or story. It's just some dude shooting at boxes and lizards while standing/sitting on a floating platform. The lack of any other dynamic in the game, particle effects and more flashy design, all add to my overall lack of impression.
Gameplay (3/10): Another huge grip I have with Face Invaders 2020 is the absence of any real challenge. While the main concept of a mouse controlled shooter provides the possibility of fun gameplay, Brick doesn't dabble with that much, and the game ends up being an endless shootout against unnamed foes that never gets interesting and challenging. It's good to note that only few slight changes in increasing enemy speeds and numbers with advancing levels would make the game challenging and a legit time waster. Like this, it's only a potential prototype of game, not a proper game by my standards.
Progression (1/6): The game stops its progression when you see it's all about two types of levels exchanging. Nothing new and interesting happens after you discover that.
Replay Value (1/6): Very low, if not zero.
Graphics (2/7): The graphics, for the little content they deliver, are adequate, but 3 simple sprites and 2 generated backgrounds can't call for a higher score.
Sound/music (0/7): None.
Personal likeness (1/4): A potential start of a proper game, but never actually brought to that stage. Hope Brick will provide an additional version with few needed tweaks. This is a very nice concept to practice one's game design skills on (by adding particle effects, more levels, by making the game actually challenging, etc.), without spending huge amount of time on these tasks.
Community vote (4/10)
Total: 20/90
And that would be it. Phew! I hope nobody was offended by any of my comments. My intention was to be realistic and constructive.
I really do think the results represent the delivered quality. In the end I felt that Plix TowerDefense had more approachable and fun gameplay, but not to that extent to overcome other qualities of Witchcraft Adventure. Above all, I really do think that N3trunn3r's concept is more clever and original than Tusike's, and in the category of respecting the competition theme Withcraft Adventure wins.
Once more, thanks to all who participated. The competition was definitely a success, both in quality and quantity, and because of that, I appreciate each effort.
All the money for this competition was financed from ad revenues on this site, and I will be left a bit tapped out after this competition. So I can't promised the next competition too soon, as all the people who promised to donate for this competition disappeared. Let's hope someone willing to donate will show up in a couple of months so we can organize a new competition sooner than in a year time. This is fun!
Thanks guys! Continue making games and everything will be all right.
Last Edit: February 21, 2011, 05:37:43 PM by Lachie Dazdarian
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist
Posts: 95
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #1 on:
January 25, 2011, 04:23:35 PM »
Great job Lachie, with the organization and everything. I also think the results are fair, Witchcraft Adventure definitely had more work and detail put into it. I'm glad you decided to add a 3rd place prize, I was secretly hoping you would in case I got 3rd place:) But our 3 games definitely stood out so it wasn't uncalled for. I'm a bit surprised that none of them deserved a 4/4 personal likeness score though:) And I finally made a good game!
Congratulations to N3trunn3r and ssjx as well!
Forum Sage
Posts: 363
The Thirsty Smiley
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #2 on:
January 25, 2011, 04:50:41 PM »
So I cut some corners on my game development.
Quote from: Lachie Dazdarian on January 25, 2011, 04:06:38 PM
Replay Value (2/6): Not sure about this, because I didn't figure out the scoring in the game, nor the score is displayed while you play it. With that in mind and the game being overly difficult as it is, I can't say that racking up a higher score in Bad Cave Guy is encouraged, although you are motivated to some extent to play it until you beat it.
Select All
Copy To Clipboard
Function highscores() As Integer
Dim As String scores(1 To 10) = {"1000", "0960", "0954", "0946", "0870", "0850", "0834", "0802", "0796", "0779"}
For i As Integer = 6 To 31
Mid(buffer(i), 21, 40) = Space(40)
Next i
Mid(buffer(7), 21, 40) = Space(14) & "High scores" & Space(15)
For i As Integer = 1 To 10
Mid(buffer(i * 2 + 10), 21, 40) = " Kristopher" & Space(19) & scores(i) & "000 "
Next i
For i As Integer = 1 To 150
Sleep(20, 1)
If Inkey() = Chr(27) Then Return false
Next i
Return true
End Function
Congrats to the winners though.
Brick Break
Forum Sage
Posts: 405
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #3 on:
January 25, 2011, 08:59:09 PM »
Yes, congrats to the winners.
practice one's game design skills on (by adding particle effects, more levels, by making the game actually challenging, etc.)
What are you implying? I do this all the time. I just didn't have time for this one. Particle effects would be cool, but I'm not great with FreeBASIC. :(
I completely agree with judging of the first three, but the last three I have a problem with. Here's my scores:
Chack and Face Invaders 2020 - tied for 3rd, due to fun, cross platform gameplay with great graphics and replayability, plus not too challenging
Bad Cave Guy - 4th (or 5th or 6th or whatever) great attempt and concept, but flickers too much. Not tested at all on other platforms.
Posts: 43
Stefan Kostić
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #4 on:
January 25, 2011, 09:23:18 PM »
Even I voted for the winner's entry (amount of work done; latter realized that intro was exported from flash right?), I've hope that Adventure for Breakfast will win, I have the most fun playing it...
NES Zapper interfaced to Your PC
Forum Howler
Posts: 173
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #5 on:
January 26, 2011, 02:12:24 AM »
Congrats to N3trunn3r & Tusike! Thanks to everyone that voted for my entry!
Totally agree with the review of my entry and thanks for adding the 3rd place prize!
Posts: 9
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #6 on:
January 26, 2011, 02:55:20 AM »
Congratulations to the winnars!
Posts: 73
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #7 on:
January 26, 2011, 10:22:52 AM »
Thanks you all for the flowers! It is great to hang around here in the forum, just to wait for the next comment
I really worked hours on Witchcraft. Personally this competition was a test for me too see if I can make a proper Indie game that people really like.
As for the next step I will make a new website.
I already talked to Plasma from Phatcode for hosting it.
More on this later...
See forward to the next competition!
And yep StefanPN, the intro was made in Flash(I'm a webdesigner, just besides...
Brick Break
Forum Sage
Posts: 405
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #8 on:
January 26, 2011, 02:25:17 PM »
All my life, it is people like you who will overshadow me.
Posts: 28
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #9 on:
January 26, 2011, 03:44:42 PM »
When's the next compo? I'll will participate.
(And GJ to the competitors in this one)
Posts: 14
spinning ChangeV
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #10 on:
January 26, 2011, 05:34:53 PM »
good work everyone.
Lachie Dazdarian
Double dipper
Forum Sage
Posts: 1291
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #11 on:
January 26, 2011, 11:58:02 PM »
Not sure about the next competition. Maybe summer? Depends on the sponsors, if any appear.
ChangeV, do you plan to comlpete your game any time soon? Really curious about it.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist
Lachie Dazdarian
Double dipper
Forum Sage
Posts: 1291
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #12 on:
January 29, 2011, 08:39:57 AM »
Just realized I should have given Face Invaders and Bad Cave Guy 4 points in the community vote category. This has been fixed. Doesn't change anything, but let's keep it mistakes free.
"Things like Basic and Free Basic provide much-needed therapy and a return to sanity and a correct appreciation of people. The arrogant folk really hate a word like 'Basic' - fine, and good riddance." ~ pragmatist
Posts: 14
spinning ChangeV
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #13 on:
January 29, 2011, 09:31:37 AM »
I am still adding enemies, traps and first boss for platformer part.
I work on game at least 1 hour (just before zzz) every day, but it will take a while to complete.
Brick Break
Forum Sage
Posts: 405
Re: Gameplay Compo Competition Results!
Reply #14 on:
January 29, 2011, 03:17:19 PM »
Quote from: Lachie Dazdarian on January 26, 2011, 11:58:02 PM
Not sure about the next competition. Maybe summer? Depends on the sponsors, if any appear.
Could I host a competition without money? I always thought the "cash prizes" thing was overkill.
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Pucatrade – the best trading site out there
June 29, 2016
If you're a Magic player that hasn't used Pucatrade, you're missing out.
For those that don't know, Pucatrade is a trading site (click here) where users are able to trade across the globe. While it may seem intimidating at first, Pucatrade is pretty easy to use.
Set up
The first step to getting set up on Puca is to create an account. From there, you need to decide what type of account you want.
Pucatrade accounts are set up on levels. At the Common level, members can trade any card but can't receive foils. Also, members are not able to send points to other membersSending points comes in handy when you are offering bounties on hard to get cards.
At the uncommon level, a member can receive foils and send points. The cost for uncommon is $5/month. You also receive some limited data, number of times traded in a week, month, or year. Plus, you get all the other features.
At the Gold level, you get all the above-listed benefits plus you get data trends, you can send cards as gifts, priority visibility, and price limiting. To find out the full benefits of each level, go here.
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Now you want to build your "Haves" list. This is the list of cards you currently own and are willing to trade. Each card you list is given a point value. For those who are curious, pucapoints are roughly $.01. So, a card like Reality Smasher (current value $3.96) is worth 396 pucapoints.
Once you have done this, it's usually helpful to create a "Wants" list. These are the cards you're currently searching for. If you don't have any you are looking for, that's ok. Your pucapoints never expire.
Now you're all set up! You are ready to make your first trade. So how do you do that?
Mailing cards – becoming a pucatrader
After you get everything set up, you will see a blue button at the top right-hand corner of the Pucatrade site. Click on this and you will see what people are looking for. Want to refine the search to only cards you own? No problem, there is a button that auto syncs to your "Haves" list.
Once you have selected who you want to send your cards to, simply package them up and put them in the mail (we will cover that later). The point value of the card(s) is deducted from their account and put into an escrow-type account. Once they confirm they have received the card(s) the points will be released to you and added to your account.
Seem simple? It really is.
Receiving cards
So how do you get cards? Just as simple. Once you have enough points for a card on your want list it becomes visible to other traders. If they have it and want to send it to you, they click send and… well, you know the rest.
Since you have access to traders all over the globe, you can truly go after just about any card you want. Holiday promos, Black Lotus, and even your favorite basic land is available. The staff at Pucatrade has created an excellent database of cards for you to chose from.
So how do you get those hard to get cards like dual lands or other highly sought after staples? I use bounties. When I am trying to get a card, I change my profile name to something like 10%bns4CityofTraitors. This lets traders know that I will give them a bonus of 10% of the value of the card City of Traitors (btw, I am indeed looking for City of Traitors!).
While all trade initiated should be for cards of NM (near mint) quality, you can let your trading partners know you're willing to accept less than NM. I tend to do this in my profile description. I am also willing to accept foreign languages. As an example, I wanted a Lion's Eye Diamond but found it difficult to get. A trader contacted me saying they had one in Portuguese. I know own a Portuguese Lion's Eye Diamond. I know some people dislike foreign cards, but hey, they all play the same!
For the most part, that's it. Well… sort of. Let's talk some dos and don'ts.
- When you agree to send a card do not send anything that's less than NM unless you contact your trader first.
- Do ship the card you agreed to send within 24 hours. You should not be waiting any longer than 24 hours unless you have worked out an agreement with your trader first.
- Do put the card in a top loader. It seems silly to say this but, your card should absolutely go in a top loader. Do not just throw it in a sleeve and stick it in an envelope. Yes, people have done this, and yes cards get destroyed.
- Do not use excessive tape. Seriously, don't. Most traders recycle the top loaders. When you muck it up with a lot of tape, it makes it difficult to re-use. A sticky note works best.
- Do put the pucatrade number on your trade. If you're using a sticky note, you can simply write it there. Some traders receive a lot of trades in a month, this will make it easier for them to confirm they received your card quickly.
- Speaking of receiving cards. Confirm you received the card when you get it. You should take no more than 24 hours to confirm a trade. Traders who send high dollar cards get a little nervous when you take more than a day to confirm.
- When you are sending a card worth more than $50, send it with tracking. Truthfully, I prefer using priority shipping when I send an expensive card. I also prefer insuring the cards, but that's a personal preference thing.
- There is some debate on how many stamps you should use when sending a card. If you are sending in the United States, I suggest using two stamps. I know people who are getting charged extra postage when they receive a card with only one stamp. If you're sending out of the country, I suggest using four stamps.
And that's it, folks. In my opinion, Pucatrade is hands down, the best way to trade. I have been able to move cards that sat in my binder for months. By the same token, I have received cards that I would never have been able to trade for in my local community. So go ahead, give it a try! Use this link to sign up to give me a referral bonus!
Patrick Cossel is the publisher of The Forge Herald. Patrick is a writer, gamer, father, husband, and even a L1 Magic Judge. Professionally he is the Operations Manager for a newspaper organization. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com
© 2016, Patrick Cossel. All rights reserved.


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Now more specifically to Greyhawkery, this same announcement also brings a slight blow to "4e-Hawk". Apparently they have decided to cancel the upcoming magic item accessory, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium.
|What?! Cancelled? CURSES!!!!!
"...a book of magic items designed to inject more story and descriptions into magic items. Not just a bland history, but a real story hinted at by the item's description."
Well shucks, I guess I got my wish. Mordenkainen won't be demoted to a magic item shop-hedge wizard in 4e. Satire aside, it really could've been a good book fluff-wise, but maybe Greyhawk dodged a bullet here. Who knows? This blogger predicts that the Emporium may still be salvaged by Wizards albeit in the form of a collectable card set (yeash) comparable to recent products they have put out. I kind of agree here, they would not let a book full of magic items go to waste, so one way or another they will see print.
Personally what's a shame in all this is that MME was really the only Greyhawk relevant news I could squeeze out of attending Gencon last year. Here's hoping for something better in Gencon 2011...


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Nathan MacKinnon broke a second-period tie and Semyon Varlamov stopped 37 shots, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
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But Colorado erupted for three goals in the second period to turn around a game the Stars were dominating.


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