Posted in Games, tagged computer games, rpg, simulation on February 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »
We’re at it again with a modest $670 goal.
Check out the campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geekfevergames/sim-hero-v20
If you love RPGs & Simulation games – this is the game for you! If not, then you are like 99.9% of the populatuion and you may continue with your regularly scheduled Sunday.
Posted in Games, Info, Life on August 18, 2014| 2 Comments »
Been a while, I know.
Brasilia sits here on my virtual & actual desktops… waiting for my attention. With my house collapsing on us (wish I was joking), it’s been a stressful 2014. Anyway:
Health
I had my 15 year appointment a few weeks ago with my surgeon. Before the visit, I told myself I was just fine and that part of my life was now over. Sure-as-shit, after 15 years, my surgeon told me ‘goodbye,’.
Needless to say, we celebrated with food & chocolate.
Games
As y’all know, I also make games. We are currently in a Kickstarter for our first board game and all the details can be found here.
Check it out!
Writing
I also wrote a short story to go along with the game mentioned above, you can find that for free on Smashwords here. Amazon is hopefully going to make it free as well soon, that link is here. (it will be free Wednesday-Sunday on the Kindle store this week)
Brasilia
As I mentioned, it will get my attention, I’m just not sure exactly when. It is written, I just need the time & energy to edit it a buncha times.
Posted in Games on November 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Games, Life, tagged Self Publishing on October 17, 2012| 4 Comments »
Before I explain the title, here’s a story from my childhood:
I was in junior high (“middle school” for you non-New-Englanders) and I had kinda grown up on my Atari game system, arcades and (later) my Apple IIc.
Sometime during those wonder years I met a friend with a PC: a 486 Windows 3.something. And he had Wing Commander. I hadn’t played anything quite like it, and I’m not sure anyone had. It was a quasi-3d space shooter which had so much more. The storyline won’t knock yer panties off, but the game had a storyline! This was revolutionary back then.
Storyline PLUS great gameplay = I rode my bike 3 miles after school to go watch my friend play this game. I eventually did play (and got my own PC), but this game shaped all my future gaming in so many ways. Wing Commander was the benchmark by which I measured many other games that came down thru the years (even non-space-sims). Between this game, Pool of Radiance and Railroad Tycoon, my gaming pedigree was established.
The man behind Wing Commander kinda disappeared for a while. But now he’s back.
And he’s crowd-funding his next project.
Watch his video explaining the project. He talks about how he could have signed with a publisher (with his street cred, publishers line up for him), but he doesn’t necessarily agree with current publishers’ visions of the future of gaming. He wanted to retain control of his own project and develop it for his beloved platform: PC.
God damn, we live in an exciting time! I see projects getting “crown funded” all the time on sites like Kickstarter nowadays. Creative people with great ideas can see their projects come to life and succeed/fail based on their own merits – rather than on some gatekeeper’s whim (sound familiar?). To see this sort of “do it yourself” invasion spread across many aspects of life today is truly inspirational. We self-published writers might have the best toolset of them all (Amazon, ’nuff said), but sites like Kickstarter and Gamecrafter are spreading the revolution into other creative avenues.
Bravo to these pioneers. And Bravo to Chris Roberts. I’ll be happily funding your project and eagerly await the release of Star Citizen (or whatever you call it in the end).
Posted in Games, tagged CCG, games, Gaming, MMO, Tactical RPG on August 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Wow, it’s been a while since my last post. Yup, been busy with my final edit on the graphic novel and revising Eden in prep for the audiobook (here’s hoping Audible.com says “yes”). Lots of great stuff happening!
So, the topic at hand: indie game development – is it similar to self-publishing a novel?
I never thought so, until now.
What changed? Very simply – there is a game under development right now that sounds like it is being made just for me. An endless adventuring sandbox devoid of 3d/realtime junkiness. A turn-based mashing of MMOG/CCG/RPG/TRPG.
Yep, that’s a whole ton of acronyms to describe the type of gameplay I’ve come to love in my older years.
I prefer “classic” turn-based RPG’s & Tactical-RPG’s like Poof of Radiance/Final Fantasy 1/Final Fantasy Tactics/Ogre Battle 64/Rogue-likes – but there are parts of them that I don’t enjoy. Character development is typically somewhat bland (except for the TRPG’s). Single-player only. Combat sometimes becomes tedious/bland. However, adding two elements of other games I love changes the whole equation: multiplayer and card-pulling randomness/deck tactics.
Pure awesomeness.
There have been some good online Collectible Card Games (CCG’s) as well – tops is the CCG in Free Realms. However, that’s all it really was. Sure, there were a few intro quests to gain cards, but it didn’t last. It soon became necessary to buy online booster packs and the game turned into straight-up duels and tourneys. Not bad (for a while) for those of us who like CCG’s, but it loses its steam when there’s nothing else to do besides duel.
Add some “adventuring” to the duels/card collection and we’re heading towards that pure awesomeness again!
The game? You want the name? Well, it’s not out yet but there are actually two in the works. Minecraft “Scrolls” (Bethesda lawsuit pending) and Card Hunter from Blue Manchu. Card Hunter is very much on my radar and their leader (John Chey) had some interesting things to say in his last interview. His words really struck home and forced my pen to this blog.
“I really don’t know how I would sell this game to an investor or a publisher.” – John Chey, Blue Manchu
If you don’t know who John Chey is, well that’s not important. Suffice to say – he’s a big name, semi-granddaddy developer to many games all of us computer dorks have played (or at least heard of). He has worked on huge titles and has plenty of street cred. Instead of staying put where he was, he decided to strike out on his own so he could (presumably) make the games he wanted to make. Now, of course, he sold his share of the company he co-owned so he had the bank/contacts in place to launch his own endeavors. Some might argue that this is the only way to do it.
Well, I disagree.
There have been some great indie games from no-names as well as industry vets. Minecraft certainly came out of nowhere – almost 2 million copies in 2 years from a 1-man show “hobbyist”. If these guys (Markus, John, others) decided to either stay with their studio job or shy away from self-developing their games – where would we be? Same place we were back in the beginning of the computer gaming age (of which I have been a consumer from the start) – go see what’s on the shelf at Eastern Coin or Babbage’s.
Gosh, I cannot play games like Mass Effect, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Doom, Madden NFL 2kx, Gran Turismo (yes, I may have misspelled that and no, I’m not going to look it up) or The Sims for the rest of my life. While those games (and their many clones) are just fine, I have a deep, gnarled love for board games, CCG’s and tactical RPG’s. Fuck, tomorrow we’re all getting together for the Battlestar Galactica board game (in person, yes people still do that). I still contend Ogre Battle 64 for the N64 is the best game ever made (and I played it while recovering from surgery just last year). And I continually play the best damn CCG ever made (Jyhad).
However, never have I played all of these things together, mashed into one online game I can play with my friends. John Chey seems to think such a game would never exist in the world of big studios/budgets/expectations:
“My belief is that there is certainly room in the market, and an ability to reach groups of people that probably would have been hard to reach before, when you had to put things on the shelves and get distributors on-side. It’s just so much easier to reach people now that you don’t have to go for the biggest market possible. There is obviously no way that Card Hunter is ever going to compete with the big MMOs in terms of its audience, but it doesn’t have to.” – John Chey, Blue Manchu
So, thanks to an indie’s desire to see it happen – I’ll soon be able to play my dream game. Such a thing would never have been possible if everything I could purchase went through the “profitability filter” of some major game studio.
And so too: novels.
Why should we consumers of fiction be told what is acceptable and not acceptable for us to read? What if I’m into a certain type of book that hasn’t really been done to my tastes yet? Should I keep reading “what’s out there,” never fully satisfied? Why does someone else have the authority to “gate” my entertainment?
There’s so much disdain for self-published authors out there and I just don’t get it. I mean, if you’re into Elf Dragqueen/Centaur Stud paranormal romance, it’s a good thing you were born in this century! Chances are, someone’s writing something that nails a bullseye in your heart – the only difficult part is finding these things. Well, as long as the content keeps coming, at least we have a shot. Card Hunter might let me down like so many things I have banked my dreams upon in the past (*cough* Starwars ep. 1-3 *cough*). However, I’m glad it’s going to be available. There’s always the chance it hits that perfect string, just like the very few games I’ve been playing for the past 15-20 years.
Posted in Games, Life, Writing, tagged Books, Coupon, Gaming on June 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
In random order:
I’m now on Shelfari. That link gets you to my profile page so you can “friend” me. I’m trying to add all the books I’ve read, but it’s a slow process. Only the very good and very bad books are sticking in my memory, it seems. And I’m not a pack rat, so most of the books I’ve read in my life are gone. Anyway, if you are a Shelfari member, please ADD Eden and For Duty to your shelves! 5-star ’em up and recommend to yer friends! (yes, I’m allowed to be shameless from time to time).
As you can see from my “shelf”, I’m reading Hunger Games now. It’s a post-apoc novel which is currently #1 on the Kindle sales list. To me, that means #1 in the world. Gotta do some research on my colleagues!
Coupons! Don’t have a hard cover version of my books yet? Tsk Tsk. They are quite snazzy, featuring Axel’s artwork on the jacket… really good stuff. Enter this code on Lulu to get 20% off: SUNSHINE305
Expires June 30. Click on the “Matt’s Books” tab here to find the link to the hardcovers.
As kind of an addendum to my “What I’m playing” blog post from last week, I’m now thoroughly hooked on Terraria. Like Minecraft, this game threatens to rule me for a spell. Gameplay is quite similar to Minecraft, but it is a 2D Platformer. (if you are not a geek, see the link)
Our budding outpost in Terraria - like my goggles?
Where do I start with this one? Well, as I said, it’s quite similar to Minecraft. You break blocks, form structures and craft all manner of items. However, Terraria has a very robust combat / adventuring system. It also boasts some neat and different weapons / tools (boomerang!). And it certainly has more of an “adventury” feel to it. Again, one of my buds stood up a server and we can login anytime to continue to explore and/or build some neat things.
Two thumbs up and over the rainbow for this one!
That’s all for now, I guess. I do have the first few pencils in for Eden’s graphic novel and I’m psyched to start sharing some of that with y’all. I know it’s a huge project, so here’s hoping Andres sticks with us through the end! He is an exceptional artist and I’m lucky to have found him.
I’m all settled in the new house, so work on Babylon is starting up again. I will have the 1st draft done by the end of the summer, for sure. If not, feel free to corner me in any airport and punch me in the nuts… I won’t fault you.
Posted in Games, tagged games, Gaming on June 14, 2011| 5 Comments »
Time for an update!
Yup, I’m always playing games and here’s the latest. You may also notice that I change games more often than most people change their underwear. It’s my curse.
Pirates of the Caribbean Online (MMO)
I keep returning to this game with a few friends. This and City of Heroes seem to be my staples over the past 5-ish years. Why? Not sure.
For Pirates, I think it has to do with the core gameplay. The graphics stink. The performance is often choppy. Some things are still bugged, even after all these years. But no other game can offer the sheer amount of mmo fun that comes from everyone hopping onto the same ship and sinking other ships. One player is the “captain” and everyone else can fire deck guns and repair the ship via mini games. Star Trek Online completely missed the mark – the devs for that failboat really should have looked at what Disney Online did here.
While everyone in Pirates certainly can pilot their own ships, it’s far more fun to all cooperatively sail on one ship. As the captain steers, broadsides and does other captainy stuff, everyone else scrambles around the deck firing cannonballs into enemy hulls. Yeah, it’s just great physics fun like Spank the Frank. (just click on the link – I’m not feeling that spunky tonight… it’s safe)
Enemy NPC Flagships require you to disable them and then board to fight the crew. Um… if that doesn’t put a rise in yer pantaloons, I don’t think you can talk games with me any longer:
Pirates of the Caribbean Online: give it a look-see, it’s free to try.
Notice a theme? Graphics count for shit when it comes to the quality of any computer game. FACT.
Posted in Games, Life, Writing on May 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »
First Interview for Antaran Legacy Published!
Check it out here. My favorite self-quote: “Do you really think white guys named “Matthew” and “Luke” were running around the Middle Eastern desert two thousand years ago?”
Gosh darnit – I’m a funny guy. Sacrilegious? Nope – that’s the truth!
It’s actually a great interview, full of my personal thoughts about the Antaran Legacy and how the story relates to my own life. Be sure to check it out!
T-Minus 3 days to move
Wow, we got rid of so much shit. I’m so proud of my wife… I’ve converted her from “packrat” to “chuck it!” mentality. The mind-altering drugs I’ve been slipping into her wine over the years have finally started to work!
I did come across some more geeky things while packing my office. Warning: this shit is OLD:
Ahh, Pool of Radiance. That game changed my life. It set the bar for everything I played afterwards. And, yup, even as a kid I was a dirty cheater. I still have the cluebook and I used it most recently around 2001-2002 when I coded The Inn of the Drunken Skald, a Neverwinter Nights persistent online world (we were #1 for a long, long time). In the original, I remember hiring mercenaries and getting them killed to take their magical stuff. I recall Sokal Keep and the dozens of orcs you had to kill all in one fight. So many warm memories from this granddaddy RPG…
Speaking of RPGs with grey hairs, that’s my original install disc for Everquest! Somehow, I still have it. I suppose it holds its nostalgic value to me because it was the first 3D mmorpg I played. It launched many games for my group of friends, including the eventual WoW addiction (of which I have made a full recovery). My most vivid memories from EQ include “training” our dark elf guards onto the humans and gnomes who attacked our guards near the outskirts – choo choo! There was no direct pvp, so that had to suffice. A GM eventually put a stop to our actions, though we felt justified. I also recall staring at female ogre ass-crack during most adventures…
What’s that last little thing up in the corner? Yup, playing cards for the best Collectible Card game I’ve ever played: Free Realms. While not as ancient as the other items here, it is the height of geekdom to order playing cards with yer mmorpg character on them.
Yup… get it out now.
I’m that guy. I just can’t bring myself to chuck them. The game is stellar, though it has no support from Sony Online Entertainment anymore. If you try to argue with me that another CCG is better, I will punch you in the nuts. Well, okay, Jyhad/V:tES is better when played with 3+ players. But, nothing can beat the dueling gameplay in the Free Realms CCG!
Ta Ta for now!
More radio silence from me as I move the 7 lifeforms in my house to another house. SEVEN?! Damn, we might need to cull the herd. Simplify, simplify…
Posted in Games, Life, Writing on March 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Your Snarkiness is back!
After a grueling 5 weeks of Statistics class and being on and off sick (still coughing… yay suppressed immune system!), I am back with a few musings. I’ve been mostly involved in schoolwork and my job moving further away, thus stealing more hours of my day in commuting, but yet I have still been consuming – taking in media when I can and trying to make sense of our kooky world.
So a couple quick things. Yeah… I was rooting for the Cobra never to be found and for it to continue to make me laugh as it lurked around New York City. I mean, I know Cobra’s are supposedly “dangerous” and all, but I don’t live in NYC, so it might as well amuse me instead. Seriously – considering some of the other news of the world – a cobra winning the hearts of NYC is the feel good story.
Secondly – have you read Jane McGonigal? Or listened to her speak. She’s got some really interesting things to say about how games could save the world. Not a joke, not even kinda. I bought Reality is Broken and I’m working my way through it (I love books and reading, but I am admittedly a very slow reader). I’ll have more to say about her when I finish it. Go check it out and prepare some notes so we can talk about it.
What I really wanted to talk about today is neat link that is floating around the Twittersphere,
“HOW TO STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST (AND 9 OTHER THINGS NOBODY TOLD ME)”
The advice here is second to none. I know that Matt is usually the one to come by here and share creative advice, and he’s the more accomplished in that arena, but this struck me when I read it. I was going to just send him the link to read, but I figured his blog was a little blah lately, so maybe I would drop by and add a little spice to it.
I admit, freely, to being a hack. I steal, steal, steal and make ideas my own. Nothing new is out there. I really believe that. Creativity isn’t about coming up with something new. That shit is for scientists. Artists don’t do that. What artists do is take something that already exists and make it better. We tinker with ideas until that great thing that you saw that inspired you is now something you are proud of and are brave enough to call your own.
I never heard of this guy before, but Austin Kleon is my new F’n hero. Everything he said in his post makes sense to me and I fully advocate.
Anyway, when you’re done reading all that above (and you should, since I have commanded it), I have to ask… have you read The Antaran Legacy, Book 1: For Duty? Well, if you have, you should review it. Say nice things. Here’s a suggestion – “Mr. Plourde writes about women so well, I think he might have lady parts.” Or you know, something like that – you’re creative now – come up with something great!
m1k3
Posted in Games, tagged games, Gaming on March 23, 2011| 2 Comments »
Luckily my hotel internet blows and I cannot play at nighttime this week. Otherwise, I would be fully digital by now.
What the frak is Minecraft?
This, the frak, is Minecraft:
Our budding castle / town
Okay, let’s check-off the things on “Matt’s Wacky Game Requirements List”:
– Sandbox? This game is the ultimate.
– Permanence? Yup, we already have a server.
– Simple, yet fun? Minecraft embodies this.
– Vomit-inducing graphics? You bet!
So, what do you do? Well, quite simply, you mine and craft. Brilliant! And no, this isn’t stupid, repetitive, level-up crafting existent in massively multiplayer online games. You change the landscape, drastically.
From something like this:
To something like this:
Here’s how it works. The game generates a random world roughly 8 times the size of earth. You enter the universe with nothing but your fists and your blocky, digital avatar.
From there, you punch trees (fuck yeah!) until you have enough wood to craft some crude tools: axe, pick, shovel, etc. With those tools, you mine deeper and find different types of materials to build whatever your imagination can conjure, lego-style. Castles? Underground cities? Squid aquarium? City in the sky? Powered train that transports materials/players from one city to another? CHECK and CHECK, to everything and more.
The game allows your imagination to run wild without imposing too many rules. The gameworld does cycle between day and night (roughly 10 minutes each), and the monsters come out at night! Your best tactic is to head indoors or somewhere safe. You can kill them with crafted weapons, but there’s no experience/levelling/grind. So, there’s not too much reason to fight them (besides fun) if you can avoid it. Of course, you could develop clever traps to kill them for you.
I’ve played creative sandbox games many times in the past, but they’ve all been single player. The cooperative elements of the Minecraft server may just prove to be something quite special.
I’m just a noob, so I won’t bore you with any more of my own screenshots (the only one from our server was that 1st one). Maybe I will in the future, if I blog about Minecraft again. In the meantime, there’s a hole that needs to be dug.
life, life and everything in between 