The delicate magic of Halo

-Sir! I think we lost Master Chief!
-"no you didn't..."

From the day my friend told me the story about Halo: Combat Evolved until its recent incarnation at number "4" I loved this game. How original, huh? I'm definitely not the only one. Today however, after a long time I decided to take a look at what components actually made Halo series a cultural phenomena rather than just good game. Perhaps, to make my journey and your reading a bit shorter and easier I'll state them in short order:

1. Rhythm of game play
2. Well defined characters 
3. Balanced  weapon line-up
4. Varied opposition 
5. Enveloping story

1. Rhythm of game play.

Probably the most difficult to achieve in any FPS is balance of adrenaline rush, interesting story and what RPG players call "rail-roading". Second to that comes the question of how to avoid player being distracted by surrounding world of game from fighting. How Bungie and now 343 Industries approached it?

They created a perfect illusion of huge world around player but actually kept the player most of the time in confined space. In its core Halo is a corridor shooter, where we are confined by surroundings and forced to shoot our way through waves of enemies. This makes our heart beat rate goes up, adrenaline rush in, and we desperately dashing for cover. All of this is enough to make us forget to enjoy the big world around us. Not to mention that while we fight through locations, Bungie delivers a graceful views of planets, stars, huge spaceships and sunny horizon in a very delicate matter: enough to give us an impression of freedom, but not enough distract player from combat.

This line is really thin, give too much combat, and player starts to complain about "repetitive process", give too much of free world and player starts yawning because "nothing is happening" or "these huge open spaces are boring". Even when we are fighting in the open air maps, with a lot of opposition Halo manages to pass between those extremes (most of the times) by either rushing us towards objectives on limited time, so we must avoid excessive fighting, or by cutting opposition into manageable portions. A a result keeping us busy and poised for next portion of baddies.

2. Well defined characters

Here we have the classic archetypes: quiet and confident Warrior, smart, caring and emotional Girl, all-knowing Mother Halsey, animals aliens under religious leadership (big boo from out secular society), monstrous Hive mind, disgusting parasites (even bigger boo from cleaning-concerned housewives), and ever-loyal and heroic Soldiers of Democracy with cigar smoking Sergeant. Add a cyber-enhanced Forerunners with glowing light, which as we all know is a sign of superior technology.

We have seen all that in different variations from Hollywood trash to Medal of Honor. Where is the BIG difference is that in Halo all of them are forced to "make" choices as world's picture changes during the game. What is also important: they have position towards player, and we respond to that. Most complex character of entire series IMHO was Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum, who in a matter of one campaign went through loyalist in need for redemption to human ally and major actor in Covenant's fate. Well established and played characters are believable and understandable, even if their motifs are world domination.

3. Balanced weapon layout

Less is more, and each weapon has it niche and drawbacks. Most importantly we are still restricted to our 3 weapon slots. Simple and elegant solution which denies some pleasure of hoarding loads of guns. At the same time forcing players to think and try all possible load outs even with the useless Needler. High speed of most firefights also overshadows the secondary weapons like under-slung grenade launcher or dual wielding pistols.  It does exist in real world and in Crysis but absent in the whole Halo universe. Simply put: one gun - one trigger. No time and place for fancy show-off tricks or customization. Is it comfortable? Sometimes. Is it playable? Of coarse! Is it fun? Yes.  

4. Varied opposition. 

FPS games are obviously all about killing the enemies. However, anyone will get tired of shooting the very same baddie even if given loads of different weapons and scenarios. In FPS games simulating modern conflicts this is solved by changing the scenery and mumbling about importance of the mission against the baddies. Sometimes we get to customize out gun as a game in itself. Halo is free from our politically correct world and allows us to kill anything that is bigger and does not speak our language. However the curve of difficulty is constantly  growing up: more Elites, Knights or Brutes as well increased number of hit points and resilience will make a game challenging and interesting even after first play through. Here is one of the main advantages of background work of Halo: all characters are incredibly believable and have unique "natural" behavior. Elites roar, Brutes charge in, Grunts love plasma grenades and chatter, Knights express anger by glowing orange and Flood is simply desperate for a hug.

5. Enveloping story.

Simply put from the very first game to latest one - we save the world. There is not much choice for player, except to aim and shoot those who desperately want to destroy it. The brilliant trick of Halo  is that world we are saving is not a distant propagandistic picture, on every turn of the game  this world has both personal touch and grand design properties. What is more important, those are interconnected on both logical and emotional levels. In addition every major objective takes us further on  the curve of storyline.  Let me elaborate on that. 

In Combat Evolved we started in desperate situation, where Cortana needed to be rescued. Even if she would only be an witty half-naked girl, that would be enough for male gamers to have fun. But as story progresses, saving Cortana and Earth from Covenenant invasion becomes a minor job. Now we are in charge of saving the Universe, because someone, sometime, somewhere have left a doomsday devices. Typical story of hero's job? Yes. But there is still room for saving the Captain, escape the trap filled with Flood, finding common language with AI of Halo and shooting lots of bullets. And every step of the way, there is gorgeous girl helping us. 

As series progressed stakes are even higher, the very heart and soul and reason for our heroics is trapped by Gravemind. This makes even invasion of Earth a minor problem, now player must save Universe in order to get to the girl. This is where Halo storyline get very close to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, one of the greatest pieces of literature describing similar subject. Luckily we have a secondary points of view, a Covenant and ODST. This lets us see a bit more of the Universe and its internal struggles, without stopping for a lunch break in combat.  Following the internal logic of any conflict the main baddie must be defeated in the last sequence. Victory is hard fought, but rewarded with kiss from a damsel on distress, reunion with Cortana. Who manages to save our hero from exploding Halo thanks to her AI abilities.

Halo Reach, was an interesting side step: it revolved around what will happen with Master-Chief and Cortana and gave insight into military aspects, political unrest of UNSC, gave refreshment to old Human-Covenant conflict and generally stepped aside from formula of 3-side conflict, which fueled the previous games. It retained the formulas of speed engagements and weapon balance, but added the teamwork as main factor to the gameplay and storyline. Kat, may not be Cortana, but she is still a smart girl, who's death will be avenged many times over.   

   

Finally, Halo 4 brought us back into the boots of Savior in power armour. For more than decade Halo refined its success formulas and they all are here: 3-way conflict between Humans, Covenant and Forerunners, dramatic crashes and escapes from one conflict into another, silent and strong hero with emotional and vulnerable girl, team of super-soldiers on a mission, internal intrigues which release our hero from military routine, weird and varied aliens, doomsday weapon which was unleashed and mighty Mr. Evil who took away Cortana. In the end of all that, Master-Chief takes off his helmet and armour leaving us sad for his personal loss and defiant glory. Every high and low point of series was reinserted into the 4-th Halo and it still works pretty well. 

Halo 4 leaves us with a lot of question as well as new ways of answering them. Will the Forerunners help us or be utterly defeated? What will happen with remains of Covenant? How humanity re-take legacy of the Forerunners? Is Flood completely eradicated?  How Spartans will evolve humankind? Will Master-Chief meet Cortana again? 

The Reclaimer Saga is the answer.    

Yours,
Mark-Paul Severn @2013

Liliana.

...you did promised to give up everything for a night with me, didn't you?
 So try to enjoy it as much as you can...
Liliana Veiss. 

Star Citizen

There it is, Star Citizen, the game that has a legend of Chris Roberts, author of Privateer, Starlancer, Wing Commander and Freelancer written on the side of it. It made it through Kickstarter with over $7mil in hands. Will it be better that EVE? 

Elysium: new movie from Neill Blomkamp

My hero, Neill Blomkamp is making a new movie! Matt Damon is the star. Trailer of Elysium looks like social unrest  and rich-poor division what was a strong background in District 9 remains. Bring on the revolution! 

thanks to http://futurewarstories.blogspot.co.uk/ for update on this

Boarding Marines: rules overview

Boarding Marines of Imperial Fists

Boarding Marines have been around ever since Forgeworld conceived Badab War books. Their primary mission would be to board and assault enemy ships in void space. As a player of Black Templar's successor it would be a perfect unit for my style of play. I was tempted to either buy one of the books or just buy upgrade kit from Forgeworld. Both temptations were successfully resisted thanks to the price £90 for the book, content most of which was not interesting to me. You would not pay such amount for 2 pages of really useful stuff, would you? In case you would, you will need a Badab War part I book from Forgeworld. Second reason was lack of open references to the boarding marines equipment. The site states: 

Detailed resin conversion kit consisting of two lascutters, a graviton gun, and sufficient boarding shields, weapon arms and heads to build five Boarding Space Marines, as well as additional components to build a Boarding Sergeant.       

Forgeworld loves to invent old-new weapons and leave their profile buried in books and useless pictures. What type of lascutter? Is it a graviton gun from old codexes or similar to Blood Angels graviton grapple? What is the difference between boarding and combat shield? £90 is an answer. I would assume that if you live outside UK its even more expensive. So a scrapped the idea. 

However, the Emperor has answered to my prayers and gave me a chance to have a look inside of one these blessed books. I saw the pictures. I saw the rules. I saw the points. Then I closed the book and congratulated myself on saving some money. Let me explain why.

1. Profile. Boarding Marines are absolutely no different from any other codex Space Marine stats. Same stats as any Tactical squad. No bonuses, no extra skills, nothing. Extra 50 points. 
2. Really "unfluffy". Forgeworld authors describe that becoming Boarding Marine is more of death sentence from the Chapter. WTFK? These guys should have done a research on Black Templars, who fight most of their battles in space and zero gravity. Not to mention that this kind of operations would require at least some skill and training. No, in their mind Boarding Marines are just over pimped cannon fodder.
3. Questionable Equipment. With boarding shield marine gets 5+ invulnerable save. Wonderful, isn't it? But Space Marine with power armour in zero gravity CANNOT RUN WITH IT! Yes, super soldiers need to visit the gym more often. On top of that, even if Boarding Marines will assault anything they never gain bonus for extra weapon. Why???! To represent that shield is so heavy and its so difficult to fire bolter while carrying it? Or to limit us to using them as move and fire unit? Then why Captain, Veterans or even Sergeants may take storm shield with power armour? 
4. Strange lascutter. Imperial Armour 2: Project Aphelion featured lascutter in Elysian Drop troopers inventory. Range: base contact, S:10, AP:? auto hit on immobile targets except infantry; ideal for breaking doors and cooking big bugs in assault. Boarding Marines get a lascutter which adds +1 to our Initiative in assault but we lose any bonuses for charging. Auto hit in assault with S:9, AP:1, ignores armour. Why lose Strength? Why repeat that it ignores armour if in most cases it is a case of Instant Death? Poor Guardsman can charge in an wipe the 'nids face with it, and super soldier can not? Mind you, I'm paying £90 for this.

So is there a bright side for Boarding Marines? Well, yes there is. 2 models per unit may take either support weapons like multi-melta. Unit may accompanied by 2 types of Drones: Fire Wasp and Devastation drone: one with flamer other with demolition charge of 5" blast, (again, why not use normal Blast?). Graviton Gun is actually a cool weapon with Range 18" AP3 and nasty surprise to anything which will come under a blast area. But despite everything, if you really like Forgeworld resin you will enjoy the quality of the kit, don't mind the rules. Unless of coarse you would take a risk and make a conversion.

     
Sincerely yours
Mark-Paul.

New Tau Codex: biggest changes

Tau Pathfinders. Source: http://eastern-empire.com/gallery/urban-tau-cadre/

New Tau is finally here! The shiny hard-cover codex book is written by Jeremy Wetlock, who runs the column in White Dwarf and apparently been with GW for a long time. Codex itself is full-colored 100 or so pages book with easy navigation, plenty of images and background on each old and new units, heroes as well as new influx of background information on Tau Empire itself, their Septs and Heroes. Book is priced at £30 in Uk, and well worth buying just to have it on the shelf or battlefield.

So what are the biggest changes from the old codex:

1. Hammerhead and Sky Ray are BS 4.
2. Fire Warriors and Pathfinders are Initiative 2 
3. Drones may mix and match between Shield, Markerlight and Heavy Guns in one unit.
4. Drones are Initiative 4. 
5. Snipers are BS 5 and may have up 6 Marksmen with up 3 Sniper Drones each. Oh, Their weapon is a Rapid fire AP5. Did i mentioned the markerlight and Support fire?
6. Vespid are Initiative 6 and will ignore difficult or dangerous terrain. 
7.  Support Fire special rule allows you to fire Overwatch from friendly unit in 6" as well as from unit being assaulted. With certain abilities or Heroes Support fire may be fired by vehicles!  
8. Markerlight will grant one of the following: +1 to BS, Ignore Cover saves, fire a Seeker missile without reducing the amount of weapons vehicle can use, add +1 bonus for each markerlight to Overwatch BS.
9. Kroot finally got an armor. 6+ armor is a Kroot dream come true :) 
10. Most Battlesuits pack twink-linked weapons, but majority is still BS 3. 
11. Fire Blades are nasty! Veterans of Fire Caste they almost rival Space Marine Captains. They are 50+ points upgrade for Fire Warrior and allows extra shots or re-roll 1 to hit. 3 Wounds. 
12. Rippertide Battlesuit is a Mounstrous Creature with Toughness 6 and loads of weapon choices. Main bonus Nova Reactor: allows you either extra shots with twin-linked weapons, 4d6 evasion maneuver, overload with big "kaboom", or improved AP.
13. Flyers are here. Bomber and Fighter both at BS 3, 2 HP and ability to take 4+ invulnerable save against incoming fire. 
14. Heroes: as well as Farsight, Shadowsun and Aun'Va (last one is even more useful than ever), there is a master Pathfinder, super tankman at BS 5, Tank hunter, Support fire and Overwatch, and Ethereal with WS:5, I:5 A:4. He either goes Rending or chopping, especially against the Orks. 
15. Last but not least: Warlord Traits. 6 unique Traits, with 3 out of them may be used once per battle. They demand and intelligent play and understanding of your army. Traits may give your units Skyfire rule, extra shots, extra move or morale bonus.                           

In conclusion: most of the units remained as they were, or even less hard, but the difference is army cohesion, support and firepower. Tau will demand intelligent play, careful positioning and support from each other. Only then they will be victorious.  
   

Shadowsun.

Shadowsun.Did you called me hentai character??! 

Legal disclaimer

Official:

Represented and used on this blog images, marks, names, races, race insignia, characters, vehicles, locations, units, illustrations, quoted texts  and other materials does not seek to challenge Intellectual property of their respective owners. Unless stated otherwise materials are used without permission. Aforementioned materials and TM, are property of their owners and their affiliates. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners. 

Sort-of-official:
Texts and  ideas posted on this blog are Copyright of Mark-Paul Severn. Should anybody use them without my permission for money making, I will not hesitate to use my mutant powers to steal your liver and cook it on gas while you asleep.

So beware! It's better to mention me or my blog in your sources than lose a liver. :-))

Arwen.

I'm 2700 years old, (thanks to Tolkien, should you ask), and i'm married. But I was quite a wild thing in my youth.  

Lucas Arts is dead. R.I.P.

The mighty Jedi has been eaten by Mickey Mouse as Disney acquired Lucas Film and Lucas Arts during the fall 2012. Now Lucas Films, and Lucas Arts have been shut down. Half a year ago while most observers were following media hype and promises of bright new future (as well as Star Wars: Episode 7 and other shiny stuff) somethings should have warned us of inevitable:

1. It's Disney. One of the main competitors of George Lucas and his approach to entertainment, art and life. Lucas was brave enough to borrow from Buddhist philosophy and put that into a working concept for mass media. Can you imagine Lion King or Mickey Mouse thinking and relating to matters of strategy, belief  and philosophy? I can't.

2. Death of master L. George Lucas, as a result of the deal would not be directing, but being a "creative consultant". Artist is a main driver of any film or game production. When artist stops being heart of it, the magic of our connection to the movie, story and characters slowly dies as  more of "same-crap-as-before-cause-it-sells" stuff encroaches  The fact that Lucas was not actively involved in creation of last 3 films of Star Wars actually shows that. Movies became more about lightsabre-action and less about meaning. 

3. Different market priority.  Disney, despite all the promises had a strong idea where the "new" LucasArts will go. This is a quote from Disney's announcement I took from kotaku.com: 

In a conference call this afternoon, Disney's Bob Iger said they will be focusing on social and mobile games and will likely license their IPs for console gaming-meaning you'll see other studios making Star Wars games .

Well, most of the games that made Lucas Arts were traditional PC and console games with rich narrative and established background. They obviously did not fit into Zynga's backyard of casual games and Facebook time-killers.  That's not the product players would expect from such studio.  

So now to the final question on why would Disney buy Lucas Films and shut them down? It's not just about the money. With Lucas Arts gone, but their intellectual property under their control, Disney will become unsinkable giant of entertainment industry. That would improve their position greatly in the face of current financial difficulties and hard-hit entertainment sector. Current cancellation of new project's serves this goal: spend as less as you can, gain as much as you can. Welcome to capitalism, Jedi.
   

April.

Ms. April
Saving the gamers from low blood pressure

Destiny: Brave New world

I have to apologize, for some annoying reason, Bungies have 339 social networks listed on their page, but I can't put I video of this one hour conversation into my blog.
So here is the link to it:  Destiny News revealed.

This video is a first look at Destiny and ideas that shaped it. In short, while most of Bungie have been developing Halo, some have played around fantasy world and their mythology-infested habitats (yawn). Thankfully, the sci-fi past and power of shotgun have prevailed and idyllic fantasy, filled with Heroes and master-crafted swords have been invaded by blaster, bounty hunters and spaceships. Rejoice! Bungie stayed true to themselves and kept balance between hardened heroes with pet tigers (just wait for it to appear in the video) and assault rifles aimed at robots.

 The visuals are powerful and magnetic. One of the goal they set was to make Destiny's world attractive: they have succeeded already. However game is still far in development, but at least world builder is ready and main characters outline are set too. The media hype have started too, so start putting coins into your piggy bank, or whatever you are using to save money.

The Fallen.
Four arms is better than two.

Halo. Landfall by Neill Blomkamp

Neill Blomkamp.
Director.

This is compilation of 3 videos released by Bungie prior Halo 3. All those shorts were directed by Neill Blompkamp as preparation for Halo movie. The movie was cancelled, but Neill kept his pace and created District 9, almost a documentary about alien landing in Johannesburg. 

Those shorts were meant to be a promotional videos. But instead the offered different, gritty approach to usually shiny Halo universe.

I love it. I hope you to.  

Destiny. The new trend in FPS genre?

First person shooter as computer game genre has faced many difficulties and crisis. Both critics and gamers gradually became frustrated with waves of enemies spawned by script and claustrophobic close quarters with undying character. Different companies and game designers offered different solutions.Just to name the few:

Crysis went on the road of putting super abilities against superior numbers and toughness of opponents.       

Battlefield carries on with classic FPS approach but concentrates on realism and team work.  

Halo sticks to its guns, high-adrenaline firefights and great balance between the powers of player and map limitations.  

Far Cry got stuck on the island with re-spawning pirates and does not actually offer anything new.   

Ghost Recon offered us drones to control but limited maps to superiority fight against blind, deaf and suicidal enemy.  

Gears of War still lives in the time of Napoleon, where bayonet in the face is an ultimate solution  

Bioshock was perhaps the closest game to this trend, allowing us to evolve on spot and unlock new powers and abilities.  

However on  the other side of market, in RPG corner, games like Fallout and Mass Effect have changed their approach to firefight: skills, abilities and character's luck have greatly changed the way combat plays out. At the same time those games made their graphical and combat part as good or even better than those big FPS brands. That  is where future for FPS genre going to be, IMHO. Perks, abilities and skills will change the way player fights and will improve one or other style of play. Frankly, it already been done and tested in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. From there it will get more popular as future big hit Dust 514 and Destiny will show.

This video gives a glimpse of three distinct classes of Destiny's world: Titan - the armored soldier, Hunter - scout and bounty grabber and Warlock - the ultimate space Wizard, as well as our enemies. I believe that each one of those classes will have unique set of skills and abilities to amplify each character's style and powers. Perhaps, Star Wars: the Old Republic will face tense competition from Destiny.

You will be right if you say that we heard it all before from countless FPS and online games. Yes. But not from Bungie. That company has a very high standard.

Rayne.

Sod off!! I'm on my f**£$% LUNCH!!!
Blood Rayne.
Most over-pimped vampire of all times.

Games Workshop vs. the World

Every now and then I hear  from fellow gamers in private conversation and online rants how bad and greedy GW is. I must admit, these cries of pain have their point, and I do share some of the less-than positive opinions about how GW handles its clients, their policy towards certain games, competitors and retailers. However, in this post I will try to remind why we, as gamers and human beings must be grateful to Games Workshop.

First of all, Games Workshop  as company a  should have ceased to exist at after 5 years of operations.

Reason? GW  as a business became trapped in high licensing fees for games like Dungeons and Dragons and multiple computer games, while sale figures were declining. By trying to grab every bit of gaming market company almost went bust. GW at that point (1976-79, I believe) was saved by Citadel, paints and accessories company which bought large packet of shares thus providing vital money influx. That save the company from bankruptcy.  

GW's management, was replenished by "suits", and "geeks" were forced to step down. They might have had  misty-eyed understanding of games and rolling dice, but lost the battle to those who knew rules of the money-making game. Ironically they were helped by company who was selling support products. If that would not happen, we would not have a hobby in the first place. (I re-tell this story from one of my well-informed source inside of the company. The official history is much more shiny.)   

Next strategic move of GW made our beloved hobby into what we know today: shops as hobby centers. It is best seen in UK, and probably less around the world. GW shops are first of all game hubs, where people gather to have a game, socialize and thanks to friendly and professional staff buy more toy soldiers. Three main products, three distinct universes and lot of room to play and most important friends to share the hobby.

Games Workshop opening day at 1 Dalling Road, Hammersmith, London, in April 1978.
Source: Wikipedia

I strongly believe that social aspect was the main driver behind GW success. Sales were coming after, as a need to compete, share games and have fun demanded more toy soldiers. Secondly, those who grew up and left the hobby in search of job, marriage and  other game non-relevant stuff, brought their kids into GW hobby. I can bet my hat, that those kids will do the same when they reach the age of their parents.

On a grand scale, GW products are known all over the world, thanks to hobby centres/shops and the vibe which they have and still do spread. Thanks to this, after 25 years of such practise, table top games are well established time passing and multi-billion business. You can walk in any shop from Nottingham to Los-Angeles or Tokyo and you will find someone who would like to play with you.

Third thing we, as human beings, should be grateful for: quality of GW products.

To make matter simple look at those two pictures. One on the left is a simple toy soldier, on the right Space Marine. Notice the difference? Before the arrival of GW and their Space Marines, Elves, Orkz and Hobbits our ancestor were playing with that on the left.

Guess what? There were no rules. At all. But now we can discuss the higher math and probabilities as well as curse the dice for not giving us desired victory.

So thank you for that Games Workshop. Thank you for giving us 25 years of gaming and excitement. 

    

Game designer: Richard “Lord British” Garriott

It is a rare chance when hero of your story can describe both his past achievements and current mega-project in a matter of 5 minutes. So, let me introduce you to Lord Richard "British" Garriot, author and designer of mother of all Massive Online Role Play Games - ULTIMA. On the other note, in preparation to his new project "Shroud of the Avatar", he released a controversial statement that, I quote:

"I think most game designers really just suck, and I think there's a reason why. It's really hard to go to school to be a good designer. If you're not a good artist and not a good programmer, but you still like games, you become a designer, if you follow me. You get into Q&A and often design..."

Ironically I found his interview with PC Gamer  just after I posted about job in InnoGames and got all philosophical about my career prospects. Thank you, Mr. Garriot, now I know that I suck, and I will dedicate the rest of my life to proving you wrong. However, man with his achievements can allow himself a bit of honest arrogance, especially if he's actually got quite a point there:

“And the most valuable part of creating a game is the design, which the programmers are technically executing. And they’d be happy to just execute some of them. But in my mind, most artists and programmers are just as much of gamers as the designers, and I usually find in my history that the artists and programmers are, in fact, as good of designers as the designers. They’re often better, because they understand the technology or the art.“So we’re leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they’re not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer. It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer."       

Really? Most of game designers have not got a schools of game design to attend! They learn from films, writing, programming, world creating, modding other games, stealing ideas and mad sleepless trips on LSD and alcohol just to get things done by the deadline. Do I even have mention the strain of mundane life, bills, children and social obligations?

"I really push my team on how to make a scenario map. How do you really think about the whole thing holistically, to go, ‘yeah, it’s fine to wander through and kill a few things and get a treasure at the end, but why? What’s your motivation for being into it? What are the side stories? If you have these characters in there, what were their lives before they showed up on this map? If you didn’t think of one, go back. Do it again. I want you to know it.’”

Frankly, it would a blessing to work under him. Lord Garriot is a visionary and demands others to have or share vision with him. But in most cases game designer is facing a unrecognizable mumble of subconsciousness  describing how cool this game should be. Now we hire you to make something out this mumble and let us make loads of money. If you don't make it by next Friday it will be your fault and we would have to find someone cheaper to do the job. 

Game designers, IMHO have two distinct categories: the Digger and THE Architect. 

Digger does the dirty work: maps, individual quests, parts ans concepts. All those skills could be learned and practiced.

The Architect runs around with a majestic vision (as Mr. Garriot for example), he is GOD, he sees every detail, every strain of game DNA, he knows where player is going to do, how and why he will do it and what he will feel inside of his doomed soul. The Architect demands from the poor Digger to rise to his level o thinking, without the pay rise. Can those skills be learned? No. It's a talent. So I suck again. And if you read this so far, so do you.      

In conclusion, check his video on Kickstarter, there the majestic Lord Garriot describes what he has done and what he is going to do with the newly acquired $1 million. In short, he will make a most brilliant MMORPG game ever. I wounder if he is going to space again? Just to make sure that we all, you know ... 

Dream job description

Innogames, company behind the the Best Strategy Browser MMO of 2013 -  Forge of Empires has a job offer. Dream job for someone I guess. I read that and and Dostoevsky question goes through my head.

Am I good enough or...

Game Designer (m/f)

InnoGames, based in Hamburg, is one of the leading developers and operators of online games with more than 100 million registered players around the world. We have been characterized by dynamic growth ever since the company was founded in 2007. In order to further expand our success and to realize new projects, we are constantly looking for young talents, experienced professionals, and creative thinkers.

Your Tasks

• Development of game processes
• Drafting new game features and game events
• Drafting the menu navigation
• Balancing game contents
• Drafting game texts
• Documentation for developers and graphic artists
• Actively monitoring the market and analyzing the competition

Requirements

• A degree (e.g. in media informatics or business informatics), or comparable training
• Comprehensive knowledge of and demonstrable experience (through work experience or projects) in the field of game design
• A good understanding of mathematics, and a distinct ability to thing logically
• Basic knowledge in graphics software and programming
• A passion for online games (browser, mobile)
• Profound experience in playing browser games, and knowledge about the games market
• Knowledge of good menu promt and user guidance
• Very good knowledge of English
• A high degree of individual initiative and commitment
• Good communication skills, and the ability to work in a team

We Offer

• Constantly new challenges and projects in a sound and constantly growing company with flat hierarchies
• Responsibility and creative tasks, including a high degree of professional freedom for your own ideas
• A very good atmosphere in an intercultural environment, focused on teamwork
• Flexible working hours (core time 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), and many team events
• Supporting and contributing to the company retirement arrangement
• Further training on a regular basis, and a flat rate for reference books
• Supporting your move to Hamburg (e.g. through temporarily staying at our company apartment, and allround support if moving here from abroad)
• Funding your parking spot on the premises, or your ticket for local public transport
• Preventive health care
• Creative breaks, e.g. during table soccer, at the PlayStation, or in a beach chair outside
• Complementary soft drinks and fresh fruit for all employees

Taken from here: http://corporate.innogames.com/en/jobs/offer/job/show/Job/game_designer_mf.html

D30? D24? One dice for all rolls?

 Mr. Zochii continues to amuse me. One dice for all your gaming rolls? Is it a bit overkill?

The right dice for the job

I roll my d6 and d10 and d20 with very uneven luck. It either critical hit or critical fail. Very few results are in between. My mates have noticed that, and on some occasions asked if my dice were loaded. Nice, friendly question indeed.

The other thing is range of possibilities and understating of this. Until some point in gaming addiction life you hope for the best roll, and don't really care whether your dice is capable of delivering it. You may even have some lucky dice which would roll more 6 or 20 than any other dice.

Why? Because they are "lucky"? Really? May be they are made with flaw, which makes certain rolls more probable than other? Well, i have to say thanks to Anatoli's blog for link on those two videos. Louis  Zochii (i've probably spelled that wrong :)), one of the pioneers of dice production speaks and compares quality dice and cheap dice of his competitors. Even if that is just an advert, his marketing skills and competence is astonishing. He also compares casino dice, and their standard with mass marketed gaming dice, and explains why dice should be quality made and give equal chance of rolling any number on the side. In the end Mr. Zochii shows a quirky dice trick.