Today I looked into learning JavaScript.  Basically it’s a weakly-typed declarative/functional language with a couple object-oriented features for good measure, much in the line of PHP or Perl.  The interesting part, though, is the “HTML DOM”, a set of objects that allows JavaScript to access and manipulate the web page it’s a part of.  I went into this project looking to learn automatic form validation, and I’ve figured that out.  Even that much may allow me to add new features to my web-based games.

Speaking of web-based games, I had an idea for another little project for the TIGSource Commonplace Book Competition.  I’m calling it “NecroFodder”.  We’ll see if anything comes of it.

First, Greg Costikyan (yes, that Greg Costikyan) has given Aching Dreams a favorable review.  Not intense praise or accolades by any means, but for what the game is, I’m very pleased with what he said.  And there’s an interesting conversation going on in the comments, too.  Really, this is kind of an amazing feeling for me; obviously Cook did a lot of work on the project (more than just art), but I’m the one who had responsibility for programming, UI design, fixing bugs, not to mention building and “shipping” the finished product.  So I feel rather…validated!

Also, I’ve started on an interactive fiction game called “The Duel” for TIGSource’s Commonplace Book Competition (horror-themed for the Halloween season!).  Check it out and make suggestions!

So, recently I completed writing a long…well, I guess you’d call it a short story, or maybe even a chapter of a novella. And now that that’s out of the way, I can get on with doing other cool stuff. (It had sort of been weighing on my mind for a while.)

I’m doing more PHP work on secret projects, and I’m also working in Inform on a project for the TIGSource Commonplace Book Competition. (I’m actually working in Inform 6; it’s more programmer-oriented than Inform 7, but hey, I’m a programmer! And it’s what I learned. Maybe someday I’ll learn 7.) I bet I’ll even be able to finish this one for Halloween.

Oh, yes, Halloween. I always want to have something…special happen for Halloween. We’ll see what I can *ahem* dig up.

I’ve noticed that I haven’t really been enjoying “twitch” games, that is, games that have action and focus on manual dexterity and/or timing.  I’ve especially been frustrated by those that are difficult.  Today I started thinking about why that might be the case.  (Brought on by playing Mega Man 9.)

The thing about action games is that they expect you to play them over and over, to practice, and thus to develop the skill of playing the game.  Then, once you finally master the skill and pass the game, you’re supposed to feel a sense of accomplishment.  And that’s good, if that’s what you want.

However, I play games a little differently.  Personally, I don’t really enjoy developing a skill to play a game; if I have trouble passing something and finally get through it, I feel relief more than accomplishment.  I’m not looking to develop and exercise skills in “simple” play of a game.

What I’m looking for is more in the line of experiencing the game.  I want to explore the environments, learn the information about the game world, hear the story, see the ending.  If I have to go back and repeat something until I get it right…well, that’s just interfering with my true enjoyment of the game!

You might be thinking that this implies I never replay a game.  However, this isn’t true.  There are games with multiple endings, of course, but what I really enjoy are games with multiple strategies.  My favorite type of games are the strategy/builder type games; Civilization, Master of Magic, Galactic Civilizations, Master of Orion.  (Why do I feel like there should be a game entitled “Master of Civilizations”?  Well, anyway…)  Once you finish one game of Galactic Civilizations 2, you can play another as a different race.  Or with a different galaxy size.  Or different distribution of planets, combination of opponents in the game, research speed, opponent intelligence (difficulty level)…And that’s not even considering the different ways you can play the game, conquering through military force or seducing planets through influence, etc., etc..

Therefore, while action games can certainly be fun, they don’t hold my attention like strategy games.

(This is all, of course, completely subjective; I’m well aware that everyone plays games for their own reasons!)

Over in my LiveJournal I posted an idea about dividing up valuable loot between a group of people completing a “dungeon run” of some kind. It sparked some interesting discussion in the comments! I suppose I should do that sort of thing in this blog, although I’m not sure anyone even reads it…

The idea of this game is that we create a starship put together from materials obtained from different worlds (or even dimensions). Each player thinks up a quick description of a civilization (”When climate change made their seas drop, these fish-people became amphibians; they are masters of chemistry and growing structures out of organisms like coral”). Then, they are assigned a Component Type by the referee (”Life Support”) and figure out how their civilization would make that component (”Photosynthetic coral reefs exchange gases and absorb wastes; Membranes let the gases through while keeping the air in the rest of the ship from being too humid”). And then, everyone’s components get put together into one amazing ship!

Here are the rules in all their tedious detail!

One player should act as a referee, and that player probably shouldn’t contribute. (That player should be someone who isn’t really disappointed in not being able to play…refereeing for this game isn’t that hard. Heck, it could all be done by a computer program, now that I think about it…)

1. Each player secretly chooses a Technology Level. This level can range from 1 (you can build a castle) to 5 (you can colonize other star systems). (Obviously, this portion of the game needs to be expanded, and probably the numbers changed; for now, let’s go with this.)

2. Everyone tells the referee their Technology Level. (Again, secretly, so only the referee knows all the levels.)

3. The referee judges the suitability of the Technology Levels. If it’s invalid, the referee says so (”we need one more person of at least Technology 4″); then, go back to step 2. If the Levels are valid, continue to step 4.

4. Each player writes a description of a civilization that exists at their chosen Technology Level. When I say “Technology”, it could be something fantastic like magic.

4b. This is a step I’m not sure if I should include or not. For now, consider it an optional variant: Each player passes the civilization they’ve written to the player on their left. (Left is an arbitrary choice; as long as each player gets a new civilization, it’s fine.) Then the players have to inform the referee of the Technology Level of the civilization they currently have. From now on, for each player, the new civilization is considered to “their” civilization (with associated Technology Level).

5. The referee secretly assigns each player a Component Type, based on their civilization’s Technology Level. If there are less than five players, assign more than one Component Type to each player. Some Component Types are “optional”, to be assigned if there are more than five players. Or the referee can simply assign the same Component Type to more than one player. Consult the following list:

• Structure - Minimum TL 1
• Life Support - Minimum TL 2
• Wiring - Minimum TL 2 (optional)
• Engines - Minimum TL 3 (optional)
• Computer - Minimum TL 3
• Power Supply - Minimum TL 4
• Hyperdrive - Minimum TL 5

6. Each player writes a description of a component, of their assigned Component Type, that could be created by their civilization.

7. When everyone’s done, dimensional travelers assemble all the components into a starship and explore the galaxy!

This game just sort of popped into my head, so I thought I’d write it down. Obviously, the framework could be adapted to many other things besides starships. And the basic component list could probably be improved as well.

This blog post and the game “Hypership” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Over at the Summer 2008 Game Challenge, I wrote a tiny RPG called Evil Twin. It’s not really that complete, but I think it has some good ideas. Well, one rather interesting idea. Anyway, check it out.

Apparently there’s a new TIGSource competition. I don’t really have any good ideas for this one…most of the games I’d really like to remake are already, like, SNES-level. Hm. So, I probably won’t be trying this one out.

I’ve started blending my recreation with creativity in the classic Let’s Play format; look for my threads in the Forum Games section of the Chaoseed forum.

This coming weekend I’m going to ARG-Fest-o-Con 2008 in Boston. Whee!

Working hard on Special Project 2, with a bit of 1 thrown in if I can manage it.

So…more work on, er, Secret Project 2. Yep.

Today I had a thought. Dwarf Fortress is kind of a roguelike, isn’t it? I like its emphasis on construction. And Nethack is basically open source. Hmmm…

So, after playing with various video conversion and editing programs, I’ve managed to edit together a video. You might say it all went…Just As Planned!