Versus Software   game + free time = duck

Because my father was in the navy I lived all over the world. I grew up meeting hundreds of different people, different cultures, different habits. As a way to blend in, meet people and generally make friends in these conditions, it was video games that allowed me to have a common background with people.

I would go to a new school and usually the topic of games would come up. We talked, played it for hours and generally had a good time. Games have been my companions since early on and they served me as a way to become accustomed to the new place I found myself at.

Now, usually one thing that struck me is that people, no matter where I go, would generally have the same game preferences and the same emotions and experiences as they played the same games. I did to. Every gamer remembers the first time they played a Mario game, beat a Final Fantasy, saw Ryu’s haduken and so on. These are all common experiences we have and shared.

However there are a few that pretty much everyone I know has had except me. These are my video game moments of shame. So without further ado, here is the list :

• I never finished Final Fantasy 6 nor Chronno Trigger. Only got half way in FF6 and to the final lavos battle in CT.



• Never finished Street Fighter without using a continue or resorting to using a very easy level.



• I never won a Stracraft  multiplayer match.



• I cannot for the life of me beat a Heroes of Might and Magic 3 map. I always get my ass kicked.



• Never killed a person in Counter Strike with an AWP. Ok, I hated using the weapon and everyone that used it, but still.



• Never beat a Megaman game without save states.



• I love all the point & click adventure games by Lucas Arts but I am still yet to play Grim Fandango.



• It took me almost a decade, with the same save state on the NES cartridge, to beat Dragon Warrior. I played that game to death when I was 11, maxed out my character but got stuck in the story. When I was 21 I dusted of the cartridge, got a FAQ and finished the fucker.



• I actually enjoyed playing Star Wars Shadows of the Empire.



• I own a original copy of Daikatana. Didn’t buy it but I still managed to get  copy, for free at least.

I guess that’s it for now. Quite shame full. Triple face palm.

I’m proud to announce that the game I developed last year, World Train Royale, is being sold by anothe portal! It’s called Yawma.net

More sales, more money. More money, more hobbies.

Today I’m going to talk about a game you should have played but didn’t. I’m talking about Planescape:Torment

Why I’m talking about Torment? Simple because that’s one of the few games that changed things for me. I used to think RPGs where about running around, with a sword, slashing shit, being a hero, yatta yatta. I thought these elements were important to make a player engaged in the story, a feeling of greatness that would compel him to keep playing. I was wrong.

Planescape has none of that crap, it’s a game that is all about story. And what a story it is. I won’t say much about it so not to give away any spoilers, but Torment does something that’s just brilliant in my book, and does it well:

It ties the story with the gameplay.

You see there are moments of revelation on the story, be it background info on one of the characters, a special item or a place you visit that gives you  an actual choice on what to do. You can return that item if yo want, leave that character  or even go somewhere else.

The secret here is choice. You can take your own path in the games decisions. Sure it’s a linear path as the story progresses, but how you as a character progress in that linear path is up to you. And it makes all the difference in the world.

After playing this game I look back at games I admired like Final Fantasy and see that they’re nothing but child’s play when it comes to interaction. It’s a really good game, and I suggest anyone check it out.

All right, got my copy of the Game Programming Gems 8 by mail today. Why is it special? Because one of the articles is mine!

Me and my good friend Peter Iliev wrote an article explaining how to retrieve the run-time stack via assembly and display it using the game’s GUI. I’ve been reading the other articles in the book and they are pretty good. I’ve read Game Programming Gems 1 and 5 and they’re also top notch, lots of good info in them.

I’m really proud to find myself among the authors.

Today I’m going to talk about a little side project I did this weekend: 2D Stencil shadows

You can grab a playable demo (windows only) to test and have fun here

I still remember playing Gish and liking it’s use of shadows in the game. When I heard the source code was released I decided to try and develop something similar, then compare mine code with Gish’s. Apparently, I was pretty close to the authors.

Try it out! Any feedback is recommended. Peace!