 |  | |
|
More Skyrim
| ||
 |  |
Midget52: You could say he's your POINTman? :D
| ||||
 |  |
| | |
 “Hey Greg, why didn’t the skeleton go to the party?”“Because he’s a fucking skeleton, Jen, we’ve talked about this.” Skyrim is out, my review is up, and it’s spoiler free. Although I was hugely privileged to get to play this early, there is a special kind of agony to being this excited about a game and believing you’re just about to get hold of it, every day for nine days. I was out for my parents’ anniversary dinner the night the mail finally came in, and the code was waiting when I got home late. It was going to take seven hours to download, so I set my alarm for six and went to bed. I haven’t woken up early for Christmas since I was about 12, but for Skyrim I woke up at 4, then 4.30, then 5, then 6, then 6.30, then 7. Every time the download had about two hours to go, and it seemed to get slower as it went. I made breakfast, tidied my room, exercised, showered, brewed coffee, did laundry, cleaned my kitchen, fretted, and then finally saw it finish. It would definitely crash. It would be encrypted. It would work, then be removed from Steam the next day. But it worked, I had time to play it thoroughly enough to review before the embargo, and it was this good.
More Skyrim
| ||
| |
TooNu: Hey Tom great review and the Tourists Guide was also a good read, thanks for that :)
I'm loving Skyrim, I've made a Destruction Mage who sneaks around firing arrows into things. The missus and I also suffered from the "it's Skyrim day!" much like a child on Christmas (and I still get excited for Christmas) but Skyrim day was something special indeed. I took a week off work for DXHR. I took a week off for Skyrim. That and my NY trip over my 30th back in March and I have no holiday time left until April. Time well used I'd say. If Gunpoint is out around Xmas, I have 4 days off where we are closed so I can concentrate on that too. 2011 the biggest year for games for YEARS. | ||||
| |
| | |
|
Programming is not what I’m naturally best at, and while it’s generally been easier than expected on Gunpoint, there is some friction. Some things are hard, and if you hit a hard thing after successfully coding lots of easy things, it seems maddeningly unfair. You slip into a mindset where you expect things to work, which makes you angry rather than confused when they don’t. I’ve had to start spotting this mindset when it crops up, and taking a long, relaxing break before I go any further. When I come back, I have to change gear. And the most useful way I’ve found to think of it is this: Your game is fucking insane.
It is a mental patient. It has completely lost its mind, and to make it behave in any kind of reasonable way, you have to be expecting every sensible instruction to be met with screaming, preposterous bullshit.
Programmer: Hello Game, how are you feeling? I’d like to make this object stop when it hits a wall, if that’s OK with you. Game: GRAVITY NO LONGER EXISTS! Programmer: What? Game: Every lightswitch in the world will fire a single red laser at one man’s head, and that man is… HIM! Progammer: OK – I’m not sure how that’s related, but I’ll look into- Game: I DON’T KNOW WHAT SPACE IS! Programmer: The key, or… Game: SPACE! SPACE! HORIZONTAL CO-ORDINATES! I have over five thousand references to ‘x’ and I’ve NEVER HEARD OF X. Programmer: That’s… that’s how far right things are, Game. It’s the first thing we learned. Game: NO! It’s a room! A room with a box, and a photocopier, and a lighting error, off the corner of Baker and 45th. Programmer: … Game: X IS A ROOM! Programmer: Ohh, I actually did change the name of an old test level to that for a moment, I guess that’s what’s getting you confused – I’ll fix it. Game: PRANKSPASM IS UNDEFINED! Programmer: That one I’ll give you.
More Gunpoint
| ||
| |
Gameplay Before Story: Gunpoint Interview | truepcgaming: [...] like the part where I haven’t left my job or spent anything. My dad enjoyed my blog post on what programming feels like since he does some software development too. My mum thinks the game [...]
| ||||
| |
| | |
|
The latest PC Gamer UK is about 50% bigger than usual, has the coolest subscriber’s cover I think I’ve ever seen, and is probably the best issue we’ve done in years. Also you get a free Team Fortress 2 hat with it.
We finally got to the point where the perceived value of the coverdisc was less than the value of the extra pages we could make with the money it costs, and dropped it. As a former disc editor of PC Gamer, I will say this: thank fuck. We’ve done lots of new stuff with the extra space, but I’m particularly happy that this issue is packed with diary-type stuff. It’s my favourite kind of writing both to read and write, and I got to do loads of it this issue, and read loads more by better people. My main thing was a 10-page Skyrim diary – I got a nice long session with it, so I just wrote up the whole weird story of my experiences with it. It’s awesome. Properly fresh, huge and new. And like Oblivion, rough, crazy and over-ambitious. In the 2-page interview that follows, Todd Howard tells me what happened on his wedding night. The other big diary feature is about Artemis, a multiplayer game where each person mans one station on a Star Trek style bridge. I was the engineer, O’Francis, and it was honestly the nerdiest thrill of my life. Tim asked me how long repairs would take, I estimated half an hour, then got it done in five minutes. It doesn’t get more authentic than that. Then there are 8 Now Playing pieces, our shorter diary bits about whatever we’re up to. Great pieces from a few less common faces in there this issue, including Chris Impossibly Nice Donlan on Super Crate Box, Duncan I Also Work For Wired Geere on Universe Sandbox, and Phil Octaeder Savage on Frozen Synapse. Normally I’d suggest you grab it from our online shop, but rather embarrassingly we’ve already run out of stock for individual issue sales. It was a bit of an experiment, and it went better than expected. You can still subscribe, though I don’t know which issue it’ll start with. We’ve just launched with this issue on iTunes’ new Newsstand, and we’re already on Zinio. I’m not totally sure if and how the hat comes with the various digital options – in the physical mag, it’s a printed code. And in the UK at least, shops still exist. | ||
| |
Urthman: I absolutely understand why the cover disc is now obsolete, but it makes me sad and wistful. I still remember the thrill of a new COMPUTE! magazine that came with a 5.25" floppy disc FILLED with NEW EXCITING SOFTWARE AND GAMES!
| ||||
| |
| | |
|
Gunpoint got lots of wonderful write-ups when I put up the first batch of shots two weeks back. In fact, the reaction took me by surprise a bit, and I’ve been struggling to keep up with all the interesting e-mails that have come in since. I wasn’t expecting anyone to cover this, so I didn’t really talk to anyone beforehand. If you work for a site or mag and are interested in covering Gunpoint, just drop me a mail at pentadact@gmail.com. I’m always happy to sort you out with a recent build so you can have a play, and answer any questions. I managed to do this with Ars Technica, so their piece is a preview. Here are some quotes from that, and some of the other lovely words people wrote about Gunpoint. 
Gunpoint hands on: an intelligent indie spy thriller—with breakable glass “Guns actually introduce tension into the game, which is a rare thing in modern action titles… In minutes I felt like a capable killer, and began skulking around each level like a pro. The full release can’t come soon enough.” Ars Technica
Gunpoint Points Out Its New Look “In between murdering trees and optimising for search engines, Tom’s drafted in some artists to dramatically overhaul the game’s look, which results in the rather eye-catching, Flashback-y aesthetic…” Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Secret agent indie Gunpoint makes being an electrician cool “From plumbers and farmers to … Noids, video games have a long tradition of elevating blue collar jobs to rockstar status. Now, after eying these new Gunpoint screens, it looks like we’ll be adding “electrician” to that list when Tom Francis’ secret agent game arrives this Christmas.” Joystiq
This Indie Game is Giving me Flashbacks of, Well, Flashback “It looks wonderful, in a “Deus Ex meets Canabalt” kind of way. It also helps the game has photocopiers. I love games with photocopiers.” Kotaku
Stealth Platformer Gunpoint is Looking Mighty Fine! “Gunpoint looks absolutely glorious.” IndieGames.com
Gunpoint’s Graphics Now As Awesome As Its Concept GameSetWatch
More Gunpoint, Gunpoint Press
| ||
| |
Davide: I would definitely buy this game! My friends and I noticed it looked a lot like Trilby by Yahtzee but with even more cool gadgets and features that we'd totally be willing to pay for. You should try to get this game on Steam or in the Humble Bundle or something!
| ||||
| |
| | |
|
This is a split shot showing how the same level looks normally and in Crosslink mode. Crosslink mode is what you switch to to rewire the electronic bits of a building: you can see what everything’s hooked up to, and drag these connections around to make the level work the way you want it to.
Everyone in Gunpoint dies in one gunshot – even you – and the guards are extremely accurate. A good plan doesn’t involve giving them the chance to shoot at you. This – this was a bad plan.
The colours that devices glow tells you what circuit they’re on. Things on different circuits can’t be linked to each other, and some high security circuits require you to get to their circuit box and tap into them manually before you can rewire stuff. There’ll be a colourblind mode where circuits are distinguished by symbols, too.
If you can get the jump on them, you can throw yourself into guards pretty hard. Windows won’t stop you.
Guess I got shot a lot testing this level.
You can use Crosslink mode to set up ridiculously elaborate chain reactions, and even infinite loops of devices triggering each other. I try to make sure that the super advanced stuff is never necessary to progress, but there are always extra things to achieve with finesse solutions. This one isn’t a finesse solution, it’s just me connecting a bunch of shit up to make the wires look pretty.
You slide a bit when you land from a powerful jump. I don’t have anything intellectually interesting to say about this, it just feels really cool – particularly if you slip off the edge of a roof and land flat on your face. As ever, just drop me a mail if you’re interested in trying out the next prototype of Gunpoint. Make sure you’re following @GunpointGame, that’ll be the first place I post the details of the next test. It’ll probably be the first two or three ‘acts’ of the game, which’ll have five when it’s done.
More Gunpoint, Gunpoint Screenshots
| ||
| |
Ben Lewis: If you give this out for free, I will consider it my civic duty to track you down and have you sectioned forthwith. As one of the above commenters suggests, Kickstarter is having a real ball with independent game developers at the moment, so you might try that. Otherwise, I would be more than happy to pre-order it or buy it upon release for up to £15, though £10 and under might make it a more reasonable prospect for the numerous people who will doubtless show an interest! Looks like a truly individual and innovative game, with a style reminiscent of Flashback, with a decent dollop of Syndicate a hint of Blade Runner. Truly looking forward to release!
| ||||
| |
| | |
|
More Gunpoint
| ||
| |
mabb: This game is looking sweet.
I have just started learning the Game Maker Language myself. It feels like high school math except I fucking UNDERSTAND IT. | ||||
| |
| | |
|
Spoiler-free / low carb/ high score
My review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is finally online. It is the greatest thing. The game, not the review. Kind of a big one, so I hope I explained it well enough. | ||
| |
TooNu: No no :) but almost
| ||||
| |
The Team Fortress 2 Experience
The Best And Worst Of Mass Effect 2
Masq
Don't Make Me Play Football Manager
First Night, Second Life
Team Fortress 2 Weapon Ideas
Fallout Girl
Plan B
Subscribe to all posts