A kick in my creative pants...

My newfound free time has been amazing. I drew up my first TF2 map layout this week in a long LONG time. I also put pen to paper and brainstormed a lot of cool ideas for the map as well. The basic premise is a ctf map set in the Egyptian theme. With the release of cp_Egypt as an official VALVe map, the SDK was updated with the new props and materials so I thought why not? After putting a brief design doc together with some concept layouts, I will be working on this together with a friend. I am very excited about this creative process! It seems, at least on the front end of this journey, that having a partner to help hold me accountable is something my previous efforts have been sorely lacking. Particularly since those efforts never saw the light of day. The plan is to use this map as a means to get us 'in shape' for the tedious process of putting together a Left 4 Dead campaign. The L4D update for the Source SDK is coming sometime soon and we want to hit the ground running with our project. The campaign has no name, and I can't reveal anything about it, but it has an original 'story' behind it and it will be fun making something to be proud of. We haven't spoken about it, but I have no doubt my partner in crime will agree...nay, demand...that there will be a versus map version in addition to the single player.

More regarding L4D: our clan is working hard to get in shape for the TWL ladder. We got beaten easily in our first match 2 weeks ago, but we took a lot from it and I feel our team is in much better shape. I still haven't picked a starting 4, but we have 6-7 solid players and I'm excited to see what we can do. This last week we've been giving out nightly pub stompings, but we've also scrimmed against other clans, taking our vengeance for our previous failure on the ladder. Tonight is our next ladder match! Keep your fingers crossed for us.

I can't recall if I mentioned it before, but I founded an RTS Club with some of my clan members. The basic idea is that RTS games aren't as easy to find multiplayer games for since FPS games tend to dominate our gaming time. The club started out with 3 official games, and all members agreed to obtain the games. We meet bi-weekly and have had very good turnouts in our first 4 meetings. The games we play are Command & Conquer 3, Starcraft, and Age of Empires 3. There's nothing special to report about the club: I'm just proud to have created something in our clan that has gathered a solid following. Even if our Starcraft night turned into a slideshow.

The wisdom of the Amish

Sunday: Diablo 2 Night
Monday: Heroes and then Left 4 Dead practice
Tuesday: RTS Club Night
Wednesday: Lost and then Counter-Strike: Source Night
Thursday: Left 4 Dead practice
Friday: Left 4 Dead match on TWL

THAT monstrosity above is my scheduled activities for my free time this week. Without quite knowing how or why, I have managed to pencil myself in to a 2nd job. This has been a typical week for me lately, and it finally took an Amish friend of mine to point out the insanity of my scheduled fun. To put a fine point on it, he offered that we were both paying to pay LotRO together and were hardly touching the damned game. I know what you're thinking: what self-respecting Amish would be playing LotRO...or any PC game for that matter? Well, despite his many technological trespasses against his own culture, I think he makes a valid point. So....I'm dropping everything but RTS Night and L4D practice will be dropped to once a week. My free time will be free again.

I hope to utilize this free time to pick up mapping and level design again. I don't have anything official to announce yet, but it looks like I will have more than one project in the works. One of these projects will be a joint effort and it is my desire that this helps to keep me motivated and on task.

From the outside looking in...

I spoke about the closing of Ensemble Studios in a previous blog entry. I find myself reading a fair number of gaming blogs, particularly those belonging to developers I admire. Following ES' dev blog was cemented into my weekly surfing routine. It also served to keep me in the loop about the closing of the studio. I had caught Head Developer Bruce Shelley's last post before the studio was dissolved, but didn't have time for anything other than a quick glance. Opening the page last week for a more thorough read...I see that Microsoft has deleted the blog. Granted, I wasn't expecting anything new, they are closed after all, but I sure wasn't expecting it to be removed so quickly. From the outside looking in, I can see no other significant changes to the site. Everything else about the site is pretty much as it was. I can only guess that MS is trying to mitigate the bad pub they got for shutting down ES. Classy.

Speaking of Age of Empires 3, I've pushed forward in the single player campaign and only have a few missions remaining in Act II. The backlog push is now more of a creeping affair, but it moves inexorably forward nevertheless. Having failed to get F.E.A.R. to work on Vista, I installed the game on XP. I never got to play the expansions Extraction Point or Perseus Mandate. With F.E.A.R. 2 having just been released, there's no better time than the present to get those expansions under my belt. I'm having some issues getting the settings tweaked just the way I want them: the game is bit jerky right now. Here's hoping the patch will help smooth it out.

To switch gears a bit: I'm in the mood to create something. I've fallen back into the routine of regularly visiting mapping sites and I find myself being inspired again. Let's see how long it lasts this time.

Van out.

Star Stuff

The video game experiences that constitute my gaming past are as innumerable as the stars in the galaxy. If we took the time to peer through the ether we will find contained in this galaxy many favorable memories. A large part of these memories have coalesced under the pressure of time's passing to form bright shining stars which in turn have brought about solar systems in this galaxy of my mind. The brightest of these stars belongs to a solar system I have dubbed, for lack of a more becoming name, 'Multiplayer FPS Experiences'. What is peculiar about MFPSE is the amount of planets contained within that support life. Planets such as Counter-Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead all support not only life but advanced civilizations: these planets are definitely ahead of their time in evolutionary terms. Other planets such as Call of Duty 4, Quake Wars, and Battlefield 2 support advanced life of their own as well. MFPSE truly is a rare phenomenon in this regard. The planets have a strong connection to the star they orbit and it is this seamless connection that allows this density of life.

Moving away from MFPSE back into the ether, we begin to spy a neighboring solar system. Our eye is easily caught by the system's star: it is extremely unstable. Star stuff is randomly ejected from it's spasming surface, creating solar flares millions of kilometers in length. Like MFPSE, this system contains many planets..but the similarities end there. Life hangs on by a thread on some of these planets. Instead of vast civilizations we find small pockets of colonies dotting the surface anywhere safety can be found from the brutal radiation of this system's star. Such is life in the 'Multiplayer RTS Experiences' system. The only connection these planets have to their star is one of pain. Planets such as Command & Conquer 3 do marginally better than their siblings. Poor Starcraft is tidal locked with its moon Brood Wars in a very close orbit to the star. This orbit moves at a crawl, lagging behind all of the others. Further out we find Age of Empires 3. It's planetary surface is quite beatiful: green and blue dominate the color spectrum. Due to it's esoteric orbit around the star, this green and blue is interspersed seemingly randomly with destruction wrought by the dangerous radioactive ejecta prevalent in this system. Just because an area of AOE3 has been safe for years is no guarantee it won't be a slag heap tomorrow. Because of this, it's inhabitants are nomadic: moving about the planetscape randomly in a vain attempt to avoid arbitrary destruction. Life in the MRTSE system is hellish indeed, but it's sundry inhabitants seem determined to make it work. We should all with them Godspeed.

My point is this: multiplaer gaming in FPSes is so well done. Why in the heck can't RTS multiplay gaming get it's act together? I love playing RTS games with friends, but there is ALWAYS some sort of hiccup, ALWAYS some blasted problem that keeps it from going so smoothly. Oh well, I'm going to go play some Left 4 Dead.

Van out.

Not like dusting crops at all

A long time ago in a galaxy far away I was a card carrying member of the Official Star Wars Fan Club. I mean that very literally. Once a year my new membership package would arrive complete with a letter penned personally to me by George Lucas himself, obligatory poster, bumper sticker, and my new membership card. Once a year I would reverently retire the previous years' card, placing the new one in a place of honor in my wallet. In front of my EB Edge card. Sadly, it eventually occurred to me that aside from providing concrete proof of my nerdom in the event of a bad traffic accident, I really had no benefits to being a member. Any exclusive news announced in the pages of Star Wars Insider stopped being exclusive the moment it hit the hands of any fanboy with an internet connection. It provided access to discounts on Star Wars merchandise, but I already had more than I needed: At this point in my career of being a Star Wars fan I'm only interested in new books or movies. Still, I'm going to miss getting those membership packages in the mail.

On to the subject of games: my backlog is stagnating! Aside from a few missions in Age of Empires 3, I have accomplished no single player gaming. Left 4 Dead still commands much of my gaming time while CSS and TF2 are always on the periphery of my gaming vision. LotRO demands weekly time. Combine that with a surge in the clan to play Diablo to hell and back and a call to revisit Guild Wars, there is definitely a conspiracy to make me into a multiplayer only gamer. Should I mention I also got beta keys for Quake Live AND Battlefield Heroes? Hopefully I am able to cowboy up and finish off AOE3 soon. The sooner I knock it out the sooner I can feast on Bioshock...or Crysis...or Far Cry 2. So much goodness to choose from. If only I didn't have friends to get in the way.

On a boat

Something very strange has happened: My brother has become a PC gamer. My brother, whose gaming experience consists mainly of Super Mario Kart and Wii Bowling. He isn't a pretender either: He bought a sweet rig with a monitor better than my own! Left 4 Dead is the game responsible for this beautiful transmogrification. After spending some time getting the controls down, he played a versus mode game with me over the weekend. Not only was he NOT a liability to the team, he was a productive member of the group and took direction very well. I couldn't be a prouder brother.

While on the topic of family gaming: My wife has been addicted lately to Animal Crossing on the DS. This led her to start playing the Gamecube version and has now managed to pull me in as well. There is no denying the gravitational pull of this game. If only selling seashells and turnips could pay off my mortgage in real life.

Old games are my trend here recently it seems as I've also got back into playing Diablo 2 a little. A group of us from my gaming clan are going through the game together. We don't plan to stop until we defeat Baal on the 'Hell' difficulty setting. It's fun and I wish I had some idea of the amount of time I poured into this game during my pre-Xfire days. I'm playing the Amazon class, one I have no previous experience with. I've decided to forego browsing the interwebs for the best builds. Preferring a pure experience, I want to live and die with my character choices. And yes, I watch the cinematics between Acts and pay attention to the storyline. I enjoy the game for what it is...not what someone else thinks it should be.

Love and Hate

Over the course of the last 2 weeks I have packed a 40 hour work week into 3 days, reinstalled Windows on 3 separate PCs, worked my first Friday in over a year, and managed to start playing Animal Crossing again. WTF indeed. I am back now, and plan to keep a regular schedule on updating my blog.

The end of January saw the end of days for one of my favorite developers: Ensemble Studios. Ensemble created my favorite RTS game in Age of Empires 3 and it is sad to see them go. Halo Wars, an XBOX 360 exclusive, is their final title. With the Jan 23rd announcement Halo Wars went gold, Ensemble is effectively done. The Halo moniker alone will insure their last title will be a big seller, but I still feel chafed by the whole affair. For one, RTS games have never been received well on consoles...if you believe what you read. For two, I'm irked by a PC only developer putting out there last hurrah on a console. That's what happens when you're owned by Microsoft I suppose. Lastly, I'm confused by the decision to close Ensemble. From all I've read, Ensemble has done well for MS financially speaking. They've pushed 20 million units of software out of the door for MS in the last decade. MS cited it was a business decision, "This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path.". I don't get paid to make tough business calls but I'm struggling to understand the idea of shutting down a popular developer who is turning a profit for you. Rest in Peace Ensemble Studios.

Speaking of Microsoft, I had the pleasure of fixing an ornery Vista system last weekend. Not having the time for much gaming during the work week, I had been looking forward to moving forward through my backlog. Vista's blue screen of doom had other plans. After applying the recommended BIOS update...which resulted in no sound and a fragged exterior hard drive...I was left with no option but to format and reinstall Windows. Having rid myself of all the crap Dell puts on your PC, I'm actually a happier Vista user now. Too bad the journey here sucked.

Zombie Chess!

Finally committing myself to AOE3’s campaign, I finished up Act I over the weekend. This may not seem significant, but I have not completed many single player RTS offerings so I’m gonna pat myself on the back. Command & Conquer 3’s GDI campaign is the lone silhouette painted on the side of my PC…I’ll take my victories where I find em. Previously, I was stuck on a mission for about 2 weeks which led to my dismissal of the game in favor of Dead Space. Coming back to the mission, it turns out I was making things too hard on myself. Way too hard. Trying a different approach I was able to knock it out in short order. Now that I’ve passed the proverbial ‘hump’, I find I am enjoying the game quite a bit more.

It feels weird to admit this, but I owe my small victory in AOE3 to playing lots of Left 4 Dead. Strange, I know, but bear with me while I explain: I’ve played L4D for almost 130 hours now. The majority of that time was spent in versus mode. Since there are only 2 maps available in this mode I have had a lot of time to become intimate with the levels, developing many strategies and counter strategies. Because of this, L4D has become a chess match. A bloody, undead chess match to be sure, but a chess match all the same. For example at the start of No Mercy level 2, it was common for survivors to rush out and down the stairs as fast as possible to avoid the inevitable Boomer waiting under their feet. But, what if the other team puts the boomer at the stairs instead? What if the survivors rush for the vent on the right side? Punch. Counter-punch. L4D has forced me to think more tactically and my overall gaming skills are better for it.

Making the move now from games that require mental skill to games that require reflex skill I finally installed Unreal Tournament 3 this weekend. I had the game installed for maybe 6 hours (after having owned it for 6 months) and Steam announces they will begin accepting retail keys for the title and now support it fully. Rolling my eyes, I removed UT3 from my system and installed it again with Steam instead. No big deal though, I would gladly connect all my games with Steam if I could. Hopefully this is a step towards more developers embracing the content delivery Steam provides. Admittedly, I’ve never been one for the deathmatch multiplayer games like Quake or even Doom but always found something to like in their single player components. Having never tried a game from the Unreal Tournament series I figured I would take the campaign out for a spin, and what a disappointing spin it proved to be. 3-4 missions into it and I am bored with a forgettable storyline propping up what amounts to multiplayer matches with bots replacing real players. Shame on you Epic. I’ll probably finish it up just to get myself used to the weapons and controls before jumping in a multiplayer match, but I seriously hope it gets better than this.

All in all, it was an odd weekend. While being sick was not cool, it supplied a perfect excuse to play lots of games. I played some LotRO and had good times, spent some time with the already mentioned UT3 and AOE3, and I installed Diablo 2 and FEAR. Both of these latter titles gave Vista fits. D2 worked well enough after finally discovering I had to force my video card to run it in 2d instead of 3d, but FEAR wouldn’t run at all until I patched it. Now it runs, but the framerate is terrible. Odd that I can’t play FEAR worth a damn, but the same PC chews up the demo for FEAR 2?

Seriously considering setting up my XP PC in a network with this one and just using both. Oh wait, Vista networks aren’t friendly to XP…

Vander OUT