Blogs

Indeed, quite...

Paul has the scoop on this. It's quite indicative of what I just was inspired to call "The Content Trap", which is to game development as the metrics trap is to social engineering. Extremely aesthetic, visionary even, like that painting is melting and the walls are breathing visionary - and yet barely playable.

Trailer, then walkthrough:

I`d like to highlight some after launch info about EF:CW.
Here is info about release.

What experience I get with this game?

• 'Big Title' works - game goes high very fast, and was featured on some sites. Beside that, original flash game - "Star Wars:Clone Wars", was worse then "Elite Forces:Clone Wars".
• Nice thumb with 'Clone Wars' theme attracts more then usual cool thumb.
• 
  

My name is Michaël Samyn. Together with Auriea Harvey, I run a small independent developer called Tale of Tales.

Our work includes

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1067/582185593_32560fd725.jpg?v=0
The Endless Forest

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2348713793_d5fbc0ece0_s.jpg
The Graveyard

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2183/1799290211_2a990207af.jpg?v=0
The Kiss

We are currently finishing
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2059/1688390176_b7b4601738.jpg?v=0
The Path.

I know I've been giving Edmund McMillen a disproportionate amount of space here, so this'll be the last thing for a while, perhaps until I do a game with him. He's released a CD containing everything he's done in the past 10 years, which is really mad, as the trailer can demonstrate:

Welcome back to the Union. All is forgiven.

Our honorary walkthrough-er, Ulillia, has posted a new set of videos on Sonic Spinball. Behold it's thoroughness, and despair.

In Chronological order:

1 - Family

2 - Religion

3 - Mathematics

4 - Tarot

5 - Cabala

6 - Chess/Go (depending on if you're right handed or left handed)

7 - Fiat Money

8 - Civilization/Alpha Centauri (see above)

9 - Passage

10 - Braid

Notice an acceleration? Is that because of some underlying current increasingly self-organizing into more complexity, or just my own bias?

I've joked that WoW is a good model for the global economy, and that even more so it's a model for the "New World Order", but hey if its all a game, why not design something better? Some Quakers are on that beat, and are coming out with World of Peacecraft (via Game Politics) this December, just in time for the faux-collapse of the world of war that we live in. Let's make the most of it by supporting this, it'd be interesting to see what kind of game mechanics can me made around these themes:

You begin in 17th Century England... preaching against the evils of war and unjust rule, meeting in clandestine locations to avoid persecution, and facing beatings and imprisonment at every turn. Then you are transported to the early 1800s in the United States, helping shepherd escaped slaves to freedom as part of the Underground Railroad. Later quests involve you in the women's suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and the anti-death penalty and anti-war protests of today.

N.B.: Sounds cool, but a hoax.

It occured to me that we should review the occasional, rare release of a book on games and game design that's interesting and noteworthy. I'm currently reading the manuscript of David Edery's book, and will have an entertaining review of why you should read that thing. It might be appropriate for us to do a custom template for books, or maybe Greg will read this, get pissed I went in a new mode without discussing it with him, and veto it. These uncertainties are interesting to me.

"Disgaea: Hour of Darkness" is a game available originally on the PS2 and now on the DS. It's a turn-based tactical game, along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics; the game is consists of battles separated by bits of plot, and there are sidequests and optional battles you can undertake to help build up your characters. Each battle is a turn-based affair; you move your characters around the grid and make them take actions, then "End Turn" and your enemies do the same.