Polycat.net - Latest Comments

Re: Balance

timaste — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:06:59 -0000

Haha well the one button thing helped for sure, the light/dark thing made it pretty obvious too so I picked it up pretty quick. My fault too for clicking through too fast. :)

Re: Balance

mittense — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:03:55 -0000

Thanks a lot, Tim! I wish I could have figured out a better way to integrate all of the necessary information into the game, but nothing short of tutorial pop-ups came to me and I definitely did not want that.

Re: Balance

timaste — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:28:53 -0000

Very nice man, very pretty to look at. I had a hard time figuring out what to do at first because I clicked through too fast, but I figured it out pretty quick. Great job!

Re: Balance

mittense — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:09:08 -0000

No, I haven't taken any footage yet. I will eventually.

Re: Balance

Ronny — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:29:19 -0000

Is there any video footage?

Re: Meta

Cam Jackson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:16:32 -0000

I think we can all relate to this post very closely!!!

Re: Meta

NewGuy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:51:05 -0000

Well...isn't that awesome. The semi-makeshift-sorta-startup-thingy that I'm kinda-employed-based-on-if-we-ever-finish-stuff err...corporation? Just decided on Unity for our first "product".

Appreciate the reply - and really dig your posts.

Re: Meta

mittense — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:30:26 -0000

Unity. Most of what I've done in the last year has all been with Unity other than my level design work.

Re: Meta

mittense — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:30:05 -0000

I'm not usually this bad. I know that's kind of hard to believe being that you know me, but generally when I sit down and work my attention is amazing. It was just an unbelievable series of distractions on Saturday.

I also got a lot more done than this entry would indicate and, at this point, I really do think that despite the limited development time frame (one week) that this is my best game. Well, best in that it most clearly reflects the original idea and emotions that I intended.

Re: Meta

NewGuy — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:04:27 -0000

I'm rather new to reading Trent's entries...but the whole time all I could think was "...what development tool is he using!?"

Re: Meta

Josh Sutphin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:09:12 -0000

The number of times I've had that exact experience makes me want to punch myself in the junk. I think it's the curse of creative types.

The distractions, I mean. Not punching yourself in the junk. :P

Re: Awakened in Africa

Joel — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:31:01 -0000

Well played good sir. Having not played Far Cry 2 since the first month it was out, this made me want to return and create some stories of my own. Also the tags are flawless.

Re: Mechanics 7: Heart of Darkness (Far Cry 2)

zach — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:53:26 -0000

im not even done with the game and some how i endedd up in the heart of darkness....wtf!!!!how do i get out??

Re: Mechanics 7: Heart of Darkness (Far Cry 2)

zach — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:51:01 -0000

im not even done with the game and some how i endedd up in the heart of darkness....wtf!!!!how do i get out??

Re: Awakened in Africa

doug — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:53:18 -0000

lol

Re: Justifying the Means

Cullen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:46:20 -0000

Don't look too deeply into it. I'm not very good at this.

Re: Justifying the Means

mittense — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:13:17 -0000

So your argument seems kind of strange and lost in the mix of accusations you throw out. I've read your first paragraph roughly five times and still have a hard time understanding what you're getting at. There are an abundance of missions in Modern Warfare 2 that are justifiably included in the game for either plot relation or just pure fun that the game goes out of its way to set up. The airport level comes out of nowhere, certainly isn't there for "fun," and therefore we have to assume it's there to be engaging or thought-provoking. It provokes thought, yes, but mostly about its relevance in the greater game and whether or not its design and execution was in good taste.

"they thought they would put in a scene that would different and cool and with style"

What? How is anything about "No Russian" cool or stylish? It's about going "undercover" and proving your worth to Makarov by needlessly massacring civilians. Even by the low standards of a show like 24, that's a weak thread to go on. Given that the mission greatly reduces the capabilities of the player (very slow walk speed, no jumping, etc), we have to assume that, again, Infinity-Ward didn't want this mission to be "fun" so much as "powerful." And maybe that's not a bad impetus, but the specific design and execution of this mission was so absurd, so over-the-top, and in such a place (an airport) as to blatantly work off of post-9/11 fears that I fail to see how anything makes for a "cool" or "stylish" thing to put into the game. And, yes, when you put the player in a role to kill civilians in an airport, taking the position that "No Russian" isn't intended to shock people is an almost non-defensible one to take.

And how does "No Russian" in any way compare to anything from The Matrix, again?

Re: Justifying the Means

tester — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:34:09 -0000

What do you mean it isn't justified? Any single mission except for the last could be eliminated from the game. There is no single mission that is "justified" in terms of plot. I mean just think for a second: could there ever be a scene like this that NECESSARILY has "strong identifications with primary or supporting characters", especially for a video game plot. Of course not! No mater what, it would ALWAYS be viewed as "shock-fodder" because people would always have a hard time seeing why such a scene is necessary.

So since it is basically impossible to please people like you (once you realize that such a scene is never justified by plot vis-a-vis using a less-violent mission), people go and assume that the only reason they put it in there was for shock value. BS! What probably happened is that someone did the EXACT same thing as Kurt Vonnegut in SlaughterHouse-Five or Oliver Stone in Natural Born Killers--they thought they would put in a scene that would different and cool and with style. Makarov's simple phrase, "Remember, no Russian", his whole demeanor, the Matrix-style abundance of hardware and outmatched victims: they are all there to put the player in awe, not necessarily shock. Now because this medium is a video game, which includes particular biased views, many assume that the developers must have put it in there just to shock people. This assumption is COMPLETELY unfounded. I mean, once you think about it, you have no evidence for it whatsoever. It may have shocked you, but it is completely consistent to assume that the developers wanted to put something cool in the game. Maybe they even wanted to put a thought-provoking scene in the game. But the distance third is that some of the developers were twisting their mustaches and saying, "I know, let's put something in there that's really F-ed up--let's just shock the hell out of people!"

If it came off as shocking to you, just realize how difficult it would be to make a scene like this even if the developers had no intention to shock people. Then, upon reflection, your impression should seem completely unfounded.

Re: Trend-’naughts

timaste — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:58:34 -0000

Great Article Trent!

Re: The Game Review Symposium

sanmessy — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:44:30 -0000

There are always new and important ones popping up.

Re: Justifying the Means

tashtego — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:44:50 -0000

The "twist" at the end of "No Russian" was a giant fuck-you to the player. "Oh, you think you're an action hero? Surprise! THIS JUST GOT REAL".

Except it didn't get real, at all. I think it would be great to have an interactive experience of the compromise and hard choices entailed by the "war on terror". This game is so far from being that. So far, the only goal of Modern Warfare 2 seems to be the glorification of a vicious cynicism- "whatever works". Why am I supposed to find that a fun gameplay experience?

Thanks for writing this- it's what I've been trying to explain coherently to everyone I've talked to since I played that mission.

Re: Justifying the Means

bleahy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:28:48 -0000

The more I think about this mission and Makarov's subsequent absence from the game, I realize that it'll probably be the loose end tied up in Modern Warfare 3 or some future DLC.

Re: Justifying the Means

mittense — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:59:34 -0000

The narrative has to justify the scene; since there are no real strong identifications with primary or supporting characters by that point, Infinity Ward, essentially, has to fictionally "earn" the right to use a scene like that in their game. It doesn't have to morally justifiable, but its existence needs to be justified by the story. It isn't and, as such, a scene like that comes off as being tasteless shock-fodder rather than a thought-provoking attempt to inflict very unusual feelings on players.

Re: Justifying the Means

Cullen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:37:34 -0000

That would be why they didn't kill all of the civilians: many reports of english-speaking aggressors. If there are no survivors, who will there be to provide witness accounts of the attack? Your would-be comrades were calling out tactical information in english during the entire mission, loud enough to be heard by anyone in the area.

On the Russian penetration of the coasts, you're right. That is a pretty huge plot-hole. Even if our satellites were disabled, we still have ships off the coasts with their own detection systems.

It seems like the entire Russian offensive was a giant "fuck you" to America. They insert millions of soldiers, bulldoze suburbia and everyone in it, and take our capital away from us.

Re: Justifying the Means

Fabio (Aeson01) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:01:44 -0000

Good article, I saw on your twitter when you first started talking about this, and I have to say I agree. I wish IW would have thought to allow you to kill Makarov in the airport, but then maybe you find out that wasn't the real Makarov and just a double then they set a preplanted bomb off. It would have still accomplished the goals they went for, made the player look guilty, kept Makarov alive and caused mass civilian casualties.