Once upon a time, I ported a turn-based strategy / tactical combat game to the web. The average play time for the game is quite long (many hours), so saving games is an important feature.
PC/Console games have two ways to do "game saves":
Save on the machine, keyed to the user thanks to the operating system's file system and
Save on the cloud, keyed to the user by some identity provider.
1) is easy to implement (writing and reading a file to disk). 2) is much harder to implement, costs money to run, and requires the gaming machine to have network connectivity.
I am a big BIG fan of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls and I consider Morrowind one of the best games ever made (my top 2 are Morrowind and Doom in no particular order). I have put in only a few hours into Starfield (so far), and I have to say I like it less and less. Primarily my complaints lie with all the loading scenes that break the illusion of an immersive, seamless galaxy to explore. It feels like Skyrim with even more disconnected regions.
In Morrowind you could walk from the wilderness into a city with no observable loading, the only loading screens were upon fast-travel (which was not necessary) or going indoors. As you leveled up, you could learn levitate spells that let you fly over seemingly insurmountable mountain ranges or water breathing spells that let you explore underwater. You could learn water walking and even walk across the ocean from the mainland to the new island included in the Bloodmoon expansion, if you were patient enough and didn't want to fast-travel via ship.
Oblivion did away with some of the crazier things (like Levitation and Water Walking), and added loading screens as you move into cities and this trend sadly continued into Skyrim. And yet, I still loved those games and devoured them, spending hours. Something about the ability to look at the horizon and say "I'm going to walk to there" was very captivating.
In Starfield, you get loading screen after loading screen, moving from location to location, outdoor to indoor, in and out of spaceships, launching from the surface, grav-jumping, etc. I know this criticism is not incredibly insightful or novel; many folks have already complained loudly about this online and contrasted it against the illusion of seamlessness in No Man's Sky. I know I'm just adding to the din, but I can't help myself, my disappointment is as vast as the regions in Starfield are not.
There are no enormous planets floating in endless space. You're just an ant hopping from leaf to pretty leaf trying to cross a river. I expected so much more.
I will give it a few more hours, but sadly it's been a dud for me so far. Anybody have a recommendation for a modern open world game that knows how to maintain the illusion?
Apropos of nothing, to the person who once said to me that the 1990s had no good music, I offer a list of 40 albums worth owning. This list has a good drubbing of obvious Alternative Rock and Brit Pop picks, but banks and dips into Shoe Gaze, Noise Pop, Trip Hop, and Electronica, which are more recent musical interests of mine. I own other albums from the nineties that are Canadian Rock-weighted (Tragically Hip, Tea Party, Odds):
Heaven or Las Vegas by The Cocteau Twins, 1990
Gala by Lush, 1990
Achtung Baby! by U2, 1991
Ten by Pearl Jam, 1991
Nevermind by Nirvana, 1991
Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, 1991
Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1991
Screamadelica by Primal Scream, 1991
Peng! by Stereolab, 1992
Lazer-Guided Melodies by Spiritualized, 1992
So Tonight That I Might See by Mazzy Star, 1993
Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins, 1993
Debut by Björk, 1993
G-Stoned by Kruder & Dorfmeister, 1993
Zooropa by U2, 1993
Dummy by Portishead, 1994
Superunknown by Soundgarden, 1994
Weezer by Weezer, 1994
Post by Björk, 1995
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis, 1995
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins, 1995
The Bends by Radiohead, 1995
Exit Planet Dust by The Chemical Brothers, 1995
Electr-O-Pura by Yo La Tengo, 1995
Odelay by Beck, 1996
Emperor Tomato Ketchup by Stereolab, 1996
Among My Swan by Mazzy Star, 1996
Ok, Computer by Radiohead, 1997
Urban Hymns by The Verve, 1997
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized, 1997
Homogenic by Björk, 1997
Opera by Tosca, 1997
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One by Yo La Tengo, 1997
Northern Star by Groove Armada, 1998
Mezzanine by Massive Attack, 1998
Moon Safari by Air, 1998
Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada, 1998
Glee by Bran Van 3000, 1998
Vertigo by Groove Armada, 1999
Surrender by The Chemical Brothers, 1999
That 1997 tho.
And since I want to keep the party going, here's an extension of this list into the first half of the 2000's, 20 more albums too good to leave off:
Since I Left You by The Avalanches, 2000
Felt Mountain by Goldfrapp, 2000
Kid A by Radiohead, 2000
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out by Yo La Tengo, 2000
Simple Things by Zero 7, 2001
Amnesiac by Radiohead, 2001
Comfort Eagle by Cake, 2001
Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) by Groove Armada, 2001
Charango by Morcheeba, 2002
Machine Says Yes by FC Kahuna, 2002
Lost Horizons by Lemon Jelly, 2002
Details by Frou Frou, 2002
Elephant by The White Stripes, 2003
Black Cherry by Goldfrapp, 2003
Talkie Walkie by Air, 2004
When It Falls by Zero 7, 2004
Lemon Jelly.ky by Lemon Jelly, 2004
The Campfire Headphase by Boards of Canada, 2005
Haughty Melodic by Mike Doughty, 2005
The Cosmic Game by Thievery Corporation, 2005
I guess it's kind of easy to look back twenty years into the past and peer at "the best of" with the rosy hue of critical acclaim and record sales, but man, do I enjoy the music. Please drop me notes on what I've missed or what I should pick up from the next twenty years!
§1286 · January 3, 2024 · Entertainment, Music · Comments Off on Turn of the Century Musical Asplosion ·
I'll try to keep this one short - it's not exactly tech-related, but it kinda is. A tiny story about a tiny story that you might enjoy, in three parts.
Part One
I got into some speculative short story reading during the pandemic and Ray Bradbury was one author I got into. I think it started with some of my comic book research from the 1950s. Now I won't go as far as Rachel Bloom on ol' Ray, but the man definitely knew how to spin a yarn. In terms of sheer volume of interesting ideas, he beats out Isaac Asimov for me big time.
Anyway, in 1950 Ray Bradbury wrote this great short story called "The Veldt". It's only 13 pages and, rather than read a synopsis about the story, I think you should read it. Here's a free copy I found, though I noticed some typos. G'wan read it, I'll wait.
Back? I thought it was great, what about you? I think it's got a lot to say about how tech has invaded our lives, de-sensitized us from each other, maybe other things that are way over my head. And it holds up today - nice and dark.
Part Two
Ever hear of deadmau5? He's an electronic music artist from my homeland. Not sure if you're into progressive house or the techno scene, but the guy has earned a lot of awards for his work. Anyway, he wrote a song called The Veldt in 2012 (the year Ray Bradbury died). Here you should watch the video:
Rolling Stone thought it was one of the 50 best songs of 2012. My musical wheelhouse is more the 1990s and early aughts, but I really love the tune.
Part Three
And how did this come to be? Apparently deadmau5 created the music in a "22-hour live streaming session" back in March 2012. Crazy, but what's even crazier is that one day later, deadmau5 discovered that a fan named Chris James had posted vocals for the track. He was ready to shred the guy on his live stream but instead this happened:
So yeah, that music video you watched, the song that officially landed on the album, the one that Rolling Stone thought so highly of, is the combination of deadmau5 and Chris James' vocals weaved together over the course of 48 hours.
In some way, I find this a satisfying balance to Ray's meditations on technology... Anyway, I'm off to play in Africa!
Hey, if you are into Comic Books or Superheroes, I started another blog here. That blog takes the place of this Google+ Collection that I was occasionally posting to, but I decided to own the data this time and start at the beginning... so far I've made it to the debut of Superman... it should be more interesting going forward 🙂
Feedly has some buttons you can add to your blog here, but I wanted one that didn't involve a network fetch unless the user clicked it, so I made one (thank you inline SVG):
