Friday afternoon

EC speaks!  And lo it is good.

Lots of stuff today, but let’s start with Synapse.  I took a break from it (and worked on Secret Project Q and Guile) because I’d hit a wall, and I know that when that happens I need to take time away and not put pressure on myself.  With game design (as with most creative endeavours by the sound of it) you just will not do good work if you’re stressed and putting pressure on yourself.

Yesterday, I got back to work on Synapse by just playing it a lot with Bin.  I basically just wanted to play it at random (by that I mean with whatever map Bin comes up with and whatever units I feel like playing with) and see if I got inspiration, and I’m very happy to say I did.  Playing around with one seldom-used unit on a slightly unusual map showed me a giant hole in my thinking about Synapse and I think we’re back on track.  For the first time in a while I feel certain of what I need to work on next with it and that feels very good indeed.

Onto other stuff.  This is as good a place as any to initiate yourself into what’s going on with Madden this year – EA Tiberon has basically removed a massive part of the community’s ability to balance the game by taking out the legendary “sliders” for the CPU players (these govern everything from running strength to passing accuracy).  This has added to an already heated opinion of NCAA 09, and now there is significant voices in the hardcore Football gamers’ legions against EA’s monopoly of the NFL license.  Unfortunately, I’m almost certain that it can have no effect.

But the whole story is interesting – you probably won’t find a game that has a more diverse range of players and playing styles than Madden, and that’s not something you immediately think of.

I’m seriously considering getting into Dwarf Fortress.  I think it’s hit the stage where it’s a must-play game.  There’s a really fascinating mini-interview with the creator here – got to love that he’s making a living from donations (and that he starts coding at 11pm.  My ability to think straight enough to code has usually way gone by then).

Absolutely loving my new place.  Living with Lizzie in our own place is much, much better than living with her in a shared house or at home.  Much less pressure and just a lot more natural.  Really fantastic.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 5:47 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Friday afternoon”

1. Private Label Rights:

   § September 2nd, 2009 at 12:57 am

   I usually do not comment on blog posts but I found this quite interesting, so here goes. Thanks! Regards, P.

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