Of Mechwarriors and Lawsuits

Ok I really wanted to make a far more grandiose entry about my love for the Mechwarrior series and my rising hatred of Harmony Gold, but I seem to be in a bit of a creative trough so instead you get this.

GIVE US BACK THE UNSEEN OR THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO YOUR NAME GETS IT

All right all right all right, I’ll be more in-depth. See Harmony Gold, despite basically having the same legal standing as a piece of wet cardboard, decided to impolitely inform IGN and Catalyst Game Labs that putting the Unseen version of the Warhammer in the trailer for the new Mechwarrior game was somewhere in between robbing an orphanage and taking a dump in a cop car on the scale of illegal and heinous actions. This despite the fact that Catalyst was assured they had the rights to all the Unseen. What are the Unseen you ask? Well to tell you that story first I must tell you another story.

So uh…yeah

So a couple days ago on my Twitter account I was talking about how something might be coming my way soon. I guess technically it still might be but it’s not certain and it’s dependent on a lot of things. Basically a family member of mine is willing to offer financial assistance should I try to make an independently developed game. In today’s job market (which may still be like this for up to a year at best), that is starting to seem like the best option. However since I do not have said team or an idea (save for one) that I feel could be developed into a worthwhile game, I’m reluctant to commit to such a plan. Also I don’t know what I can offer any prospective team members in terms of financial support, and thus again am relucatant to do much in the way of this. However the ideas alone have sort of re-ignited my drive for full-on game development instead of just modding. After a few weeks of not being able to, I’m modeling in Maya again and feeling better about my ability to do so.

In short, basically it’s barely anything new to report but I’m hoping I can start to come up with an idea and a plan.

Expansion Packs: For those Who Remember Them

Back in the day, by which I mean the 1990s, we didn’t have Downloadable Content. Instead PC Gamers would often throw down 30-50 dollars on a piece of software that usually would only work if they owned another piece of software. Crazy, you might say, but it’s true. They were called Expansion Packs. In the days of people citing $10 for 5-10 hours of extra gameplay as a ripoff, it’s hard for me to take that seriously considering the prices spent on Expansion Packs back in the day. So with that in mind it’s time to fire up the time machine of gaming knowledge that is my mind and find what I feel to be the best 3 expansion packs I ever spent money on. Also there will be spoilers.

Tiberian Twilight: The Case for C&C 4’s new subtitle

Almost two weeks ago months of speculation ended when EA announced the winning subtitle of their naming contest for Command & Conquer 4. To the delight of many and the ire of just as many, they picked “Tiberian Twilight” which was apparently overwhelmingly the majority of entries sent in to EA. The ire mostly comes from that pox upon vampire fiction and literature in general known as Twilight, which some people claim is what motivated the name choice. The ire from others comes from the fact that, despite the contest being partially judged on Originality, the name “Tiberian Twilight” is not original.

However I still believe that this is the right subtitle for this game, and I’m not just saying that because I was one of the many who wrote it in as a contest entry.

Moai Caldera Dev Blog for Sept. 3

No images still, mostly because I’m doing a lot of remodeling. Since I haven’t come up with a new name for the level I’m still calling it “Moai Caldera” even though it’s not a caldera anymore. It’s just going to be an island where you can go into the surrounding water but not very far. Cheap, I know, but it’s a lot easier than building it into a volcanic crater or box canyon or something else to that effect. Plus it should look better once I learn how to make 3D skyboxes and put some more items surrounding it.

I’m also still continuing to consider it an arena map for now, since it wasn’t even playable to begin with and thus worrying about game modes is secondary to making sure I build something decent. At the same time I’m also trying to force myself to not do anything but level geometry until that is done, and then worry about things like making the new overlays that I want to make.

Valve: 1, Idling Item Farmers: 0

Valve recently finished a network-wide sweep of TF2 for any and all unlockable items that had been farmed by using an idling program. While the number of users found to have done this was smaller than I expected (about 4 to 5 percent), it nonetheless was entertaining in that many people did this to get hats, the rarest item of them all, and then Valve turned around and decided to give a hat to everyone who hadn’t used an idler. Yes that’s right, Valve rewarded complacency. Users who didn’t use idlers, myself included, recieved a bonus hat that any character class can wear, called “Cheater’s Lament”. Listed as a “Level 1 Aura of Incorruptibility”. Humorous and purely aesthetic, just like all the other hats. Personally I think it was a great move to reward people who were patient enough to let Valve work out the problems in the new random drop system (which I feel still is a double-edged sword, mind you), while at the same time making it very clear to the miscreants that they will not tolerate this again.

And I can understand those who want hats really badly, but the thing is the hats don’t do anything other than add aesthetic changes. So in the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal. Heck I don’t even play as the spy that often as I used to and yet he’s the only class I’ve gotten a new hat for. It’s a novelty, nothing more, and certainly nothing worth losing your other hard-earned items over.

Plus, they’ve altered things so that the chances of finding a hat are increased. So there’s that to consider, which is nice.