gewgaw

Congrats to the MySims team on the delivery of the online enabled PC version. Play and trade withi others – YES!

Game Design Workshop here in Seattle – just wrapping up the second day. What fun!

I cannot even begin to say how much I have learned in this weekend – mind expanding and also just really enjoyable. Thanks to everyone who participated – especially dos guys from da Family.

:)

True.

Downloaded a bunch of games for the PS3 this weekend – including Mega Man 9.

Clearly the game was a labor of love for those who worked on it – it emulates just about everything in astonishingly accurate detail. But it was too punishing for me.

I feel sad thinking about a character that’s so fun, and music that’s so great… trapped behind gameplay that’s so punishing.

Maybe I’m just a lazy, jaded gamer. Maybe it’s bad that I’d rather have spent my Sunday gardening in the warm LA fall than inside, on the couch, blasting my way past Concrete Man and Splash Woman. Damn that watery tart!!

Did spend some time playing PJ Eden (ugh – floaty controls!), and then got hooked with Wipeout HD. I loved the original, and racing through these hyper-world tracks brought back memories of Chicago, fat pants and dancing at the Liar’s Club on Sauturday nights. Ahh, the days of my youth.

:)

Didn’t end up downloading The Last Guy – it seemed too thin of a premise. But did play a bit here – which turns (most) web pages into Last Guy levels. More entertaining than I would have guessed!

Congrats to everybody at MM – all signs point to victory!!

I built something like this in Hyper Card, my freshman year in college (I am that old!). It was my first project for “Computer Programming as a Liberal Art”. It could perform operations on two numbers… Turing tape style!

The strange thing is that the contraption I built was recursive… a concept I had not been taught yet. I’m still not sure how I ended up there. Just seemed to work better built that way.

Intuitive, Strong Tools + Creativity = Goodness.

Players as Designers – FTW!

Yet another crazy week – this time, possibly nuttier than most. I was glad to see Friday arrive.

I slept all day on Saturday – partly recovering from a terrible, horrible headache that just would not quit. Woke up today to piles of landry, bills, a crazy kitten and too many “projects” to count. Prioritizing my notes, designs, photos and reciepts… I did find time to catalog a few photos and dig out the thesis.

It’s true – I’m actually attempting to graduate! Don’t hold your breath – but say a prayer for me. I need to get this puppy put to bed! Off to eat and then read through the damn thing… chunking it in is the first step.

For your enjoyment in the meantime: Part II of the Spiders of Casa de Rojo series!!

Yes – we’ll de-web before our housewarming. Promise!!!

I am starting notes in a new notebook – one I bought in Japan, last year at TGS. I won’t be going this year – for which I’m a bit sad. I will miss seeing friends, new games – and Keita’s “Sense of Wonder” event. On the flipside, I’ll be helping my team get to Alpha – which will kick ass in it’s own, special way.

The notebook has a quote on the front that goes like this:

He who makes no mistakes
makes nothing.
Fingers were made before forks
and hands before knives.
A fool may ask more questions
in an hour than a wise man can
answer in seven years

Indeed.