Idle Thumbs 33: Where's the Goddamn Thread?

[bistromathics]

Rocky and Bullwinkle did this first

"The Kane of Lynch"

or

"This Crazy Robot"

or

"Rock the Mouse"

Lengthy discussions abound in this cast-and-a-half. We go off on the experiences unique to shorter, tighter games, the dying art of an equal player vs CPU ruleset, the American Civil War, and what it really feels like being the king. Plus: More video game dreams.

Games Discussed: Trine, King's Bounty, Call of Juarez, Trine, GUN, Civilization IV, Trine, Civilization Revolution, Far Cry 2

[elmuerte]

Trine?

[toblix]

Awesome again! Great Podcast Combo, etc.

Favorite moment: Jake quietly abstaining from sound compression discussion.

[Horticulture Tycoon]

Well I took the day off from work today because I had a ton or errands to run, and I was glad to have a podcast to listen to while I ran them... Until I was sitting in the Department of Motor Vehicles waiting to renew my driver's license, and the complete out-of-the-blue sucker punch that was Remo's Trine song caused me to suddenly burst into hysterics in the middle of a big room full of strangers. Everyone turned and stared. In a room full of weirdos and degenerates, I was the biggest degenerate weirdo of all. Thanks Remo.

[toblix]

So, when game people are taking questions, the one the came today always comes up sooner or later. The "how do I get to work in games" question. The answer is also always the same: "I got into it by sheer coincidence. Just do whatever you like and be good at it," often with the additional advice of making mods or little private projects.

I've been hearing these Q&A combinations for so long now, I'm starting to wonder if any of the people who have made it their goal to end in games actually have? Or do they, too, end up doing something completely different from their original goal, and have to answer the same question about their eventual work?

[miffy495]

  toblix said:

So, when game people are taking questions, the one the came today always comes up sooner or later. The "how do I get to work in games" question. The answer is also always the same: "I got into it by sheer coincidence. Just do whatever you like and be good at it," often with the additional advice of making mods or little private projects.

Bah, if we have learned anything at all from Bioware, it's that the proper answer to that question is "Become a dentist."

[vimes]

"I'm not really allowed to join that conversation... * sight* "

It still fills me with wonder when game like CIV - which I expect to be a very hardcore math simulations - happen to create believable and striking story arcs. What saddens me is that when I tried to play Civ3, the event Nick described seemed very unlikely.

But maybe it was already happening and yet, because I hadn't the keys to analyze it, I simply couldn't notice it. Maybe only an experimented user, who can see the Matrix because he actually gained big insight on the simulation through hours of gameplay, can decipher what's happening and construct a narrative out of it.

[SignorSuperdouche]

I'm confused, was The Kane of Lynch the new Indy game?

[Chris]

  vimes said:

"I'm not really allowed to join that conversation... * sight* "

It still fills me with wonder when game like CIV - which I expect to be a very hardcore math simulations - happen to create believable and striking story arcs. What saddens me is that when I tried to play Civ3, the event Nick described seemed very unlikely.

But maybe it was already happening and yet, because I hadn't the keys to analyze it, I simply couldn't notice it. Maybe only an experimented user, who can see the Matrix because he actually gained big insight on the simulation through hours of gameplay, can decipher what's happening and construct a narrative out of it.

I didn't play Civ III, so this comment could be completely meaningless, but I've always heard that game is by far the weakest in the series.

[Dezro]

so I'd like to know where

you got the notion

said I'd like to know where

you got the notion

to rock the mouse

(don't rock the mouse baby)

rock the mouse

(don't tip the mouse over)

rock the mouse

(don't rock the mouse baby)

rock the mouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse

[Dezro]

Oh, also, the arcade version of Bad Dudes not only had Ronald Regan but it called him "President Ronnie", which I think is kind of an amazing opposite of the three-letter president thing you mentioned. The NES version's president was unnamed but resembled George Bush.

FUN FACTS

[n0wak]

Playing as the Big Daddy in Bioshock 2 is more akin to playing as the Arbiter in Halo 2 than it is to what it would be to play Pyramid Head in Silent Hill.

[syntheticgerbil]

This deserves to be posted here. I don't give a shit if you object.

I agree with retiring the trumpet bird thing, by the way.

[Shakesbeard]

  syntheticgerbil said:

This deserves to be posted here. I don't give a shit if you object.

I agree with retiring the trumpet bird thing, by the way.

"Are you a bad enough president to rescue the dude?"

[spindrift]

I enjoyed the 1st continent of Kings Bounty a whole lot, but there are some weird difficulty spikes around the place. For example when you are first able to go to the pirate isles the difficulty ramps up so much that i could kill anyone on the first continent with ease, but even the weakest of the island enemies wiped the floor with me.

I can't remember where stopped playing the game, it's so long that i eventually just decided i'd got my moneys worth called it finished.

Pretty cool game. You should try reading the quest text though, it's pretty weird & hilarious sometimes and clearly doesn't take itself seriously.

[Alex P]

Do you guys talk about Trine at all in this one?

[syntheticgerbil]

  Shakesbeard said:

"Are you a bad enough president to rescue the dude?"

There's just no way I'm on the same level of being a bad enough dude as Flint Paper.

[Alex P]

That Trine song was pretty spectacular, Chris.

[The Bag]

Call of Juarez does pick up once you get to Mexico, they start of the game is terrible compared to the rest.

[elmuerte]

Also... Trine

[fallout]

  Chris said:

I didn't play Civ III, so this comment could be completely meaningless, but I've always heard that game is by far the weakest in the series.

Just a bit of a side note on Civ3, in the Civ4 manual, there's a really good writeup from Soren Johnson on the development process and what changes they had to make. It's at the back in the afterwords section.

And just a random thought, I've really only found that Civ3 is weak in the sense that you become aware of its holes after a couple hundred hours of playtime.

Also (I am bad at organizing thoughts): Civ3 didn't have religion, so naturally vimes would not be able to experience a similar thing.

[Nevsky]

Good listening as always.

The 'Remember when we used to write songs?' break bit was like Idle-Thumbs-do-White-Album, with the studio chatter + snippet of music hall cheekiness. Great.

[ShinjiBaka]

That quick-draw wild west game Chris was trying to talk about is called Calamity Annie. Definitely the best lesbian-themed western - in any medium - I can think of off the top of my head. The creator goes by Anna Anthropy, and it's her blog that's called Auntie Pixelante, just to get all the names straight for the people like me who are obsessive enough to care.

[Horticulture Tycoon]

By the way guys, if you're looking for audio of Bronstring Marek Bronstring doing an impression of Arnold, indeed it can be found on your very own site! Or it could, if your nether-regions were accessible. Check the original (I'm talking way, way original) Idle Thumbs Podcast #3, dated 5/13/06. I'd link if I could.

That'll up my old school Thumbs cred for sure...

[GameDreamer]

Is this the thread where we post about Trine?

Because I really like Trine.