In the grand gaming tradition of mini-bosses, mini-games, and mini-quests I thought it'd be good to add some mini-posts when i get a chance. Today a snippet if my life. I have been seeing a doctor for the past 3 weeks for a stye (which is an eye lid infection much like a pimple). I just had a procedure to hopefully get it cleared out, but the thing that surprised me was what I was afraid of.
Being part hypochondriac, I of course always extrapolate to the worst possible scenario when it comes to any possible disease. In this case, the loss of my sight in one eye (which is totally not a possibility, but my brain does what it will). The weird thing (and the reason I am posting here) is that I did not lament necessarily the possible loss of my sight. No, I instead was worried that I would not be able to enjoy the 3D gaming that currently exists and that will exist in the future.
Priorities...I have them.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Pokemon Revisited
So an amazing friend of mine stopped by my office the other day and dropped off Pokemon X and Y telling me to pick one so we could battle (when he finally got a 3DS). Since then I have been dutifully playing through the Y variant and having a lot of fun, but there are some mixed feelings in there.
Firstly, the graphics are great! It's really fun to see the Pokemon in a glorious cell shaded 3D that puts the N64 games to shame (the last time I encountered 3D Pokemon was in Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap). Also in this iteration they finally upped the ante on the animation for various attacks. They are still fairly generic deformations of the characters (used to be wobbling of the sprite), but now at least the arm moves when they are doing an arm based movement (like scratch). The 3D effect is great too if you can get past the reduced frame rate (I can't though).
It was also really nostalgic to encounter a good mix of the 151 I was familiar with, along with the new comers (or at least new since the first 3 games). I actually got my favorite Pokemon early on and he is the best one of my team (although I don't quite like the default name that the original NPC trainer gave him).
I feel like I am still early on (I only have one badge so far) and the game keeps introducing things to me at a reasonable (if not a bit slow) pace.
And that's where I start my mixed feelings. As I am going through this new region with new places to explore, I find myself pushing to get to the next area, almost not able to enjoy where I am right now. And to be honest, I think the problem is with me, not the game. I delved deep into the first Pokemons, so much that I got all 151 in the US (which, as some of you may know was not possible without a glitch). I dove into the Pokeverse with friends and we discovered new secrets that we talked about over lunch as we battled. I don't know if I am missing the social part, or if the game just doesn't have enough new for me.
That being said, some of the new things I have really enjoyed. There is a mansion where you can fight trainers (just like on the road) but in this case you are battling for higher titles. All of the people you battle are snooty entitled rich folk which gives an extra bit of satisfaction as you defeat them. Then there are a bunch of mini games to help train your Pokemon (and make them like you more) which I have just barely scratched the surface of. Not to mention I haven't even figured out how to battle real people yet.
I'm just beginning but unfortunately it's probably going to be like that for a long while. I get about 5 minutes to play a night (seriously, I do a battle or two while I floss) but at least I am making some progress. Every now and then the kids want me to play (when they aren't asking for me to play Minecraft) so that is where I get the bulk of my play time in.
Another area of mixed feelings came from that actually. My kids wanted to play their own Pokemon, but as you may know all the Pokemon games are one cartridge = one save. As I mentioned before I do have the original Pokemon, which were simpler and more likely that the kids would be able to play, so with a heavy heart I deleted my games and started new ones for my kids. All my Pokemon gone. I would probably still be down about it (especially because to this day the kids have only played their respective Pokemon games once), except I remember in one of the Pokemon games (I can't remember which), one of your parent's says something to the effect of "I remember when I went on my Pokemon journey. I'm so proud and can't wait to hear of your adventures." Sappy, sure, but it captures my feelings quite nicely. Let's hope G and A pick up their Pokemon journey again some time soon.
Firstly, the graphics are great! It's really fun to see the Pokemon in a glorious cell shaded 3D that puts the N64 games to shame (the last time I encountered 3D Pokemon was in Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap). Also in this iteration they finally upped the ante on the animation for various attacks. They are still fairly generic deformations of the characters (used to be wobbling of the sprite), but now at least the arm moves when they are doing an arm based movement (like scratch). The 3D effect is great too if you can get past the reduced frame rate (I can't though).
It was also really nostalgic to encounter a good mix of the 151 I was familiar with, along with the new comers (or at least new since the first 3 games). I actually got my favorite Pokemon early on and he is the best one of my team (although I don't quite like the default name that the original NPC trainer gave him).
I feel like I am still early on (I only have one badge so far) and the game keeps introducing things to me at a reasonable (if not a bit slow) pace.
And that's where I start my mixed feelings. As I am going through this new region with new places to explore, I find myself pushing to get to the next area, almost not able to enjoy where I am right now. And to be honest, I think the problem is with me, not the game. I delved deep into the first Pokemons, so much that I got all 151 in the US (which, as some of you may know was not possible without a glitch). I dove into the Pokeverse with friends and we discovered new secrets that we talked about over lunch as we battled. I don't know if I am missing the social part, or if the game just doesn't have enough new for me.
That being said, some of the new things I have really enjoyed. There is a mansion where you can fight trainers (just like on the road) but in this case you are battling for higher titles. All of the people you battle are snooty entitled rich folk which gives an extra bit of satisfaction as you defeat them. Then there are a bunch of mini games to help train your Pokemon (and make them like you more) which I have just barely scratched the surface of. Not to mention I haven't even figured out how to battle real people yet.
I'm just beginning but unfortunately it's probably going to be like that for a long while. I get about 5 minutes to play a night (seriously, I do a battle or two while I floss) but at least I am making some progress. Every now and then the kids want me to play (when they aren't asking for me to play Minecraft) so that is where I get the bulk of my play time in.
Another area of mixed feelings came from that actually. My kids wanted to play their own Pokemon, but as you may know all the Pokemon games are one cartridge = one save. As I mentioned before I do have the original Pokemon, which were simpler and more likely that the kids would be able to play, so with a heavy heart I deleted my games and started new ones for my kids. All my Pokemon gone. I would probably still be down about it (especially because to this day the kids have only played their respective Pokemon games once), except I remember in one of the Pokemon games (I can't remember which), one of your parent's says something to the effect of "I remember when I went on my Pokemon journey. I'm so proud and can't wait to hear of your adventures." Sappy, sure, but it captures my feelings quite nicely. Let's hope G and A pick up their Pokemon journey again some time soon.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
G+ Roundup
I realized there are several gaming related things I have posted recently on my G+ that haven't been shared here. With the slim chance that there are people outside of my small circle of friends that view this site I thought I should share some of the items.
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL TABLETOP GAMING DAY!!!
G made a Triforce at preschool. No direct influence on my part.
A silly but awesome oven mitt
A bone die I 3D printed at home.
Ok, til next week!
Ok, til next week!
Those good ol' games
About two or three weeks ago someone clued me onto gog.com where some brilliant jerk decided to take the amazing games that I loved fumbling through on the PC as a child and rework them so they would function on a modern Mac or PC. Instantly I picked up Wing Commander: Privateer for $6 (since I have been craving the upcoming Star Citizen) and it turned out that it came with the expansion I never knew it had! The graphics were glorious, sounds were great, and the NPC voices were phenomenal. I know no one had touched the actual game, but now instead of playing it on a mid line (read as bare bones) system I was lightyears beyond what the game expected me to have so it looked, felt, and responded like a brand new game (with retro graphics).
I dove right in, and for those of you who have not played Privateer before, I really mean dive right in. No back story. No tutorial. No explanations beyond a video at the beginning where it shows space pirates trying to steal cargo from a badass cargo ship (that is you). It's almost as if that encounter where you blast the pirates away ended with you bumping your head and landing on a remote mining station. I vaguely remembered what to do so I grabbed a mission, went out, and proceeded to get destroyed as I fumbled around with using a mouse to fly my ship. Yeah, I needed a joystick.
Unfortunately for me Mac's don't have joystick ports, so getting the true nostalgia by playing with my old stick just wouldn't work. That being said, my old stick was literally that...a stick with two buttons on the base. Think Atari but with a second button and analog instead of digital. That was all that was reasonable at the time, but technology has advanced, so what could I get with my vast adult spending ability?
According to my searches on Amazon, joysticks today fall into three categories. Game pads (which are not joysticks but for some reason show up when you search), $20 joysticks, and $100+ joysticks. Seriously, there is not much in between (ok maybe a few things, but they look ridiculous and uncomfortable). One in particular stuck out as not looking obnoxious and was reasonably priced, but the reviews where what really struck me as odd. There were complaints like "I can't program mouse functions to the buttons" and "Has issues with Battlefield 4." Ok, who uses a joystick for FPS games? Seriously, I want to know how that works (re: my previous post).
Anyway, I got it, and aside from an inability for fine control (which I think is related to the game and not the joystick), it was awesome! Yesterday I probably spent the most time I have spent on a solo video game straight since before kids (which, to be honest, isn't saying much).
And the best thing is that I am breathing new life into this game. I actually understand what is going on. The religious zealots, the political struggle in the background, the game mechanics to upgrade my ship all make so much more sense to me. This game was originally released in 1993. I was 12 years old and afraid to fly out of my home quadrant. To be honest I still am, but before I shut off the game last night I picked up a jump drive at the local dealer. Now I just need to remember to grab a nav map so I don't get lost.
P.S. Speaking of gog.com, I think my next purchase has to be the source of my high school idol: Gabriel Knight. That game is the entire reason I spent my pre-college years in a black leather trenchcoat (pre-trenchcoat related tragedy that is). Imagine my excitement when I found out that there are two sequels!!!!
I dove right in, and for those of you who have not played Privateer before, I really mean dive right in. No back story. No tutorial. No explanations beyond a video at the beginning where it shows space pirates trying to steal cargo from a badass cargo ship (that is you). It's almost as if that encounter where you blast the pirates away ended with you bumping your head and landing on a remote mining station. I vaguely remembered what to do so I grabbed a mission, went out, and proceeded to get destroyed as I fumbled around with using a mouse to fly my ship. Yeah, I needed a joystick.
Unfortunately for me Mac's don't have joystick ports, so getting the true nostalgia by playing with my old stick just wouldn't work. That being said, my old stick was literally that...a stick with two buttons on the base. Think Atari but with a second button and analog instead of digital. That was all that was reasonable at the time, but technology has advanced, so what could I get with my vast adult spending ability?
According to my searches on Amazon, joysticks today fall into three categories. Game pads (which are not joysticks but for some reason show up when you search), $20 joysticks, and $100+ joysticks. Seriously, there is not much in between (ok maybe a few things, but they look ridiculous and uncomfortable). One in particular stuck out as not looking obnoxious and was reasonably priced, but the reviews where what really struck me as odd. There were complaints like "I can't program mouse functions to the buttons" and "Has issues with Battlefield 4." Ok, who uses a joystick for FPS games? Seriously, I want to know how that works (re: my previous post).
Anyway, I got it, and aside from an inability for fine control (which I think is related to the game and not the joystick), it was awesome! Yesterday I probably spent the most time I have spent on a solo video game straight since before kids (which, to be honest, isn't saying much).
And the best thing is that I am breathing new life into this game. I actually understand what is going on. The religious zealots, the political struggle in the background, the game mechanics to upgrade my ship all make so much more sense to me. This game was originally released in 1993. I was 12 years old and afraid to fly out of my home quadrant. To be honest I still am, but before I shut off the game last night I picked up a jump drive at the local dealer. Now I just need to remember to grab a nav map so I don't get lost.
P.S. Speaking of gog.com, I think my next purchase has to be the source of my high school idol: Gabriel Knight. That game is the entire reason I spent my pre-college years in a black leather trenchcoat (pre-trenchcoat related tragedy that is). Imagine my excitement when I found out that there are two sequels!!!!
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Eat your veggies like Pac Man!
Early on I took a page from my fathers book of making food fun. When I was young I would get apples that were full, but when you pulled them apart it turned into a 3D puzzle. I do that for G and A but it's not related to video games so that does not belong here. Instead I want to show something that I haven't done in a while: Pepper Carving.
The first time we wanted to get the kids to eat peppers they wouldn't do it. To make it fun I decided to cut them into Pac Man shapes. Needless to say they were a hit. The neat side effect is that now they really like peppers in any shape.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Mission: Control
One of the most frustrating things in games, and also in life, is the inability to do something just because of bad interface. You know what you have to do, you know what you want to do, but you just can't get your limbs to go. Sometimes gaining the skill to stop fumbling is part of the game itself (case in point), but in this case my kids really want to play Minecraft on their own and spinning around looking down is not quite what they had in mind.
So what happens when you give a 5 year old a first person shooter interface for the first time? A couple of things:
- They tend to twist the mouse instead of slide it. It seems G views the mouse as an avatar of herself so when she wants to turn, she turns the mouse. Oddly enough looking up and down is an easily grasped concept but...
- They tend to shift their view down. Once G was walking along outside I noticed that she slowly slid her view downwards to the point where she was basically looking at the ground, and she was ok with that. When I reminded her to look up she stopped, looked slightly up, and noticed she almost ran into a pig (to which she said "Oh, a pig!"
- You realize that the natural motions of the human body are fascinating. Instinctively G seemed to view the computer screen as a window, or possibly a projection of her vision, because at times I caught her moving her head to try and see around things that were in front of her. It is clear that we need an Oculus in this house (or possibly some other non-Facebook branded VR).
In the end, G was able to do some navigation on her own and was telling me she wants to learn how to fight monsters. For a first try I think it was a success and we need to see how try 2 goes. Now I have yet to experiment with the 3 year old (especially because he says he want's to play now too), but I expect the results would be worse.
I find myself trying to remember how did I learn to masterfully prance around a 3D landscape? Thinking back I remember that the first time I thought "That is a pain in the ass," was when I made the first shift from Wolfenstein 3D and Doom 2 to Quake. Looking up and down is hard. I then think further back and remember that circle strafing was a revolutionary point in my battles against the demon horde (and helped me to learn how to use the mouse better). Will the 16 Bit Mom support my desire to train my 3 and 5 year old with battling demon Nazis? Probably not but maybe if I install the Barneystien mod.
The alternative is to make a new type of controller. I'm just thinking this up as I type this so bear with me. Addressing the issues shown above, maybe I need to find some way to isolate X and Y movement into two controls (the kids don't need to move fast, they just want to have fun). That should be easy enough with taking apart an old school ball mouse and would solve two problems (twisting and head going down)...I think I know my project for this weekend.
I should also mention that I don't think the 16 Bit Mom is going to like giving up the laptop for a Minecraft machine, so I think I will be spending some time this week trying to set up Minecraft on my Raspberry Pi. Maybe the mini arcade machine I planned before is going to turn into a Picraft machine for my kids. I wonder how a track ball would work for Minecraft...
So what happens when you give a 5 year old a first person shooter interface for the first time? A couple of things:
- They tend to twist the mouse instead of slide it. It seems G views the mouse as an avatar of herself so when she wants to turn, she turns the mouse. Oddly enough looking up and down is an easily grasped concept but...
- They tend to shift their view down. Once G was walking along outside I noticed that she slowly slid her view downwards to the point where she was basically looking at the ground, and she was ok with that. When I reminded her to look up she stopped, looked slightly up, and noticed she almost ran into a pig (to which she said "Oh, a pig!"
- You realize that the natural motions of the human body are fascinating. Instinctively G seemed to view the computer screen as a window, or possibly a projection of her vision, because at times I caught her moving her head to try and see around things that were in front of her. It is clear that we need an Oculus in this house (or possibly some other non-Facebook branded VR).
In the end, G was able to do some navigation on her own and was telling me she wants to learn how to fight monsters. For a first try I think it was a success and we need to see how try 2 goes. Now I have yet to experiment with the 3 year old (especially because he says he want's to play now too), but I expect the results would be worse.
I find myself trying to remember how did I learn to masterfully prance around a 3D landscape? Thinking back I remember that the first time I thought "That is a pain in the ass," was when I made the first shift from Wolfenstein 3D and Doom 2 to Quake. Looking up and down is hard. I then think further back and remember that circle strafing was a revolutionary point in my battles against the demon horde (and helped me to learn how to use the mouse better). Will the 16 Bit Mom support my desire to train my 3 and 5 year old with battling demon Nazis? Probably not but maybe if I install the Barneystien mod.
The alternative is to make a new type of controller. I'm just thinking this up as I type this so bear with me. Addressing the issues shown above, maybe I need to find some way to isolate X and Y movement into two controls (the kids don't need to move fast, they just want to have fun). That should be easy enough with taking apart an old school ball mouse and would solve two problems (twisting and head going down)...I think I know my project for this weekend.
I should also mention that I don't think the 16 Bit Mom is going to like giving up the laptop for a Minecraft machine, so I think I will be spending some time this week trying to set up Minecraft on my Raspberry Pi. Maybe the mini arcade machine I planned before is going to turn into a Picraft machine for my kids. I wonder how a track ball would work for Minecraft...
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Mine Blok Craft!
For the longest time I never understood the appeal of Minecraft. You sit and hack away hoping to get enough rock stuff to make something. Where is the fun? Digging in the dirt? Building with blocks? I could do both of those things in the real world and actually get something done...But Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon, and all my friends can't be that terribly wrong. So I checked it out.
I played the game some with my nephews, who knew a ton about how to craft, what to craft, and why to craft. I saw that this was at minimum a very rudimentary introduction to programming of sorts (especially when you use something called "redstone" that can activate machines). Great for kids, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time investment to learn how to do something that was, in the end, useless for me (ok...fun isn't useless, but this was getting close enough to learning a programming language that I would rather have spent the time learning how to program for Android).
Forcing myself to socialize I played regularly with some close friends on a shared server. I saw the insane creations that people were making and thought, I might as well too. My way of differentiating myself was to do the opposite of build. I wanted to carve something out of a mountain. My goal was a cathedral hidden behind a single door, with skylights and such. It was going to be tricky because, as far as I know, you can't fake rock blocks. They can only be leftover after you cut around them. That was all fine and dandy, but then, when mining for materials to make another pick axe, I discovered a cave.
It turns out that in addition to randomly generated terrain, there is almost a randomly generated history for each world. That history isn't written down, but something happened long before you arrived in this land and there are places to explore. That is where I found the fun. My favorite thing to find now are the zombie spawning dungeons which I hope someone will explain to me some day. It is a crafted room filled with zombies. You kill them all and what is left is a small caged zombie that is on fire (and subsequently spawns more zombies). Kill that and you can get the treasure. They really are creepy rooms because you can hear the zombies from far away while you mine. There are no doors or windows, just zombies trapped as if they were buried in some ancient ritual.
I have to admit that part of the current attraction for me is that my kids really get into it. They aren't jaded by the lack of a clear goal or the absence of story (which I think was my problem all along, solved now that I found out how to make the story and goal for myself). They are scared by the zombies, feel triumph when I discover gold, and feel bad when they stick their head in front of the computer monitor and block my vision causing me to run into a hole and die in lava. "A" now regularly asks to play Blokus (which I am trying to teach him is a different game, but that's what he calls Minecraft) and "G" likes to talk about how mommy will love all the sheep in the field (because of the wool we get...shameless plug http://hipstrings.etsy.com).
Again, I don't think it's a great game. The art is fun, but basic. The goals are nonexistant (especially in free mode). But as with Legos and Lincoln Logs, the fun is in the simplicity and your own imagination. Being able to do it with friends makes it even more so. Add in a little bit of Oculus (which is compatible), and I think you will have a timeless classic.
Incidentally, I was wondering what I should do with the saddle I found in one of the zombie dungeons and "A" suggested that I put it on a sheep. A quick Google search tells me that won't work, but I like where his brain is going.
I played the game some with my nephews, who knew a ton about how to craft, what to craft, and why to craft. I saw that this was at minimum a very rudimentary introduction to programming of sorts (especially when you use something called "redstone" that can activate machines). Great for kids, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the time investment to learn how to do something that was, in the end, useless for me (ok...fun isn't useless, but this was getting close enough to learning a programming language that I would rather have spent the time learning how to program for Android).
Forcing myself to socialize I played regularly with some close friends on a shared server. I saw the insane creations that people were making and thought, I might as well too. My way of differentiating myself was to do the opposite of build. I wanted to carve something out of a mountain. My goal was a cathedral hidden behind a single door, with skylights and such. It was going to be tricky because, as far as I know, you can't fake rock blocks. They can only be leftover after you cut around them. That was all fine and dandy, but then, when mining for materials to make another pick axe, I discovered a cave.
It turns out that in addition to randomly generated terrain, there is almost a randomly generated history for each world. That history isn't written down, but something happened long before you arrived in this land and there are places to explore. That is where I found the fun. My favorite thing to find now are the zombie spawning dungeons which I hope someone will explain to me some day. It is a crafted room filled with zombies. You kill them all and what is left is a small caged zombie that is on fire (and subsequently spawns more zombies). Kill that and you can get the treasure. They really are creepy rooms because you can hear the zombies from far away while you mine. There are no doors or windows, just zombies trapped as if they were buried in some ancient ritual.
I have to admit that part of the current attraction for me is that my kids really get into it. They aren't jaded by the lack of a clear goal or the absence of story (which I think was my problem all along, solved now that I found out how to make the story and goal for myself). They are scared by the zombies, feel triumph when I discover gold, and feel bad when they stick their head in front of the computer monitor and block my vision causing me to run into a hole and die in lava. "A" now regularly asks to play Blokus (which I am trying to teach him is a different game, but that's what he calls Minecraft) and "G" likes to talk about how mommy will love all the sheep in the field (because of the wool we get...shameless plug http://hipstrings.etsy.com).
Again, I don't think it's a great game. The art is fun, but basic. The goals are nonexistant (especially in free mode). But as with Legos and Lincoln Logs, the fun is in the simplicity and your own imagination. Being able to do it with friends makes it even more so. Add in a little bit of Oculus (which is compatible), and I think you will have a timeless classic.
Incidentally, I was wondering what I should do with the saddle I found in one of the zombie dungeons and "A" suggested that I put it on a sheep. A quick Google search tells me that won't work, but I like where his brain is going.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
The Future is 3D
I remember one of my first experiences with virtual reality was in Atlantic City during the winter in a mall. No one was there because it was the off season, but there was still a hand full of people clustered around this black pod which contained a seat. Inside was someone wearing a futuristic helmet that looked like something out of an 80s sci fi movie. My dad, ever the one for indulging my interest in technology, encouraged me to get in and I was transported to the most opposite experience possible; a WW I biplane pilot. I was flying, attempting to take out my enemy, and my father encouraged me to look around. I was fixated on my target until they were destroyed, at which point I looked around and was simultaneously amazed and frustrated. The world was around me, but just out of reach. I tried to peak over the edge, but the harness kept my head from pointing too far down. If I turned too fast, I had to wait for my virtual head to catch up. Still it was a sight to behold. The other experience (I can't remember which one was first) was a first person shooter. I was fighting against maybe one other person shooting giant balls out of a gun that looked like it was made out of Duplos (except without those high resolution round pins). It was kind of like playing a virtual reality FPS of the original Adventure for the 2600. I was standing, using a controller to move around, and it was awesome. The next few times time I saw both of those units, they were down and I never got to experience it again.
Since then I have always been fascinated by 3D in all forms. From comic books that used 3D glasses to the Virtual Boy (which I currently have a working one). Those of you who know my work at the Otakon Photo Suite know that we even did 3D photos one year which, aside from being a pain the butt, came out amazingly! Of course there is my obsession with 3D printing as well, but that is another story. Let's keep this virtual shall we?
So what about 3D for my kids? Well even though the 3DS has made it super easy, I take the warnings from Nintendo seriously (no 3D for kids below 7 years old to avoid damaging eye development). Now I probably won't wait that long (I'm tempted to introduce G to the 3D feature now that she is 5) but even so, for the time being 3D is definitely something that is mostly a personal experience. I like gaming together, especially with my kids, so the more I can keep that bridge open, the better.
But then there is the Oculus. It honestly is not an overstatement to say that using the Oculus Rift is a life changing experience. I'm sure I could write a years worth of posts just on just the Oculus, but I will keep it short for now and focus on two of the demos that I tried. The rest, I'm sure, will come in a later post.
1) Tuscany: Everyone who has tried the Oculus has tried Tuscany from what I can tell by comments on the internet. It is just what it sounds like. You are in a villa in Tuscany. There is a lake. A tree. A house. After experiencing it I really want to just watch a bunch of different people try this out and see what others do. Why? I just went under the tree and just looked up.
One of my favorite things to do is to look up into the sky through the branches of the trees. Maybe it was because of this cold, cold winter, but when I started out and saw the tree, I knew I wanted to look at the sky through the branches. There were no leaves, the branches didn't sway, but I felt peace. I explored things a bit more and, while I was disappointed in the view of the lake, I felt like I was there.
Sure it was fake. It looked fake. The resolution was mediocre and the pixel density was so low there is a "screen door" effect, but it was bright and fast. When I moved my head, my vision moved. I could scan with my eyes. Things were there...I was there, in full vivid 3D. Everything matched the depth I expected (unlike the 3DS which looks best when the 3D is exaggerated) and with the minimal tether of what is essentially a USB cable, I felt nothing holding me back.
As an aside, I don't know where Jill went (I didn't pay much attention when she tried it), but I did hear her lamenting "I just want to put my feet up!" The real world foot rest wasn't there while the virtual one was.
2) The Mute: On the complete other side of the spectrum I played a game called Asunder: Earthbound where I was an escape convict called the Mute. I was on a plane in what seemed like the 1940s and had interactions with my fellow passengers using only nodding and single button clicks while looking at something (look at the chair in front of you, click, and you kick the chair). Again the graphics where nothing to write home about, but I felt completely there. The buzz of the engines. The awkward conversations with my neighbor. Trying to avoid eye contact with the annoying girl I threw peanuts at. But then I was caught. They recognized me. The guy in front of me whose chair I kicked was revealed to have a gun and his hand reached above the seat, twisting around in an impossible way that in retrospect just looked like sloppy programming and should have been ridiculous. Instead my heart raced. I frantically clicked to see if I could do anything but I just sat there helplessly and watched the gun as I was shot, in the face, 3 times. With each shot, I felt the area where the goggles touched my face burn. Almost as if my body, expecting to be shot, needed a sensation to match my virtual death. I had to come out to reality, to enjoy the fact that I was alive, but my desire to succeed in the game put me back in a few minutes later. Again I died, twice more, and that was enough. I never ask for hints in games, but I couldn't take getting shot again and I asked my friend for help (he couldn't figure out why I kept dying, but later on I found out I forgot to turn out the light so I wouldn't be so easily recognized).
After these two experiences and many more, I walked away desperately wanting an Oculus for myself. For $300 for the development kit, who could say no? But then, in the haze of light headedness that felt halfway between drunk and a dream (which followed me for the next day) I realized that I would be sucked into this virtual world way more than I can afford to at this time in my life.
And so I decided to wait, living with the virtual 3D of my Virtual Boy and my 3DS until there comes a point where the Oculus or similar device can be used for something productive, like easier 3D modeling, or remote presence. And then another friend reminded me, Star Citizen will support the Oculus. Looks like I will be getting lost in space after all.
Since then I have always been fascinated by 3D in all forms. From comic books that used 3D glasses to the Virtual Boy (which I currently have a working one). Those of you who know my work at the Otakon Photo Suite know that we even did 3D photos one year which, aside from being a pain the butt, came out amazingly! Of course there is my obsession with 3D printing as well, but that is another story. Let's keep this virtual shall we?
So what about 3D for my kids? Well even though the 3DS has made it super easy, I take the warnings from Nintendo seriously (no 3D for kids below 7 years old to avoid damaging eye development). Now I probably won't wait that long (I'm tempted to introduce G to the 3D feature now that she is 5) but even so, for the time being 3D is definitely something that is mostly a personal experience. I like gaming together, especially with my kids, so the more I can keep that bridge open, the better.
But then there is the Oculus. It honestly is not an overstatement to say that using the Oculus Rift is a life changing experience. I'm sure I could write a years worth of posts just on just the Oculus, but I will keep it short for now and focus on two of the demos that I tried. The rest, I'm sure, will come in a later post.
1) Tuscany: Everyone who has tried the Oculus has tried Tuscany from what I can tell by comments on the internet. It is just what it sounds like. You are in a villa in Tuscany. There is a lake. A tree. A house. After experiencing it I really want to just watch a bunch of different people try this out and see what others do. Why? I just went under the tree and just looked up.
One of my favorite things to do is to look up into the sky through the branches of the trees. Maybe it was because of this cold, cold winter, but when I started out and saw the tree, I knew I wanted to look at the sky through the branches. There were no leaves, the branches didn't sway, but I felt peace. I explored things a bit more and, while I was disappointed in the view of the lake, I felt like I was there.
Sure it was fake. It looked fake. The resolution was mediocre and the pixel density was so low there is a "screen door" effect, but it was bright and fast. When I moved my head, my vision moved. I could scan with my eyes. Things were there...I was there, in full vivid 3D. Everything matched the depth I expected (unlike the 3DS which looks best when the 3D is exaggerated) and with the minimal tether of what is essentially a USB cable, I felt nothing holding me back.
As an aside, I don't know where Jill went (I didn't pay much attention when she tried it), but I did hear her lamenting "I just want to put my feet up!" The real world foot rest wasn't there while the virtual one was.
2) The Mute: On the complete other side of the spectrum I played a game called Asunder: Earthbound where I was an escape convict called the Mute. I was on a plane in what seemed like the 1940s and had interactions with my fellow passengers using only nodding and single button clicks while looking at something (look at the chair in front of you, click, and you kick the chair). Again the graphics where nothing to write home about, but I felt completely there. The buzz of the engines. The awkward conversations with my neighbor. Trying to avoid eye contact with the annoying girl I threw peanuts at. But then I was caught. They recognized me. The guy in front of me whose chair I kicked was revealed to have a gun and his hand reached above the seat, twisting around in an impossible way that in retrospect just looked like sloppy programming and should have been ridiculous. Instead my heart raced. I frantically clicked to see if I could do anything but I just sat there helplessly and watched the gun as I was shot, in the face, 3 times. With each shot, I felt the area where the goggles touched my face burn. Almost as if my body, expecting to be shot, needed a sensation to match my virtual death. I had to come out to reality, to enjoy the fact that I was alive, but my desire to succeed in the game put me back in a few minutes later. Again I died, twice more, and that was enough. I never ask for hints in games, but I couldn't take getting shot again and I asked my friend for help (he couldn't figure out why I kept dying, but later on I found out I forgot to turn out the light so I wouldn't be so easily recognized).
After these two experiences and many more, I walked away desperately wanting an Oculus for myself. For $300 for the development kit, who could say no? But then, in the haze of light headedness that felt halfway between drunk and a dream (which followed me for the next day) I realized that I would be sucked into this virtual world way more than I can afford to at this time in my life.
And so I decided to wait, living with the virtual 3D of my Virtual Boy and my 3DS until there comes a point where the Oculus or similar device can be used for something productive, like easier 3D modeling, or remote presence. And then another friend reminded me, Star Citizen will support the Oculus. Looks like I will be getting lost in space after all.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Touching on touch screen gaming
When I was growing up, the idea of directly interacting with what was on the screen was amazing. I'm not talking about using a controller like a remote control for my virtual avatar, but the idea of pointing with something to the screen (a pen, a gun, etc) and seeing that the TV knew where you were pointing and responded. For whatever reason, that was the thing that made gaming real to me.
The "game" I remember the most was one where a maroon light pen was used to draw. I remember my dad and brother working on other things with it (I can't quite remember exactly what, I think my dad was programming some game that tracked the pen but I'm not sure), but really the ability to paint on the black canvas of the TV was amazing to me. Sure it had the same result as using crayons, in fact it was less effective than crayons because back in that day you couldn't even save the drawing (or if you could, the cost would be huge) but it was just fun. I fumbled, I scribbled, I tapped on the TV too hard so my dad thought I would break the screen. Reaching up to the screen so high above was hard for my little arms, but I loved every second of it. I loved it so much, that even when the system was off, I loved that light pen with the curled cord and played with it. I now know that it was little more than a photo resistor and a good timing connection, but back then it was magic.
I now look at my children and wonder what they think when they use a tablet. I had a slight glimpse into this when, back before A was born, I was reading G one of those Little Mr books. On the back, there are pictures of all the other Mr and Mrs characters to advertise the other books for sale. In my youth I would look at them and imagine what their stories would be, but my daughter did something different. She tapped a Mr and then opened the book again. Looking confused she closed the book, looked at the back, tapped a Mr, and opened it again. It dawned on me that she was trying to press the icon for a different story and load up new pages. Maybe that will happen one day, but not yet, so I had to explain to my disappointed 2 year old that this was the only story and she would have to pick up another book from the shelf.
Now my 3 year old son remembers our 4 digit unlock password for our tablet after having been told it once on a car trip. Both A and G flick and swipe Sonic through randomly generated stages. They both drop blocks in seemingly random places in Cubify for me to print their creations in 3D. Instead of waiting for an infomercial to stop before their favorite show comes on they have never experienced such a thing and instead flip through an endless array of shows on Netflix. An endless stream of diversions all made infinitely more possible because of them being able to touch.
And still, every now and then, both the kids pull out an app that is just a black canvas where they can draw vibrant colors, sometimes with sound effects and rainbow lines. They fumble, and scribble, and tap on the screen. At those times, I think I know exactly what they are thinking.
The "game" I remember the most was one where a maroon light pen was used to draw. I remember my dad and brother working on other things with it (I can't quite remember exactly what, I think my dad was programming some game that tracked the pen but I'm not sure), but really the ability to paint on the black canvas of the TV was amazing to me. Sure it had the same result as using crayons, in fact it was less effective than crayons because back in that day you couldn't even save the drawing (or if you could, the cost would be huge) but it was just fun. I fumbled, I scribbled, I tapped on the TV too hard so my dad thought I would break the screen. Reaching up to the screen so high above was hard for my little arms, but I loved every second of it. I loved it so much, that even when the system was off, I loved that light pen with the curled cord and played with it. I now know that it was little more than a photo resistor and a good timing connection, but back then it was magic.
I now look at my children and wonder what they think when they use a tablet. I had a slight glimpse into this when, back before A was born, I was reading G one of those Little Mr books. On the back, there are pictures of all the other Mr and Mrs characters to advertise the other books for sale. In my youth I would look at them and imagine what their stories would be, but my daughter did something different. She tapped a Mr and then opened the book again. Looking confused she closed the book, looked at the back, tapped a Mr, and opened it again. It dawned on me that she was trying to press the icon for a different story and load up new pages. Maybe that will happen one day, but not yet, so I had to explain to my disappointed 2 year old that this was the only story and she would have to pick up another book from the shelf.
Now my 3 year old son remembers our 4 digit unlock password for our tablet after having been told it once on a car trip. Both A and G flick and swipe Sonic through randomly generated stages. They both drop blocks in seemingly random places in Cubify for me to print their creations in 3D. Instead of waiting for an infomercial to stop before their favorite show comes on they have never experienced such a thing and instead flip through an endless array of shows on Netflix. An endless stream of diversions all made infinitely more possible because of them being able to touch.
And still, every now and then, both the kids pull out an app that is just a black canvas where they can draw vibrant colors, sometimes with sound effects and rainbow lines. They fumble, and scribble, and tap on the screen. At those times, I think I know exactly what they are thinking.
Spreading to a new generation...
G (the 5 year old) on the other hand seems to prefer the 3D games. This is odd to me, since I feel like there is a huge leap in the ability to understand using a controller when you shift from 2D to 3D. I originally started her off way back when Skyward Sword came out, and she certainly had trouble with going where she wanted to go (in fact, both of them were shouting out the solutions to the puzzles when I was playing, sometimes faster than I could figure it out). Fast forward to today (just two and a half years later) and G is playing Super Mario 3D World right along side me. Once she even beat my score and got the crown (which she promptly lost on the next stage).
It's awesome to see the unashamed movements when G is trying to get Peach to do her bidding. The classic "tilt the controller to steer" that we watched our parents attempt to do is amplified in this new world where the control stick is no longer attached to the control buttons, and the Wii-mote nunchuck slowly grows closer to G's mothers face as G tries to get Peach to move a little faster to the right. I swear she would turn backwards if her head would still be able to still face the TV.
It has been a while since I last posted, and since then we have played through Zelda: Skyward Sword, Pikmin 3, Sonic Generations, and New Super Mario Brothers Wii U (I can't wait until they make that name even longer with New Super Mario Brothers Wii U Two). In terms of starting we are going through Super Mario 3D World (which is just as good as they say), Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (which is beautiful in art and story if not lacking a bit in gameplay), and Zelda: Windwaker HD. Each of those is worthy of a post in itself and I hope to get into that in the coming weeks.
I will say G and A have started their own games of Pikmin 3 which they love (although they play with a different flavor). G plays all on her own which is really impressive to see, except when there are enemies at which point she thrusts the controller into my hands and I get to save the day. A on the other hand just loves sitting in my lap and occasionally pressing the "throw" and "call" buttons. I can't say I mind.
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