Ossian Studios - The Shadow Sun Announced

[DArtagnan]

There's plenty. Lots of touch based devices from the likes of Sony and Samsung. The Sony ones in particular have great sound and better video playing abilities than the iDevices. They just lack in the interface and applications department both of which Apple seem to have got right.

Hmm, the interface is pretty vital - I must say. Still, I can't abide the Apple mindset in terms of locking their crap down.

Seriously, I was dead set on getting a netbook for browsing, communications, light gaming and to help out with D&D sessions and while weighing up the options I found the ipod touch did everything I wanted and was cheaper and had better battery life to boot. I hate the closed nature of the system, but I suppose if I was that bothered I could always buy the apple SDK for a year and write my own apps. As it is I've spent less than £10 on the apps and have a bunch of things to play (Osmos, Broken Sword Directors Cut, Secret of Monkey Island II SE, NetHack, Luxor, Galcon Labs, Pinball dreams etc) as well as other useful stuff like D&D tools/dice rollers, maps, airport stuff blah etc. Will get PvZ one day, and obviously, if The Shadow Sun is done well and a reasonable price then it'll get purchased as well

Yeah, it's sorta tempting - except I know I will never use it for anything serious.

I'm developing a game, and I use my m11x when I'm away from home. Not often enough to justify my purchase - really - but then, I use it for gaming LAN sessions as well.

I've bought a couple of Pocket PCs, based on a moronic notion that I'd be using them for reading PDF manuals and e-books, but they're just not suited for that.

Playing SCUMM adventures or Legacy (old-school Dungeon Master clone) has been ok fun, but nowhere near a real game.

Still, I guess one day I'll buy something crappy like this

 

[blatantninja]

I have an Archos. I picked it over the iPod touch because it can play pretty much any format you throw at it. Since it is Linux based, it has huge potential for add-ins and such, but unfortunately, the offers are pretty limited. I certainly wouldn't want to use it for gaming (even if there were any).

 

[Thaurin]

So… Haha, but ok. I haven't actually ANY experience with the iPod Touch. I do hear though, that it's crap in terms of battery life and lighting - but I could be mistaken.

It's an iPhone without the phone. All LCD screens are crap in direct sunlight. AMOLED is supposed to be better at this.

I stopped playing PS2/Xbox games for a reason, you know!

I played and finished Final Fantasy 7 and 9 only a few years ago and think they are two of the most memorable games I have ever played, so...

But, I'm afraid that the VAST majority of human beings are greedy in this specific way. As in, they care more about "making it" than making a great game.

I think you'll find that all "successful" people know that making it requires offering real value. You can't usually make it (long-term) if what you're offering does not have great value for people! So making a great game is very important for "making it."

I could always buy the apple SDK for a year and write my own apps.

Common misunderstanding, it seems. The SDK, IDE, tools and everything are free to download and use. However, you can only run and test what you've made in the iPhone emulator on your Mac (unless you jailbreak your phone, more later). If you want to test on real hardware and want the ability to publish apps to the AppStore, you need a paid Developer account for $100.

If you jailbreak your device, there are ways to put your own projects on the device. It takes a bit of fiddling, but the internet's full of descriptions of that. It's a cheap way to run your own apps if you don't have any desire to publish your app to the AppStore.

Hmm, the interface is pretty vital - I must say. Still, I can't abide the Apple mindset in terms of locking their crap down.

I agree, but it's one of the reasons that they're able to pull all that off.

I've bought a couple of Pocket PCs, based on a moronic notion that I'd be using them for reading PDF manuals and e-books, but they're just not suited for that.

Get a locked down, overpriced iPad for that. It actually works very well for reading e-books using Stanza (don't like Apple's iBook application much)!

Playing SCUMM adventures or Legacy (old-school Dungeon Master clone) has been ok fun, but nowhere near a real game.

SCUMM adventures are not real games? Shame on you!

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

SCUMM adventures are not real games? Shame on you!

In terms of graphics, maybe, but I think everyone here remembers that early 3D games age not very good at all.

Try playing early 3D adventure games. They look terribly compared to drawn ones.

 

[DArtagnan]

I played and finished Final Fantasy 7 and 9 only a few years ago and think they are two of the most memorable games I have ever played, so…

That can't be true, as they're not shallow enough!

I think you'll find that all "successful" people know that making it requires offering real value. You can't usually make it (long-term) if what you're offering does not have great value for people! So making a great game is very important for "making it."

This is where we differ in the extreme, in terms of opinion. What you have to do, is offer PERCEIVED value - which is what you do through marketing and hype. Naturally, there are exceptions - and plenty. But the general rule of selling is not make a quality game, because that requires both artists and the will to ignore the monetary gain and go with what's right for the game - not the market.

You could argue that increased sales = increased value. That's another aspect of where we differ.

It's simple. I'd rather make a single person truly happy - than a million people mildly entertained. That's because my idea of value has nothing to do with surface or "mild" stuff.

I also like Vanilla Icecream A LOT more than Vanillia Light.

I agree, but it's one of the reasons that they're able to pull all that off.

I don't want them to pull it off

Get a locked down, overpriced iPad for that. It actually works very well for reading e-books using Stanza (don't like Apple's iBook application much)!

Nah, I was thinking one of the e-book readers - though I'm unsure if PDF is an option.

SCUMM adventures are not real games? Shame on you!

Of course they are - but that time has passed. I also played them all, already

I want evolution - not nostalgic devolution - please.

 

[JDR13]

But anyway, what's wrong with the ipod touch battery life? It lasts longer than any laptop or netbook I've used.

......

 

[kalniel]

You could argue that increased sales = increased value. That's another aspect of where we differ.

It's simple. I'd rather make a single person truly happy - than a million people mildly entertained. That's because my idea of value has nothing to do with surface or "mild" stuff.

The ideas still boil down to the same result - if that one person is so much happier then they'd be willing to pay so much more for the entertainment, right? So they can simply influence game development by expressing that in terms of how much they pay for a game, or by buying multiple copies. Then if one person likes a game 20x more than 10 other people the developers will be more than happy to make games towards that person's liking.

It only fails to work if someone thinks that their opinion is worth more than someone else's, but for less money

edit: this is why I have four copies of The Witcher (two CE), and several Bethesda multiple purchases. That way my opinion *is* literally worth more than someone who only buys one.

 

[blatantninja]

Nah, I was thinking one of the e-book readers - though I'm unsure if PDF is an option.

I have the Sony Reader Daily Edition and love it. It's not perfect on the PDF's, but pretty good (it really depends on how the PDf is put together). My vision is a bit iffy, and I love that pretty much any book I put on it, I can enlarge the text. Occasionally it has some issues with graphics embedded in the PDF (I'm reading Black Order by James Rollins right now and ocassionally the images that appear in the middle of pages get moved up), but otherwise it is great. Love that I can wirelessly check out books from the library too!

 

[DArtagnan]

The ideas still boil down to the same result - if that one person is so much happier then they'd be willing to pay so much more for the entertainment, right? So they can simply influence game development by expressing that in terms of how much they pay for a game, or by buying multiple copies. Then if one person likes a game 20x more than 10 other people the developers will be more than happy to make games towards that person's liking.

It only fails to work if someone thinks that their opinion is worth more than someone else's, but for less money

edit: this is why I have four copies of The Witcher (two CE), and several Bethesda multiple purchases. That way my opinion *is* literally worth more than someone who only buys one.

I'm not saying that it should be like this - or that it could be, as the world works. I'm saying how *I* work, personally, and what I personally think would result in the best games!

My opinion is nothing but that, but I still get to speak it though!

 

[DArtagnan]

I have the Sony Reader Daily Edition and love it. It's not perfect on the PDF's, but pretty good (it really depends on how the PDf is put together). My vision is a bit iffy, and I love that pretty much any book I put on it, I can enlarge the text. Occasionally it has some issues with graphics embedded in the PDF (I'm reading Black Order by James Rollins right now and ocassionally the images that appear in the middle of pages get moved up), but otherwise it is great. Love that I can wirelessly check out books from the library too!

Sounds pretty good, will check it out

 

[kalniel]

Hmm, someone just raised the bar for full 3d graphics on the iDevices..

(From Epic Citadel - uses unreal engine 3)

 

[Thaurin]

I've heard about that - but it strikes me as supremely naive.

Getting back to Brave New World for a moment, I think you misunderstand. The book paints a dystopian world where under-consumption is seen as a crime against society. It is a future where your worst fears have come true. Read it, so you can prepare for the inevitable.

The book placed fifth in Modern Library's top 100 list of the best book of the 20th century, so it MUST be good. Plus, Iron Maiden made a song and named an album after it! Can't go wrong!

Hmm, someone just raised the bar for full 3d graphics on the iDevices..

(From Epic Citadel - uses unreal engine 3)

Yep, I mentioned it earlier in this thread. It looks pretty awesome, doesn't it? I have yet to try it on my iPad, since it doesn't run on my iPhone 3G. (I saw it run beautifully on a colleague's iPhone 4.)

John Carmack's RAGE engine for iPhone also looks very promising.

On another note, an interesting-looking turn-based RPG/dungeon crawler has just been released. Maybe this will tip DArtagnan over to the dark side.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Getting back to Brave New World for a moment, I think you misunderstand. The book paints a dystopian world where under-consumption is seen as a crime against society. It is a future where your worst fears have come true. Read it, so you can prepare for the inevitable.

Yes, and "amusing ourselves to death" by Neil Postman as well !

Edit … I just have had a thought … Some big publishers are now effectivel against second hand/used ware markets … They're actively punishing those "used ware" buyers or at least trying to get additional money from them.

Which means … implicitely … that they are already punishing under-consumption, which means they punish those who do NOT buy *new* wares …

Welcome to Reality.

 

[kalniel]

Getting back to Brave New World for a moment, I think you misunderstand. The book paints a dystopian world where under-consumption is seen as a crime against society. It is a future where your worst fears have come true. Read it, so you can prepare for the inevitable.

The book placed fifth in Modern Library's top 100 list of the best book of the 20th century, so it MUST be good. Plus, Iron Maiden made a song and named an album after it! Can't go wrong!

I accidentally have two copies of BNW.. and yes, it's a book that everyone should have read. There are lots of dystopia sci fi books out there, but this is probably the best of the lot.

Yep, I mentioned it earlier in this thread. It looks pretty awesome, doesn't it? I have yet to try it on my iPad, since it doesn't run on my iPhone 3G. (I saw it run beautifully on a colleague's iPhone 4.)

It runs beautifully on my 3rd gen ipod touch too. Think it's just use of openGL ES 2.0, so as soon as you can support that it looks fantastic.

On another note, an interesting-looking turn-based RPG/dungeon crawler has just been released. Maybe this will tip DArtagnan over to the dark side.

OOoh that looks good too.

Edit … I just have had a thought … Some big publishers are now effectivel against second hand/used ware markets … They're actively punishing those "used ware" buyers or at least trying to get additional money from them.

1) They're not punishing them.

2) To get additional money from them they have to have got money from them in the first place. Which they haven't. Publishers are attempting to get *some* money from people playing their products, that's all. And that seems quite reasonable to me, especially if there are some costs associated with people playing the products like support or server costs.

 

[DArtagnan]

Getting back to Brave New World for a moment, I think you misunderstand. The book paints a dystopian world where under-consumption is seen as a crime against society. It is a future where your worst fears have come true. Read it, so you can prepare for the inevitable.

The book placed fifth in Modern Library's top 100 list of the best book of the 20th century, so it MUST be good. Plus, Iron Maiden made a song and named an album after it! Can't go wrong!

Yeah, but isn't that excessive? I haven't read it, so I wouldn't know - but it strikes me as a bit extreme. Anyway, I don't think of this as "dark" or "depressing" as such. We're just weak and stupid. I live a pretty good life - and I don't feel personally responsible for what happens because we're human beings. I just think it could be A LOT better, and I do my tiny bit - by promoting those things I believe in.

Afterall, the system is never the issue. Human beings are the problem, which is why we need to change. That will take hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Capitalism could be a great economic system, if human beings weren't so fallible. Communism is also a fantastic idealistic system, unless you place humans in charge of the administration.

Again, it's never REALLY the system. That said, capitalism and the free market is quite bad in terms of facilitating some of our worst traits as ignorant and greedy morons.

Yep, I mentioned it earlier in this thread. It looks pretty awesome, doesn't it? I have yet to try it on my iPad, since it doesn't run on my iPhone 3G. (I saw it run beautifully on a colleague's iPhone 4.)

I have to acknowledge that those screens are very impressive. But, I'd like to see an actual game running, before I comment in-depth.

On another note, an interesting-looking turn-based RPG/dungeon crawler has just been released. Maybe this will tip DArtagnan over to the dark side.

You seem to be forgetting my point all the time

Great games can exist on ANY platform. But, the worse the platform, the less the game will be - compared to what it COULD be. That's why people tend to prefer Xbox 360 games, over Xbox games. New technology shouldn't JUST provide improved visuals - in an ideal world.

If creativity can only exist on these pathetically small platforms, based on money - then that doesn't make the platform good. It makes the monetary motivation BAD - which is basically my other big point

Still, it could be partially true (I say partially, because I believe creativity can still exist on the PC - even outside indies) - and then you could either support this direction, or you could oppose it. I prefer not supporting what I believe to be a fundamentally wrong direction. It's like evolving gaming through devolution.

Get it already!

 

[kalniel]

I have to acknowledge that those screens are very impressive. But, I'd like to see an actual game running, before I comment in-depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_rR8ZEQztM

And that's not even showing the best views IMHO.

 

[DArtagnan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_rR8ZEQztM

And that's not even showing the best views IMHO.

That's just a tech demo. It looks FANTASTIC - no doubt about it.

Just think what it would look like on my PC

The interface looks pretty damn inconvenient, but I haven't tried it - so that's just an impression. I like my mouse/keyboard combo a lot!

 

[kalniel]

There are two interfaces - one is virtual thumbsticks as shown.. it's just like playing a console basically, and I'm not a fan. I prefer the other interface, where you just tap where you want to move to, and freely swipe to look control where your eyes go to. That works really well, and for an RPG would be fantastic.

 

[DArtagnan]

There are two interfaces - one is virtual thumbsticks as shown.. it's just like playing a console basically, and I'm not a fan. I prefer the other interface, where you just tap where you want to move to, and freely swipe to look control where your eyes go to. That works really well, and for an RPG would be fantastic.

Do you prefer that method over mouse/keyboard, though?

 

[kalniel]

For an RPG, yes. I like being able to set a destination some way down the path and then looking around to admire the scenery as it passes.

For a shooter, no - there's not the same agility of movement.