Something Different Instead

Edit: (Oct. 16, 2013) There probably won't be a new post this month. DT3 is still being worked on all the time though. For the next week or two, I'll be going back through chapters 1-7 to fix up a lot things I need to address. Mainly the Gate C revamp that really needs to happen. There's another level before it that no one really made much mention of. It wasn't hated or liked, but personally I loathe it so it's going to be destroyed and replaced with something else much better and more memorable. It had a boss fight with it which no longer fits, though I don't want to remove that one, so it'll be moved to another location while a new boss will be put in the new place. The fun thing about the new boss is it was the first 'boss fight' type of thing to be made for the DT engine before it was even DT. Of course behaviors and some code will have to be altered to make it work for DT's current state. Displaced Cyborg was the first boss made for DT1, but it wasn't the first test subject.

Edit: (Oct. 1, 2013) I love using Comic Sans, mainly because it upsets people for some explainable reason. Forgot to mention, I will be unavailable between Oct. 5-8 as I'll be at the Captivate Conference.

So... this post was originally going to be a rant (was even going to have a disclaimer) about how I dislike modern gamers. Instead, I'll just talk about something else, because I'm sure my thoughts on modern gamers, or rather the words I'd use to describe them, are well known anyway. I've been in a very bad mood lately. It's not my life (things are fine), it's just the world pissing me off more than usual. Probably best to keep that anger away from this blog.

Before getting into DT stuff; My bird had been gone for over a month until she suddenly showed up yesterday. She flew down and landed next to me, awaiting the usual routine as if she had never been away. It was really good timing as that was one of my bad 'I hate everything' days.

Item Hunters

First up, I like being able to find everything in a game. The completionist in me wants to see that 100%. (Assuming I like the game enough.) So lets look at a screenshot.

For Gate 3, it shows I have 26/29 items left to find. So exactly where are these 3 items? That Gate level was huge, broken up into 7 different areas. Where do we even begin?

I'm sure for you completionists out there, this could be a frustrating task. Exploration is fun, but sometimes a little clue is nice. Gate 5 has 40 items split up among 5 major areas so... yeah. Something new has been added in. After a Gate is completed, a terminal will appear at the Gate's exit portal that will display a bit more information for the player.

The source image isn't busted like what is being displayed here. o_O

Okay, now this narrows it down a bit better. Personally, this gives me more hope of being able to at least find where the other items are, getting to all of them is a different story. Every Gate will have this aside from Gate 4. If you remember from the demo, the level select screen already displayed this information for the player.

Another thing returning is the Item Finder from DT1. This time though, it's not just given to the player. It's an optional unlock that takes a bit to get. It doesn't play a sound this time, instead, Chao will display a treasure icon in her little word bubble upon entering a map if there's something there. And like DT1, it will not locate hidden maps, so it can't always be relied on.

Other DT Stuff

The last week has been almost nothing but bug fixing, tuning, and changing some things that were problematic. Things are running and playing better now. Yay!

Amnesia: Machine for Pigs

If scary things don't make you shit yourself and you like horror games... well why haven't you gotten this if you haven't already? To say too much about it would be somewhat of a spoiler, so I'm just gonna say it was a very engaging experience going through this. Personally I didn't find it quite as scary as the first Amnesia, but it is definitely a lot more disturbing. I found the story and writing more engaging than the first and in some cases, the monsters felt scarier. They aren't as visually horrifying (well you're not supposed to be looking at them, but w/e) but I found some of the situations were scarier than what was in the first game. And that's it, any more and it'll go into spoiler town. If you liked the first game or Silent Hill 2, I highly recommend Machine for Pigs.