On the 28th of November 2009 Malmö’s hackerspace Forskningsavdelningen was raided by masked riot police.
Armed with batons and pepper spay they stormed the social center where the hackerspace housed. Among the policemen were people specializing in IT.
One of the people detained was a hacker named mackt. With a background in the Pirate Bay, for him the raid was yet another proof of society’s mistrust and lack of understanding of hacker culture.
After the incident he wanted to do something about the distorted image of hackers. He contacted the film collective RåFILM in Malmö and the idea was born to make a documentary that explains the political aspects of hacker culture beyond the simplifications and preconceptions.
The film will take them out on a long trip to the famous and infamous hackers and activists around the world, hackers that express themselves artistically and politically through technology. What are their motivations? What are the politics and activism hacker culture has shaped out? How does this impact our world? The film will feature unique encounters with people that usually elude the public. It will crash land in the middle of the conflict currently taking place between those who want to keep the technology and the Internet free and those who want to control it.
The film collective RåFILM has been working with community based films, political documentaries and experimental shorts for over 12 years. They always spread their films free on the web and work to bring films into the public space.
Shuggy has just inherited a castle full of goblins, ghouls, zombies, and robots. Help him clear out over 100 rooms to make his new home liveable again! Every room in the castle is different, letting Shuggy fly, float, swing, spin, change size, time travel and more as he explores the Dungeon, Boiler Room, Clocktower, Gallery, and Graveyard.
This is the formal description of that indie platformer game which you can buy on Steam for $9.99 dollars. I bought it for $2.99 from the sales day but that is not what we're talking about here :)
Adventures of Shuggy is an indie platformer game which I discovered with the help of Steam sales. The game was $2.99 dollars as I stated before, so I gave it a go. At first glance, I liked it's simple graphics and liked the character a bit so I bought it.
The game is a basic platformer with some more gameplay elements like time travel, spinning the level or portion of the level, floating, jumping endlessly, swinging from a rope, solving puzzles with different sizes of Shuggy, using multiple images of Shuggy to pass the level and some other. Some of these elements are known from other games but different sizes thing and swinging from a rope are new mechanics for me. Forgive me if I'm an ignorant about this but I'm not much of a platformer type of guy.
Those elements are working good and it really spices up the experience but the thing is, the game design doesn't make you push yourself to master these mechanics. They really come and go. In one level, the game teaches you how to use a rope, and on the next level, it makes you to start learning teleporters. So, you can't really try to master the game or play a level on and on and on. It gives you the sense that, "you can pass this level, it may take more than a try but you definitely will". That is something good for me in games with good stories but Adventures of Shuggy has no story to follow, like most of the platformer games, so this type of casual level design does not help the game much.
There are 4 different themes in the game which is mostly related to the bosses. Dungeon, Boiler Room, Graveyard and Clocktower. Dungeon doesn't have a boss encounter but all the other themes do one. I can't even say that these boss fights were hard and I must say, it was a pretty disappointing end of game boss. I was really like, "Is that it? Is it all over?". Also, the themes affect the gameplay a little but not that much. It feels like they thought about changing the tiles but one of them said "hey, let's add some other things to make this game different", but he didn't succeed much.
I finished this game in like 8-9 hours and I liked playing it but I can't say it's a classic or a hit but a game that is worth trying. The game, overall, is not that exciting but there are times that make you grin, giving you the feeling of success or makes you really excited. Those moments are not too many, but Shuggy creates those moments, and for me, this is what makes a good game and make it worth playing. This game is something you should try.
It's been some time since I've written about the game. Well, I have abandoned the project I was talking about before but there's something new so I'll talk about it.
First of all, I abandoned the game because I found the talent to draw and we decided to create another game that we like. An action game is what we are planning to do and we started working on this game. I did some coding and he started working on the graphics. We haven't decided for all the features yet but some main gameplay elements already are. There will be some shooting, fighting and many other elements that will soon be added.
The game controls are now "one-touch" only, but there maybe some changes to that if we decide to add some strategy-type elements to the game or other actions. I have something in mind about that and we'll surely talk about to decide whether they will be included or not.
It's all for now. We just started working on this, so it's very early to talk more about it but if we manage to handle working together, we will surely be working on more games and if we have enough time and money, we will also try to port this game to PC and go for Steam Greenlight.
Developers of L.A.Noire and The Getaway, Team Bondi, has announced their new game from their website. We have limited information now and here it is:
"Shanghai, 1936. Whore of the Orient. Paris of the East. The most corrupt and decadent city on the planet, where anything can be had or done for the right price. Plaything of Western powers who greedily exploit the Chinese masses. Boiling pot of Chinese nationalism, with the Kuomintang ruthlessly trying to suppress Communism and the labour movement. Home to the International Police Force, a group of Western cops hopelessly trying to keep the lid on and keep the peace."
As I have stated in my first post, I am a software specialist, a former game software developer and a gamer. I still think myself as a game software developer by the way, self-employed maybe. A few weeks ago, I decided that I am done with the holidays and lying my ass down so I started designing my first game. I really think this one is an original concept. After all, I haven't stole the idea from another game.
I cannot give away all the details but the gameplay idea hit me when I was thinking about Snow Bros. which led to Tumblepop. So the level design will look something like this and this. I'm thinking more similar to the Snow Bros. levels.
Well, I just started programming for a prototype with the new IDE that I bought because I though Corona Project Manager was insufficient compared to this one. It is called Lua Glider(ex-CIDER) and it is a NetBeans platform product so it is similar to NetBeans in various ways which makes me very comfortable because of my acquaintance to NetBeans. It is really great to use such a similar IDE because I'm learning and coping with various other things in Corona SDK or Lua.
I can vividly see what the game will look like at the end but I don't know if I would be able to finish it or like find someone to create the animations and sounds for the game. Now, all I have is a character that walks on some tiles created by me. The game requires a lot of changes, additions and they will be done by me code-wise. Other than that, it is not very clear what I will do but I will think of something. Maybe I'll place an ad here for people to apply, I don't know.
I will be able to provide screenshot(s) from the game when I finish the prototype. So, it's all for now.
This is an indie game being developed that I have found out about from Oyungezer web page. The game is being developed using Unity engine and will be released for Windows, Mac, Linux, Flash, Web, Mobile, iPhone and Android. You can find more information about the game from here and here.
This time I'm writing about a great IP (for me) that created great controversy after the release. This controversy included both the developer Team Bondi and the distributor Rockstar Games. You can have a more detailed look about the game and the controversy from here and here.
I haven't read too much about the game after it's release but from the little of what I've read from Wikipedia, it seems that if there will be a sequel, the developer won't be Team Bondi. If there will be a sequel, we will see the effect of the developer's change. There is nothing much to say about it now but it seems that Rockstar and Team Bondi has done many ridiculous things to the development team that worked on this game during the development period overall.
About the game, it is described as a neo-noir crime game in Wikipedia but I call it "my dream game" with a few flaws. Car chases, suspect chases on foot, brawls, gun fights, interrogations.. Everything that you look for in a crime themed game and it's done really good, especially the interrogations. Interrogations are the most powerful part of this game because of the MotionScan technology. This technology makes a great contribution to the gameplay because of it's ability to express human emotions greatly. Lying, telling the truth, fear, anxiety.. You can see it all from the characters' faces. It is really exciting and challenging when trying to determine if the suspect(or witness) is lying or telling the truth. I'm still deceived easily despite playing for 12 hours but this is the main reason for me to play this game.
Another type of interaction that I like in the game is the suspect chases on foot. There were several times that I found my tongue out of my mouth, having hard times to catch the suspects. Sometimes it is just chasing and tackling the suspect, sometimes making them surrender or getting into a gun fight.
It really is a great game and I cannot tell you how excited I got yesterday without giving a spoiler but I got to tell you that it's been a while since I got that excited when playing a game. It really gave me the chills during the homicide desk missions. Following the clues and sharing the same doubts with Detective Phelps was simply awesome. I can tell you, before playing the rest of the game, homicide desk missions are probably the best part of the whole game. It ends up a little weak, in my opinion, but the links between cases and the storytelling throughout those cases was incredible. I couldn't stop playing for hours.
Starting from the homicide desk, the game develops itself in the storytelling area much much better. ***MINOR SPOILER ALERT***At the end of the homicide desk missions, you are being promoted to the Vice desk and that's where you start to wonder what's gonna happen next in the storyline. I cannot give you details without giving too many major spoilers so you are going to need to trust me with this :)
The game pretty much tells(wraps up maybe) it's story after playing for like 20 hours. So, it is pretty much mission after mission to certain point but after it, you are told a good story with twists and turns. I can support my idea of a good story by giving you this information: L.A. Noire is the first video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival.
To wrap things up, I think L.A. Noire is a pretty good game for fans of crime solving and games with good stories and storytelling. It is not an action game, it is a crime game with action and adventure features. If gathering evidences, chasing suspects, interrogating suspects, solving crimes and sometimes getting into gunfights is your thing, that game is for you. For those who are interested, the game is available in Steam and it frequently goes into %50-%75 discount sales. So, stay on watch for it.
"A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. She conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches (motivated by an actual moth removed from the computer, and not by her)." ~Wikipedia
.. or as my niece calls it "combi" in my native language. It can be pronounced as "djombi" :) This post won't be like much of a review, I will just try to pay respect to a game that I played for 54 hours on Steam which I paid like $3 USD.
First of all, I'm not a great fan of casual gaming. Actually, I'm opposed to the idea of casual gaming because I think it kills the good and lowers the quality of video games day by day. The more casual gaming grows and takes over, easier the video games become. That's my opinion so, it's arguable, again.
Well, let's get back to Plants vs. Zombies. It's a tower defence game where you try to defend your house from the undeads like disco zombie, miner zombie and many other types by planting flowers and other kinds of plants and mushrooms like melon throwing catapults, stars that shoot smaller stars and many many other. There are 49 plants(I got the achievemtn so I know the exact number :)) and 20+ types of zombies which is supported by 6 types of levels. The variety is what keeps that game alive and that is what made me play for 54 hours. And also, my willingness to get achievements and the enthusiasm to beat some games to the core. That's how I play games, sometimes.
The main reason for me to play this game was that I like tower defence games and the game is addicting in a weird way like the other PopCap game that I have played like Peggle. I think challenges that the game developers introduce us, mostly the level designers, makes that game more than a casual game and makes it harder and gives you reasons to play more.This also shows us that the guys in the development team tried hard to create players a good game.
I think that game can be taught as a course subject about casual game development.It is full of various in-game content and the variety to keep you play and get addicted to it. And, I suggest to all you gamers out there, mostly tower defence addicts, to play that game. In my opinion, it's a pretty good game that you will get addicted in no time.
Hope you like this one. I will be back, talking about many other games.
P.S.: You can click here to get more information about the game and try it from the official website of PopCap.
It's been a while since I've written something down here but I have my reasons. I have enjoyed my free time for about 2-3 weeks and now I have started working to become a better software developer by learning new techniques and programming languages.
I started working on Corona SDK which is a tool for developing mobile applications and games for Android and iOS. As my first impression, I must say it is a pretty simple tool and the Lua programming(scripting) language it uses is an easy-to-learn language. I haven't done too much but I have to say it's like a miracle after working with Java ME. It does a smooth movement of an object(image, text whatever) from point A to B with just 1 line of code or scales your image by the given value. Those are really simple but time-saver actions while developing games.
The thing about Corona that annoyed me the most is that Ansca Mobile does not provide any free tools to help you develop applications or games. You need to pay for most of the tools that provide you with an auto-complete feature but one. I found out an IDE named Corona® Project Manager which provides a lite version that is free. This is great for now because I am just starting to learn it and I really don't want to pay for it unless I start developing something by myself. If you are interested in learning this SDK, I suggest downloading the lite version of this software and using it. It is sufficient, for now.
I have just started working on Corona and Lua so it will take some time to share my experience on a more advanced level but I am planning on writing some technical stuff about both of them. That will take some time though.
Also, I enrolled in an online class of Software Testing at Udacity. I just finished Unit 1 without the homework and I hope I will pass the course which, I believe, will make me a better software developer. The thing about that course is, it is Python based and I don't know anything about Python syntax so I'm having a little trouble sometimes but that's what we do. We need to learn new and different syntaxes(or technologies), as well as improving ourselves on our main field, all the time to be better at our profession. That's my opinion by the way, some may argue otherwise.
Well, that's all from me now. I will be able to share more of my thoughts and experience as the time goes by. By the way, I will also be writing about games in my native language at my friend's blog which will be in my native language(Turkish). So, if you're interested in games and/or want to read something in Turkish, you should have a look.
The plot:
"The bad-guy character in a classic game who longs to be a hero brings trouble to his entire arcade after sneaking into a new first-person shooter game and unleashing a deadly enemy."
I think this game will be worth the wait. I really admire all the programmers, both engine and gameplay. It really seems that they really did a great great job. Also, the rest of the team is the best but I'm focused on programmers :)
Hi. I'm Serkan, a (former) mobile game programmer and a long-time gamer. The gamer side of me is what mostly defines me. As I can remember, I have been playing games for nearly 20 years. That's a lot of games and platforms we're talking about :) I must say, except from Commodore 64 -which I don't remember vividly because I was like 4 at the time-, SNES and Atari days were awesome. My first encounter with Mario and Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, Goal! 3 and Popeye. There were so many other games that I can't remember the names now. Also playing with my cousin's Gameboy was extremely fun. She only had Paperboy by then but that game was a classic for me. I was having hard time just to pass the starting phase but it was so much fun.
In 1997, my parents got me my first PC. A Pentium 166MHz CPU with 32MB of RAM and a 2GB HDD. I don't remember anything else about this PC except these and the Turbo button. Today, I still don't have any idea what it does :D My first two games were FIFA 98 and Sega CD 3 in 1 with GT Racing '97, Little Big Adventure and NBA 97 or 98. I'm having doubts about the name of the NBA game because I wasn't able to play it at all. Then came Grand Theft Auto which was not that amazing for me at that moment but the second game is one of my all-time favorites.
Apart from all, "the one" game for me is Ultima Online. For me, UO is the best game ever considering all the games I've played. I played for years, like 5+ hours a day. Britain Graveyard and the Minoc Mines were always in my dreams. That was an amazing gaming experience for me and an absolute life changer. I will talk about how it was a life changer in a bit.
Another life changer event for me was when my parents bought me a Sony PlayStation. I don't remember the year of that but the important thing was why they bought it. The reason I got a PSX was that we were having a hard time upgrading my PC because of the cost and the ever-changing technology market. It was and still is hard to keep up with today's technology for me. I don't have enough money or my money spending priorities are different.
Anyway, the important thing was, I kept on playing games on it and lots of it and GTA 2 was one of them. For those who played, they already know what I'm talking about. For those who didn't, you are missing a great classic I must say.
The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 times were/are great but the times I mentioned above are the key moments of my life as a gamer. Now I'm a keen Steam follower, wanting to play new games with brand new ideas and the games that I missed throughout the years.
Apart from that, I was a mobile game programmer for a year. Living my life-long dream, I developed 2 mobile games for Java-Symbian and BlackBerry phones, Highway Zombies: Massacre and Snowball Menace. Those were my first 2 games in my career as a game programmer and I am keen on following this dream so it will be one of the main subjects of this blog.
So, that's it for now and I hope to write more soon. For now, farewell.
