random observations about taiwan

1. dogs: hordes of abandoned dogs wander all over the streets. they're mostly black and pointy eared.
2. trash cans: there's like 1 trash can per square mile. I don't wanna litter, but I kinda have to... A couple trash cans per store entrance can take care of the garbage problem, right?
3. Roman sandals: seems to be the latest woman's fashion trend. those shoes that Roman legionnaires used to wear.
4. Lady Gaga: she's pretty huge
5. multicultural: there's like 4 groups: hakka, hokkien, chinese, and aboriginals (and pockets of westerners here and there). pretty surprising for an island that's like 1/10th the size of california. realized this only recently.
6. American movies: nobody laughs at the cultural gags, like getting stoned or whatever. It was weird for me. but a character can fall on his face, and that's funny for everybody.
7. Japanese influence: heavy japanese influence here, which makes sense (history, proximity). like the ladies dressed as dolls that greet you at the elevator, thanking you for your time, and bowing until the doors close..

I ate a cricket at an aboriginal restaurant. It was frightening.

Ending of Locke Lamora felt manufactured. Just like the ending of Windup Girl, which interestingly has a city-wide riot like in Diamond Age. What do I mean by manufactured? It just felt like it was meticulously outlined, the plotlines tied up neatly with a gift bow. I'm of the school that believes more in a story's organic growth. Not calling on stereotypes, not fillings in holes, not wrapping things up, not following an old formula. I don't know what I'm talking about, I've never been published, but there it is.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Some vivid passages that I liked...

Dozens of grotty blankets were set out on the floor, covered with food: bowls of bony chicken marinated in cheap almond wine, soft thresher-fish tails wrapped in bacon and soaked in vinegar, and brown bread flavored with sausage grease. There were also salted peas and lentils as well as bowls of past-ripe tomatoes and pears.

Doña Sofia’s hand briefly settled over Locke’s, long enough for him to feel the assorted calluses and chemical burns no manicure could conceal. She was a true alchemical botanist, then; this barge was her direct handiwork as well as her general design. A formidable talent—by implication, a calculating woman.

At present, a hugely muscled nichavezzo (“punishing hand”), one of the duke’s own household guard, was handing out the beatings. The soldier was armored in black leather, with a gleaming steel breastplate and a steel helmet crested with the freshly severed fin of a giant flying fish. Scales and spines scintillated as the soldier stepped back and forth under the bright sun, striking out seemingly at leisure with an iron-shod staff.

Calo and Galdo whisked damp cloths off serving platters and bowls, revealing the full extent of the meal for the first time. There were indeed sausages, neatly sliced and fried in oil with quartered pears. There were also split red peppers stuffed with almond paste and spinach; dumplings of thin bread folded over chicken, fried until the bread was as translucent as paper; and cold black beans in wine and mustard sauce.

There was stewed mutton with onions and ginger, stuffed eels in spiced wine sauce, and green-apple tarts baked by Jean (with a liberal dose of Austershalin brandy poured over the fruit).

A small waterfall plunges through a hole in the floor, down into the catacombs beneath the Echo Hole, where dark water can be heard rushing.

Then came the cask, a heavy dark object that plunged into the black canal at the base of the waterfall with a loud splash and a geyser of water.

To be continued

what can we learn from prince of persia

stealables - noun - elements of a creative work that i think are clever and could be stolen to put in your own work.

1. farah - a significant companion who is also a helpful gameplay sidekick

2. the fairy tale atmosphere

3. the ancient middle-eastern setting

4. the use of a frame story, found in literature

5. the clever integration of hundreds of scripted in-game dialogue

disclaimer:

i am by no means an authority on the game subjects that i discuss, for i have no "real industry experience" that credit some of what i say. all writings are based on my own logical assumptions and opinions developed from many hours of self study.

First Impression - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Prince of Frustration. This game is hard, in both the platforming and the combat aspects. Not only must you have the wits to solve some crazy puzzles, you absolutely must be a seasoned gamer (else I don't imagine you ever finishing the game). The relentless action had me tearing my hair out for many nights, and I even gave up on the game for a few weeks. Platforming requires planning, timing (oh the timing), and careful attention to detail. It wasn't uncommon for me to repeat levels at least 30 times before I got down pat what the hell I was doing. Walkthroughs helped me finish the game.

At times I wasn't even enjoying Prince of Persia. The music began to annoy me the 30th time around. The game enemies began to feel like my real enemies. Playing felt more like routine and work than fun. Good thing the story is simple and straightforward, otherwise I wouldn't even remember or care what happened because I'd be too busy with the long, difficult gameplay. And yeah, the game felt excruciatingly long. I even wished for all the grinding to be over just so I could beat the game and get it over with.

I won't argue against the quality of the game, though. Prince of Persia was flawless. The atmosphere was unique and delivered very well. I enjoyed the setting.

Bottomline: You have to know what you're doing. You have to be good at games.

Critique: Call of Juarez

The main issue that I have with the original PC version of Call of Juarez is the unnecessary complexity of the controls. The controls are not too hard to learn because they generally follow FPS conventions, but some of the more specific controls are incredibly hard to retain. I can imagine coming back to this game in a few weeks and not even BE AWARE that I could kick open doors or switch to alternate fire. The problem stems from way too many input redundancies. Just look, there is a separate button for each of these actions: fire left weapon, fire right weapon, zoom, kick, pick up or interact, bullet time, sprint, and this mechanic that lets you switch to a single pistol in rapid gunslinging action. This is a personal preference, but I consider games with simple consolidated controls* far more superior than hardcore gamey gamer games. The problem can't be fixed with just key remapping, instead the user interface design would have to be "dumbed down".

So here are some of my suggestions for what Techland could do to minimize their game's PC controls:

Remove dual weapons control. Instead of there being a gun in each hand that I could fire from both mouse buttons, why not just combine them into a single weapon slot fired by one button only. This frees up the right mouse button for other functions...like zoom. The default control for zoom is the "X" key which is a very uncomfortable position for your thumb. Getting rid of right pistol fire frees the mouse for zooming which is much more natural. I am okay with removing direct control over both weapon hands because I don't think that the feature adds anything to the game...shooting an enemy is shooting an enemy. There is still only one reticle for godssake, and other games have dealt with dual weapons in single slots just fine. How is this going to affect Reverend Ray's concentration mode (basically bullet time) you ask? Since there are two reticles in concentration mode, either condense the two guns to one reticle or perform concentration mode with one gun only. After all, concentration mode can be activated by only the left mouse button.
Remember, I am discussing the PC version. For the Xbox, there isn't much problem simply because of the design of the Xbox controller. I don't know how Halo handles the dual weapon system on the PC. If you do, can you let me know your thoughts?

Remove control for kick. This is probably the "melee" control best suited for console gaming. Default settings for kick is the "C" key which again is strange and hard to retain, especially since there is already a similar "contextually interact" function with the "F" key. I can count on one hand the number of times that I have had to use kick in the game. The game provides very little reason to use it so it would not affect the game if removed. As a matter of fact, kick is so rarely used that I even got stuck on a level once because I had forgotten that I had to press "C" to kick open that damn door. Kick should be integrated into "interact" (the "F" key) because "F" is already used in game for picking up objects, opening doors, talking to people...it only makes sense. I love the idea of a single key for ALL actions as long as they are within context of the game environment. Players wouldn't have to retain much to progress through the game.

Remove rapid fire control. Again, this is another obscure key, "Z". Removal won't be a compromise and is easily achievable after dual weapons control is relegated. Since rapid fire can only be done with one pistol (as is common for Wild West gunslingers), then why not make rapid fire a permanent feature of equipping a single pistol? If players want to kill enemies with two guns, they can equip two guns. But if players want to be able to cover their enemies with bullet holes in a matter of seconds, they can equip just one pistol.

I don't have too much of a problem with Billy's bullwhip, but it could be simplified further if both cracking the whip and slinging the whip were combined into one left mouse click. Since the game only allows a tree trunk or branch to be slung, then the reminder icons (crack and sling) no longer need to be there and players can count on only left clicking the whip to use it without worrying that they might accidently sling the wrong thing.


*For a good example of consolidated controls, look at the Chronicles of Riddick games. One button for attacking, one button for reloading, one button for crouching, one button for jumping, and one button for everything else.

proposed Entertainment Production Studios

rough spec for proposed company model