Tattered Page

Merry Christmas

Chas York — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:04:43 +0000

I’d delayed this post until I had some time to write something more engaging, but I got caught up in the “spirit of the season (revised)” (read: mad frantic running from place to place in a desperate attempt to get things accomplished) and never had the time to craft anything notable.

I’m going back to the old [...]

Crysis Crisis or not?

Chas York — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:05:47 +0000

A friend sent this link on Crysis’ release sales. Of note:

Crysis sold just 86,633 units last month, following its release on November 13.

Those disappointing numbers don’t surprise me. I’m surprised so many people expected so much more, but I’ve been ranting on skyrocketing system-spec requirements for quite some time. Sometimes it seems [...]

In Defense of the Carnies

Chas York — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:48:35 +0000

Zubon’s got a good writeup on the Carnival of Shadows- a Villain group in the City of Heroes universe. I agree with much, but wanted to challenge enough of it that I killed the reply-box before I remembered that longer replies could go to my oft-neglected blog here.

Go ahead and read it, then this [...]

Crafting as a Mini-game

Chas York — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:29:32 +0000

Jason over at probablynot is talking about mini-games for crafting. Thereâ€™s a weird sense of dÃ©jÃ -vu for both of us, as we both recall talking about this topic somewhere at some time, but canâ€™t find it anywhere.

For you non-MMO-playing readers, â€œcraftingâ€ is just what it sounds like. While some heroes may slay dragons or explore [...]

Envy from Cubicle Hell

Chas York — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:48:53 +0000

Ok, maybe not cubicle hell, but while I’m sitting inÂ my monochromaticÂ 8×8 cell (desk included) I’ll be thinking of these guysÂ at Three Rings Design.Â

I knew I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Streetview hits the ‘Burgh

Chas York — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:40:01 +0000

I figured Google Streetview would be a regional novelty for quite some time… I still do… they just (more or less) included MY region in that novelty.Â My friend over at ShinyObjects just noted that Google’s got Streetview running in Pittsburgh, PA now.

Issue 11 On City of Heroes

Chas York — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:13:13 +0000

Work’s been rather nuts.Â Jenn & I are still playing City of Heroes.Â Issue 10 still seems fresh to us (and only a few of our characters have been able to go through most of the content) but the Halloween event is soon upon us and Issue 11 has entered into closed beta.

Issue 11: A [...]

Why Can’t MY Company Have Brainstorming Sessions Like This?

Chas York — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:53:50 +0000

I mean, really… WHY?

From the Cryptic Studios Blog:

What if life were a video game? I know Iâ€™d want some cheat codes. Hereâ€™s what other people at Cryptic said they would want:

It comes complete with an image of a whiteboard scrawled with ideas. Some of my favorites:

Ctrl Alt Del
Mario [...]

Professional Soldiers are Predictable

Chas York — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:09:30 +0000

Kill Ten Rats has a great writeup on the “myth” of the “unpredictable PvP foe.” It’s a good read, and echos something from way back in my military days.

See, the same is often true for real life military tactics. We had “Standard Operating Procedures” for virtually everything- how to react to an ambush, [...]

Another City of Heroes comic book… sorta.

Chas York — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:19:49 +0000

Well, I got my prizes from the Comic Book Contest.Â I figured that, with City of Heroes’ Issue 10 on the way, I’d give the new software a run doing a comic book based “guide” to the issue.

My goal was to mix a brief overview of the features with a little humor.Â I hoped to [...]

1-18-08

Chas York — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:18:53 +0000

If anyone’s more out-of-touch than I am, you might not have seen this yet.

1-18-08

Trailer launched with the Transformers premiere.Â That’s not the movie title.Â It’s codenamed “cloverfield.”Â There’s a great deal of speculation. Seems like a monster flick taken by an alternate perspective, but others aren’t certain. Is that roar’ a monster or just a skyscraper’s [...]

Dropped off the face of the earth again

Chas York — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:01:06 +0000

(Sigh) I hear all about game developers’ insane schedules.Â I believe them.Â I just can’t figure out how all these guys maintian their blogs so well.Â Things go a bit nuts here at work and I’m out of commission for over a month.

How the heck do they do it?

Ok, it’s not just work.

So… what’s been going [...]

Comic Book Creator: Chaseâ€™s Choice Award

Chas York — Tue, 22 May 2007 02:23:58 +0000

Well, the City of Heroes Comic Book Creator contestÂ prizes are announcedÂ this week.Â Â I’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring some comics there, and while none of us would probably be “professional grade” there are some real noteworthy achievements out there.

When I started my entry, I had some aspirations to winning it- now, I don’t [...]

MMO Diversity

Chas York — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:23:34 +0000

Nerfbat’s posted “MMO Development Lesson #16” and while I agree with the overall message, I don’t like the way the introduction feels. “Donâ€™t be different for the sake of being different. Be different for the sake of being better.”

It is a good cautionary message- too many new developers want to come in, challenge all [...]

Star Wars Galaxies Storyteller

Chas York — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:30:45 +0000

I’ve always lamented that the game with greatest toolset for self-expression and roleplaying was tied to an ever-changing combat engine that never seemed to live up to that potential.Â I’m talking about Star Wars Galaxies, of course.

I don’t know whether it’s because so many people had such high hopes for it or because the bad [...]