ceramic plate
bathing in dressing
lone onion curl
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunset (March 24, 2010)
beautiful day—
video games call to me
television's glow
bowl of mixed candy
all day long I stare at it
just to consider
through the window
on the painting
sunset
glimmer of cars
strip mall parking lot
lessens
video games call to me
television's glow
bowl of mixed candy
all day long I stare at it
just to consider
through the window
on the painting
sunset
glimmer of cars
strip mall parking lot
lessens
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wasted Potential: Plants vs Zombies
Plants vs Zombies is pretty much a sensation. It is out on all platforms I can think of (PC, Mac, iPhone, PSN, xbox360, probably WiiWare) and it's doing very well on all of them. I am not sure why, I mean it's a mediocre tower defense game, although I suppose they are all mediocre.
Definition of Tower Defense via Wikipedia:
Tower defense or TD is a subgenre of real-time strategy computer games. The goal is to try to stop enemies from crossing the map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities and costs. When an enemy is defeated, the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers.
What makes this game different from other tower defense games? Well it has a somewhat unique resource gathering system. In most TD games you get money from killing enemies, and use that money to build more towers. In PvZ you get "sunshine" by planting sunflowers. They slowly dance, and spit out sunshine balls which you click on to pick up. This is interesting because you are in full control of how many sunflowers to build, and you must build them for "money." Each time you are going to spend sunshine (I will be using sunshine in place of money from now on) you need to decide if you are making defender plants, or sunflowers for more sunshine. I am a fan of making choices and resource tension so I think this is a great system. Also you have limited space and sunflowers take up that space. Other than that it's probably the cute graphics and humorous themes that make this game so popular.
I think the game is great. I had lots of fun playing it. I didn't beat it however. Anytime I don't beat a game, it means that game failed to hold my interest in some way. I know exactly where it went from in this game. The pacing. Each (standard) level starts with you having 0 plants, and 50 sunshine. A sunflowers costs 50 sunshine. So the first flower you plant absolutely MUST BE a sunflower because if you plant anything else you will have 0 sunshine and no income. Okay so I build the sunflower, now I have 0 sunshine and I sit there and watch it dance. I don't know how long it has to dance, I never timed it, it just smiles and wiggles. FINALLY it spits out 1 sunshine, I click on it, +25 sunshine, that isn't enough to buy anything. More waiting. More waiting. More waiting. Flash forward to when I have 5 or 6 sunflowers all giving me 100+ sunshine on a regular basis and finally the game actually begins. This is how every level starts. Maybe 1 or 2 zombies will stumble along before you have your sunshine factory up, and you just plant 1 random defender to kill them.
This is bad design. The first 2 or 3 minutes of every level plays out almost exactly the same! I was on something like level 4-3 when I just couldn't take it anymore. There are so many ways to fix this problem. I can think of three right off the top of my head!
1. Player starts with 250 sunshine, and 4 zombies attack right away.
This would be an improvement because you would be able to make valuable choices right away. You could spend all the sunshine on 5 sunflowers but that would leave you defenseless. You would need to strike a balance of constant income and steady defense right away. It would be tense and exciting. You would have time to plan everything out. It would also give you the option of buying a fancy super plant early.
2. Player starts with 5 sunflowers planted in random spots on the map to kick start the generating.
This is a cool idea because sometimes the sunflowers will be placed in bad spots that are hard to defend, or are to far out in front. They would all work for a short time, but soon the zombies would start eating them unless you put defenses on each one. This would be a fun strategy element because you would need to choose which sunflowers to defend and which to let go.
3. Sunflowers make larger sunshine balls, or generate them more often.
This would simply accelerate the slow pace of the game, although adding little strategy.
I am sure there are more I could come up with if someone wanted to pay me, or seriously ask me to think about it. But this is simple stuff. How did nobody notice that around level 30, planting your first 3 sunflowers is a real drag? This could have been one of my favorite tower defense games. But instead it's just a great example of wasted potential.
Definition of Tower Defense via Wikipedia:
Tower defense or TD is a subgenre of real-time strategy computer games. The goal is to try to stop enemies from crossing the map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities and costs. When an enemy is defeated, the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers.
What makes this game different from other tower defense games? Well it has a somewhat unique resource gathering system. In most TD games you get money from killing enemies, and use that money to build more towers. In PvZ you get "sunshine" by planting sunflowers. They slowly dance, and spit out sunshine balls which you click on to pick up. This is interesting because you are in full control of how many sunflowers to build, and you must build them for "money." Each time you are going to spend sunshine (I will be using sunshine in place of money from now on) you need to decide if you are making defender plants, or sunflowers for more sunshine. I am a fan of making choices and resource tension so I think this is a great system. Also you have limited space and sunflowers take up that space. Other than that it's probably the cute graphics and humorous themes that make this game so popular.
I think the game is great. I had lots of fun playing it. I didn't beat it however. Anytime I don't beat a game, it means that game failed to hold my interest in some way. I know exactly where it went from in this game. The pacing. Each (standard) level starts with you having 0 plants, and 50 sunshine. A sunflowers costs 50 sunshine. So the first flower you plant absolutely MUST BE a sunflower because if you plant anything else you will have 0 sunshine and no income. Okay so I build the sunflower, now I have 0 sunshine and I sit there and watch it dance. I don't know how long it has to dance, I never timed it, it just smiles and wiggles. FINALLY it spits out 1 sunshine, I click on it, +25 sunshine, that isn't enough to buy anything. More waiting. More waiting. More waiting. Flash forward to when I have 5 or 6 sunflowers all giving me 100+ sunshine on a regular basis and finally the game actually begins. This is how every level starts. Maybe 1 or 2 zombies will stumble along before you have your sunshine factory up, and you just plant 1 random defender to kill them.
This is bad design. The first 2 or 3 minutes of every level plays out almost exactly the same! I was on something like level 4-3 when I just couldn't take it anymore. There are so many ways to fix this problem. I can think of three right off the top of my head!
1. Player starts with 250 sunshine, and 4 zombies attack right away.
This would be an improvement because you would be able to make valuable choices right away. You could spend all the sunshine on 5 sunflowers but that would leave you defenseless. You would need to strike a balance of constant income and steady defense right away. It would be tense and exciting. You would have time to plan everything out. It would also give you the option of buying a fancy super plant early.
2. Player starts with 5 sunflowers planted in random spots on the map to kick start the generating.
This is a cool idea because sometimes the sunflowers will be placed in bad spots that are hard to defend, or are to far out in front. They would all work for a short time, but soon the zombies would start eating them unless you put defenses on each one. This would be a fun strategy element because you would need to choose which sunflowers to defend and which to let go.
3. Sunflowers make larger sunshine balls, or generate them more often.
This would simply accelerate the slow pace of the game, although adding little strategy.
I am sure there are more I could come up with if someone wanted to pay me, or seriously ask me to think about it. But this is simple stuff. How did nobody notice that around level 30, planting your first 3 sunflowers is a real drag? This could have been one of my favorite tower defense games. But instead it's just a great example of wasted potential.
Self-Plagiarism
I remember an event in my young life, in middle school, we had to make some kind of art project relating to the Oregon trail. Well back in elementary school for an art project the whole class made a little rocking chair made out of clothes pins. It was perfect I thought. A perfect hand made miniature rocking chair, the kind an old-time carpenter would make for the setters of the time. So I handed that in and got an A. The teacher thought I did a great job, until some pompous cunt decided to tattle on me and tell the teacher that I made that in an art class two or three years ago. The teacher confronted me about it, and I didn't lie, I said yes I made it some years ago. However I was never graded on it, and after all I DID make it. Although I vaguely understood that I had broken a rule and did feel somewhat guilty about it, I had some doubt and some questions. Was this really wrong?
I don't know why I have been thinking about it today, but I keep adjusting the scenario a little bit to see exactly where it becomes "wrong" to hand in your own work. Here are some scenarios.
Scenario 1: I made the chair in art class three years ago, took it home, and turned it in as an art project at a later time. (What actually happened.) This is against the rules, and can be considered academic dishonesty. Pretty serious crime.
Scenario 2: I made the chair in art class three years ago. I lost it, but remembered how to make it. I remade the same chair for the Oregon Trail project. Now this is interesting. As a matter of fact I could have simply lied and adopted this story and no one would know any better. I made the chair, absorbed the skills, and remade the same chair but for a new project. I am not sure what would have happened if I took this stance but thinking about it, it seems totally legitimate. The idea remains the same, but the labor was put in just like everyone else.
Scenario 3: I read how to make the chair in some book, and simply made the chair. Obviously this is fine, and this is what the teacher would like me to do.
It seems like so much grey area. What is it exactly that we are being graded on in this case? The creative process? The time, labor and attention to detail? I think those who paradigm should be changed and students should be allowed to plagiarize their own work anytime they want. I think it will create work of a much higher quality and encourage students to keep detailed bibliographies and source lists of all the work they have ever done because it WILL come in handy. Imagine how nice it would be if you put 15 hours into a paper, but you knew it would probably work for you at least two or three times? Not to mention these papers would go through years of refining, which would bring the quality up.
I don't know I haven't made up my mind about this. Just some food for thought.
I don't know why I have been thinking about it today, but I keep adjusting the scenario a little bit to see exactly where it becomes "wrong" to hand in your own work. Here are some scenarios.
Scenario 1: I made the chair in art class three years ago, took it home, and turned it in as an art project at a later time. (What actually happened.) This is against the rules, and can be considered academic dishonesty. Pretty serious crime.
Scenario 2: I made the chair in art class three years ago. I lost it, but remembered how to make it. I remade the same chair for the Oregon Trail project. Now this is interesting. As a matter of fact I could have simply lied and adopted this story and no one would know any better. I made the chair, absorbed the skills, and remade the same chair but for a new project. I am not sure what would have happened if I took this stance but thinking about it, it seems totally legitimate. The idea remains the same, but the labor was put in just like everyone else.
Scenario 3: I read how to make the chair in some book, and simply made the chair. Obviously this is fine, and this is what the teacher would like me to do.
It seems like so much grey area. What is it exactly that we are being graded on in this case? The creative process? The time, labor and attention to detail? I think those who paradigm should be changed and students should be allowed to plagiarize their own work anytime they want. I think it will create work of a much higher quality and encourage students to keep detailed bibliographies and source lists of all the work they have ever done because it WILL come in handy. Imagine how nice it would be if you put 15 hours into a paper, but you knew it would probably work for you at least two or three times? Not to mention these papers would go through years of refining, which would bring the quality up.
I don't know I haven't made up my mind about this. Just some food for thought.
Board Games as Art
Link to story via Escapist Magazine
A game designer creates a board game with a provocative twist ending. M. Knight Shamalllmallayan eat your fucking heart out.
A game designer creates a board game with a provocative twist ending. M. Knight Shamalllmallayan eat your fucking heart out.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Rain (March 10, 2010)
scavenger piglets
abusing their privilege
—free parmesan cheese
familiar tea
television entertains
a rainy Wednesday
abusing their privilege
—free parmesan cheese
familiar tea
television entertains
a rainy Wednesday
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