MetaFilter posts tagged with gaming and game

Elephants are known to be obedient game players

ardgedee — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:01:26 -0800

OBEY! The Game! Previous elephants on Metafilter: This is the Only Level Achievement Unlocked

Hey, you taffers!

dunkadunc — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:19:21 -0800

The Dark Mod, a total conversion for Doom 3 in the spirit of Looking Glass Technology's Thief series, has finally been released after years (and more years) of development and is now available to download.

Bonus Level

boo_radley — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:26:14 -0800

bonus level is a new flash gaming portal. Games include Captain Dan V Zombie Plan, reminiscent of Berzerk, Push, an unusual platformer that combines level manipulation with quick-reflex timing and jumping, Jump Gear, an acrobatic timed racer and a ton more I haven't even tried yet. What sets bonus level apart from other gaming portals is that it's headed by three great names in game development, Wouter Visser (Wouter), Tõnu Paldra (tonypa) and Jean-Philippe Sarda (JP). Part of their philosophy is allowing anyone who registers to make and share levels for their games, as well as giving budding designers access to the flash APIs used to create all of bonus level's games.

Hey little sister what have you done

Artw — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:17:27 -0800

There's something in the sea... and it has a big drill for an arm.

The German-style game

Artw — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:47:34 -0800

Monopoly killer - how The Settlers of Catan redefined board games.

Jumpman

Rinku — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:15:40 -0800

Friday 3MB-Mac-and-PC-download fun: Jumpman. An explanation and some screenshots here. Via TIGSource.

Evacuation

Rinku — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:01:38 -0800

Friday Flash Fun: Evacuation is a puzzle game about explosive decompression. Save the crew! Eject the aliens into space by opening the spaceship's doors! The catch: doors of the same color all open together. By the people that brought us Too Many Ninjas! Via the always excellent TGISource

Poison Shroom

juv3nal — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:16:10 -0800

RIP 1UP & EGM. 1UP.com produced some stellar gaming podcasts. Most of the staff responsible for those have now been laid off. Links to torrented archives and twitters to keep track of former 1UPers.

Roll 1d20 for save. 9 again? Heh, too bad.

loquacious — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:00:46 -0800

In a must-see interview for tabletop gamers everywhere, Colonel Louis Zocchi talks about modern mass produced plastic dice and why they utterly fail at being random: Part 1 - Part 2

What's in a game?

ersatz — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:38:32 -0800

What can one learn from the design choices of past games? John Harris discusses different game aspects, 20 games at a time, at Game Design Essentials. You can read on 20 Open World Games (where generally the player is left to his own devices to explore a large world), see your destroyed controllers in a new light with 20 Difficult Games or check out 20 Mysterious Games (that rely on algorithmically-generated content or emphasize secret-hunting), 20 Unusual Control Schemes and 20 Atari Games. What about roguelikes, you say? Harris also maintains a column called @Play at GameSetWatch, discussing old and new roguelikes. And if that wets your appetite for some Nethack, but you prefer having graphics and mouse control in your games, the most recent post might help. On the other hand, if you don't care about such novelties, an interview with the developer of Dwarf Fortress (previously) may be of interest. The games are chosen for their instructive qualities and general interest, not to compare them using a meaningless yardstick. They're here because I could illustrate something important using them as examples. Older games tend to have more elemental designs, presenting their mechanics strongly rather than submersing them between a sea of what a game is "supposed to be." This is particularly useful for explaining and highlighting design conventions.

Braunstein, the world's first role-playing game

Kattullus — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:50:52 -0800

Most gamers have never heard of Braunstein. Sad but true. In the hierarchy of self-awareness you’ll find the circle of gamers who know what D&D is (a very, very large circle), then inside of that is the circle of gamers who know what Greyhawk is (large but smaller), and inside that the circle who knows what Blackmoor is (smaller still). And then in the very center, vanishingly small, are the people who’ve heard of Braunstein. Which is a pity, because Braunstein is the granddaddy of them all.

Braunstein: the Roots of Roleplaying Games by Ben Robbins. The first role-playing game was run by soldier David Wesely in 1967, his group including none other than D&D co-creator Dave Arneson. This past GenCon Braunstein was revived! Here's what the players had to say. Handouts from an earlier Braunstein revival. David Wesely's post-game comments. [via Rob McDougall] David Wesely provides further background (posting as weseld1) including that his inspiration for introducing the figure of a "referee" (a.k.a. game master or dungeon master) came from Strategos, The American Game of War by Lt. Charles Adiel Lewis Totten. Rob McDougall tells the story of Totten. Wesely also mentions two books of game theory which had a great influence on him, one of which The Compleat Strategyst, was a bestseller put out by the RAND Corporation. Rob McDougall traces the history of roleplaying back to RAND.

You know less about Tetris than you think

silby — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:02:04 -0800

Tetris has changed over the years. The latest game mechanics are well-documented and allow for techniques more complicated than those of us used to earlier iterations could possibly imagine. And of course, you can have it any way you want it. [via]

Super Epic Video Game News

BartFargo — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:44:22 -0800

Super Epic Video Game News. Several Channel 101 alumni are bringing their own distinctive style to game and tech journalism. Perfect for those who love video games, but hate the people that play them. The YouTube comments are an even split between impotent rage and people who get the joke. For those who don't like Channel 101 or video game news, you have been warned.

Ghosts in the machine

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:43:57 -0800

A chimpanzee plays Ms. Pac Man (WMV, some Japanese)

At least you won't die of dysentery in this one.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:40:26 -0800

Thule Trail is a cute modern remake of The Oregon Trail.

M.U.G.E.N: The 2D Fighting Game Engine

milquetoast — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:34:31 -0800

M.U.G.E.N [wikipedia] is a 2D fighting game engine, originally developed by Elecbyte and released in 1999. The engine is highly customizable; characters, backgrounds, and sound files -- whether from existing games or original works -- can be easily integrated. Some examples of the engine in action [youtube]: Homer Simpson vs. Peter Griffin, Ryu vs Popeye, Green Power Ranger vs Osama Bin Laden, Fat Albert vs Juggernaut, Marvin the Martian vs. Duck Dodgers. Also, game crossovers: Homer in NES Land, Thunder Force III vs. Duck Hunt. [mi] WARNING: some of the videos are very loud.

Sonic Invaders

Arcaz Ino — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 14:50:23 -0800

Sonic Invaders - videogaming without the video. [Windows]

Game design essays

Tlogmer — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 07:26:20 -0800

A whole bunch of great game design essays.

Video Game Music (with orchestras)

Tlogmer — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:58:08 -0800

Video Games Live, a game-music-with-orchestra concert tour, has gotten lots of press; videogame music's gettting new attention.

xoc - SMW

Pretty_Generic — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 06:46:03 -0800

SMW - The complete soundtrack to Super Mario World, covered by one man using dozens of instruments. Roughly in game order, faithful to the originals, with some bizarre artistic license thrown around. A private hobby made public. Dedicated to Koji Kondo.

Ngage self-destruct mechanism!

Pretty_Generic — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:43:30 -0800

Introducing the Gizmondo handheld games console from Tiger Telematics. It's like the PSP, only DOOMED.

bog leech

jimmy — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 02:18:22 -0800

BOG LEECH! Game sprite horrors! Lovecraftian nightmares!

Atari BackWater Produces First Page Post

undule — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:42:19 -0800

The Atari Games That Never Were -- and then some. A community dedicated to rooting out prototype or unreleased titles such as Alligator People,Monstercise and -- hey cool -- a genre-busting color-field. While all this may seem a tad on the esoteric side, the glimpses into the the art is cool, hey?

Take your mind off the election...

soulhuntre — Thu, 28 Oct 2004 10:12:33 -0800

Princess Maker 2 - Stressed out from current events? I doubt the game is as much fun to play as it is to be bewildered by, but either might help. "...is basically a perverse sports management simulation where your entire team consists of a single ten year old girl that you have to raise to adulthood. Much like any decent sports manager game you have to keep track of a nearly overwhelming number of statistics that fluctuate based on training. In Princess Maker 2 these run the gamut from the mundane like "strength" and "charisma", to the droll like "cooking" and "conversation", to the bizarre like "sin" and "temper". "

CACODEMONS

Keyser Soze — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 02:03:41 -0800

Doom 3: It may possibly be the most pirated game in history.