Barts News

Shoot the evil Wizard from Venus!

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:23:00 +0000

Yet another small and free indie gem: Star Guard. A very classical run'n'gun shooter presented in 8 bit aesthetic, available for Windows and MacOSX (nice!), can be downloaded from here. The gameplay is very smooth and addictive, the graphics are in lovely black and green (with a bit of blood red mixed in), the sounds are also very retro. Not much more can really be said about it, so just trust me that it's pretty cool and go play it. Below you can find the speed run, if you are still not convinced:

[ Via IndieGames ]

Small Revelation

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:02:00 +0000

I don't normally take part in the whole "games as art" discussion. I consider games to be just a medium like others, in a sense that 90% are crap, 9% are good and the remaining 1% is great. The strength of the medium lies in the fact that it is interactive, hence allowing for alternate stories, endings and more involvement on the part of its consumer, the weakness being that it is generally considered as flashy entertainment for socially inept morons.

Every now and then, however, there arrives a title that proves otherwise and the game I would like to present today is exactly such a title. As much as I shudder to write it, it is a perfect example of art in game form.

Conceived as an entry to for Casual Gameplay Design Competition, the theme of which was "exploration", Small Worlds conveys the story and the ambiance via simple exploration. In this game there are no threats to the player, such as enemies or hazards, there is just player and the level. As player progresses, the camera pans out and shows the bigger picture of their surroundings. Similarly, as the story progresses, the player gains more insight into what is happening.

Having reached the ending, I was looking for some explanations of the story over the internet and have found some interesting ideas in the comments on Reddit (much to my surprise, to be honest). Turns out it is really hard to tell with absolute certainty what has happened in the story - it is somewhat ambiguous and open for interpretation. The mood it conveys, however, is truly spectacular, amplified by excellent music tracks that enhance the experience. I was swept away by the feelings of melancholia, loneliness and nostalgia, as I was unfolding the layers of the game.

If you are stuck or otherwise too lazy to complete the game, the video walktrough can be found here - unfortunately it misses on couple of elements of the puzzle that (in my opinion) are important to the story. Therefore, try to finish the game on your own for a complete and unique experience.

I highly recommend playing Small Worlds: this little jewel of the gaming worlds will take less than 10 minutes of your life to complete, but will leave its imprint in your soul for much longer.

[ via IndieGames ]

Left 4 Dead 2

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:59:00 +0000

I was actually planning to write about Left 4 Dead earlier this year, as for me it was the game of 2008. So addictive that I actually had to sell it, because it was disorganizing my life. I finally didn't write anything, because everything worth writing had already been written and also because with all the things happening in the meantime it was already summer.

Today, however, I have to post the trailer to the sequel, even though I promised not to copy-paste trailers anymore - simply because it's great and it got me all excited about Left 4 Dead 2:

Not sure about you, but I can't wait to kill some zombies. Unfortunately, this will have to wait as I have incoming important exam in December, as well as some other extra work that Left 4 Dead 2 would successfully undermine. Still, I know what I will be getting for Christmas this year...

Kanban versus Scrum

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:33:00 +0000

As indicated by the previous post on the subject, I got more and more drawn into Agile development in general and Scrum in particular. Other than applying a whole slew of the Agile practices at work, I also spend time learning about it, both from books and other developers. Recently, I have stumbled upon a very interesting document that compares Scrum

Spot the difference

I have heard about Kanban at my university when I was still a student, but it was more applied to managing industrial production, not software development. Also, it was presented in a mind-bogglingly boring way. The only thing I could vaguely recall was the idea of a board and a drawing I made during the lecture depicting a Japanese man in II World War uniform, holding a katana sword and threatening workers in order to make them work harder. Hur, hur. It just goes to show how boring the lecture was.

If you don't know what Scrum and Kanban are, fear not, as this document is a very good place to learn. It is relatively free of technical jargon and presents the topic from a refreshing perspective - namely, remembering that these tools are nothing more but tools, not some sort of universal truth descending from heavens.

Well written, concise, useful and user-friendly - if you have anything to do with software development, you will do yourself a favor by reading this document. Also, it's free and available for download from here. The accompanying presentation on the subject can be seen here. Good lecture!

Free places to get three music (or vice versa)

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:58:00 +0000

I don't write too much about music on Barts News, but I do like to share some nice tracks available for free download every now and then, especially if they can be qualified as chiptunes or are otherwise game related. Today I would like to point you out to three interesting places where you can get quality music for free.

The first place is the great website of a very cool band called Machinae Supremacy. Rock, metal, chiptunes, game music and free downloads - if you don't think it's extremely cool, then you probably should be reading some other blog right now. I have found theim by following a really cool remix of The Great Giana Sisters theme, quite possibly the only C64 game I have played (it can be downloaded from here, as well as a remix of Bionic Commando theme). Be sure to browse their homepage, as there's a lot of goodies and info to be found there, such as for example full game soundtrack from Jets'n'Guns available for free download.

The second place is the website of She, who, on closer inspection, actually turns out to be a he. But don't fret, no transsexuals here, it's just a man with a passion for creating music and intriguing choice of pseudonym. What's interesting is that he is Polish (from the town where I live now), is quite young ('83) and his music just got published in Japan (Digipak CD), iTunes and AmazonMP3. Way to go! I just love it when people fulfill their dreams, excel at what they love doing. I also like it when my fellow compatriots grow beyond the limits of our small, backwards potato country and are gaining well-deserved worldwide recognition, like for example Andrzej Sapkowski. Or She, toutes proportions gardees. Back on the subject of music, there's a choice of chiptunes and very Japanese-like modern pop (don't hit me, I am not a specialist on music and am struggling with words here) so it definitely deserves a try.

The third place is this page on SoundCloud. Bearing a clever nickname of Jinja Ninja (something along lines of ninja from a shrine), the gentleman behind it is Alex Gemmell, a London DJ who was kind enough to share with us his remixes. Not exactly chiptunes and not exactly game related, but it's free, cool, trancey music. Be sure to listen to at least some of it (you can do it online, streaming), although if you have a slow connection, chosing to download large files might turn out to be somewhat problematic.

So there you have it - three places, loads of free music. Like it? Don't like it? Don't give a damn? Let me know via comments.

Barts is back!

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:59:00 +0000

My Japanese travel is over. As I have mentioned before, I did not manage to go to Tokyo Game Show this year, but reading various coverages over the internet I get the impression I shouldn't be too worried about that.

Surprisingly, there are not many game-related information that I am bringing from Japan this time. I had very aggressive visiting schedule and a lot of meetings with old friends, and hence not much time for slipping into game shops and parlors. The highlights of my trip include chilling in New York Bar at the top of Shinjuku Park Tower, the bar in which "Lost in Translation" movie was filmed, as well as visiting Gunkanjima, the so-called Battleship Island:

You can read more about this spectacular place on Wikipedia and Cabinet magazine, as well as on Shibuya 246. Interesting observations and photos can also be found here, here, here and here. But why do I even bring it up here? Is it a blog on games or on my personal travels? Well, first of all, this is related to Japan (notice the blog subtitle) and secondly...

When I was visiting the island, I was thinking that it would make a great Unreal Tournament map, had I some better modding skills. I also asked myself how is this even possible that it has not yet been used in a game, but it turns out it was! Gunkanjima has starred in a game, namely famous killer7 and you can see it in this Youtube video.

...so now you see, I just had to bring it here.

Times of silence

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:14:00 +0000

I am writing this note to apologize in advance for a period of silence on this blog. I am leaving for Japan very soon and won't be back until late October. I did miss Tokyo Game Show this year, but my bi-yearly travels to Japan ('05, '07, '09) are not only game-related. With all the things to take care of prior to and during the travel I won't have much time to write down my musings, hence this note.

I will, however, bring you some tasty bits of gaming news from the Land of the Rising Sun, I promise. There's also a bunch of (somewhat stale) news, information and articles waiting for their turn to be published, so be sure to keep Barts News in your RSS tabs and we'll return in less than a month time with a kick. Take care until then, gentle readers!

The city made of pixels

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Writing about Canabalt, I used terms "city" and "procedurally generated" in the same note. This has triggered some neurons deep in my brain and I recalled a really cool thing on the same subject that I had seen quite some time ago:

Procedurally generated city. That's right - a digital depiction of three-dimensional city, randomly generated at runtime based on a set of rules. It actually is amazing: I know I have just recently brought you the demo of procedurally generated landscapes, but nature and procedural generation kind of go hand in hand, while artificial and ordered human creations, such as city not so much. That's what I thought until I saw this:

For those curious how the development went and how it was done, read Shamus Young's blog entries on creating pixel city. For those less technical savvy and more visual, just watch the video above. The program itself can be downloaded from here. And if you would like to see how procedural generation can be applied in games, have a look at Canabalt and Rescue the Beagles.

[ via RockPaperShotgun ]

God of War Trilogy coming to PS3

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:35:00 +0000

For quite some time I have been struggling with the thought of getting Playstation 3. Xbox 360, while having some cool exclusives and generally being cheaper, scares by its infamous failure rate. If I buy an entertainment device, I don't want to be left without it for extended periods of time - and since Poland is not USA, struggling with it would be much more painful. Hence, Playstation 3.

One of the best games on PSP, if not downright the best, is God of War: Chains of Olympus. I never owned PS2, so I admit not having played two first installments more than an hour or so. I thought I'd buy them, once I get my PS3, but it turns out that backwards compatibility was just an occasional Sony mistake and is not an option now (unless one chases the elusive 60Gb PS3 on eBay or elsewhere). So, until God of War III graces Sony's black behemoth, no Kratos adventures are to be had on PS3.

Now there's good news - you can scratch the last paragraph, because Sony will bring two first parts in new remastered version:

The information states that "games are now running 720p, with full anti-aliasing, running at 60 frames per second". God of War I was okay in graphics department, but God of War II was great and just thinking of how it might look with aliasing and bumped up resolution gives me the shivers. The God of War Trilogy (Collection plus third part) might be what finally gets me into buying Playstation 3.

[ via Ars Technica ]

Introduction to Flex programming

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:00:00 +0000

So you want to learn how to make online games, just like the ones you can see on Kongregate, but don't know where to start and don't have money for Flash? You've come to the right place. This post will be a short introduction into making games in Flex - the result being Flash games. Don't worry, you'll understand what's the difference between two names that start with F is, the important bit is that they both are free and it is not really that difficult to start.

The first thing to consider is why I am talking about Flex instead of Flash here. You can read what people smarter than me have to say on that difference here, here and here. In simple terms, the outcome is the same whether you use Flash or Flex - a SWF file, containing compiled ActionScript, graphics and sounds. It's how you get there that is the main difference. At the risk of oversimplifying things, I will say that the main difference is that Flash approaches the end result from the point of view of a designer and Flex from the point of view of a programmer.

Just substitute Flex Builder with Flex IDE for now.

Flash is an authoring tool, more suited to making animations, movies and simple games. Flex is a development tool, consisting of set of components for creating rich internet applications (RIA), interfacing with databases and implementing client-server architecture. Does this sound too complicated? Second attempt at ubersimplicity: Flash equals drawing plus ActionScript, Flex equals industrial components and ActionScript. Professionals will smack me on the head with a stick for writing that, but for layman it should be comprehensible - and you can read the articles I linked to above if you want to know more.

Now, if you want to begin writing simple online games, these tutorials on Flash game development with Flex and ActionScript are the best out there (or at least the best I have been able to find). When you go through all of them, you will have some understanding of how Flash games work and you will also have a basic framework for your games with loader and all. That's a very good starting point indeed.

The only problem from the beginner's point of view is that the setup part described in the first tutorial is a bit complicated, because it uses a simple text editor instead of a proper IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and requires some command line magic to be done. Let me fix that by showing you alternative setup that is easier to use, more powerful and equally free - and you can continue with the rest of tutorials from there on.

First of all, download Flex SDK from here. SDK stand for Software Development Kit and contains all the components, libraries and whatnot that constitute Flex. Once downloaded, unpack it to some directory, in my case C:\FlexSDK (why complicate things?). That's all, no fancy setup magic is required.

Secondly, you will need a proper editor that's designed for Flex. Contrary to what Adobe tries to convince us, FlexBuilder is not the only Flex IDE out there. The free alternative to that bloated and overpriced piece of software is FlashDevelop, which you can download here. Download it, run installer and you are almost ready to start writing games. Before you start coding, however, you will have to go to Tools\Program Settings... (or just press F10) and tell FlexDevelop where your Flex SDK is. You do this by chosing AS3 Context in the left column and filling Flex SDK Location box on the right with the appropriate path (in my case C:\FlexSDK as stated above). That's all, you can now proceed to making your first project.

Select menu Project, then New Project. Choose Flex 3 Project, fill in Name and Location. In my case it was Tutorial1 and C:\Barts\Flex (again, why complicate things?). Check the box called Create directory for project, it does exactly what it says. Since each Flex project will consist of several files and directories, it's best to keep them all neatly separated into folders. Then all you need is click on OK and your first project is ready.

Now, double-click on the src folder on the right, then select and edit Main.MXML file. Copy and paste the code from Flex tutorial, save it. Then compile and run your first Flex program by selecting Project\Test Movie (or just click F5 instead). Voila! You should see your very first application up and running:

If not, then perhaps you do not have the Flash player and/or Flash plugin for your web browser installed. Download them here. If it doesn't help, check your code - perhaps there is something you have not copied correctly or some mistake in typing. If it doesn't help either, let me know via comments, maybe I will be able to suggest something.

From now on you can continue on your own with the tutorials. They will give you good basics of game programming in Flex and with it you will be able to start creating your own things. And if you ever make something that you publish (maybe on Kongregate, who knows), please put a link to this post somewhere or at least let me know via comments or email - knowing that I have helped someone is incredibly rewarding for me. Good luck!

C.P.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:33:00 +0000

I am in a bit of a nostalgic mood, so I started Amstrad CPC emulator (you do remember that this was the first computer on which I have played?) and fired up a game that I am going to describe today. It is called Cosmic Prison Commando - as in CPC, get it?

Graphics are appropriately colourful and retro, as you can see on the screenshot. Sounds are, well, not that great, but there are some at least. The gameplay is of a classical retro hardcore variety, which means that you will die a lot. Some parts of the game are obviously not finished. That would be all to say about the game, except for one thing...

...Cosmic Prison Commando is, in fact, not a CPC game. It is a PC game made in old-school stylistic of CPC family. I originally wanted to use the term "demake" to describe it, but I don't think it applies, since it is not a port, but a new game (speaking of which, you can download it here). And even though it definitely is not perfect, I thought I'd share it here as a curiosity for everyone that's into indie and retro gaming. I spent a couple of happy minutes reminiscing Amstrad era, maybe you'll find it amusing as well.

[ via Carnivac Games ]

Re: Re Canabalt

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:20:00 +0000

Okay, so I wrote this little paean on Canabalt, because the game sucked me in and I really, really liked it. Adam Atomic noticed it, saying it's his favourite review - then discarded it a bit later. Woe is mine. But that's not what I wanted to write about today.

If you read my previous note, you know that I think that the good part of what makes Canabalt so memorable is its atmosphere and that the good part of that atmosphere is the sense of impeding doom from which there is no escape. It doesn't matter how far or how fast you run - in the end you'll die anyway. You simply cannot win and your poor nameless character is bound to end up dead with no chance of ever escaping from his private own running hell. Doesn't it strike you as unfair? Don't you wish this little guy could finally rest somewhere?

It did bother me a bit, but I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on. Turns out, it did struck a chord with some other folks as well:

Canabalt is a beautiful tale about nonsense, road to nowhere, the farther you run, the longer you'll live (...), but in the end the world will end in weeping anyways.

wrote MRW in his review (science-fiction double feature, he also examines Vox Populi in the same post), triggered by my review. Our common buddy Radkowiecki then left a lengthy comment in which he both expressed his liking of the game and refused to admit that there is no ending:

Canabalt scares me a little. I know this game does not have an ending, but after three days of playing and cashing all points on Congo [Kongregate] I am still playin'. Because I hope that after running some distance this guy will find a quiet place in which he will wait out the assault of alien robots / robotic Aliens. It is devoid of any sense, but I am still running and I have found out that there is no bonus after 8 kilos. We'll see what is waiting for me on the tenth kilometre of the road.

Damn - one button, looped tune, simple graphics, but replayability is such that games costing a carriage of paper could envy it. Forgive me, but I'm back to pounding x, c or space (it's the only choice in this game), because I am convinced that there must be some ending line out there. Because there has to be, right?

To which MRW replied with a new post, stating that "of course it has to":

It looks that we all pretend to be die-hard cynics, but there are things that really do touch our inner emo kid (to think that it's a bunch of gray pixels that did this). I myself went all "awww" when I saw it. Nameless runner can now rest in peace - good job, MRW!

I just hope that Adam Atomic sees this and adds it to his new iPhone port of Canabalt.

Steampunk parcour - Canabalt

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:07:00 +0000

It seems like everybody is writing about this game recently: TIGSource, Indiegames, GamesSetWatch, RockPaperShotgun, Kotaku, and others . Let me jump on this wagon as well while the news is still relatively fresh - and I do this with pleasure, because I have immediately fallen in love with Canabalt.

The premise of the game is very simple - there is a man running through the city attacked by aliens or robots (or alien robots). The nameless man is running on the rooftops, probably trying to escape. The city is dying, giant machines are looming in the background, buildings are coming down, spaceships woosh by, dropping strange but deadly objects. It's time to run!

As it often happens, the game is more than a sum of its parts - what it delivers is a strangely hypnotic experience, both in a sense of getting into the state of flow while running and in that "just one more try" feeling that I thought I had forgotten long time ago.

The game mechanic is deceptively simple - there is only one button for player to press in order to make the character jump. Nameless protagonist is running all the time, faster and faster with each step, reaching speeds worth of Sonic and making jumps worth of Neo. Player can't control anything else but jumps - at least in theory, because bumping into some obstacles slows the character down. Slower speed means smaller jump range, which can be deadly if there is a particularly long gap between the buildings, but it also provides better control of the hero. Therefore, there exists a very delicate balance between them for the player to keep and this is why the actual gameplay has much more depth to it than just "press button to jump". As an interesting point, levels are procedurally generated, so player never knows what to expect next.

Graphics are great; while I am not too keen on abuse of pixel art that is the trend with indie games recently, there are exceptions to this rule and Canabalt is one of them. There is a surprising attention to detail present in this game, both in paralax-scrolling background (love the effect!) and the foreground. One can see pigeons that shoot out in the air from under the character's feet when he lands on their rooftop, as well as glittering pieces of glass that drop from broken windows that he had just smashed through, and the evil machines in the background are awesomeness incarnated with a hint of steampunk to them (hence the title of this post).

Likewise, the animation, while simple (not that many frames is what I mean by simple), is also great and very fluid. Watching the character roll after a jump from larger height reminds me of the first time I saw Conrad roll in Flashback - this certainly is a very good memory and therefore a good connotation for the game to provoke. Two thumbs up in this department as well.

Music is another component that is just perfect - it enhances strange and unsettling setting of the game and also gives a sense of speed with a hint of hope that quick feet might be the salvation to the horror. In other words, it is great and fits the mood of the game.

You can play Canabalt here (or here if you have a huge HD monitor) and see how it plays below:

Now, with the review part taken care of, a couple words on the idea that came to my head when I was pondering about Canabalt before going to sleep last night: the whole premise of the game reminds me of a bad dream. Think about it for a second: running away from an unknown danger, not being able to escape no matter how far or how fast one is going, not being able to stop, surreal surroundings mixing ordinary everyday elements with imaginary ones, sense of impeding doom, absence of other people. All the components that make a good nightmare (in a sense of one that is memorable and makes the dreamer wake up in horror) are there. Could it be that Canabalt is a result of Adam Atomic having a bad dream one night?

Manhunt 2 headed to PC

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:01:00 +0000

The first Manuhunt was great - I loved it's dark ambiance, tense story, brutal killings with common objects, stealth gameplay, voice acting, almost everything. I liked it so much that I wrote about it once or twice. So when I first heard of the sequel, I was awaiting it eagerly.

Warning: Manhunt 2 does not really contain Pinatas.

Unfortunately, Manhunt 2 turned out rather meh - and it was not the fault of the whole censorship battle that ensued before it was published. I played the unofficial uncensored version on my PSP, so I could see all gory executions, but the gameplay and story were mostly not on par with the first installment. Despite the hardcore violance, the overall impression was rather bland, with a couple of climatic exceptions - visions from the past haunting the main protagonist (similar to Suffering), somewhat unsettling alter ego (as in Fight Club), last level happening in hero's mind with the motive of burying the dead wife and black crows circling around. Okay, I admit, it was not all bad, but nowhere near the quality of the original Manhunt.

The choice of PSP as a platform did not help: levels were broken down into small chunks with lots of loading in-between, graphics were so-so. The game that is all about creepy atmosphere, dark environments and hardcore violence thrown on a portable console - not really a smart decision. The funny part is, I was playing it on the plane, flying from United States to Europe - it freaked the hell out of my neighbours, who, of course, were peeking at the screen. They did give me funny looks later.

Warning: Manhunt 2 does not really contain puppies.

Anyhow, back on topic. Manhunt 2 did not woe me, in fact I was rather disappointed to the point where I didn't even write a review, because I didn't want to waste my time on it. Sorry Rockstar, that's how it was. And now, some two years later I've just learnt that there is a PC port coming.

What?

A port of a two-year old mediocre game that's based on an engine that's seven years old? Made by a company that makes legendarily bad PC ports? Colour me uniterested. I might waste some of my bandwith to download a pirated copy to give it a try if I am particularly bored, but the chances of me actually buying it are very slim. Very slim indeed.

Still, this piece of news was a perfect excuse to write a mini-review of Manhunt 2 I should have done two years ago.

[ Screenshots taken from GeekRising ]

Tower of $insertYourDeityNameHere

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:07:00 +0000

Tower of God is a small indie game in 8bit-like Gameboy aesthetic with a lovely chiptune and green colour palette. There's a character who is climbing the tower of some deity. When he (?) gets to the top it's gonna be milk and honey, but the way up is dangerous. So far it seems like a pretty standard fare, but there is a twist that makes this game more interesting (and also much more frustrating).

You see, the aforementioned deity is bored and is amusing itself with imposing additional rules on the poor climbing soul. Each new level adds a new rule: don't touch living things, don't walk left, don't this, don't that. Breaking a rule will be punished with a swift lightning. And with these rules in place, even seemingly innocent places can become very deadly...

This concept reminds me of Terry Pratchett's books, especially "Small Gods" (but not only), where the idea of religious interdictions gets completely ridiculed. This game does deliver the same message, only via a different medium.

It also does stand quite well on its own as a game - it is infuriatingly frustrating later on, but some people like to play it rough. As for me, I quickly became discouraged and didn't even finish the game, but I generally don't like games that punish me too much for my mistakes. Below you can see an excerpt from the early stages of the game that will give you the idea how it looks and plays:

You can download the game here, visit its authors pages here and here. It's well worth couple of minutes of your life (the current speedrun record is at 2m20s, so it is not that long) and if you find it offensive, then you probably had had your sense of humour surgically removed. I am Roman Catholic and I do find this game funny.

[Found via GameSetWatch]

4Kb of Wonder

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:03:00 +0000

I liked to watch demos in my 8bit youth, I actually am still doing it sometimes when the nostalgia kicks in. The things that people would squeeze in meager kilobytes of memory... But you know what?

Some still do.

Recently I've found a demo made by coding group RGBA for Breakpoint party. It takes 4Kb (four kilobytes) and it is a thing of beauty. Featuring beautiful procedurally generated mountain landscapes and delicate trancey music somewhat reminding me of early Jean Michel Jarre's works, it is a moment of blissful experience. I have watched it a couple of times already and I find it strangely relaxing. Below you can see embedded Youtube video, but you better follow it to see its HD version:

...or better yet, just go to RGBA site, download the original demo and watch it the way it was intended to be distributed. It weights mere 4Kb (dammit, the images on this page take more!), however, it will decompress to hundreds of megabytes of RAM - so be warned if you are reading this post from a netbook, in which case you'd be better off watching the above video.

[via Slashdot]

Barts Wins Internet Fame

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:03:00 +0000

If you have read my post on Battlefield Heroes to the very end (tl;dr), you might remember that I took part in the caption contest. To cut it short, my entry won the fourth place. Quote:

Fourth place goes to Barts for his display of wit using the infamous "I'm with stupid" T-Shirt! This got quite a chuckle out of me personally!

I know it's just a small thing, but the fact that I managed to make somebody laugh is really precious to me. Also, I feel flattered with the "display of wit" fragment.

You can check other winning entries here, and trust me, it's well worth it, some are truly hilarious. You can also have a look at my other attempts at humour here.

Planescape: Torment Megapost

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:17:00 +0000

If, like me, you consider Planescape: Torment to be one of the best games ever created - this is a post for you. But first, let me elaborate a bit on why I think it is so great for people that might have missed it.

Planescape: Torment takes advantage of one particular and unique property of games that I consider the most powerful and distinguishing feature of this media - the ability to influence the story via player's choices, ultimately creating one's own version of the tale, culminating in reaching different ending than other person playing the same game.

Unfortunately, I can't name many games that would allow me to fully shape both the story and the protagonist to my liking, which is a shame. Deus Ex, Planescape: Torment, Fallout, Arcanum - did I miss anything? To some extent I could also add Silent Hill 1 and 2, since they allowed multiple endings that changed the sense of the story - but there was not much liberty in the games themselves.

Another thing that endeared Planescape: Torment to me was the sheer quantity of text that it contained - over 800,000 words of script (that's eight hundred thousand). Among my grandparents there were two Polish language teachers and one librarian (the fourth of my grandparents was a war hero, more of the action type kind of guy) and I think it shows. I have read thousands of books in my life, my personal library is huge, spanning well over one thousand books (possibly two thousand, but I haven't counted them recently), I still am reading a lot and I love it, I even run a blog on less known forgotten books. I even get twitchy if I don't get my weekly fix of lecture - one of the most annoying things in my travels around the world was the limit of the number of books I could take in my luggage.

Hence, for me the insane amount of text in Planescape: Torment is both a pleasure and an advantage, allowing to experience more of the world and its history, understand protagonists' stories more fully and learn interesting background stories.

Okay, so I think that now you get it - I love Planescape: Torment. I am convinced that it is one of the most brilliant pieces of interactive fiction in games. It is like reading a book that I can truly shape with my choices and push the protagonists towards the actions and places I find interesting. Whether you have already played it before or not, now is the good time to give it a go. Oh, and if the above paragraphs have not convinced you, this retrospective from RockPaperShotgun might.

Now, with that out of the way, there is a couple of interesting things related to Planescape: Torment that I have found some time ago and finally can share with you, gentle reader. Die-hard fans will surely appreciate them more, but they might tip the scales in favour of the game for those that have not experienced it yet.

First come three mods that clean, order, fix and restore a lot of content in Planescape: Torment (yes, it wasn't completely bug-free), bringing it much closer to what it was intended to be. The description from the authors comes below:

The Planescape: Torment Fixpack is a comprehensive WeiDU Fixpack for Black Isle's classic Planescape: Torment CRPG. Fixing literally hundreds of bugs and thousands of typos, thereby restoring a lot of lost and inactive content, the PS:T Fixpack (along with PS:T Unfinished Business and Qwinn's PS:T Tweak Pack) provides a completely new Planescape: Torment experience!

Planescape: Torment Unfinished Business takes the almost-but-not-quite-finished content that shipped with Black Isle's classic Planescape: Torment CRPG and polishes, bugfixes and finishes it so you can see and enjoy the new content in your game! With 18 components it is a must-have for anyone interested in seeing what the developers didn't get time to do--or even if you're just looking for some new content!

Qwinn's Planescape: Torment Tweaks adds a few ease-of-use tweaks to your Planescape: Torment install, as well as one or two must-have components! Including a banter accelerator, ease-of-use tweaks and several content changes, this is an extremely useful mod for any player.

The whole package called Qwinn's Planescape: Torment Mods is available here and frankly, it is such a great enhancement, that it should be treated as an obligatory patch.

After brushing up the content, the next thing to play with is the presentation layer. When Planescape: Torment came out first 1024x768 resolution was good enough, but nowadays it is laughable. The solution to that is Gibberlings 3 Widescreen Mod which enables higher resolutions. One would think that it would just result in having more of the game world visible at once, but as evidenced by this RockPaperShotgun article there's more to it than just that:

Playing PST at 1680×1050 thanks to this mod – the pixels not stretched, but rather the game world expanded, a vast amount more of it now visible at any one time – I’m constantly struck by how beautiful it is. It seems less a thing of pixels now, and more like the vast painting it was created as. [...] I get the sense this is Planescape as it was intended to look. It’s a different game for it, and now I stop to stare at the world as much as I do the elegiac prose.

Sample screenshot is available below, for more pretty pictures please follow the link to the aforementioned article. As for me, I was replaying Planescape: Torment on my 12" Thinkpad at 1024x768 and I was totally comfy with it, but if one owns a bigger screen then I think this mod will make a difference.

If at any time you get lost with all the things you need to install, here's the link to some useful information concerning patches and mods, including the recommended order in which to install them.

Lastly, with content and presentation taken care of, let us have a look behind the scenes. This article on RockPaperShotgun links to the vision statement document for Planescape: Torment dating back to 1997, when it was called Last Rites. On RPGWatch, the site that is hosting the document, there are also other cool things - two character drafts for Ravel (early draft and final version, extremely interesting to compare them), audio file that didn't make it into the final game and interviews with Planescape: Torment designers. It is a fascinating lecture for all fans of the game, but also for anyone interested in making computer and video games, as it offers an in-depth peek into the process of creation of the great game. The files are available here and here.

As for me, I am carrying in my brain a story that I would like to tell via a role-playing game and I really, really, really hope to be able to share it with the world one day. However, these documents make me scared - there is so much to do in order to tell even a simple story via a game that I shiver at the idea of producing that much content myself. Oh well, noone ever said that it would be easy, eh?

So there we are with three extras for Planescape: Torment - enhanced content, enhanced presentation and extremely interesting design documents. They should please the fans of the game, but they also might tempt some new players to dive head first into this great adventure. As for me, I just hope to be able to finish Planescape: Torment this time.

Polcon Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:12:00 +0000

"I'd like to make an announcement" said ~~Dumbledore~~ Barts. This year I will be attending Polcon, the largest science-fiction convention in Poland, this time conveniently located in my hometown of Łódź. Actually, this information is just an excuse to show you the promotional movie inviting all nerds and geeks to come and join it:

This trailer, so to speak, was made by Stanisław Mąderek of the "Stars in Black" fame. Here you can check another movie from two years ago, it's probably way cooler for non-Polish crowd, since it comes with English subtitles.

For me, the video in question is particularly interesting due to the fact that the building shown in it is the office of the headmaster (rector, to be 100% correct) of the Technical University of Łódź where I used to study. During the time of my studies, I would go in there numerous times, be it for negotiations concerning my scholarship or some foreign exchange program. Now you see what I had to go through in order to travel to Japan, ay?

A Peek into Prince of Persia Production

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

All right, I know that Prince of Persia is soo last year - or soo '89, blame Ubisoft for extremely stupid naming convention, as a result of which the last installment in the series bears the same name as the first one - but I have a tasty bit related to its development.

It started with me reading this post on GameSetWatch. Although usually GameSetWatch is a very good and interesting source of information, this time, well, they were spreading gossip. The movie that accompanies the post shows not "an early draft of the game", but a fake gameplay footage - kind of concept art in motion, so that the developers can see how the game is supposed to look and play.

I have seen this fragment in Ubisoft videos from Game Developers Conference 2009 at Autodesk's site, so I wanted to share it with GameSetWatch audience and post here on Barts News as well. Unfortunately, Autodesk has updated their website and the videos disappeared from it (or at least I can't find them, if you know where they are, let me know through comments). Fortunately, I have cached the movie and saved it for myself and now, in a moment of free time, I have uploaded it on Youtube for your viewing pleasure:

Watch this movie for a lot of very interesting information on game development process and the first visualization of Prince of Persia game. I kinda like the albino Elika (and the griffon!) and the overall, more dark, mood of the game. Pity it didn't get realized in such manner.

As for the fragment from GameSetWatch note, you can see some two minutes into the movie. Also, here are the links to part 2 and part 3. Enjoy!

Insert Smart Title Here

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:05:00 +0000

...because all really cool titles are already taken and I lack creativity today.

I never liked the idea of ebook readers. Not being able to put any book I want in, proprietary formats, DRM - all valid reasons not to like them. In fact the most important point for me is that I love the feel of the paper and cover, smell of a book and relaxing with a lecture in my comfy armchair. No ebook reader can provide that experience, not ever. The only reason for me to buy one is if I move abroad for extended period of time - having well over thousand of books, I can't easily move them with me. But if I chose to go for it, I won't be buying Kindle, that's for sure, even though XKCD loves it.

Other than the issues mentioned above, all of which apply, and the fact that Amazon wouldn't sell it to me (outside of US), I was somewhat worried that one day my content might miraculously disappear, what with Kindle being tethered to Amazon service. My tech-savvy friends would of course laugh at my concerns, but it turned out I might have been right after all - because this has actually happened. Here's how New York Times describes it and here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

On July 17, 2009, Amazon.com withdrew certain Kindle titles, including Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) by George Orwell, from sale, refunded the cost to those who had purchased them, and remotely deleted these titles from purchasers' devices after discovering that the publisher lacked rights to publish the titles in question. Notes and annotations for the books made by users on their devices were also deleted. The move prompted outcry and comparisons to Nineteen Eighty-Four itself; in this novel materials in public archive found unsuitable by the ruling party are editted or destroyed after being published and the Memory Hole is a Newspeak phrase referring to a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for such censorship purpose. Customers who earlier downloaded those books and then found the books and their personal notes to have disappeared, couldn't fail to notice the resemblance of these events to the novel, and generally considered their own material to have also been "sent down a memory hole."

The outcry was indeed widespread and comparisons to 1984 unevitable: Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others, Big Brother: Amazon Remotely Deletes 1984 From Kindles, Kindle's Orwellian Moment. See, I told you all good titles were already taken. Also, the irony stemming from the fact that it was 1984 that got remotely deleted is actually so much of a complete joke all by itself that I can hardly add anything. Except maybe a Mac commercial that is somewhat related to subject:

Also, if you want to read 1984 or Animal Farm, just go to George Orwell dot org and start reading. Or better yet, copy it on your computer, PSP or whatever, before it disappears.

[information found via Ultramaryna (PL)]

Battlefield Heroes - from Betrayed Barts in Beta to Batshit Bonkers Bastard

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Dedicated to the memory of ThunderOfAllah, VonSchmuck and VonDefunct, proud National soldiers - killed not in a fair fight with Royal army, but treacherously obliterated by evil corporation Electronic Arts.

I wanted to write about Battlefield Heroes ever since the time of this post. As months went by, the angle at which I would tackle the note were changing: beta problems, cheating and aimbotting, racism and facism - there was no shortage of interesting approaches to the subject. I even put the game down for three months and came back in the meantime. But a new twist of events has put an exclamation mark over everything that has led to this point and I have decided to step out and tell you my story: the story of Barts and Battlefield Heroes.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

The first information about the game came from this ubercool promotional movie (Hans von Schnitzel!). I fell in love with the cartoony style and sense of humour of Battlefield Heroes and applied for beta. Some time later I got my beta invite and was thrilled to get my hands on it.

I downloaded the client and started the game. In the game world there are two factions, Royals and Nationals, that are reminiscent of respectively Allies and Axis. And they are at war, of course. Three classes are available for players: back-stabbing sniping Commandos, thuggish Gunners with heavy firepower and somewhere between them Soldiers, regular shooters with a couple of fancy tricks up their sleeve.

I created my first hero as ~~Nazi~~ National Commando, named him VonSchmuck (I still giggle a bit at this), stylized him as a hybrid between gay aristocrat and Red Baron wannabe and finally jumped into the conflict.

Initially, playing Battlefield Heroes was a blast. Those who say that the game is slow are just being assholes - the gameplay style is not the adrenaline-junkie-high-on-amphetamine Quake clone, it is more adapted to regular human operating speed, without overclocking. I found it relatively fast (except maybe driving through vehicle maps which slows things down) and enjoyable, with occasional funny situations. Maps were colourful and well designed, weapons relatively well-balanced, player characters were looking wicked

Levelling my character up was fun but since I tried a bunch of different skillset options, I was eventually stuck with jack of all trades not very well suited for combat. Therefore I created a new hero - VonDefunct. Looking like Jason Statham dressed in Nazi general outfit, he was my second Commando, this time with well planned development path. Almost unseen (Invisibility level 5) and fast as lightning (Elixir level 2), he was a serious back-stabbing threat to the Allies.

Unfortunately both him and VonSchmuck got erased by Electronic Arts.

BETA ANNOYANCES

There were numerous problems with the beta, normal childhood pains for an online game - connections errors, weapons balancing, dirty tricks and loopholes. These were minor annoyances, because I expected them. Some other things were more nasty, to the point of infuriating.

First thing that set me off was deletion of all my characters without any warning. One day I turned the game on, only to find that since beta is moving to late-beta, everybody's soldiers are deleted and we can create new ones. What's more, all our in-game money disappeared as well - from now on, players had to pay for fancy uniforms and hats with real money. Later on it turned out that there were some information in the forums, but I haven't come across it.

Overall, it was a major deal-breaker for me - if I am to play with temporary characters, I would take it as a kindness if I get warned about it before I start playing and not immediately before deletion. Also, if my amount of in-game currency is only valid for some time, it would be nice to mention it as well. As a counterargument, I know it's beta and everything is changing, but instead of some explanation or information, one comes and stares at an empty screen. Not fun.

With the introduction of real money and paying for character outfits, the colourful armies changed into legions of bleak clones. Sure, there are some clothes and parafernalia available for Valor Points, which player earns through playing, but they are not that funky anymore. While not a big problem in general, it certainly took a bit of wacky appeal from the game.

Much more annoying, however, was the fact that even if player coughs up for the outfit, it only lasts a while. One cannot buy some piece and just have it - they have expiration date! If you want your character to look like Red Baron, you have to keep paying. That's a huge no-no in my book.

Next big problem, however, was much more serious - the cheaters (pronounce it in the way Malcolm Reynolds pronounced "Reavers!"). It has happened to me once that I got shot from the other end of the map (!) with a perfect headshot (!!) while being cloaked and invisible (!!!). At first, I thought it was one of those one-in-a-million things, but then it begun to occur repeadetly. I started quitting the games in whenever I realized there was a cheater on the prowl, but it soon got overwhelming and one could not cross any map without bumping into at least one.

More and more players would target their fire with deadly precision, invisibility was not protection anymore and cheaters were unpunished. Reporting them on the forums wouldn't work, because Admins would reply that even five witnesses were not enough to ban someone. I even downloaded Fraps and started recording movies, but some of them were questioned as inconclusive.

I realized that instead of playing, I was wasting my sparse free time cutting and encoding videos in order to expose infuriatingly annoying cheaters. It was far from my idea of leisure, it was something that should be taken care of by EA or Dice and they were not doing anything about it.

So, finally, the constant bullying by cheaters got so annoying that one day I have crossed over and joined the Dark Side.

THE FALL

This part is what I originally thought would be the meat of the note on Battlefield Heroes - a tragical tale of my descent into evil, from a friendly team player to obnoxious cheating bastard.

Cheaters were not eager to share their source of superpower and I didn't know what to search for. A bit of diplomacy and guesswork resulted in the link to the hack itself - DLL Injector that would alter the game code on the fly. I had to learn how to use it, which actually was not that easy and required some experimentation, usually on some innocent regular gamers, but after a couple of readjustments to aim-bot constants and tweaking of various display parameters, I got it all working just fine.

Note all the little extras in this screenshot

At first I felt like Neo when he saw the Matrix - I could see all the soldiers on the map, together with their energy bar and hero class, I would get warned if anyone was able to see me (spider-sense tingling!), I could shoot enemy in any limb of choice the second I saw them. This gave me the incredible sense of power over the normal folks.

Initially, I was playing caped crusader style - whenever I localized a cheater (I believe I should have written another cheater), I would concentrate my efforts on him. I would forget all other players and hunt that bastard down. It was relatively easy to weed cheaters out, by the way, because if some player carefully navigates his hero through the map avoiding enemies that he couldn't have seen without a cheat, this really stands out - for someone who can see it through the walls, that is. Unfortunately, concentrating only on one cheater and bringing him down a couple of times would usually result in counter-action and finally we would have sniper duel. Think about two super-heroes having their fight amidst unsuspecting regular soldiers.

But power corrupts and soon I started abusing my freshly acquired superpowers. Not before too long I was happily bullying enemy players, scoring perfect headshots from thousands miles away and engaging into flaming discussion started by my frustrated victims. Since at that time I was playing with my third character, ThunderOfAllah, stylized for a Turkish soldier from WWII era, my opponents would assume that I am muslim and would try to offend me by making nasty racial and religious comments. My personal favourite was being called "arab hacker":

Of course, when I got accused of cheating, I would lie that my victims were not cloaked or that they were, in fact, cheater no trying to frame me. Oddly enough, this was fun for a while, but I think about it with a little bit of disgust at myself, because I surely must have pissed a lot of people. Truth be told, at some point my conciousness budged and it occured to me that instead of having fun playing with others, I am having fun at others' expense. Some people have left the game because of me and that meant someone somewhere had his dose of fun completely spoiled by me. I was becoming a bastard and I realized I didn't like it.

Hence, I decided that I had had enough and on one sunny April day I deleted all local content of Battlefield Heroes and quit.

RELAPSE

In July I came back from vacation and was checking my email inbox, where I found promotional codes for a set of medals for my hero as a thank you for beta participation. I was strong and I resisted the temptation, but soon afterwards I saw this hilarious trailer and my weak strong will just snapped. Hearing the familiar Battlefield Heroes tune gave me the feeling similar to coming back home after a long departure. Although all my previously bought weapons and uniform parts have expired, I have proudly put the medals on my chest and jumped straight into the fight.

Boy, did it feel good.

I found out that in my absence the cheaters were weeded out and the holes for hacks patched. Some minor problems were also ironed out, web interface refreshed and a new map added. So far, so good. I started grinding, developed my character a bit and even played against game creators, forum admins and mods. Our team didn't win, but I did get to kill them quite a lot (and I've got screenshots to prove it).

Just when I thought my life could not get any better, the disaster struck: my hero was removed and account locked. The very serious note stated:

Violation: Inappropriate Screen/Persona Name

The EA Online naming policy is a derivative of the Terms of Service, and is designed to prevent any inappropriate conduct or vulgarity via a character name. This policy covers character names, group/clan titles, group/clan names, and any other user-generated content. Names that are abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable are not appropriate.

Ouch.

I did reply, of course, in a relatively serious manner:

I did not request any assistance and am very unhappy about removing my in-game character and suspending account.

I would like to get more information on how my in-game nick "ThunderOfAllah" (which, on a side note, is a reference to a certain Surah of Quran) could be considered as "abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, or in a reasonable person's view, objectionable are not appropriate." I honestly don't think it can harm the religious feelings of anyone, either.

Of course, the bit about Surah of Quran was just my feebly attempt at legalizing my nickname, as originally it was taken from a comic book Status 7: Breakoff, in which there was a sniper called Thunder of Allah by muslims he was decimating in Yugoslavia (therefore it was quite funny when I was being called "arab hacker" in the game).

Still, you can fight, but you cannot win with Electronic Arts:

Unfortunately Allah also is another reference to god and is considered a religious reference and is a violation of the TOS.

So that was it: my third soldier has just died at EA hands and all the resuscitation attempts have failed.

I was crushed. I wanted to delete this stupid game and never go back... I resisted for about four days. Unfortunately, while theoretically my Electronic Arts Online account was suspended for 72 hours, I still couldn't log in after a week. Oh well. Now I can say I understand why EA is generally hated in the gamer's community. I have vowed to never buy another EA game, something further facilitated by the fact that Bioshock and its DRM has already made me dislike EA a lot.

And what about Battlefield Heroes after all this? Right now I have re-registered, opened a new account, created a new hero. I won't disclose his identity here, but he is also National commando. I even took part in the caption contest (the results of which can be seen on some of the above screenshots). So I guess that while Electronic Arts might be evil bastards, the game by itself is amusing and addictive and I would recommend it to everyone. Just, you know, don't develop any special relationship with your in-game avatar, it will hurt less when ~~he is brutally slain~~ it is deleted.

Battlefield Heroes - new trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:08:00 +0000

There's been a bit of silence on this blog recently, but I'm back from vacation, sorted some work- and family-related issues and will resume writing anytime soon.

As a first thing, I'd like to bring you the following delightful movie:

It doubles as the ingenious trailer (don't you just love the stylization à la cartoon opening from the eighties?) for both game and what my next post will be about. So stay tuned!

Introduction to SCRUM

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:23:00 +0000

One of the changes within BartsNews formula is that I intend to post more about the software development, especially from the point of view of creating games - I actually have a cunning plan to document developing a game from the design phase to post-mortem in a form of consecutive notes.

Since I would most probably apply iterative approach in order to show you some Agile programming practices, I thought I'd bring you some basic explanation first. Here is a video that I have found that explains the basics of SCRUM (which is a more formalized framework for the Agile software development) and in my opinion it is a good starting point for venture into the Agile world:

Of course, I myself am not a SCRUM Master. However, I am working for the company that is quite focused on applying the Agile software development principles were applicable and feasible (which is not always the case with legacy code developed in the times when dinosaurs walked the Earth) and due to my role in the projects that I have participated in, I have had quite an exposure to Agile programming in general, including a good dose of healthy SCRUM practices.

Therefore, while I am aware that there's only so much that can be conveyed about SCRUM in such a short video, I think it is interesting, informative and approachable, thus constituting a good introduction to SCRUM method in particular, but also Agile software in general.

Sperm Wars (not the book)

noreply@blogger.com (Barts) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

I just had to write this note, my juvenile inner self laughing its ass off in the virtual equivalent of drawing anatomic sketch on the school toilet door. Today I bring you the game that's so full of silly in-your-face sexual innuendos that it passes through territory of terrible games into the awesome (kind of like point counters rolling over in early 8bit games).

The game in question is called Space Phallus. It's indie, it's free, it can be downloaded from here and it's starring a dog's head shooting penises and sperm. Yes, you've read that one correctly. The trailer below will clarify all the uncertainties you might have:

I love the chiptunes in Space Phallus, graphics are properly retro-stylized and gameplay is actually pretty solid but I didn't really play it for too long, because I suck at shooters and this one is damn hard. Also, juvenile humour is good for a while, but it loses its charm quickly. Still, I think that this post will boost my page rank with a couple of interesting keywords so I just had to write it. I'll wrap it up with some comments about the game that really crack me up:

“Needs more cock!”
“all in all, its a very ballsy game and i hope any critiques aren’t to hard on you :-o”
“You are a sick, sick man! And I heartily endorse your efforts :D”