(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
World
Very simply, the “world” is what I see that isn’t the UI.
What do I enjoy in a game world?
Archives
What Draws Me to a Video Game? — UI
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
User-Interface (UI)
Here, I define “UI” to be anything in the game that is not the actual game world, that I interact with to play. Meaning: map, quest log, action bars, chat log, and other things along those lines.
What do I enjoy in a UI?
What Draws Me to a Video Game?
What happened to all the games we used to love; the communities that used to bind us together? Have the games changed? Or have we?
Have we become such restless, entitled consumers that we can’t appreciate the content available to us?
Have we, the gamers, become so knowledgeable about games and how we like to play personally that we are constantly searching for the “one game” that caters specifically to all our needs? Can such a game even exist?
Are there so many more gamers now than there used to be that the anonymity has bred a general lack of empathy and has destroyed our sense of community?
Have “gamers” as a group diversified so much that game companies can’t please all of us, or even a majority of us?
Have we become so desensitized to games that we’ve lost our sense of wonder?
Lucitie’s Mausoleum in Landmark
Lucitie’s Mausoleum
A Maze and Scavenger Hunt Event in Landmark!
Welcome, Landmarkians! Are you ready to get into the Halloween spirit??
Over on Halloween Island, we’ve built a delightful treat for those who like spooky scares and devilish delights!!
The Maze
Do you dare to explore the shrouded depths below the mausoleum? Prizes await those who brave the darkness, and conquer the maze… so get ready for twists and turns, gruesome visages, and sneaky secrets!
Obviously this is the MOST fun to do at night!
If you make it to the end, a chest of goodies to choose from shall be your reward. (If the chests are empty when you complete the maze, please send an in-game mail to Lucitie and she will mail you the goodies! I can’t be online 24/7 to restock the chest,unfortunately :/)
But wait, there’s more!!
The Scavenger Hunt
As a bonus, we’re giving away a prize to the person who earns the most points in the scavenger hunt! Each item will be worth 1 point, with bonus points to be earned at the end! (If there’s a tie, or multiple ties, the person who completed the Scavenger Hunt and uploaded screenshots to the Landmark forums first wins.)
As you make your way through the maze, and explore the grounds of the mausoleum, here’s a list of items to be on the lookout for: Continue reading
Landmark vs Sword Coast Legends
I have always been a fan of games that allow users more freedom, and the ability to create content. Most definitely this is because I come from a background of pen and paper roleplaying games. The number of computer games that could simulate that experience, that feeling of having complete creativity, are few at best. Landmark (a Minecraft-style building game from Daybreak Game Company) and Sword Coast Legends (a solo-adventure, co-op, and dungeon building title soon to be released from n-Space) are the two games recently that I’ve been looking at to fulfill that need for creativity and storytelling.
Here I give a run-down of the pros and cons of these two games, specifically how they rate against each other for content creation. When I was making these lists I was focusing on ease of creating content for others, graphics, user experience, and breadth of creativity possible. Continue reading
Project Gorgon
A kickstarter campaign is ending today (8/23/2015) for an indie MMO called Project Gorgon. I decided to check it out, as the podcast I’m a part of would be discussing it. I wanted some first-hand experience with the game so that I would have informed opinions, so I went ahead and downloaded it (as they allowed anyone to try the game for free before the Kickstarter ended).
(HINT: Read all the way to the bottom for a sweet screenshot of why “Calligraphy” shouldn’t be a skill ;D )
Before I launch into my opinions, here’s Continue reading
Sword Coast Legends
There’s a game coming out in September (if the release date doesn’t get pushed back again!) called Sword Coast Legends (SCL). It’s an RPG in the same sort of style as Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, and uses the Dungeons & Dragons 5e ruleset. I won’t bore you all by going over every detail. This post isn’t going to be a review of the entire game for a couple reasons: 1.) All my knowledge comes from watching the YouTube videos and Twitch streams by the developers that you could watch yourself, and 2.) there are plenty of people (bloggers, columnists, insiders, etc) who have had a chance to play through demos, and could offer a better review of gameplay than I could. In fact, here’s a link to the SCL news page, with all the aforementioned data, videos and opinions so far.
(TL;DR version: solo play, party-building RPG. Co-op play available with friends. Dungeon Master mode that allows you to use campaign/adventure/map/quest/NPC/monster creation tools).
What I do want to talk about is the amazingly versatile and powerful Dungeon Master tools, and what SCL could mean for old-school pen and paper gamers around the world Continue reading
Nostalgia & EverQuest 2
Recently EverQuest2 released two new Time-Locked Expansion (TLE) servers called Stormhold (a PvE server) and Deathtoll (a PvP server). The premise behind these servers is that the game rolls back all the content to when it was originally released, and allows its players to experience the game as it was when it was fresh and new. Some “quality of life” changes are put in place like bug fixes and certain features that make the game easier to play, but weren’t implemented until after launch, but mostly players get to experience “maximum nostalgia”.
What does “maximum nostalgia” look like for an EQ2 player? It looks exactly like that small, slightly sheepish yet completely joyful, smile that creeps over your face Continue reading