HamsterSpeak #12 Online

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:04 pm

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue12/cover.html

This month we have a couple of reviews, another look at Halloween Quest 3, an article on making bad games, and most importantly, an eight-part super feature by Pepsi Ranger! It may seem a bit intimidating, but I highly recommend reading through the entire thing, especially newer users. Knowledge for everybody!

Meatballsub · Post by **Meatballsub** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:16 am

I haven't even opened the issue yet and I already feel like that cover is the most freaking awesome thing I have ever seen.

Newbie Newtype · Post by **Newbie Newtype** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:38 am

Fairly decent issue. Very much a recap of what happened over the last month, but the cover art is awesome and nostalgic!

kenecchi · Post by **kenecchi** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:59 am

Solid issue. The features raise fairly good points about game design, and the cover is a pretty cool tribute to a very nostalgic Nintendo Power cover (though the Bob model is lacking a little detail.)

In response to the section of your article dealing with my quote:

There's also the issue that no, the community has not directed its attention to towards making "bad" games. A quick look at the games released in 2007 shows only three or four, and two of those are by SoupMan's author. While a lot of these games certainly are popular, with some of the better ones showing up in the Top 30 Games polls, there is certainly not a flood of them being released, and serious, complicated games are still very well received.

I made, and originally released SoupMan in 2006. Joke games were fairly plentiful between mid 2005 and late 2006. And while 2007 did not bring nearly as many, and serious games are still played and respected, the joke games and their creators still gain quite a bit of focus and attention. Pepsi Ranger even states in his feature:

After reading that Hamburgerman RPG (and Dummy the Happyface) review, however, I saw the trend for horrible games was out of control...

Awful or not, Hamburgerman RPG has inspired a sizable amount of forum banter, a review in last month's Hamster Speak, and two articles and a (albeit, a little mean spirited) comic's worth of this month's issue. The author didn't seem to purposely seek this attention, the community automatically offered it to him.

However, regardless of whether or not I'm raising a valid point here, it doesn't mean that you're going to think Hamburgerman, or Dummy, or SoupMan is funny or enjoyable. Similarly, someone else might not think that Gato Sucio or Hopkin Green Frog is funny or enjoyable; joke games are just like any other kind of jokes. Some people will get it, and some won't. You've made a well-structured outline, but because of the nature of what you're examining, isn't it a little difficult to say "this is the way it should be done?"

Just playing devil's advocate, that's all. Good job. :)

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:14 am

I screwed up and did not upload the latest version of the main page. Because of this, Moogle's PSOM and RMZ's Game of the Year articles were missing. This has been fixed now. Apologies to all.

kenecchi wrote:However, regardless of whether or not I'm raising a valid point here, it doesn't mean that you're going to think Hamburgerman, or Dummy, or SoupMan is funny or enjoyable. Similarly, someone else might not think that Gato Sucio or Hopkin Green Frog is funny or enjoyable; joke games are just like any other kind of jokes. Some people will get it, and some won't. You've made a well-structured outline, but because of the nature of what you're examining, isn't it a little difficult to say "this is the way it should be done?"

Just playing devil's advocate, that's all. Good job.

My point is not that the type of jokes in these games makes them unenjoyable, it's that they're not enjoyable because there's no variety (Hamburgerman) or because they contain very slow, boring, and unnecessary battles. Your game would have been instantly funnier with no battles at all. No game, of any type, should bore the player.

Hopkin Green Frog isn't very funny even to me, but it lasts a whole five seconds. There isn't time enough to be bored by it.

RMZ · Post by **RMZ** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 4:23 am

Moogle's plotscript is very interesting. I'm gonna prolly experiment with something like that for sure, cause it's an ingenius idea to have an item that hinders the player and after you've put up with it enough, it turns into this amazing thing. Awesome idea man!

Post by **Mogri** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:05 am

You really should play Final Fantasy 6.

Actually, though, in that game, the Paladin Shield is frankly not worthwhile because A) the Cursed Shield is THAT BAD and, more importantly, B) the number of battles you need to use it in is probably more than the number you'd have left to fight at that point.

Another interesting idea would be to make the item "corrode," that is, make it start out good and get worse.

Newbie Newtype · Post by **Newbie Newtype** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:32 am

The Paladin Shield is mostly useful for completion's sake, so that you can get Illumina and Ultima at the same time, but if you're looking to beat the final boss, the Ragnarok Magicite is more than enough since it teaches you Ultima, and Ultima + Gem Box will kill pretty much everything in the game.

Post by **Mogri** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:44 am

In FF6A, you'll need to get the Ragnarok magicite for completeness, since you can steal Ragnarok the sword from the last boss and keep it on your save file. Multiple Ragnaroks? Multiple Illuminas? Yes.

But if you're going really high-end, you'll need to max out on physical attack, since Quick+Ultima*5 is only 5*9999, whereas Quick+Ultima+Attack*2 is potentially 17*9999. This is overkill outside of Advance's bonus dungeons.

Newbie Newtype · Post by **Newbie Newtype** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:49 am

But if you're going really high-end, you'll need to max out on physical attack, since Quick+Ultima*5 is only 5*9999, whereas Quick+Ultima+Attack*2 is potentially 17*9999. This is overkill outside of Advance's bonus dungeons.

Err... Yeah... I suggested the Gem Box + Ultima since it was just a matter of getting Ragnarok Esper and just slapping it onto Terra, since it doesn't require much stat boosting at all.

I never played the Advance version, though, which I never got because I own FF3US.

Blue Train · Post by **Blue Train** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:42 pm

the comic made me smile thus, making reading this already worthwile.

Only One In All · Post by **Only One In All** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:54 pm

Blue Train wrote:the comic made me smile thus, making reading this already worthwile.

Which one?

Also, did anyone like the comic I did in particular? If it was worthwhile, I can do another one for the next issue.

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:01 pm

I loved the OHR Interview. I would like to see more things like that.

Of course, my favorite features this magazine has ever had are the terrible game reviews. Too bad there wasn't one this issue.

Pepsi Ranger's article was excellent. I read it all in one sitting.

RMZ · Post by **RMZ** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:32 pm

Yeah, did anyone like my comic? I plan on doing another one for the next issue.

JSH357 · Post by **JSH357** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:36 pm

RedMaverickZero wrote:Yeah, did anyone like my comic? I plan on doing another one for the next issue.

Honestly, I thought it was better than Fenrir's comics have been in years. (No offense Fen) Good job.

Xerian's was funny too.