HamsterSpeak #30 Online

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:22 am

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue30/cover.html

It's that time again! So, Mr 8-Bit and myself kind of fell behind on our reviews. Again. Sorry! There's lots of new content here, though, and we also have the return of our Art section! I like keeping the Art section alive, so let's keep submitting to it. Also, after reading, be sure to send questions to ASK SURLAW. Bob Surlaw. Not me, the user with the screen name Surlaw, but the character.

8bifit · Post by **8bifit** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:52 am

Damn, man. I've been CALLED OUT! I'll make up for it next month. I promise. Again.

Also, fantastic cover. It inspires me.

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:59 am

Ah, yes. Zach's Evil Plan. I remember that abomination. Tge whole Covered with Dust article was good.

Bobbin Surlaw. I never would have guessed, but it does seem right for aliens to have alien names (I used to think his name seemed out of place next to Gulob and Salom, but not anymore!).

The TMI article was good, too. Heck, I loved everything I read in this issue.

Blue Train · Post by **Blue Train** » Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:49 am

I'm really happy about the review I got for my game. It pointed out alot of bugs I wasn't even aware of, as well of alot that have been on the "to do" list for well over 10 months (olmins' broken after battle script). Hopefully I can get some seriouse bugfixing down the next few weeks, and maybe even re-release it, up to the same point, with alot less bugs.

Thanks so much for having the time for the review!

Uncommon · Post by **Uncommon** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:01 am

Blue Train wrote:I'm really happy about the review I got for my game. It pointed out alot of bugs I wasn't even aware of, as well of alot that have been on the "to do" list for well over 10 months (olmins' broken after battle script). Hopefully I can get some seriouse bugfixing down the next few weeks, and maybe even re-release it, up to the same point, with alot less bugs.

Thanks so much for having the time for the review!

No problem! I'd also suggest reading MSW's article in this issue about giving the player information, it should give you some good stuff to think about.

Pepsi Ranger · Post by **Pepsi Ranger** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:04 pm

I enjoyed "The Art of Exposition" the most. I think anything that opens with "Screw It" as its first technique has to win the Article of the Year award. For a last minute addition, I think it stole the whole issue away. And even if I'm embellishing a bit (and let's be honest, I probably am), it was certainly one of the better articles I've read on the subject in a long time. I mean, wow, it even managed to make Mortal Kombat the movie look like it was well written. Most million-dollar directors can't even do that. Excellent work.

I thought msw did a good job, too. I'm still not a fan of the academic articles and all that number sliding became cumbersome after awhile. But it was a solid concept nonetheless. I do think it was accurately summed up in the last paragraph that "playtesting is key." Charts mean nothing if you don't have an internal sense of what actually works in balancing information.

That's it for now.

Hopefully more people (especially new writers) will step in for the next issue. Some of us churning three articles or more per issue to keep the magazine alive would like to take a break at some point (hint hint).

Uncommon · Post by **Uncommon** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:34 pm

Also, the icons in the Ask Surlaw article are delightful! I especially liked how he'd change to suit the topic being discussed, or the person being answered. I'll have to come up with better questions for next month.

I, uh, wasn't really sure what the deal on the Community Mixer was. It was bizarre and unnecessarily long-winded. Not only that, but the way the flavor text didn't match, and in some cases directly contradicted, the answers was rather inexplicable.

Momoka · Post by **Momoka** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 1:19 am

Pepsi Ranger wrote:I enjoyed "The Art of Exposition" the most. I think anything that opens with "Screw It" as its first technique has to win the Article of the Year award. For a last minute addition, I think it stole the whole issue away. And even if I'm embellishing a bit (and let's be honest, I probably am), it was certainly one of the better articles I've read on the subject in a long time. I mean, wow, it even managed to make Mortal Kombat the movie look like it was well written. Most million-dollar directors can't even do that. Excellent work.

Hey, that movie was fun, and reveled in its cheesiness. It was also really well crafted, which a lot of cheesy genre movies are (See: The opening montage of Rocky 3, which fills us in to a lot of information in a quick pumped-up opening credits montage).

There aren't really a lot of articles about the writing aspect of games, so I thought I'd be a big fish in a small pond.

I might write about writing distinctive voices next month.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 2:36 am

http://poll.pollcode.com/2PQ

We now have a poll asking readers what their favorite articles were. You can only submit one vote, but feel free to vote for as many articles as you like at once. A few different people have asked me what the most popular articles are, but looking at page hits alone can give a really inaccurate picture. So, vote now! This will be a standard part of future issues.

Uncommon wrote:Also, the icons in the Ask Surlaw article are delightful! I especially liked how he'd change to suit the topic being discussed, or the person being answered. I'll have to come up with better questions for next month.

The Manhattan Surlaw was my favorite one, so I'm glad you asked what you did. Feel free to e-mail the questions any time, I've already received one!

JSH357 · Post by **JSH357** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:05 am

I liked the Exposition article the most, and i voted for it, although I guess it could have had more depth, or perhaps used more mainstream examples.

Some of the articles this month are just... confusing. And feel very pointless. They felt very much like in-jokes that totally went over my head, sort of like Fenrir's old comics. But hey, not like I'm writing anything for the magazine lately, so I can't complain too much here.

I'll be honest, I did not make it too far in to Okédoké, but I am puzzled as to how it warrants such a long... uh, dissertation. Not hatin' on the game; just puzzled here.

While I'm not against the art sections, they feel like of random with so few submissions. With a bit more, it might feel something like Nintendo Power's old art sections (sporadic quality is more fun than all of it being good, IMO).

Again, while I do like the idea of Covered With Dust, I wish it applied more to recent games so that active authors would have a chance at improving their work instead of people who are long-gone and would probably just be embarrassed to be reminded of some of this stuff.

MSW's article is an interesting subject, kind of a no-brainer though. I don't care for using math to explain a literary concept, but that's me. I feel that kind of logic leads to shutting the creative process down to too many rules, which restricts innovation, which is especially important in video games. But hey, I guess it could work for some designers.

Anyway, at SOME point I guess I'll have a Motrya preview. Possibly a video. That will likely be in a couple of months, though. I'm having too much fun making it to get in to writing anything else for the magazine.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:58 am

JSH357 wrote:While I'm not against the art sections, they feel like of random with so few submissions. With a bit more, it might feel something like Nintendo Power's old art sections (sporadic quality is more fun than all of it being good, IMO).

I'm certainly happy to take more art submissions of all sorts.

Pepsi Ranger · Post by **Pepsi Ranger** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:04 am

I, uh, wasn't really sure what the deal on the Community Mixer was. It was bizarre and unnecessarily long-winded. Not only that, but the way the flavor text didn't match, and in some cases directly contradicted, the answers was rather inexplicable.

Some of the articles this month are just... confusing. And feel very pointless. They felt very much like in-jokes that totally went over my head, sort of like Fenrir's old comics. But hey, not like I'm writing anything for the magazine lately, so I can't complain too much here.

I guess the Community Mixer didn't go over as well as I thought it would. It was originally designed to be a multi-author inclusive feature that would spur people to write something for the September issue, so that the September issue would have enough content to get a release, hence the answers to the random questions. But with the issue not happening anyway, and with one of the return answers having nothing to do with the question, but rather making an angry jab at how it had nothing to do with making games--which really wasn't the point of the "Getting to Know Your Community" portion of the feature--I decided to turn it into a game, hence the text adventure element.

True, the questions and answers didn't fit the narration much, nor was it supposed to. It was supposed to be like going to a real party where guests ask random or shallow questions, despite that fact that people will still break away from the conversation to grab a handful of chips or jump fully clothed into the pool. Of course, as a narration (and as a fake game) having the chats and the fistful of chips alone would've been lame, so I added the "puzzle" element--like the napkin and whatnot--to keep it looking like a text adventure game, and to give the characters something better to do than just stand around like wallflowers. Some of the excessive commands like "look" (and in retrospect, I probably should've left those out) were added simply because that's how I play text adventure games. I find that I need a refresh of the scene whenever I do something major.

Anyway, that clarifies the "Community Mixer." It apparently didn't work as a feature, so it won't come back. For those people who answered questions that didn't make this episode, you're off the hook.

I'll be honest, I did not make it too far in to Okédoké, but I am puzzled as to how it warrants such a long... uh, dissertation. Not hatin' on the game; just puzzled here.

Didn't make it far in the game or the article?

The game, as of my review, is 12+ hours long. The review, however, is improperly labeled--it's more like a travel guide. There's nothing wrong with the traditional method of reviewing a game's strengths and whatnot, but sometimes I get bored reading about something that I haven't actually played if it deals only with gameplay mechanics and the things it does wrong. The travel log (for me at least) helps put the game in context--sort of a synopsis of what to expect should you play it. This also serves in some part like a strategy guide (but without solving the secrets). If for any reason the player doesn't know where to go, the review/travel log/strategy guide helps the player decide. I forget who it was, but someone actually discovered a path that they didn't know they could take in the game when they read the first installment of the review. So, I'm not being purposely sadistic with this. Just covering all the bases. Plus, I'm sure it helps the author get a sense how other people play his game. Even if no one else reads the whole thing, he will. I can only hope the reviews for my games are even remotely as thorough.

On a side note, the review was supposed to be broken into three pages (one per chapter) for easier reading. I don't know why they were relumped into one massive document. I didn't send them that way.

Again, while I do like the idea of Covered With Dust, I wish it applied more to recent games so that active authors would have a chance at improving their work instead of people who are long-gone and would probably just be embarrassed to be reminded of some of this stuff.

I think next year if I bring the series back (and that's a big if; I really didn't enjoy these games much, or the reviews), I'm only gonna take requests. The games chosen were entirely by random selection (with the exception of the #7 rank which shares the name of a game that Newbie recommended I did for the 2009 edition when I asked for suggestions last year), and didn't share any particular quality other than being unpopular.

We now have a poll asking readers what their favorite articles were. You can only submit one vote, but feel free to vote for as many articles as you like at once. A few different people have asked me what the most popular articles are, but looking at page hits alone can give a really inaccurate picture. So, vote now! This will be a standard part of future issues.

This is a great feature. I wish we had this back in Issue #1.

Uncommon · Post by **Uncommon** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 10:39 am

Pepsi Ranger wrote:I really didn't enjoy these games much, or the reviews

If that was the case, why not revise the selection process? If you're reviewing old games no one cares about anymore, you should <i>at least</i> have fun with it. This is not to mention the fact that The Grim had already been covered in HSpeak last year, and it was all I could do to stretch <i>that</i> to two or three paragraphs at the time.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:10 pm

Pepsi Ranger wrote:On a side note, the review was supposed to be broken into three pages (one per chapter) for easier reading. I don't know why they were relumped into one massive document. I didn't send them that way.

It was easier for me to edit this way, given my time constraints.

Uncommon · Post by **Uncommon** » Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:24 pm

Pepsi Ranger wrote:...with one of the return answers having nothing to do with the question, but rather making an angry jab at how it had nothing to do with making games--which really wasn't the point of the "Getting to Know Your Community" portion of the feature--I decided to turn it into a game, hence the text adventure element.

One out of fifteen, which means that fourteen people didn't mind humoring you. I'd much rather read something that had nothing to do with making games than what we ended up getting. Plus, the article wouldn't have to be split that way! The Getting To Know Your Community idea wasn't really a bad one, it's really just the execution of it that felt a little off.

And if you really wanted to make it more about games, doing a wide mini-interview by making the questions about games would've been cool.