Game Developer and Skeptic

Opinion on Zynga

Derek Bliss — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:42:17 +0000

This gamasutra opinion article summarizes my wariness of Zynga games (Farmville) and why I don’t play them. They surely make money, but it comes at a cost that I wouldn’t pay myself when it comes to game development.

White Christmas Wish

Derek Bliss — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:26:27 +0000

My holiday season was spent mostly with my parents and other relatives. At the start of my vacation a snow storm hit Maryland with about 20+ inches of snow and caused some cancellations/delays of flights at BWI. Thankfully my flight was scheduled the day after the storm so my flight was able to arrive on time. I’m not particularly interested nor harbor any ill towards snow but my sister was unable to see the stuff last year and was generally happy about it. The night of the 25th a good long rain managed to wipe nearly all evidence of the stuff the next morning. Later on my family found out that my sister wished for a white christmas so we concluded that we will all blame her from now on for the lake in the front yard.

Christmas:

Day After:

Click here to see more images.

It’s a Platform Not a Peripheral Says Sony

Derek Bliss — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:54:35 +0000

A recent Gamasutra article left me wondering what Sony is actually thinking when it comes to their light up sex toy motion controller. A few weeks ago I got a PS3 Slim so I’m all for anything Sony can do to bring more sales to the platform and in turn more games but this looks like they are just crossing the line into dumb-dumb teritory. I can somewhat see the reason to make the distinction if they are allowing developers to make software for the device but it still won’t do anything by itself; it needs the PS3 to function. This is like calling a donkey a cow just because you can milk it. I’m sorry Sony, you can paint a bunch of black spots on your donkey and call it a cow all you want but to me your cow still looks like a donkey.

More Summer Games Welcome

Derek Bliss — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:04:47 +0000

I am thrilled that developers and publishers have decided to more evenly distribute their release schedule over this year by releasing several titles during the summer months. Maybe it’s from economic pressures but this is a much welcome change. Having to save several hundred dollars to get all the games I want in addition to the money needed to provide presents for my friends and family just because everyone release their hyped game all at the same time was not a pleasant scenario. Not to mention that such a scenario is not conductive to sales as many could only afford one out of the group.

Anyway, the next interesting release (at least interesting to me) is Batman: Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately I don’t have a Playstation 3 so I’ll miss out on the fun playing as Joker.

Website Done

Derek Bliss — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:25:20 +0000

The past two months have been really busy for me, but now at least one of the tasks I set myself to has been completed. I have finally published a website detailing my works. I would of completed the site first before starting this blog even if it wasn’t for the fact that blogs are so easy to setup. I finished enough content earlier today yesterday (it’s past midnight where I am) to suit my needs for now yet the site still needs some more work, especially the banner. Unfortunately all this work on the site has made me too tired to discuss the industry for the moment so just visit my site until my next post.

St Paddy’s Day

Derek Bliss — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:44:08 +0000

I haven’t seen many noteworthy titles released recently. Since I have recently bought a new car however my spending money needs to recover so I don’t mind. One title that has piqued my interest however is Halo Wars. Normally I am no fan of RTS titles on a console mainly due to their control schemes. However from what I have read and have been hearing from my friends is that they actually implemented an intuitive control scheme for this game. I will probably end up renting this game solely for research on the controls. Until the next big title however I have been most content trying out independent titles which I obtain through TIGSource and other various sites. Oh and if the title didn’t give it away, today is Saint Patrick’s Day.

SF4 and Randi

Derek Bliss — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 01:59:04 +0000

My experience with Street Fighter IV (the PS3 version) was mixed. Overall I’d say the game is good with a few minor nitpicks on controls. I’m sure over time it will grow on me but for now I think I’ll hold of on a purchase of the game; at least until I’ve tried the 360 version since I don’t own a PS3.

Now for a totally unrelated statement: I love the YouTube videos that James Randi posts.

Texas Meteor

Derek Bliss — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:02:20 +0000

[Edit (11:30am EST): Phil (The Bad Astronomer) has posted an updated and better formatted summary of the meteor incident and why it isn't a piece of debris from the satellite crash that happened recently.]

This isn’t exactly game related, but I felt it was too awesome not to post about. Earlier today (about 11am texas time) a fireball appeared over Texas. The Bad Astronomer has covered the juicy details on his blog. I could of posted about this earlier but I didn’t want to unless there was some video footage. In my opinion though this doesn’t beat the huge nighttime flash over canada.

Eleusis and Eidos

Derek Bliss — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:35:26 +0000

So yesterday I played a card game called Eleusis with some co-workers. The concept is certainly interesting enough but it didn’t turn out to be as fun as I hoped in practice. I think you just have to be extremely patient in this type of game considering a single play can take more than an hour easily. I lost interest about 45mins in and quit early so I could go home (and find out what the secret rule was). The secret rule was surprisingly simple but it would of taken much more time during play for me I think in order to figure it out. I don’t know if I’ll bother playing the game again.

An article on Gamasutra has informed me that Square Enix could be acquiring Eidos Interactive for dirt cheap. Although I have enjoyed many products from “Squeeze-nix” before they recently have underperformed in my opinion and I don’t think this UK-based company is going to help them any, no matter how little they pay for it.

I haven’t died

Derek Bliss — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:56:11 +0000

Hmmm I knew I forgot something…

Oh right! People who have blogs normally post in them. I guess I dropped the ball on that one.

Anyway, I do have some pictures from the vacation time spent since my last post but they all turned out pretty bad. I would like to put all the blame on the camera I was using but there was also the fact that I didn’t quite know how to operate it well at the time. So I will have to compensate you with a picture of a cat (this is actually one of the few pictures that actually turned out okay):

Click for larger version

I’ll try to post as often as possible until I can get into a more regular posting schedule.