Blarghagh

So Game of Thrones ended. Spoiler below:

Well, since it had the biggest opening weekend of all time (worldwide that is, in the US it still lags behind The Avengers) I'm thinking there will definitely be a sequel. It literally made half a billion dollars worldwide in three days. I don't know, while this one was really fun the original had a sense of wonder and heart that this one never had. It was more shallow. Plus, as awesome as the action sequences were, not a single one reached the level of tension of the original T-Rex breakout. The first movie was scary when it wanted to be. To be honest, despite using mostly the same setup I can't say you can actually compare the two - very different approaches to filmmaking. That one was focused on suspension of disbelief, making you believe it was real. This was more of a popcorn thriller. Still much better than the other sequels. Oh, and +1 to Oerwinde's post about Guardians of the Galaxy. That movie had a similar sense of epic fun to Jurassic World. I think it's better than Avengers.

I guess it's just because there was a series of highly publicized false rape allegations recently (such as the UVA scandal). I swear I read more news articles about that than I did about all rape scandals in India combined. It feels like this problem is a lot more widespread than it is because of that. And to be fair, it is a rather frightening thing. If someone falsely accuses you of rape, you have pretty much no recourse and whether or not you get cleared, you're pretty much screwed in the court of public opinion. EDIT: Well, that and I'm guessing "Listen & Believe" stuck in peoples craw and is having very much the opposite intended effect. Radicals breed radical opposition.

Yeah KP....you can't seriously expect me to believe that this is something that really bothers you ? You very obviously do not know what I referenced. I'll save you the trouble and just tell you it's better for your argument that you unlike it asap.

You can't, but it happening to you might be a benefit to your life experience. According to some...

You're right, that's the government's job. Oh wait.

I don't find Seinfeld very funny, but more comedians have commented on this. Colleges used to be where they went to test out new material, see if people would get it, because it was fertile ground for free speech. Now, not so much. Chris Rock also swore off doing college shows for the same reason - the only thing you can get out of it is people bitching. I enjoyed his story about a white guy calling his portrayal of black people racist.

A little off-topic, but British theme parks aren't exactly in the best place right now after what happened in Alton Towers recently.

I want to understand your point as it seems really interesting Are you saying why should the media try to portray people in a positive way as from your experience white people are on receiving end of criticism....do you prefer realism ? Um, no. That isn't even close to what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to say that white dudes are represented a lot in media and I'm not seeing the benefit - they say white dudes who consume media and technology are whiny manchildren, right? Well, how did they get that way? Why would you want the stuff that turns people into whiny manchildren to target you as an audience?

Just got back from it. Dumb fun is really the best description. That was so much fun. It's not as good as Jurassic Park, I think that would be impossible, but it's much better than both sequels. In fact, 18 years ago when The Lost World started, THIS is what 9 year-old me wished it would be. I think it knew it would never be able to live up to the first and just focused on being super fun, everything is laced with this self-awareness where it kind of just pokes fun at itself and you just go along for the ride. Some points are even satirical, making fun of spectacle fatigue and product placement and then just going for it. The ultimate summer popcorn muncher, even moreso than the stuff Marvel puts out. Oh, and that (debunked) rumor that Chris Pratt was going to be Indiana Jones? I'm 100% behind that.

Well, I guess there were Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus.

So here's an only half-joking question about representation in media - why is it positive to be represented in media other than an emotional response of "fairness"? I'm asking because as a white nerdy dude i.e. the target audience of almost every piece of media, consuming media shapes a huge chunk of life to the point that I have made it my life - I'm a game developer despite the fact that there is no job security in that. I also suffer from depression and anxiety issues that I've had enormous difficulty to resolve which was made all the harder by the fact I have so much things to escape into and I have spent an inordinate amount of time and money watching movies, tv shows, playing games and talking about the aforementioned on the internet despite the fact that they give me no real benefit. So what I'm saying is essentially, I feel like having media targeted at me may have made my life worse, and life worse in general (many have pointed out that an obsession with entertainment historically correlates with the decline of society, like with roman gladiators) and I wonder if the best course of action really is to spread the misery?

I'm going to see that tonight, and I'm actually nervous about going to a movie. Jurassic Park is to me what Star Wars is to most people. I was 5 years old when it came out, it was my first cinema experience and it introduced me to movie magic - in fact, my parents had to explain over and over that Jurassic Park didn't actually exist and we could not go and visit it. I never understood why the sequels didn't go back to the park idea and instead just had monsters in a jungle, since that was at the core of the first film. So when I say that I've been waiting for this movie for most of my life, I'm not exaggerating. I've set my expectations low, especially because the previous two were such disappointments, but I'm really just hoping for this not to be my Phantom Menace.

...

Alan Moore and Lovecraft. Sounds like a match made in heaven. I'll be sure to pick it up.

What's it about? I might pick it up.

Like Boogie pointed out, CoonTown is still up. This is a half measure.

I just made a thread about that.

Just received word that Sir Christopher Lee, most famous for his portrayal of Dracula and his role as the iconic James Bond villain, but recently well-known for his roles in the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars movies, passed away today in the hospital after being admitted for respiratory problems. He was 93. He was the REAL most interesting man in the world cliche, aside his work as an actor, he made heavy metal concept albums about Charlemagne, was a special forces member in WW2 and had a large amount of other achievements. He was knighted in 2009. R.I.P. Christopher Lee EDIT: Small correction, the news came out today, but he already passed away on sunday.

I do enjoy the use of contrast you suggest. Contrast is a powerful tool (not just visually) and sadly underused in a lot of video games - there's not much contrast in hiding behind brown chest high walls. Your use of a Jester going into darkness brought my mind to the old Playstation Pandemonium titles. A bit of a literal translation, but you don't actually see that many Jesters in video games going into hellish environments.

Explain how "using a visual template" is not an idea. It seems as if you've misinterpreted the original post, or skimmed it at best... idea: a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action. No offense meant by this, but it seems to be that whenever you are a newcomer to a forum, you're forced to gain reputation first, to allow even the smallest sign of your ego show without being told off by those with good reputation and their usual moderator companion. I'm okay with that, but let's not abstract my vision and the vision of many others based on a few peoples statements - no matter how reputable they are... It's not a sign of 'superior intelligence', it's a sign of 'superior social sanctification'. That's not why I said that. I'm sorry if I came across as harsh, that was not my intent, I wrote that post in a hurry as I was about to leave to catch a train. Perhaps what I should have said that this isn't a "concept", but at most a direction. It's not a story idea, it's not an art style idea. It's incredibly abstract you could keep in mind as you develop those ideas but it's not really what most people in the game industry consider an "idea". There's much less that people can do with it. Either way, conventional game design wisdom is to start with mechanics concepts (not as in this is the inner workings of the game, but as in this is what the players do) and not art or story and then grow from there.

There's no idea here. At most, it's a theme suggestion for after you have an idea.

I quite like Boondock Saints (Rocco's nervous telling of a racist joke to the mobster is one of my favourite movie bits) but do yourself a favour and skip the sequel.

I thought this article was interesting. http://www.vox.com/2015/6/3/8706323/college-professor-afraid

Regarding the lightsaber, possible minor spoilers: