Luridis

I personally am highly skeptical of the existence of so-called "Dark Matter" and catch all kinds of hell for it... Why? Because the physicists whom where explaining it to me did not sound logically convincing, even without me having an intimate knowledge of the subject. What they were saying sounded a lot like this, "Our math didn't work, so we solved for what would make it work and then we came up with this idea of this stuff that's invisible and undetectable, but comprises > 80% of the matter in the universe." Not once did they say any of these: Our math could be incorrect or incomplete. Our methods of observation could be imperfect. Our understanding of the Universe and its mechanics could be limited in some way. Since then, I've read an article where they've used instrumentation to analyze the gravitational force exerted by the local group (stellar neighborhood). What they found was that, what they expected was 100% accounted for in the matter they could see and there was no additional gravity from "unseen matter." I'm seeing what I consider a disturbing trend in the scientific community today. The pursuit of science appears to be taking on religious overtones in some circles. The sheer arrogance and complacency that is evident in some of the statements I've read is astonishing. I think that some of these same people would have done well to pay more attention to history. In the early 20th century a lot of scientists had convinced themselves and others that we (humans) were just a few equations away from solving physics. Then Einstein came along with what amounted to heresy at the time. Some thought he was nuts, others shunned or dismissed him. When physical evidence finally showed up, the rest could no longer deny his theories and all of his faith finally paid off. Science requires just as much faith as any other system of belief. Two quote a wise statement from fiction, "Faith and reason are like shoes on your feet. You can travel further with both than you can with just one." Faith keeps us going when reason fails to provide satisfactory answers. Note: I'm not singling out any specific kind of faith, just that it is important to us. Your faith could be of the religious kind, or the philosophical kind, or the kind viewed as "a necessary psychological component humans utilize to stabilize feelings of uncertainty." However you view it, it's part of the human condition.

I think a lot of us (developers & IT people) started out in similar fashion. I picked up a Compute! magazine at my uncle's house in 1985ish. As I paged through it I ran across these games you could type in from the back of it, written in BASIC for various 8 bit microcomputers. Later my dad picked me up a Commodore 64 and I learned BASIC and typed in a few of those games. But, some of the type-in programs from the magazine I did not understand. It took me a while to figure it out, but what I was looking at was a BASIC wrapper for a machine language program that was being "poked" into RAM. Of course, once I figured out what was going on, I had to understand it! Which led me to this book: Later on I ran into this thing called "copy protection" and picked up another book called "Inside Commodore DOS" which was a programming guide and ROM dump of the 6502 controller board inside the 1541 disk drive. Around 1989 a friend had picked up a Commodore Colt, which was a PC clone. He couldn't figure out how to use it, so I grabbed the gargantuan manuals that it came with. These were basically a verbose guide to MS-DOS and batch file programming. Now that I look back, this one action is where I started my IT career. Because, when I got out of high school in 1992, companies were absolutely begging to hire anyone who knew anything about DOS. I landed a job, learned Windows, Novell, Banyan Vines, etc. I didn't get back to programming proper until around 2006 when the company I worked for was having issues with an old Visual Basic 6 application. I learned a bit and sorted out the problem. But, in doing so I realized I missed an entire avenue of creativity by not pursuing programming further. Not wanting to go sit in a college classroom, I started learning Computer Science on my own. Of course the internet has enough resources on programming and Computer Science for anyone to go well beyond the undergraduate level. When I found MIT's Open Courseware and was able to watch their lectures, my understanding of CS really started to accelerate. Now, I have a foot in both worlds as a Sr. Admin & tool maker. Not as glorious as having worked on something as pivotal as Baldur's Gate, but I'm sure they'd tell us that it's not all peaches and cream on the game development side. My advice to anyone wanting to learn programming today? There is a very good place to start, one that, even after you learn more technically difficult languages like C++, will still be of great use to you for years to come...

But now the questions is... can we get much higher?

The second one became popular when the German band Zombie Nation effectively stole the riff and put it in their popular song Kernkraft 400.

Games that made a lasting impression on you with their music. A few people will know the first, many more will know the second, though indirectly. So what old game music influences what you make today?

Did you say... "IT" student? Did you mean that, or are you confusing Information Technology with Computer Science? The former doesn't do much programming, what programming it does in mainly top down, toolmaking or interfacing systems. i.e. it's the practical application and management of computer systems, where as the latter focuses on the invention of software for and as part of computer systems and their applications (including entertainment).

<book falls as I walk by and clear my throat>

I don't know if you're playing "Adventure" on the Atari 2600 or what... Couple of megabytes of game data? 50 items? Perhaps you should go right click your NWN2 game folder and select "properties." I don't currently have it installed, but I'll venture the size is greater than 1GB and tens of thousands of files. I wasn't just talking about a save... I'm talking scripts, dialogues, tiles, textures, meshes, binary data... You name it. I understand it a little more lately as I'm experimenting with systems programming. I had no idea it was this way, but most of the IO libraries out there only offer sequential reads as a stream. That I find odd, considering that even the Commodore 64 provided code for random access to files via side index in the 1541's tiny 32KB controller ROM. How much I am seeing in modern operating systems, even within the Win32 API, that is based on *nix architecture is mind-boggling. Anyway, sequential reads being the only method of access, it makes more sense that game data built in numerous files of widely varied size would perform better when written as a zipped chunk. Not only would it reduce the fragmentation created by so many individual files, but also be easier to read with a stream cursor.

Small print or not... Those are lovely screen shots. Now, we (the backers) must go and have the sex with them. <smirk>

Ah, thanks TrueNeutral... I see... However, I do think databases would be fast enough if they were in an enterprise configuration. Or possibly on computers with SSD drives. The reason I would think so is because business databases are quite fast and grab huge chunks of binary data in short order. But, we're talking SMP Oracle back-end stuff and not MySQL mini on someone's laptop in power-saving configuration. Walsingham: Here are a couple of links describing each of the storage methods I was talking about... Game file: http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/.2da Game file: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPQ On the other hand, SQL is a language for accessing Database Management Systems. DBMS is how a lot of, if not most of, the large complex data files are stored and structured today. For example: Each post on this forum isn't stored as a text file somewhere, it's likely written in a database and stored on a server in one large file. When you go to a page the server executes a number of queries that collects the information for the page you want to see.

I have a curiosity that you guys might be able to answer. I've mentioned before that I do occasional desktop development for work, so I'm familiar with many of the tools available there. Also, I see games like Neverwinter Nights, and many others of course, with huge client side data stores. These are usually in flat files and/or some sort of compression + indexing cabinet. Hell, some MMOs can have folders spanning gigabytes of information. My question is... with the proliferation of desktop SQL engines, why don't game developers use these? I could understand when they needed to run as a server type service. But some of the more recent compact engines are little more than a lib that does the reading of the database file. Seems to me that organizing and especially patching client data could be so much easier in that scenario. Of course I'm not a game developer so you probably know something I don't, and that's what I'm trying to understand. Tanx!

I'm not going to lie... I f'n hate monks in Western fantasy RPGs because it breaks my immersion. Unless, of course, you're talking about a monk made the spirit of Friar Tuck. In Eastern RPGs they fit right in, where as a Knight in plate would be just as out of place there, in my mind. Might as well be a gun-toting Hip gangster wannabe in King Arthur's Court. (No, you didn't see what I did there.) But, my violent dissension aside, I realize other supporters who do like monks contributed so I'll have to pretend they don't exist. (Something I'm using to doing.) Also, it's not a dislike of Obsidian's planned class mechanics or whatever, it's the very presence of the class I find so distasteful. But, as I said in a thread right after the kickstarter, no matter who you are, there will be some things about the game you're not going to like. Pleasing everyone on every front is not only impossible, it's also a guaranteed failure.

Just like when people pay off their debts and build themselves a honey jar of considerable liquid, or secured near-liquid assets, they can break themselves out of the borrow-interest cycle. 1 emergency credit card, capped at $1k and low interest, paid off every month. A home loan and auto loan, both low interest. And, continued investment building, some of which should definitely be outside of a bank's control. (Land title, physical precious metals, etc.) A consumer economy built on borrowing was the worst idea in the history of the nation.

Is it the industry, or the general gaming population, that wants this? I have been happy with graphics for a long time now but I feel like I am somewhat unique in this regard among my friends. To be fair, too, there are certainly "old classics" that I have a hard time going back to due to how dated they look. Nostalgia can help me look past it, but if it is a game I didn't play at the time, it can be hard sometimes. Is it the industry, or the general gaming population, that wants this? I have been happy with graphics for a long time now but I feel like I am somewhat unique in this regard among my friends. To be fair, too, there are certainly "old classics" that I have a hard time going back to due to how dated they look. Nostalgia can help me look past it, but if it is a game I didn't play at the time, it can be hard sometimes. Same here, while I'm certainly not opposed to beautiful graphics and they can certainly add to my experience, it's hardly the dominant benchmark I rate games by, in fact it's very far down the list. Look at a game like Mount & Blade. It looks like a PS2 game, yet I think it's a fantastic game. I do ultimately think that it's in large part due to the general gaming public that TEH GRAFX seem to be so important these days, which is ironic since we've reached the point where a designer can put pretty much anything into a game and make it look believable and even have fine details. How much more is is throwing however many more shader cores and vertex pipelines and such at our games going to enhance immersion and enjoyment? In my opinion "flat" graphics are rapidly approaching maximum capacity. The next level of immersion lies in virtual reality like Occulus Rift and such. I meant in the general sense of things, from both the players and developers. I've seen plenty of game sites gripe about graphics not being cutting edge, and then the commenters agree en masse. Diablo 3 was a good example of that, "graphics look muddy" etc., when that was the absolute least of the game's troubles. Likewise, I've seen more than box with a fold open top and big bold lettering saying, "taken from in-game footage."

Luridis, it was all written in good fun on my behalf, and your second paragraph here, I wholeheartedly agree with on this. As the rest of the list shows I'm annoyed that it is even considered for being a KS project. Like others have pointed out, it was already funded - it's just advertising. Also, I was, despite my age, perhaps a bit childish in feeling it stole the limelight and potential upped pledges from Torment, which I believe in a lot (too lot?). Basically, it was a statement based on emotioon rather than fact. I do get carried away sometimes, and this was one of those cases. Oh... I didn't realize it was tongue-in-cheek. But, as far as your comments on graphics... I just played through Dreamfall, a 2006 game that is obviously pretty far behind in graphics. But, I still enjoyed it immensely. We've sort of come to a point where the industry wants us to believe that graphics quality are a benchmark for a good game. It's an almost automatic way of thinking these days. But, I completely disagree with it. Graphics are important, yes but, not as important as they use to be. Video games have lost so much in the areas of narrative, challenge and game play that I'm more than willing to sacrifice cutting edge graphics at this point for the sake of those lost fundamentals. Look at it this way... If you happened to play games back in the 1980's like I did, did you ever once think, "Oh my god these games suck because their graphics are so far from photo realistic?" I certainly never did. Because, back then, with 2D and sprites the norm, those other qualities are what made the game worth playing. And, to me, in contrast, today's games look great but, many of them just leave me with a feeling that they are shallow and unimaginative.

Emphasis mine there... Do you realize how silly that sounds? Or, how it sounds? It sounds a lot like, "Torment should be the only Kickstarter allowed right now so that no one can steal from them." No, really, that's exactly what came to mind. People are grown ups, well mostly, and have the right to do as they choose with their disposable income. It's not exactly like the publishers are giving us much to throw money at, with debacles like the Sim City launch. I backed Torment and two other projects this week. And, I am now considering this one as well. The only one I held back on for a maximum pledge was Torment due to the lack of options in the 150-300 range. What will I get for tossing a few sawbucks around? Hopefully a decent library of well made computer games between now and 2015. After all, there's not much to look forward to being announced by the Activisions, EAs and UBI softs of the world. And, with what they have decided are acceptable ways to treat their customers, I think I'll pass on their offerings; even if they look half decent. I've started to look at pledges as a pre-order of sorts. Sure, some of these crowdfunding projects might fail. But, losing my pledge is still far less an act of throwing good money after bad than would be buying the exciting new standards of mediocrity being sold off of store shelves presently.

The $95 CE tier has already capped out, at $135, where it is unlimited. We either go unlimited at some point if it makes sense to us or stop expanding the tiers. It works pretty much like any early bird and limited sales system, I'm here to answer questions/listen to feedback or receive abuse if anyone needs to vent. I was too busy to check in with you guys for a while. How you enjoyin' the campaign? You missed my point, or dodged it completely. Some of the pledge rewards sold out in hours creating a huge gap in the tiers. A gap that is almost double the previous tier, and one that I suspect will cause a lot of people to balk and hold close to the $100ISH range. This is precisely what I did and I sent the difference to other projects. I guess it could be described with a parable... A man once walked into a Fry's Electronics store, looking for a Blu-ray player to interface with his new flat-screen television. He paced to and fro upon the isle looking at the various models. Some of the players were very cheap, but he knew better. Some were hugely expensive and offered little more over the models priced well below them. The man decided that one worthwhile feature was a slot-loading design. But, lo! There was a large gap between the price of the most expensive tray-loading and least expensive slot-loading models due to the store being sold out of the first few slot-loading models. A salesman came by to assist the man and the man asked a curious question, "Why, pray tell, would you waste inventory space on the most expensive tray models no one wants and allow yourself to sell out of the first few slot-loading designs?" The salesman replied, "Well, in truth, when those sell out most people just opt for an expensive tray model. So, would you like me to get you our finest tray-loading Blu-ray then?" "No," replied the man. "Oh, wonderful! I guess you'll be going with our best slot-loading model with all the features then?" queried the salesman. The man grinned slyly and said, "Actually... you just did a fine job! A fine job indeed... of reminding me exactly why I Newegg!" And the man turned and left the store comforted by his new found wisdom. Cheeky, cheesy and fun.

The Longest Journey... Never heard of these before, good narrative so far.

Here's the problem: I won't go over $250 and they're not offering any options that will cause me to move from the much lower figure I'm at now. I usually start out at a collectors box and if I really like the project I'll move to a splurge version in the final hours to help reach the stretch goals. Selling out of options in so few hours and then increasing the price makes me personally feel like there is just a little bit of advantage-taking on the good will of supporters. I don't see it as extremely dirty poo, like crowdfunding a publisher project, but it just feels mildly exploitative. Edit: You know what... It doesn't actually matter. Personally I feel like they could acquire some additional funds from people with more options in the $100 - $300 range. However, if they're not interested in money that might be there then who am I to say they must. I stopped at $100 because nothing above that is a compelling reward. So, I maximized my own peace of mind and spread that money to other promising projects I'd like to see.

It's not the early bird mechanic I'm seeing... it's sell out of x pledge and it's price goes of 5, 10, 15 or 25, depending on where it started. When that tier sells out it goes up again by the same amount. By the end of this thing I suspect what started out as $95 will be around $150 and what started at $250 will be around $350.

I'm not happy with the forward rotating prices of pledges. They still don't have anything between 135 and 275. I'll give them about another week and then I'll just pull my pledge. I sincerely hope this isn't a trend starting, because I'll just cancel my KS account if it is. Asking for support in developing a game is one thing, consumerising it with sleazy marketing tactics is another.

$275 is too pricey... Those upwards rotating packages are not a real good idea. People who like to pick say... a collectors edition and then intend to up their pledge near the end of the campaign to prop up stretch goals won't do so. $250 is my maximum for any campaign, and I started with a $110 collectors... Come hell or high water, 50 dollars from a stretch goal, I will not upgrade my pledge to $275. Edit: The net effect of this tactic of increasing the price of rewards will push away pledges. I suspect that more than one person was priced out of an option and just elected a much lower investment tier on day ONE of the campaign. I'll be interested to see if the effect is a ever increasing slow down in support.

This may be a touch over reactionary. I agree with you on the vacations though. Obviously the President should be allowed to take a time out here and there, it is an incredibly demanding job. But the cost to taxpayers should be minimized as much as possible. White house tours are usually done by volunteers as I understand it. Taking a vacation is fine, taking a $900,000 vacation when you've just used money as a justification for closing the white house tours is over the top.

They aren't. The US DoD, for example, and most similar organizations, use internal networks that aren't connected to the internet/WWW. I heard in an NPR interview on the subject of stuxnet that the most likely way it got into the Iranian system is through a USB/flash drive. Either they actually obtain one belonging to someone with regular access to the network and put the virus or trojan on it, or they just drop one in a place where someone with security clearance might find it, and stick it in attempting to see whose it is/what's on it. A less likely scenario is actual agents infiltrating the organization/operation and doing it personally. Exactly... "The Cyber War" is nothing but more FUD coming out of Washington. It's akin to "The Evil Empire" or "We've always been at war with Eastasia!" As long as people are worried about phantom threats they won't be on their representatives butts to fix real problems. Has it occurred to you that a constant paranoia about threats from one's own government is no less pernicious to civil awareness and freedom than a constant paranoia about external threats? I feel almost precisely the same way about you waffling on about Big Brother as you feel right now about what you think is a false threat from cyberwar. I've experienced personally the damage done by hacking, and whatever the source, it is already real. It is already costing billions in security that could be better spent elsewhere. It can and will have subtle and far reaching effects on how we live our lives in the next twenty years. It may not make streelights explode or set fair to your socks, but it is going to matter. You misunderstand me. The FUD I refer to is the overblown cyber security threat. There is a difference between saying "fishing is a dangerous profession" and "OMG you can't go out on a boat because you'll be swallowed up by the ocean!" As was mentioned earlier, many of these critical systems aren't even connected to the internet. As for big brother... I'm not worried about people in office now. My concern is the expansion of power in certain offices. A great depression, starving people, an overpowered office and an ambitious and power hungry individual are a recipe for future tyranny. Power is almost always given to, rather than taken by, this type of leader. People forget that Adolph and his party were elected, and when he was appointed chancellor is when things started to get scary.

I don't know what the aftermath will be. What I truly do not understand is the continued grab for executive power. Democrats universally decried the grab for executive power that Bush was making when he was in office. Obama seemed to disagree with it. Now, he's sailing that ship in the exact same direction. This is not a good scenario... It isn't the Obamas and Bushes I'm worried about. It's the D-ick Chaney on steroids who's writing a book called "My Plan" and is coming three presidential elections down the road. I'm glad peoples are buying guns.