What games do the developers play?

[Ferret]

Little does Michael Chu suspect that there is no way out of the first room. Planescape: Torment is just a well-planned consipracy. Bwahaha...

 

-Ferret

[Diogo Ribeiro]

There's a room?

[SKYeXile]

I started playing Planescape: Torment for the first time this Sunday. It's definitely my kind of game.

 

So my current games in progress are:

Medal of Honor: Breakthrough

NWN - Hordes expansion as a multiplayer game.

Planescape: Torment

Planetside

 

 

 

-Akari

OMG planetside...i love that game...best game EVER.

[kumquatq3]

(go Lakers!).

The Lakers already got their summer fishing trip planned out. It's over.

 

Spurs vs. Detroit in the finals, Detroit in 7

[Guest Michael Chu]

(go Lakers!).

The Lakers already got their summer fishing trip planned out. It's over.

 

Spurs vs. Detroit in the finals, Detroit in 7

A ratings bonanza!

[kumquatq3]

Hey, we could have a florida and a socal hockey teams in the stanley cup finals. Talk about low ratings.

 

anyways, basketball isn't a soap opera (someone remind the Lakers), it's not about ratings. Thats why the Spurs are the better team, because they are just that, a team. Having the Lakers win is prolly worse for the sport than the low ratings (tho Detroit and the Pacers will draw heavy from places like Chicago).

[Volourn]

Lakers are thw worst teaM/ I don't think that's accuratre. the teams are equals. In the last 5 years I beleive the serious ebtween them is rpetty close though it does look like SA will be winning this match-up. That'll mean these two teams have dominated the last 6 years. They are pretty much equal. How you can say otherwise is silly.

 

And, hate to break it to you, but basketball is about the rating as well as the game. Without ratings high it would not be the NBA. Period.

[kumquatq3]

Lakers are thw worst teaM/ I don't think that's accuratre

 

I'm not talking about past years or future years. I'm talking about this series. If you followed basketball, you would know that both these teams have changed very very much in the last few years. It's not like they have been the same for the last 5 years. You can't compare them over that time period anyways (as a lump, you can year by year). It's silly to try.

 

And, hate to break it to you, but basketball is about the rating as well as the game. Without ratings high it would not be the NBA. Period

 

The hole in that logic is, the NBA isn't going to vanish or fold if the Lakers arn't in the finals. Hell, if they never get to the final again the NBA will still be health. The ratings issue isn't an issue.

[MarForce0]

OMG planetside...i love that game...best game EVER.

 

planetside was great but it got to repetive doing the same things over and over

[BlackFlag311]

Man, I love Gladius. Though a bit disapointed with the ending. You spend all that time getting awesome just to beat that last boss and then it's all done. Nothing afterwards. I was hoping for the chance to go through more cycles. Just continue to build up you school and win tourneys. it was a bummer. <_<

[BlackFlag311]

Oh, and did anyone happen to catch Detroit's last playoff game? I was angered. Here's Cujo playing the game of a lifetime (reminded me of Hasek and Brodeur's best moments) only to have the defense AND offense completely fail. 43 secs left in OT and BAM! Calgary gets a damn goal. :angry:

[dspitzley]

Recent Games Finished:

 

PC

Sacred (nearly done, truly huge)

Splinter Cell II

Far Cry

Broken Sword III

Contract JACK (not as good as NOLF, but faster and still fun)

XIII (urgh)

Call of Duty

 

GBA

Shining Soul I and II (Avoid I. II is much better)

Medal of Honor: Infiltrator

Max Payne (very faithful adaptation)

Metroid: Zero Mission

 

XBOX

BG:DA II

Beyond Good and Evil (buy it)

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

I-Ninja

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

Whiplash (smack 'da bunny)

Medal of Honor: Rising Sun (meh)

Grabbed By the Ghoulies (meh x 2)

kill.switch (neat cover mechanics)

Pitfall: The Lost Expedition

 

Past Favorites:

 

PC

Thief I and II

Crusader: No Remorse/Regret

Divine Divinity

System Shock I and II

Most LucasArts Adventures

Infocom, baby

 

PS1

Tomba I and II

 

Overall Best/Most Influential Games:

 

The Fool's Errand (sequel is on its way in October)

Ultima IV and V

Might and Magic series

[Gromnir]

gosh spitz, when do you find time to WORK on games? no doubt 'bout it... you is in the right industry.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Cantousent]

Obviously, Michael Chu is the most awesome for his "west of house" nod to Zork.

 

Seeing the devs go in for the Might and Magic gives me warm tinglies.

 

Ultima IV rocked although I can't even remember Ultima V.

 

I've never heard of Fools errand.

[dspitzley]

Seeing the devs go in for the Might and Magic gives me warm tinglies.

 

I've never heard of Fools errand.

I have a big thing for exploration and uncovering the whole world map (lord knows why). M&M always filled that need nicely.

 

The Fool's Errand is a brilliant word/image puzzle game from Cliff Johnson. It's made up of a more or less non-linear series of puzzles. Solving each of these puzzles provides a chunk of story text and adds a tile to an overall world map, which itself is a puzzle. After all of the pieces of the map are obtained, you have to figure out where each tile goes on the map. Once this is finished, there is a series of puzzles embedded in the map that you must solve with clues given in the story text. I've never seen this sort of uber-puzzle approach in any game before or since, with the exception of some adventure games. But even those never presented the puzzles in such a unique fashion. The game (and others from Mr. Johnson) are available for free download at his web site:

 

http://www.fools-errand.com/

 

You'll need to set up a Mac emulator (evaluation version and instructions given on the site) to run most of the games, but they're worth it. If you like The Fool's Errand, a sequel is coming later this year which you can pre-order on the site. Check it out.

 

Dan

[Cantousent]

Holy crap, man! Thanks. That's totally awesome that's great.

 

I'm still curious if Michael Chu's West of House webpage has anything to do with some sort of side project or something. As I understand game design, developers can't do stuff on the side. Everything you do is "owned" by the company for which you work. Is that true?

 

I'm really curious if you guys ever have pet projects on the side or is it a matter of, "I make games all day at work. When I get home, I just want to sit down and watch grass grow..." or something to that effect.

 

One thing that's apparent from this thread is that a lot of you guys like playing games. :haksthumbsup:

[dspitzley]

I'm still curious if Michael Chu's West of House webpage has anything to do with some sort of side project or something. As I understand game design, developers can't do stuff on the side. Everything you do is "owned" by the company for which you work. Is that true?

As long as you do it on your own time and your own equipment, I don't imagine an employer would have any legal grounds to complain, unless the employee's contract says otherwise. But then, I'm hardly a lawyer. I personally haven't done much in the way of side projects, with the exception of a bit of research into GBA programming. As you can probably tell from the game list I posted earlier, I find plenty of less productive ways to spend my spare time.

 

Dan

[Chris Jones]

As I understand game design, developers can't do stuff on the side.  Everything you do is "owned" by the company for which you work.  Is that true?

Typical employment agreements in this industry are of the form "everything you produce while you work here belongs to us, even if done during off hours". However, I don't think I have ever heard of a case where an employer has exercised that against an employee doing something for fun in his spare time.

 

And at the time of your hire, you are usually given the opportunity to list any projects you currently have that you wish to retain rights to.

 

Something that is definitely not tolerated though is using any assets, code, etc. that were developed for the company in your side projects.

[Guest Michael Chu]

I'm still curious if Michael Chu's West of House webpage has anything to do with some sort of side project or something.

I just happened to grab the westofhouse.com domain because I'm a huge adventure games fan--and more specifically, an Infocom text adventure fan. (That and it's really hard to get cool domain names that aren't taken already.)

 

The only other side projects I have are my anime reviews site and my ongoing plot to take over the world.

 

But back on topic, I just picked up La Pucelle, and it rocks!

[Ferret]

Been pretty busy recently. Playing La Pucelle and WoW. Both are cool. Too little free time these days. I envy Spitzley's list of games he's been able to play. *envy* *envy*

 

-Ferret

[Dennis Presnell]

Games I've played\am currently playing since joining Obsidian:

 

Max Payne 2

Tron2.0

Battlefield Veitnam

Neverwinter Nights

Ikaruga

Simpsons Hit and Run

KOTOR (of course)

Rainbow Six 3

Soulcaliber 2

Zelda: the Wind Waker

Crimson Skies

Midway Arcade Classics (rootbeer tapper!!!)

Ninja Gaiden

Beyond Good and Evil

 

My favorite game of all time?

 

Crystalis (SNK 1990 NES)

[Cantousent]

I thought Crimson Skies was surprisingly good. It's kind of a flying FPS. The multiplayer is cool, although I have to turn my headset off half of the time.

 

I had a hard time getting used to the controls of Deus Ex. I think it ruined the game for me. Is the learning curve easier on Max Payne 2?

[Dennis Presnell]

I played Max Payne 2 on the PC, so the controls were not a problem.

It was a tough game though, totally creep-and-save.

[Chris Jones]

OK, this list may seem a little weird, but you have to keep it in the perspective that I recently bought my 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter GameBoy Advance SP's for their birthdays So lately I have been playing:

 

GBA

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

Barbie: Groovie Games

Justice League Chronicles

Disney Princesses

Power Rangers Ninja Storm

Dora the Explorer: The Hunt for Pirate Pig's Treasure

Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes (until my son lost the cart)

Polly Pocket: Super Splash Island

Secret Agent Barbie

 

Xbox

MotoGP

Sega GT 2002

 

PC

Battlefield Vietnam

Call of Duty

Far Cry

Max Payne 2 (just about to start)

 

PalmOS

Ricochet

Cribbage 2.1

Aldon's Crossing

Video Poker

 

And I play a lot of Scrabble online against a friend of mine who works at Treyarch.

[Tim Cox]

these are my favorites, not in any preferential order:

 

Soul Edge/Soul Calibur series

Onimusha series

Final Fantasy VII

Diablo I and II

Parasite Eve I and II

Oddworld series

Fear Effect series

Ninja Gaiden

Halo

Battlefield 1942

Unreal Tournament series

Silent Hill series

almost forgot: Metal Gear Solid