I think it's definitely a good idea.

For additional information, there's this really great article I bookmarked: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/05/game-designers-please-stop-playing-games.ars

Also it's one of the few things CliffyB said that I actually agreed with. I don't know if it was in that article, but I remember someone saying something about there being "too much inbreeding among [gamer media]". (Maybe Yahtzee or TheSpoonyOne?) It's a good point, and I think some of the most interesting games or game elements are based on things that we don't commonly see in "gamer culture". (One thing that I really liked about PREY was the authentic native-american elements, as its something really not seen enough.)

Sigvatr should become a guru who lives up on a mountain. He'd be perfect for him. People would come up to him and throw him money and ask him life lessons. He would then take the money and throw it back at them, and tell them to fuck off. The visitors would leave with a look of wonder on their face, as though they have learned something incredibly interesting.

"You know Bob, I think I learned something."
"What's that?"
"Climbing mountains is hard. It's really hard."
"That it is."

Does a keyboard and mouse count? 

Hell yes.

this sounds kinda a bit like my unfinished VGNG nonentry, "Underwater Graveyard Fortress"

Therefore I propose that you add an Underwater Graveyard Fortress.

Yes.

also I can always take the "I want to be the guy" style easy mode, and your sub is just hotpink.

That's a bad thing?

I mean come on, who hasn't wanted a hot pink submarine! With smiling flowers on it! Amiright, guys? *raises fist*

...right? Guys?

Guys?

...oh. 

Oooh, this may be a good time to also "bring up" my point on difficulty selectors. For god's sake, some of us are really crappy at video games yet we still like playing them. What's so hard about building a game so that the core variables (damage modifiers and so forth) are easily modified/changed if the player wants an easier play-through? It's just lazy and unnecessary to not include them in some form, nowadays.

What do you think is better, a difficulty selector or a togglable automatic difficulty adjustment setting? I mean the thing where when you fail often enough the game reduces the difficulty to suit your skill, and the opposite. Popular games that have this... umm... damn I can't remember names.

Although I like automatic difficulty adjustment, it always fails and there is a certain point at which it should just stop trying. i.e. Lego Star Wars 2 had adaptive difficulty, which will basically force your allies to stand around like twats while all enemies focus on you. Plus enemy counts like, tripled.

What's most annoying is when developers force it upon you, like in Max Payne. I couldn't beat the game because the adaptive difficulty made something literally impossible.

So I guess... seeing as how adaptive difficulty is really hard to do correctly, I like just being able to change the difficulty myself.

But an even better system would be threshold adaptive difficulty, where you choose a range in which you'd like the game to adapt to. (i.e. 4-7 on a 1-10 scale). You could also choose a constant difficulty at this point, if you'd like to. (2,6,7,etc.)

Ah, that makes sense. You know, there should be a sticky somewhere which mentions that, or something.

(Side note: the other way does actually work, but in HTML pages.)

Okay, quick question: How come abbreviation texts don't always work?

<abbr title="see this isn't working">Like now.</abbr>

The idea that you have to die to fail at a skill test is a common one, hence why death is so prevalent. There are a few games where they (although not completely removed) managed to decrease how often death happens or how it jars the narrative to a halt.

In PREY, which allowed you a brief minigame in the spirt world in which you'd try to regain whatever health and spirit power you could before you were sent back (by shooting stuff with a bow). If you totally suck at this minigame, you'll come back with little-to-no health, and will die swiftly again. Still challenging, still skill-based. Narrative flow doesn't break.

Assassin's Creed tried to base it on the fact that you're reliving genetic memory, so they did a "memory reset" when you died/failed a mission. Still, the loading times were way too long, and the reset often put you a fair distance away from the mission's start. This was jarring and so it often broke the narrative flow.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, gave you the ability to "unwind" death. You had to have enough sand to do so though. The story was told from the perspective of the prince telling the story, so if you died you would go back to a checkpoint with him saying "no wait, that's not right... let me start again." Narrative flow didn't break (as much).

That's all I've played, though. I would love to see some more developers get off their asses and figure out a way to stop interrupting the narrative flow with silly deaths. Oh wait, that would require them to even care about narrative flow. Doh.

Oooh, this may be a good time to also "bring up" my point on difficulty selectors. For god's sake, some of us are really crappy at video games yet we still like playing them. What's so hard about building a game so that the core variables (damage modifiers and so forth) are easily modified/changed if the player wants an easier play-through? It's just lazy and unnecessary to not include them in some form, nowadays.

I like the idea of the health meter being the same as the air meter.

I'm trying to think of some way you could use my difficulty setting idea without offending indie gamers... (There seems to be some weird aversion to difficulty control among people here. I've noticed it in the past.) Perhaps some sort of air-hose connected to the surface/air pockets, which you could choose as an upgrade instead of something else? (i.e. instead of the Deep Sea Drill you get the Air Pump Connectors)

Eh, chopped a few of the longer unnecessary parts out because I'm bored as hell right now.



And zeppelins are indeed awesome.

what is a joke

No no, What's on second. A Joke is pitcher.

I have about 6 gamepads, 6 joysticks, and one wheel. The only two I use frequently are...

Nexxtech illumFX (modelled like one of Sony's Dualshock controllers)
Logitech ChillStream (uses XBOX360 drivers, and modelled after one.)

The logitech one is odd though, because software interprets the buttons incorrectly, sometimes. (For example, the triggers use a z-axis, but that is interpreted as the x-axis on the upper-left stick. The buttons like Y and B and X get swapped about randomly.)

Luckily most games that support the controller let me configure the buttons. (This is what I had to do for Assassin's Creed.)

And for that matter, Assassin's Creed is pretty much the only game I used it for.

@IceNine: I have one of those, as well as a Gravis Joystick.

There was an xbox game where for the first 2/3rds it was a pretty generic 3d shooter, then at the 2/3rd mark you find out that it had been a simulation, bullets now cause you immediate death, and you no longer have a hud.

I don't have an xbox, but I want this game.

I don't hate you Sigvatr. I just think you're a dick. If I hated you, I'd have to hate a ton of other people, which would take too much energy.

Anyways... INDIE SPIRIT WOOOOOOOHHH!!!   

If you're talking about indie games, difficulty selectors.

Otherwise, lack of death is a good one. (See PREY)

My robot doesn't meet up to Penny-Arcade's in the slightest, but is still okay. I guess. AutoKnight with PlasBlade!



(Larger version)

[super]

Joe, I don't care if he gives you a medal or not. Have this beer and money for your superness. 

It's a pun because you're called Super Joe.

Yeah as I said, I think his subconscious really messed up on the double-thinking part. I think the time for which we could actually say something cool is pretty much past, unless someone can make a reply that even the most un-fazed of us (SuperJoe?) would find inspiring.

Too bad really, because when such pseudo-scientific plots work out it can be really neat and revelatory. (This is taken from experience.)

Sorry, bit of a tangent here.

What might be a good idea is to make some sort of easier difficulty in which you don't have to worry about air supply.

Why? Because I love exploration games but resource management makes me really anxious constantly, so even if I found some really awe-inspiring part of the game it would be ruined by the fact that I'm half-focused on whether or not I'm about to suffocate to death.

May just be me, but I know a few other people who find timed action sequences and the like really annoying so it may be nice to include some option for us more anxious players who would like to relax a bit.

UNTIL THE GIANT SQUID ATTACKS AHHHHHHHH!!! 

I did some like, crappy flying castle/fort thing. I'm terrible at game art, so it came out really badly.



If for some weird reason you actually want to include this, you can list me as Shade Jackrabbit. I don't know why you'd want to, though.