I've been getting into Falling for a Square lately.

http://fallingforasquare.bandcamp.com/

It's chiptuney enough to make me think about games, yet relaxing enough to not distract me.

productivity++;

This isn't game programming related, but it is programming.

The other day I was writing a Mac app in Objective-C. I subclassed NSWindow to make my own window. This happened:

Code:

[self center];

My window is self-centered.

You guys did.

No, seriously, it was sort of a huge influence by the entire community that got me interested.

It was this huge combination of the Humble Indie Bundles, videogames I played as a kid, Indie Game: The Movie, just about everything I've ever read about indie developers ever, and more.

I've always loved playing games, and thought it would be cool to create some. It wasn't until I found the indie community that I realized this was possible and plausible. Once I knew it was a bit more tangible than just a dream I may have had, I decided to try it!

...That being said, I should probably finish a game sometime.

What's best is if the logo screen becomes part of the game.

This is especially easy if the game begins with an opening cutscene. "Stitch" the logo onto the sofa that your character is sitting on, embed it in the table... It's out of the way, yet still there. As long as it doesn't turn into blatant product placement, this should be okay.

You can also do it the way Braid did - how it was part of the game despite lack of cutscene. That was non-distracting and it got out of the way fairly quickly. Everybody saw it but the speedrunners/returning players could just move the character and ignore it.

In my opinion Braid did a brilliant job at this. No time was wasted but we still got to see the logo.

Sonate: compose music change the world

Was this game released? The only information I am finding on it (?) seems to be in French

I couldn't find anything on it either. It appears to be a student project of some sort, but I have no idea whether or not they finished. It seems like they did, but I can't find a release. It's pretty strange.

All of your suggestions are great!

PaRappa the Rapper, Jam With the Band, Vib-Ribbon, Gitaroo Man, Osu games, Stalwart.

Vib-Ribbon looks insanely difficult and complicated!

Also, I had no idea Jam with the Band made it over here. I had always thought it was Japan-only.

Gitaroo Man has a unique non-peripheral system and a delightfully quirky art style. Soundtrack is pretty awesome and varied too.

From a video I found, this game does seem like a great game. I'm not the biggest fan of the art style, but I liked the way the notes appeared in a more circular manner. I might actually get this one for my PSP!

I had completely forgotten about osu and the Elite Beat Agents games, too; those are incredibly addictive. I especially enjoy the comicbook openings to each song in EBA.

I definitely have to check out some of these games - they look incredible!  :handmetalR:

EDIT: As for Stalwart, when I tried it, I couldn't get past the "press start" screen. I tried my whole keyboard and my mouse with no luck. Am I hopelessly missing something obvious or is something wrong with my Flash Player?

What are some of your favorite original or creative rhythm games?

I cite Rhythm Heaven and the Bit.Trip series overall. They both have so much style and they're really infectious. I found the songs getting stuck in my head even if I hadn't touched the game in weeks. These games always seem accessible to me, like there's never a bad time to play them.

I was wondering if there are any more games out there like this, since I enjoyed these so much.

By "original" and "creative", I basically mean rhythm games that are not in the same style as Guitar Hero and RockBand, notes-on-a-highway-like. But this can definitely be expanded upon.

So do you know of any rhythm games that reinvent the genre in fun new ways?

Steam is definitely a great resource for gaming on the Mac. It doesn't have everything, but it's got a lot.

Also, although you can't buy them now, all of the Humble Indie Bundles are Mac-compatible, so those tend to be good. Other various games, like Cave Story also run on Macs. Check TIGDb to see some more.

It sounds like Wine doesn't work too well. VMWare is excellent for this type of thing, but I believe it costs money. There's an alternative freeware called VirtualBox, although I can't vouch for it. Note that both of these require you to own a copy of Windows. Or you can just run Linux.

My setup is basically Steam and a Windows VM, as well as assorted games I have collected over the past year or so on my hard drive.

I haven't had a chance to try the Mac App Store, although I've heard it's good. I prefer Steam, personally.

In creating a story for a game, what's a good way to avoid But Thou Must?

But Thou Must is when the game gives you only one choice (or fake options where you can only choose between "yeah" and "yes" and "definitely!"). Also, games that create a loop until you say the proper answer are also guilty of this.

What's a good way to make your story go the way you want it to, but still give the player a sense that they have control over their choices?

A problem I have is that, in attempting to do this, the options just become more vague or ambiguous.

How would you avoid this type of writing? Obviously it's going to happen at some point, but minimizing the number of instances of this makes for better story and a better experience, in my opinion.

I think Radiant Historia on the DS had a very interesting and unique battle system.

Basically, your enemies are laid out on a 3x3 grid (your party is not). Various attacks can move the enemies around on the grid, so you can push them back a tile, move them to the left/right, etc. When you attack, you pick a tile you wish to attack rather than an enemy. So if there are 2 enemies on a specific tile on the grid you will hit them both.

I think also your attacks do more damage depending on how many enemies you hit.

This adds an additional layer of strategy. The moves that push the enemies around tend to be weak, but you may be able to do more damage overall by using them wisely.

Another thing you can do (IIRC) is switch your turn with the turn of an enemy/party member. This encourages you to execute combos and use the grid to your advantage.

The only problem I see with this system is how it would probably lose its appeal during boss fights. I haven't actually played the game, so I can't say for sure.

I don't personally use this very often, but when other people do, it bugs me to no end.

• "Needless to say..."

That seriously has to be the most pointless, superfluous phrase we have in this language. I can't think of any instance in which using this may actually help you construct your sentence/prove your point (well, that is, except for in this post...).

As evidenced by the last sentence above, I, too, have problems with ellipses and parentheses. I've started moving away from parentheses but instead have been using the dreaded dash - It's horrible! - to make my statements.

One of my personal favorites is The World Ends With You for the DS. Some of it is a bit predictable, I'll admit, but it really hit me in a way that most games can't.

For reasons I don't understand, it didn't do so well (even though it's absolutely amazing!), so you can probably find it for pretty cheap.

The story is entertaining in some parts, deeply serious in others, shocking in some, and incredible overall. I'd recommend it. Plus the gameplay is fun, too, so we're all winners!

I am working on the menu for a game right now, and I had defined each choice as a variable called xxOption, xx being whatever it represented.

This seemed normal, until I did:

Code:

optionsOption

for the options menu.