I use to sleep on the floor - hundreds of times - to practice sliding in and out of sleep while meditating, so I'd do it spontaneously in my sleep.

What about abstractions?

For example, in FF7 you know you've got to get Sephiroth, and at various points you sort of know what steps that will take. Sometimes those steps are obscured the right amount, and sometimes too much or too little. There's a right balance there.

In Prince of Persia: Sands of Time you are told exactly how far you are. The completion meter accounts for main plot only, so you don't have the crazy 50% - of the bar - spent on sidequests you may or may not do.

I liked that. It helped me pace my way through the game. I want to finish games, and I want to not rush through them. Managing my time is an important part of the playing process.

In Half-Life 2 I was woefully unaware of how long the game was, and adjusted my mood incorrectly, and felt like it stopped short. The NPCs are regularly referencing a map of where you must go. I wanted to understand that map.

I took a look at his Dark Souls 2 video. good stuff.

you know, of all the reviews, all the things, my best recommendation engine is my social circle.

minimize duplication.

Seriously though I never care much about ratings, I prefer to read the review and think if the issues or praises the reviewer rises apply to me.

you use effort? that's got to be tough.

the animation is slick in that

jeeze

1/3 and a 0.432

well I think we get this big scales because we know that there is all of this variety (in games). but the scale has all of these problems. if a game is good it is 8-10. then we do the decimals to say these really complicated things. but what we really want is something more clear. that's why the habit of gfx/gameplay/etc exists. we just chose the wrong dimensions.

without a clear, consistent, measurement tool bias plays too much of a role. there's a good Icy article where he talks about going from 3 stars to 5 stars as being even a bit of a stretch on intuition alone.

tbh i dont think the 5 point scale is perfect either. in practice, whats the difference between 1/5 and 2/5? both send the message (to me as a reader) that whatever is being reviewed is bad and that i don't need it.

I'd like 3 stars, on 3 dimensions. Like:
 - 2 stars writing
 - 1 star combat
 - 3 stars visuals

but idk what the dimensions should be. hard problem.

edit: yes, graphics/sound/gameplay/tech sucks.

ratings could use an overhaul

hype can make things better

you have to leverage the advantages of a generated thing. generation is a different way to build stuff, that has its own strengths and weaknesses. it is not a replacement for hand-done design.

well there's like a path-finding element. you back-track a little, to get treasure, then go back to go down a hole. you make decisions about going left or right, or whether to check out an area or not. the exploration is light, but compared to SMB it is still there.

obviously it's nothing compared to Zelda.

"do I look for the princess, or not?" etc.

maybe it is better to say Spelunky generates for content efficiency.

What about procedurally generated content like in Cloudberry Kingdom or Spelunky? Can we learn something from them?

I think there's a strong future here.

Spelunky generates content so you feel like you are exploring. Cloudberry Kingdom does it so you get a personalized challenge? A mix of these two things would be nice.

i hate how this happens with literally every single game as of late. everything gets ridiculous prerelease hype, everything has to be the "best ever"

games get hyped more often now?

a "hi def" mii would be the xbox live avatars which look even worse

they would have to not suck

maybe one problem is with trying to make them look too much like people. we could be better off with something more abstract?

sackboys kind-of do this, though they are more about random crap than creating a look.

[edit:]

yeah, I think "hard is good" is a fine mantra.

I assumed we were talking about balancing the exploration elements without creating problems. I don't completely understand either.

edit:
Mario mechanics + metroidvania levels
 .... + 3D?

platformers get down to this core. anyone can pick up Mario and start expressing themselves, but it's harder with other games. you have to learn some basic skills first. in platformers motion is our key ingredient. everyone understands motion.