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Apr 24th, 2009 at 22:52:56 - Nethack (PC) |
Background:
Nethack is an old school hack and slash style ASCII based game played from a terminal window. I found this game very nostalgic. It reminded me very much of the old text/ASCII art based Star Trek and fantasy RPG games I used to play on my old Tandy Sensation. However, Nethack even out dates them by roughly 6 years. First developed in 1987, Nethack is one of the oldest computer games that is still in active development. In Nethack you can somewhat customize your character by selecting from a list of character types, races, and allegiances. Each combination has unique characteristics that can help or hinder your progress through the dungeons of the game. Your goal in the game is journey through a series of dungeons and reclaim the Amulet of Yendor and escape back through the dungeons from whence you came, or so I have been told. I actually have no empirical evidence that this is how the game goes as I was never able to actually finish it. This game is friggin' hard!!!
Interaction:
Player interactions are handled exclusively through the keyboard. However, if you're playing on a laptop or mini-keyboard, you're out of luck. Nearly every key on a standard keyboard is mapped to some function. The numeric key pad (which most smaller keyboards lack) is mapped to your movement functions. Its actually technically possible to control your movements with the number row of keys, but its incredibly difficult as the location of the keys do not reasonably map to the spacial direction you intend to move. Also, there really aren't any multipurpose action keys. Every conceivable action is mapped to a key or combination of keys. This interaction style did somewhat limit the enjoyability of this game for me. I thought that playing this game reminded me of using an editor like vi or emacs, which requires you to use sequences of long (often counter-intuitive) key combinations to achieve your desired results.
Level Design:
The levels in Nethack are are series of dungeons that contain all sorts of odd creatures and places to investigate. Each level is designed to fit inside of a single standard terminal window. The levels are essentially an over-world type map that gradually reveals itself as you move through it. They are usually filled with open rooms, tunnels, boulders, statues, monsters, and hidden passages, all of which are represented by an ASCII character (sometimes the same character as one of the other elements). You being each level with only your current room visible. Aided only by your cat, dog, or saddle pony, you wonder through the maze hacking, slashing, and often kicking through various obstacles.
Playability:
This game is very, very difficult to just pick up and learn to play. Its probably not incredibly inaccurate to say that its almost impossible to crank up nethack and successfully finish it the very first time you play it. I spent _hours_ upon _hours_ reading Nethack play guides while trying to muddle my way through the dungeons. After this extensive effort, I did manage to become a master --- a master of every conceivable way to die in this game. For those of you brave enough to embark on the adventure of being a Nethack noob, you can look forward to interesting ways to die that include being eaten by sewer rats, bitten to death by newts, eating poisonous zombie flesh, zapped by bugs, blown to bits by magical missiles, shivved by hobbits, and many other even more fascinating ways to experience digital mortality. While on the topic of mortality, when you die in Nethack you're simply dead. No save states, no re-spawning, nothing... You are only allowed to save and exit so that you can walk away just to come back and die later. Without having spent much, much time researching and memorizing the interaction techniques and tactic guides, you're pretty much as good as dead. This is just a straight up difficult game.
Re-playability:
The only way that I can possibly imagine someone replaying this game is if they got hooked on the idea of beating it simply because it is incredibly difficult. Otherwise, there isn't really a lot of incentive. Fortunately, I don't suffer from a masochistic enough personality to get sucked into that vortex. However, there must be a lot of folks who are caught in this whirl pool of despair since this game has remained a cult classic for well over 20 years now. I'm really just joking about all of this though. Its really not a bad game, its just far too difficult and time consuming for someone like myself. I should probably just stick to playing first-person-shooters.
In closing, I'd like to say that there were many aspects of Nethack that I adored. Honestly, I'm a terminal junky. If I am required to use a GUI to interact with something, I loose a little bit of interest it. I work almost exclusively from terminals and really thought it was quite awesome that Nethack is a terminal based game (though GUI mods do exist). Even thought I griped a lot about the style of keyboard interaction, this is the same reason that I love using emacs. Everything you want to do has a key combination associated with it. This, of course, has a steep learning curve, but once you've mastered them you can very quickly perform complicated tasks with little effort. I'm sure some folks out there love interacting with Nethack as much as I love using emacs (yes, I really do).
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Mar 1st, 2009 at 15:15:27 - Uggggh (PC) |
I have finished my second 20-something plays of “Uggggh”. I haven’t been able to progress any further than the second set of enemies that look like musketeers. Re-spawning at the beginning of the map really makes this level a nightmare. The sounds really make things interesting though, but the gameplay is so discouragingly difficult that I really can’t keep myself interested in it. I remember from the game demos that someone from the “Uggggh” group said something like “ will be playing the game since he’s the only one of us who knows how to beat it”. There must be some sort of trick to completing the first level. I’d really like to finish it, just so I can get to the Boss fight. The Boss fight seen during the game demo looked epic! As much as I’d like to get there and play it myself, I’ve become really frustrated with the game and don’t think I’m going to stick with it after finishing this review. The game is very nice looking and it is stylistically consistent, but it starts off way too hard. I think the archers are far too powerful. The arrows should probably cause less damage than being hit with by the pick ax zombies.
Also, I’m not sure how it happened (and it only happened once), but the life counter started going negative. I think I might have walked away without pressing pause and let my time run out. Over all I really think the game was well deigned. Its just the level difficultly that is a bit too much. I think it would have helped to encourage the player if there was a score counter or something that kept track of how many enemies were killed. That would have encouraged me to kill more enemies, instead of just jumping over them and leaving them behind. There wasn’t much motivation to attack them since I could essentially avoid the risk of loosing health by not fighting them at all. Not fighting was a good strategy though. When I did choose to fight it was never the zombies on the ground that killed me, it was always the archers. When I chose not fight, it was the same thing. The archers were still the ones to kill me, but I always managed to get much further in the level this way.
Since, I couldn’t manage to get any further in the game, I can’t really comment on whether or not there was any emergent complexity or not. The flow of the game was a bit awkward though. This was mainly due to having to replay the entire level after being killed. The player begins the game with three lives to spare. I think it would have worked a lot better if the player re-spawned in place as long as he had lives to spare. If the player had no more lives, then restarting the level would probably be the appropriate thing to do.
Again, “Uggggh” is not a bad game. It was just prohibitively difficult.
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Mar 1st, 2009 at 14:08:38 - Uggggh (PC) |
I was supposed to be reviewing “Memory Card Game”, but unfortunately neither version posted on the course site would run on my computer… Instead, I reviewed the next available game, “Uggggh”!
The interaction and general style were on par with most side-scrolling fighting games. I did find the attack controls a little difficult to use since there is a substantial distance between the ‘A’ key and space bar. However, this wasn’t much of a problem since the sword attack (‘A’ key) was pretty useless. It wouldn’t be quite as bad if every enemy attach didn’t decrease your health by 25%, so four hits and you have to start the whole level over again. If you were close enough to use the sword attack, you were close enough to be disproportionately damaged by your enemy. Throwing things (space bar) was the only successful way for me to kill the enemies. However, I made much more progress through the level by simply not fighting at all. By just jumping over all the enemies, I was able to double my progress through the level. However, eventually I’d get shot to death by the archers…
As far as the design is concerned, the game begins at too high a level of difficulty. Its just crazy difficult to make the smallest amount of progress. During my first session playing this game, I literally played the first level well over 20 times and never finished it. I found it exceptionally difficult to stay interested in the game simply because I could not make any progress. When I did make it further than before, I would always have to start from the very beginning again. If the player re-spawned at the place he died, it might make the game a bit more player friendly.
If I hadn’t heard the general discussion of this game in class, I would have had a hard time understanding what the game was about and why it was called “Uggggh”. (It’s a fantasy/zombie fighting game.) I have to give them credit for the sprites though. They looked very nice. The sounds were also very, very good. Also, it was funny that Team Gamma was listed as the top scorer. However, I have no idea how scores were being tallied and, in theory, even with my repeated failures, I should have been added to the score list. Was the list there just for aesthetics? This, of course, didn’t affect game play, but it was a bit annoying. I wanted validation by having my name added to the list!
It was by no means a horrible game. It was just way too hard for someone to come along and pick it up with expectations of enjoyment. I’m going to play through it again a few more times to see if I can beat the first level.
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Jan 21st, 2009 at 22:16:43 - Paper, Rock, Scissors (Other) |
Paper, Rock, Scissors
General:
Paper, Rock, Scissors is a simple two person hand game where the players display hand signs that represent one of the tools after which the game is named. The game usually played as a means of deciding some later action. Prior to playing the game, some point of decision must be presented, such that the players have reached an impasse. Each player selects a potential course of action to defend and then play a game of Paper, Rock, Scissors. By engaging in a game of Paper, Rock, Scissors, the players enter in an non-binding pact to continue with the course of action defended by the winning player.
Game Play:
A game of Paper, Rock, Scissors begins with two players each clinching a fist and shaking them in rhythm while counting to an arbitrary number (usually three). While counting, each player selects a tool (paper, rock, or scissors) to present to his opponent. Once the count is complete, both players simultaneously reveal the tool they have selected using a hand sign. Each tool has a specific hand sign associated with it. “Paper” is represented by holding your hand flat with fingers out stretched. “Rock” is represented by clenching your hand into a fist. “Scissors” is given by clenching your fist and extending the index and middle fingers in a 'V' shape, similar to the common “peace” hand sign. Each tool has exactly one strength against a specific tool and exactly one weakness against another. This results in a situation where each tool can defeat only one other tool and can be defeated by only one other tool. Since there are three tools, the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors only results in a state of contention when both players choose the same tool. If both players choose the same tool, the round is replayed until a winner is decided. Variations of this game involve multiple rounds being played where the player with the most wins at the end of the game is declared the winner. A common variation is referred to as “best two out of three”, where no less than two and no more than three rounds of the game are played. The player who wins two individual rounds then wins the entire game. The game can then terminate early (in two rounds) if one player wins the first two consecutive rounds.
Rules:
The general rules of Paper, Rock, Scissors are very simple and straightforward. Players must synchronize the moment they reveal the tool they have selected. This is a safeguard to prevent a nefarious player from cheating by selecting a winning tool after his opponent has already revealed his selection. Synchronization is typically done by having the players count to some arbitrary number (usually three) and then revealing their selections. Once the tool selections are revealed, a winner is determined using the following criteria:
1. “Paper beats Rock”, as paper can be wrapped around a rock and fully engulf it.
2. “Rock beats Scissors”, as a rock can be used to break the scissors.
3. “Scissors beats Paper”, as scissors can be used to cut the paper.
If the players have chosen the same tool, the round is deemed a tie and then repeated until a tie no longer exists.
Overall:
Paper, Rock, Scissors is an exceptionally fun way to settle an argument, make a decision, or settle a score. I personally use it frequently among friends to choose where to eat lunch. Its an amazingly simple game, but its beauty lies in this simplicity. Though Paper, Rock, Scissors is often considered a mostly random means of making a decision, many habitual papers believe that a great deal of skill is involved in trying to read your opponents expressions and movements to predict his tool selection. Seasoned players often claim that Paper, Rock, Scissors is not a game of fate, but cunning, much like poker, where reading your opponent plays a crucial role in winning.
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