Epic Thread of Randomness

[Delarem]

I started a blog today. That was kind of random. But still a good decision, I think.

[vi]

A blog is nice to have for in depth updates.

[Delarem]

This is very true. ^-^ Nice avatar, by the way. It's cute. I really should make up my own too...

[vi]

It's actually a default avatar from your forums.

[Delarem]

Heh, that's cool. I forgot that those were there.

[xin]

I liked your blog post today. It's nice to see what kind of tools people use to help them in thier projects, even when it's not part of the final product.

[Delarem]

Thank you! Yeah, I thought that part was interesting, and I wonder what other tools folks use when making their visual novels. I'd like to contribute to the general understanding of what visual novels are- not a lot of people know about them (at least where I live). They're such a great avenue for telling stories- I think there's a lot of potential for them.

[vi]

There are, and I wish I discovered them sooner. When a friend of mine explained to me what they are, I didn't understand at first. I played expecting a game where I had a lot a freedom, not a ton of text...

So then before anyone plays one, they should make sure to tell people what a visual novel is. It helps with the overwhelming text. XD

(I remember complaining about them in my first exposure.)

[Delarem]

*nodnod* That's a very good point- more people will enjoy them if VN's are explained to them first. Now I want to add a little explanation of what a visual novel is when I start putting out the game on my blog. Hopefully that will help other folks.

My first exposure was to (that sounds wrong )was to the Re: Alistair visual novel. I really liked that game ^-^ So much fun! The scheduling was actually helpful to give me a template for scheduling my activities in real life, go figure. I always love it when games can teach you something new. I want to make games that do that too.

[vi]

The best one may be ones where you don't feel like you're learning at all.

[Delarem]

I feel like that is a very wise statement. ^-^ I think you're right. I had a friend who was really bad with maps, but after playing an adventure game where reading maps was a big part of it, she actually gained a sense of direction and could read maps.

I think the most important thing I ever learned from a game was from the Nancy Drew PC series. I used to play those as a teenager, and I learned how to speak on the phone through those games (since the main character has to do that all the time). I used to be afraid of calling people, but the games pulled me out of it, gave me a new perspective of how fun it can be. There's my happy story ^-^

[xin]

I've always been a fan of puzzle games. They make you think in ways you don't normally have to in daily life and school.
I remember one puzzle in a game I played that used hexadecimal numbers as a kind of code to solve. (It's a shame I don't remember the name of it.) You had to translate several sets of numbers, so by the end of it all, you've learned to read in hex whether you knew it or not.
Of course, that's not useful to most people, so maybe it's a bad example.

[Delarem]

Oh, I like puzzle games too! Except sudoku and slider puzzles... Those drive me nuts. I couldn't solve a sudoku to save my life. Seriously. I had a hard time when they put a sudoku in the latest Nancy Drew game. I had to go online to look for a spoiler in the end.

Which game was that puzzle in? Have you ever played any abstract puzzle games, like Myst?

[xin]

Oct 4, 2011 19:50:36 GMT -5 Delarem said:

Which game was that puzzle in? Have you ever played any abstract puzzle games, like Myst?

I couldn't remember the name. I had to search for it.
The game was called Rama. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_(video_game)
It's very much like Myst. It has the same first-person point of view. It has the same gameplay style of exploring areas and solving puzzles to unlock new areas. The story is also very interesting. (It was based off a book, so I guess a good story is assumed. ;D)

I also played Myst, but I didn't play the sequel, Riven. I loved Myst. It was beautiful, and the puzzles were challenging and not repetitive. I especially remember the moment in the game where I was looking at the two nearly-finished books, and thinking "Wait a minute.... something's not right here." The story and the game fed into each other, so it didn't feel like one was overshadowing the other.

[Delarem]

Heh! Yeah, ^-^ I remember when my brother played that game. He doesn't have the patience for puzzle games though, he's more of a strategic fighting gamer. (He has beaten me so many times at Smash Brothers Brawl...)

Have you ever played a PC game called Beyond Atlantis (aka Atlantis II)? It is similar in gameplay to Myst. I thought it was pretty cool as an atmospheric game- you went back in time to three different places (China, Ireland and the Yucatan) and solved puzzles that eventually took you to the legendary lost city of Atlantis. The ending was pretty obscure to me though, and not really fulfilling, sadly. I also played Riddle of the Sphinx which you may or may not have heard about before- it had the same feel as those two other games.