Source Shader Editor v0.1

Whoa. If Valve had job titles, they should hire this "BiohazardPro" guy as a tools programmer or something. It also comes a little too late for the now kinda-comatose mod community, but still, Rob Briscoe could get some good use out of it, though it probably doesn't fit very neatly into the Portal 2 codebase they're using for Dear Esther.

Maybe if it dovetails with that ambiguous "we'll make the SDK free" thing, it could be just the defibrillator we need for the mod scene?

For technical details and implementation, check out the surprisingly substantial docs on the wiki.

Justice.

2 weeks left to finish a crazy overambitious collab with Eddie Cameron. Stay tuned.

Dark Past (part 4): The Useful Post (?) or Randy Smith's "valence theory" of level design.

This is a series of posts that analyzes the immersive sim. It's a play on the excellent RPS feature, Dark Futures.

Many moons ago, I began by (part 1) emphasizing the robustness of systems in immersive sims before (part 2) moving closer to level design, then (part 3) criticized both ideas, and now the point of all this: (part 4) Randy Smith's "valence theory" of level design, as applied to the Thief games. (NOTE: he never called it that, but I am.)

We're done with the theoretical basis. Now this is the "Useful Post" of the Dark Past series, a primer on some level design theory for immersive sims with stealth mechanics. It's also particularly relevant, given the recent announcement of Dishonored.

Disqus

I migrated all comments over to Disqus. I'm told it's better, and I see all the cool kids doing it, so that's why I did it. Please voice any seething anger here... even if it has nothing to do with this post.

How Tutorials Should Be Done

Why make sloppy pop-up text "tutorials" that give away all the mechanics / dynamics (I'm looking at you, BioShock) when you can have extremely elegant level design teach the skills and let players work things out for themselves?

Portal 2 did it. Almost every Stephen Lavelle game does it. Most recently, Impasse (via IndieGames.com) does it too.

Remember, less talk and more rock.

Love letter to a bridge

Mention the "bridge in de_aztec" to any Counter-Strike player and they'll nod knowingly.

Sure, you might have Aram Bartholl wanting to build a 1:1 scale model of de_dust "in real-life", but why no love of any similar magnitude for Chris Auty's vaguely Mesoamerican masterpiece? Throughout the entire map cycle, The Bridge has no equal in terms of elegance and genius, I'd argue.

As a service to our younger gamers, who, upon being asked, "what's your favorite CS map?" will respond incredulously with, "isn't CS that really old game?" then blow a large bubble gum bubble in your face and go back to texting a fellow bro -- here, you little shit, here's why The Bridge is great.

nwdm_nocturnal, iterations

Both infuriating and liberating to work in Half-Life 1 again.

 

Super Friendship Club

New pastures and new projects, founded by the Cambridge scene and its many satellites.

The first "pageant" is up; you have a month to make games about "justice."

Also, post your other projects there for some world-class feedback.

See you there!