#i made sure his stats are possible to maintain at a natural level given his age/height/experience etc

[softpine]

he's on steroids???

[prof-peach]

if fans wanted to include peach in stuff they write, would that be okay? and how would they write peach's personality? aside from "FIGHT ME" anyway, i think that much is a given lol. i only really write the anime characters 'cause that's what i know, but it sounds like it'd be kinda fun to try making a version of ash that fits into this blog's universe! nerf'd Obviously, but i think she'd probably appreciate how hands-on he gets when training his pokemon!

Ok, I get a lot of these messages, and I often hear folks wanting to throw peach into their stories and comics and writings, and I will always simply ask that if it’s published online publicly, to be linked to it so I can snoop and enjoy the content too. If someone asks about her in your work, let them know about the blog I guess? But literally I love that people take this stuff, these characters and stories, and make new stuff with it. No ones making money off my work here? So where’s the issue? Go for it buddy, knock yourself out, I’m all for it.

For you, and all the others out there who want to add peach, and other characters to your world building, I will give you a detailed rundown of the main lot, and how they behave, what they do, how they function. You can use that, use bits, or use none of it, I do not mind at all. If you’re creating something, you’re in control, not me.

So, peach doesn’t actually fight people as much as you’d think. She’s very aware most cannot and do not want to do that, and so she likes to keep to herself with regards to that aspect of her life, she doesn’t ask to spar with people, or even bring it up at all, but people ask her all the time, even if they clearly would lose or become hurt should she miscalculate during the fight. She looks at people like they usually create problems, and often has a somewhat reserved nature to other humans. You have to work quite hard to get anything more than formalities out of her. She will dead-pan handle people with blunt and very to-the-point statements, aid whenever possible, but very quickly get back to handling the Pokemon she so carefully tends. Her focus is clear, she’s all about hard work, her very small select family, and the Pokemon.

Her brutal, loud and brash personality only comes out with friends, family, difficult humans, OR any Pokemon. She will joke and laugh and play with Pokemon, but clam up around humans, maintaining tight body language and generally will be a little cold by regular standards. She does however have some weaknesses in this emotionless shield she puts up. When peach was young she was always angry, which swung so fast to sadness, back and forth. Her teenage years it just got worse and worse, it was crippling at points. She is to this day, full of fire and rage, even sadness, but now she has learnt to control it, to use it. When she sees that in others, it’s familiar, and she is pushed to drop the front, and be very real with the person. Underdogs I suppose, people who get bad reps, but deserve the same as everyone else. She can’t ignore it.

Once you start to pry open her personality, you’ll find she’s a lot more laid back and fun than originally appeared, you just have to work hard to find that side of her. She will meme reference, can’t dance to save her life, loves her coffee, and can be caught in quiet contemplation while gardening. This hobby is her calmest, and often is why she can stay so level headed when her quiet rage boils up again. Without time outside she will become grouchy, a little snippy, and lethargic. Will not go in the ocean for any reason other than life or death, is fine with ponds and rivers, or water at wading height. Likes the rain.

With regards to her training others, they usually have to tolerate her somewhat strict nature. She is a little....unforgiving, holds a grudge if you make a lot of mistakes, and has no tolerance for ignorance in the age of information that we all live in. In previous posts I’ve mentioned she’s only recently selected two students, after many years of testing kids who want to learn from her. Hundred tried out, only two have ever been approved. How she teaches is very fast paced, be prepared to get some scrapes and bruises, she will test your physical and emotional tolerances with intense tasks, carefully watching students like a hawk. Bad posture in your stance? She’ll be the first to tell you to sort it out. Not hearing your Pokemon partner? Right, now you spend the day without using words trying to communicate, let’s see how you like not being listened to.

This is a woman who has spent her life saying very little, and watching everything, she watches Pokemon and can see an issue from a mile off, and in battles, her observations are why she can react fast, and chose effective strategy to avoid damage and achieve results. Don’t let her body fool you, her strongest asset is analysing, watching, planning. Those skills have over the years transferred to people too. As a student, mistakes don’t go unnoticed with this professor.

Her methods are harsh but fair, and should you prove yourself, she will protect you with her life.

Because of her disinterest in kids and lots of noise, she does pass the training of students on to the other staff members whenever possible. Grey takes on the lions share of battle lessons, he is far calmer, more open and friendly, with patience for people, and an empathy that peach sometimes struggles to have. When you go through a lot of harsh training, and difficult events, it’s hard to change how you feel or think, with peach, well, she’s been through it. Most do not come out the other end in one piece, but she did, and it made her strong. You may think I mean strong like buff and big, and yeah sure she is, but I mean it mentally more than anything. Peach will not quit. She has learnt to destroy the boundaries that stop people getting hurt, gone is the fear that freezes you in your tracks, that feeling that you’ll pass out if you go one more step. She’s learnt to ignore it.

This means she’s a little forgetful at how it is to be normal, to be vulnerable and soft and squishy like students so usually are.

She has her issues, but for the most part, visitors get a laugh, a smile, a calm assertive confidence, and facts. She will indulge those who have genuine interest, or show a connection with nature, an understanding of the balance that needs to be struck for everyone to live well together.

Despite her many flaws, she’s fiercely protective, and will go above and beyond to defend the island, it’s staff, the Pokemon and the visitors. Injustice is her biggest gripe, along with littering, and she doesn’t stand by quietly if something happens that seems unfair.

You will not see her without Valka, her vulpix, close by. That Pokemon doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, at all, and will run the second someone comes at her with that intent. Peach will scold you for pushing yourself onto her, should you persistently try to get close to pet Val. They are in sync, if peach is sad, Val is sad, if Val is stressed, peach is stressed, and so on. They are inherently connected, it’s just been that long, the psychic bridge between them has been built, and reinforced over the years.

The only other Pokemon who follows her so endlessly is Booker, a teddiursa who’s pretty rough looking. He quietly trots behind, grouchy and stoic, they fight closely together a lot. He lost his mom a long time ago to poachers, and peach took him in, and changed her whole life for him. Not many people know, but Booker was the reason she left the rangers, changed career, and got so strong. Will tolerate people petting him but isn’t keen at all, grumbles a lot and tries to move away.

You may also need to know about the others, for the sake of writing, she here a few more bits that may be important to you, or others wanting to do this.

Grey is very tall, very burly, composed, tells bad dad jokes, is a bit of a goof if allowed to be. If he sees a pun, he’ll say it. Can’t help himself. Very nice guy to work with, good at keeping people calm and grounded. Pokemon are drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he gives off warm energy, and has inhuman amounts of patience. If you wrong his family however, he will snap back.

He grew up in the city, loves to swim and hike and cycle, can snowboard, is really sporty. A total brain box with held items, and boosting stats. He will explore many paths, to make sure visitors and students get the information they need, in a way that can be remembered and retained for later. Is a huge guy, but will get on the floor to play with a tiny Pokemon. Treats big “meaner” looking species like babies, very good with all pokemon.

His free time is spent either tinkering, swimming, or trimming his bonsai trees. This guy stares at screens a lot, so appreciates time away from them. Peach built him his own little greenhouse for his trees and tools, which he keeps clean and loves dearly.

His methods as a teacher are built around fun and games, he makes hard work easier to do by distracting trainers from the difficult bits, and focusing in on something more interesting or compelling.

His most commonly seen Pokemon would be a houndoom, Saxon, old battle veteran, retired now to herding and being a good boy. Very gentle, loves a pet.

Pari, now a fully fledged nurse, often oversees the labs front desk and pokecentre features, such as healing pokemon, and informing trainers who come to visit. Her skills with eggs and hatchlings is high, she’s great with younger Pokemon, and hands out good advice to trainers a lot. She’s not a fighter, never was, but can find any file, any study, any book, and any refrence you may need. A true bookworm, loves her romance novels, chat shows and upbeat celebrity gossip mags. Will cry at a lot of stuff, be it sad or happy.

She’s got a seriously upbeat personality, but if caught off guard or shocked, she gets a little flustered. Too much chaos will overwhelm her, but usually she’s on top of things. The years spent on the island have made her better at maintaining composure in emergencies. With lots of siblings, she’s very competent with others, and has a good ability to disarm cagey people with her jolly nature. Because of this, she can sometimes gain information from trainers that some of the more harsh professors may not have access to. Charming is a word for it.

Her partners are an eevee, and a happiny. They are quite sweet and well adjusted, the eevee gets a bit bouncy if you get it too excited.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E15 (Apr 24, 2018)

Hello hello hello! As @eponymous-rose​ is away doing Important Science, I’m covering TM recap duty tonight! Tonight’s guests: Marisha & Liam. Tonight’s announcements: 

This Saturday is International Tabletop Day! G&S is running special programming all day to celebrate.

VM Origins #6 is out at all available online comic retailers. The final touches are being placed on the comic collected edition; details to be released soon!

Wednesday Club airs tomorrow at 7pm PST.

826LA hit the $35,000 reward tier this week! This means Matt will be hosting another Fireside Chat soon. (Liam reveals that the vintage robe & a tiger ring Matt wore in the last chat were gifts from him after a certain jazz-hands-related event in the last campaign.) As a reminder, all donations are doubled up to $40,000 thanks to a generous critter matching donations. 

Pillars of Eternity is out in two weeks! Reminder that the characters of VM will be playable as voice sets in this campaign; the new portrait art for Vax was released this week. Check it out at versusevil.com/criticalrole! Liam extols Travis’s voice acting and the “finesse” in his performance and hopes that fans will be very happy with it.

Reminder: Dani Carr hosts Critical Role Recaps every week. 

CR Stats for Episode 15

48 natural ones this campaign so far ($4800 from D&D Beyond to 826LA!)

67 natural 20s so far, even without a Lucky rogue!

Over both campaigns & 51 initiative rolls, Ashley averages only 9.5 on her initiative rolls. :( However, she’ll be on Talks next week! Yay!

Beau is super into working for the Gentleman right now. As long as she makes friends in high places, she’s happy (in part because she knows they won’t last long). 

Liam doesn’t miss trap duty at all. (He’s enjoying being a screw-up wizard.) That said, he still enjoys watching Sam bring his magic touch to his old class. 

Beau fundamentally trusts that people will always act in their own self-interest, which is why she told Jester to take care of herself first. To Beau, selfishness & survival are synonymous--most people want to make sure they aren’t going to get caught or killed. That’s how she can trust untrustworthy people to work for the good of the group, and why she thought Caleb & Nott needed to be part of a bigger conversation.

Sam, of course, very briefly FaceTimes into the show with the knowledge that Liam called him a comedic genius. He wishes everyone to know that this is accurate, does a remarkable Howdy Doody impression, and leaves.

Caleb didn’t have any experience with the Zone of Truth spell before and paid close attention while it was being cast, but “nobody asked him any questions, so I guess it’s fine.” 

Caleb’s one-on-one with the DM hasn’t changed his playstyle or character interpretation yet, since it didn’t reveal anything significant. He does think it might have given Caleb a mildly different outlook on certain things/his mood a little bit, but no fundamental shifts yet. Beau’s one-on-one shifted her perspective a lot--she doesn’t respect authority at all, so being put in her place was a good check on her personality & took the edge off her wrecking-ball habits. Both Marisha & Brian talk about respecting someone willing to call them out on their crap.

Gif of the Week: this glorious thing by @scottc_miller on twitter. Poor everyone. Poor drunk Nott.

Beau is officially warming up to Molly. Awwww, my heart. “I don’t know if Molly’s warming up to Beau, but...” Brian: “Self-preservation, guilty until proven innocent...an optimist!”

Molly’s amnesia reveal hasn’t really changed Caleb’s opinion of him. He does trust that Molly told the truth within the Zone’s context, but he knows that may not be the whole truth. The only person who’s changed in Caleb’s estimation is actually Beau; Liam talks about a low score he rolled on an arcana check on the magical symbols, which Beau surpassed, and in the moment Caleb realized that meant Beau must have had some formal schooling. “A little checkmark went ‘boop!’ in a box.”

Beau is aware of her own terrible flirting with women, & Marisha references Beau’s strong preference to be in charge in her interactions. Marisha also talks about some of her Meisner acting classes/acting methods in how scenes are structured and it’s actually really, really cool. Liam segues into his first week in NYU at his very first voice acting class where they laid on the floor and did “pelvic thrusts” to loosen the diaphragm. Marisha recalls her college voice acting teacher telling her she was terrible and shouldn’t pursue voice acting because she spoke from the back of her throat. 

All of Caleb’s spells have been selected for RP reasons over functionality/utility. Liam knows it’s not the most optimal build &, as might be expected, doesn’t care in the slightest. You go, boo.

Liam and Marisha giggle over fighting such a classic old-school monster as a gelatinous cube. Liam honestly wishes Frumpkin could have been dissolved; Caleb emphatically does not. Marisha remembers finding the old cube mini with Matt which could be opened up so other minis could fit inside, and they sat in their living room for some time putting minis inside it. The pair that slays together stays together. Liam also remembers a Comic Con that had light-up gelatinous cube minis which he attended riiiiight after meeting Marisha. 

Fanart of the Week: this by @sephiramy! Look at how good everyone looks, awwww. 

Liam jokes that he personally excluded Quebec from the giveaways and it’s inexplicably hilarious, especially given Matt’s apologies for it on the regular show.

Beau’s hand going numb on the cube attack didn’t phase her at all; she’s still in the “adolescent” phase where she isn’t afraid of any bad things that might happen to her.

In re: screwing the DM with in-universe D&D choices: “Path of the Duck for the fuck.” 

When it comes to HP management, the rest of the party is trying to make sure they can get people up when they’re down, especially since Jester canonically dislikes healing. Marisha reflects on the last campaign where she & Sam often filled the blanks around Ashley’s healing, and feels everyone’s trying to fill a similar role now. Liam and Marisha would ideally like another healer, but neither Beau nor Caleb are paying much attention to maintaining a balanced party comp. 

The cat’s paw version of Caleb’s spell was always planned given his attachment to Frumpkin.

Liam talks about pre-stream puzzles from campaign one, including a complicated hydraulic puzzle that Taliesin’s dragonborn paladin sidestepped with one brute force elbow. He also remembers a child’s square puzzle that took “a group of adults an embarrassing time to solve.” 

Cast- and staff-wide digression into puzzle-shaming Gandalf for flunking the Moria door riddle. Gandalf the Grey--more like Gandalf the Bad at Riddles, amirite

Beau’s ability to solve the magic puzzle feels to Marisha like the lessons your dad makes you learn as a kid, even though you never think you’ll use them--(such as being made to learn to change your own oil despite thinking you’ll always use AutoZone), but then you end up using the skill later on and resent it the whole time. 

Caleb’s increased participation in discussions lately is an intentional choice on Liam’s part. 

Beau’s improvement in dealing with the rest of the M9 is due to her becoming more comfortable with them.

Caleb recognizes Fjord’s arcane power, but doesn’t question it at all due to the magical nature of their world. (Neither Liam nor Caleb trusts Fjord to be neutral good: “He spat saltwater out!”)

Marisha makes a great point about how everyone in a D&D party is by definition magical and special, but everyone in the M9 right now feels like they’re still discovering what that means. Liam points out that VM very much felt like strong, special people with greatness thrust upon them; M9 feels like a troupe of random carnies. 

Marisha on why she’s playing a human in D&D when so many possibilities exist: “Some people like playing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.” She likes going from an all-powerful half-elven archdruid prodigy to a schmo who can just punch things really hard. 

While discussing impostor syndrome, Brian quotes David Milch: “So much of the accomplishment in art comes not from the discovery of one’s gift but from its acceptance.” He likes that the leveling system supports the slow growth of a character in an RP sense and allows the character to learn and accept his or her strengths. He likes that it’s not straight escapism, it’s the combination of one foot in reality and one foot in fantasy.

Liam points out that since their group is very theater- and story-driven, they often use the leveling process to support story choices and character growth over class optimization. Marisha relates it back to the choices in Disney movies, where sometimes the protagonist discovers their innate power & embraces it in order to succeed, vs. where sometimes a protagonist must overcome an innate feature and rise above it in order to succeed. She loves that dichotomy. (Brian feels Scanlan represented similar principles in the last campaign.)

Liam’s favorite moment of the last episode was Sam’s small drunk goblin irritation. 

In re: the rising from the floor at the end of the last episode, Liam hopes there’s a way to talk their way out of any upcoming fight, since Caleb’s pretty tapped. Beau: “This is fine.”

After Dark: I Know What You Did Last Summer Edition

On transferring from the relationship between Vax & Keyleth to Caleb & Beau--both Liam & Marisha have had some disputes about everything that went down in the High Richter’s house. Marisha: “I wouldn’t use the word ‘disputes.’” Liam: “What would you use?” Marisha: “...Clarifications?” They both are struggling with how much their in- and out-of-game relationships have changed over the course of the two campaigns. 

The crew photoshops Liam’s hairy V-necked chest onto Marisha live. What even. How.

Marisha does miss some things about spellcasting, but enjoys watching everyone else struggle with concentration checks and saving throws. 

Liam and Marisha both enjoy building characters and then assigning the classes that fit their story, instead of deciding what class to play first & building a character to that.

Brief aside where both Marisha (not Beau) & Caleb (not Liam) talk about how much they love Jester. 

Liam discusses in- and out-of-player knowledge when it comes to Fjord. Liam knows there’s an eldritch horror behind him, but Caleb has no clue. Marisha sees him as the altrustic half-leader who’s hiding a lot. Liam hypothesizes that someone was about to die, and Fjord saved whoever it was by offering himself to Cthulu. Liam doesn’t think Fjord is good-aligned. Marisha doesn’t trust his smarts. 

Marisha tells a story about Taliesin’s hair at C2E2. They were doing group photos when a family with a little girl came up who asked Taliesin his favorite hair color. He answered “I’m really into the peacock fade with the blue and the fade into green and the purple and the emerald,” and the poor girl was a little overwhelmed. (Marisha once answered her second-grade teacher’s question about her favorite color as “iridescent” and feels the teacher was more impressed with her vocabulary than her color choice.)

If they were pulled into Exandria today, Marisha would like to be a wild magic sorcerer or a paladin; Liam would be a wizard. 

If the M9 were stuck in a cavern with no food, Marisha would eat Fjord first since he’s probably already a little salted. 

Beau’s martial artistry is inspired by Ip Man. 

Liam steps out for a moment after a coughing fit, then returns in order to stand very, very close to Brian. Close enough that Brian’s ear rests on Liam’s stomach. Close enough that Marisha feels left out and both of them cuddle on Brian’s lap to end the show. I’m glad I’m not kidding. 

See you Thursday!

[alexchristin]

Design for Theorycrafting

Recently, Danny O’Dwyer and the team over at Noclip have done a documentary series, interviewing prominent independent developers (Derek Yu of Spelunky, Jim Crawford of Frog Fractions, and Jonathan Blow of The Witness), talking about the games that inspired them as children, discussing their own takes on the significance of mystery in games, and explaining how they weaved elements of it into their design fabrics. The documentary series is fittingly titled “Rediscovering Mystery,” and a solid must-watch.

It takes courage for a developer like From Software to even attempt to include such a vast, and totally missable areas such as the Painted World of Ariamis or Ash Lake in the original Dark Souls. And there’s no doubt, that the effort from Jonathan Blow and his team, to build an island full of mystery and surprising treats, elegantly placed on the fine line between obscurity and conspicuity is absolutely commendable. However, aside from being a big help when you need it, the Internet is also a land riddled with spoilers. People are always discussing, debating, and engaging in joint-efforts to unearth even the most obscure secrets of all in games. And often as a result, the easy and most logical answer from developers on how to retain the player’s interests in games is to keep expanding their worlds, and to include even more obscure secrets for them to find out.

I do believe that this approach is, not only costly for sure, but also fairly limited in its efficiency. Not to undermine developers’ effort and control over the experience, but there’s one thing that many designers I know will probably agree on: the most profound, interesting, valuable and effective drive of all stems from within people’s heads. And the most common manifestation of such drive that one can see, comes in the form of theorycrafting.

A spoiler-resistant design paradigm

According to Christopher A. Paul (2011), the word theorycraft originated from World of Warcraft, which describes “the search for the optimal set of strategies with which to play, by using statistical analysis and mathematical modeling.” In the broader context, theorycrafting refers to the practice of analyzing theoretical scenarios, speculating possibilities, performing statistical reports, planning strategies for unexpected events, or simply “connecting the dots.” All of these are done mostly off-game, or at least not within the context set up by the games they’re playing.

Take a look at almost any game, you’ll find a universal advice suggesting that starters do a “blind” playthrough first, then come back a second time with a strategy guide to “one-hundred-percent” the game. While there’s nothing wrong with avoiding spoilers before you can enjoy a good book or a good movie, I do think that the old method of adding depths and maintaining player’s interests no longer holds itself well. What if instead of discouraging players from communicating with others on discussion boards, or encouraging blind playthroughs, we can design games around the reality of gaming today?

Minimal handholding

While this is a popular mantra adopted by many modern designers and may seem ostensibly obvious, I’d still like to stress its importance. Instruction on basic controls and maneuvers is fine, but make it so that players will have to do their own homework in order to overcome bigger challenges (say, higher difficulties). They can take notes, read up, discuss with other people, or even come up with their own ideas and strategies. You may be told how to move around and perform various attacks in Dark Souls, but nowhere in the game will you find an explanation on how Poise works, or how sometimes having low-to-no Poise is actually beneficial. The user interface and functionality of Darkest Dungeon may imply that you should treat your units as precious and cure them of devastating mental afflictions, but you’ll have to learn for yourself that it’s really costly to maintain a sane army, and the path to victory involves treating your units as expendables.

I myself have spent about 1,500 hours on the Long War mod for XCOM 2012 by Firaxis, and tried to pinpoint exactly what about it that reeled me and thousands of others in, even during its development period, and how it had us all absolutely enthralled. XCOM 2012 was fine, but it certainly, most would agree, did not have much to keep people playing for hundreds of hours. And that’s where the mod steps in. In direct opposition to Sid Meier’s idea at GDC 2010, which is basically to occasionally “cheat” in favor of players so that they themselves won’t ironically feel cheated, Long War relieved XCOM of every last bit of its shackles. As a result, the game was significantly harder, but a majority of XCOM players found the honesty and transparency worth a lot more in the long run than the ocassional helping hand.

Ensure High Interactivity between Game Elements

The first thing that comes to mind when people start thinking about strategies is how different elements within a game will interact with one another. And good news is, you don’t have to make such complex network of interactions obvious. Human beings are good at noticing and distinguishing patterns, and we love playing the game of connecting dots. What would happen if I combine Element A with Element B, and then sacrifice Element C, which on its own is very beneficial, to go for Element D? Would I then have to change my playstyle now that this setup is in place? And how? These are amongst the questions players are going to ask themselves when they theorycraft. Try to think ahead of them, and leave footprints on the ground behind so that players will follow them.

Extra Credits’ episode on Depth vs. Complexity explores this particular topic further.

Encourage micro-and-meta strategies

To reiterate a point previously made: the higher the difficulty level (by which I mean the amount of depth the game can and may provide to the player) the more the game should require the player to think outside of the immediate in-context scenario being laid out in front of them and plan ahead for future possibilities. The player should have to not only care about major factors and decisions, but also minor details that at first may seem trivial, but will make a difference in specific scenarios. For example, a 5% hit chance boost may seem negligible—not a lot of difference between an 80% hit and an 85% hit. But in the specific scenario where the player’s hit chance is penaltied down to 0%, and the 5% boost will be applied after the penalties, then it becomes the difference between chance and no chance.

To do that, a game needs to require players to acquire more knowledge than it can offer explicitly inside itself (unless they decide to constantly break the 4th wall and rain down paragraphs after paragraphs on the player, which is a bad idea by the way.) Obviously, this requires the game to contain a lot more depth. People won’t have a lot to read up on or talk about if the game they’re playing is Flappy Bird!

Micromanagement in gaming is often referred to as tedious. However, I do think it can be interesting and sometimes deeply profound if the player can see that:

It matters. It’s not going to matter if your SPD stat gets a 25% boost if you’re already the fastest moving unit in a turn-based combat and others have no way to catch up, which is what a lot of old RPGs were guilty of.

Everybody else is doing it.

The game is designed around the fact that everybody is doing it.

I found immense joy in discussing strategies with other players in the XCOM Long War community, and to play around with various ideas and theoretical scenarios in my head whenever I was on break at work. That made me feel like I was improving even when I was away from the game, and the game also helped me learn to think and to plan things carefully, and deliberately.

Reduced Linearity

Just like minimal handholding, even though reduced linearity isn’t anything new to experienced designers, it is amongst the key qualities of games designed for theorycrafting. Naturally, if every scenario in a game is scripted, every puzzle has but one single solution, and nothing that the player can do will make any significant impact to its outcome, then that game’s resistance to spoilers is clearly low. Someone nonchalantly tells a player that maybe they can turn left at this juncture, and they can’t unlearn that! You want to make sure that problems almost always have more than one answer, and there is a moderate space in which the player’s theorized solution may go off-track.

Maintain control over gameplay

With that said, in certain games, even if they’re non-linear and designed to encourage theorycrafting, there is still the risk of the player figuring out the optimal play and sticking to it rigorously, ultimately ruining their own experience. Soren Johnson, one of the Civilization designers, wrote “Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game.” (2011)

The current most efficient ways to tackle this problem that we know of, is to introduce random elements, or in some context, procedural generation. The idea is to allow the computer to systematically and algorithmically generate environments or outcomes based on the player’s input and a dice roll. Randomness is not necessarily “lazy design,” but rather meant to serve as insurance against optimal play always producing the same results, making sure that no strategy is without its flaws. Allow people the freedom to metagaming and micromanagement, but at the same time try to mitigate certain-win strategies as much as possible. Work closely with testers and even the community.

Final Words

Designing a game that is challenging, complex, with a lot of depth, and which encourages strategizing, planning for possible scenarios, coming up with creative ways to solve problems, might seem to be an overwhelmingly difficult task. But I do think it is a good ideal to push towards. If people are going to read up on games before diving in and perhaps spoil it for themselves, let them do it as much as they want. Make it so that the challenges in your game can take that fact on the chin and still give them a hard time. And a good time.

Lastly, I’d like to leave you with a few words from Professor Brian Moriarty’s lecture back in GDC 2002, The Secret of Psalm 46.

“If super power is what people really want, why not just give it to them? Is our imagination so impoverished that we have to resort to marketing gimmicks to keep players interested in our games? Awesome things don’t hold anything back. Awesome things are rich and generous.

The treasure is right there.”

References

Christopher A. Paul (2011) Optimizing Play: How Theorycraft Changes Gameplay and Design. Retrieved from http://gamestudies.org/1102/articles/paul

Sid Meier (2010) The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know is Wrong). Available at https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012186/The-Psychology-of-Game-Design

TangledAxile (2016) Yes, XCOM2’s RNG cheats - in your favor. Here’s how. Message posted on Reddit. Available at https://www.reddit.com/r/XCOM2/comments/45u81x/yes_xcom_2s_rng_cheats_in_your_favor_heres_how/

Soren Johnson (2011), GD Column 17: Water Finds a Crack. Retrieved from https://www.designer-notes.com/?p=369

Brian Moriarty (2002) The Secret of Psalm 46. Available at http://ludix.com/moriarty/psalm46.html

Extra Credits (2013) Depth vs. Complexity - Why More Features Don’t Make a Better Game. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVL4st0blGU

[alex-apocalyptic-blog]

hack bleach brave souls

Hi

Chlorine bleach brave souls is mostly a liberated to execute, on-line procedure rpg on cellular equipment in line with the very first chlorine bleach anime/manga selection with cellular shaded three dimensional sharp graphics, a large amount of chlorine bleach data to gather, busy procedure combat, close to 100 account influenced stages, actual time co op quests, and instant pvp. three dimensional anime sharp graphics high quality, anime determined sharp graphics raise each individual charm to being with natural animated graphics and fancy properties. The sport was made available with this summer season 2015 in china specifically where it obtained close to 8 thousand downloading in advance of it last but not least launched world wide at the period of january 15, 2016. The realm of Bleach Brave Souls Cydia Hack is split into a number of stages, on the grounds that the two options offer numerous charm dialogue and re-created scenarios and celebrations within a chlorine bleach cartoon selection. Members may have 3 data in their bash that they'll change among each time at the time of resist. |Members execute as ichigo, a commendable mature secondary school undergraduate who turns into a soul reaper to defend his members of your family from entering hollows, monsters which contains the soul of deceased those who neglect to complete right onto go to sleep points, called soul culture. The sport benefits the standard controller design and style, virtual joystick/button page layout through an additional offer of swiping the monitor to dodge. Having a chance to change among data gives a suitable aspect of the activity as opponents will become difficult and total, the combat is reasonably simplistic but refined. Information might be leveled up in completing account setting quests, by compromising other data over the enhance system, and taking advantage of their soul plant. Members are only allowed to control it charm at the time of co op and can't change among their data just like the storyline setting, but teaming tabs on 3 other participants includes with this. Additionally in the direction of co op setting, the game has pvp specifically where participants usually takes on randomly player’s gatherings for amazing incentives. Members be given prizes for their positions per week along with the pvp, irrespective of as intelligent, however creates a appealing accessory for those activity. |However stages acquire more stressful down the line, capital is not always forced to advance, of course, spending capital provides advantages here is an example considerably more stamina and also in armor generator golden, together with obtaining a large possibility of acquiring a 5 star hero/accessory by reason of considerably more summons, which provides an edge within your account quests and pvp. For those people today which do not know, Bleach Brave Souls Cydia Hack has started to become officially in a position to download and add. Members can select to see solo or also execute on-line down If you happen to perform a super quick swiping movement in any direction, you'll dodge looked after of symptoms. At times the switches are a little too smaller sized which makes it hard to do your own private moves, and swipe dodging will take growing used to to carry it out when required, but total the fights work and execute incredibly consistent from a few things i have implemented. On the flip side, beginners will be compensated maintaining a great deal of soul orbs just after completing immediate training, so you'll have a lot once you start out of as time-consuming as you have used them carefully (participants that licensed with prelaunch select just one more bonus). All participants start with ichigo, as well as something other charm will undoubtedly be provided in your case totally free once you start the game and you could use people today two data to establish a company. You basically find a tiny amount of talking to stagnate imagery that means you are careful who's claiming what, also, you transition you to the next resist. I've acquired a reduced finish off android phone and on occasion it'll collision if it has no mind, so supplying this variety was fairly thoughtful away from the coders. |I do know that participants which have been with the help of earlier equipment will value the game play may run with ease with out lots of hiccups. Courageous souls happens a wonderful harmony among accessible content material as Periods: once a week quests are handed out throughout participants, and derive from primary position stories or determined by recent plan outlines within a selection. “ascend” is mostly a car specialist allowing the video gamer to merge plenty of charm summons to add to the degree limit of that particular charm. Heart and soul orbs are utilized purchasing materials, data, also to advance skillsets throughout the soul plant. Determines are sensitive, out on still another monopolize monitor room space. and gratifying rather than similar. |So this is a furthermore. You've goals and objectives to realize on every degree by conducting all of them you obtain bonus totally free of charge iap foreign currency. I am just to never imply this is a great consideration, it is always generally an ill-fated certainty. Never misunderstand me this can be no beautiful, refined have. throughout the shallow swordplay. recently particular the right circumstance in the direction of procedure and compensated tribute of the lengthened sagas making use of a simplistic degree established procedure armor generator. For anybody who's on top of that frightened of the time-consuming sprinting manga and anime options away from the account, this abridged generators edition stands out as the grateful channel. I applaud klab group. When it comes to liberated to execute mechanics, brave souls handles per se with unusual tact. |In case you exhaust these, there is normally the demanding multplayer setting or extra time to micromanage the amount and causes of that fighters. The generators promote a commonality in anime but however blazblue commenced being say for example a armor generator, chlorine bleach was the choice. Around this type of friends are uryu, (a quincy, healthy foe away from the soul reaper), orihime (some form of soul witch consideration) and ‘chad’ (a fullbringer with unbelievable durability Why it is really an option i am just uncertain of course i am going to disclose, i have attempted individually it when things got a tiny bit dull. These stars as a result make the gamer a “spirit orb,” a very good in armor generator foreign currency that you can use to summon new data to apply. Attack setting is pretty simple and easy for the reason that your very finest 3 or more data resist your opponent’s primary 3 or more along with the superior dude basically is the winner. are the result of the resist along with the course of action you've in position might be the identifying consideration. Members really need to be prepared for the absolute measurements farmville, analyzing close to 1gb you will need to make sure there's the right amount of location in the first place, for any armor generator and subsequent, for any large, routine revisions which have been specified. Every different charm has their particular amazing attributes along with the fine art on every charm charge card is exceedingly congratulations are in order. |Since you get started as ichigo kurosaki, from the very beginning as you connect with rukia who displays concerning your soul reapering causes. I am just supplying farmville a ranking ovation according to the appear to be properties No guilds within this armor generator to never Your time to invite a several legend or far better hero is ridiculously decreased. The specifications are almost infinite! Adhere to the chlorine bleach account after rukia and ichigo primary connect with. Courageous souls comes with a tremendously adjustable charm renovation system that means that you can clearly build exactly the players along with the company you would like. chlorine bleach is mostly a productive manga selection. Which provide you with still another go dangling throughout in the event your company is catagorized, along with the soul orbs tasks as a replacement for coins and stat crystals to apply on soul foliage. |Chlorine bleach brave souls food selection we who're seeing pass away, salute you! Those other place comes along outfitted making use of a close friends food selection to locate close friends, a itemizing food selection to undertake from data to finishing touches together with fusing finishing touches with each other, instructions from rukia’s soul pager for troubles, presents you will enjoy from quests and celebrations (superior get them instantaneously rather of in advance of they expire because this is specifically where the entire soul orbs you will enjoy within a quests go.), the shop and kon’s spot (specifically where partner points are dedicated.), along with the edit food selection to deal with your data. Above and beyond fixing their stat page you might also open bonus materials. This is when anyone can collect materials from crates here is an example stat crystals even so it is advisable to do extremely farming, or any sort of farming such as, throughout the every day workout routines by celebrations. The data will probably perform battling theirselves as soon as you opt for who'll use a amazing and once. However, it The sound operating is japanese, who appear to fit their data with little bit sound There's numerous room space on screen to apply the interface, however, when You could however positioned some input along the lines of dodging or working with a intense assault if your primary charm is great the right amount of they can just plow along with the tutorials without the need of contact, what sort of will kill the goal of mastering. |On the flip side, coupled with some determination and arranging you will get your faves are effective data, establish a a lot of fun company, and also in the conclusion, you are able to look like number 1. Various would possibly not comprehend it but chlorine bleach is among the greatest sprinting manga/anime selection in china and possesses gathered a massive band of supporters mainly because it primary debuted in 2001. further quests now surface when it comes to the top of the the celebrations report. I happen to possess a useful sort of of data as they say. I certainly seriously like this type of armor generator and trust to perform this down the line. You will definitely get amazing souls(3 optimum) that means that you can retain the services of your character’s Paralyze could not transition melt off hurt as time passes poison hurt as time passes(useful supervisor hurting capability) confuse transfer other direction freeze could not transition attribute bonus and issue many of these generators have rock and roll, cardstock and scissors relationships. |Gems are simple the right amount of to find at the start of the game. It will take useful interconnection even so. celebrations they may be celebrations which you could get 3 5 star data. You'll have to have the data you may buy in raids to perfectly modernize 6* data. You are able to customise and work out the data not to mention design your own if it is the kinda consideration. much more about the game then find out more about its web. For resist setting you be competitive in once a week leagues, in which you pit your very finest participants to prevent other players' crews online and acquire points. |This allow it to be sources that it is a pleasant exposure to should you have a squad captain inside your company for any primary arc. feedback.

[recentanimenews]

3 Disturbing Questions about Winter Isekai Anime

I love fantasy anime and I’m definitely not alone given their crazy popularity. Supply is definitely rising to meet demand as we’ve almost always have a few shows running every season. Of late, many such series have started to lean heavily on game mechanics to shape their fantasy worlds. While I’m not very particular about game stats showing up in a series, some recent inclusions have me asking a lot of questions. Three currently running anime have built worlds with some very strange conceits that, to be honest, have kept me up at night.

Whether you think you might have answers to set my mind at ease, or simply wish to share in my anime-related existential terror, I suggest you beware reading below. In addition to spoilers, some of these fantasy mechanics pose cosmic inquiries relating to time, identity, and fate… Here are my big questions about the big fantasy anime running this season.

What are humans in That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime?

Pictured: Goblins, ogres, a dwarf, and a slime

Rimuru’s empire populated by a diverse array of fantasy monsters is quickly becoming not only more populous and advanced, but also more homogenous. As new races are recruited, inevitably there comes the ceremony where Rimuru’s gives all the monsters a name and they evolve into a more advanced species that, very often, just looks like a normal human. Weird, but that’s not all...

The nearby kingdom of Dwargon is, unsurprisingly, a kingdom of dwarves, but many members of its population, such as its king Gazel, certainly don’t look like the more squat, wide individuals who have joined up with Rimiru. The majority of these “humans” are among the ruling class, so that begs the question, are they human or dwarves? Are there positions of authority indicative of their level of power? If so, does that mean once a dwarf becomes sufficiently powerful, they also evolve into humans like the monsters of Rimuru’s kingdom?

So... what are humans then?

Lizardpeople, I guess...

Many of Rimiru’s followers now have developed appearances almost indistinguishable from that of humans. If the Ogres evolved again would their horns disappear? If the lizard people evolved again, the remainder of their scales? Humans appear to be the dominant race, save for perhaps demon lords. Could that be because they’re actually a conglomerate of various races that are highly evolved and have formed tribes based on similar appearance?

We’ve seen human children, but can we be sure that they were actually born human or did they evolve their appearance because they were actually given names at a young age? Do two races that have evolved into human-seeming appearance who have a child together make a creature with a human appearance or that of monsters until they’re evolved?

I shall never forgive this crime

Was Rimiru actually sent to the past before the collective world level grew so high that all monsters evolved into a single homogenous race?

What is age in The Rising of the Shield Hero?

A literal week after she was a child

The Rising of the Shield Hero has introduced some odd video game rules into its fantasy world, but by far the strangest made its appearance in episode 3, with Raphtalia making an in media res transformation from small child to teenager in a mere week. The only explanation for this seems to be that she leveled up to 18. Naofumi didn’t seem to notice the difference outside of how Raphtalia is treated but the change is unmistakable. I can only say I have a metric ton of questions.

High level enough to drive

The smith makes an off-handed comment about beastmen being different, which implies this rule only applies to non-humans… Assuming that’s true, does that mean beast people ONLY age when they’ve leveled up? Would Raphtalia have remained a child forever if she’d never been let out of her cage to farm some monsters for experience? How about old age? If she continues to level up, is she destined to hit her 30s and 40s within the next few weeks of adventuring?

You figure he'd stop adventuring when his hairline started to recede

If that’s not the case, does that mean everyone in the kingdom has had to do some requisite adventuring to graduate from childhood? Age is just a number, so do physical changes have any influence over the mental development? Raphtalia didn’t seem to like being treated as a kid anymore and was much more forthcoming than she’d been only a week ago, but is she actually any more mature to go along with her new appearance, or is she a mental child now in the body of a legal adult?

Are the people unable to fight the waves because they purposefully stayed low level to maintain eternal youth? Will their world be destroyed by their own vanity?

What is literally anything in Grimms Notes the Animation?

Convenient

Grimm’s Notes is a sweet fantasy anime about fixing fairy tales with one of the most horrific premises I’ve ever encountered. Each fairy tale world is populated by people who carry around a book that contains the script for their entire life, every event of every day that they must follow or the the world will unravel, the violator will become a Chaos Teller, and the world will be destroyed. The main characters are born with empty books, effectively giving them free will, which they use to traverse between these story worlds to set their narratives right.

The first episode highlights the horrific nature of this premise as the first Chaos Teller they encounter is none other than Red Riding Hood who, unhappy with the prospect of being eaten by a giant wolf, began to resent the world that demanded she accept this horrific fate.

Which is… Pretty understandable.

Maybe she's in the right wanting to kill them all?

In saving the world, the group convince the girl the buck up and get eaten since the hunter is sure to cut her out, but that’s definitely not something you wanna hear. In fact, every unfortunate event in life is something you can look forward to… wait, forgive me, I meant dread. These unavoidable future prospects leak into the everyday with a horrific quote from a quarreling married couple.

Never ever argue with anyone in this world

That’s pretty awful, but let’s take a step back. Are these worlds even real? Are our heroes traveling to different locations or traversing a simulacrum constructed in humanity’s collective unconscious? Is their work fixing these worlds for the sake of their own residents or are they storytellers attempting to maintain the integrity of the tale for the sake of future generations? Is the idea that these people are just figments built upon so many retellings more or less terrifying than real people born with their entire life planned out for them?

Is a predetermined life worth living? Is a world that enforces a single narrative worth saving? Are all our decisions actually following a script and the people of those worlds simply have the benefit of seeing it in advance? They say the book of fate contains the meaning of their life, so why does that itself create an existential crisis?

I wish I had answers to these questions and, yet, I fear them. It’s possible each of these anime is aware of these questions and may, at any moment, draw back their curtain to reveal knowledge mankind was never meant to obtain. Or, perhaps, is incapable of comprehending.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it?

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

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NBA Rookie Energy Rankings: Lonzo reveals flashes; spectacular Mitchell simply will get higher

1

Final week: No. 1 Stats this week: 18.7 factors, 10.7 rebounds, four.Three assists, Three.Three steals

Man, he virtually misplaced the No. 1 spot this week … I swear. Simmons sat out the Sixers’ recreation on Saturday after which solely had 10 factors towards the Cavs on Monday. However then he needed to go and put up a 38-point, 18-rebound recreation in a win over the Wizards, aided by Washington using the hack-a-Simmons after it fell behind. The technique labored, technically, because the Wizards got here again from 24 to make it aggressive within the ultimate minutes. Simmons carried out nicely sufficient from the road, nevertheless (15-29), that you just will not possible see groups treating him like Shaq or DeAndre Jordan any time quickly. We’re nonetheless on the lookout for a obvious flaw in his recreation.

2

Final week: No. 7 Stats this week: 21.Three factors, four.Zero assists, 1.7 steals

The Jazz wanted Mitchell to step up in an injury-filled week, and boy did he reply. Mitchell shot 52 % from the sphere and made 13 of his 25 Three-pointers (52 %) in main the Jazz to a Three-Zero week. Practically as spectacular as his scoring was his skill to facilitate the offense. Given his athleticism and capturing stroke, all of us knew Mitchell was able to scoring within the NBA, however he is taken on the added playmaking skill whereas limiting his turnovers (1.7 per recreation this week). Take this cross for instance, the place he simply might have tried to power a defended shot on the rim, however as a substitute discovered a reducing Derrick Favors for an uncontested dunk: It is a nice signal for Utah, who might have gotten the steal of the draft at No. 13. Playmaking skill like Mitchell has displayed up to now week will enable Quin Snyder to confidently deploy him at each guard positions, making Mitchell an much more harmful asset.

Three

Final week: No. Three Stats this week: 15.Zero factors, Three.Zero assists, 2.Zero rebounds

Kuzma solely performed one recreation this week — he sat out the Lakers’ extra time loss to the Warriors with again spasms — however that does not do a lot to have an effect on his rating right here. Because of the return of Larry Nance Jr., Kuzma moved again to the bench after 11 consecutive begins regardless of being the group’s main scorer. The choice was met with some criticism, but it surely’s purely a defensive transfer from Luke Walton, who has improved the Lakers protection significantly from final season. Throughout Kuzma’s 11 begins, the Lakers’ defensive score ballooned from 91.2 to 103.Eight when he was on the court docket. He’ll want to enhance on that finish of the court docket, as most rookies do, if he needs to be greater than a bucket-getter off the bench.

four

Final week: No. 2 Stats this week: 11.Eight factors, 2.Three rebounds, 1.5 assists

Tatum seems to be mired within the first mini-slump of his profession, however the Celtics maintain profitable so it isn’t like he is hurting the group. Scoring comes naturally to Tatum, however as groups collect movie on him they’re beginning to acknowledge the locations he likes to get on the court docket. Now it is as much as him to make the required changes.

5

Final week: No. four Stats this week: 9.Zero factors, Eight.5 assists, Three.5 rebounds

The Lakers had two video games this week and so they could not have been extra completely different for Lonzo. He adopted up a three-point, seven-assist recreation in a nasty loss to the Kings with a 15-point, 10-assist recreation in Wednesday’s extra time loss to the Warriors. The Warriors recreation was an enormous turning level for Lonzo since, in a brief however thrilling stretch, he took over the sport along with his scoring. He went on a private Eight-Zero third-quarter run with two Three-pointers and a blow-by layup to offer the Lakers a four-point lead towards the world champs. Lonzo appeared assured with each his jump-shot and his halfcourt playmaking skill, however thus far moments like this have been few and much between for the No. 2 choose within the draft. Whereas he’ll possible proceed to be inconsistent, it is good that he is exhibiting indicators that he can rating towards elite defenses, which can open up the court docket for his passing.

6

Final week: No. 10 Stats this week: 14.7 factors, four.Zero assists, 1.7 rebounds

Smith continued his inefficient offense this week, capturing 43 % from the sphere and 29 % on Three-pointers, but it surely’s not all his fault. If he finishes the season at his present utilization fee of 29.6, it could be the third-highest all-time for a rookie — second-highest should you low cost Mark Aguirre, who solely performed in 51 video games. The best ever? Michael Jordan, with a 29.Eight % utilization fee as a rookie in 1984-85. All this to say that Smith carries a pretty big load as a rookie on a really dangerous Mavericks group, so it should take some time for him to get his percentages up.

7

Final week: No. 6 Stats this week: 14.Three factors, 7.Eight rebounds, 1.Three assists

The Bulls are dangerous. Like, actually dangerous. So it is onerous to understand how Markkanen would slot in if he have been on a aggressive group. He is nonetheless capturing the Three-ball comparatively nicely (35 % this week), however his 2-point field-goal proportion plummeted to 23.1 % (final amongst all rookies who truly play). It has been a gentle decline for Markkanen on the subject of pictures contained in the arc, which is a disgrace as a result of a part of what made him so thrilling throughout the first few weeks of the season was his skill to do extra than simply shoot 3s. Markkanen has the instruments to turn into an amazing offensive participant in the future, and hopefully enjoying for such an terrible group does not stunt his growth.

Eight

Final week: No. 5 Stats this week: 10.Zero factors, four.7 rebounds, 1.Three steals

Collins put up a dud in a blowout loss to the Raptors on Saturday, however within the group’s different two video games he was his regular, stable self. The knock on Collins popping out of school was his incapability to defend, and that is been true of his one-on-one protection (opponents rating 1.25 factors per possession towards him in isolation conditions, which suggests he will get scored on quite a bit). Nonetheless, the constructive signal for him and for the Hawks is that thus far Collins has carried out an amazing job defending the choose and roll. Along with choosing up steals himself, he is carried out job trapping the ball handler, utilizing his size and athleticism to trigger turnovers. Choose and roll protection is a necessary a part of being a contemporary NBA large man, so Atlanta have to be thrilled that Collins is already doing so nicely in that division.

9

Final week: No. 9 Stats this week: 9.Zero factors, four.Zero assists, 2.Three rebounds

To this point, Mason is enjoying just like the Kings’ greatest rookie. Coach Dave Joerger referred to as him a “stud muffin,” and this was earlier than he led the Kings’ fourth quarter comeback to beat the Warriors on Monday. Mason earned the crunch-time minutes over fellow Sacramento rookie De’Aaron Fox, and was a plus-7 down the stretch because the Kings held on for the upset. One of many essential causes Mason’s been in a position to turn into an everyday a part of the rotation is his skill to function within the halfcourt — he generates 1.252 factors per possession by both scoring or aiding within the halfcourt, in accordance with Synergy, which leads the group. He is performed as many or extra minutes as Fox over the past two video games, and you’ll count on that to proceed since Mason’s clearly earned Joerger’s belief.

10

Final week: Unranked Stats this week: 14.Zero factors, 5.5 rebounds, 1.Zero steals

Adebayo lastly acquired some enjoying time this week, scoring 19 factors in 18 minutes in a blowout loss to the Cavs after which placing up 9 factors, 5 rebounds and two steals whereas filling in as a starter for Hassan Whiteside towards the Knicks. Whiteside is predicted to be out two weeks, so we’ll get take a look at Adebayo within the center for a struggling Warmth group. He higher make the most effective of it, as a result of alternatives like this do not come usually.

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