Blog: Updates and the General On-goings at the Moment

I recently looked back at this blog to see topics I had discussed in the passed when I realised its been quite a while since I last put finger to keyboard. As is usually the case, life has a way of giving you lots of things to do so here's a quick update on the past 2 months.

IRL

Work commitments have been keeping me busy for the majority of my time as I'm getting involved in a number of side projects which have been occupying the time I would of set aside for writing this blog. These projects included guided talks, exhibition design and lectures for professional qualifications which naturally allow me to make more progress towards my goal of a curatorial / archival role within the museum and heritage sector. That being said, I can't blame it all on that otherwise I could just organise my time more effectively, but the times where I have thought to do blog writing I find myself attending a social event or being incredibly late getting home due to delays on the London transport links. To give context to such a point, last Sunday it took me 3 hours to get home whereas a normal journey would take somewhere in the region of 80-90 minutes. It doesn't stop you from writing, its just takes you out of the mindset.

A somewhat related point to this is the 'fun' of moving as I'm looking to move much closer to work to cut down on my commuting time. Organising viewings between work and getting as much information as possible takes up a surprisingly large amount of time which I haven't had to deal with in the past. This has been compounded by the fact that recently I applied for a job much further afield back in my university home of Plymouth so between moving 20 miles and 250 miles has brought another set of tasks to accomplish at the moment.

As well as this, I recently turned 26 which brought a nice mixture of nights out and time off to do nothing (more on that later). I went out on Halloween dressed up (something I very, very rarely do) and ended up getting home at like 6am which I haven't done a night of that length in quite a while but was welcome the next day by remnants of face paint and quite the hangover to contend with. Again, I could have been writing during this time but I wanted a couple days to myself which has become the topic of a post I want to write about that I have hinted at from time to time; a factor of a player dwelling in a game and how it fits in an individual / solo environment. It basically talks about “the lodge” of architectural theory being a dwelling of personal space and how much private time one can have in a space where you're accessible through multiple means at a moments glance. This may come across as introverted, but we shall see when we get there.

Gaming

The majority of my time gaming has been taken up by the recent release of Guild Wars 2's expansion, Heart of Thorns which has been an interesting time for me. It has been very different to expansions I've played in the past (WoW, Rift, ESO, etc.) due to not having a gear / level cap increase and I haven't felt like I'm in a rush to 'get to the end game content' that I would race towards, which in turn has allowed me to enjoy it a great deal under my own terms. I am going to do a proper discussion on it soon, but it has been a highly enjoyable time over the past week and a half and I look forward to what's coming next from Arena Net.

As my time for Guild Wars 2 has increased, my time in Warframe has decreased by quite a bit. I'm in an awkward space with that game because I enjoy the gameplay loop but the RNG nature of its loot system is causing my enjoyment to wane. The fact that I'm getting a load of new things in GW2 may have something to do with it but I think I may need to have some time away to truly get back into it. Its a bit like last year with GW2 where I took a couple months break and found myself enjoying it all over again. For now, my Tenno is docked with its dailies grabbed each day but not much more than that.

With the recent release of Fallout 4, I have also perked my interest for the franchise by replaying Fallout New Vegas alongside its DLC on a new luck-based character. As someone who usually 'powergames' Fallout with a high-intelligence character on energy weapons, It's been an fun experience going through with a sneak / guns build with high critical hit chance. I've also gone for a karma neutral character role-playing as someone out for personal gain which has opened me up to some new interesting quest-lines that I haven't experienced before this play-through; showcasing the recognised re-playability of these titles years after their initial release. By the time I fully finish New Vegas, I would like to start on Fallout 4, but that depends on my last point of a new PC build.

I have mentioned before how I'm looking to build a new PC as my current one is ~8 years old and definitely showing its age. As my post on low-performance gaming shows, it hasn't been all bad but I've got to the point where I would really like to play modern games on a smooth frame-rate as well as nice graphical fidelity. My PC build is coming in around £900 but I'm currently in an awkward space of “do I build now or wait until the sales?” That being said, it does ask the question “which sale?” because we have black Friday, Christmas and January sales over the horizon and I may just end up saying “f**k it!” and buying it anyway. Time will tell but as long as it stays under £1000 I think I'll be happy.

Well, that's everything regarding the last couple months in my life. Writing this up has been important for me because its a step back into the blog space which is important because I need it to be regular for someone to be interested in. A lot of this maybe words thrown into the twisting nether of the internet and its vast accessible information, but if you find these posts interesting that's what gets me to continue on. Anyway, next topic will either be the 'Player Housing from the individual' or 'Thoughts on GW2:HoT” so look out for that on Monday.

Now back to the 101 other things on the list :\

Warframe PvP: Personal Thoughts as of Update 17

PvP in Warframe for me has always been an odd thing due to its difficult upbringing.  When it was first brought up, the star-chart conclaves were something I only tried briefly and the dark sectors were something I never really tried out of confusion / not really being invested in the game mode.  The most recent standalone version with game modes of CTF and Kill Confirmed have perked my interest for PvP again, but with the recent changes in update 17 to the movement mechanics its sitting tall at my weekend’s playtime for a number of different reasons. 

PvP in Warframe is still in somewhat early stages but it has strong opening gamemodes.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

The most prevalent feeling of this playtime is one of nostalgia; a moment where I am in an arena wall hiking around the map trailing my target instantly takes me back to 10 or so years ago with one of the two titans of arena shooting being Unreal Tournament (the other of course being Quake).  For me, UT (alongside Total Annihilation) were the first PC games I played online and having the frantic nature of UT Deathmatch on a map like Deck 16 cemented my enjoyment for PC gaming and the larger spectrum of competition.  The Arena shooter became my first stop for many years of gaming, going through the entire UT series (UT, 2k3, 2k4 and 3 as of writing) with modern titles such as CoD just not fully scratching such an itch.  For me, it was never the gunplay that personified these games (be it weapons like the flak cannon being my favourite anyway) but an enthusiasm for the movement controls with particular focus on the 2k4 iteration.  Whereas in a modern title you will have a jump, crouch, sprint and maybe a slide; you could dodge into double jumps, wall hikes into somersaults, rocket jumps and other environmental based movement techniques to make your ability to remain a difficult target an extra step of the FPS mechanics we all know and enjoy.  It also gave a sense of speed as with learning such mechanics, you could greatly increase your travel speed meaning that it gave an overall feeling of speed to the gameplay that military sprinting or short-term jetpacks just don’t truly match in my opinion.  With Warframe’s new movement mechanics that follow a similar toolset of wall hikes, double jumps, leaps, rolls and bullet-time esc slides, PvP’ing gives me this feeling of having to use my movement as an extension of my in-combat play so that I am able to try and gain short-term advantages so that I can defeat the enemy.  Traversing the maps, jumping into a battle to nab a kill and then dart back out with a slither of health is something that very rarely loses its charm and I can see that my previous enthusiasm for the arena shooter could be found in not an FPS but a third-person shooter which has somewhat surprised me. 

That being said, I would be lying if I made a 1:1 comparison and I do have some issues that have cropped up during these hours of play.  Some of these are self-critical while others are at the gameplay.

Jumping away at the right time to be ready for the next skirmish.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

First of all, I have had to play a lot with my controls / mouse sensitivity because of the significant change in enemy movement type from PvE to PvP.  The overwhelmingly majority of Warframe’s PvE enemies work on the same plain as the player with a relativity slow-regular pace as the AI does make use of cover and squad like groupings whereas a player is naturally unpredictable.  Traversing the map I have noticed a small need for increased sensitivity, but when I end up in a dual-like situation with another player one is wrapped into a swirl of leaps and slides as you try to gain an advantage for a couple shots and in those situations I could probably do with upping my sensitivity by around 40%.  I do have the option to change my sensitivity on the fly, but I feel like it’s going to take a couple hours to find the right balance.  In terms of movement, I also feel that sometimes when I go to roll I’m not rolling which is getting me shot / stabbed but I have a feeling this maybe down to my aging hardware / reaction speed.

Although I performed well during matches, the last 2 or so minutes would see me knocked off my podium finish.  Screenshot taken 15/8/2015

Secondly, I feel like there is an unnecessary ‘deadzone’ time in some movement which makes the flow of gameplay feel off-balance.  To those of you who may be confused by my choice of word, I am referring to particular moments in moving; aiming with a weapon after a sliding movement and landing after a jump beyond the regular jump height.  The First of these has been a recent issue of mine since Update 17 where there’s a short-term ‘sway’ out of the slide where the camera catches up with the player so I feel this is something that may need some work on through patches, but the second is more difficult to discuss because I can see the reasoning behind it.  Having a player stagger if they don’t land a high jump properly makes sense as it encourages you to chain movement together in an appropriate manner, it’s just the smaller cases of jumping regular to a space a couple steps below your original jump point is where it feels off in comparison to the PvE gameplay I have experienced.  There have been a number of moments where I’ve thought “why” on a map such as the corpus ship tile-set where I traverse the side crates onto the lower health pickups with no problem but stagger on the nearby gradient changes. 

Thirdly, and possibly the most subjective, is the experience of comparative skills and the interplay between them.  It’s always difficult to discuss a subject like this without going too much into balance and whether “x is OP” but I will try just to give my experiences during this time.  I personally have been trying quite a few weapons and personally I’ve felt an affinity for shotgun use with a heavy sidearm and polearm but I haven’t been able to find a frame that fits the playstyle that I want to going with that.  I tried using Volt, Valkyr, Saryn, Zephyr, Chroma and Frost but I just can’t get a great feeling of “this feels like what I want”.  A skill / attack that one shots me as a Volt (with a small armour rating so you may consider that there are various attacks that do it) would also do the same to Saryn (a frame with a much higher armour rating) and I personally don’t know what to make of it.  I try to think of ‘counter-play’ but other than ‘run away’ there isn’t much I’m coming up with and that’s not the best situation in these circumstances.  Then there’s Jat Kittag, a weapon that I know is a slow, formidable weapon but in PvP has just been an aggravation for me.  In both PvE and PvP it has a powerful knockback for the surrounding enemies but with one particular experience of mine I feel it may need a bit of tweaking.  The times where I’m battling with someone and I get hit by it so be it, but when I’m mid-air and dodging away from it at a decent height from the ground I don’t feel like I should be staggered / knocked down by it.  I understand there are mods to make you immune to such affects after being knocked / staggered, but I’m not on the ground or near to the blast so I don’t think I should be affected.  I will of course play more to understand this gameplay situation, but as of now for me it’s an unenjoyable play where counters I have looked to make haven’t been viable. 

Lastly (and possibly a secondary point to all the above) having peer to peer connections is much more noticeable in this game mode than in PvE, with myself experiencing a number of situations where I’ve been killed around the corner when in terms of the connection I’m most likely still occupying the space I was before I moved into cover.  This is of course a factor of the overall game and experienced in other games that use P2P such as CoD; so in an ideal world I would love the use of dedicated servers as then I’m less likely to either a) have the above situations happen or b) blame less of my performance on a factor like lag.  For the meantime, I’m going to try to work around it and get better. 

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed my time PvP’ing in Warframe this weekend and would recommend it just to try at least.  The gameplay is fun and removes a lot of what people do find annoying about the PvE side of gameplay – farming / grinding.  If you’re someone like me and are looking for an arena shooter, this may intrigue you until the genre properly finds its way onto the main stage of gaming, but other than a few “ARGH” moments from myself it gave me a similar feeling to those older titles.  

Low-Performance PC Gaming

As I mentioned recently, my new job has open opportunities to be involved in new things and have a suitable level of disposable income.  The conventional side of my thoughts have expressed interest in things such as suitable accommodation, learning to drive or a potential holiday; but naturally the ever-present idea of a new PC build has made itself known.  It’s been 8 or so years since the last PC build (with a GFX card change and RAM stick addition) but the box’s age is definitely showing with many modern titles either not working or having very poor performance.  A title like The Witcher 3 is something I would love to be playing but with my old AMD dual-core CPU and ATI 4850HD the more likely result is a machine that gives up and explodes.  With all that being said, I would say that my time gaming on a low-performance PC has been an enjoyable experience has taught me a lot about the customisability that a platform like PC has to offer. 

To roughly break this down into three factors, I would say that they are “New games are still available”,  “Cost factors” and “Configure for performance”.

New games are still playable

The City of Novigrad in Witcher 3 looks great and I hope to play it in the future.  Image from Witcher.wikia.com accessed 13/07/2015

When you have new games like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition or Batman: Arkham Knight; it can difficult to stay positive when they all pass you buy with a Canyourunit Fail result very clearly showing your machine’s inferiority.  However, in this same time-frame we’ve also had such titles like Hotline Miami 2, This War of Mine, Shovel Knight and the wide selection of Tell-tale narrative games that continue to improve as time goes on.  These games are not without their interesting game mechanics, diverse aesthetics and narratives that look to discuss themes that aren’t always talked about in general media.  For example, This War of Mine is a game set during war time that puts you in the shoes of a civilian trying to survive the conflict; tasked with collecting supplies to sustain a small bombed settlement while dealing with the moral implications of survival in such an environment with a dark aesthetic to match. 

This War of Mine showcasing the other side of war.  Image from thiswarofmine.com accessed 13/07/2015

As well as games, game engines such as Unity have done a great of work to give developers a means to create games on a relativity slow budget and have available players from a similar column.  One of the most popular games (if one would use Twitch numbers) over the past year or so is Hearthstone which is a well-produced Unity-engine card game that even runs well on a phone; giving players an enjoyable, free to play experience that continues to create new content for people to enjoy. 

Cost factors

Hearthstone gives a great deal of enjoyable for no upfront cost and minimal performance requirements.  Image from us.battle.net accessed 13/07/2015

Continuing on from my Hearthstone example, the prevalence of free to play titles has greatly helped those on a small budget experience more games than ever before.  It is understandable that there are those who dislike the model citing games like Hearthstone, Dota2 or LoL where A player may spend over the amount of a AAA title and then some for a questionable amount of content (quantity and quality of course), but the model has seen great improvements over its short lifespan.  All the above examples, as well as Path of Exile and Warframe are free to play games I enjoy even on an old PC and with significant updates such as PoEs recent Awakening expansion (which introduced a new act, skill updates, item additions and more all for free) shows there are still great times to be had on a low spec machine.  To this day, my PC and its part replacements have cost a total of ~£300 and its current lifespan of ~8 years puts a rough annual cost of £37.50 which is on par with a console. 

Configure for performance

config files and registry tinkering allows for games old and new to run tailored to your needs.  Screenshot taken 13/07/2015

This I believe is the most prevalent factor in my time on a low-performance PC as it has allowed me to learn more about the finer details when it comes to playing games.  To many, configuring .ini files is extremely easy but if like me you never had to use them and stick with an in-game options menu it may seem like a daunting task to accomplish.  Over these past few years, I do take time to configure and tailor a game to my liking so that I get the right balance of performance (frame rate of at least 30 stable) and graphical quality which has meant that a game like Guild Wars 2 where I didn’t feel confident pvp’ing due to performance drops is now suitable for me as competitive game modes naturally need smoothness in performance.  This factor in my gaming life revolves around one particular example that I would like to discuss now:

The natural mod-ability of a game like Skyrim helped me play it when it seemed unlikely.  Screenshot accessed 13/07/2015

In November 2011, I was sitting in my bedroom at university late one night when Steam popped up saying that “The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim was now available”.  At this time, I was using my laptop (the one I’m typing with now which overheats and its PSU is held with tape) and was well aware that it wouldn't do well with such a title, but reflectively clicked purchased anyway and awaited its download.  Upon entering the initial scene in the cart, I noticed a terrible frame rate of around 10 as well as input lag which quickly got me demoralised with the prospect I wouldn’t be able to play it for over a month until I had access to my PC (the one that was still kind of old at the time but not as bad as today).  At this point, it was 1 am and I decided that “no, I’m going to see what I can do with this” and trawled the internet for some solutions.  With the help of some forums and the PCgamingwiki page on Skyrim, I spent the next couple hour’s fine tuning my settings and testing that initial scene to see what performance I could grasp at with the modification of effects such as shadows and LOD; eventually finding a mod that looked to reduced graphical quality below the in-game minimal parameter.  By 3am, I had done my testing and now I was sitting at around 28fps which was as far as I could feasibly go without breaking things and found myself engrossed in a world right through to 10am when I decided it was time to go get breakfast.  Yes, I could have just waited until the Christmas holiday period and enjoy this game without all the hassle, but due to my perseverance /stubbornness to play this game, I was able to enjoy Skyrim in that initial period of exploration when something new is available and we’re all trying to figure out what’s over the next hilltop. 

So that’s what gaming on a rather old PC means to me.  Of course there are games that I would love to play now that aren’t available to me, but with the great selection on offer I don’t feel like I’m missing out or that I’m a second-class citizen.  When I do end up getting a new PC, I will of course love having the great looking graphics, quick load times and the likes but I know that if I’m not able to upgrade again for a while I can keep enjoying this medium of gaming and the experiences it provides. 

P.S. pcgamingwiki.com has been very useful over the last couple years.

Lion’s Arch Rebuilt, Guild Wars 2

Last month, I discussed my thoughts on the redevelopment of Lion’s Arch as it stood in an awkward state of ruins and fortifications awaiting a shiny new look via the in-game organisation called “The Consortium”.  One month on and we able to see how those pieces of scaffolding and concept drawings have to come to life alongside a significant change to gameplay via the implementation of the specialisation system and build creator.  As a quick note, I very much like this system (even if I was a little confused at first) and have been trying out some builds I haven’t touched in quite some time. 

The Asuran Gateways have a new plaza for players to look and interact with.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

Anyway, onto talking about the rebuild.

The harbor features a large sculpture of a lobster/ shellfish much like other important landmarks in LA.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015 

Lion’s Arch new look is something that holds a great deal of aesthetical beauty and strength while maintaining its impression as a maritime-focused settlement.  It has a collection of aquatic-themed sculptures defining each section of the city such as trade skills, banks and harbour that use a combination of polished white stone and jade-like glass with minor details adorned with gems e.g. the squid’s eyes by the banker across from the mystic forge.  The residents have a nice mixture of timber framed lodges and stone-clad houses which fit nicely into the maritime feeling in particular with some of the timber buildings being built from a ship’s hull (or at least designed to look like it was).  The fortress gives the impression of a formidable position as it continues the stone masonry creating high walls punctuated by a collection of canons finished in metal and gold that tie into the Lion’s Guard regalia which gives credence to one NPC’s line saying that “Lion’s Arch is the safest place to be these days”.  Outside of this, a tall lighthouse sits on the edge of the city as its bold rays of light circle around its central point giving the people of LA a means to help those looking to dock and be more aware than ever when a threat is upon them.  Overall, it is a significant increase in size and bulk that is somewhat different to how I believe it would work out. 

A combination of wood and stone give LA a particular feeling.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

LA being this ‘pirate state’ originally fit into its aesthetic with a selection of shacks, wooden structures and makeshift architecture from boats alongside a bazaar-like trade district.  This is why in my earlier post, I wished for a North-African souk/bazaar feeling as I feel it would instil a feeling of business and life into the area.  That’s not to say that the current trade district doesn’t have the potential to be loud under its glass sea-life canopy, I just hope that place gets to be a bit chaotic from time to time; with NPCs peddling their goods and players running around achieving their goals for the day.  This follows into my thoughts about the landscape of the main areas in LA which feature an ordered array of houses and offices against a white stone formation.  This place to me feels like it’s been ‘colonized’ akin to the British Empire days where places like the West Indies would have their ports and architecture heavily influenced by their ruler’s design.  Although at first I was on the fence about the look, I feel that it does make sense when one considers the story, as LA has become a place that has seen its fair share of conflict and an external organisation (Consortium) has paid for its reconstruction.  So, by welcoming our new overlords, I’d like to talk about what I enjoy about the new LA. 

The spaces feel properly landscaped making open spaces feel relevant against the urban feel.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

Lion’s Arch is a lovely piece of landscaping which looks to create a good mix of tall structures, residential blocks, green spaces and artistic sculptures that all fit into the overall aesthetic.  It does a great job of bringing together an urban environment within a rural setting which the racial cities haven’t really experimented with to this degree.  I believe it’s something that is very much similar when we look at the development of town planning in the 20^th century with Garden Cities and New Towns. 

The Garden City and its concept of urban living in a rural environment.  Image from http://www.morrissociety.org/ accessed 29/6/2015

Ebenezer Howard’s vision for a Garden city was created towards the end of the Victorian age where the desire for industrialisation was closely followed by the increase of designated parkland and green-spaces as concepts like ‘jogging for pleasure / fitness’ started to become more apparent.  The idea of having factories fitting into a backdrop of rolling fields and wooded areas was commonly seen in concept work, finding its way into a couple real world examples with Letchworth and Welwyn in the late 1800s / early 1900s in England.  Garden Cities found a new lease of life after the Second World War due to the creation of New Towns with my home town, Harlow, being developed from 1947 onwards.  The ability for services, shops, residential blocks and communal spaces of an urban design being wrapped in a mixture of green verges, fields and forests is something I’ve greatly appreciated during my time living in this environment.  The fact that I can sit in the town centre and see 2 wooded areas, rolling hills and horses trotting around a field is something I’ve rarely experience elsewhere when it comes to a town and / or city.  Taking some time to review the new specialisation system made me have a similar feeling sitting on a landscaped piece of grass with a tall urban city present around me. 

(Right) Harlow Town centre (Left) green hills and woods.  Image from Google maps c.October 2014.  Image accessed 29/6/2015

Overall, I would say I’m happy with the design of the new Lion’s Arch.  It fits into the new identity of the city and it’s created some nice new vistas (visually not mechanically) which make for some lovely screenshots.  That being said, I still would like to see a bit more NPC life being brought into the place which potentially could be solved with some living world updates or short-term celebrations being held in LA. 

A spot to watch the world go past while I figure out my new engineer build.  Screenshot taken 28/6/2015

As a rough end-point, I’d say the patch is pretty cool and the Karka exterminate collection has created a nice incentive for people to explore the new city while gaining a very useful item in return.  If you’ve played GW2 in the past, it’s a pretty cool time to return.  

Archiving and Video Games: Thoughts on Preservation

The topic of video game archiving has become a recent piece for discussion due to unfortunate events surrounding PT and the attempts to remove it from existence.  With many games moving to a digital-only platform or having servers running integral parts of an experience, it is only understandable that people would discuss how such items are being kept in archive for the purpose of maintaining this medium’s history.  Being someone who has worked in the museum space for the last couple years as well as academic research during my uni education, this is naturally a subject I feel strongly about.  We can travel to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa alongside an array of sculptures and other art pieces, but where can we go to experience the original Pong?  Places like the National Video Game Arcade in Nottingham are working towards this but we’re still in our relative infancy. 

What I would like to talk about today is my experience within the museum world to give a rough assessment of the process of archiving and the unique factors that video games have.  I would treat this as an overview and encourage readers to look more into the subject as there are people who have been involved in this area for a lot longer than me.  As well as this, I do work in a relativity small archive (around 30,000 items) so larger organisations will have different practices. 

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about archiving:

Process

An object is brought to the museum for the purpose of donation.  This could be from lots of different people such as members of the public, local business, local council, etc.  A conversation is brought up about its relevance to local history to which if it feels suitable a formal contract is signed setting out a number of pointers: a) the object is to be kept on site for the purpose of the museum (information, education, entertainment) b) the object may feature within a collection that maybe shared with another museum c) the owner can reserve the right to access of the object if necessary.  Once this has been done, the object is then reviewed by an archivist who looks to identify, mark and tag the object while adding a physical and electronic data mark into the museum’s archive.  This is also known as ‘Accessioning’.  Once the object has been accessioned, the object is then stored in a suitable location depending on things such as material (metals and cloths being such items that need particular environments) where it is kept until it is requested again. 

Usage

Items within the museum can be used in a number of different ways such as:
*Internal exhibitions on a particular subject
*External exhibitions where another organisation would like to use a selection of items for their exhibition.  This can be done as either individual items to improve an already existing exhibition or as a whole collection much like a ‘tour’
*Information requests where a person (or persons) request to view an object for the purpose of information.  Examples of this can be researchers reviewing accounts of an event, architects looking over building plans or an enthusiast piecing together a story. 

Much like the initial accessioning, this process requires that the object is cared for and that all forms of data (physical / electronic) are updated to reflect its current state. 

Accessibility

Getting back to the point of video games, accessibility is of course an issue that surrounds a wide array of items kept in museums.  Having a piece of history on an old format that requires an old system for it to work naturally has its issues when it comes to accessing it.  I have recently been working with VHS and Betamax tapes in which half the struggle is finding ways to play it properly.  There are of course ways to convert these items to CD / digital formats, but having access to those means can sometimes be tricky.  Now consider a piece of digital media with an internal server to run some of the processes and you can quickly see how accessibility in this state may only be possible in a fairly rare occasion.  The thing is thou, it would potentially take a lot of work and be accessible to a couple sites in the world, but then we into the subject of ‘legal accessibility’.

When I say ‘legal’ I don’t mean the question of whether it is legal to do such a thing, but the subject of going through the above processes with an organisation like Konami (the holders of PT).  With my initial example, the holder is aware that said item in the hands of the museum becomes the ownership of a) the museum and b) the town in which it resides (in my case).  This object is not for profit, but for the subject of historical preservation, knowledge and explanation for as long as it resides within the museum.  When you have an organisation that has attempted to remove all accounts of this title from history, presenting it for archiving for the purpose of accessibility and knowledge naturally conflicts with their approach. 

There is also the subject of cost.  Many museums are run by charities and funded thanks to the work of project investors such as the Heritage Lottery Fund (in the UK at least) so for an archive to have the funds to go to Konami and ‘purchase’ the ability to archive PT for the accessibility of future generations seems like a difficult situation. 

In an age where nothing truly dies due to the internet, we are dealing with a genuine issue surrounding the preservation of video game history for generations to come.  The question of “will I be able to play PT in 50 years” is an important one as other forms of media like audio recordings, film, art and the likes have found their place in the museums throughout our world.  Personally, I don’t feel it’s a subject of potential, but time as video games continue to become a significant piece of culture and gain a word on the international stage of preservation.  If I was to suggest something, it would be the creation of video game archiving board that look to preserve our history much like the RIBA or National Trust for Architecture or Horticulture; finding ways to keep the skills alive and relevant for years to come. 

If you are interested in this subject, I would recommend having a look at the Nottingham game arcade or the recent video game Hall of Fame as they discuss relativity recent developments and hold a great deal more experience than I do.  Regardless, I hope you found this interesting.

End note: visit your local museum! They’re great and you might just find out something about your past while you’re there = )

Thoughts on Rebuilding Lion’s Arch, Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 over the past couple weeks to the point where I’ve got into the mentality of pre-expansion clear-up.  This generally means finishing up on little things you want to clear (gear, certain achievements, living story) before you’re hit with a large amount of content.  Because of this, I haven’t really been that engaged with Tyria recently, but a recent change to the city of Lion’s Arch perked my interest enough to talk about it. 

The lighthouse has seen its fair share of damage over the past couple years.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

Lion’s Arch has seen its fair share of damage over the 2-3 years of playtime with its most significant attack coming at the end of season one of the Living World.  It’s been left somewhat scattered and broken for over a year now and there has been a decent discussion about whether it should be rebuilt; with some believing it would undermine the factor of destruction and the toll it took on those who chose to defend the city.  Regardless, there has been some stirrings in Lion’s Arch recently and the Consortium (a corporation involved in Southsun Cove and the Fractals of the Mist) have footed the bill to rebuild the city and reignite some prestige into it.  It’s an interesting story with the potential for it to backfire but for now I want to look at what they’re doing from an architectural point of view. 

Construction slowly starts above the WvW portals.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

On the surface, one could say that there isn’t a great deal to look at when it comes to the current level of construction.  There are a great deal of scaffolding up with a wooden frame against a metal mesh and masonry that are focused in at 2-3 sites around the city.  These sites are quite tall, using airships to move in large curved formations giving the impression of a large rounded tower to be built overlooking the current Asuran portal gates to the major cities of each race.  Reading the blog post, one sees why these structures are being put into place as follows:

“The plan of the city leaders is not to attempt to fully restore the landmark as it once was, but rather to implement an enhanced design that will more realistically serve the Tyria of today. In light of the lessons learned from the Scarlet Briar and her massive airship drill, the Breachmaker, the city will be a more fortified city, with a design intended to protect citizen and visitor alike.”

The airship brings in a large piece of wall for the construction of a tower-like building.  Screenshot taken 23/5/2015

A tower of such height of course gives the city the ability to see threats from afar and the structures being curved diminish the potential weak spots of a square or flat frontage building.  That being said, having tall, imposing structures give the potential for them to impose onto the city itself disrupting the original feel of Lion’s Arch in Guild Wars 2 being this pirate run city and not a capital with a standing army.  The events of the Living Story may have changed this, but I still think it’s important to make sure these potential structures don’t stand out beyond the rest (A bit like Brutalism and how some structures are considered concrete monstrosities). 

Artist impression of what the new Lion's Arch could look like.  From https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/lions-arch-construction-nears-completion-new-player-poll-announced/ accessed 23/5/2015

Looking at the blog, they did show a couple impressions of what could be going on in Lion’s Arch but I don’t really feel connected with them for a couple reasons.  First of all, I’m not too sure where this picture would fit into Lion’s Arch at the moment.  I think I would need a couple perspective / axonometric shots to truly come to terms with what they’re looking to do.  Second of all, I don’t feel a sense of centralisation which is a bit harder to pin-point when it could it said that Lion’s wasn’t centralised in the past.  What I’m looking for with this rebuild is a means of people to connect through either a route or an action; like the forge square previously where people would pass through to access their bank, TP or crafting professions while also being a route for people to go beyond the city into the world.  Because of the setting, aesthetics and previous interactions with other organisations in the world of Tyria, I do feel there’s a way to do this well through the creation of a bazaar or market-like square akin to the Mediterranean / North African settlements that trade from its docks to its markets. 

Souk of Marrakech.  Image from http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ accessed 25/5/2015

Places like the Souk in Marrakech are a melting point of culture, art, food trade and social interactions that creates its own mini-settlement for all to enjoy.  The basis of the land may be calm, but the stalls are awash with colour across the spectrum to delight the eye and inspire the mind.  The act of trading is not just a matter of transaction, but a social event through introductions, haggling and the purchase which sums up the level of interactions one experiences in such a place.  This is what I would love to see come into the more pedestrian areas of Lion’s Arch; creating an environment that gets people to interact with from a sociable point of view as well as movement.  The city is kinda half way there when it comes to the current mystic forge spot, but I feel that if Lion’s Arch is going to have a remake I’d love to see an injection of mercantile chaos into this fray.  Whether players would warm to such an idea is of course something that is unknown before implementation, but much like my previous post on player housing, we can create architecture through more than just bricks and mortar. 

The pirate council of Lion’s arch have given the city a great sense of character to me coming to Guild Wars 2 as someone not involved with the series previously.  Its reconstruction led by the consortium showcases a great deal of potential for the city; I just hope that the character from its pirate / mercantile backgrounds shines through against the fortifications in progress. 

Time of course will tell.

Returning to Path of Exile: Hardcore League, Knowledge and Architecture

So my last couple weeks have been a bit all over the place….

I originally planned to continue my Building in Starbound mini-series but I’ve come up against a couple things that I feel are important.  First of all, I don’t have that many resources available to me, especially with the recent update I’ve had to get back to my Homebase to work from my foundations.  It’s been a bit all over the place so I felt that I couldn’t really do something to the quality I was looking for with it.  I did look into using my older Terraria save, but there are a couple functions that I much prefer in Starbound such as augmenting existing blocks into something else e.g. glass block with frame for a window. 

There has also been the factor of some things I’ve found quite interesting recently and of course it’s much easier to write about something you’re enjoying rather than half-arsing it.  I do want to return to it in the future but I think I should spend some time re-educating myself about the practice of drawing building features before trying to replicate it in a virtual world.  In the mean-time, I have topics outline for the next couple weeks so should get back on schedule quickly. 

Without further to do, let’s talk about Path of Exile….

My first character from PoE.  Rather under-powered in comparison to my current play-through.  Screenshot taken 17/5/2015

I originally played PoE early 2013 coming off of playing Torchlight and getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.  ARPG’s had never been a genre I had played in the past, but by this point it was becoming a genre I could see myself playing for years to come.  I played a Templar which is a character that can naturally fit between the physical strength and magical caster to which I took a tanky ‘sword and board’ approach with elemental melee attacks.  I got a lot of enjoyment out of it, but it lost my interest in the later levels as it started to take a decent amount of time to clear mobs and I kinda wasn’t as tanky as I once thought.  Since then, I have become more aware of the game’s mechanics and with the announcement of the expansion the game has perked my interest once again.  This time however, I wanted to take a different approach. 

My current Templar with much higher dps while still keeping similar hp.  Screenshot taken 17/5/2015

I watched videos on the game from YouTubers such as ZiggyD, trawled the wiki and used the PoEBuilder to see how one can tailor a character and after playing through a couple new characters in ‘softcore’ I decided to go for it and make a character in the ongoing (or previous depending when you read this) Hardcore 1 month league.  I made a Templar again, but this time I looked to use projectile magic with buffs and totem summon with a nice mixture of stats for both defence and offense.  I was aware of the resistance reduction during the difficulties so planned accordingly, focused strongly on a core set of skills rather than lots of different ones and built regeneration to make sure that I wouldn’t be held back too often in terms of efficiency.  At the time of writing this, I’m half way into act 2 on Cruel difficulty and although I’ve had a couple close calls (~5% hp or less) I’m still holding on.  To the well versed PoE player, this isn’t anything special, but for me this means a lot as it took something to want to play in a mode where everything’s on the line.  Being cautious in the hardcore league has made my take on certain situations a bit slower, but as a by-product of this I have been able to take in the surroundings and see how much is going on as you traverse the landscape.  One such place was the Lunaris Temple with particular mention of level 3. 

Gold detail, smooth decor and sewers of blood throughout the lower Lunaris Temple.  Screenshot taken 17/5/2015

Lunaris is a place of contrast at heart within the bleakness of Wraeclast.  With grand walkways and golden motifs wrapped in quality cloths accenting the bold colours it gives the impression of a once powerful empire holding residence.  As you descend thou, you see Piety’s work (the boss of this location) created from a swarm of bodies and the blood runs dark red throughout its sewer system that perfectly back-up the array of miscreated beings that look to attack you as you progress through the area.  The gold and cloth are still there, it’s just being saturated by the blood creating a contrast that makes a piece of architecture seem so bleak and disgraceful have its own beauty.  This contrast is a narrative of architecture that has taken the building materials, the cladding and the décor and made something new of it.  Darkness, grit and grey can seem boring in many games but in the right hands (like with architecture) so much can still be done with its aesthetic.

Finer things in life within the Lunaris Temple.  Screenshot taken 17/5/2015

Being someone who finds Brutalism a fascinating time of architectural design, I very much hold this opinion that this bleakness can inspire and morph into something special.  Brutalism is often regarded as concrete monstrosities due to their concrete construction and greyish look, but through human interaction it has its own appeal.  Places like the Barbican Centre in London encapsulate this by being grey and concrete while adding different levels of high-rise, gardens, water and larger form walkways than your average tower block. 

Barbican Centre, London.  Photograph taken 14/02/2010

That being said, I wanted to find a piece of real-world architecture that encapsulates the Lunaris level 3 map and I feel that this does it…

A bone chandelier at the Sedlec Ossuary.  Image from Wikipedia 18/5/2015

The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic is a piece of architecture that makes bleakness and morbidity beautiful as it creates art through its bone collection.  Its chandelier, candelabra’s fixtures and various other items are all made from bones of the dead to around 40,000 remains (if Wikipedia is to be believed, unfortunately I’m not sure on the number myself I thought it was closer to 20,000).  On the surface, this place may seem outrageous or morbid, but its architecture has gone beyond its walls and created a narrative from it, much like Lunaris.  It’s in the nature of the ARPG to focus on the mob pulls and skill affects, but if you find yourself running through PoE anytime soon, take a second to look at the environment and think about what it portrays about what you’re doing and where you may be going.  I hope you found this interesting and good luck to those who choose to take the jump into a hardcore mode for the first time.

Let’s hope my Templar stays alive up to the end of Cruel at least.  -60% resistances is gonna be a bit of a bastard to deal with….

Retrospective RTS: Warzone 2100

So another week has passed and I have found myself without a time period to play Starbound for the purpose of this blog.  For you see, I usually look do organise content for this blog over the weekend ready for Monday, but this weekend I found myself blindsided by a hangover from not a great deal of beer which probably shows how long it’s been since I've ‘properly’ drank.  Just like with anything, it’s all good then one time it’s just awful =/.

Anyway, enough about that because I would like to talk about something I have been doing this past week and that’s playing the campaign of an old RTS game called Warzone 2100. 

RTS games have always been a staple of my gaming interests with titles such as Warcraft, Command and Conquer and Total Annihilation.  When I only had a PSX thou, there were only a few titles I could play outside of going to a friend’s house to use their PC but I battled through the awkward controls to find some great titles.  It was on that old PSX I first encountered Command and Conquer as well as its follow-up Red Alert, but one month there was a demo in the Official PlayStation Magazine for a little game called Warzone 2100 that kept me playing way beyond its perceived time-length.  Warzone 2100 was special to me because of what it did.  It had this expansive tech tree I had only previously encountered in a game like Civilisation and a highly customisable set of tanks using a relativity simple body/propulsion/turret manufacturing tool giving me the ability to make lots of different kinds of vehicles of offensive and defensive properties.  Around this time in my life, I had a large number of constructional toys like K’nex and Lego in which I would make custom objects like cars and bipedal robots so it’s natural to see how I could be enthralled by a system such as this. 

Warzone 2100 features a mix of vehicles, cyborgs, VTOL and Hovercrafts alongside a whole host of structures.  Screenshot taken 13/4/2015

Warzone 2100 originally came out in 1999/2000 depending on where you lived, but for me it wasn't until a couple years later when I had a PC to use myself and a good friend who let me borrow it over a period of a couple weeks.  This was a great time for me, because I got to see how far the customisation went and experienced things like VTOL crafts and cyborg manufacturing plants filling my mind with even more possibilities.  I would play skirmishes just to build lots of different kinds of vehicles and compare them to each other not really thinking about the AI or what affect my decisions made on the battlefield.  RTS’s like Command and Conquer were always great, but Warzone 2100 just had this unique selling point (to the best of my knowledge) where I feel the only thing that gets close is the wide range of units a game like Total Annihilation has (and continues to create via community support).  That being said, after my two weeks of playing I had greatly enjoyed my time doing this one thing but it would be many years until I saw this game again. 

The start of Alpha mission 1 starts the player on a small map where they progress throughout the initial campaign.  screenshot taken 5/5/2015

I originally found out about the wz2100 project during my time at university in the year 2009.  I had been discussing old games with a housemate and I could not for the life of me remember the name of this game.  I knew of its customisable tanks and nuclear war scenario but the name had completely eluded me.  Out of some sheer determination (or luck) I found out what it was from random YouTube video watching and quickly found out that it was still being updated as an open source program.  Since this day, I have played it ever so often (a bit like DK2 in reference to this post) but only recently have I actually played the campaign which has allowed me to have a new appreciation for this title. 

A couple missions later, the base has grow from your own construction and the map has greatly increased.  Screenshot taken 5/5/2015

In your typical RTS campaign, you will have a mission that features a map and you carry out the objectives in an appropriate manner to reach the end goal.  After doing this, you will most likely move onto a new map with new objectives and only have a rare chance to return to the previous map (e.g. early CnC Red Alert Allies missions).  What Warzone 2100 does is that during each of its main campaigns, it has a core map which gets built upon with the addition of ‘away missions’ to bring in a new map ever so often.  The core map keeps all your buildings, units and defensive structures where they were even in away missions where your base continues to manufacture vehicles, generate resources and gather research.  When you start the campaign you have a relativity small map of a few valleys and a single clear movement path, but by the 9th mission the map is around 4 times bigger where you've built multiple outposts across the zone signalling past victories.  It also keeps these earlier sections relevant, as in later missions the enemy retaliates with unit drops across the map requiring the player to bolster their previous defenses or position units accordingly. 

The manufacturing features a 3 point design with many different combinations.  Screenshot taken 5/5/2015

The away missions create an interesting twist on the ‘no base’ mission type with the addition of a transport that can carry up to 10 units every couple minutes to the away mission spot.  Add on top of this the continuation of production while away and you can (in a simple format in comparison to modern titles such as Planetary Annihilation) management 2 maps at the same time which I find thoroughly enjoyable.  In these missions, you don’t just grab a load of turreted vehicles, but mix in a building truck, commander node or repair tool to give your LZ a defensible position and increase your map awareness with sensory towers.  I've never been too keen on ‘no base’ missions in titles like CnC, but this feels great for the setting because it keeps that link of my available resources while still requiring me to make decisions regarding my troop movement. 

Starting off in a away mission, the LZ is being protected while the units scour the nearby landscape.  Screenshot taken 5/52015

So, in a rough assessment that’s what my previous week has come up with.  Warzone 2100 will always hold a positive memory for me and going back to playing it again recently has showed me how much a game such as this still has to offer to the player.  Of course, the great work of the wz2100 project has allowed this game to continue working with updates but I hope that in the future we can see a modern interpretation of this game.  Maybe we already have in some light (I kinda gave reference to Planetary Annihilation earlier) which if you know of please comment, but I just don’t feel I've all its components come together quite like it.  

On the subject of Humane Design: Warframe and False Profit

Over the past 2 weeks, one of the YouTube channels I watch (Extra Credits) have done videos (#1 #2) on the subject of humane design and the subject of natural exits points when discussing games.  I was originally looking to continue my section building in Starbound (which is coming along nicely) but a couple events came up in games recently that got me thinking about this concept from my own personal viewpoint. 

So anyway, what is humane design in video games?  Humane design looks to take into consideration the player as a person and as such treat them in an appropriate manner without the use of tactics that inflate a play session beyond its intended purpose.  Much like ergonomics / anthropometrics building tools and environments for the benefit of the user, games should follow a similar concept where the user isn’t performing tasks that long have lost their appeal.  Methods such as the Skinner box have been an ongoing tool used in games to inflate game length in genres such as MMOs, multiplayer shooters and free to play games with progression, but I feel that this subject takes the concept in a different direction. 

I have play MMOs for the past 10 years or so and during that time I’ve experienced times where I’ve kept playing a game for the sake of an achievement, reputation or similar grind that would not constitute humane design as the ‘exit points’ (a place where we can naturally finish a play session) were few and far between.  I can remember grinding Timbermaw reputation in WoW for a couple weeks exclusively for a single trinket that I used which on reflection I didn’t really get that much use out of due to better gear being on the horizons.  My time to stop playing during these sessions were only stopped by either being too tired and needing sleep or having other commitments like education taking priority.  On the other side thou, there was a time during vanilla WoW where I was heavily into pvp when the rank system was in place.  To stay competitive, this required a similar level of dedication with marginal increases over a 6+month period so my personal goal of ranking up superseded the natural exit point of a battlegrounds map finishing.  This I feel is kind of a grey area that I consider with my playtime even to this day because it requires us to consider many different viewpoints and perspectives into why we play and what we’re looking to get out of it. 

This brings us onto Warframe and its recent event called “Operation False Profit” that tasks the player (known as Tenno) to do a series of raids on portable cash robots (Bursas, a augmented Moa) to achieve points and receive rewards at certain amounts.  As the player achieves a higher mission score, the next Bursa’s become more powerful adding to the difficulty of the event.  This event for me has been a mixture of frustration and consideration as I’ve had to deal with a number of different bugs and not being aware of the mechanics at hand.  Going into the event blind, I wasn’t sure how to spawn the Bursa (of which one of 3 different models can spawn) and when I did get it to spawn it was stuck in a ‘out of range’ mode that didn’t budge whatever I attempted to do.  When I did get it to work, achieving a mission score of 100 out of the required 1500 for the full set of prizes filled me with apathy towards the event as I didn’t want to waste my time over the next 5 days for a little reward akin to my earlier rep farming days in WoW.  However, once I had done some reading into the mechanics, I quickly understood the event and quickly proceeded towards a score of ~850 after an hours gameplay feeling happy with the increased enemy level to the point where I was facing a level 92 Bursa doing laps around a shipping crate to avoid its power attacks. 

The Denial Bursa feels the most challenging with its laser walls, blinds and missile barrages.  Screenshot taken from the Codex 26/4/2015

After finishing this event, I got to thinking about a couple different questions that I would like to answer:

• ·         Did this event present me with natural exit points?  Yes it did because of the scores corresponding to different levels of rewards present a spot to say “I’ve got a score of 1000 now I’ll finish that up later / tomorrow”. 

• ·         Did this event present me with a humane design skill progression?  This sounds a bit odd as I’ve adapted the discussion to fit this question, but a topic that comes up often in games is the subject of difficulty.  Often, games will increase the health, damage, resistances, etc of an enemy to present a difficult challenge but this presents a somewhat simple way of approaching the issue.  To allow the challenge to come in the place of augmented abilities, behaviour patterns or counter plays (something that games like Dota, LoL and Smite do well) gives the user the chance to think more about the decisions they make rather than brute forcing the challenge.  This event did look to start off well with different kinds of Bursa’s but it fell short not adding these concepts into the design. 

• ·         Did this event respect the time investment of the player participating?  This is a subject where we can look at either the journey (playing the event) or the destination (rewards) but for me I’d like to focus on the journey.  This is a difficult thing to discuss because there is a certain achievement to finishing a long event vs. a short one and if one looks to shorten an event it may be seen as a move to ‘cater to casual audiences’ or ‘make it easier’.  I don’t believe that these two things go hand in hand and as such I believe there are ways to condense this event down while keeping a level of challenge similar to this original event.  Here is what I feel would be an alternative means of presenting this event: 

1) give corpus planets (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto) an associated event mission so that the player feels a natural progression from the planet as well as the event score itself.  By doing this, you could cut the score from ~15 runs to ~ 5 runs.
2) add multiple stages to these missions that look to use the environment alongside the Bursa to increase difficulty beyond enemy level e.g. using line of sight via doors / objects against skills such as the blind attack so that the bursa can’t flee
3) once the player has achieved the final mission on Pluto, present a ‘ongoing’ mission so that players can continue to compete for a high-score

Warframe does remind the player to take breaks.  Screenshot taken and cropped 26/4/2015

Being someone who has been playing games for their entire life, it’s been interesting having this outlook over the past couple days.  I feel it’s something that I’ve always been aware of (the ongoing ‘hours played’ markers on steam and /played in some games are quick to remind me) but never looked to consider my thoughts behind it.  Having someone discuss it makes you think and this event got me thinking where I sit on the discussion.  If you were to take something from this post, I’d say that it’s not the subject of shortening game-time without consequence but more on crafting experiences that feel less about filling in-between the great stuff.  Whatever the case, I feel that there’s going to be some interesting shifts over the next couple years as this becomes a higher priority with a medium that more and more people are taking up as a hobby or passion.