I've got my hands full. A moment ago, I had a gift card. Now I have a reading list.
A website dedicate to games of all favors and varieties, from video games to good old D&D.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
To Traveller or Not to Traveller
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Go Nuts!
Well, it's one of those days. Explosive creativity with little or no focus. In my last post, I shared the images I used to highlight my series posts. Not only did that involve Inkscape, it required Bluefish for html editing. I just need 5 more and I'll be done. I can do that another time. Can't stop now to finish something.
I ran to the store for stuff for dinner. Before I left, I painted a panel of wood for a photographic background for my model series.
When I got home, the background was dry. So, I took some photos using a single lamp. It's not how I will do it when I launch this series, but I wanted quick results. No need to get all fancy with tiny details like using the correct lighting.I edited the photos down to web sized chunks. (For my own future sanity, I cropped each 2520 x 1800 then halved the resolution so they be 1260 by 900.)
I took pictures of 3 unpainted ships and decided I needed some color.
Well, that wasn't good enough. So I photographed an X-Wing toy.
But that wasn't my paint job. I haven't painted figures in years. Since I had the paint out, I slapped some on a few mechs. Little details mostly, because I can't focus for more than a few minutes.
Not bad. I need some sort of vinyl cutter so I can do something with these. Because records are vinyl and these are images of records.
Yup. It all makes perfect sense.
I decided to add in a mix of water chestnuts, onions, celery and carrots. Sure, I'd have to go back to the store, but why not? I love that stuff.
I had the cutting board out, I decided to treat myself with riced cauliflower. Since I was playing safe with the dog, riced cauliflower is better for me than rice. I chopped it all by hand. Riced cauliflower is great because I can't eat rice. I'm diabetic.
Oh, shhhhiii.... I forgot one thing today. I didn't check my blood sugar after lunch. Hmm.
Yeah... the little details.
This is what I was fighting last year about this time. Nice to know things don't change.
New Logos
Many years ago, I decided every post needed some artwork. It's more interesting that way. The other day, I decided that all series need a logo. I have only three built, but here they are.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Post 1000ish: Review of Myst
Publisher: Broderbund
Developers: Cyan, Inc.
Author: Rand and Robyn Miller
Year: 1993
OS: Macintosh
I lucked out in having a computer or two since 1980. I purchased a Timex Sinclair with the 8k extended memory for the outrageous price of $126.00. It was so expensive at the time, that I financed it and made 12 payments of $12.25 @16.6% interest! Not bad for a kid financed entirely shoveling snow and mowing lawns. I needed Mom's help. I gave her $12.25 in cash every month, and she wrote a check for me.
With everything going into the basic cost of the computer, I had to beg my parents to buy me software. A lot of times, I had to settle for going to the library for books on programming and a blank tape for storage. In 1981, the film War Games sparked my imagination as to what computers could be.
A little over a decade later, I discovered a game that embraced both limitations and imagination to amazing effect.
Myst.
You're the protagonist in a story that isn't told but shown. The limits of the then modern-day Macintosh allowed for spectacular images, but only just an image. One at a time. Plus a bit of sound. To do this, the Rand Brothers tweaked the hell out of their hardware and software, even stripping down the color palettes to capitalize on the Mac's meager specs. Better than everything else on the market but still limited to a handful of hertz and less than a half dozen megs of RAM.
Gorgeous images told the story of a family shattered by envy, power, and pride. Using the linking books, you search for the pages that will restore Sirrus, Achenar, and Atrus, whoever they might be. Catherine, the wife of Atrus and the mother of Achenar and Sirrus appears only via a note. You have no idea what is happening and what needs to be done. Your quest takes you to different worlds called "Ages" to recover the pages.
Each Age, named Selenitic, Stoneship, Mechanical, and Channelwood contains puzzles to be solved. The mechanic of the game required at least two puzzles, one to progress in the game and a second so you may return to Myst Island. Travel between Ages requires a book written to describe that age. Open the book and see the Age. Touch the page and enter the Age. To return, you need to find the linking book hidden within the Age. Ingenious.
Game mechanics were limited to clicks. Nothing else. Move? Click. Actions? Click.
Pure and simple. Easy? Hell, no.
While the execution is simple, the hardware had just enough oomph for a wonderful musical score plus tiny postage stamp-size videos, which when they appeared were like magic. Puzzles were challenging but not insane or click-hell.The requirements of the game also allowed for very creative storytelling. There is no clock, no death, no violence, and no enemies. Yet the nature of the game caused tension. This is the fusion of art and storytelling at its finest.
This 28-year-old game was the reason I started blogging. I wanted to make a fan site for this game. You'll notice there are no stars assigned to this review. How could I assign stars to something that provoked 10-plus years of work and hundreds of posts exploring the nature of play and entertainment?
Unwritten: Adventures in the Ages of MYST and Beyond from DriveThruRPG |
Sunday, April 18, 2021
This Is Not Post 999
This is not post 999.
This whole blogging thing started back in 2011. I wanted to create a blog about the game MYST. Check out this link to The Wayback Machine to my first website called Pretender to the Power.
Back then I had some goals that are still a driving force on this current iteration of my blog. I had an update section, a piece on artwork, models and figurines, a planned section for music which never really got off the ground, a movie review section which I only tangentially touch on for These Old Games, computer write ups, and plans to add more.
A decade later, many or most of these ideas still drive me. A little over 10 years of practice has lead me to over a thousand blog posts when you count all of the stuff lost over the various iterations of this blog.
So, this is not 999. It's more. And it will continue to be more.