demagogue

Seriously, that has dodgy written all over it. There are too many file-storage sites to choose from. I'll be happy after we have some Malthusian pruning to force the bulk of them to go the way of the Dodo. I thought that would have already happened years ago, though ... I guess the new blood that keeps coming into Internet means there will always be people trying to pull this stuff. In modeling news, I'm understanding what a little setback can do to one's motivation when you aren't getting paid to do it.

Ah, yes. In law school we read a few of these kinds of cases. One woman in Virginia sued Satan for mentally tormenting her, and it went to trial. The judge's opinion was freaking classic. He made sure to cite all of Satan's aliases, quoted Dante and Milton for reference, and then went on about the nature of the charges and the Devil's role in emotionally tormenting her and generally causing misery and evil in the world ... all hilariously deadpan. You could tell he was having fun doing it. Then he said, while there might be a cause of action, unfortunately the court is unable to find jurisdiction over the Prince of Darkness. There is no known residence of Satan in this district, or this plane of existence for that matter. Nor has Satan been properly served. In light of these facts, we dismiss the case. Classic.

Hey, so you guys have finally gone legit with the TTLG endorsement. I think it was bound to happen sooner or later, the way you guys are making progress. In the end it's all about the game and having fun and being a group of fans sharing a common fondness for this stuff. That's all the ave person following anything Thiefish cares about really. I think the nicest thing about this is that it puts the Darkmod right in touch with the center of the community ... so when this thing starts really making waves, it will have a place right at the center of things for people to take notice and join in all the fun. That has to come as good news. I wouldn't know anything about Thievery UT without that link to their forum. I suppose, aside from that, all in all not much will really change, though.

Only if you soak them in blood.

The way I see games these days (along with all the other "cultural" industries for that matter, books, movies, music, etc) ... there's three pressures that could try to pull the industry in three different directions ... claiming them as cultural-artistic, for gaming, and as entertainment. I mean, in the "good" cases, it's all of these without being reduced to any single one. The cultural-artistic side has all but lost the battle. The gaming side is rapidly losing ground. And the entertainment side is already trying to claim victory. Games have been democratized, brought to the little guy, and more than anything the little guy wants to be entertained before anything else ... he's not actually that serious about gaming beyond what's necessary, and cultural-artistic concerns are pretty much invisible, at least on a reflective level. It needs to be polished enough to be professional, to be a proper commodity someone wants to buy. So then there's the independent scene, and a little from that, the modding scene ... pretty much as the vanguard for thoughtful gaming and for being artistically thoughtful. (There's still a question on how culturally relevant games should be; it's not exactly cinema ... but they aren't like card games or board games either.) The point, though ... it's become clear that what you guys are doing isn't just sprucing up a favorite old game. You guys are part of the vanguard standing on the brink of an entire degenerating culture and demanding more from gaming. And I salute you for it. o7 (There's nothing hyperbolic about that post, was there?)

Very much reminds me of high school. Among other things we made up, we used to play also a very primitive version, 'smear the queer' or just 'throw up'. Basically, it's every person for themselves, everyone stands in a circle and one guy throws up the ball, whoever catches it starts running until tackled, then he throws the ball up again, and so it goes. Each person gets 1 point for themselves if they cross the goal. Then we just start going in the reverse direction. One guy was a quiet, smaller guy but known to be tough. He got tackled in a particularly awkward way, and when he stood up his collar bone was sticking out! obviously broken. And we're like, man, your collar bone is sticking out! And he says, really? I better do something about that. And he calmly walks past us, back to the locker room. Incredible. I never got hurt. I never really played hard enough to put myself at threat. So I guess it's easy for me to say I loved these kinds of improvised sports. The more organized, the worse it got. The only organized sport I could tolerate was track and cross-country running.

I wouldn't think of Canada and Japan as developing countries ... but maybe in the world of rugby they are. I really don't know why rugby hasn't caught on in the US. I've heard friends say that rugby is too chaotic, nothing like American football which is more strategic ... and rugby fans saying American football is too slow, waiting for play after play ... just let the guy run. But personally, I can't understand it, if you like one you should really like the other; they basically appeal to the same kind of thinking and moving ... and it's much more like the kind of game we played in high school spontaneously. To answer your question, though, I wish I could be interested, but there is just no outlet to find rugby news or watch games on tv. Every once and a while they'll have an important game on a smaller sports channel, but then I don't have any context. We're lucky that classic football (soccer) is finally catching on. Hopefully you get some more promising replies than mine!

Well, so far I'm sold on LW. So far, I don't get the crashes or slow downs. I guess I've just gotten used to it after go through a few tutorials. Maybe Blender would be better to start with, for learning, but since I'm so deep into LW now there's no good reason to turn back. Also, I did a search of the models coming out for each one, and I noticed some of my favorite artists tended to use LW. So that was enough for me. Really, I am so sure at this point that it doesn't matter, though. For the kinds of models we're making. I'll just stick with what I've been using. As for the interface, I think it matches the way I think. The basic menu-structure is what you very basically want to do: create points/surfaces from scratch, move points/surfaces already there, create/delete new geometry based on what's already there (like beveling), etc. -- and then you go into more detail from there. I like thinking about it from very fundamentally -- what do you fundamentally want to do -- to more and more detailed as you go on. And then most everything has its own sub-menu to do things numerically. I think it's true, though, that you really have to explore all the different ins and outs of a series of menus before you use a function, e.g., just experimenting with each tab on the sub-menu. Then once you've seen it, you know the path to get back to it. It's hard to do something from scratch, before you've experimented with it on your own.

To be honest, even T2 didn't capture the imagination as well as T1. If you think, mission for mission, T2 was so busy trying to self-consciously create a bunch of novel sneaking experiences -- robbing a bank, following the courier, overhear a conversation, clear a path for Basso, case then rob a joint, etc, it was so busy being "technically more fun; more to do" -- that it didn't have the same purity and soul as the original, IMO ... which was more raw but more inspired, more magical. Not sure if you'll ever be able to conjure up that again. I honestly have yet to play TDS until I buy a new computer ... but since my expectations have been so lowered, I think I just might enjoy it for what it is. I won't even try to pretend it's supposed to be competing with the previous iterations. I'm also thinking that for my first run, I should go ahead and install things like the minimalist project and the upgraded textures and the difficulty mod, etc (whatever works together). So my first run through is the best the fans can get it and my first impression will be better for it.

Damn ... now all these forums are going to be in a new language I have to learn!

Today I was just doing a little brush up on the design texture for my lute, and when I saved it in Photoshop the file somehow got corrupted. I was keeping backups when I was making it, but there was this little window of time after I deleted past backups and before I made the next one. So now I lose like a week's worth of work before the last backup ... grr. (Essentially I used a photo source of a perfect looking arabesque hole, but I had to erase the strings covering the hole in the photo ... pixel by pixel). A little demoralizing, but I'll go back and do it over again, since I'm basically almost done with it, and it seems much, much faster now that I know what I'm doing with it. Just wanted to blow off some steam.

An FM author might intentionally set up this situation from the beginning, as well. I remember moments in the OMs where ropes were already attached and hanging, waiting for G to climb, e.g., in the Bonehoard and The Sword. An author could set up a horizontally grounded rope pre-set for the PC to climb across, or even something like a makeshift rope bridge ... good for variety's sake.

Pretty cool. From watching what my 7 yr old nephew plays these days, I get the idea that this kind of old-fashioned stylized look and gameplay works for kids ... sort of like a self-conscious modesty that draws them in and doesn't alienate them (or their over-cautious parents). It comes across as more harmless in comparison to what's out there.

I didn't know you guys were going to have x's in the tool set!

Congrats, this now coming from someone that has more of a philosophy background. I studied undergrad philosophy at UTexas, and law at NYU, although very much law and philosophy oriented. I have to decide myself whether I'll go for the philosophy PhD or be content with where I've gotten myself. I enjoy writing law papers ... but I have to admit it's tempting to live in two worlds doing both law and philosophy projects ... in which case, I'd have to concentrate in political/moral philosophy to make it work, although my background is more in philosophy of mind, but I don't mind. I didn't even try to get into NYU's very competitive program at the time. But I couldn't pass up the chance to stock up on as many phil courses there as I could through law school ... highlights being Tom Nagel's Moral Phil and Dworkin's Law and Phil seminar. UPenn is a good school, part of that pocket of good schools around NYC, NJ and Philly. Philosophy of science is an interesting track to start with, too. The only two names I've really read are Feyerabend, who I enjoy reading - I like his against-the-grain spirit - but seem more influenced in figuring out what I disagree with him, and Popper, who I've been much more influenced by (except for his philosophy of mind, which is just archaic). I remember feeling gratified to get a feel for how Popper's philosophy of science is related to his political philosophy. These days my bent in phil of science is a reading of Dennet by Don Ross. It'll be nice to hear some of your ideas as you start reading for this class. I have an anthology of phil of science, but have to admit it's not my strongest area (that's why I got the book, because I don't have much background in it). Keep us up to date with how it goes.

Well, nothing you mentioned, SplaTtzZ, is really news. Reactions seem to be more pro than con, so it's interesting to read a different perspective, at least. Remember this is the console version. PC version isn't supposed to be as bad, considering it had an independent team working on the interface. The object-glint is optional, as is the in-game interface instructions. The only thing irking me, like you, is the big semi-circle, which I think stays. SS2 had a simple red bar. Watching the videos, like with SS2, it admittedly looks more useful than not, so I think it's fine there's a bar; I just wish it weren't as big. But all things considered, I can live with it. The style (putting aside the size) is at least appropriate (compared to the computer-generated look in SS2). This is old news, and raised some hell when it came out. Levine tried to sell us on the point that you still get a lot of the functionality of stuff-hoarding and slot-limits in some cases, just without a unified, dedicated screen ... which I guess you either buy or not. Anyway, it's part of the whole "it's a shooter first" philosophy. Once you're on board with that, it's not as bad as it first sounds. Thief didn't have an inventory screen. Yeah, like Crispy said, this is right out of the SS2 playbook. Similarly with supplies on bodies statistically sensitive to the player's needs. A dev posted on this once that they really tried hard to get these into the game to keep a good flow but it not become obvious or distracting, not heavy-handed looking. They spent forever tweaking it to perfection. Like with the no inventory screen, I think once you get over the initial idea that it's done at all, it's nice to know that they put some thought into doing it well, and not just haphazardly. I tend to like it because it increases replayability ... basically it's the safety-net for taking out scripted fights, and I find it better than the alternative. As advertised from the beginning. You can say you don't like the genre of FPSs as much as FPS-RPG hybrids, but it's not so fair to bait-and-switch and conflate genre choice with what's good or bad gameplay within a genre. Still, I was interested in your observations, so thanks for posting that.

Gotta love a universe that flips all logic around.

Don't forget that security cameras were actually part of Thief 2. So it's not that strange. There's also the magic route. The OMs used those eyeball plants. I'd just think that magic might be good if you want to keep the thing small. Generally speaking, per the trend of some of these recent threads, I'm on the side that hopes that TDM will be friendly to a more open field of mission types for FMs, and that builders will take up the opportunity. I'm actually curious to see whether and how the character of FMs might change under TDM.

Those aren't exactly exotic image formats. Weird. Congrats on your first normal map. I was happy to figure out a grey-scale height map is good enough, because you can pretty much take any design you can make or find, grey-scale it and adjust the height by lightening or darkening it. I'm also finding orienting the textures strange. I drew my texture on a screenshot of the wireframe, but when I tried to put it on, I had to squeeze it out of proportion, basically I need to redraw it in the right proportions using the render as a reference, which I thought was strange. Doesn't the wireframe automatically have the right proportions?

I recently found this site (http://www.voynich.nu/index.html, or wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_MS) on the Voynich manuscript while following links on unsolved codes. It's one of these medieval mysticism tomes written entirely in a secret language with an unknown script of some 40 odd squiggles. Statistical analysis says it has the statistical properties of a natural language, but it's proving incredibly hard to crack. Reading through all the analysis this thing has been subjected to ... how they're making just enough progress in decoding it that it keeps it interesting, but enough mystery that there are always more questions than answers, it's fascinating.

Yeah, what are the reviews like for this Darkmod game I keep hearing about around here?

Whatever works. It'll be an interesting 2 weeks to hear the news. But I still think it'll deserve a fat cigar and a congratulations.

I'm having it crash on me periodically, but not that often. I do notice that it tends to happen when things get busy, like changing a window to full-screen.

Re the copyright question. In US law the standard for visual works is that the derivative work has the same "look and feel" as the original, pretty subjective standard ... except to say if you see it and it looks egregious, that's a red flag. If you can't really "see" the original in the derivative work, then it's on safer ground. The best thing, of course, is to just stick to taking your own pictures or public domain works from the ground up and then you don't even have to ask the question. That said, since there's nothing about displacing market value or unjust enrichment or anything like that involved, then there aren't damages ... so the main remedy is if the creator doesn't like it he can ask to take it out. Of course, consent is a total safe harbor if you just ask the owner of the website if you can use the design.

Dromed is unstable but not that unstable. It sounds like you did something it doesn't like. All of this talk is reminding me that I want to be a beta-mapper, but my laptop won't run Doom3. Have to wait until I can get a desktop that can handle it.