Schatten

That should be pretty trivial. I'm not really involved with the code, but I can't imagine that it would be much more difficult than changing the value of two or three numbers.

We plan on giving the mission author full control over difficulty settings - I guess there will be a broader range of tweaking possibilities than just 3 different options.

Good read here. I think the problem is that picking chess as an example was not the best choice. Let's take poker: There we have the element of chance as part of the game. As long as everybody is aware of how many and what cards are in the deck, nobody can complain that the game would be unfair. As for the question about what ensures the enjoyment of a game - well, if I knew a fool-proof way, I'd be a rich man. I've seen people argue that a good game employs the basic instincts of humans, and I basicaly agree (in Thief we've got "hide and seek", and "gathering", for example). Ombrenuit talks about challange and reward, which is also part of the basic human rule-set. Here's a bit of what I mean, although that article focuses on something else. In my opinion, it is impossible to say which difficulty is "just right" for a game, as this varies from player to player. The actual question is how much the player should be able to change the difficulty without breaking the game.

MMMMMMMMMMMMEGATEXTURE

I constantly read "RTS" instead of "FPS" in this thread due to some short circuit in my brain, hence the confusion.

Yeah, the same is true for many genres. When I first played DeusEx I thought "Finaly, the next step in evolution for the first person genre. Why has it taken so long?". Same goes for Thief before that. After a few years, I became very disappointed with the lack of change. Ok, some blasphemy from me here: If by some great spacetime-hickup LG banded together again, I wouldn't want them to make another Thief game. I love stealth gameplay, and Thief will always have a special place in my heart. But Hitman and Splinter Cell for example left me bored - they didn't offer anything that the Thief games didn't have. I would want something new - the First Person Socializer or something. Oh, on that note: The most interesting game concept I heard in a while is from a game called "Star Attorney" or something "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney", in which you take the role of a lawyer and fight some surreal cases. Reviews make it look like imense fun, but the conecpt alone sounds like a giant bore on paper.

Very true. While I like the adrenaline rush click-fests like Starcraft can produce, there is much unused potential in the genre. I remember a RTS-ish game where you controlled a small team (sniper, spy, green beret,...) and your objective was to infiltrate some nazi camps. The AI had sight cones sweeping, and detection of one team member usually resulted in instant failure of the mission. That was more puzzle play than RTS though, but I enjoyed the fresh take on the genre. Back in the day when I messed with QBasic (yay!), I wrote something RTS-ish which was a crossbreed between Lemmings and, uhm, Dune 2. Basically you could set up command chains on your critters in real time, and your objective was to gain and hold parts of the opponent's area. I didn't know how to code null-modem support in QBasic though, and writing an AI was a little too much for me then, so it never saw the light of the day. :/ EDIT: Hahaha, and the whole time I mixed up RTS and FPS. Sorry about that.

This is very interesting, and gives you a lot to think about. Apart from the obvious - being reminded that nothing you do on the net is really private - it enforced my hatred towards the mainstream media. The contrast of unfiltered humanity and the image media paints of humans, how they are supposed to act and think, has become so strong it's bizzare. Sure, I tell myself that TV is not real, and news should always be taken with a grain of salt - but I think if you're under constant attack from those media images, you get used to (and tired of) them. So I was thankful for the little wake-up those search logs provided. I'm happy to see there are still humans out there, not just some plastic dolls.

Wow, full dose of humanity right in your face. 2386968 is a very sad read. Is it just me or do some people actually talk with the search engine?

Multi pass. Mul-ti-pass

I no all abuot 1337 mastrbtoin hax!!1! If u got mastrbatoin aglorythm qustn just aks me!!11!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_Dug http://www.spelletjes.breumelhof.nl/index....&Itemid=154

Sparhawk, you know at what I'm getting at here, we're not talking about my latest garden party. Not anybody can join, only those who accept that an administrator may override any of the rules. Saying this makes rules obsolete is invalid too, because humans don't interact in discrete states. I say my example is still valid.

See title! Have a good one!

The way I see it, a forum owner invites the public into some private space. It's not like a pub in which I pay for drinks and service.

This has evolved into one of the most idiotic threads I've ever seen. If I visit someone's house, I know there are certain rules of etiquette like: Don't puke on the carpet. If it's a friend's house and I puke on his carpet because we were having a party and I overdid it again, he might say "clean up" and forget about it. If it's the house of a friend's friend, and the lego between me and the host doesn't click for some reason, I'll try and be polite and maybe not join the next party. It can also happen that I spilled a drink in the kitchen, which is a perfect excuse for the host to throw me out. It's his house after all - even if it pisses off our mutual friend. Stuff like that happens all the time. Just because it happens on the internet too doesn't make it a drama of shakespearian proportions.

Well... you noticed, didn't you? I didn't say it goes undiscussed. Even so, I didn't get the impression the programmers were against this per se, just against implementation right now.

Well, I don't play MMOs, but I often play female characters in P&P RPGs. I like hitchhiking minds of different charcters, a priest, a carpenter, a cyborg, an alien, a woman... don't see a big problem there. Plus you can throw stereotype women-behaviour back at female players. The Escapist has an amusing article about a guy posing as a woman playing a male character.

I usually stay out of discussions like this, mostly because they keep coming up every month or so. However, this time I feel I have to add my two cents. First, the irony of this thread is hilarious. People keep on discussing how long it can take to discuss a simple feature. Perfect. Now, please, you know we're still mixing the dough, no use to ramble on about the decoration of the cake yet.We're well aware things will need ironing out, and if ZylonBane mentions something like how the frob highlight fades in and out in the Thief games for example, we don't just ignore it. We care as much about these details as anyone else, we're fanboys too, after all. We care in fact so much about these little things, that we decided it would enhance productivity to push them aside for the time being and revisit them later - do you honestly believe we wouldn't be eager to put all the fun stuff in there right now? I tell you it's fucking hard to hold back with the storyline, blingbling, decorations, enhancements, improvements, and new ideas. Basic functionality of the Thief games is our event horizon. New lands lie beyond there - I believe I can say that everybody on the team eagerly awaits that we reach this line so we can start with the FUN stuff. Ok, now I'll say a bit about the Wiki Dark Mod Universe blurb. As you know, a toolset should be something versatile that allows for the most freedom in productivity for its user. The amount of "but if someone wants to..." posts in the team forums is insane - I almost pitty the people (especially the coding department), because every time they announce they're done, somebody thinks of a possibilty not covered by the functionality. And they go back to work. (Ishtvan even turned somewhat masochistic lately by challenging people to come up with things the Objective system can't cover) My point is: Even if we try to create a "neutral point of view" toolset, there is a minimum of guidance we need for the developement process. Think artistic consitency, for example. It's either that or you people get unskinned AI, objects, no textures and no sound - to exeggerate a bit. That's what this setting is for. We will indulge in happy hours - nay, days - of squabbling about stuff like faction names and story when the time for this has come. One more. The Thief fan community is a beacon for smart and observant, but unfortunaly also incredibly thick-headed and pedantic people. Put those characters together on a team, and you'll have to agree that a consensus to cover the basics and then go into the war about details is the only way of getting things done. I guess the *ahem* touchy reaction by some people is due to the fact that they would love nothing more than to put in all the little trinkets right now, but have to cope with the self imposed ban. It's like discussing sex infront of a monk who knows sometime, sometime he'll bang through the entire choir eternal. End rant.

Thanks gleeful, the feedback is most welcome. Keep an ear open for stuff like popping in loops, hissing or other oddities - we have very little beta feedback on sounds yet.

I think TTLG's biggest problem is its age. Some people have been around for 7 years, and this shows especially in the lore related forums. At some point, you've seen the new threads that pop up all before. Another thing is that TTLG has, like every board, its own memes. Older members like to make reference to fun stuff of the past, or fool around in general - not very translucent for new members, who neither know the meme nor the member. I think a lot of the percieved aggression in ComChat originates in that. The actual number of the "omg stfu j00 suck l0l!!!!" people on TTLG is very low. At least of those who mean it like that - I'm getting somewhat tired of the (mostly) predictable LOL FUNKY INSIDE REFERENCE responses, too.

It's not so much the discussions - more relevant for me are the people, the information on technical stuff for games I like and my habit of using TTLG as some kind of internet hub. Also, I was pissed off because I missed an important-ish PM.

Meh, this is starting to get on my nerves. :/

Happy Birthday, Dram!

Rote Beete = Disgusting pickles that taste like cellar poop Rote Grütze = Highly viscose matter with red currants, sour cherries and raspberries. Serve with vanilla sauce. I assume you mean the former.