Matt Roberts

"The building where Gerard and Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid"

rbrts — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:41:40 -0700

“The building where Gerard and Edwin Perkins invented Kool-Aid”

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Koolaidstart.jpg

Building Xbox LIVE games for Windows 8

rbrts — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:46:14 -0700

Nothing says Action like a loading bar for your whip

rbrts — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:05:32 -0700

Nothing says Action like a loading bar for your whip

Supermono’s ”Forever Drive”

rbrts — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:56:07 -0700

Supermono’s ”Forever Drive”

Bigfoot (Truck) -Wikipedia “In 1979, Chandler started...

rbrts — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 12:28:35 -0700

Bigfoot (Truck) -Wikipedia

“In 1979, Chandler started making appearances at truck and tractor pulls, as well as car shows, with his newly christened “Bigfoot” to show off the truck’s capabilities as well as to promote his shop. The truck’s growing popularity led to its appearance in the 1981 Gus Trikonis film “Take This Job and Shove It,” which also features USA-1 credited under a different name.

While these accomplishments were certainly admirable, Chandler’s next experiment would not only change the life and fortunes of a middle-class pickup owner from the St. Louis area, it would change the motorsports world forever. In 1981, Chandler obtained permission from a local farmer to place two dilapidated cars in his field, so that Chandler could videotape himself crushing the cars with Bigfoot as a joke. When Chandler began playing the video in his shop, a man promoting a motorsports event in Columbia, Missouri asked him to duplicate the stunt in front of a crowd. After initial hesitation because of the destructive image it would convey, Chandler eventually agreed to perform at the event in April of the following year in what is believed to be the first public car crush. Later that year, a second Bigfoot (built to help meet the steadily rising demand to see the vehicle) received more major media attention by crushing cars at the Pontiac Silverdome inPontiac, Michigan. In 1983, Bigfoot began receiving sponsorship from Ford Motor Company a relationship which continued until 2005.

By 1984, many truck owners around the country had taken to imitating Chandler’s template of outfitting their vehicles with tires standing 66 inches tall, with some trucks sporting even larger tires. Promoters of truck and tractor pulls, such as SRO Motorsports (later the United States Hot Rod Association) and Golden State Promotions, noticed the exploding popularity of the giant trucks and began booking several to crush cars at their events, with the eventual result being the advent of side-by-side, drag-racing style car crushing events. A popular example of the early days of monster truck racing is portrayed in the 1986 home video release Return of the Monster Trucks, which involves a truck pull, car crushing, and mud bogging all in the same course. That event, held in the Louisiana Superdome, was won by Bigfoot, as well as most of the events it was entered into in the mid 1980s. By this point, Chandler had already built an entire fleet of “Bigfoot” trucks to accommodate the vast demand for his vehicle, which remained as the most popular and marketable monster truck despite the large number of imitators. In 1987, Chandler added to his innovations by founding the Monster Truck Racing Association, which remains today as the chief voice in monster truck safety.”

Sims 1 - Original gameplay

rbrts — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:38:10 -0700

Remember the charm

Six year old blog post from Evan Williams most insightful thoughts I've read on the web this month

rbrts — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:03:35 -0700

Six year old blog post from Evan Williams most insightful thoughts I've read on the web this month

"The settlement marks the first time a mobile app developer has been targeted by the FTC on the..."

rbrts — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:17:51 -0700

““The settlement marks the first time a mobile app developer has been targeted by the FTC on the grounds of child privacy.””

- Pocketgamer

"The traditional single-player only game experience will not exist by the end of 2014."

rbrts — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 10:00:00 -0700

““The traditional single-player only game experience will not exist by the end of 2014.””

- Eurogamer

Survivor media

rbrts — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:33:00 -0700

“COPS is an American reality television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff’s deputies during patrols and other police activities. It is one of the longest-running television programs in the United States and in May 2011 became longest-running show on Fox with the announcement that America’s Most Wanted was being cancelled after 23 years.

The first segment is usually an action segment to hook the viewer, followed by a slower, or more “lyrical” segment, and concluding with a more “thoughtful” segment. This has been the formula and visual style of COPS as the first network reality TV series and has remained so from episode one until the present day. Other innovations for its time included Langley’s insistence that as few edits as possible be used, that all cameramen throw away their tripods and shoot exclusively handheld, and that natural audio be the score of the series.”

COPS (TV Series) - Wikipedia

I am interested in long-running programs like COPS. There’s an aspect to their success that I might describe as “survivor” media - programs that have weathered decades of twists and turns in consumer taste, yet somehow still hold on to an audience with an iron grip.

Whether on TV, radio, the web, print - survival is hard. It’s about more than just building a brand, or establishing a bar of quality that customers trust. You can only push the quality boulder up that hill for so long - at some point, even with the best intentions, you slip, and it can be difficult, if not impossible, to win your audience back.

Survivor media usually isn’t the cleanest, most polished or well-crafted experience. COPS, for example, is a mess of bumpy footchases, poor lighting and choppy editing. But even though it is over 20 years old, the show somehow feels compelling - no doubt exactly related to those messy, highly authentic cues. And the show is undeniably repetitive - but the variables often change. There’s a familiarity to the formula and the problem solving that can be learned as mastered as a viewer. After watching long enough, you start to feel a bit like an expert. Yet the producers somehow surprise you, again and again. It’s an artful exchange.

There are other lessons I take away from survivors like COPS. For example, real people are often more interesting than fictional characters. The world needs good guys and bad guys. Happy endings don’t always happen, but neither does tragedy. Action matters. Hometowns matter. Riding along can be thrilling - you don’t always have to drive. And most of all, if you find a good theme song, don’t change it.

Chromebooks.

rbrts — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:40:45 -0700

Chromebooks.

Progress.

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:49:00 -0700

Progress.

Brandon Boyer on independent game development

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:23:30 -0700

“He discussed the differences between the music industry and the games industry, quipping, “we don’t buy a music album and say ‘this album was only 30 minutes long’” — hence, why should we do it for games, he asks.

He also urged developers at AAA companies to “make a stand and go make the games you really want to”, citing examples like Superbrothers’ Craig Adams - formerly of Koei Canada - who struck out to make Sword & Sworcery with Capy.

Boyer finished by urging developers to consider the following: if a game can’t provide as deep an experience as a music album can, then we must question why exactly that is. He asked developers to personally consider the answer for themselves, and attempt to make games that can provoke the same “color” and emotion that music can.”

Gamasutra

Cool rundown on Develop of all of Sony’s 1st party studios...

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:00:54 -0700

Cool rundown on Develop of all of Sony’s 1st party studios around the world.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:20:00 -0700

Metroid / LIMBO / Pixar / Great.

Edge reviews Starcraft at release in 1998. Part of a web reprint...

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:47:00 -0700

Edge reviews Starcraft at release in 1998. Part of a web reprint of 150 reviews marking the 15th anniversary of the magazine.

"Plants Vs Zombies: Introduction to perfection"

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:29:01 -0700

Several great points here…

http://www.next-gen.biz/opinion/plants-vs-zombies-introduction-perfection

Menus

These can be a real barrier to gameplay for several reasons. First, the more menus you offer, the more the user may explore, each one delaying time taken to get to the game. Secondly, the more choice you offer, the more you may confuse the player. Some players may feel confused by some of the terms used or be scared of making a wrong choice. Reducing the number of menus, especially in “casual” games, lessens the possibility of players leaving.

PVZ is masterful here, offering only one game mode and immediately beginning. There is no difficulty level, no pop-ups to dispatch. All unnecessary friction has been eliminated.

What’s interesting at this point is the delay between selecting the option to play and the time taken to actually start the game - 12 seconds. The first seven seconds of that is displaying ‘PopCap Presents’, then a further five-second action-packed gameplay movie. Other studios put their logos and intro movies up front, causing frustration for some players, because they’re here to play the game. PopCap gives you the game, then shows the gameplay movies. More satisfying? I think so.

The Last Rocket

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:05:00 -0700

Put about two hours into this great 8-bit inspired puzzler, The Last Rocket this weekend. Creator Shaun Inman is a prolific designer, having also created the ground-breaking web-publishing metric visualization tool Mint a few years ago.

Rule #1 of flash-success on the app store: Say what you are,...

rbrts — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:48:30 -0700

Rule #1 of flash-success on the app store: Say what you are, don’t overthink it.