TonyBlue87

$220.5 million

Maybe I haven't found the right logs, or maybe I'm too susceptible to knee-jerk reactions, but everything I've found (especially the video clips I've found) come off as a very heavy-handed message of "this is why science is great, and this is why any sort of faith is stupid/ridiculous." As a Catholic, I've found it extremely frustrating since I have never understood the idea of science vs. religion as if they are 1. directly comparable and 2. inherently opposed to one another. Of course, it's even more frustrating since all I'm trying to do is solve goofy maze puzzles and explore the world, and my reward is to have a who's who quote-off about circular logic and (to me) pseudo-psychological ramblings all pointing in the direction of "boy, religion sure is dumb and there's definitely no benefit in any of it unless the thing you believe in is that you don't believe in it." Compare this to Talos (as some already have) which instead explores the concepts of free will and existence in a way that at least feels human, giving the player the opportunity to answer its questions the way they see the world (I haven't finished it so maybe the whole thing gets turned on its head). The Witness feels like I'm being lectured.

The internet is already brutally unkind to people of faith (or maybe the concept?), so the things I've found in The Witness certainly haven't provided a unique voice to the argument. Rather, it's a more long-winded presentation of the same stuff I've heard ad nauseam. Then again, maybe the game is right and I'm a big, dumb idiot who's incapable of critical thinking because I didn't come to the same conclusion as some dude in 1906.

I was streaming SOMA and got so wrapped up in a thought about game design and using the environment to tell a story (an apt thought if you read on) that I walked right past a hatch you're supposed to use to get out of a subway tunnel. So I turned around and walked right past it again to the other dead end I came from.

I did this for a solid 10 minutes, back and forth, desperately trying to keep the stream moving, before I finally spotted it. It had a big flashing red light over it. I wanted to die.

I just want to say I had no idea this was a real thing before I wrote this and holy shit it is perfect. I could have saved myself an hour and just posted the blog title with that link as the entirety of the body text.

I'm holding my breath for that Steam release. I absolutely love the EDF games, warts and all, so the chance to play the best one in the series at 60FPS without having to go out and buy a PS4 would be an absolute blessing. EDF 2025 made #7 in my Top 10 last year; I will happily pay for an even better version and commit another 100+ hours to it.

@devil240z said:

I've added an update to the original post chronicling an alternative choice, thinking it might have made the story better.

SPOILER: It didn't.

I can set up a player "deck" of coin boxes with various items, then a P Switch releases the enemy minions. Ok, I think I know how to handle that one now. Thanks for the idea!

For Extra Life this year I am having all of our stream guests play their favorite game whether it was something they loved as a child, something that ate days of their time, or something they just thought was weird and played a bunch. What I haven't told them is I am creating some simple Mario Maker levels for them to play as an "intro" to their appearance on the stream. Each level is designed to recreate either the memorable moments or basic gameplay of their game (or at the very least evoke the feeling of each). So far I've had no trouble coming up with ways to represent each game. A couple of examples include:

Metal Gear Solid: B941-0000-007E-3B77

NBA Jam: A061-0000-007E-38A0

The problem now is there are a few games that I don't really know how to translate into a Mario level. Given the creativity of the GB community during Dan's make-a-level shows, I thought I might turn to my fellow duders for some ideas. Here is the list of games I currently need to build levels for:

1. Hearthstone
2. Ogre Battle (SNES)
3. Phantom 2040 (SNES)
4. I Am Bread
5. Batman Forever (SNES)

A few things to consider for the design of each level:

1. These are intro pieces for each guest on our stream, so they should be relatively short.
2. This is a surprise for everyone, so the level should be easy, almost idiot-proof.
3. It is more important that the level share the feel/gameplay of the game instead of being a "good" Mario level.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm super curious as to what folks come up with.

I definitely want to see the return of Random PC Game. Bring on the FMV!