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Daily Crap 2010-03-06

  1. In any case, you see, I've always had this fantasy. Even when my playing was at its most wretched. I had this fantasy of spending months somewhere locked away, practising and practising. My parents wouldn't see me for months and months. Then one day I'd suddenly come home. A Sunday afternoon probably. In any case some time when Father would be home too. I'd come in, hardly say a word, just go to the piano, lift the lid, start playing. I'd not even have taken my coat off. I'd just play and play. Back, Chopin, Beethoven. Then on to the modern stuff. Grebel. Kazan. Mullery. I'd just play and play. And my parents would have followed me into the dining room and they'd just be looking on in astonishment. It would be beyond their wildest dreams. But then, to their amazement, they'd realise that even as I played I was reaching greater and greater heights. Sublime, sensitive adagios. Astounding fiery bravura passages. I'd climb higher and higher. And they'd be standing there in the middle of the room, Father still absently holding the newspaper he'd been reading, both of them completely astounded. In the end I'd finish with some stunning finale, then at last I'd turn to them and . . . well, I've never been sure what happens after that.

    The Unconsoled

    • “Most of Doom’s enemies don’t have instant-hit projectile attacks, and most of the ones that do are quite weak – the lowly trooper and sergeant. Every other enemy projectile takes time to reach its target, and would look comical in a more realistic visual presentation. … A skilled player can often deal with large numbers of enemies sustaining hardly a scratch. … This creates a feeling that’s quite rare in modern FPS: that you are powerful because you are agile, not because you’re a tank.”
    • “While some of Doom’s levels have a very thin fiction via their title (eg “Hangar”) and general texturing theme, if you actually explore them you find they only resemble real locations in the loosest sense possible. … Level designers didn’t have to worry about whether a change made something look less like a hangar or a barracks, just whether it was better for gameplay.”
    • “The barriers to entry facing someone who wants to make a mod for Unreal Tournament 3 today are vastly higher than those facing a Doom modder.”

    Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom

Posted Mar 05, 2010, in the late, late night. Updated updated Mar 06, 2010, in the afternoon.

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