ION Romero/Carmack

[Zaldron]

First the somewhat flawed article at Salon.com :

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/01/02/ion_storm/index.html

And now Carmack's sacred words on /.

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=25551&cid=2774808

I'll comment as soon as people reads a bit.

[Zaldron]

Before bashing Carmack for that 1% thing read his second reply. I completely agree with him, and I experienced that very same problem for the last years.

Coming up with a game is easy. What's hard is to keep on focus one week later.

[EsH]

No debate for me. I'm just grateful to you for pointing out the link, which I would otherwise have missed.

Words to live by.

[EllipsusD]

The first article makes me feel sorry for Romero.

Coming up with a game is easy. What's hard is to keep on focus one week later.

Agreed. You can have a perfect idea of what kind of plot you want to portray, but when it comes to designing the implementation, things get a bit harder. The technical aspect is therefore very important, and can make or break a game. On the other hand you can have a game with a spectacular engine and if the game has not been designed to fully utilize the engine then there will be problems as well. Therefore design is very important. Truly good games will only arrize when these aspects are brought together- valuing one over the other is folly, and I would say that 99% of the industry still needs to work on that balance.

[Zaldron]

This is a great article I've read a couple of years ago on Gamespot.

It's a good read to find out what's Romero's fault, what's Eidos fault, what's the ION team's fault, and what's plain bad luck.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/index.html

It's a long read, but a good one. Very objective.

[EllipsusD]

I remember reading that article about a year ago, but it was nice to go back through it. Thanks for the link.

I still think it's sad, though, that such misfortune befell such noble ambitions. If things had worked out differently, Ion Storm could have been a big name in the industry- well, for good reasons anyway. It makes me want to go out and get a copy of Daikatana just to give it a try. I've played worse, ya know. It wouldn't help to add my small contribution to someone trying to follow their dream.

[Zaldron]

I have it. It's not TERRIBLY BAD. It's just not fun. The kind of game that needs some focus in order to finish.

Not because there are many crashes to desktop and shit like that. It just doesn't fullfil you. But if you're the kind of people that enjoys particular little things, or certain attention to detail, or maybe some sights, then it could work for you. Don't pay anything higher than $10 ;)

Multiplayer is another story. I had some good fun with it.

[Castlevania]

i had dikeatana on a pc gamer. like 180 or 300 megabytes. i enjoyed the music, the turbo gfx, the 2 sidekicks, the sights. i dont see why it is so hated. i dont see it at all, honestly. it really baffles me.
i guess i am just easy to please. i liked waterworld and judge dredd...

[danarchist]

heh

[Zaldron]

HAHAHahhahAhahAHah

Oh I thought you were linking to the old one :P

[EllipsusD]

I have it. It's not TERRIBLY BAD. It's just not fun. The kind of game that needs some focus in order to finish.

Trust me, I can focus. I made it through the last three sections of SS2 with little more than the Crystal Shard. You have no idea how much that sucks until you try it yourself.

[Zaldron]

Trust me, I can focus. I made it through the last three sections of SS2 with little more than the Crystal Shard. You have no idea how much that sucks until you try it yourself.

Funny, I did the same. And it was well worth it at the very end :)

[EllipsusD]

With the incredible scarcity of ammo (especially on the hardest difficulty) it's hard to stay away from melee combat. I just wish I had known that earlier- I would have put more into melee combat strength. Between SS2 and They Hunger (a wonderfull HL mod by Neil Manke), I would imagine I have mastered the "hit and dodge" technique.

[Zaldron]

Damn is They Hunger 4 already out? I haven't looked into the Half-Life scene for a long time...

[EllipsusD]

Hold up. They Hunger 4? I thought 3 was the last one... I was wondering what Manke's next masterpiece would be, but I never thought it would be another sequel. I'll have to check this out.

[Zaldron]

I wouldn't mind another USS Darkstar ;)

Damn I need a "spiritual" sequel for System Shock. If no one does it I'll just gather some guys and make a mod for Doom3.

[EllipsusD]

Darkstar was great (I have have to jump into the puddle of water!?). Here is the link to Manke's website. It looks like They Hunger 3 was the last of the series, and he hasn't decided what his next mod will be (or on what engine, for that matter). I don't suppose we'll see much until he finishes with his house.

[Zaldron]

I seriously hope he moves on regarding the Half-Life engine. He's really skilled, and I feel it's already limiting the amount of detail he wants to add.

[Castlevania]

tehre is no crystal shard in silent scope 2!!!!!1111