So I thought I'd write a little something about games. I like games. A lot.
I spend too much of my time playing them, I
restore classic arcade
games for fun, and they're why I got into software development in the first place, which in now "what I do."
I'm a fan of the
demoscene as much as anyone,
probably more. I ported a mod player to OS/2 of all places, and I believe I wrote
the only Amiga demo that was multitasking friendly [and didn't trash memory, and
restored everything nicely when done, and most importantly let you continue to leech
0-day warez at 9600bps in the background], something I was so excited about that
I
posted to usenet about it [to the sound of crickets]. But I digress.
The
64k demos that spend
most of
their time in DirectX really do
kick some serious ass, and yes it's cool that procedural tricks
mean you
can have
an FPS in 96k.
I also think that
Will Wright seems like a really great and intelligent guy. He created
The Sims, which is postmodern genius. SimCity and SimAnt, yeah man. You
rock, Will.
Will. Talk to me, brother. I have to say, I think you've been hanging out with too
many Europeans and maybe hit the scene koolaid too hard or something. Your mom
and I told you it's bad for you. I mean, I
watched your
presentation of "Spore" at the GDC, and wowsers Will, did you say "procedurally
generated" 400,000 times? Or is that
just where I lost count?
Spore, while looking incredibly cool, seems like it might be a tad on the jacks-of-all-trade
side to be enjoyable. Way too many game types. It seems more like a cool set of sandboxes than a coherent whole.
Or maybe something I'd put up on the plasma for that way-cool ambiance/ambience. It's missing
the postmodern genius of the Sims, where everyone and thier mom played because they wanted
to make perfect versions of their own lives but ended up depressed when their Mini
Me lost their 5th job and couldn't keep up with the dishes and constantly wet themselves.
I think it will ultimately flop. I hope I'm wrong.
- Kurt Koller