>>22138
I don't know where he's getting 36-37 from but the idea that plots can be reduced to a few basic arcs is something that George Frazer, Joseph Campbell and Jung addressed or developed. Vladimir Propp did a specific analysis of Russian folk tales, breaking them down and creating a sort of algorithm for them; the Aarne & Thompson index applies a similar theory to all folk tales.

There have been countless self-help tier novel-writing books in the past 30 years trying to cash in on the idea by pushing their own version of 'X archetypal plots' then selling tickets to their creative writing lecture tours. I'm guessing that's where all the strange numbers the previous poster has got that from.

>>22139

I'd contend you could probably say there's only two or three if you really get to the foundation. A lot of books I read you could describe as "object X is powerful, group A must keep it away from Group B"

Doesn't mean Lord of the Rings and The Expanse feel that much alike, though.

>>22140
I don't think that's a contention to anything in my post, I agree that it's all just degrees of reductionism and not particularly useful in most situations.

>>22141

I wasn't contending you, more Jung et al, or the self help tier novel coaches.

I agree with you. I think the way our schools teach the dissection of writing has a lot to do with it.

>>22142

In most meaningful dramas, plot is secondary to character development. The tedious sixth-form example would be Waiting for Godot, a play in which nothing happens, twice. The problem for video games is that character development is often at odds with play. The more developed the protagonist is, the less able we are to inhabit them as an avatar. Expository scenes tend to be tedious cinematics that players either skip through or wish that they could. A lot of game writers just write a movie that is interspersed within a game. "Scripted" is often a pejorative term when applied to games - there's a very fine balance between telling a story and removing agency from the player.

I think that games will eventually develop their own unique grammar, with very little resemblance to traditional media. Portal manages to tell a really compelling story in a manner that is completely unique to gaming. Fallout 3 has a traditional narrative arc, but with lots of little side-arcs and bits of mise-en-scene that are entirely optional. They have starkly different approaches to the problem of agency. Portal gives the player an illusion of choice, while ultimately pushing them towards a bleak and futile conclusion; Fallout 3 gives the player real and meaningful choices that have lasting repercussions. See also Papers, Please, The Binding of Isaac, The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide.

>>22119

JIM FUCKING STERLING SON has just reviewed a game that might interest you:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sMo3om-89U

>>22120
Looks interesting, thanks.

I'm currently trying to find someone to give me a vampire bite in Elder Scrolls Online, so that I can be a vampire too. I'm reminded rather strongly of those HIV bumder communities.

I hope whoever eventually offers me "the gift" doesn't make me role-play the act. Unless it's a sexy Khajit

Turns out I'm the sole admin for the youtuber nyanner's steam group, I only noticed now after a few years and have no explanation for this.

Natural Selection 2 is still alive somehow, I'm playing that to stave away getting too much into csgo. The state of the game is you find people from NA playing on servers in the EU, it's on the way out for sure.

>>22127
>Vampire cat
Eh..

Whats TeS online like, by the way? I'm considering a new MMO to play. Hopefully its not a WoW clone.

I've got a giftable copy of Tomb Raider 2013 on Steam if anyone fancies it. I didn't realize I'd be getting an extra copy when I bought Rise of the Tomb Raider today. You'll need to add me on steam for me to gift it though: Profile name: Aimeesaurus and my profile picture is a somewhat humorous picture of a mug

>>21394
I would have done this if TR had Linux support.

Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings
33TVL-42ACE-Z98Y
Missing the letter M at the end. Please post if you use it, I don't care whether you say thanks or not but it saves someone else from wasting their time trying to grab it.

I remember this thread. Gave a bunch of stuff away. I'll have a dig and see if I can find any more.

If anyone is interested there is a Dungeon Keeper clone called Dungeons 2 free on humble bundle atm.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobfiywCejU

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/dungeons-2

>>22063
>Would love to try it but I'm poor.
Same. It's going to be a few years before decent kit becomes affordable, unfortunately.

>>22056
You play as him in RE : Revelations 2.

The game is shit as a Resident Evil title, and that's when compared to both halves of the series (action and horror). Too many scripted sequences killing new playthroughs of the game, the acid fucks can stun lock you on madhouse and there's no real reason to play the game more than once unless you're a trophy fag

>>22121

>unless you're a trophy fag

Could you manage a thimble of self-respect and not type like a brainless yank?

>>22121
It's good enough that you completed it and then started again on Madhouse, though, eh?

Generally I like achievements if they actually add something to the experience. "Rack up 10,000 kills" or whatever is pretty dull. RE7 has a few interesting ones - "Just Get Me Outta Here" (completing the game in under four hours) in particular was great fun. Guess that makes me a "trophy fag".

The DLC so far was pretty enjoyable, anyone else pick it up? I quite liked the card game, though it's got a lot of shit online. The "Misery"-like mini game where you're stuck in a bedroom with Maguerite checking on you is fantastic. I didn't get on so well with Jack's Birthday eating competition, but hey ho, got my money's worth with the rest.

Unfortunately the substantial free DLC that was supposed to arrive this spring (attached) has been delayed. I'm fine with that as long as it's good when it finally drops. Can't argue with the price, either.

>>21981
Nah, it's a forced mod meme.

>>21985
You assume incorrectly.

>>21986
Yes, the mods on here have been forcing a word salad meme on multiple chans for the past 5 years. Idiot.

>>21981

We'll know soon enough it's her because she'll start linking the britfa to a GCHQ mindwashing program run out of a secret purple shed in one of the many quiet gardens overlooking The Doughnut.

>>21985

Emily is a fucking nutter who we discovered by accident. She subsequently wove britfa.gs into her conspiracy which was very entertaining.

>>22114
She thinks we are life-sciences twats with microchipped penises.

>>22103
I'll give it another shot once I've finished squeezing out this particularly obnoxious poo.

>>22089
Do you have the first clue about anything you are talking about? No I haven't bothered to use Debian or Ubuntu because RPMs are used by Centos. And maybe if you're a manager who spends more time writing fspecs than actual code finding the shift key might be a challenge but for a developer it's a well-learned action.

>>22103
I agree with you, I think DS2 is definitely the best of the Souls series. I enjoyed the wide variety of locations, even if the geography made very little sense compared to 1 and 3. The DLC was great too, and the enhanced version's changes to enemy placements did a good job of keeping the game feeling fresh.

>>22109
Before I played it I'd heard a lot of shit talking about the scenery not making sense, but with one exception (that elevator) it seems fine to me, if a bit uninspired at times. Again, though, my spatial awareness is terrible, so maybe for people who aren't so useless it's really annoying.

SotFS is a pretty good addition, there was plenty of cynicism about it being a cheap cash-in, re-releasing a game a year after it came out, but these days you can pick it up for next to nothing and it's got a ridiculous amount of content with the DLCs included. I'm in two minds about the DLCs - they're a lot tighter in design, but they're also irritatingly hard in places. I'm also not a huge fan of the increased mob sizes for the reasons previously mentioned, but overall it's got enough improvements that I can't complain. I do love fighting the Pursuer and he pops up all over the shop in SotFS. Fuck fighting the Ancient Dragon, though; nothing makes me feel like a heroic adventurer more than battering a dragon's big toe for ten minutes until it falls over. Honestly don't know what they were thinking with that one. The last boss encounter is kind of so-so as well, especially if you're a melee build.

That all sounds a bit negative, but again, for the moment to moment feel of the game I think DS2 takes it. The combat is great.

>>22110
Bloody hell, forgot why I came here. Anyone got the new DLC for DS3? I've avoided all spoilers but the only character I've got is on NG+++ so I'm getting killed in one or two hits and it's starting to grate on my nerves. Not sure if it's worth starting a new character for right now, might leave it for a year or so when I'm feeling in the mood to return.

>>21419

Excellent. Any longer playthrough videos?

>I love what mods can do with a game!
I guess Doom is probably the game with the greatest number of mods/user-created levels made for it, they were still going hard over at Doomworld last time I checked in. I couldn't even estimate how many I played back in the 90s/early 00's, and some were really amazingly creative - I think the engine is sort of a sweet spot for user creation, where it's just complicated enough to have a reasonable barrier to entry, but simple enough that you don't need to be a dedicated programmer/modeller/etc to make something really cool.

>>21422

Pretty much this. Especially now we have editors like DoomBuilder- Most other engines simply aren't around long enough for their tools to reach such a level of refinement and ease of use. Stuff like Quake and Unreal Tournament wasn't much more complex in theory, but Doom is still the only game of a reasonable complexity where you can read a tutorial, and start cracking out perfectly decent maps, in the same afternoon.

Even I have managed to make a reasonably impressive set of Doom levels in my time. I could just never figure out how you do stuff like changing the title screen and background music etc in order to make a cohesive pack out of them. If I could have figured that out I was going to put the .wad on my band's last CD release for shits and giggles, each level would have a midi version of a track from the album and then there would be a little text scroll about how a humble roadie saved the tour from hellspawn.

speaking of this particular campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwL0otuwk8E

>>22066
Likely not a coincidence, but Doom started out at id as a potential Aliens-licensed game. Talks broke down with 20th Century Fox over creative freedom; probably for the best.

I recently found this nifty thing
http://www.openra.net/
which lets you play Dune 2000, C&C and Red Alert. There looks like a lively multiplayer community although I haven't given it a go yet.

>>22034
>Rollercoaster Tycoon

Maybe try the old Sierra city building games. I sank loads of hours into them growing up and learnt a fair bit of history doing it.

gog has the whole series for just over a tenner: https://www.gog.com/game/pharaoh_cleopatra

You could try some online games like Club penguin, Transformice.

Dungeon Keeper was a childhood favourite of mine. Age of Empires 3 really wasn't bad either - 2 is of course a classic, but they might prefer the graphics of 3.

>>22037
>Why did you decide against it? I played the shit out of Medieval: Total War and Rome. I would suggest Rome or Medieval 2 as they're more relatable than the recent ones.

I don't know, just didn't feel that tempted.

Anyway, I'm toying with getting Stardew Valley and Planet Coaster (which has been made by people behind the original Rollercoaster Tycoon games)

>>20690

Second game confirmed. There's a trailer out, it shows who's in it but little else, if you're worried about spoilers.

Happens to coincide with me replaying the original on Grounded difficulty. I'm generally enjoying getting my arse handed to me, but the sparsity of checkpoints is a right bastard. I'm about halfway through and there's a couple of locations up ahead that I'm dreading.

>>22043
Sneak as much as you can. Bottles are your friends, save everything you can for armoured guys and Bloaters.

>>22044
I'm at the university and only realised a few levels ago that a brick, on its own, is a guaranteed kill for everything in the game if you use it right (except for bloaters, which go down with one properly-placed molotov). Wish I'd known that at the start.

Winter's going to be a cunt though. So far it's been the big areas that have been hard (hotel, library) because they were so huge and had so many enemies, but that enclosed fight with a horde + bloater in the old factory is going to be murder with limited resources.

>>22045
From what I remember the game "slightly" lets up on you there and gives you a bigger amount of stuff. Still have to make every shot count though.

>>22046
Yeah it wasn't so bad. Having to do the whole of the hospital in one stretch was much more tricky.

I did the DLC afterwards (Grounded doesn't make much odds here, but it's still great), and then read the comics (eh... I've read worse). Now I'm really fired up for a game that's not going to be released for years.

Oh well.

>>21994
Nobody in particular. If you google 'Red dead Redemption Code mess' you'll find it being repeated a lot over the years. I've heard Jeff Gerstmann mention it a few times on the Giant Bombcast. Could be true, could just be a rumour.

>>21994

Pretty much all modern AAA titles have horrendous codebases. When you're just trying to get a product out of the door as cheaply and quickly as possible, maintainability goes out of the window. Games invariably pick up all sorts of really crufty bugfixes in the last-minute crunch to meet the launch date.

There's very little rigour in the development process, because rigour is slow and expensive. Nobody bothers documenting anything properly, because it's assumed that nobody will touch the code once the game ships. Nobody writes unit tests - a certain level of bugginess is accepted, with playtesting used to iron out the worst bugs.

If a studio doesn't have clear plans to port a game, they won't make any effort to make the codebase portable. There are simply too many other things that need to be done and too little time. Compounding the issue is the fact that game studios mainly hire inexperienced developers straight out of university, because they're naive enough to work punishingly long hours for below-market pay. The turnover of staff at game studios is alarmingly high, because most developers realise that they'd be earning twice as much money for half the hours at a B2B software company.

>>21995
I could maybe understand that for the previous generation's RDR, but they would have to write some seriously dodgy code for it not to be portable between the latest gen of x86 consoles and PCs. Most likely they're going for the similar tactic with GTA V, drawing it out over a long time and hoping for repeat purchases when the PC version comes out with all the Nvidia bells and whistles.

>>21996
The thing is though, porting games isn't something particularly new to the games industry, and writing portable code isn't particularly difficult - you'd think it would be a relatively cheap way of getting extra value out of the product. The latest Xbox runs Win10 on hardware not significantly different to what you'd find in a gaming PC, so porting between Xbox and PC should be virtually free (it's certainly in Microsoft's interest for it to be as cheap as possible).

>>21996

>Pretty much all modern AAA titles have horrendous codebases. When you're just trying to get a product out of the door as cheaply and quickly as possible, maintainability goes out of the window.

This is less true than it used to be. Most modern development houses use pretty rigorous version control and modularity and such, because the projects are so vast and involve so many people in specialist areas ("water physics programmer", etc etc). You're guaranteed to have serious problems troubleshooting projects of this size if the source code is one big tarball that only one person really understands. This was often the case back in the PS/PS2 days, and pretty much universal earlier, but times change. Projects tend to follow "agile" development, Scrum etc (since they change drastically over the course of the project), and games have been increasingly incorporating online/multiplayer elements that will continue to be developed post-launch for some time now (RDR was no exception), all of which make a case for a modular, maintainable codebase. That's not to say that all modern game code is meticulously tidy, obviously, and for games that are platform-exclusive there'll be significant specialisation to the architecture. There were versions of RDR on 360 and PS3, though, so if Rockstar decided to put the resources into making a PC version I imagine it would at least be less hassle than most exclusive games of that generation, many of which have been ported to the PC/modern x86 consoles.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see a HD remake for modern platforms prior to RDR2.

>>22011
Lulzsec have been working with the FBI for years, not just on an informant basis but actual collusion with Sabu on the Stratfor leaks. The Arab Spring was helped along by Anonymous, especially in Tunisia and JTRIG had a role in the Twitter war there. This is an interesting write up.

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/gchq-url-shortener-twitter-honeypot-arab-spring

Whilst these are obvious operations that any security apparatus would take against a group of dissidents online who don the mask of shame, there are more dark things that happen on imageboards. Gman from 99chan is facing a long sentence in a federal case involving the San Bernadino shootings. It's quite clear that he was a useful idiot for the people involved and he is far from anything remotely dangerous. It appears that the police were able to interrogate an autismal man for days who had no legal counsel. From what I've heard, he merely shat himself after the shootings and talked too much to investigators. He had no malicious intent whatsoever and was more of a spacker than anything. They were able to find all of his conversations on 99chan because they were probably watching it from years ago.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/san-bernardino-shooters-neighbor-intoxicated-people-adderall/story?id=36126799

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3353767/San-Bernardino-plot-thickens-Nerdy-neighbor-bought-guns-San-Bernardino-shooter-planned-earlier-2012-attack-Farook-married-sister-law-lived-man.html

I wonder if this is just strange coincidence or the sign of something more brooding.

>>22010
Certainly isn't a mod.

>>22014
That is just someone who is a) stoned or b) losing their mind.

>>22014
>thirstily turning peoples places into a hotel/outhouse and anally attacking colon cleansed people

This sounds allot like arse pissing at 'Spoons.

>>22017
Absolutely, I still find it interesting. No surprises that the guy who blames everything on the mods immediately related it to actual conspiracy theories too. Our very own /boo/lad.

I was about to say Descent, but apparently that's already in the pipeline,available on early access on Steam.

Cannon Fodder.

Unlike Worms which got its million sequels, and even 3d variations like Hogs Of War, Cannon Fodder seems condemned to the past; which is sad as, if done properly, I could see a proper 3d version of Cannon Fodder being fantastic.

inb4 someone tells me that I'm an idiot that hasn't paid attention over the last 10-15 years and there's been N reboots and remakes already.

That and sensible soccer.

>>21982
You bastard, I was midway through putting Corbyns face on that cover for the next Corbyn thread.

Archimedean Dynasty.

>>21989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjfzUpZymYA