Xooxer's site

Bigfoot DNA study enters peer review

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:56:41 +0000

We may soon have definitive proof of the existence of another bipedal homonid. A paper detailing the study of over 100 DNA samples of alleged bigfoot is now under peer review, and if published, will finally put this mystery under real scientific scrutiny.

http://www.bigfootlunchclub.com/2012/11/ first-bigfoot-dna-peer-review-results.html

BYOND the pbag: Game Mechanics

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 19:31:07 +0000

This thread is in response to the thread located at id:801623. I decided to start a new thread, instead of further derailing that already extensive discussion.

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Read that thread and count the number of different ways we refer to art and art creation. Now count the number of ways we refer to play and play creation.

On the one hand we have art, with words like color, animation, depth, perspective, style, pallet, consistency, and so on.

On the other hand, we have play with only one reference I can see: gameplay.

This should be enough to illustrate the underlying issue BYOND has with game development. We don't know how to talk about, describe, analyze or implement play in games. We lack the vocabulary to express these concepts, and therefore, revert to what is already accepted as a "game" on BYOND and derive our "game" from that.

In order to understand gameplay, and explore it as developers, we need to define what play in a game means. Unfortunately for us, this lack of vocabulary extends to the greater game development community. There simply is no well-defined means of expressing what play is, and much confusion about what makes games fun to play. The problem is bigger than BYOND, but it's much more prevalent here.

The vast majority of games on BYOND have little or no play mechanics. Clicking something over and over to increase a stat is about as far as we get. The trope is so over-used, we don't even see it anymore. It's the pbag. The attack verb. Mining ore by clicking a rock. Fishing by clicking the water. The list goes on and on.

Some games have tried to break this habit, but really only end up re-creating the same game mechanic in a different way, resulting in the same sort of problem, now with a new facade. Instead of clicking the Attack verb in the stat panel, we now click the Attack HUD icon.

Until we, as a community, come to terms with our lack of understanding, we can't expect to attract dedicated developers and players, and BYOND has little chance of obtaining anything remotely close to success in the game development marketplace, no matter if we publish here through BYOND's Hub, in a stand-alone EXE, or in some web-based flash interface.

Here's a few links to help get the discussion flowing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_mechanics
http://gamification.org/wiki/Game_Mechanics
http://www.squidi.net/three/index.php

~X

Where for art thou, Utilities?

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:31:29 +0000

There's a hole in BYOND where Utilities used to be.

There's no place to properly list a program that does work (as in accomplishing some task, not to mean that it functions as designed), isn't a game source code or demonstration in source code, and is clearly not a game.

Where did you put the numerous utility programs? Demos? That makes no sense.

What was the point of doing away with BYOND.Utilities?

Probably not what you think

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 19:26:25 +0000

Not dead, not undead.

I have no plans on resurrecting my old projects. I'll try to keep the old sources and resources active, but don't expect any updates. Sorry Chatters, you're on your own (but you knew that already). I will help you try and figure out my source code, if you like.

I've recently released the source code for my mobRay project, and added a download for the Chatters channel server (compiled) so more people can host their own channel. I don't know if the Chatters source is still available. If not, I can make a hub entry for it.

I haven't given up on BYOND. I'm not going anywhere. Even if my presence is intangible at times, I'm still here.

There are a couple projects I'm tinkering with, but nothing concrete enough to mention.

Not crazy, guano-like or otherwise.

A quick search for my key brought up some erroneous facts being circulated about me. It seems the name Xooxer has become interchangeable with the word 'insane'. I assure you, this is an absurd contrivance.

I have made numerous posts on my blog about the topics that interest me. Many of these topics are fringe, to say the least. Because of this, I have been labeled as a crazy nutbag. While this may be mildly entertaining for the base reader, it is not accurate.

While the topics have been on the fringes of mainstream acceptance, my approach to them was often one of skeptical inquiry. I asked questions, postulated ideas and asked for others to do the same. Quite a few of you engaged in productive discourse on these topics, and I thank you. The vast majority, however, denounced the entire effort as the sputtering madness of a lost mind., and resorted to attacking my character rather than discuss the topics.

I find it mildly amusing that in the time since I've made my 'crazy' blog posts, a number of the ideas I was attacked for have become fairly mainstream. Maybe in a decade we can begin to have an intelligent discussion on these topics.

Not trolling.

There were some questions as to whether or not new troll 'X' is Xooxer in disguise. It was not. I haven't posted under other keys in so long, I can't even recall my last non-Xooxer post. I know this is probably unwise, but I'm willing to take the risk for the sake of settling your minds at ease. The keys I do know I own are:

Xooxer
WebXoox
GodXoox
XoBoT
Atom Heart Mother
Trix
Usr
Src
B166er
bla123
bla134
SamuraiJ
AZ0123

Feel free to cross-reference these with your own key association lists. If I'm not mistaken, that's all of them. If someone else is claiming to be me, or is being accused of being me, and their key is not listed here, you can be fairly certain that they aren't Xooxer. That is not to say, however, that they aren't insane.

~X

P.S. If you need to contact me for some reason, you can reach me at: Xooxer@Live.com It may be some time before I get back to you, but I will try and answer all emails with BYOND in the subject line. Please, no pixel art requests.

P.P.S Here's some broken glass for your eyelids.

BYOND's Absurd Distribution System

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:04:52 +0000

I find myself *again* unable to download any BYOND games because the local networks have blocked just about everything but basic web surfing. Since BYOND insists on using its own protocol for distributing games, I and many other people who can't access the hub aren't even able to play a single-player game.

Will there *ever* be an option to just download the freaking games without having to go through the stupid and unreliable hub to do it? How hard is it to provide a direct link to the zip? I know your pager fetish has you all up in knots about installing things so the pager knows what you're doing all the time, but if it makes it impossible to actually download any games, who cares?

An Apology

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:48:01 +0000

I'm sorry to the BYOND moderators, all the staff and Tom for my outrageous behavior last winter. I acted immaturely, and with great disrespect to everyone. I won't give any petty excuses or try to convince you that my actions were justified, because they were not.

You folks have put up with me through some very difficult times, and for that I am grateful. I had no right to blow my cool like that, and I hope you can someday forgive my obnoxiousness.

I've removed the offending blog posts I made, something I should have done a long time ago. You were right, Alathon, you guys did try and understand. I wish I had listened better.

Again, I'm sorry to those people I hurt, alienated and abused. You all deserve much better.

~X

DO WANT

Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:13:13 +0000

The new Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Series. It's so friggen sweet. It even has a built-in Waccom drawing tablet and comes with an optional 10" second screen. 0_0

Now if someone would just lend me a few grand....

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&appname=gpateam&supplier=872 &letternum=ENUSAG08-0919

Multiplayer with Quests.

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:27:24 +0000

So, say you have this game all about questing, finding quests and completing quests. Many of these quests have some sort of story element that binds them to the world, not just "Go kill N rabbits and bring me their hides!".

As such, a quest could change things in the world for the player that completes it, like opening up new areas or changing how the NPCs react to you, so on. Many of these can be handled with tracking which quests the player has completed and reacting accordingly, but what of opening new areas, or cases where the change caused by beating the quest is something that affects everyone?

Players can't go around beating all the quests and simply leaving the world essentially "solved", and you can only mask others progress so much for new players. So what are some ideas for ensuring new players aren't met with a world with few unsolved quests?

One idea I had was to create circular quests. One quest will open new areas, but also unlock the counter-quest which will essentially reset the first quest's effects. It should be a simple matter to tie this counter-quest into the story (bad guy quest, perhaps?), and essentially making a revolving quest with one or more states that it cycles through.

With that sort of setup, new players will always have the full set of quests available to them, but they may not always be the same. The story would get kinda weird for those who stick around, but I'm seeing this as a more casual type game, with short sessions. The story elements are simply there to add value and meaning, and to motivate players towards new quests.

Evil Cows

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:50:23 +0000

Stumbled upon another strange pic that warranted loleration.

Tip one, I dare ya!

LHC Damage in Pics

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:29:15 +0000

As promised, an update on the LHC.

On Friday, CERN finally got around to sending some pictures of the damage done to the new accelerator back in September. I wonder if it's because it took them this long to find the leak? :P

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10120215-76.html?part=rss