Some Strippers Like Linux

Zeno Clash

“Zeno Clash is an action/fighting game set in a punk fantasy world. The game blends first person action with up close and brutal combat made popular in third person console classics. The game’s art style pushes the boundaries of the Source engine features (the same used to create Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, etc) and represent a departure from the visuals seen in any of today’s games. It will be released April 21st 2009 via direct to drive and retail for PC.”

“Zeno Clash features Steamworks integration for copy protection, player statistics and Steam Achievements. “Using Steamworks and Source has allowed us to create a game that has captured the attention of the independent gaming competition judges and soon launch to millions of gamers around the world,” said Andres Bordeu, co-founder at ACE Team.”

(25/03/09)NEW: Webcomic

We’d still like to celebrate the IGF event with the fans by releasing a beautiful Webcomic that sheds a little background on some of the events that take place in Zeno Clash’s story. Hope everyone enjoys it. Check out the new Gallery to find the goodies!

Zeno Clash Blog

Teaser Trailer:

Gameplay Trailer:

Many people are fearing this game will be a let down because of the focus on melee combat and the use of the source engine. Cynical. Personally, I’ve already bought this game and I hope it at least gets a worthy mention for breaking the status quo that we’re used to. Well, actually not for console tards, they get to keep their noses pressed in homogeonised GMG/DSB generica. So it’s not even THAT much out of the ordinary for us PC gaming master race 3|_371575.

Does it make you happy you’re so strange?
And in your darkest hour,
I hold secrets flame,
We can watch the world devoured in its pain…

I’m working on two new AMVs one with a comedic angle and I have finished some more of Artist-Face’s (B-NOs) caricatures which I’ll upload later/tomorrow.

Corpuscularianism

Tonight I shall talk about gaming! Two topics:

• The disappearence of a standard vidyogame feature.
• My personal mini-achievemnts in my level design career.

So, I’ve been practising my texture creation process for source, getting specular an’ bump maps just right. I’d like to share some pictures with the ghostly apparition that is my non-existant viewership.

This first one is a tile pattern I thought might fit into that Tattooine-esque ep2 map I was making way back when I started this blog.

This next one is a bit junkie right now, as it was only a very rough test. I had the idea will playing 10+ hours of Quake live this week. It repeats very badly and isn’t seamless. Still looks pretty freaky in mois l’humble opine.

The grey smudge your looking is supposed to be galvanised metal, but the bump map and the specular make it look more like some kind of magical frozen water.

I guess for that last one I need to smooth the baby bump map. But what happens to a baby in the womb if you squeeze the mother like a giant stress ball? Pregnant women are a giants stress ball!!

But srsly, I’d like to talk again about and-other trend in modern “hardcore” vidyagames. I’m talking of course, about the lack of local multiplayer options in current gen, banner titles like Killzone 2. (of course? ‘vishly)

While the ability to play online is great, it’s not as much fun (imho) as playing with a bunch of friends in the same room, (often while inebreated) so wherever online multiplayer options are included local ones should, logicaly be there too.  Many valid reasons have been pointed out for this:

• This trend in online only multiplayer forces each person to buy a copy of the game in question. By removing local multiplayer companies force each participant to buy the game.
• Local Multiplayer is being left out of games to make them “more hardcore friendly.” To appeal to the sterotypical reclusive gamer local multiplayer is being dilberately left out of games.
• Developer time constraints; because “time is money in game development.” More money/time can be spent on the major selling features of their game.

The original Halo was fantastic fun when sitting around, with a few mates, on a stoney afternoon but all that is disappearing in the ever increasing crevasse created by the Wii vs PS360, “hardcore” vs “casual” clash of cultures.

It’s like mods and rockers at this point: One day, a Wii remote is going to accidently fly out of a players sweaty mitt; right into a Micro-$ony fanboys’ face. And all sorts of physical, text-based and badly spelled violence will eurpt like a premature ejactualtion all over modern gaming culture’s face.

Thus just like the language I’ve used to metamorphise the situation, it will not be pretty. It’ll be pretty pointless too, because:

“If we restrict ‘games’ to GENRE, Platform, etc. and anything that doesnt appeal to the genesis/snes generation is immediately discarded as casual drivel, then how do we ever expect to grow as an artform? If we’re ever to be accepted as an artform/entertainment medium, or taken seriously at all, then there has to be something on offer for everyone. And now, there is.“

And so I bring to a close a blog post with possibly THEE most tags of any master piece I’ve yet written. I had a longer rant about local multiplayer but I segweighed so neatly into the gaming culture rift that it all seems inextricably linked. Ohayo-Gosaimas. XD

Love from PPW!

Abasement

And I quote:

“abase

Verb

[abasing, abased] abase oneself to make oneself humble [Old French abaissier]

abasement”

I now present to you, Decaying Alchemists:

Anime: Full Metal Alchemist

Song: Decaying Alchemist

Artist: Abase

I think it speaks for itself.

Falice in Plunderland

So… Over a month eh?

Let me start by talking about something game design related;

Bioshock 2

There we have what is being called a Big Sister. Most people will ooh and ah over it. Where as I, for once, determined to bring everyone down have a few gripes to pick with the design.

The big daddies looked like they had something very grounded in reality about them because of the diving suit aesthetic but even though there are similar features in play here it just doesn’t feel congruent with the Big Daddies. Allow me to illustrate with some pictures:

Big Daddies are basically a cross between those two things plus a dash of creative license and a big fucking drill bit.

And what the fuck is with all them belts on the big sis’? I mean this is one time when a suit may need alot of belts and straps to keep things together but that’s just excessive, design-for-the-sake-of-it shit right there.

It’s like when they used to make the models for special effects, they’d add random bits and pieces (like paperclips) to make it look it had some technological grounding but infact was just random, arbitrary little doodads and “designs.” I believe it was called greebling.

Well with that bile well and truely spewed to perfection lets move on arseclefts and gentlemen.

Oddly still gaming related here, I wanna show a map for HL2DM that has been in the works for ni-on a thousands days!

The map has changed a bit in the final stretches, the bottom area in the last picture is probably the biggest change. I’m mainly trying to get weapon placement just right and adding in various optimisations an’ graphical fixes for any wayword pixels.

I’m also working on my drawlings from Artist-face, which I’ll post here in dew time.