the new age of gaming.... it sucks

Originally this blog was just a place to post the Cheap ass gamer episodes and freeware gaming news, but you know what? it's a blog, I'm going to rant...

Well I've been gaming since the days of the commodore amiga and the snes. Games where simple then, they looked like something a 5 year old drew on paint and they where FUN! One could be a gamer on a reasonable budget. And best of all... the cool kids where too good for gaming! why is that good? because other then being told that gaming makes me a geek i wasnt being told what games to play!

Nowadays picking a new game is like a 17 year old girl picking a new boyfriend... all her friends have to approve... Games have to be cool, lets face it its not like the days of the snes where your games collection was so different to your best friends you'd go over to his place to play his games and he'd come to play yours... now everyone's games collection is more or less the same... if the game has a high rating, its in everyone's collection. And guess what... they are almost all first person shooters too... dont get me wrong I love first person shooters but i preferred it when not everyone else in the world did....

Anyway i'm going off topic as I have yet to touch on what actually got me ranting in the first place. Nowadays a game does not stand a chance unless it looks photo realistic and takes a computer that cost you atleast a months wages to buy. Nobody truly cares about the games... the GAMEPLAY anymore... all these idiots calling themselves hardcore gamers, and yes, if your one of them i just called you an idiot, insist that any game that doesnt need a supercomputer or ps3 to run, its shit. new gamers look at doom, one of the best games ever made, and will spew shit out like "graphics suck". Some people think of me as a nintendo fanboy, but they are wrong, i've been a fan of the playstation up to the ps2.. i never even looked at a gamecube... but this generation its all about bloody graphics, damn right i'm going to love nintendo, they are focusing on this long forgotten aspect of gaming... FUN!

In a forum topic regarding psps and dss someone said the ds is underpowered... remember the days when the BLACK AND WHITE (actually black and green) gameboy was the king of handhelds? it was awesome! now people expect handhelds to be as powerful as home consoles? what the fuck? we're talking about a console thats purpose in life is to make that busride home suck less...

someone once said, "a true gamer is somebody that can play just about anything, no matter how old it is, anyone who sticks to the latest hardware and graphically impressive games is not a gamer but simply a technology enthusiast" And the majority of hardcore gamers out there.. well you call yourself hardcore... yeah.. this applies to you people!!!

Anyway I support freeware and open source because it stands for everything i beleive in... these games dont make money, so they stand to lose nothing by taking risks and being original, and not having amazing graphics.. this is why i am cheap ass gamer, because you do NOT need a supercomputer to be a gamer, it does help, dont get me wrong, i'd love to get my hands on cod4 and some other high spec games (not crysis, played that, it sucks, all graphics, crap game) but i cant afford to as of yet, but that hardly makes me less of a gamer!

Anyway if you've read all this... then leave a comment please. wether its to tell me i'm an asshole and your a hardcore gamer... i welcome your stupid ignorance.. or if its to actually say something intelligent, then please :)

No ep next week and a note on stickman warfare

Next week I will not be preparing an episode for personal reasons.

Also just thought I should share that after releasing episode 5, in which I mentioned the 'pretty but useless blue thingy' .. stressed how useless it is, and how even the developer admitted its useless... I played a quick game and had my ass handed to me by someone using that particular gun

Ep5

Episode 5: Stickman Warfare


Get the game here

Also, as a games developer in training myself, this game inspired me alot, so I interviewed the developer

And for your reading pleasure:

Kain:
Hello, I would like to start by saying thanks for allowing me to interview you

Alex:
Sure, no problem
And hello, btw

K:First of all, I'd like to get some technical stuff out of the way, what was Stickman Warfare programmed in?

A:It was made in Delphi 5 enterprise
And yes, delphi this version is at least 10 years old as I know

K: It seems to be quite an ambitious project for one developer, did you ever feel the project was too much for you and consider giving up?

A: No, not at all, it was not huge in the beginning, I just made up a terrain... and some buildings... and some more buildings
I always added small things, wich were not too much for me

K: fair enough, now, can you explain a little about the networking system and how it allows a high number of players?

A: I guess my ides reinventing the wheel, but it works pretty much
The basic thing is that it is P2P
That means players directly communicate with eachother
The server basically does not do anything, but introduces players to eachother
This really had some challanges because this kind of networking eats up upload bandwidth really fast
and I had to use all kinds of packing and prioritizing stuff

K: alright, I think that satisfies our technical needs, so about the game itself.. what inspired it?

A: First of all, it was just a terrain engine in the beginning
And then I saw a newgrounds movie, De_Aztec, wich was CS match with stickmen
I realy liked it, and it was a good idea, because it is much easier than making actual game characters (modelling and animating all that stuff is boring)

K: Ok, what made you decide on the teams, modern day guns versus futuristic tech guns?

A: That is an interesting story
I am 17 and I'm still doing High School
And I was in some kind of Maths session
where we brainstormed with friends, how to make the game more interesting...Of course, two opposing teams are a good idea. And this guns vs. plasma weapons was the next, wich I really really liked, and implemented that week
It was just some random idea, when I was talking with friends

K: ah, very cool! Is there any particular inspiration with the map?

A: Hmmm, nothing, it's just a mathematical function called "perlin noise"
I just generated a map and I still use it.

K: interesting, what about the random objects littered aroudn the map, such as bunkers and the temple?

A: They are hand modelled and hand placed
They were made by my classmates and other friends, who do modelling as a hobby
And I just placed them on the terrain

K: I see, so is there any development experiences you would like to share with our readers?

A: Hmmm, let me think
Developing this game has really improved my maths and programming skills, that's all I can say... Practice makes
perfect

K: fair enough. now developing a game like this, and apparantly being in highschool too must not leave much time for gaming... do you play anything else yourself?

A: It does leave plenty of time to play
I play all kinds of stuff, from starcraft to need for speed
Currently, I am Playing World Of Warcraft on a private server most of the time

K: hehe, good to know. anyway that just about concludes the interview, thanks again for your time, and goodbye

A: No problem, See you later

Intro

Hello fellow cheap ass gamers :P

I have finally set up a site (blog) for cheap ass gamer!

here i will post the episodes (obviously) as well as General Freeware stuff (news, opinions, reviews ect) and bonus episodes! (an episode that doesnt fit in normal criteria, either non multiplay, mmo or something like that)

anyway the first 4 episodes:

Episode 1


Assault cube

Episode 2



Tremulous

Episode 3



Sauerbraten

Episode 4



Savage