Messages

AV = adult video???

I didn't know LGM did that kind of photography.

Perhaps you could the hand search into an AGS competition, "LGM's Next Top Hand Model." There has to be at least one person on these forums with soft, ladylike manos.

Don't look at me. Mine are beat to shit from putting up weights.

Well, if her parents come after you with a pitchfork and torch toting crowd, you can always blame it on Dr. Jekyll.

It's hard to tell from the picture what the baby will look like (most likely dark hair, since that's a dominant trait). But it looks like he will be a thirsty one. Maybe with a better picture, we could make it into a Photoshop Friday event. You know, where we can combine the two faces a la that celebrity segment on the Late Show with Conan O'Brien.

Just out of curiosity, what was the birth control situation like prior to the two weeks late bit?

Akumayo (humorously unintentionally) reminded me of something...

In case you change the title, try to avoid slang connotations. Like "snapper", for instance...

Hmmm... a chance to put my ad experience to work.

Generally, it's a very bad idea to illustrate the caption/describe the picture. I understand the pun here, but the redundancy is overkill. It's akin to having a picture of a man frozen in a huge block of ice and a woman glaring at him with the headline "Is your fashion sense getting too many cold stares?" (or "Don't get frozen in your tracks") The headline fails to provide new information, since we can understand what's going on just by looking at the picture.
A better headline for my example might be "You don't have to be born with fashion sense" followed by the copy "Warm up to the party with threads from..." (an improvement, although still not great, since I thought of this on the spot)

I've been experimenting with this digital painting thing, so I decided to try my hand at this competition. My entry:


(few hours of GIMPwork)

I really need a Wacom tablet.

I love how it takes us only 5 posts into a CL thread before we're reduced to bestiality jokes.

The player character in this is pure sex. I love the way his simplicity and brightness contrasts against the usually dark and heavily detailed backgrounds.

If you went with that motif, it would be too hard to differentiate between the good and the evil, let alone the individual pieces. When you're dealing with 32 small sprites on the screen at once, it's best to go with more iconic designs so the player can recognize them easily.

Well I was hoping to finish the game before posting this, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen in the near future.Ã, 

I beat all the way to Knox's office and here are my impressions:
(Possible spoilers here, I dunno)

(Listed in no particular order)

- I loved the Mind's Eye concept, of the player character trying to reach a level of awareness. It would be nice if you reward the player for exploring the game world more, like you gain awareness by observing the surroundings, but getting drugged causes you to lose the awareness, although that might need to happen to give your character insight. As a result, the meter would fluctuate.

- Overall the art and atmosphere is a mixed bag. The backgrounds are monotonous, and everything interface related seems cramped. The scroll bar on the right side of the inventory is superfluous, as there are relatively few items Noah will pick up. There were times when I literally could barely see the graphics because the color values were so muddy. Even the design elements of the title needed work (the semi realistic CBS "eye" logo with the rough pixel spray glow that washes out the crunched together letters).

- The portraits are about the same size as the sprite's heads, so they seem pointless. The top part of the screen is mostly empty space in the backgrounds, so I don't see why the portraits/titles can't be bigger.

- The music and sound, while decent, seem underused, especially to convey the horror type atmosphere. Try watching "The Ring" (or something like that) on mute and you'll see what a big difference the audio makes.

- Hotspot titles would be nice, especially when you're strapped to the cart. The book is almost indistinguishable from the sink. (black pixels vs. dark gray). It would be nice if every attempted action elicited a response. Also, the "think" action is used to open doors???

- The "rocking the cart puzzle by clicking with a certain timing or rhythm" was bogus. There's no hint about timing the clicks, so I just solved it by clicking 5 million times. Annoying. Sure I could probably solve it faster if I took the extra time to learn how it was supposed to work, but there's no incentive for the player to do that.

- All dialogue "cutscenes" need to be skip-able.

- I liked the sneaking puzzle with the flickering lights (although it's unlikely, not being seen when directly across the hall when the lights are on), but the trial and error aspect of it sucked. When you use the mind on the orderly with the glasses it says something about how his vision is blocked by the guy he's talking to. I should be able to cross the hall to the side they're on without being seen (line of vision), but that wasn't the case at all. If a puzzle is meant to be solved through trial and error (learning the pattern of the lights), punishing the player with death for getting it wrong is annoying.

- You can enter the second security office, but not the first one. Even when the first one is unoccupied.

- You can talk to the cells on Ward 4, but not to any of the other wards. Also, Ward 4 cells don't have names (they're not even hotspots).

- There is some annoying limited interactivity. You can't take the deck of cards, or search the lab coat in Mitchell's office, or even open the microfridge. When the two guys in the break room said they wanted something to go with the cigarettes, I immediately thought "coffee". I think that was an unintentionally misleading hint. I also couldn't search the microfridge (maybe something they would've wanted was in there). I felt some interactions were missing. Wouldn't the keys to the locked cabinets in the medical room be in the pocket of Knox's lab coat?

- Waking up as a prisoner is the most cliche device in a game. Or was that waking up with amnesia? Or having to drug someone's drink? Hmmm... It's also not very likely that the guard would pass out after taking lithium, especially not with coffee. Most likely he would really have to pee badly. And make him very dehydrated.

- The cutscene with Knox and the security in the end office breaks the narrative of the game up to that point. Before then, the player only knows what Noah knows. Now suddenly, the player knows more than him, since he couldn't have possibly witnessed that scene! It definitely detracts from the mysterious atmosphere. Also, after he ordered the windows to be shuttered, why was the one in his office left vulnerable?

EDIT: Before I forget, I also loved the way you could click on the opening eye in the inventory screen and it tells you what the player character knows about his situation. Brilliant! On the down side, the inventory screen interferes with the exit hotspots, just like in Apprentice. 

All in all, I think you have a good concept, but the execution was uninspiring.

I guess this is why you're an artist and not a businessman.

Most subjects are simplifications of reality, ways of interpretation to help us understand the patterns. This doesn't mean exceptions don't exist, only that they distract from understanding it as a system. To this goal, assumptions are made, and we recognize them as such. It just happens that these assumptions are integral to economics, finance, marketing, and capitalism. First and second world countries operate with these assumptions. I'm sorry they're not to your taste. (Although you should try to be open-minded and read the whole thing before you judge it to get a sense of the context.)

I don't think either of us can carry on this discussion based on anything but emotions if we don't employ a system of some kind.

Desperation or emotions can make the equation more inelastic (lowering the opportunity cost by the necessity of the action), but it DOES not negate reason. Please read the essay I linked to a few posts up.

EDIT: It is supposed to read "inelastic." Desperate situations (balls against the wall) can restrict an individual's choices.

Mordalles: Wow, it's about time someone entered a Frazetta classic! Is there a reference pic you could post?

Everyone? I think that's a stereotype. Honestly, when I visited France I was pretty surprised at the weaponry I saw. French MPs carry submachine guns...

You're attacking my hypothetical situation with a generality. I asked YOU a specific question. My intention was NOT to apply it to "a large system". Microeconomics assumes rationality. Sure, not all people are, but it assumes that's the minority (I hope most of us are blessed with the gift of reason  ).

Andail (and others), here is an essay written by an instructor of economics at Univeristy of Missouri St. Louis about "Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory." It's pretty basic stuff, but he does describe cost-benefit analysis.

http://www.umsl.edu/~rkeel/200/ratchoc.html

It is obviously not the guns that make the difference! Then what is?

How is this obvious? Switzerland trains their citizens in the proper use of a firearm. EVERY male between the ages of 18-65 is required by law to own at least one handgun. They have to maintain a certain accuracy at firing ranges. One of my second cousins even got issued a rocket launcher. It is not unusual to see tanks and helicopters everywhere. Here in the US, it is illegal for a citizen to even own a fully automatic weapon. I don't see how you can group both countries in the same category.

I wanted to respond to this now, but I will cite the textbooks if you really want. The cost-benefit relationship is pretty basic micro, though. But fair enough, we definitely had different schooling.

From a logical standpoint, say you're a rational criminal and you are going to rob a liquor store. Would you pick a store where you know everyone inside has a gun and knows how to use one? Probably not. The risks of yourself getting hurt outweigh the benefits you can gain from stealing the money in the register.
This is the same reason why schoolyard bullies won't attack kids his size or bigger.

The armed citizenry and strategy of deterrence was employed by the Swiss during WWII (one of the reasons the Nazis were reluctant to attack).
http://history-switzerland.geschichte-schweiz.ch/switzerland-second-world-war-ii.html

Do you think removing all guns would make crimes increase?

It would give criminals more leverage, since that legislation would only disarm the upright citizens.

I hope this answers your questions for now.

Ummm....

I never said they have no violent crime in Switzerland.

I never said gun ownership was the reason for this.

I only said that universal gun ownership drove the risk side of rational crimes higher.

Switzerland illustrates this microeconomic relationship.

Do you think these are "disparate connections"?


Andail: You refuted what I said about gun ownership in the US without any proof. I'm not saying you need to list a bibliography MLA style after your post. I just think it would be nice if you tell me WHAT makes you want to disagree with my statement.

Gun ownership in Switzerland is mandated by the government (as part of the militia). This is not the case in the US. Would you like me to look up sources for this? In the US there is lots of regulation on handgun ownership, which discourages legal ownership of a handgun.

Did I write anywhere that you don't have the right to be disgusted at what you saw on television???

The phenomenon of everybody having a gun doesn't reduce crime in any way.

Care to explain this? You can't refute an argument by simple stating the negatory. Sometimes it's helpful if you can cite a source or maybe use a little logic (but only in moderation, too much logic might give some of the people here headaches).

Helm, a proof relying on a degree of statistical significance (which relies on a preset level for the p-value) is FAR weaker than a logical proof. There are two many confounding factors between states to establish a correlation with those studies.

Andail, have you ever read Roland Barthes? The process of making something into a "spectacle" adds information. In this case, the information is an object lesson to those who view. According to Foucault (Discipline and Punish), that's why executions have been public (up to more recent years). As for the accompanying sensationalism, human nature is to blame (the reason why tabloids sell and disasters and scandals are in the news more than good things happening). An objective execution is disgusting, but not when compared to multiple murders!

In Afghanistan, the executioner would traditionally be a member of the family the criminal wronged. The criminal would be on his knees in a field (in the goalie box in a soccer field, ironically) and the person would stand behind him and blow his head off with a machine gun. Believe it or not, I saw actual footage of this in one of my clases (the camcorder was hidden under a burqa, I believe).

As for the topic of guns, look to Switzerland. The populace is armed by mandate, yet they have the lowest handgun death rate in the world (or close...I know the handgun related deaths was 0 one of these recent years). This is due to the concept of active deterrence. The risks far outweigh the benefits from any illegal act (No one will try to hold up a liquor store when everyone in there is armed). It's similar to the way a "beware of dog" sign discourages housebreakers.

Oh, Helm, you sound so sexy when you get worked up about something. At least the way I read it, you do. 

Progz, I never said we weren't TRYING to convince someone else of our own beliefs. I only said it's unlikely for someone else to adopt them. The writers of old must have been so convincing!