I bet I'm winning the mother of all eye roll awards for a title like that. Teehee
December. Christmas. New Years. Every birthday of every person I know apparently, myself included. You probably know the feeling. One moment you're looking forward to it, next moment its happening, and mere seconds afterwards you're sitting, several kilograms heavier, tired out of your mind and glad to be going back to the regular rhythms.
December is the month of the year when time apparently no longer exists and everything just speeds by, leaving everyone in this contemplative mood where the sentence "I can't believe the year is already over." appears frequently. (Even I said it at a point, cliches be damned.) Despite this, it's a time of festivities and joyfulness. Everyone is celebrating another year survived, the birth of their savior, or some other thing that gives them a good reason to eat more than they should, drink heavily and be merry. (Or perhaps all of those things. Depends on your denomination.)
As a result, you may have noticed that the TCSA blog has been absurdly quiet, to the point of almost no posts for a couple days, but none from JovialJman in a fair while. The reasons for this are numerous ranging from the earlier mentioned festivities, to JovialJman being away from home for a holiday in some forsaken place far away from his computer, (THE HORROR.), and myself having an event every weekend and every week since December started. Pre-planned lans, home renovations, birthdays, birthdays, Christmas, birthdays. Did I mention birthdays? I'm turning 19 tomorrow and I'm so tired of celebrations I wish it was a normal day to be honest.
In any case, I'm going to point out that I'm not going to be writing tomorrow, or New Years, because Celebrations, so do excuse the lax activity of the TCSA blog for this period. On the upside however, both JovialJman and I shall be back in full force come January whereupon we shall be bringing many new and interesting things to this blog and, hopefully, to you readers.
Until then however, I wish you all a very safe and happy end of year, and hope everything is going as well as it could in these final days of 2014. See you next year folks, and I will speak again soon.
A wonderfully non-descriptive and poorly chosen screenshot of the Steam Store. Because terrible screenshots are what I'm all about.
Does your wallet suffer from excess weight? Do you suffer from having time on your hands? Well, provided you have a steam account, you're probably about to be cured of both those afflictions. Let's talk about the Steam Holiday Sale.
Every year, the wonderful, massive games distribution platform that is Steam has a year end holiday sale in which they successfully alleviate the wallets of the world through both quantity and quality of sales. There are truly few services that can entice you to buy things that you may never use, but Steam does that... well. (Not that I'm complaining.)
The statistic as pointed out in this Gamespot article from April this year based on a study by Ars Technica, is that 37% of all Steam games purchased are never played. Which is absurd considering that even at their cheapest, some games are worth a cheap meal at a fast food restaurant. (At least here in South Africa.) Nonetheless, these sales allow people who are somewhat more concious about their spending habits, such as myself, to get games that they want at extremely cut rates.
For example, as of about an hour or two ago from the posting of this article, Payday 2 went on sale at 75% off from it's price, with a 4 pack at the same 75% discount, which equates to a ridiculous saving in total, and an effective buy 3 get 1 free deal. Naturally, JovialJman, myself and our friends being the Payday fanatics that we are, immediately jumped upon this fantastic deal for a fantastic game.
Of course, among others, games such as all the Saints Row's, The Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Portal 2 and many other fantastic titles have all seen fantastic discounts for the holiday, including daily deals like Payday 2's in which they are further discounted by ridiculous amounts. Essentially, the Steam Holiday Sale is a frugal persons dream happiest dream.
Word of forewarning, If I suddenly drop off the internet for a while, I'm probably playing games more than I should be. In any case, that's all I have to say on the matter, so if you would like to get good games on the cheap, make sure to head over to Steam and check out the great deals and let me know what you find, down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Do you feel the need to listen to an Welsh (Bohemian?) man with an oddly classy accent and voice play games and tell you about interesting things while he does so? If so, then like myself, you're probably going to start watching Aavak's video's... a little more than you probably should.
In a completely unexpected turn of events, I have yet another YouTuber that I simply cannot stop watching. Those of you who've been reading this blog for a fair length of time are probably aware of my preference for YouTube Commentators that don't spend their time screaming, making ridiculous noises, and preferably have something meaningful or witty to say. (I'm not saying the screaming isn't funny... but it does get a little old eventually. At least for myself.)
Naturally, I found Aavak by complete and utter accident, and promptly spent the past 4 or 5 days watching his videos between doing whatever else it is I do these days. Why? Because his voice is entrancing or something I guess. Seriously, check out the video below and tell me it's not the kind of voice you'd happily listen to.
Jokes aside, Aavak is a genuinely entertaining YouTuber who is, from what I gather, still relatively new to game, (excuse the pun), with only 36 000 subscribers. (At the time of writing, and including myself.) He, like some of the other YouTubers I enjoy watching like Scott Manley and Quill18, has a habit of making witty remarks about the various occurrences with good humor, while also trying to teach his viewers something as he goes along. (Or at least avoid having meaningless segments in his videos.) One of my favorite moments in his video's came from the above From The Depths series where he discussed the origins of the "Cwn Awnnwn" as he explained his choice of name for a ship.
Basically, he doesn't scream, he talks about interesting things, plays interesting and thoughtful games, and has a voice that simply makes you want to listen to him, even when he stutters or says the same thing again without realizing it. He's also Welsh... I think. Perhaps as a matter of his relative newness to the internet, there is nothing describing who he is or what he does as far I've seen so far. (Odds are something of the sort will crop up eventually.) Either way, he's either Welsh, or Bohemian as his YouTube banner dictates. Unless that's just a clever ploy to throw off anyone trying to figure out his true Welsh identity. In which case, bravo you wily dog you.
In any case, I highly suggest you check out his channel here, watch a few of his videos and just enjoy a genuinely enjoyable personality as he plays some games and talks about stuff. (I probably am as you're reading this. Especially if there's a new Cataclysm video out. That game is AWESOME.)
Do you agree that Aavak is actually a really fun guy to watch? Or maybe you have someone else you think I should check out and give a mention for. If so, do be sure to let me know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
In my ever present lack of mind, I managed to screenshot almost everything except the title screen. Triple points? (Teehee)
Do you like Magic The Gathering, find shuffling tedious, or simply need something "new" *cough* to try out and do? If you said yes to any of these things, then you might find some enjoyment in Magic The Gathering: Duels Of The Planeswalkers 2013.
Those of you with significant mental acuity are likely already or about to ask: "2013? But isn't it almost 2015?". In which case you would be correct, I am perhaps somewhat late to the discussion in terms of this game. Although, that could be said for most games I've discussed considering this blog did only start in June. (Half a year now, goodness how the time flies.)
In any case, my good friend Richard decided to grace me with a copy of this game so that I could play it with him from the other side of the world while he waits to become a part of Her Royal Majesty's Navy in UK. (At least, I hope that's how you refer to it. I'm going to defer to ignorance if I'm wrong.)
In any case, lets talk about the game. MTG: DOTP 2013 (Longest acronym of my life...) is the computerized version of the massively popular trading card game Magic The Gathering which you are guaranteed to have heard of if you know anyone that is just a little bit nerdier than average. DOTP is the 3rd of three such computerized version of the game, focusing on people who prefer to have computers do all the shuffleing/counting/mathing done for them, as well on those who would like to play Magic with distant friends or from the convenience of their homes. It's also pretty good for playing against the AI if you have no internet. (Though that could easily get old quickly.)
The flashy, card based menu makes no allusion to this game being anything more than you expect. But then, it does what it does pretty well.
DOTP is, for all intents and purposes, Magic The Gathering for computers and consoles. It is admittedly a hard thing to sell if you have little knowledge of the actual card game, though some reviewers have pointed out that, apart from having an experienced Magic player teach you, this is about one of the best ways you could learn to play. DOTP's AI can hold it's own, the tutorials are well explained and the Campaign does a great job of introducing you to new ideas, decks and tactics in a fun and only occasionally frustrating way.
Some basic statistics about your game habits or records, as well as a plain viewing of my childhood nickname.
Perhaps the only original part of DOTP is what is called the "Planechase" mode, in which a normal game of Magic is played between up to 4 opponents, but with an added random element of a deck of Planes with their own effects and a die which allows the players to enjoy the benefits of the plane or cause it to change, often resulting in a frantic and different experience to the usual duels. I will point out again that this lack of originality is not a bad thing. Like Call Of Duty and Assassins Creed, things are made the same, because people enjoy it. Had this game been anything more or less than what it is, it would have been grossly criticized for having utterly dropped the ball and trying to be something it's not.
A rudimentary "deck builder" lets you change out a selection of cards from pre-defined decks and choices. It's fairly restricted compared to the real cards game, but it' is functional and approachable.
That said, DOTP does what it does well, has leaderboards and online play, achievements, a fair length set of campaigns and challenges and a deck builder. More or less everything you could expect or want from it. Everything works very well give or take one or two interface issues, and the gameplay is solid, unabashed Magic. For anything more than that, you're going to have to step away from the computer and find your local hobby store that stocks Magic The Gathering cards and knows where it's players congregates. Is it worth your time? Yes. Despite it's occasional limitations, DOTP is definitely fun and enjoyable computerised version of Magic, and certainly worth a couple bucks considering the many hours you can sink into the game. (If Steam happens to put it on sale this Christmas, do yourself a favor and buy a couple copies for yourself and your friends. Head to head matches are always a giggle.)
In any case, that's all I can say on the game. Feel free to peruse the rest of the screenshots below as they tell their own story. Otherwise, if you think this game is good, or completely disagree and think I'm weird for playing a tabletop game on a computer, do be sure to let me know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Happy gaming my friends.
My friend and I having a "two-headed giant" match versus the AI. While not an easy match, there are some fantastic cards that can completely turn the tide when used correctly as we soon found out.
The interface for starting new games is fairly simple and easy to figure out. No complaints here.
I think I speak for everyone that's played DOTP when I say: "F*** this encounter."
Came for the game, stayed because of the pretty pictures and the game. DOTP does a good job of showing off it's fantastic illustrations, very few of which were actually made for the game itself.
Screenshot was nicked from the Cataclysm website's screenshots page. Don't you just love ASCII graphics? XD
ASCII Graphics, an absurdly fun (lack of) premise and the perfect mix of seriousness and humor, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is one of the most fun roguelikes I have ever played. Lets talk about that.
If you've been reading the TCSA blog for a length of time, you may be familiar with my absurd tastes in games and content, preferring originality and fun over all else. You may also remember me talking about a ridiculously difficult strategy game called Dwarf Fortress at some point as well which is another of my favorite ASCII based games.
If you're wondering, ASCII is the the american character classification system for all the symbols a computer might need to use. (Though ASCII is hardly as all encompassing as USF which includes various non Latin character sets like Cyrillic or Kanji.) In any case, I found Cataclysm by chance while, big surprise, I browsed YouTube for something interesting to see and came across a YouTube Commentator by the name of Aavak, who had just begun playing the game and proved to be quite entertaining to watch as he did his best to make the most of a character he'd purposefully made inherently flawed. (Like you do in games like these. The fun is in the story that results from the game, not the victory screen.)
What caught my eye about Cataclysm in particular, (apart from it being open-source and free - big plus there), was just how insanely detailed this odd little game is. Apart from the interesting premise built around almost any apocalypse you can think of in a strangely cohesive pot of madness, there are some truly well thought out systems which, apart from helping to create the story of your character by morphing their actions, are incredibly well thought out and logical. Learning is determined by how focused your character is, skills degrade over time, clothing encumbers individual parts of your body to provide a detailed understanding of whats affecting your ability to do things, and for good measure you can build a functional car from all kinds of various components and drive it using logical car controls instead of the direct control most games give you over the vehicles... and that's only some of the stuff.
Suffice to say, there's a lot in this game to make for absolutely fantastic gameplay and storytelling, to the extent that I thought it might be a fun exercise to chronicle the (admittedly short lived) exploits of my first character in the form of a narrative that explains his various character traits and skills through a story, rather than simply spelling out stats. It's probably a really terrible read if my inner critic is to be believed, but the purpose isn't good reading, it's to give you an idea of what kind of story's can emerge from this ridiculously detailed game. So without further ado, here is the unfortunate (and rather short) tale of Victor Henning.
Victor Henning had never been a particularly lucky person. Born with an unfortunate jaw deformity which is best described as "hideous", he spent most of his life as a social outcast. While his parents were more forgiving of his looks and did the best they could for him, even those he spent a lifetime training martial arts with at his parents behest shunned him for looking so intimate with the proverbial ugly stick. Eventually Victor's parents grew old and could no longer support a son that nobody wished to be near for long, forcing him to enter the job market without any marketable skills. As it turned out, he made a rather good construction worker, and few people had to look at him while he was at it. At least until the "Cataclysm". Not many people know what happened (or lived to tell the tale). Whatever it was, Victor had been having lunch while it happened. Stampeding people, car crashes, screaming, explosions. Whatever it was, Victor didn't want to find out, quietly finding his way to an evacuation shelter outside of town that he had helped build a while ago. Seemingly under-stocked and empty of people, save himself, Victor set about looking for something to help him survive whatever was going on. The shelter was basically furnished. Benches, counters, lockers and a couple computers were it's contents. The room was also centered around a central staircase which added to the building's symmetry, as did the 4 doors on the 4 sides of the building. Victor, figuring his best bet would be to take what he could and leave, looted the lockers quickly for the thermal blanket and luminescent emergency jacket that they contained before heading for the basement to continue his looting. The basement was dark. Not dark in the ominous and evil sense of the term, but the "I can barely see my hand in front of my face" sense of the term. Stumbling around blindly for a few minutes, Victor realized that the floor was strewn with a wide variety of items, and decided to gear up, starting with a set of hiking boots. Of course, this being the "unfortunate" tale of Victor Henning, it should come as no surprise that trying to put hiking boots on in an near pitch black basement during some apocalyptic event is probably a bad idea. Having not yet even removed his own shoes, Victor suddenly found himself covered in disgusting smelling bile which had issued from the bloated stomach of what looks like a fat, rotting man. Said man then beset upon Victor with violent intent. Victor, however, fell immediately into the instinctual self-defense movements that he had practiced for so long, delivering a startlingly strong punch to the assailants face from which a sickening crunch emanated. Oddly, this blow did little more than cause the bloated man to stumble before setting upon Victor once again with renewed rage. Taking no chances, Victor delivered an additional set of blows to the head which would have crippled an ordinary person, but instead prompted an enraged swing at Victor's own head. Ducking this, Victor bounced into to rabbit punches which rocked the creature's head further. Still not subdued however, the assailant tired to grab Victor with a flailing swing, only to be yanked forward with the offending arm and tripped. Unceremoniously delivered to the floor, Victor delivered a unceremonious kick to the it's bloated stomach, with veritably explosive results. Wiping the gore from his face, Victor quickly set about looting the basement of some basic supplies before hurriedly heading for better lit surroundings above. Emerging from the basement, Victor considered two things. Firstly that he had just been covered in gore after beating the hell out of a raotting fat man, and secondly that there was enough food and supplies in the basement to keep him in health for weeks if need. Was Victor surprised about the fat guy though? Nope. Anyone who lives in the 21st century knows what a zombie is, and poor Victor had spent many solitary hours of free time playing games and watching movies about them. Taking a seat at one of the computers, Victor decided to see if maybe the government knew about the zombies. Logging into the computer, Victor was greeted with the glowing green message you would expect at a time like this. "Greetings citizen. A biological attack has taken place and a state of emergency has been declared. Emergency personnel will be aiding you shortly. To ensure your safety please follow the below steps: 1. Do not panic. 2. Remain inside the building. 3. Seek shelter in the basement. 4. Use provided gas masks. 5. Await further instruction." Victor chuckled at step three considering how he currently stank like a lunch, once digested, with a side order of grave-robbers delight. Of course the useless terminal had no internet access, leaving Victor with a problem. While Victor did have enough supplies to last him weeks in this building, and probably should just wait like the terminal told him to do, that would make for an absolutely rubbish story about an ugly hermit. So of course in the grand scheme of story telling, Victor decided he'd go exploring. Knowing that whatever was out there was probably going to try to kill him, Victor decided that now was a good time to quickly brush up on his first aid skills from a book he found in the basement earlier. A few minutes of skimming and Victor felt a touch more ready to deal with any injuries if necessary, keeping the book on hand to consult. Sucking up some courage from the air about him, Victor stepped out into what I *cough* he had forgotten to mention was the freezing cold of early spring. Walking about ten paces from the shelter, it was immediately apparent to Victor that he could no longer feel his face nor his fingers. Whatever was out there, it would have to wait for Victor to find a way to keep himself warm if they wanted a fair chance to kill him before the weather did. Stepping back into the shelter which had suddenly grown colder itself as the night fell, Victor set about grabbing anything that might help keep him warm. Gloves, winter jackets and fur boots. Anything that might keep the cold at bay. When that turned out to be insufficient, Victor decided to set up a fire. Smashing one of the benches in the main room of the shelter, he quickly threw a fire together using the wood and a lighter he found in the basement earlier, sighing with relief as the heat washed over him from the warm flames. Calming down, Victor found himself dozing off into a relaxed sleep after the days events. As you might expect though, lighting fires inside of buildings is a really bad idea, and Victor awoke to screeching metal, falling rocks and thick smoke in his lungs as the building began to collapse around him. Unfortunate Victor may have been feeling somewhat silly about this revelation as the first chunk of roof fell on top of him. And the second. Finding a moment of respite, he began crawling for the exit in the hopes of outliving his poor decision. Moments before reaching the door however, an significantly large piece of burning rubble fell upon him and set him alight. Thus ended what Victor had likely expected to be a somewhat longer foray into the Cataclysm. In the final thoughts of those who had learned from bad ideas too late, Victor wondered what his tombstone might have looked life if anyone could make one. In his head, his epigraph simply read: "Fuck.", before he died. Fin
And so ended the badly thought out tale of Victor Henning. I admit that his death was a moment deserving of a truly epic facedesk on my part, yet it was still a very humorous thing to witness. If you agree, and think that it could be funny to have more of these stories written, do be sure to let me know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback as it helps us bring you more of the content you enjoy. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Grainy video screenshots: $5. Extra-Grainy video screenshots: $10 dollars. Ripping off a MasterCard catchphase: Priceless.
Do you spend hours of your life watching various people on YouTube do things ranging from talking about food, to playing games, to discussing fascinating science facts and more? If so, we've got more in common than I thought. You'll probably like how YouTube recaps the best things of the year too.
Depending on how closely you follow the goings-ons of the internet, you may have heard of the greatly popular "YouTube Rewind" videos in which YouTube gathers together all the personalities who have made the greatest impact on the internet, (specifically on YouTube), and creates a music video in which they dance to remixed music of the year while references to some of the most popular videos, memes and jokes are placed ever which where within the video.
If you're curious to see the YouTube Rewind 2014 video which was released today, check it out below which contains a rather interesting remix of Frozen's "Let It Go", "Turn Down For What" and various other songs from the 2014 year. Of course, since I figured you might be curious to see what was the most popular things on YouTube in previous years, I kindly placed 2013 and 2012's video's below that as well. (Always a pleasure.)
In any case, there's not much more I can say on the subject, so give the videos a watch and see what you think. Wish to tell us about something awesome on YouTube that you feel should have been featured in the latest Rewind video? (Like JackSepticEye or Quill 18) Then do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter as we here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Nothing says "Hacker" like a wall of green hued binary code right? Unless of course you subscribe to the digital era understanding of the term which is essentially: "an inventor".
Have you ever imagined yourself as an inventor? Perhaps you dreamed about making fantastic new machines or writing amazing new programs when you were a child. Either way, these days you would not have been referred to as an aspirant inventor, but rather as a "Hacker". (Provided you're asking someone born in the digital era.)
Right about now, depending on your age or how informed you are about the internet and cultural going-ons of it's inhabitants, your brain may be ringing various alarm bells about the negative stigma surrounding the term "Hacker". Whether you subscribe to the digital-era's take on what it means to be a "Hacker" or not is irrelevant to this stigma, as it's still commonly understood that a "Hacker", whatever he may doing, has certain motivations which are contrary to the laws of society. What am I referring to? The belief of Hackers that break into banking systems to steal money, or into government files to steal information. Perhaps they're even vandals, destroying data or defacing websites.
Whatever the dogma, you need to understand, (for the purposes of this article), that a Hacker isn't necessarily a bad person. Sure you get those wayward individuals seeking personal gain regardless of those it impacts, but in the digital era, "Hacker" has come to stand as a term for people who look for ways to improve things or do them better. As Ymir Vigfusson said in his Ted Talk at TEDxReykjavik, he teaches students to hack for the benefit of society, with the hope that his teachings will instill a moral compass into his students that will help them to use their skills to the benefit of society, rather than its detriment. There is risk involved in doing so, but also the potential for great gains. (I heavily paraphrased that, sorry.)
Those great gains come from "The Hacker Mentality" as Pablos Holman referred to it in hisTed Talk at TEDxMidwest wherein he talked about how one of the reasons he taught people about Hacking was because of the mentality it caused in people. He put it, simply, as "Don't ask what it can do, but what can I make it do?" It's a frame of thought that makes for fantastic inventors, scientists and programmers because it frees you from thinking along pre-programmed lines.
Most of us pick up our phones and use them to talk to people, to remember dates and take pictures. Functions that have been made and done thousands of time which we usually take for granted as the extent of the phones capabilities. Yet some people use their phones to run commercial servers remotely via command line prompts, to gather information from people using Wi-fi nearby (kind've dodgy, but it's been done), or to even use it as a remote point of access into a network that they shouldn't be accessing. (Definitely dodgy.) These smartphones are miniaturized computers which contain the processing power that the whole of NASA used to send the APOLLO space mission to the moon in the 1960's. (And yet we take selfies with them.)
So with so much power at our literal fingertips, whats to stop us from doing equally impressive things if we simply stop to ask "What can I make this do?", instead of "What does it do?" Various things perhaps, a specific lack of technical expertise for some surely. But the beauty of this mentality, is that like the word "Hacker", it needn't apply to computers specifically. Machines and their various parts can be re-purposed in a great variety of ways if one thinks about it carefully. So the next time you see some nifty piece of tech, consider what it can be made to do.
If you which to add something of your own to the argument for/against "Hacking", or simply want to share some great story of how this "Hacker Mentality" changed your perspective on the machines around you, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
This wonderfully descriptive screenshot which has the words "Ludum Dare 31" in it a grand total of 5 times, (in case you weren't sure), was taken from http://ludumdare.com/compo/.
A while ago I spoke about my enjoyment of game design and detailed a desire of mine to participate in the upcoming Ludum Dare 31 game creation competition. If you like fun indie games being made in absurdly short periods then you're bound to enjoy this.
First and foremost, I should point out that I was unable to brush up on my game designing skills, (that is to say, I'm useless at it currently), due to various events ranging from family hospital visits to Durban holidays. Excuses aside, I did also mention in that article that I would likely end up participating in one at some point or other, so don't feel too let down... (Please?)
Regardless of my non-participation, the Ludum Dare competition is still a wonderful and interesting event to follow. So what is Ludum Dare? By all means, I implore you to watch the video below which explains it in a particularly... novel way? (Comparable to An0nymoose's videos... I'm not entirely sure what to make of it... but it works.)
tl:dw: make a game in 48/72 hours, drink coffee, get rated, feel tired, sleep.
So how does it all work? Well, for the past month or so, people have been submitting potential theme's for Ludum Dare 31, (31 obviously meaning this is the 31st Ludum Dare), at which point sometime recently, they stopped taking submissions and began multiple rounds of voting to pick off theme candidates up until this point, where it is about 4 hours to the start of the competition and they are busy voting between the final few candidates to determine what the theme for this Ludum Dare is.
Once the theme is determined then it is go-go-go for the participants of either the "comp" or "jam" as mentioned in the video to get to work designing a game around that theme. (If you're unsure, the comp is where one person makes the whole game in 48 hours, the jam is where any number of people can make a game using pre-existing parts in 78 hours.) Once the game is finished, they need to upload it to the Ludum Dare website whereupon it is reviewed by the designers competitors and rated on various things including innovation, fun, graphics, sound, etc.
So why would anyone subject themselves to what is a weekend of torment in the form of sleep deprivation, caffeine overdose and general deadline stress? Well, creative inspiration is always a good motivation. Recognition in the game making community is another. Or maybe you'll even hear one of those strange individuals that call it... dare I say it? "Fun". *Gasp*
Jokes aside, the entire event is always fun to watch as a great multitude of people cover their game-designing processes in great detail, many of whom even going as far as to Live Stream their work via Twitch.TV, of course, with my ever-mentioned YouTube favorite Quill18 being among them. Below I've linked his "Post Mortem" of the game he created for Ludum Dare 30 and his thoughts on it and various other games he's created for the competition. I highly suggest giving it a watch as it provides a fantastic insight into the event and may prove the final temptress in getting you to watch his live-stream when he starts working on his LD31 game.
Interested to know more? Or simply have some questions about the competition or it's rules that you feel I didn't properly explain in this post? If either, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback and will be happy to assist. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Happy game-making (or watching) my friends.
(New drinking game, read the article again and have a drink every time "Ludum Dare" is said.)
English being one of the most widely spoken languages, spoken by about 1.5 billion people or more, have very interesting roots and things about it that not many people know. Lets talk about that.
Vsauce has done a video with the title of ENGLISH. I will talk about some of the points Michael made, but I highly recommend you watch the video. In the year 400 A.D. and earlier, there were people that were named Angles, (not because they were good at maths, teehee), and after the roman ruling period a lot of the Angles migrated from their homeland Anglii, (what is now northern Germany) to a land called Britannia, (Britain) which was named after the people that lived there. Now so many of these Angles lived on this island that it was referred to as Angel land, which then came to be the county name of England.
This image is taken from wikipedia, showing an early map of North Africa, Europe and a bit of Asia
Now in 1066, the normans invaded the land and won, and this event is believed to be the biggest change to the English language. One of the changes that the normans brought were the words of the meat they ate, (i.e. pork and beef), while the natives still called the animals with their own words, (i.e. pig and cow), and because of this, English is one of the very few languages that have different words for the meat of the animal then the name of the animal itself.
Now if you take that into consideration, you will have Germanic derived words, and Latin derived words. English has taken a lot of words from other languages and calls them english. Greek derived words are used for specific things, like things in science and biology, where as informal, and rude things would be germanic, (this is due to the Normans making that the common tongue offensive) and there are others.
Accents and dialects are something on their own as well. For instance Americans sound quite different to Europeans, and both of those nation speakers would sound different to people that are taught and brought up in another language then learnt to speak english. Some nations have rather Stereotypical accents associated with them. Like in the beginning of this paragraph when I generalized the countries you would most probably think of one accent for the group, where in fact in one country there may be 10's of accents. This to some degree may also lend itself to the spelling differences as well.
Americans spell some words different to those of Britain, or have different words for them entirely. Colour and color is a good example of that, gas and petrol is another, (gas coming from Gasoline and petrol from petroleum). Tom Scott has done a few videos on english in this playlist, and I would recommend watching all of them as it is very interesting. OP english is a widely debated subject on pronunciation. How would people in the Shakespearean era sound like? Well this video may help.
Now English is still evolving and many new words are made every year. Noob has made its way into the Oxford Dictionary, whereas just a few years ago it was only considered slang. Many words like this have slowly made their way into our speech. Now when does a noise become a new word? Well this is hard to answer directly, but Oxford Dictionary, (the place where many Scrabble players and others will look to see if a certian arrangement of letters is a legitimate word) usually adds a word to their list when it becomes apparent that it is used by enough people often enough with a particular meaning for it.
Now english is known to be really confusing to learn if you are not a native speaker already, words have silent letters in them that seem to serve no purpose, (pterodactyl is one), and others words that you would think would mean one thing but means the opposite or something completely different, (these words are known as misnomers one of which is inflammable which I have mentioned before). Then you get words that were in the dictionary that weren't actually meant to be there. Dord is a famous example of this, and Vsauce made a brilliant video on it, (I seem to really like Vsauce, but who wouldn't)
Now, (sadly because it is early morning), I have to end this post. This was more of a history lesson, but don't fret as I shall continue this topic in the next post where I talk about point of view and grammar to a certian extent. I am sorry i have been MIA these past several days, but I am back in action and shall post the following blogs in a more timely manner to suit you, the readers, a bit better. I hope you have enjoyed today's post (supposed to be yesterday) and if you did, or would like to ask, tell me/us anything please do so in the comments below and/or on Facebook/Twitter. If you would like to see the newest post as they are published please follow us on Twitter and/or like us on Facebook using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. Thank you for taking the time to read today's post, and I hope you have/had a wonderful day.
I'm not sure why I thought a dog staring into the ocean was an accurate representation of this event, but screw it: PUPPY!
You know that place down by the coast called Durban? In South Africa? The one with bunny chow, beaches, traffic circles and cargo ships at sea at all times? If not, you've likely never lived in South Africa. If you have, then you're probably gasping at the fact that I've only just been for the first time.
If you're a long time follower of the blog, you may have become familiar with the usually erratic release schedule of the posts, considering they tend to go up at some absurdly late hour, or not at all when there are occasional difficulties. Considering how much attention you pay, that would probably have alerted you to the fact that the last week's posts were not written on the days of their posting, since their publishing times are far too consistent.
I, having written them all ahead of time, was enjoying a fantastic week down in Durban, one of South Africa's greatly enjoyed holiday destinations famous for it's hotels (I think), beaches and bunny chow, among various other things. Having never had the opportunity to go before, I was quite ecstatic when a one of my best friends arranged for me to go spend a week down there with him as a form of early birthday present. (Yes, that dreaded day looms this month. Egads.)
So what did I get up to while my posts automatically published themselves? Various things that I've never done before. I explored a new city I'd never seen; got severely sunburned because "I don't get sunburned"; went to a marine park and aquarium; bashed my knee significantly on a rock in the ocean and nearly drowned in shock; spent 2 hours trekking along open beaches with my awesome friend while singing ridiculous songs, throwing a random orange we'd found and christened "Doctor Orange" to each other and suffering the sandblasting that could only be compared to walking through a desert naked; learned to drive; drove to our residence in the middle of the night and of course went to large party in the middle of a farm where it rained... a lot... and I got wet and fairly muddy.
Suffice to say, my 8 day long visit was hardly ill spent, and I met a good few wonderful people as well as enjoyed spending time with a fantastic friend of mine. Of course, having driven there and back was a somewhat tiring exercise of 7 hours each, and as such is the reason for this post going up two days later than originally intended.
In any case, I suspect you probably don't read this blog for details about my holiday's, but should I would more than happily extrapolate on the details of my foray into foreign lands should you desire. If so, do be sure to let me know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Who came up with "Seasons Greetings"? It sounds weird. Happy holidays my friends. (Teehee)
This wonderful screenshot, slightly edited for the privacy of everyone that isn't me, is from that website everyone's always talking about these days... what was it? Oh yes. www.facebook.com
Do you suffer from questions of the "existential crisis" variety? Do you often question what people will remember about you after you die? If so, rest easy knowing that provided no apocalyptic event brings down the human race and it's technology, then your online footprint will immortalize your memory... possibly forever.
A statistic I read a few years back discussed the great many people that will be outlived by their Facebook accounts. While the original article is long lost to all but my vague memories, I did find a similar article which corroborates my memories and substantiates the topic. blog.1000memories.com spoke here about how many ghosts there are on Facebook, and how many there would be by 2015 in a American-centric but world inclusive look at the statistics of death and Facebook user by age. While mathematics is more JovialJman's forte than my own, their work seems solid enough to at least conjecture that currently, there may be around 40 million Facebook accounts whose owner has since passed on. For interesting point of comparison, the average amount of people you can maintain a proper relationship with is about 300, and on average will meet roughly a less than a 3000 people in your lifetime. (Basically, there are more dead people on Facebook than you will ever know, as astounding as that sounds. Also, apparently i'm good at being sarcastic to myself.)
So what do these statistics have to do with Immortality? Consider every biography or account of a person's actions you have ever read. How it dictated their lives and actions. Our Facebook accounts, and Twitter, Myspace, blog's, etc, all these things on the internet that we pour our lives into will stand as memorials to our lives when we are no longer alive. Every relationship you had, every heartbreak, and accident, success and failure. Your frustrations, inspirations and painful jokes will all stand and represent who you were and what you lived for to those who wish to know. In the future, your great-grandchildren might not peruse an old newspaper when they want to know who you were, they will look for your memorialized online footprints, and see first hand just what kind of person you were.
It's as equally frightening a prospect as it is exciting to those who wonder why it is that they do what they do. To be remembered by the world after you are gone by every silly picture and inspirational quote you thought was worth sharing. A long time ago I heard the quote that "A legacy is not the things that you leave behind, but the story's that people will tell about you when you can no longer hear what they have to say." Perhaps that quote is now truer than ever? Or perhaps it is slowly become a debatable point as the evidence of our existence in the form of pictures, statuses, videos, tweets, instagrams, blogs, websites and comments stand as potentially ever present examples of who we were.
So I suppose the question is, what kind of legacy do you wish to leave behind for those to personally see for themselves on your Facebook accounts. Do you like that people will have such an in-depth view of your life based on what you shared, or do you think that it really doesn't matter since you're going to be dead anyway? If so, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
Irony is using a picture of a game that hasn't changed in hundreds of years to talk about playing games with your own rules. (Teehee)
Have you ever done a no-save run or created some arbitrary rule for yourself or your friends to play a certain game by? If so, you already know what I'm talking about. How adding these additional rules or simply playing the game differently to the way it was intended can make it so much more fun. Lets talk about that.
What I'm talking about is by no means a new thing, from as far back as the first board and card games, to the era of Tabletop Gaming and Dungeons and Dragons, house rules have been something made up and played with by people for... well centuries. (If one wishes to hazard potentially being wrong. I accept the risk.)
You could certainly argue that this destroy's the purpose of the game, that by not playing as it was intended removes the value of the experience. I, on the other hand, would disagree with that statement, that changing the rules can breath new life into an experience that has grown old and tedious with repetition, or simply make what would have been a good experience into a truly awesome one.
My brother, myself and JovialJman recently started playing Payday: The Heist, (My review of which is pending a gaming night for me to take screenshots over.), which is quite simply a truly a fantastically entertaining game. However, there is a certain mission in the game that requires you to stealthily steal various precious gems and hack the building's security systems while remaining undetected. Unfortunately, the odds of success are ridiculously small, which led to multiple failed attempts at stealth by our unfortunate trio. Rather than going through a lengthy and very painful assault by the police while we did an absurdly long list of things to open the vault, the three of us eventually decided to have a little fun and skip the lengthy heist which we had done before.
Our goal was to get doing things stealthily correct, and so, for an entire evening, we continually retried the mission while promptly doing absolutely ridiculous things whenever we failed. "Let's get 100% accuracy for the heist." Off we went to take one shot at a guard each and then jump off a balcony. "Want to collect all the sapphires for the achievement?" Sure. We got pretty close, but this idea was largely responsible for our repeated jumps off the balcony to death. This wasn't helped by the fact that there was an achievement for doing just that called: "I've fallen, and I can't get up." Suffice to say, this event was highly humorous.
Of course, Payday: The Heist was not the first videogame we have played that had resulted in us playing by our own house rules. Call Of Duty, the (in)famous First Person Shooter, is notorious for entire servers both online and at lans breaking out into "Knife Only Matches", in which they trade the hectic bullets flying constant death for the intense, timing based bloodbath of using knives only to win the match. Use a gun? Get kicked from the server. But for those willing to balance the game on the edge of a blade, they're in for what is one of the funniest and most difficult games you can play. Diving, crouching, sprinting. People do some absolutely strange things to get the upper hand on their enemy in a match where the first person to press the button at the right distance wins.
Then, there is even the truly brilliant RPG: Dishonored, which blew my mind as to just how different an experience you can get by playing with a simple rule. Dishonored's story changes based on how many people you kill and how you deal with the game's main antagonists, with one of the interesting questions being asked from the start is if you're a mass murdering monster, or a caring savior of the city. You could say that the game was designed with this rule in mind and thus isn't really a valid argument in terms of the topic, but on the other hand, there is never anything stopping your from doing these things but yourself. How happy are you to doom a civilization by simply painting the city with blood by your choice alone.
The game doesn't punish you for your choice, but the story does change based on your behavior, which can become a meaningful thing to you. After playing nearly the entire game without killing a single soul, the immense guilt I felt at accidentally murdering a couple guards in the final level was an astonishing feeling considering they were nothing more than nameless figures in a game. Either way, deciding whether you will kill or save was a personal house rule that greatly changed the story you would experience.
If you're still unsure of just how different these house rules can be, perhaps go watch some of the many brilliant playthrough's of games from Many A True Nerd, ranging from the "You Only Live Once" playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas in which all healing items may not be used and radiation is considered permanent, to the wonderfully psychopathic "Kill Everything" run of Fallout 3 that has been featured on this blog before. (Not that I can remember for the life of me when.) He also does other interesting runs like "No shield" or "No Oxygen" runs of Faster Than Light. In general, he's just very entertaining to watch, and a great example of how a game can change with a simple house rule.
Of course, some of you may disagree, or have an opinion of your own about why you should/shouldn't change games or the way to play them that you would like to share. If so, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
A black shirt with "Believe" written across the back. Stylish no?
Have you ever had a truly difficult day? A day where it seemed like the whole world was against you and there was nothing anybody could do to help? How did you get through that day? There are many answers to that question, but if you say "You don't know.", I worry for you.
Life is a difficult and traumatic experience for all of us as I have mentioned various times on this blog. But it is also these very challenges that define who we are and what we will become; which makes them an integral part of our journey through life.
But what about those days when the challenges become too much. When the strength of opposition threatens to engulf your will to stand against it, and you can simply weather the storm no longer? Some people turn to a deity of their respective faith. Whatever your faith though, I believe that it is a necessary thing to have something to believe in. (And it needn't necessarily be a religious deity. Just in case any atheists are reading this.)
Imagine a life devoid completely of hope. Where nothing could ever be guaranteed. It's a pretty abysmal world where even hard work and the sweat of your brow could not get you what you wanted. But if someone could guarantee something to you somehow, how greatly would that change that world? How happy would you be as your deity told you that your labor would be rewarded or that your good behavior would earn you a place in eternal paradise? Or for those less focused on theism, perhaps a promise from a lord to reimburse you for your works, or even, a personal guarantee to yourself that you will always be there for you. (That last one is a very interesting one that I maintain myself.) In a world where there is a guarantee, even a false one, there is hope for better times and a reason to keep working and to keep surviving. Quite simply, without believe, it is impossible to truly substantiate meaning into our lives and actions.
While I cannot say which is exactly the best thing to believe in, I do believe that it is important to understand what it is that you believe in, and why it motivates you to live your life, as it makes for happier, more ambitious people.
Of course, not everyone may agree that ambition is necessarily a good thing, and perhaps you think that there is something significantly more important than belief in our lives that we should know about. If so, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
This adorable still was taken from here. It's impossible to not feel happy when you see this fluffy critter.
Sometimes, I spend my days doing productive things like learning how to make games, or learning how to design websites, or learning how to write better blogposts. Other days I watch ridiculous video's on YouTube and wonder why I haven't gotten anything done?
So, naturally, I'd make a blog post about the things that made me not write a blog post. Makes sense right? (Of course it does.) So without further ado, here are 10 Humorously Strange YouTube videos that I think are worth mentioning for some reason.
1. "Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing On Rainbows" by FluffyMixer
This one should be obvious if you're a long time reader of the TCSA blog. Why? Because I have a massive Unicorn obsession for no apparent reason, and find this song extremely adorable. Few things are as effective at brightening my mood as this rather strange song is.
You ever have those moments of pure: "What the hell did I just witness?" This extremely strange video made with the Source Filmmaker left me in a state of open-mouthed stupor before cracking up into a laugh that clearly dictated just how strange this video is. As they say: "Boredom Kills."
Technically a series of video's rather than just one, the asdfmovie's have done several things, not the least made me question my sanity as well as that of my friends as we continue to quote these infernally odd skit's, years after we first saw them. If you like strange people, simply say "Hello Mine Turtle" to people when you meet them. If they reply "Hello" in a squeaky voice, they are probably fairly odd.
4. "Defuse On The Fly CS:GO [SAXXY 2014]" by Deviant Picture Films
This one makes the list for taking what seems like a completely serious setting and making it completely ridiculous without you realizing it. Counter Strike matches typically involve the terrorists placing the bomb at the site and defending it. The mental process that must have gone into: "What if we put the bomb... on a chicken?" is surely a wonder to behold.
5. "GUNMAN STYLE - (ASIAN WESTERN PARODY)" by Jervey Hou
Gunman Style? That doesn't sound similar to any hit YouTube song releases by South Korean pop stars from 2012 does it? If it does, I can't remember. Of course, Asian cowboys and blue eyed Ninja's brawling to a western themed parody of Gangnam Style is already funny, but when you have water pistol gunfights and dramatic self-sacrifice by fake-mustache wearing teddy bears, this get some what strange quickly.
6. "Dot Dot Dot (Official Video HD)" by Ricepirate
Perhaps only humorous if you've ever seen the Newgrounds comment section, this particular video was made due, from what I can gather at any rate, due to the maker laughing hysterically at the awful grammar of a strangely outraged gamer who seemed disgusted at the features of one of the game submissions. In any case, Ricepirate's delivery is sure to have you laughing as you question why on earth someone would bother getting so worked up over a free game.
7. "Neg's Urban Sports: Urban Sprinting" by Silmano
While technically not the property of Silmano, I'm pretty sure if someone had a problem with this video being on YouTube they'd have said something. (Which they haven't, since it's been on YouTube longer than I have.) Copyright aside, one probably questions just how bored you have to be to intentionally make mall-cops chase you in the name of Urban Sports. Or trying to smoke as quickly as possible before a bouncer chucks you out of the non-smoking establishment. Or just acting like a complete mong to make someone move away from somewhere. (Those are some of the other Urban Sports from "Neg") Either way, it's pretty funny to watch him try.
8. "Team Fortress 2: Heavy sing Baby(Feat. Scoutacris)" by Reznov's Channel
Hey, I heard some Canadian kid did a cover of this song. (Teehee) Jokes at Mister Beaver *cough* Bieber's expense aside, anyone familiar with the Team Fortress 2 characters will likely find this rendition of Baby strangely amusing.
9. "How To Use a Public Restroom" by Schmoyoho
Ever made a friend in a public restroom? Me neither, but apparently it happens... musically, with woman in the male restroom trying to access the Wi-Fi while the uncomfortable visitor sings about the bathroom's acoustics. Quite simply, this s*** is weird. It's also oddly funny in that: "No bloody way" sort of way.
10. "The Assumption Song - Oney Cartoons" by OneyNG
A song I remember from back when I was in Primary school, this song is a guaranteed corruption o' meter for your mind. Do you know what comes next? If so, then this song is probably going to be stuck in your head for a while as you giggle mischievously at just how hard the creator tried to make the innuendo's obvious.
Of course, there are probably thousands more absolutely strange and funny videos on YouTube that you probably (hopefully?) think are worth mentioning. If so, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.
