Damnation at last

Seventy days isn't so long. Then again, the path always looks shorter when looking back. Re-treading your steps lets you gloss over long and slow periods of little change, the occasions when you pause to wonder if you are still heading in the right direction, and the journey always seems easier when you know it can be made, instead of the uncertainty that stretches ahead of you at the beginning. It was over two months ago that I started on my skill training plan directly towards piloting a Damnation fleet command ship, and there is no clearer sign that it was worth it as when I don't think twice about making my most expensive purchase in New Eden so far.

I find a good deal on the command ship, a region or two away from home, and, sadly, dump my Crane to take newly christened Bad Badtz Maru out for a test flight. Oh, and to get fitted. The ship skill bonuses are impressive, but I understand that they are only really effective when modules are installed. I have to admit that I have been so intent on keeping to the scheduled plan, and I really surprise myself by sticking rigidly to the training plan, keeping only the required skills in the queue and ensuring that the queue remains full and relevant, I forget to research Damnation fittings. Picking what to fit is not as straightforwards as a new ship normally would be for me, because I can't just throw on a shield tank and launchers, what with the command ship being Amarrian technology. Although the Damnation can fit launchers, which is part of its appeal, I need to concentrate on the armour.

Of course, the first three modules fitted are obvious for me, buying the three armoured warfare gang links, after which I fill the remaining high slots with heavy launchers. I then take some hints on how to fill the remaining Damnation slots from my corporation nemesis. I fit four capacitor rechargers in the mid slots, and then harden my armour tank in the lows. I don't have the powergrid to complete the fitting as required, though, so some fiddling is needed. Luckily, my nemesis is around to annoy for information.

As I am going to fulfil a support role with the Damnation, probably flying it exclusively in wormhole operations, I don't need to rely on much DPS, letting me remove one of the heavy launchers to reclaim some grid. To compensate for one fewer launcher, a drone augmentation link is added, letting my drones hit targets further out than normal. The released power lets me add a second set of 1,600 mm armour plates, boosting my buffer significantly. Training further in command ships, each level giving the Damnation 10% more armour, will give my ship a formidable tank, particularly with the huge resistances I can achieve with various skills and modules.

Another suggested change is to remove one of the capacitor rechargers in a mid slot to replace it with a sensor booster. The capacitor remains stable with one recharger less, so I take a look at the sensor booster, which can increase targeting range or locking speed. I am not convinced it will come in useful at first, as the targeting range of the Damnation is a little over 60 km and the heavy missiles fired from my Drake only hit to around 65 km, so increasing the targeting range seems superfluous and improved target locking speed is more of a benefit to PvP. However, I fail to take in to account the Damnation ship bonuses for having trained the battlecruiser skill, which boosts missile velocity by 10% per level, instead of the missile damage of the Drake. A quick calculation suggests that my heavy missiles can power their way to over 100 km! To hit that far out with heavy missiles seems incredible to me, but if it is true I will certainly first need to be able to lock on to targets at that distances. I fit a sensor booster with a targeting range script.

In fact, the Damnation's capacitor remains stable with only a single recharger in a mid slot, letting me add a couple more handy modules. My completed first fitting of the Damnation is:

high slots
3 × heavy launcher
3 × armoured warfare link
1 × drone augmentation link

mid slots
1 × sensor booster, with targeting range script
1 × capacitor recharger
1 × target painter
1 × 10 MN afterburner

low slots
1 × damage control
3 × armour hardener; thermal, kinetic and EM
2 × 1,600 mm armour plate

I am relying on the fleet to repair any damage I sustain, but I also don't plan to fly Bad Badtz Maru outside of a fleet, not with this fitting at least. The armoured warfare links will help with passive armour resistances; reducing capacitor needs or armour repair modules, either local or remote; and decreasing the cycle time of armour repair modules, to speed up repairs.

Now I simply need to pilot the Damnation to w-space so that I can give it a proper test flight. I am a little wary about putting it in to such a hostile environment as my introduction to its systems and capabilities but, unless some capsuleer pirates show up, I can't think of a better test of my new, shiny, most gorgeous and coveted Damnation fleet command ship.

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Tags: damnation, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, w-space

Warping to a point in space

With a probe launcher fitted, I can open the system scanner, choose any arbitrary point in the solar system, and warp a probe to that point. But I cannot do the same with my ship. I'm not sure what makes probes so special in this instance.

I know that EVE Online tries to maintain a realistic experience sometimes at the cost of simplicity, but obvious discrepancies in comparable systems have to be addressed so that needless complexity can be reduced. In the case of making safe-spots, it would be much simpler and quicker to pick a spot from the scanner's interface than having to make several warp jumps.

One step forwards would be to allow a probe's position to be bookmarked, regardless of where it is, which would also offer the explanation that a point in space needs to be known as safe before a ship can travel to it. Making safe-spots would then be easier, but require a probe launcher to be fitted at least initially. It would also be simple to explain that extra-system radiation disrupts warping outside of the furthest planet or too far off the ecliptic plane, to prevent excessively distant placement of safe-spots.

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Tags: eve online, mmorpg

Eurogamer 2009

I head in to London for Eurogamer Expo 2009, held this year on the bank of the Thames between Tower Bridge and London Bridge. I am finding less time to play games these days, as a good MMORPG can effectively fill up any spare gaming time by itself, but I am looking forwards to the opportunity to be pleasantly surprised by what the latest and greatest in console and PC gaming has to offer. However, as a Mac owner I am not expecting much beyond the many console titles on show.

In the independent section of the show it is good to see Plain Sight represented again. Plain Sight was my pick of Eurogamer Expo 2008, although I was a little disappointed, but not surprised, when I found out there was not going to be a Mac version released. When Guitar Hero: World Tour somehow convinced me to get an Xbox 360, I was quite excited that I would get to play Plain Sight, so even though the game's release has been heavily delayed it is excellent to see that it is still being developed and prepared for release. The even better news is that the game will now be getting a Mac version!

Plain Sight has had quite a few changes made in the last year, including a complete graphics overhaul. Even though the general style of the graphics remains, with small robots jumping their way around a stylised arena with small cityscape planetoids, similar in gravitational effect to those in Super Mario Galaxy, everything looks shinier and the robots more detailed. The targeting system has been updated to be easier to use, there are power-ups to be gained, and a new control system makes double-jumping around more fun than ever. When I get chatting to the publisher about multi-player options and computer AI, he cranks up the settings to show a tech-demo of fifty computer-controlled robots all flying around an arena at the same time, blue trails highlighting each robot's path. It looks fabulous, and I can't wait to get my hands on the game when it is released.

Another independent game catches my eye because of the amazing burst of colours coming from the screen, reminding me of all the time I spent playing Jeff Minter games. Squid Yes! Not So Octopus: Squid Harder! is a single-screen shooter a bit like Robotron but with amazingly colourful visuals. The idea is simply to survive for a set amount of time as enemies spawn, where you can move around the screen to avoid the enemies and their bullets or destroy them with your own. But when the explosions burst in a bright and blurry rainbow of colours, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell where your character is, and that's part of the challenge. The game is simple, it has an auto-fire option so that you don't get cramps holding down a key permanently, and is as much a visual joy as gaming fun. I try to complete the first level quite a few times, with the goal to stay alive for one minute, yet even though the closest I manage is fifty two seconds I still go back for one more go each time. I wish I could play this more, but trying to install SYNSO: Squid Harder! on my Mac, using Crossover Games, locks up my machine, which is a shame.

Also in the independent games section is Darwinia+ from Introversion, whose Mac version from Ambrosia Software I enjoyed playing some time ago. Darwinia+ is simply a collection of Darwinia and Multiwinia, the multi-player variant, in a single package and being released for the Xbox live arcade. There are no changes to the story from Darwinia, although the graphics have been updated a little. Another title shown is Eufloria, a game of flowers and asteroids. I only have a brief session playing the game, which takes me to the end of the third level, which I believe is still part of the tutorial, and it has a pleasing minimalist style and could be fairly relaxing and engaging to play. However, as it is available only on the PC I am unlikely to get a chance to play more of Eufloria, which is a shame.

On the main floor of Eurogamer Expo 2009 there are all the latest console and PC releases, none of which really catch my eye, though the one MMORPG here has caught most people's attentions, which is Star Trek Online. Curiously, there aren't huge crowds around the machines, but that is perhaps not as much to do with a lack of interest in MMORPGs as the way the game is being presented. The demonstration machines are all running the same mission, which involves some simple space combat, followed by ground combat in a space station before beaming down to a planet for more ground combat, after which the Guardian of Time resets everything back to the start. It is a clever mechanism to show different parts of the game whilst controlling what is seen, as well as limiting people's time to discourage anyone hogging a machine. But such a brief demo also works against Star Trek Online, as the entire demonstration is experienced in five minutes

I walk away from Star Trek Online without any sense of depth from the game beyond it being just another MMORPG. The space combat is colourful and could be interesting, with separate shield and weapon quadrants requiring manoeuvres for the ship to remain most effective against the enemy. Ground combat offers ranged and melee combat, and there are tantalising glimpses of items available to heal party members and boost combat options. But the limited options available in the demonstration, with only three attack options for both space and ground combat, results in combat resolving to selecting the next target and mashing the buttons. The best I can comment about Star Trek Online is that it feels like an average MMORPG. But without a sense of story, progression, or the social interaction available, what is presented simply doesn't impress.

An impressive display of technology is available in two forms, that of 3D displays. Or, rather, 3D glasses for normal displays. 3D Vision from Nvidia uses a normal 120 Hz display to create two alternating 60 Hz pictures, with custom glasses that synchronise with the computer to blank one LCD lens of the glasses at a time, effectively presenting each eye with a different picture. The brain combines these two views to give a stereoscopic image running at 60 frames per second, resulting in a remarkable 3D view from a 2D display. The game being demonstrated is a racing game, which shows an impressive rendering of the car's cockpit, but the road stretching off in to the distance doesn't seem much different. However, when passing other cars or moving close to the barriers really shows off how effective the impression of 3D is, as instead of the other car merely sliding off the side of the screen, as it normally would look like, it really feels like it passes by your side. The technology apparently doesn't need any specific gaming software, only an Nvidia graphics card and drivers, with many games displaying in 3D from the box, but again it is available only on the PC.

Real 3D is another display of 3D display technology, also requiring special glasses. These glasses are unpowered, and I am unable to find out anything about how they work. The game being displayed is an FPS, which gives a different and better look at what is offered by 3D technology. Everything in the game, from the main character to the foliage, is shown in full 3D, with ammo packs bumping off your character's body, gun flare realistically highlighting the surrounding area, and plants seemingly coming out of the screen as you move through them in a way that makes several people duck. Large boss mobs come much more alive when you get a better impression of how big they are beyond visually taking up half the screen, particularly when they thunder towards you in full 3D. Other games seem boringly flat after seeing the two 3D display technologies available, and I would certainly like to see 3D gaming become more widely available.

Although there are many much-anticipated titles available to play on the main floor, including Dragon Age and Left 4 Dead 2, my pick of the show is New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I am interested to see this title, being a big fan of the Super Mario Bros. series of games, although my expectations are low. Nintendo has generally done a pretty good job of creating a new style of Mario game for each of its systems, adding different features and better graphics and gameplay elements, but every time they have tried to update the old-style games for the new generation they have failed to capture the spirit of the original game. Shiny new graphics help, but not if the added parallax scrolling reveals blocks previously hidden by the background; making Mario more agile updates his moves to be similar to the modern games, but tends to break the feel of the classic style of gameplay, which may need more skill and timing but includes a greater sense of satisfaction. Previous updates have felt like superficial attempts to market nostalgia.

For the latest attempt to revamp the classic Super Mario Bros., Nintendo have wisely kept the feel of the old game whilst adding many elements from newer games as the series has progressed. Mario and chums cannot turn on a sixpence in this game, requiring instead time to slow down and turn, making it more skilful experience much like the original. There is a much greater sense of control, providing that fulfilment when different moves are connected fluidly. Yet the graphics are fully updated, including new landscape elements, there are more power-ups available, and moves that veteran Mario players have learnt are all available to use. If you come to a slope, Mario can slide down it on his bum, knocking enemies out of the way; koopas can be picked up and carried, or simply kicked along to take out the goombas; wall jumps can help to get your character to a higher platform; and bricks beneath Mario can be smashed with a somersault jump. The Wii's controller can also be shaken to affect power-ups or the environment. Nintendo have finally succeeded in creating a classic side-scrolling platform game for a modern console.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii has a fabulous multiplayer mode. Up to four players can join in the game simultaneously, and unlike many other games there is full player collision, which means there is both a co-operative and competitive mode built in to the game at all times. Players can bump in to each other on the ground or in the air, jump on each other's heads, and the game only ends when all players are knocked out at the same time. An effective display of the multi-player mode is how the game is demonstrated, with two-, three- and four-player games all set up on different machines and people invited to play alongside strangers, everyone enjoying a fun, shared experience. I return several times both to watch and to play, each time thrilled at the features and gamplay I see. I come interested in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and leave positively excited by the game. I will be looking out for this, which is due for release in the coming month.

Posted in Gaming | 3 Comments »
Tags: 3d vision, console, crossover games, darwinia, eufloria, eurogamer expo, plain sight, star trek online, super mario bros, synso, wii

Salvaging voluminous battleship loot

The Crane makes quick work of getting me back to my mission base. I jump pod in to A Matter of Brevity, one of my Drakes. When I catch up with the my two corporation colleagues it looks like we are running level four missions, judging by the number of battleship rats we are encountering. The main man is in a Raven, which certainly helps when engaging the larger ships. I am impressed by the amount of DPS he is producing, the cruisers almost vaporising under a single volley, and the battleships proving little resistance. With a second Drake helping out we have a good team, as well all have good shield tanks, the Raven's active against the passive Drakes. This encourages me to train siege warfare once I have the Damnation, so that I can fit shield warfare links for similar situations.

Rat wrecks litter several deadspace pockets, and I am happy to grab a salvaging Cormorant to tidy up and get some materials for rigs. The Cormorant has always served me well when salvaging, the eight high slots providing plenty of capacity for tractor beams and salvager modules, but when sweeping a deadspace pocket of battleships the lack of cargo hold soon becomes apparent. There is only one low slot for a cargo expander on the Cormorant, but lack of expansion isn't really the problem. Battleships fit large modules, thus those are found in the wrecks, and large modules take up a significant amount of volume. Large capacitor boosters and smart bombs can almost fill the Cormorant's hold in small numbers, so I cannot carry half the loot available. But I don't want to leave all those modules behind, which are recyclable in to minerals for manufacture even if the modules are worth little on the market.

Instead of clearing up everything as I go, sweeping a pocket clean and moving on to the next, I need a new salvaging strategy for level four missions. First I jettison the bigger modules in to a canister and leave it behind, thinking that I will make do without a module or two to take back to the station. But then I realise I have more wrecks to loot, and that the larger modules probably contain more recoverable minerals. It quickly becomes clear what to do. I lock on to the jet-can and dedicate a tractor beam to keeping the can within range of my ship. I drop all looted modules in to the can and keep the salvage, with its negligible volume, in my Cormorant. Once I complete clearing the deadspace pocket I can bookmark the location of the can and return with the Crane to haul the recovered loot back in one trip. I can repeat this method for each pocket to clear, ending up with one bookmark for each that points directly to a big can o' loot.

As luck would have it, the mission running winds down as I am finishing clearing the first pocket, and the other Drake pilot offers to help with salvaging. Rather than bringing a second destroyer to sweep the area she offers to bring a Badger, which means we can haul everything in a single trip each, nice and efficiently.

There are a couple of drawbacks to the method of salvaging battleships. If not all wrecks are within range of the tractor beams, one is permanently needed on the jet-can to keep it close enough to the ship to enable loot to be dropped in to the can, reducing the efficiency of pulling wrecks in to range of the salvagers. And if the wrecks are spread out, moving to them using the MWD is limited, as the drive pushes the ship over 1 km/s, whereas a tractor beam can only pull at half that speed, which will soon put the loot jet-can out of range of the tractor beam, so the MWD needs to be pulsed. But that's okay, it makes salvaging an even more interesting logistical problem to be solved.

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Tags: cormorant, crane, deadspace, drake, eve online, mmorpg, penny ibramovic, raven, salvage

Manufacturing and minerals

It's quiet, which is good. A quick dash back from the corporation HQ to my manufacturing base lets me get some production runs started, once I identify the few gaps in my output that appear in my recent absence. Not being a natural miner, I unsurprisingly don't have enough of each mineral stockpiled to start all the jobs I need. Rather than dash out to several systems to pick up the shortfall as I find one, I start all the manufacturing jobs I can. In the end, I am able to install all but two of the BPOs that I would like to produce from.

Temporarily putting aside the BPOs where I am missing minerals may seem an obvious step, but it is easy to get carried away and assume that your mineral stockpile only needs that one item or two in order to make everything. I've made a mineral run before only to find I have to head out again minutes later when I try to manufacture the next module from my inventory of BPOs. Once again, putting further manufacturing jobs in to the laboratory results in my needing a second mineral to be restocked, so I hit the market for both zydrine and mexallon.

I find some suitable quantities for sale nearby at a reasonable price and take my Crane to haul them back, buying enough to overstock my hangar for the next few production runs too. I can finish installing my maximum number of manufacturing jobs, but I leave further market manipulation until another day. I have some modules to be moved from one station to another, and a silly number of missiles to deliver, but I may as well wait until the newly installed jobs complete and I can get everything delivered in one session. Besides, there are corporation colleagues flying missions near my mission base, which sounds rather more exciting.

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Tags: crane, eve online, industry, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

More Guitar Hero 5

I'm bashing my way through Guitar Hero 5. I jump right in to the hard difficulty drumming, bypassing the medium setting. I think my months of practice in the previous game will let me progress rapidly at the harder setting. The earlier songs in career mode are fairly boring, although that is probably an indication that I should be attempting them in expert mode, stepping down to the hard setting once it starts to get too difficult. But perseverance pays off, as I find some good songs to play along to.

I am enjoying the album classics tremendously. Any song that is still being played thirty years later must have some merit, and The Police, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, and others are all fun to listen to and to play, revealing plenty of talent in the bands. I am also finding some new songs to enjoy, with The Derek Trucks Band's Young Funk to be wickedly jazzy and most appealing. I know of Sonic Youth, but I hadn't heard of Incinerate before, which is followed by previously unknown The Sword with Maiden, Mother & Crone, both of which are excellent drumming songs. So Lonely is also in the set list with the previous two tracks, making it quite a venue to play. But this brings me back to the subject of set lists.

Whilst it is a good feature to have user-created set lists that can be saved and reloaded, even discounting the rather clunky interface to do so, it is disappointing that there is no option to play set lists in career mode. If I want to progress my drumming career I am stuck picking single songs at a time and I have the same complaint as with the still-absent album shuffle on the iPod Touch, in that I don't always want to micro-manage my song selections. On the other hand, it is not a terrible burden to have to select the next song in the venue list each time. It also means I don't have to suffer through the tedious horrors of death metal, at least not a second time.

I am also enjoying the updated graphics, for the band avatars, audiences, and venues. As a side note, it is good that I no longer need to pick a venue to play in every time I play a repeated gig, as I did in World Tour, again not caring to micro-manage that aspect of the game. I have heard complaints that the audience are just a handful of individuals cloned and therefore look a bit silly. But I will just point to the Tool gig in World Tour, as anyone who has played along to that will know that the stupefying backdrop plunged the gig in to the depths of boredom during quiet moments, and its pretentious nature ruined the immersive value of the game. In contrast, the new graphics give a colourful display to watch when your instrument is in a rest, particularly when you have a supergroup line-up, and the audience jumping along and band avatars providing a realistic performance creates a wonderfully immersive atmosphere for fake plastic rocking.

And remember, the sign of a good drummer is banging the sticks together during a fill.

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Tags: console, drumming, guitar hero, xbox 360

Returning from shore leave

I'm returning from some planetside furry rest and relaxation. A handful of days doesn't sound long, but when they are spent in relative isolation, with only personal-distance communication, there is plenty to catch up with when getting back in the pod.

My first task is to refresh my ME research jobs. I extended the previous batch of BPO research for an extra day in the corporation laboratories to minimise any lost time, hoping no one would notice my presumptuousness, and they are all ready to be delivered when I get back to the station. I jump in the Crane and head out to the POS to refresh the BPOs that still need some extra research performed. A couple of finished jobs get tucked in to my ship's hold, as they have achieved an excellent level of ME research, allowing me to start on some different blueprints. This time, I reduce the research being performed so that the jobs should finish at a time next convenient for me to visit the POS.

Next I check the market, as well as my wallet's transactions. It looks like my orders have been selling steadily, although I will certainly need to review the prevailing prices and amend some orders, as well as start some more production runs to refill stock. I knew I would have to manufacture more modules before I took the shore leave, as some enterprising traders decided to buy up my entire stock of a module in a couple of stations, even though my profit margin was already fleecing unsuspecting punters. I would have started the manufacturing runs before my break but the sales came quite late in the evening. I was happy enough to the take the ISK and wait. I took advantage of my time away to produce a huge run of missiles, twice my normal production run, which are ready to be shipped to market. Taking care of industry will have to wait, however, as my plant is a couple of regions away.

The final status check is an optimistic glance at my training queue, hoping that perhaps I am in a position to add a skill to the end of it. If I could, it would mean that I am less than a day away from flying a Damnation but, as I well knew before the break, I am still not quite there. But the end of the long training plan is not far away, and checking the prices of Damnation command ships on the market is certainly warranted. I think my time would be better served researching possible fittings for the Damnation, though, rather than making warp engine noises as I spin the holographic model around its axes. I will soon be in a remote-repairing, armour-tanking command ship, which would be totally alien to me if it weren't for the launcher hardpoints. I've got some learning ahead of me.

I am nearly up-to-date on everything, all that's left is corporation business, the state of the current wormhole operation in particular. That can be left for another day, as I am still a bit woozy from leaving an authentic atmosphere for the goo of a pod. I join a friend for a little rat shooting and salvaging in pleasant company before heading back to a station for the night. I will be back in the embrace of the void before long.

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Tags: crane, damnation, eve online, industry, mmorpg, penny ibramovic

Filesystem Checkwits visit Blackfathom Deeps

We need a holiday, some distant land to explore, mostly to get away after randomly interrupting many of Stormwind and Ironforge's hardcore RP contingent. Vulzerda can't help it if her elephant sits down in the middle of a picnic, the brutes are difficult to control. I can't help pointing out that the 'corpse' on the floor is still breathing. And Livya can't help running in to the same naked bear man, or the night elf who spends every waking hour wandering the city streets. Qattara simply steals white kittens from children, but they're NPC children so it's okay.

Where better to hide than the least-visited Azerothian instance. Tucked away on the edge of the border between Darkshore and Ashenvale, both featuring achingly long runs, either north-south or east-west, Blackfathom Deeps is on the furthest corner of the night elf region, a mythical place where night elves only stay for long enough to find the ship to Stormwind. Indeed, the dungeon is only slightly easier to travel to now that Stormwind Harbour routes directly to Auberdine. There is a rumour that the Hydraxian Waterlords were originally placed at Blackfathom Deeps, but Blizzard created the otherwise deserted Azshara for the sole purpose of making a more remote location for the elementals to live.

It is not just the tedious journey that stops anyone from visiting the Deeps. To get past the first few mobs in the instance everyone has to negotiate a platform game, Livya announcing that we're 'going to rescue Princess Daisy' from the King of the Koopas, as a couple of us fall and have to run back to the start. Getting to world 1-2 has us confronted by huge, elite murlocs, a positive progression from the RP in Stormwind, even when we get the attention of two groups of huge, elite murlocs, quickly followed by some demons ambushing us from behind. 'It is around now', Livya sighs with her last breath, Fliesystem Checkwit corpses around her, 'that you remember you can create soulstones.'

The ghostly run back to the instance entrance gives us all a chance to do the jumping game again, some of us more than once. Take care of the murloc infestation brings us to the Twilight Cultist section of BFD. It is my experience that most groups disband soon after reaching this point, mostly because of the concentration of casters who are also runners that, when combined with occasional patrols, tends to lead to frequent wipes. The drop in morale if that happens generally outweighs the opportunity to kill NPCs of every race. 'Don't kill the cows', urges Livya, 'where will we get our milk?'

'Then don't kill the gnomes either, think of all the melon juice going to waste.' Before I get a chance to explain myself, we are attacked by more cultist tauren and gnomes, after which we get a well-earned mana break. Whilst we are drinking, Vulzerda appears on the big screen in the Twilight Cultists' living room. I didn't know she was so famous, although I often suspected she was that slutty.

Reaching the end of the instance and defeating the final boss, a new loot rule is instituted: if you can wear the item, you have to wear the item. Aku'mai drops some cloth armour, enticingly called 'Leech Pants', and only Livya wears cloth armour. 'That's fine by me', I say, 'I've seen Stand By Me'. As a final nod to Blackfathom Deeps being such an isolated destination in a lonely region, there is an NPC waiting at the very end of the instance ready to teleport anyone who asks back to Darnassus. Not even Maraudon has this luxury, mostly because the quests for Blackfathom Deeps need to be turned in at the elf capital city, and using a hearthstone only to have to travel across continents immediately afterwards is too tedious even for Elune to inflict on ex-patriots.

Quests are handed in and we all vanish in a blur of green energy back to Stormwind, where I hear there is a riot happening in the city's gaol. This sounds like a job for the Filesystem Checkwits!

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Tags: azeroth, filesystem checkwits, kiska, mmorpg, world of warcraft

Learnt, not intuitive

If someone suggests that a modern graphical user interface is 'intuitive' to use, thus not needing to be learnt, I suggest pointing to the 'save' icon, which has a curious tendency to be a representation of a 3.5" floppy disk.

The demonstration works best when used with people who have never before seen a floppy disk.

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Tags: design, gui

Spiel 2009

Every year there is a large board gaming convention held in Essen, Germany, where many manufacturers show off their new releases and huge crowds turn up to play the latest games and pick up some bargains. Although there are simplistic games like Monopoly and Cluedo around, most of the games are far more complex and, whilst mostly unknown outside of dedicated gaming groups, Germany has a large market for such involved strategy games. It is quite refreshing to see families as a whole getting to grips with the latest games and sharing the experience.

Spiel also includes Comicon, as well as a large number of sellers of RPGs—even if there are few RPGs played at the convention—and LARP equipment, mostly medieval armour, weapons and clothing. The Comicon contingent has a dedicated group of cosplayers who dress up as their favourite characters, some of them entering a small show and competition. I have been to Essen before, so I know of the cosplay that happens, which is why I choose to take my fox tail and ears along with me. Indeed, I make the fox tail specifically after I know I am going to Essen, putting in the time and effort to ensure I get it created in time.

I have to admit that on the first day I am really quite nervous about wearing my tail to the convention. I don't really hide that I am a furry, but I also don't really dress up, particularly not in public, and I don't even know how the group I am with, including friends and friends of friends, will react, particularly as I haven't told anyone about my intention. But I put on my fox ears hat and hook up my splendid tail and head down to the lobby to get ready to head out for the first day. I needn't have worried, as everyone is quite impressed by the tail, although not all notice it initially. One friend says he thinks my hat is neat, only five minutes later blurting out 'oh, you've got a tail too!' as we turn to exit. It turns out to be a fairly common reaction, which is understandable. Walking around a really crowded centre lets people spot the fox ears on my hat easily enough, but my tail is obscured both by other people and my own legs, so quite a few people enjoy my hat and then get even more excited by my bushy orange tail.

The fox tail bumps against my legs a bit as I walk, but that's fine. It gives me some feedback as to how central the tail is as I walk along and, as it turns out, the friction of the long-haired fabric against the back of my legs forces the fur to compress a little on the underside of the tail, making the rest of the tail look even bushier, which is a superb effect. I am so pleased with being able to walk around wearing a tail that I am encouraged to wear it for the rest of the convention, which runs over four days. Over the weekend, I get quite a few complimentary comments about my tail. I don't speak German, so I miss out on some of the comments, but it also means I probably don't understand any insults that maybe one or two people direct at me, so that is good in its way.

Despite feeling a little out of place wearing my tail on the Thursday and Friday, more cosplayers gradually turn up, most of them on the Saturday for the cosplay event itself. I see a few more tails here and there, mostly not as big and bushy as my own but they are also not as heavy or unwieldy, making them easier to attach to clothes and to wear. There are some quite impressive tails, though, including one that needed a second person to carry it around as a train, as well as some excellent costumes overall. I even find my people, who let me scritch them behind the ears a little. I probably should have asked how they went about creating their costumes before giving these wonderful fellows big hugs and leaving them be, but that's okay. They seem to love my tail as much as I love their costumes and are really friendly. It is unsurprising that many costumes make my effort look rudimentary, mostly because it is quite a simplistic affair, but I am really happy just being able to walk around as a furry for a few days, and I hopefully will make more of a costume at some point.

Essen is not just about walking around as an anthropomorphic animal. There are loads of new board and card games to play, and most people in the group are looking for the best new games to try out and, if they are good enough, buy to play for the next year or so. Personally, I don't get enough opportunity to play multi-player board games, so I am not too fussed if I just end up browsing what is available, but I know that the main motivation for the group is to get some demonstrations. Unfortunately, partly because Spiel this year falls during school half-term, the Thursday and Friday are uncommonly busy and it is almost impossible to get one of the many but limited tables at various publishers' stands in order to try the new games. As some games can take a few hours to complete, and certainly an hour to get to grips with, finding a free table can be a frustrating time. Indeed, on the first day the small group, for we split in to several, doesn't manage to sit down for any demonstrations. We get to play Dungeon Lords during the evening back at the hotel, with a bought copy, and it looks really quite entertaining.

The second day doesn't get much better in the way of demonstrations, but at least we manage to grab a table for a four-player game of Gonzaga, which seems decent enough but perhaps not quite as in-depth as most people desire. As there are five in our little group I am happy to sit out, which gives me a chance to listen to the rules and watch the game being played, as well as sneak away briefly by myself to look at the pretty cosplay outfits for sale without too much guilt. Later on in the day, my friend and I get a table for an hour for a demonstration of Loyang, a harvesting game. Unfortunately, the provided overview of the rules is fairly confusing, and the English-speaking member of the game's team is guiding a different, three-player group through the game. Never the less, we bluster out way through the early stages as best we can, before managing about half-an-hour's worth of solid gameplay. Loyang plays well enough, although the short time spent playing makes it difficult to tell whether the limited player interactions may harm it.

The large crowds on the weekdays, and almost complete lack of available tables, don't bode well for the Saturday, generally the convention's busiest day, so most of the group decide to stay at the hotel playing games already bought for the morning, only heading to the convention for an hour or two in the afternoon to browse the trading stalls a little more. I decide to head in earlier to wander around the stalls more, just to take in the sights and sounds and, if I am to be honest, to get more of a chance to wear my tail. I pop over to see another member of the circle of friends at the convention, who is on the other side of the fence this year, selling a game he has designed and produced himself. I catch up with him half-way through a rules explanation he is giving, after which he invites me to play the potential customer in a demonstration game. Even though I only heard half the rules Monkey Dash is easy to pick and fun to play. It is quick, but with enough strategic depth to make each game different and interesting. I also get to sit down for a bit and enjoy a fun game.

I wander through to the cosplay area of the convention centre as the cosplay event is underway, and I head over to enjoy the atmosphere. A lot of time and effort goes in to making the excellent costumes and the occasional skit that the cosplayers put on for the audience, which mostly consists of other cosplayers. Not understanding German hampers my enjoyment a little again, but it's a fun little show and everyone enjoys themselves. I take some photos of a few of the costumes, generally the ones with tails, although I also get shots of an excellent Warhammer 40,000 trooper, Rorschach patrolling the area, and an amazing Link complete with shield of Hyrule and sword. To complete my cosplay fun for the weekend, I pick up a couple of pairs of paws, one black pair and one white pair, which I can use and maybe copy and adapt to make my own.

We get a break on Sunday, the last day of the convention, as dinner the previous night is with some friends of the group who also run a gaming shop and have a stand at the convention. After hearing of our frustration at finding a table for some of the games in higher demand, they kindly offer to nab a table before the doors open to the public, as they get in early to set-up, and effectively reserve it as long as we get there early enough. It is a most generous offer and readily accepted, so rather than playing bought games late in to the night and only getting ready to head home on the Sunday, we turn up at the convention centre early and are able to get a table in one of the busiest sections. There we play a couple of games of Tobago, a treasure-hunting game, which is interesting and clever and captures my attention wonderfully, although I got stitched up on my treasure more than I would have liked. It is a lot of fun, though, and I would definitely play it again.

I wasn't expecting to buy any games, although I am able to pick up a copy of the Dark Heresy RPG which I was looking for, but I end up buying a couple anyway. It is as if fate draws me to the Hard Furry Pets stand, a game of anthropomorphic animals trying to seduce their owners. It is a little bizarre, but exactly what appeals to me. I buy it without a demonstration, just on the strength of a few of the cards. We manage to get a quick game of it back at the hotel and, as my friend points out, it plays like Chez Geek, but with some modifications. I love the text and art of the cards. I haven't read them all, but I think the French Accent card is superb, where the hard furry pet adopts the accent to impress his date, the flavour text on the card reading, 'Je suis la bas ici comme ca'.

A second game I buy is explained to me before we get to the convention centre. Bunny Bunny Moose Moose is a game of silly faces, and the description and seeing it for only ten bucks makes me think that maybe it would work well as a family game for Christmas. A five-player game at the hotel one evening makes for uproarious entertainment, as four of the five are making bunny ears or moose antlers, sticking tongues in and out, changing quickly as new cards are revealed before the hunter turns up. It is very silly, but jolly good fun and well worth the cheap price tag. I almost buy Dungeon Lords, hoping that perhaps I can find a single-player variant, but it is in such high demand that it sells out before the end of the Saturday.

All that is left is getting back home. This year, instead of flying, my friend decides to drive from the UK to Essen, which costs about the same, doesn't have the hassle of airport travel or 'security', and allows more games to be brought back stuffed in to the boot of the car. The journey is quite long but is mostly one long motorway, apart from taking the car on the Channel Tunnel train crossing and the last mile or so on each end. It is interesting to note that we left the UK, travelled through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and in to Germany, then back through Germany in to the Netherlands, Belgium and France, and it was only getting on the train back to the UK that we ever have to show our passports.

Spiel 2009 has been an excellent little break. Good company, lots of friendly, like-minded gamers, and some fun gaming. I hope to go back again next year.

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Tags: bunny bunny moose moose, cosplay, dark heresy, dungeon lords, essen, gonzaga, hard furry pets, loyang, monkey dash, spiel, tobago