by Chris Billowsin Hobby Heedings0 commentstags: Pulp Roleplay, Tales of Strange Cyberworlds
Welcome to my new serial Tales of Strange Cyberworlds, a future set of posts that explores strangeness in Video Games. Being an avid Video Game fan, I have always been interested in both Video Game history and how some games stood out to me. It could be a technical achievement, innovative genre, or something different that triggered my interest. Tales of Strange Cyberworlds is about Video Games that have captured my imagination written in a pulp fiction narrative, a kind of historic-adventure Fanfiction. The avatar I’ll be role-playing for this narrative is Doc Surge a fictional adventurer similar to Doc Savage, who has developed the Strangervision Computer as a way to to catalog and interact with various Cyberworlds (Video Game platforms) and their sub-worlds (the Video Games themselves). Those Cyberworlds that grab the attention of the Strangervision are a glorious collection of Video Games that contain game state transmigration (game events that carry over within and between games), genre mashups, meta-textual treatments, player-less win states, and flipped perspectives. You won’t find games that contain hard-core twitch difficulty or genre-typical themes. Tales of Strange Cyberworlds is not intended to be a history of Video Games but it does use […]
by Chris Billowsin Business Beller, Hobby Heedings, Jets Flight Control, Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Blogging, Change of Mind
This past summer has been a time of review in relation to this blog and my ventures (billo.ws/cyber.holdings). I’ve followed enough game developers on Twitter to witness the carnage in the industry and have decided that I am not going to put any effort for the next year or two on new game projects. My plan is to re-launch CreateOrConquer.com, do some promotion to its mailing list, do exploration of viability for Urbaniacs.com, and casually work on design ideas for Heropath.com. I still love the industry as a fan and advocate, but there simply is no way to justify any serious time investment. There is almost no Return on Investment in Video Games as a game developer. The Video Games industry has become just like the other creative industries with the barrier to entry becoming so low that anybody and everybody is doing game development. This is an abundance of riches and comes with its own downside which is that it is extremely difficult to compete. My focus will shift to website properties which can be developed to attract an audience. I have a couple of projects that I will be turning my attention to, one is related to Sports […]
by Chris Billowsin Hobby Heedings, Mental Mischief0 commentstags: Self Analysis
I was playing with my Mindmap app and came up with a tree of medias that I engage with. Essentially the branches of the tree are separated by their verb (i.e. reading books, browsing websites, playing games, etc.) and then further separated by the method/place (i.e. bedside books, iTunes music). Sharing for hopeful utility.
by Chris Billowsin Hobby Heedings, Mental Mischief0 commentstags: Comics, Superheroes
Years ago I was an avid comic reader of various DC/Marvel characters. I loved origin stories and found that there was a theme among some of the origins, becoming the basis of an archetype, not unlike character classes you find in most RPGs. Here is my list of Superhero Origins: – Accidental origin: A single or combination of events that culminate in the non-chosen attainment of superpowers. Examples: Flash, Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic Four. – Alien origin: Essentially a hero not of human origin that possesses super powers. Examples: Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Namor the Submariner. – Bestowed origin: Essentially a human who is given super powers by a higher, more powerful force. Examples: Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, Captain Marvel, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Starman. – Creation origin: Essentially those sentient beings either intentionally exposed to superpowers or created. Examples: Captain America, Vision. – Demigod origin: Essentially a minor god who becomes active in human affairs. Examples: Thor, Hercules. – Disciplined origin: Essentially those humans who train their bodies to become exceptional in the martial arts. Examples: Batman, Nightwing,Green Arrow, Wildcat and many of the heroes of the JSA, Black Panther,Daredevil, Hawkeye. – Gadgeteer origin: Essentially […]
by Chris Billowsin Hobby Heedings, Playstates Theory0 commentstags: Emergence, Games Analysis
I have an interest in the overall-scope of Video Games; but limited time to play all of the things that are of interest. I think I have come up with a solution, to help define in my own mind what are the games I need to restrain myself to. Video Games have at times been called Possibility Spaces; I think its a very great name since it is about exploring new places, tools, and concepts. Since there is not enough hours in our lives to play every possibility, I have come to accept that others can do the exploring is just as good. Twitch is a good example of the fun of witnessing games. Lots of narrative based games like RPGs and FPSs we see the game’s setting telling a story about the world. Following the narrative-linear format, these games are like books and movies. When you finish the game, you finish the story. The story is not going to advance unless you play. History waits for the player. It these kinds of games where we are acting as the page turner. Successfully overcoming obstacles advances the story. Witnessing these, spoilers and all, means that I don’t need to play […]
by Chris Billowsin Hobby Heedings0 commentstags: Games Analysis
Like most enthusiasts who have a hobby, I tend to over do things with my enthusiasm. I over-collect Music and Video Games. I’ve developed (link to my itunes) a system on how to organize my music and enjoy it. My iTunes practice is a form of O.C.D. trapping. The level of detail I go to is pretty absurd, but I find it scratches an itch. Its almost like a ‘controlled burn’. Allowing it to run rampant in this one contained area of my life, but learning to let things go in other areas. Anyways, enough self psychoanalysis! The biggest difference between Music and Video Games is that Music is so much easier to ‘consume’. A typical song is about 3 minutes and the amount of brain power required to appreciate a song is about 1/100th of what an intense, intricate game requires. So I’ve come to the conclusion that Video Games will remain something that I will enjoy with much less frequency than Music. I simply do not have the time to play Video Games, while I can play Music when even at work. There are websites (The Backloggery) that help encourage people to play their backlog of games. I’ve […]
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