adorable rockets

Long before I was ensnared by making my very own Visual Novel, I was a game designer by trade.

Doki-Doki Classmates!! One of my non-digital game projects

Recenty I’ve found myself only really playing four kinds of games:

1. Rock Band – Beatles, et al. Social cooperative games of skill and music played as part of regular parties.
2. PSP RPGS – Disgea mostly, but a handful of others. Games of strategy and grinding, perfect for travel.
3. Wargames – Simulation of tactical choices and historical outcomes are my turn ons. Oh and tanks. Lots of tanks.
4. Board and Card games – Battlestar Galactica, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion – typical Board Game Geek fare.

It was boardgames that once again lured me into the art and science of game design.

“Luck hads no place in games!” is a zealously defended opinion among some board game players. It’s easy to understand why. Candyland is a crappy game. It’s really all luck and the game plays itself. On the other hand Chess is awesome, and look… no dice!

The only problem with this point of view is that I can’t stand all the most popular brain burning games of no luck! Even many popular collectible card games turn me off. Why? And why did I continue to enjoy wargames of all stripes where buckets of dice capture the uncertainty and chaos of the battlefield?

Well it would be mostly an academic question were it not for the fact that I was trying to make a few games of my own. Like Doki-Doki Classmates!! The harem-building er.. friend-collecting moé anime card game. I need to understand games if I’m going to have a chance at making a good one myself. Unlike writing a visual novel there is no screenwriting authority to show me the way!

Thankfully I’ve gotten a second opinion about luck and games from Fortress Ameritrash. This fantastic article lays it all out. The more I thought about it the more it rang true. All of a sudden so many other aspects of what I enjoy in many games, from Rockband to Disgea to Conflict of Heroes, all made sense!

So of course I drew some diagrams… (more…)

A bit of background first, I’m an old time Star Wars fan. My childhood was pretty much defined by the original trilogy and I remember fondly the old Action figures, comic books, even that trashy novel by Alan Dean Foster! :p

In highschool I was an X-Wing (and Tie Fighter) addict, and while I remember little of the details, I was strongly impressed by the depth and complexity of tactics thoose games created. I suppose they were partially responsible for my adult fascination with military wargaming from WWII to more modern stuff.

Today I like fast paced games that simulate the meta aspects of combat more than stuff that attempts to simulate every bullet on the battlefield, mostly because computer games (largely the Combat Mission series) made me realize that it was much better to let machines to that kind of work. If I’m going to play in real life, I find that playing with minis beats the stuffing out of the old cardboard counters I gre up with. However I get no enjoyment at all out of the painting, so I’m a big advocate of the style of collectible miniatures games like WotC has been producing. I guess that as a visual designer in real life, painting is too much like work!
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Watarase Jun vs Ayasaki Hayate

Wow, an epic match-up by most accounts. Jun’s would normally be a shoo in. His femininity is clearly established and he has huge fanbase with plenty of screen time and lots of doujin and fanart to bolster his popularity. Hayate on the other hand seems a tough sell. Since he spends most of his time as a normal boy (well clueless servant to insanely rich and spoiled loli-tsun-otaku) you’d think its hard to see him as very moé at all. Nontheless I’m going to give my vote to Hayate. The fact that he’s a normal hetero boy makes his cross-dressing discomfort that much more adorable, not to mention that his outfits tend to be cuter and frillier too!

Too funny, but the votes are serious now…
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What’s smaller than Lego minis? Lego micros of course!

Another shot after the break…
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Hanyuu vs Tsukasa – I had to give it to Tsukasa.

As much as I adore Higurashi, Hanyuu is really nothing without Rika. Hanyuu’s horns and Miko dress combine with the ’shy+timid’ charatype for 3 distinct moé points, yet she feels like less than the sum of her parts. In contrast Tsukasa’s shy, timid, lazy, slow, etc. attributes are dull and stereotypical even by moétic composition standards. Yet what she lacks in the creativity of her basic nature, she more than makes up for in nearly flawless execution.

Is anything more inane than blogging your moé tournament voting? I think not, yet I feel compelled to continue… Full map of my votes after the break.
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Go vote! Moar Taiga!

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I voted, did you?

My votes after the break…
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A rough Raptor and a pretty decent Viper MkII (if I do say so myself)!

Luna is the new Osaka – Mahou!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Despite a rather dorky subname DH seems well its way to being one of the best books of the series, ranking up there with Sorcerer’s Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix. Must be something about odd numbers. I’m just about half way now (I’d be further but the time share with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Denied-Her-Dose-Of-Harry-Potter, forces a more contemplative pace). It’s a brilliantly good read with far more rip roaring action than I had any right to expect. It also seems like she will pull off a stisfying conclusion despite the amount of ground to cover, so keep your fingers crossed. My only complaint so far is the perfunctory treatment of Hedwig’s death, but that’s a minor quibble in an otherwise thrilling ride.

UPDATE:
Finished the book this morning. No more spoilers, but get your hanky ready. This was a wild, dark and disturbing ride, really the best of the bunch, and a fitting conclusion. Definitely epic.

We also saw the Order of the Phoenix movie on Sunday. Aside from the perfect delight that was Luna, I give it a solid meh. Snape was brilliant and Tonks looked hot, but overall a little too much training and not enough action. I blame the screenplay and producers. I think the director did quite well with the material. I did enjoy more time with the characters, but what’s up with Ginny? Half the scenes she looked cute enough, but in the other half she looked totally plain, and not to mention generally about 8 years old. Harry’s main squeeze has got to be toning up her appeal right quick for effective smouldering in the last two flicks!

But really, it’s all about Luna. For those of us who can’t get enough of her…

Gureen Lagann
In other news Guerren Lagann is frackin’ epic! A seven year jump and Simon was throwing off strong shades of Baltar as he ruled humanity / lounged apathetically in his executive office. The real unexpected delight were Ginny and Darry – plausible teen mecha pilots without super powers or special destiny. I never though I’d see it. Ginny is hawt simply by virtue of being a teen mecha pilot with pink hair, but her character seems strangely dilluted without her stoic loli facade. I hope that outside of combat she grows a personality and maybe a cuter wardrobe. (her old dress from the first half of the season would be a fetching midriff revealer now). On the other hand, Darry seems cuter and disappointingly less spastic. I’ll wager that he pulls a Hayate and ends up in a neko-meido-cosplay before the series is up. Don’t just take my word for it. EPIC!

Technorati Tags: Gurren Lagann, Harry Potter, Moetan

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You may have noticed that my template is totally screwed and so I have reverted to the default Wordpress theme. At least with the default the categories show proper hierarchical relationship, and more importantly, the summary pages per category show in-line images. This is important because I’m planning on scanning and uploading a lot of my junk-works shortly. For some reason, these one off single image at a time posts still work out fine, though my anime review post-stravaganzas continue to fail. I’m likely going to have to stumble through some PHP syntax in order to forcefully reconfigure the default template into something tolerable – Never fear the pink (and adorable rocket) will return!

Update: Pink is back! Yay!