JademusSreg

Yes, jumping is lovely. And more broadly, quality of movement is the most significant aspect of gameplay. An otherwise badass game that handles like shit will turn off most everyone. Sprinting is almost always good, and necessary in moderately large game spaces; vehicles or other rapid conveyance are similarly needed in larger spaces.

Ah, of course I didn't mean "lazy limits" are a product of laziness, but rather informally, like how "lazy initialization" of a singleton pattern is a simple, resource efficient approach. The amount of whatever limit is not the issue; gameplay limits are a necessity, because technical limits are a certainty. The point is not that limits are bad, which is obviously nonsense, but rather that limits should preferably emerge intuitively from the interactions of gameplay elements. For the technical limits of a minecraft world, there is the 64-bit floating-point "double" type and its limits on both bounds and precision that affect a certain bugginess the further one journeys from the world center; Mojang has addressed this with fake chunks, but could have opted for more intuitive solutions, like tinkering with the chunk provider a bit to simulate a spherical world (which could be done by mapping regions to an icosahedron), or could just have the world end abruptly with an endless void (which informs the player more effectively than the deadly fake chunks). Perhaps I should have elaborated further on my problem example. The difference between a unit cap and corruption would not be merely nominal, but I can see corruption could be needlessly complex system. Instead you could solve the problem with less complex mechanics, such as compounding supply costs, representing the cost of extending and maintaining supply networks; this would affect a "soft limit", where you must invest more and more, to get comparatively less, so the diminishing returns would still offer players choice while also throttling army sizes. As a designer, you shouldn't need to justify a game abstraction, so much as it should emerge naturally. I mean, why the hell do you harvest gold and gems scattered about in Red Alert games? The world's nations are so broke they need you to loot all the precious materials sprinkled conspicuously around The Alamo? Dawn Of War's requisition economy and tactical asset capturing make more sense for gameplay abstractions of military function. But I don't intend to demean any games here; pointing out incongruities of design is not to say it's bad, but to say we can learn better design by avoiding such incongruities. And I must say, Left4Dead has a great emergent time limit; the Horde. The Director maintains pacing with the threat of impending doom, so if you don't keep up, the infected will wear you down. And the special infected have a number of novel mechanics I enjoy. Who doesn't love fishing for survivors with a grotesque prehensile tongue?

To be fair, rates are equivalent to discrete values with an additional dimension, like time. Unit caps, time limits, invisible level barriers and such are arbitrary limits. When a designer imposes these sorts of lazy limits, it's for lack of imagination, a creative lapse that compromises the experience. Imagine you're the lead developer for a real-time asymmetric strategy game, Veneris Defense. The setting involves two factions in an intractable conflict, the Vanguard of planet Veneris repelling an orbital siege by The Host hivemind. You have the age-old problem of strategy/war-game development; to limit or not to limit the asset quantity a player may possess. Traditional real-time strategy answers include unit caps (employed by Blizzard's RTS titles), squad caps (employed by Dawn of War 2), power supply caps (employed by most all C&C titles, Dawn of War, Supreme Total Commander Annihilation), and hard caps (employed for special units, like the Cyborg Commando, Death Knight, Mothership). Turn-based strategy answers include upkeep costs (employed by Civilization titles, many Magic: The Gathering cards), adjustable supply costs (employed by Civ games that allow you to set unit combat readiness), uniqueness attribute (Legendary Creature — Wall of Text). That was terribly dull, just enumerating all those. But it's a significant issue in the design; it must be solved. Otherwise you may get stuck in a match where your army is so enormous that its movement dilates time (which is to say throttles your RAM and CPU). Fortunately, there is an alternative to imposed limits. Emergent limits are restrictions that are the product of gameplay or narrative elements interacting, rather than rules being imposed on those gameplay/narrative elements. For instance, while The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask features an explicit time limit (3 days), that time limit is a product of narrative elements interacting (the omnicidal moon collides with the world and everyone dies). More importantly, this limit is manipulable in that the game allows Link to time travel, or you can choose to die. You can approach the problem in Veneris Defense by making The Host's units a defined quantity, issued to that faction's players as regular reinforcements to be leveraged, and you could limit the Vanguard by introducing a mechanic representing political corruption and environmental destruction, so amassing structures and units beyond the capacity to manage effectively causes more harm to the player than to the enemies. Also, shit, I forgot about the Gravity Gun. Hell, I love physics-based mechanics generally, like Trine's Rincewind-esque wizard and his crude-structure conjuring.

When I play first-person "gunsplosgasm" games or third-person over-the-shoulder adventures, I eventually get to thinking "This game doesn't have [awesome thing]? Every game should have [awesome thing]!" I mean, I can't throw a grenade without wondering how much better it would be if I could use a portal gun to deliver it with a bit more style, how infinitely more interesting firefights would be if you could take away the enemy's cover or even take it for yourself. The question, "what tools/powers make any game better?", is great discussion fuel, never ceases to provoke an entertaining conversation. I invite you to list your favorite game tools, those special devices whose novel gameplay mechanics found a special place in your heart (or organ of comparable value). Portal Gun Grappling Hook Jetpack Blink/Teleportation

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Learning a language isn't difficult; it's about as challenging as learning to play these Minecraft mods. When you began learning about RedPower logic or frame machines, RailCraft mechanisms, IC2 wiring, Buildcraft power generation, item sorting systems, et cetera, you probably tinkered with shit just to see what would happen (unless you're a hopelessly dull, unimaginative mannequin whose first impulse is to check the wiki). You probably burned some cables, exploded some machines, crashed some trains, clogged some pipes with junk, and eventually you managed to hack together something that functioned properly, or at least not terribly. Tinkering is a form of play, playing with the unknown to discover how it behaves, learning through play. One explores and tinkers, learns and builds in these open-world sandbox games by the gradual accretion of accomplishment. You don't start with the big awesome 10000-hour project of brain-hemorrhaging complexity; you collect a thousand little accomplishments that make those big awesome projects seem possible. If you wanna learn a language, start by avoiding srs bsns, start by playing, tinker and see what you can do.

Oh, and don't use those Chrono Legionnaires to displace the Kremlin; you'll lose the mission, since you're only supposed to clear the Apocalypse Tanks around it.

Final Fantasy Tactics The Fame: Genre-defining tactical gameplay, featuring a mature story and vast strategic breadth The Shame: Overshadowed by its contemporary, the shittily-rendered Final Fantasy 7 Epic Play: 3 Monks (Guts/Basic Skill, Blade Grasp, Two Swords, Move+3, max Brave, 50 Faith,+physical power gear), 2 Summoners (Math Skill, Blade Grasp, Two Swords/Magic Attack Up, Teleport/Fly, max Brave, 50-75 Faith, +magical power gear, optional reraise perfume). One monk alone can kill the final boss first-phase in one turn, and second-phase in two turns, at 2 hits per turn, 900+ damage per hit. [*]Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun & Firestorm The Fame: A hodge-podge of stimulating ideas flavoring dull, imbalanced strategy gameplay The Shame: Once a genre-defining RTS franchise, consistent design failures make all C&C games easy to ignore Epic Play: In the last mission of Firestorm, take control of all enemy installations, especially the super-weapons. Spend the next several hours goofing off; spam missiles and hunter seeker drones, none of which can penetrate Cabal's Firestorm shield, and sacrifice swarms of banshees upon the shield to crash them into the obelisks and power plants on the other side. Finally, set a trap, destroy the final power plant, lure The Guardian (Cabal's ultimate weapon with 10000 hit points) toward a single unstealthed power plant, one-shot it with a laser fence. [*]Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge The Fame: Like all other C&C games, it's a mess of cool but poorly implemented ideas The Shame: Fairly well-known, and well-known for reprehensible imbalances exploited regularly on its abominable multiplayer service Epic Troll: 1 Transport, 4 Flak Tracks, 21 Crazy Ivans. Attach explosives to each Crazy Ivan before loading it into the Flack Tracks, and to each Flack Track before loading it into the Transport. You now possess a doomsday weapon; unloading the transport will cause a sequence of detonations that will crash the game. Epic Play: In the last Allied mission in RA2, accidentally lose your entire base and all your units to Soviet nukes, except two Chrono Legionnaires. Complete the mission with only these two units. Hint: The Kirov Airships tracking you can be tricked into bombing friendly units and structures. [*]Secret of Evermore The Fame: Tactical action narrative play, featuring a modest selection of weapons and an impressive array of alchemy powers The Shame: Frequently confused with Secret of Mana. Epic Play: During the first boss fight at the end of the prehistoric realm, queue up a veritable fuck-tonne of alchemy commands to cause a buffer overflow. The overwritten memory will cause text errors, distorted audio, garbled menus, and your quest item menu will, in a manner defying any attempt at comprehension, lead you back to navigate the world, only rendered completely in error garbage. And don't worry; it won't damage your save file (probably).

On the contrary, I simply delight in leveraging comedic value from otherwise dull acronyms. EDIT: I felt I needed to clarify the above; seriousness is bullshit, and a playful attitude turns that bullshit into fertilizer. One errs in conflating a serious appearance with a sincere consideration/appreciation of a subject. It's terribly easy to misunderstand people on the internet, and most everyone is guilty of reacting to such misconceptions. In the interest of the public good, I've compiled a brief checklist for your consideration. Before responding to what seems like an outrageously misguided internet person, consult the following list and determine if your initial impression is reliable. Caution: Does the content make a sincere point, directly or by rhetorical device? Begin by giving others the benefit of the doubt. Assume a poster is, however misguided, basically well-intentioned. Imagine the words said aloud to get a better sense of their intent. Objectify: Is the content sharing objective or subjective information? Objective content makes assertions and claims, while subjective content is perspective and personal; don't waste time arguing over tastes and preferences. Consideration: Is the content a relevant contribution to the subject? Observe the claims being made, independent of the presentation's quality, rhetorical device, or the claimant's character. Knowledge: Are there errors I am in a position to correct? Be generous but respectful when correcting misconceptions; pride on either side may present obstacles to accepting information. Self-reflection: How does my response reflect on me? Showing respect and tact for others is an indispensable basic utility in social contexts. Whether you value your dignity and the esteem of others, or are the sort who feigns polite civility, demonstrating good character and social awareness makes a better impression on the community, and especially those with which you may argue. Please keep these in mind, take a few moments to commit them to memory. You may find it helpful to exercise them orally, the activity of one's mouth perhaps anchoring them more firmly inside.

Tekkit is popular because it is rock candy; it provides a better user experience than manual modding, and the curated modpacks function as a surface upon which the user base nucleates to form a community. As for modding, programming, design and such, everyone is capable. Even where one feels unable to commit the time, patience, the resources to education or development, one is still capable, but chooses to invest those resources differently. And that's fine, it just seems inaccurate to say one can't develop a mod or game where it is more accurate that one, for whatever motive, chooses not to do so. Just a bit of fanciful speculation here, but I hope to see more Peer Organized Open Projects (POOPs) in the near future; not just mods, but I imagine quality games, from design through release to post-release support, could be produced from effortful POOPs. Hundreds of helping hands working on their own initiative under the direction of scores of minds, collaborating on a glorious, massive POOP.

I'd photoshop Yuengling as a zerg-infested beer, but I suspect that may be a tad off-topic. Instead, here's something exceedingly off-topic. Also, hoping to get a Technic Pack port to the ComputerCraft computer platform, so I can play Tekkit recursively.

This rant is out of place in an otherwise productive discussion. There are no demands. There's no shortage of gratitude here; criticism and appreciation are not mutually exclusive responses. If anything, highlighting problems and suggesting how they may be improved is more useful. EDIT: Pir, ForgeEssentials, which is included in TekkitLite, includes ForgePermissions.

The Minecraft API is an unknown because so little has actually been done on its public git, but will likely be strongly influenced by the Bukkit devs brought on at Mojang. I haven't looked much at the Spout API, but if it intends to be Better Than Forge, it'll be double-edged; Forge/FML makes a lot of compromises to be compatible with ModLoader mods, and if Spout eschews compatibility for a fresh start, that may impair its appeal. Of course, if Spout is easier to use than Forge (which is notoriously inscrutable and under-documented), it could more than make up for breaking compatibility. But besides all that, "waiting" is the worst option. Better off coding it in any API than wasting time not doing what you want.

I see some nascent permission node documentation in the modules. Perhaps it would save some time if, instead of writing the wiki manually, ForgeEssentials were to add some annotations to automate that tedious stuff. In any case, users can't be expected to glean them from the source code, and some efficient documenting will save everyone time.

To be fair, Java version 8 preview release was released yesterday.