I'm Supposed to Have Some Weird Statement Here

- My Brain Exploded -

... with the possibilities.

So, remember a long time ago when I said, "Friday is a great Web site for finding browser games"? Well, I didn't say which Friday. Technically. So I'll do that some Friday! Genius, eh?

Anyway, Blizzcon was a week ago, and despite all of the cool stuff that's going to be happening with WoW, the most amazing thing to me was their demo of what you'll be able to do with Starcraft II's world editor. I don't want to spoil it before you get to see it (if you haven't already), so I'll stop typing here and just let it speak for itself.

-- Pawn --

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If I Had a Danger Sense, I Wouldn't Fight Crime; I'd Be a Bodyguard

- "All Your Game Development Needs" -

Today's Web site is a fount of knowledge for anyone out there who's aspiring to be a video game developer some day, and it's also got a lot of good information for people who are already in the industry.

GameDev.net features industry-related articles, gaming news, a biweekly email newsletter, a "game dictionary" for those who want to brush up on their gaming industry jargon (I found out what a "ren'ai" is!), product reviews (hardware, software, books, and other stuff), forums (of course), tools for finding other people in or interested in the gaming industry in your area, and a wiki that has more information in it than I can tell you.

This is one of those sites where I could easily ramble on all the cool freatures for a few more paragraphs to get a "normal" post length, but if this is something you're interested in, you've probably already opened GameDev.net in a new tab/window and have stopped reading this post anyway. If not, well hurry up and do it!

Friday is a great Web site for finding browser games.

-- Pawn --

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Why the Crap Have I Been Uploading Images as JPG's? PNG's Are So Much Better!

- Best. Magazine. Ever. -

So, remember in last Friday's post how I said I used to have a browser-based game called Elinon? Well, apparently that qualified me as a member of the gaming industry and also somehow scored me a free subscription to Game Developer magazine. Awesome? You bet it's awesome.

Know what else is awesome? This magazine. (It would be more awesome if I were being paid for this endorsement, but I doubt that's gonna happen ever. I guess I'll live with the free subscription.)

Did you know that programmers in the video game industry who have some college credit but have no degree make more money (on average) than those with a doctoral degree? I didn't either, but then I read the April 2009 edition of Game Developer! (Let this be a lesson to all of you: drop out of school now. [Not really. Just don't spend so long getting degrees that you forget to actually start a career.])

In addition to cool stuff like a yearly salary survey, they also have articles on stuff like new software suites, coding tips and tricks learned by the professionals on such-and-such high budget blockbuster game, sound design, art design, level design.... well, you get the picture. Basically, anything that at all involves the gaming industry (including news like changes in laws) is fair game for this magazine. Lately, there have been a lot of articles about mobile gaming (you know, like on phones and stuff, not on a Gameboy), which is an area of the gaming industry that's still in the early if-you-get-in-now-you-can-be-rich-in-ten-years phase.

My favorite part of each issue is the postmortem, though. Looking at the April 2009 edition, there are six full pages of stuff straight from the people who were responsible for making THQ and Volition's Saint's Row 2. What went right, what went wrong, what they learned, what they'd do different, what they'll do again... I think I'm gonna read this article again as soon as I finish this post, actually.

The Web site also offers source code from past editions of the magazine, as well as research information (both of which are free).

So, what about cost? Well, like I said, mine's free. (God loves me.) Unless you get a random offer out of nowhere like I did, though, you're going to have to pay.

If you want a year's subscription (well, 11 issues) of printed magazines mailed to you, it's $49.95. I really wouldn't suggest this (even though I get the printed ones). If you go with a digital subscription, it's $29.95 for a year (do the math), and you also get a digital copy of their Game Career Guide and access to their online library of back issues. You can click here for subscription information.

If this post seemed like one big advertisement... I wish. Anyway, this is a great magazine, and I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the game development industry.

Wednesday is another game development-related Web site.

-- Pawn --

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Kitties Are Great, Too

- Warcraft III -

I picked up the Warcraft Battle Chest (which now contains WC3 and the expansion) a few days ago. After a few minutes of confusion due to the original game and the expansion being completely separate (I was really expecting it to be an expansion of the first game, rather than a completely separate game made with the same engine), I started playing it.

First of all, I was disappointed that the Battle Chest no longer contains WC2 (as it did the last time I remember seeing it). I was really looking forward to going way back into Warcraft history and actually seeing stuff happen instead of just reading about it. (I'd really like to play the original Warcraft, too, but I'm too lazy to find a place to order it.)

I also feel like I would be enjoying the story a lot more if I'd played it seven years ago. Since I already knew exactly what was going to happen, it didn't surprise or disappoint me at all when Arthas went evil. (I have to stare at his death knighty face almost every time I log into WoW.)

Anyway, I'm a few missions into the Undead campaign by now. I've also done a few of the Maiev missions in the expansion, and I'm working on the little Rexxar campaign thingy as well. It's really a lot more fun than the main game. I can see why people were so excited about WoW after playing it.

As for the game itself, it's pretty great. Every faction is completely different at their core, which I love. At the moment, humans are my favorite, simply because the paladin and mountain king heroes are so ridiculously powerful. Paladins are my favorite hero unit so far, although that's simply because their armor aura is awesome, and they can heal very frequently. Oddly enough, I have yet to use Divine Shield, and I've only used Mass Resurrection once (and only one unit was dead). Those are the two spells that I've heard/read people complaining about being so overpowered, but I haven't seemed to have a use for them. If I ever start doing multiplayer, I'm sure that'll change, though.

The biggest thing I don't like about the game is that it's difficult to use units' special abilities. Especially annoying is the hotkeys they chose for the abilities. Holy Light is T. Healing Wave is E. It seems like it would have been a lot easier to just make all units use the QWER keys for their abilities, and then you just hit the key based on the position of ability in their little grid thingy. The manual said you can redefine hotkeys (although you apparently have to go in and manually edit a file?), but I doubt that extends to units' abilities. Maybe I'll check later.

All-in-all, it's a great game. I'm really looking forward to getting beyond the stage where I suck so I can go and play a few games on battle.net (and get owned... at first). I can definitely see similarities between WC3 and the early patches of WoW. There are still similarities, of course, but I can now see why some of the silly stuff in early WoW was the way it was.

Wednesday, I talk about Web browsers!

-- Pawn --

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