This is my first post as a Guest Blogger here on Wasted Brilliance, so this is as much a “What I’ve Been Playing” as it is an introduction. I would like to thank Brooks Bishop for the real estate on his game development blog and I suppose I should talk a little about myself and the types of things you may expect from my posts based on my history as a gamer and my perspective.

The first thing you may want to know, is that I am in no way shape or form a programmer nor am I a game developer or designer. The closest I come to the game development process is acting as a sounding board for some of Brooks’ design ideas as well as some testing and the occasional random suggestion. As such you can expect that the majority of content you see from me will be that from the perspective of an end user or “gamer.”

My gamer pedigree includes systems such as: Intelivision, NES, Sega Genesis, PS1, DC, PS2, Game Cube, PS3, Wii, XBOX360, and PC. Some of my favorite genres are Action Adventure, RPGs, Platformers, Shooters, Puzzle Games, and recently added to the list Metroidvanias. The genre in which I have spent the most time in my life would be MMORPG with titles such as Everquest and World of Warcraft and is notably missing from my favorite genres list.  And my  tried and true fall back girl is Diablo II.

Now that you know a little about me, here is what I’ve been playing.

“Rachet & Clank: A Crack In Time” is the latest installment in the franchise which occupies a very warm place in my heart. So be forewarned, biased opinions are sure to ensue. I actually hope to post a longer article about this game once it is completed So I will probably leave it by saying I’m digging it.

Portal, yes much belated I know, I get it, seriously stop yelling at me about it. It was all you people said it would be, and is one of the brightest points in my gaming life. I now understand exactly why those who have played it are such activists. Once I started it there was no putting it down. And it wasn’t so much the witty mechanics of the portal gun, but rather the combination of the dialog of GladOS and the environments in combination with said mechanics that really made the game so compelling.

This is as much a what I’ve been playing as it is “What Brook’s Hasn’t Been Playing” since we each bought the game back in December to play co-op. Borderlands has been getting a half hour here and there in my drive for the last month or so. I am really enjoying the itemization system , which is very reminiscent of the procedurally generated itemization in Diablo II that creates such a very strong compulsive collecting element.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, I have been playing this one recently and is my first time venturing into the universe that is Castlevania. I am still not particularly far into it and hope to make a more lengthy post on the topic of this game from the perspective of a mostly modern gamer’s take on a classic title like this.

Sometime last year I wrote up what I kept in my bag and carried around with me.  With 2009 coming to an end soon, I thought it would be interesting to go back and see what’s in my bag now, and observe how this has changed and how it’s remained the same.  Importantly, I am no longer a student, having graduated and attained my B.S. in Computer Science, and now hold a regular old job instead.

The Bag Itself

As much as I love my good old Tom Bihn “Empire Builder,” I found it to be a might too large for my everyday haul to work and around with friends.  I picked up this single-strap messenger bag for cheap, and it’s working out just fine so far.

The Buttons

Recently, I’ve expanded upon the buttons pinned to my bag.  On top you’ll see buttons related to some bands I like:  (left to right) Bad Religion, Streetlight Manifesto, The Aquabats, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.  And above that a Bowser pin I’ve had for as long as I can remember.  I would probably have more band pins, except it seems that pretty much punk and ska bands are the only ones that reliably sell official pins, and I’m all about supporting the bands I think really deserve it.

Below, you can see (again, left to right): a Franklin Badge (item found in the Mother/Earthbound series of games, a Slurm pin (the iconic drink from Futurama), a Miskatonic University pin (the institution of higher learning from H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos), and finally an Awesome Face (if you don’t get it, I’m not explaining it).

The Bag Stuff

1. Composition Notebooks – I love these things.  The covers are sturdy, they’re a great size, and it’s paper.  What do I have to say about paper to convince you?
2. Eee PC 901 – Still carrying this around.  Running the latest Eeebuntu distro.  I have it installed with a full LAMP stack so I can demo websites I’m working on without needing internet access.
3. Moleskine Lined Pocket – I like to think of myself as an idea man.  At the same time, I also tend to lose grasp of the really great ideas soon after having them.  The Moleskine is great for just jotting down quick notes or sketches and save them for later.
4. Travel Aspirin – Not so much for me, as the fact I’m constantly encountering friends asking for something for a headache.  I like being helpful.
5. iMetal Earbuds – 10 bucks for a fairly nice set of earbuds off woot.com.  These are my secondary earphones in case I somehow forget my bluetooth headset.
6. Altoids Gum tin with original iPod earbuds – backup backup earphones.
7. Altoids tin with actual Altoids – Have to do something with the altoids if you want the tin!
8. Belkin Mini-Surge – A *great* little power bar. Not only does it expand a single outlet into three on the go, but it has two USB plugs built in for charging USB devices.  Allowed me to leave the old iPod charger at home.
9. Altoids tin with pencil supplies – 0.5mm lead and erasers for my mechanical pencils.
10. Altoids tin with little adapters – Contains a CAT-6 barrel connector, SD to USB adapter, and Micro SD to SD adapter.
11. Ethernet cable – I don’t even need this that often.  Can usually pick up wi-fi just about anywhere.
12. USB Cables – One A to Micro-B for my camera, and one A to Mini-B for nearly everything else.
13. USB Extender Cable – A male to female.  Especially great for my Flip Mino.
14. iPod cable – Have to charge the iPhone somehow.
15. Small round things – 0.5mm Pentel side click mechanical pencils, thin Sharpie, mini tripod.
16. Deck of Cards – Always good to carry a deck of cards.  Never know when you may need to kill some time with friends.

The Held Stuff

Besides what I carry in my bag, I have also taken to keeping my pockets full of a set of standardized items, so I always have them when they’re needed, and I know to always check for them so I don’t lose them.

Here you can see my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15 (nice little point & shoot I picked up from Costco with a coupon), Flip Mino HD video camera (birthday present, and great device for what it does), iphone 3Gs (no idea what I was doing in life before I had an iPhone), Reef slimline wallet (present from my cousin who used to work for Reef), Jabra BT-620s stereo bluetooth headset (even though I love my music, I’m not exactly a hardcore audiophile, so bluetooth streaming of mp3s from my iPhone is enough for me), and finally iTrip FM broadcaster (so I can listen to music in my car).

The biggest change, I think, is that I no longer carry my tablet PC with me everywhere.  Although I still love it, its purpose has lessened since I’ve left school, giving way to using my netbook more.  I’ve also come to stop carrying my DS and games with me.  When I rode the trolley to SDSU, I had some time on my way to school and back, and between classes to do a little portable gaming.  With my current job, however, my gaming has been relegated entirely to free time at home.  The addition of the Belkin mini-surge has been a great boon as well.  It’s a very handy little power device and I highly recommend it.

In an attempt to increase the amount of content here, I figured a “What I’ve Been Playing” segment would be some nice filler.  But beyond that, it might be a bit informative as to what has been influencing me as a developer.

Lock’s Quest

I’ve been working through Lock’s Quest in short bursts for a while now.  I’ve played quite a few tower defense games over time, and was admittedly getting tired of them, but gave Lock’s Quest a chance anyway.  I was not disappointed.  The additions and changes are more than enough to make it feel like a completely different game type all its own.  And even better, it works great as a portable game, since its even divided into discrete chunks of time of 2-4 minutes which makes it perfect to pick up every now and then for a quick couple rounds.  The art is beautiful, and I absolutely love the constant animation of the sprites.

Borderlands

I picked up Borderlands when I noticed the PC version dropped to twenty bucks on Amazon briefly.  I convinced a friend of mine to do the same, given the condition we’d play nothing but co-op.  I had heard it was definitely designed to be played that way, and I was not misled.  When you’ve got 1-3 friends you can hop on with, it’s definitely some fun.

New Super Mario Bros. wii

I had been looking forward to this game for a good while now.  I was a bit suspicious at first when they first revealed the game and showed off the focus on multiplayer gaming, but my faith in Nintendo and the promise of an updated experience to New Super Mario Bros. for DS did not let me down.  The game is fantastic, whether alone or with friends.  And it’s not “easy” either.  I got through all eight worlds and bested Bowser rather quickly, but I’m still tackling the challenge of 100% completion by hopping on every now and then and tackling a single level until I’ve got the three coins and the secret exit if it has one.  Eventually, I’ll have it all!

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

What can I say, other than this game is absolutely beautiful.  The game mechanics are fairly interesting, and the play is pretty fun.  I’ve been working through on hard mode and enjoying it quite a bit.  But in all honesty, the main reason I wanted to play through Muramasa was to experience the art.  Given my current plans for art style of RunawayTank! and Scale, Muramasa is a great inspiration for what I hope to accomplish.  I’ve gleaned quite a few ideas for art assets, techniques and special effects that I think will look fantastic in my own games.

In all, I’d say this past week has been an interesting combination of just plain fun, and research.  Lock’s Quest is a nice quick diversion, whereas Mario Bros. and Muramasa are both entertaining and inspirational.