ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: REVENANT

[JudasPhysicist]

I do like real time strategy like Ground Control or Company Of Heroes but turn based is something else for me.

Oh well everyone has their own tastes.

 

I hope you do Gothic 1 at some point of the Game Dungeon. Believe it or not the game runs fine on

Windows 7 with full widescreen resolution support without needing any patching. The only bad

thing about the game is the weird two button combat system (Mouse1+ W).

[ScottD.Betson]

great episode Ross, keep it up

[Ross Scott]

This (awesome) review + discussions about FM schedule + personal inclination towards sadism had me inspired.

 

I hereby challenge Ross to complete Dungeon Siege Pit of Despair level (google it I dare you!) should he fail to deliver Freeman's Mind ending episode this year.

 

Muuaahahahaaa!

I've already done it, I'll cover Dungeon Siege eventually.

[Jeb_CC]

"Hey, I have a question to any programmers out there. This game came out FIFTEEN years ago. Why is this still happening?"

I dibs answering this. However I'm not sure if you're meaning the long level loads... or the speeding up of the game linked to how fast your PC was. X3 I can answer the second though.

 

I'm not a programmer... (yet) but I've been learning it for a few years now and I just have to say, I love it. Unfortunately, I'm learning java right now, and games run by just going script, over script, over script (Which can cause destruction and pain). You could write a simple move(1); command and depending on how much RAM or whatever your PC has, it'd move faster or slower. This is annoying and a pain in the butt. If you have a beast of a PC, it's going to run the scripts A LOT faster. All these old games weren't designed for newer computers obviously, thus they stick to the old methods. Not to mention, from my understanding, it's actually kinda difficult to get a wait(this many seconds); command. But that's just my understanding. Don't quote me on that one.

 

So with the dialogues that skip over each other, it's basically cause there is no proper time management. It's just a few lines saying; "wait. wait. wait." and your PC could be waiting faster than another. It's kinda annoying.

 

This might have been pointless to answer cause you MIGHT have been talking about the first option. In that case, ignore all this crap up here. /\

*nervous laughter*

[kingkolton9]

"Hey, I have a question to any programmers out there. This game came out FIFTEEN years ago. Why is this still happening?"

I dibs answering this. However I'm not sure if you're meaning the long level loads... or the speeding up of the game linked to how fast your PC was. X3 I can answer the second though.

 

I'm not a programmer... (yet) but I've been learning it for a few years now and I just have to say, I love it. Unfortunately, I'm learning java right now, and games run by just going script, over script, over script (Which can cause destruction and pain). You could write a simple move(1); command and depending on how much RAM or whatever your PC has, it'd move faster or slower. This is annoying and a pain in the butt. If you have a beast of a PC, it's going to run the scripts A LOT faster. All these old games weren't designed for newer computers obviously, thus they stick to the old methods. Not to mention, from my understanding, it's actually kinda difficult to get a wait(this many seconds); command. But that's just my understanding. Don't quote me on that one.

 

So with the dialogues that skip over each other, it's basically cause there is no proper time management. It's just a few lines saying; "wait. wait. wait." and your PC could be waiting faster than another. It's kinda annoying.

 

This might have been pointless to answer cause you MIGHT have been talking about the first option. In that case, ignore all this crap up here. /\

*nervous laughter*

 

Would a wait(X) command be controlled by the CMOS? Or would be be controlled by the clock rate? If it's controlled by CMOS, I could see a huge problem with every time-sensitive application or every animation, if the battery is dead or near dead. Then again, this game has NO problem in creating 1500 files per save and fragmenting the hell out of older hard drives.

[VeryShyPerson]

Lots of older games tend to rely a lot on the clock rate for some reason - there's better methods than doing that, so I'd call it a bad practice. I have a little program somewhere on my hard drive that eats up a percentage of the CPU cycles and slows the game down enough to be usable. Not elegant but it works.

 

As for the level load time - I'm still thinking about that. The game creating 1500 files per save is damn excessive though. I wouldn't call this program very well-made.

[kingkolton9]

Lots of older games tend to rely a lot on the clock rate for some reason - there's better methods than doing that, so I'd call it a bad practice. I have a little program somewhere on my hard drive that eats up a percentage of the CPU cycles and slows the game down enough to be usable. Not elegant but it works.

 

As for the level load time - I'm still thinking about that. The game creating 1500 files per save is damn excessive though. I wouldn't call this program very well-made.

 

Maybe it was a bug that was patched in the version Ross couldn't get to run? That seems like it would be priority 1 for the developers.

[Presence]

The average hdd size in 1999 was probably roughly 2 gigs. The savegame from the video had 2.82 megs of data, but due to cluster tip waste was using 7.92 megs of disc space. So those 20 or so savegames Ross has would've eaten something like 5% of an average hard drive with unusable empty space alone.

 

I mostly loved this episode and personally like the game dungeons to run long. I don't what the consensus is, but if I wanted some two minute "review" consisting of quick cuts and lots of swearing I can get those anywhere. I vastly prefer these longer and more thoughtful commentaries on obscure games. If you think I wouldn't watch an hour long commentary about Below the Root, you'd be very much mistaken.

[doggie015]

So at this point I am guessing that we can write off the promise you made in the fundraiser to get through Half-Life in Freeman's Mind before January 1 2015 because at the current pace that deadline is NOT going to be made. It's a shame that all of the people who gave a crapton of money to see that happen are going to be so let down by it not happening

[RandomGuy]

As I said, he'd only have to produce roughly one episode per week starting now. He's shown the ability to produce an episode every four days, during the Power Up arc, so this shouldn't be impossible. He seems pretty confident.

[HLPrincess]

So at this point I am guessing that we can write off the promise you made in the fundraiser to get through Half-Life in Freeman's Mind before January 1 2015 because at the current pace that deadline is NOT going to be made. It's a shame that all of the people who gave a crapton of money to see that happen are going to be so let down by it not happening

 

Ross said that multiple times already on the forum. If you want to express any doubts about the deadline, you need to be ready to bet 20 bucks on that. (some people did) Besides, you're being kinda rude.

[Ross Scott]

So at this point I am guessing that we can write off the promise you made in the fundraiser to get through Half-Life in Freeman's Mind before January 1 2015 because at the current pace that deadline is NOT going to be made. It's a shame that all of the people who gave a crapton of money to see that happen are going to be so let down by it not happening

It looks like you didn't read the previous comments. Either you bet a minimum of $20 against me that I won't make it, or you stop with further comments like this or else you'll get a ban. You have to put your money where your mouth is, essentially. You sound pretty confident I won't make it, so why not make some money off it?

[VeryShyPerson]

Plus the bloody fundraiser was actually for Freeman's Mind in HD. The "finishing before the end of the year" was just a bonus thrown on if he raised more than a certain amount.

[phollox]

I'm curious about the Halloween episode. I know Ross already picked something, but as a mental exercise, I'll throw some ideas. The game should be something scary, but somewhat obscure. That leaves out L4D, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, etc. Not sure if you have some requirements with licensing, reviewing mostly abandonware games or stuff that are hardly obtained through a legal way. That leaves out stuff like Hexen and Heretic.

 

The Revenant "original" story, besides Diablo, reminded me the original Blood. A game using the same Duke Nukem 3D engine, with a similar dose of dark humor, pop culture references, and there's a bloody carnival where, in order to uncover a secret area, you have to kick zombies head inside a huge clown mouth that's opening and closing repeatedly. Like minigolf, but with zombies head.

 

Besides, is there any better way to start Halloween than with the main character saying "I live again..." while stepping out a tomb. Any other ideas?

[Ross Scott]

I'm curious about the Halloween episode. I know Ross already picked something, but as a mental exercise, I'll throw some ideas. The game should be something scary, but somewhat obscure. That leaves out L4D, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, etc. Not sure if you have some requirements with licensing, reviewing mostly abandonware games or stuff that are hardly obtained through a legal way. That leaves out stuff like Hexen and Heretic.

 

The Revenant "original" story, besides Diablo, reminded me the original Blood. A game using the same Duke Nukem 3D engine, with a similar dose of dark humor, pop culture references, and there's a bloody carnival where, in order to uncover a secret area, you have to kick zombies head inside a huge clown mouth that's opening and closing repeatedly. Like minigolf, but with zombies head.

 

Besides, is there any better way to start Halloween than with the main character saying "I live again..." while stepping out a tomb. Any other ideas?

It's not especially obscure actually, but it likely won't be one people are thinking of. It's none of the ones you've mentioned.

[RandomGuy]

Dark Corners of the Earth? Well, that's my guess, even if it's probably wrong.

[JudasPhysicist]

I'm curious about the Halloween episode. I know Ross already picked something, but as a mental exercise, I'll throw some ideas. The game should be something scary, but somewhat obscure. That leaves out L4D, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, etc. Not sure if you have some requirements with licensing, reviewing mostly abandonware games or stuff that are hardly obtained through a legal way. That leaves out stuff like Hexen and Heretic.

 

The Revenant "original" story, besides Diablo, reminded me the original Blood. A game using the same Duke Nukem 3D engine, with a similar dose of dark humor, pop culture references, and there's a bloody carnival where, in order to uncover a secret area, you have to kick zombies head inside a huge clown mouth that's opening and closing repeatedly. Like minigolf, but with zombies head.

 

Besides, is there any better way to start Halloween than with the main character saying "I live again..." while stepping out a tomb. Any other ideas?

It's not especially obscure actually, but it likely won't be one people are thinking of. It's none of the ones you've mentioned.

 

MDK?

[GordonFreeman]

Manhunt?

[phollox]

What about Elvira: Mistress of the Dark?

 

Just because of this

[Box Tactics]

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream?