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Is CNN accepting articles from high 16-year-olds now?!

According to his profile he "has been a writer, producer, field reporter and blogger for CNN since 2005." It doesn't say "failed stand-up" which I guess he edited out using his editing prowess.

Happy birthday Bareslashtoe

Along the same lines, the whole 'First world problems' thing is starting to get old.
It was funny when it was just a meme and a way of reminding ourselves to maybe not take certain problems so seriously when we should be thankful for our privileges. But now you can't express any kind of frustration without someone going 'first world problems, first world problems'

What's worse is that we now say it ourselves, almost apologetically. "Grrr, the internet's packed in and I can't watch Better Call Saul... I know, first world problems and all that, silly me, ha ha"

No. Don't apologise. You worked hard to afford your broadband and Netflix. Damn right you should be able to say "grrr" when you can't watch Better Call Saul.

It's not really a bug, I guess, but I swear the timestamp of the AGS forum is 2 or 3 minutes too fast.

I first noticed this a few months ago when I loaded the page and the time stated was one minute faster than the one on my phone. Fast forward a few months and there's now a 3 minutes difference. I don't think it's my phone's time being too slow. I've checked against multiple sources (TV, train station etc) and it's been pretty much bang on.

Anyone else noticed this?

I think I may have been one of the people who said Shartlight. If so, I'm sorry
However, I also said I had a massive shard-on for the game. That's a complement, right? \/

People who step of the escalator and then decide to stand still, despite the fact there is a MOVING STAIRCASE FULL OF PEOPLE COMING UP BEHING YOU, OLD FARTS!

I've been using a track of yours (Drafty Places) for my Twine project. I've nearly finished a rough first chapter, so I'll send you a build if you like.

Not to cross-post, but perhaps you could talk a bit about some of the decisions that have gone into naming your games (as per this post).

How much glue could a dairy farmer chuck if a rubber chicken could chuck cows?

Happy Birthday to Sunny Penguin... Who seemed to vanish two years ago without a peep. Hope he's okay.

Happy B-Day Nemo and Reedo :-)

Fresh from Book Off :-)
https://twitter.com/stuartforbes/status/738323783316951040

Thanks for the b-day wishes chaps and chapstresses
I had a quiet one with my sweetheart, some beer, some darts and some Street Fighter II

Regarding Amy:

Spoiler

I feel the same way. I realized after it was pointed out that my focus was on designing a cool puzzle(indirectly controlling the raven) rather than consideration for her actions and how they worked in relation to her character. If I could go back and redo it, I'd change it so she finds a more non-violent solution.

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Spoiler

Yeah, to be fair that was a cool sequence, and using the bird to help you was a great touch. In fact, the raven/Reaper side of things was by far my favourite part of the game. Maybe if she had even just knocked the guy out, it might have been a bit more believable.

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Interesting stuff. An awareness of your audience's sensibilities is important. It's easy to say no one should have to censor themselves but I'm aware that when people are paying for the end product, this has to be a consideration.

But here's my thing. I do find it a shame that we can't play around with bad taste as much these days. We're constantly censoring ourselves, not because we think we've gone a step too far, but because we're worried that other people might think we've gone a step too far (and the consequences of that these days could cost you a few Twitter friends, to say the least). That's a shame. If you aren't offended by something but you're aware others might be, does that make you a bad person? No. It makes you a very conscientious person. It's a shame the potentially offended parties can't have the same kind of respect and acceptance that, just sometimes, bad taste makes good art, before jumping onto social media to exclaim their outrage.

Regarding some of Amy Wellard's actions.

Spoiler

The dropping of the air con unit onto the guard's head was a pretty brutal move on her part. The death and animation itself was awesome. My reaction was a physical recoiling in my chair and a kind of part giggle-part oooooohhhh sound. But when I thought about it, I was like 'what did that poor guy do, other than his job. There might be a kid somewhere who's dad won't be coming home from work tonight because he's had his head squashed. It didn't really do much to make me like Amy. I felt her situation hadn't quite reached the point where brutally murdering someone was an appropriate solution to her problem. Maybe there was an alternative solution I'm not aware of. If not, maybe there could have been.

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I'm with Francisco in the tired adventure game references and in-jokes. It's not so much the 4th-wall-breaking that I have a problem with, just the fact that it's almost never as funny as intended. I rarely laugh anymore; I just sigh and tut. So much "comedy" now relies on the audience simply 'getting' the joke, and not actually considering if the joke is funny, or even a joke at all.  (Just look at Big Bang Theory).

Regarding achievements, I'm mostly with Ben, I think. Steam-style achievements do nothing for me. Give me unlockable content anytime. Maybe the next WEG game should have the dev commentary unlockable upon completing the game, or something. I loved the unlocked artwork at the end of Shardlight and wished there was more. Much more rewarding that being given a pop-up for trying some random action. Trying every combination (aka Brute-forcing) often means you are stuck, which is the opposite of achievement anyway.

The one above that is pus. Take a rest, Ponch, for crying out loud.

Bill

This is very generous of you. There are some great tracks that really paint a picture. Great stuff.

[The Force Awakens]

I enjoyed the The Force Awakens (having finally got to see it), but... big finale is to destroy a weapon inside what looks like a Death Star (albeit a bigger version) - AGAIN?!?!?  I mean, really?  Could they not have thought of something else?

There was a lot I liked about the movie, but it did all just feel a little too derivative.

SPOILERS:

Spoiler

Yeah, that was annoying...But I felt it was more a subplot in a movie that had 3-4 other plots going on at the same time...All of which I greatly enjoyed so I could overlook the obvious "HEY WE ARE STAR WARS AGAIN!!! NOT THAT OTHER SHITE THAT YOU GOT BORED BY IN THE LAST THREE MOVIES!" callout to the fans...

(Let's not even mention the fact that they were attacking a HUGE target like an acre wide over and over to detonate the thing...There wasn't even the suspense of the "impossible shot" that needed a pilot wielding the force to pull it off...Maybe next time just a big red button saying "DO NOT PUSH THE BUTTON!!!"?! One little "easter egg"? I did notice during the attack was that they call in "Red 4 & Red 6" like as if "Red 5" is a revered and retired number kinda like "42" in American baseball...Nice touch I thought...)

I thought they should have gone a step further and have had the attack FAIL (the "target" was a decoy) and the "Death Star" fully charge and wipe out the rebels' outpost...

And screw General Organa...She should have known better to get herself in the same situation twice and expect the same happy outcome...

So...the next movie would be just the last few remaining Jedi, without any rebel support, trying to bring down the entire "First Order" ...cough..."Empire"....all on their own...

Now...wouldn't THAT be a much more exciting story?!

I honestly felt NOTHING when that thing blew up...BUT the rest of the movie was awesome!

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Spoiler

Don't you mean only an acre wide. I mean that thing was the size of a planet with it's own atmosphere and they destroyed it with a few shots from a couple of TIE fighters aiming at... what exactly?

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That said, I thought the film was cracking. I can't call myself a Star Wars fan to be honest but EpVII certainly satisfied my film going needs.