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thecryoftheseagulls · 3 years

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Logan Hawke the dragon has a new favourite treasure... a wizard.

ty for the prompt, anon!

I’m doing a few short fics this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dragon Age 2 coming out. Happy anniversary to my favorite video game, here’s a little mhanders fic for y’all!

a dragon’s treasure

[also on ao3 here]

It’s not that Logan Hawke actually wants to find a princess at the top of the tower, it’s just that princesses, or at the very least fine ladies, are generally the ones who get imprisoned in such a way. On account of the sexism, mostly, but also the wealth.

So when he arrives at the base of this newest tower (they’re just popping up out of the ground like crocuses in springtime these days, he might need to get Varric to look into that) and calls up the usual spiel of hallo up there, would you like a rescue, ma’am, he is taken aback by the fireball lobbed down from the tower window. It hits him square in the chest and fizzles out harmlessly. Logan doesn’t even flinch.

“I’m not a damsel!” a deep voice shouts. A wizard with blond hair and a scraggly beard appears in the window, and leans out far enough that Logan begins to fear for his safety. He shakes a fist down at Logan. “And I have no riches, nor family to provide them, to reward you for your services, so you may as well be on your merry way!”

Logan cocks his head. “But you are being kept here against your will?” he shouts back.

The wizard crosses his arms over his chest and glowers down at him.

“Momentarily!”

Logan manifests his wings and leaps into the air, flapping his way up to the window. At this height, he can get a better feel for the magics woven into the tower’s stone -- dampening spells, meant to suppress magical ability, rather than the usual entrapment and warding spells he finds in these places. It’s a testament to the wizard’s magical ability that he was able to create a fireball at all under the weight of this magic, let alone cast it through the barrier and hit Logan down on the ground.

But, as ever, the magic woven into these towers has no effect on a dragon.

Logan grins, stretching his wings out to their full wingspan, as he hovers at eye level with the wizard and enjoys the shock on his face.

“Impressive bit of magic there with the fireball,” he says cheerfully. “Would you like a bit of assistance with your entrapment, or should I just wait around until you’ve freed yourself?”

The wizard wordlessly gestures at the air, where Logan can feel the wards extend a foot or two away from the stone. He swoops closer, landing lightly on his feet on the wrought iron rail with a hook on the end that extends from the bottom of the window frame -- standard install on these towers, mostly to taunt longhaired princesses and knights who carry rope. He feels the wards shiver over his skin. It feels like flying through a cloud: cold, but effortless.

“Well...” the wizard says, taking a step back when this brings Logan very, very close. He sounds a little breathless. Also, he has a very nice nose. Sharp. “I’d be a poor escape artist if I didn’t seize an opportunity when it presents itself.”

Logan cranes his neck to see around the wizard and into the tower itself. It’s a dismal sight: bare wood floors, a small cot, a desk with a few sparse sheets of parchment, and a single shelf with perhaps four books on it. No comforting touches at all. If Logan hadn’t believed the wizard when he said he had no wealth or family, he would now -- all the damsels’ towers are far nicer than this. To a dragon, especially, it looks barely habitable.

Logan takes a deep breath and feels smoke trickle out of his nostrils.

“How can I be of assistance?”

“Stay right there, I just have to…” the wizard spins on his heel and crosses the room to the cot, snatching a tiny embroidered pillow off the bed and clutching it to his chest. “All right, I’m ready.”

Logan looks him up and down, at the tattered clothes the wizard is wearing, and his apparent lack of any other belongings. He hops off the iron rail and does a roll mid-air, shifting to his full draconic form. His bright blue scales flash in the sun. He stretches one forearm in through the window and picks the wizard up carefully in his talons, placing him on his back between his neck and his cerulean wings.

“Sure that’s everything?” Logan asks, beating his wings to stay in place by the window. His voice is deeper in this, his true form, as deep as a rockfall in mountains. “My services also include optional setting-of-towers-on-fire.”

“No need,” the wizard says, letting go of Logan’s neck to fling a fireball into the room himself. The wards, of course, offer no resistance now that the wizard is on the outside of them.

“Nice,” Logan says, and turns away when the fire catches hold. All that wood in the room will burn hot and fast. “Hold tight, wizard.”

“My name is Anders,” the wizard huffs, gripping Logan’s scales with his knees and wrapping his hand around one of the spines on Logan’s neck.

“Logan Hawke,” Logan returns, soaring up above the cloud cover so that they’re out of sight of anyone on the ground who might come looking for an escaped wizard.

“Your family name is Hawk?” Anders asks, sounding baffled.

“Humans seem to like it when you have a second name. My father thought it was amusing,” Logan says, as he’s said to everyone who finds out he’s a dragon named after a bird.

“Hm,” Anders says. He falls silent for a while -- Logan assumes he is watching the clouds pass beneath them, and the farmland and forest far below that can be seen when they pass over a break in the clouds. Eventually, he asks, “And where are you taking me, Logan Hawke?”

Logan turns his head to fix one bright blue eye on the scrawny, powerful wizard shivering on his back. He hums, grey smoke drifting out his mouth and nostrils.

“Home with me, I think,” He can feel Anders tense on his back, grip turned tight on Logan’s spine. Logan faces forward again. “Get a good meal into you, maybe a bath, some new clothes. And then perhaps you can tell me something about these tower-builders before I let you wander off back into the world, treasure.”

Anders is slow to respond, and when he does, his voice is quiet enough that the wind nearly snatches it away. “All right, then,” he agrees.

Logan grins wide, and feels his flames lick at the back of his teeth.

It will be a few days before he realizes he's called the wizard his treasure so soon.

#handers #mhanders #dragon age #da2 #anders #logan hawke #the gull writes things #otp: soft hearts and scruffy exteriors

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mcgnus · 7 years

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tag game

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rules: you must answer these 85 statements and tag some people

i was tagged by @magnificentbane 3 days ago (thanks darling <3)

i tag: @tessgrway, @muslimagnus, @pastelfrays, @alexanderbaens, @blushyalec and @mcgnus-bane

the last:

1. drink: strawberry milkshake 2. phone call: one of my friends; he rang me to talk about books 3. text message: my bestie 4. song you listened to: Red and Black - Les Mis (10th anniversary) 5. time you cried: like the other day? i was stressing

have you ever:

6. dated someone twice: yes 7. kissed someone and regretted it: mm 8. been cheated on: no 9. lost someone special: yes 10. been depressed: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: yeah im never drinking tequila again

3 favorite colors:

12. purple 13. silver 14. orange

in the last year have you:

15. made new friends: yes!!!!! im very lucky <3 18. found out someone was talking about you: yeah 19. met someone who changed you: yes 20. found out who your friends are: yes 21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: no

general:

22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: theyre all either from school or theyre family so make of that what you will 23. do you have any pets: yeah a dog (a rottweiler named Kodie) and a cat (Tom) 24. do you want to change your name: nah i like it tbh 25. what did you do for your last birthday: celebrated that time guy fawkes tried to blow up parliament (we let off fireworks - my birthday is on bonfire night) 26. what time did you wake up: this morning? 7 in general? any time between 5:30-6:30 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: netflixing 28. name something you can’t wait for: the season finale of shadowhunters 31. what are you listening to right now: goodbye - catch me if you can (obc) 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: yeah 33. something that is getting on your nerves: results day 34. most visited website: tumblr, netflix and ao3 35. hair colour: brown 36. long or short hair: short 39. piercings: none 40. blood type: kinda dont want to put this on the internet? (im a blood donor so i do know it) 41. nicknames: ebs and boo 42. relationship status: single 43. zodiac: scorpio 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favourite tv show: sense8 46. tattoos: nope 47. right or left handed: right 48. surgery: nada 49. piercing: nope 50. sport: rugby 51. vacation: anywhere with good museums 52. pair of trainers: i only really wear my docs

more general:

53. eating: melon 54. drinking: water 55. i’m about to: brush my teeth 56. waiting for: someone to cuddle me 57. want: sleep for like 20 yrs 58. get married: no thanks 59. career: ??? ask me never

which is better:

60. hugs or kisses: hugs but i also like kisses tbh 61. lips or eyes: eyes 62. shorter or taller: taller 63. older or younger: older bc im quite young 64. nice arms or nice stomach: i dont care tbh every arm is yes, every stomach is yes 65. hook up or relationship: relationship 66. troublemaker or hesitant: HESITANT

have you ever:

67. kissed a stranger: no 68. drank hard liquor: yes 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: no, i dont wear glasses 70. turned someone down: yes 71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: i think so yeah 73. had your heart broken: kinda 74. been arrested: no 75. cried when someone died: yeah 76. fallen for a friend: mmm how about rn

do you believe in:

77. yourself: sometimes 78. miracles: no 79. love at first sight: i believe in potential at first sight 80. santa claus: obvs 81. kiss on the first date: sure 82. angels: no

other:

83. current best friend’s name: rach 84. eye colour: brown 85. favourite movie: legally blonde, stardust, star wars (all of them), i dont watch a lot of films

#t: made by me #t: text #t: tag games #t: tagged

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aurelliocheek · 5 years

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John Romero about Doom: 25 Years of Rip & Tear

Fast. Brutal. Hardcore. Merciless. That is Doom.

Doom – ‘nuff said!« That‘s how a Post Mortem on one of the most influencial games of all times could actually look like. Doom wrote games history, Doom is pop culture, Doom is a name that stands for high-speed, hardcore and merciless shooter-action. Everybody knows it, almost everybody played it in at least one of its many different forms – be it the classics, extraordinary mods, Doom 3, fan-projects or id Software‘s Reboot from 2016, published by Bethesda.

On 10th December 2018, Doom celebrated its 25th anniversary. Seriously, is there any better reason to take the time and sit and chat with John Romero, one of id Software‘s founders and Doom‘s creators? We don‘t think so!

One does not simply create a game and thereby a completely new genre, which not only lasts until this day but has ever since evolved tremendously. Looking back at how it came to life, how does it feel being its creator? Hmm… I don’t really think of it this way, which is funny. Even though we made first-person shooters, we originally thought of it as making a better maze game. One that was faster and more fluid – that’s what it felt like at the very, very beginning. Action games or even RPGs before »Wolfenstein 3D« or even »Catacomb 3D«, which was a very fluid moving maze game with demons and stuff, were all built like these 90°-turn wall passages, where each tile only had enough room for one object like a person or enemy; take for example »Might & Magic«, »Ultima« or »Eye of the Beholder«. However, all that these games did was making better wall graphics, but they didn’t make it smoother and faster. And I think, that’s kind of what we did: we took out that block movement, which started with »Maze War« in 1974 – and even that already had deathmatch in it!

There was a game called »Wayout«. It took place in a similar maze, but there were some spaces in the game that were a little bit more open and in which you could fluidly move around. It wasn’t super-fast – it still was an Apple II, with 1 MHz – but fluid. You could turn around in 360° and I was super impressed when I saw that and so I knew that it was possible.

»Catacombs 3D« (upper picture) and »Hovertank One« were the predecessors of »Wolfenstein 3D« and »Doom«.

In 1991, »Hovertank One« was the first time we actually had 3D on screen and moved around in the same kind of mazes (laughs). After Catacomb 3D, we eventually got to Wolfenstein 3D, which was really fast – as fast as we could go in VGA. But Doom really changed it all and it did so, because the environment changed. We got out of these block mazes and went into places that were way cooler and that aspect was very important for the genre to start.

Whenever someone creates something outstanding, people on the outside – in this case gamers – develop high expectations for whatever comes next, and with it there often goes a certain amount of pressure: the pressure of fulfilling these expectations. How has creating Doom influenced your career and how did you deal with the pressure? Well. At id Software, the only pressure we had was our own. We wanted to make really good games. That was the whole point and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought or what other people said; for example, things like »It’s too satanic!« or whatever – we didn’t care at all. It was never going to stop us from doing what we wanted and we never let it pressure us. Nobody makes the best game every time they make a game! By the time Doom came out, I had been making games for 14 years, and during that time every game was getting better and better, but you can’t expect your next game to be the best that’s ever been made, that’s just not realistic. We knew that, because at that point each of us had been making games for at least 10 years. And if you make a lot of games, they’re not going to all be hits – that’s just simple facts. Yeah, we had pressure, but it was our own drive to make really cool stuff! Actually, Doom was the only game where we said at the very beginning that we need to make the best game that we could imagine playing – that was the only time we ever did that (chuckles). »Demons on the Prey«

A Week of Deathmatch with John Romero at GDC, 2013, San Francisco.

Going back even further: what actually sparked the idea for Doom, besides the urge to make a more fluid and advanced maze game, but also in regard to story, setting and everything there is? Did you get any inspiration from books or movies for example? (laughs) It was actually inspired from our D&D campaign. We played »Dungeons & Dragons« for a long time. John Carmack was our dungeon master and he had a world that he had been developing for years when we got together. It had tons of characters in it and it was super political – it was really great! And the D&D campaign ended when I, well… did something that destroyed the world. I opened up a portal to a plane where all the demons are, and they all just poured out over the course of months and destroyed everything in the whole world. Carmack obeyed his own rules and the world was over… and it was due to demons flooding in and ruining everything there was.

So, that was the end of our playing D&D for a while (laughs).

When we were thinking about making Doom, we thought about using this idea, the story about demons pouring in through some kind of portal, and the player actually has the ability to stop it. With that idea, we were thinking about a setting, and we wanted to do something ›sci-fi-futurish‹, because we had already done the ›World War‹ II thing, and we thought that with the new technology we can actually make it look pretty cool. So, with this futuristic setting in mind, Tom Hall came up with the idea of bringing it all to Phobos, where the UAC (Union Aerospace Corporation) was experimenting with teleportation. Doing that, they accidentally opened up portal to hell, but instead of aliens, it’s actually hell coming through (chuckles) and that was something new. No player expected to find hell in space, and that made the game surprising and very interesting. Adding in some of our favourite stuff sci-fi-wise, we thought about what sci-fi-action movies were big at that time and »Aliens« instantly came to mind. We wanted something like that, something terrifying. Also, the dark humour – that’s just part of who we are, and back then »Evil Dead 2« was one of our favourite movies of all time, so we wanted to have this sensibility, and of course the chainsaw and the shotgun (grins)!

In hindsight, is there something you were never 100% happy with? Well, yeah… I wish that I had made a lot more levels… You know, I just made the first episode and not even the boss level, Sandy Petersen had made that because we were just down to the wire. It was a really busy year. We started the game with Tom, until he left us in August. In September, Sandy came on board and first plowed through all of Tom’s stuff and started retexturing and fixing things, and just trying to get a lot of levels done. That was what Sandy was doing, while my work in the beginning was creating the level editor – can’t make any levels without an editor, right? I had to program the tool, and it was really hard coming up with levels that didn’t look like Wolfenstein or rather everything we’ve ever seen in our whole life. So, creating the abstract level design style and developing all that took some time to bring it as far away from Wolfenstein as we could. Then I had to do all the level programming: everything that happens in a Doom level – meaning stairs, doors, lights flickering, you name it – I wrote all of that code, plus the ›save & load‹ code, as well as the tools outside of Doom like the install program, setup, and DM. All of that took me a lot of time and I just wish I would’ve had more time to make more levels.

That’s the only regret I have. Other than that, I still think it turned out great – but it could’ve even been better!

»Aliens« and the character of Ash Williams from »The Evil Dead« inspired certain elements of Doom, be it the atmosphere within the game or… well, the chainsaw and shotgun. Groovy! Copyright: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

If you had the chance to make Doom with today’s tech, how would it look? Or rather: were there any features you weren’t able to realize due to technical limitations? Hmm, if I had the same tech as back then, pretty much the same, only with me making more levels. With today’s tech? Completely different, obviously (laughs). Regarding features: no… (pauses). No, we actually put everything in that we wanted to have in the game – at that time! After a game comes out and you see what people do with it, then of course you get all kinds of ideas of what would be really cool to have. But those things didn’t exist while we were making the game. There simply wasn’t any game like it, so there’s really no way to say »Oh yeah, we messed up« or »We didn’t do a lot of things, because we didn’t have enough time«, simply because those ideas didn’t exist as the game wasn’t out, yet. Everything in the whole world was pre-Doom.

In Germany, Doom I & II were indexed, but re-rated after roughly 19 years. In October 2012, Bethesda released the »Doom 3: BFG Edition«, which included the (not indexed) »Doom3« as well as both the originals. And the amazing thing after having played both games again after almost two decades: they still hold up to this very day and that is quite impressive. Yeah, right? It’s like with »Super Mario« or »Donkey Kong«. It still feels excellent. It’s just that no one really knows how to nail a classic. You have to have a lot of experience making stuff before that’s going to happen. Nowadays, source ports of Doom feel smoother than it did at the very beginning. Now it’s super smooth and really, really fast!

Looking at so many other games that exist, no matter the genre, a lot of them aged really badly. What are, in your opinion, the key elements for Doom not being one of them? Number 1: I think that one of the most important things when you start programming a game, is that it’s tied to a timer, you need to have timer chip control. That means that you’ll never go too fast on any future computer. When we wrote our games, even before id Software, John and I were individually writing games with timer chip control. So as soon as our game starts we immediately set the timer chip for the refresh rate we want the game to go at, and to make sure it doesn’t go faster than that. If it went slower than that, then we would have code that would fix the speed of the character to match where they should be, for example if your CPU was a little too slow. So you actually have to have code to handle moving too slow on a slow computer, but also ensures that moving is never too fast on future computers as well. That’s unbelievably important.

When you go and look back at any games from that time period, they just zoom all over the screen, as they’re just too fast, because CPUs are insane now. The ones that are still super playable are the ones that have real hardware control. None of the Origin games had timer control because they were maxing-out the fastest computers when they released (laughs).

Is it safe to say, that first-person shooters are your favourite genre? I think so, yeah. I mean, it’s super immersive, it looks amazing, there’s lots of great puzzle-solving in that space. I love »Half Life 2«’s physics puzzles – being in a space like that is just so much more immersive than any 2D puzzle game. But that’s a totally different kind of thinking. Before making shooters, I did a ton of different games. For me, Wolfenstein was game number 87! Before that, I had already made 86 games – and that’s only the ones that were being published. So, yeah, I had some practice before Doom (laughs). Up to today I‘ve now made a total of around 150 games.

As an example: Less than a year ago, I did a 10-hour gamejam. The title turned out to be a really cool little game called »July 4th 1976«. I worked on it with a coder friend of mine, and it was super creepy and different. I put it in the App Store, and boom – a new game (laughs). There’s another gamejam next weekend I want to attend. Maybe I can put out another game.

Actually, the last time I’ve been to a gamejam, my son joined me. He flew over from the US to Ireland for father’s day. So, we did a gamejam in the city with a whole bunch of other people and we made something really cool, but the idea was way too big for the time we had. I want to finish it though, because the idea was really cool. You see, I’m always making stuff. I’m currently working on three different games at once.

In 2016, id Software released its Reboot of Doom – fast-paced, hardcore, brutal, real. Its successor »Doom Eternal« is set for 2019.

Are there any other genres or genre-typical mechanics you would like to mix with an FPS? Well, when creating an FPS, I don’t really think about genre-merging, because to me that would feel kind of artificial. When I want to make a new shooter, I rather think about what I want to do in this gameplay style that hasn’t been done and what I haven’t seen before. Take the original »Prey« for example, where you could walk on walls, which totally changed the whole game. They didn’t mash up any genres, they simply put in a very cool feature.

Actually, I do have some cool ideas, but I can’t really talk about them, because… well, you know…(laughs)! But seriously though, there’s still so much that hasn’t been done in FPSs, yet. And it’s amazing how the genre evolved. Just take the first-person perspective. The fact alone that with »Quake« we have created a fluid high-speed first-person perspective, all in 3D. Even games like »World of Warcraft« had to come from that. In fact, the lead programmer of WoW worked on Quake. So when you talk about influences, Doom sure was the beginning, but Quake’s impact was also big. The Production Director for »Overwatch« is the same guy who coded the 3D engine for »Star Wars: Dark Forces« back in 1995. And it’s funny how eventually it all goes back down to Doom, when it comes to a full 3D world.

We actually helped Valve when they started working on »Half-Life«. They came over to our office, and we set them up with a Quake Engine license, and I talked to them about what kind of team they’d need to make an FPS, then they started their company. But it’s not only FPSs – Markus Persson who created »Minecraft« once told me that Doom was the reason he became a programmer. So, you could say that without Doom, there wouldn’t be a Minecraft today (laughs).

From all the first-person shooters that came out in recent years, which is your favourite? Ummm… (long pause). You know, I really like the new »Doom«! It’s got the attitude, it’s got the speed. And for today, it was about making things move fast, but you just can’t have 50 super-fast demons on you, you just couldn’t live. It’s got just the right amount. In the original Doom, we often had a lot of enemies on the screen, but they would move slower. But yeah, it just feels like a really good hardcore shooter and it inherits the essence of how hardcore shooters should be and how we wanted to make them.

… the starting scene where the Doom Marine just takes the screen on which he’s told what’s going on and he just throws it away. All in all though, it feels like they treated the material with the right attitude and necessary respect. (Starts cheering) Yeah! It‘s like »I don’t care. There is no story. Rip & Tear!« And you’re right, they really got what Doom was and made it right. This is absolutely what we would have done if we had the tech. They went into the same direction we would have gone anyway. They worked on it for seven years – that’s such a long time, but they took the time and they made it right. It’s hardcore, it’s really great!

What’s your opinion on »Doom Eternal«? Unbelievable! It was such a great idea just going for that grappling hook – just do it! (laughs) But seriously, everybody is excited about it, because with the Doom they already made they proved that they know what Doom is and how to make something awesome. And what they did with the next one, was basically what we did with »Doom 2: Hell on Earth«. We didn’t mess up anything, but we took what everyone liked and made it better, and that’s exactly what they did with Eternal: they took what everybody liked and made it better, and they did not mess up anything that was already in the game. That’s how you make a sequel!

And you know what? I’m actually more excited for what comes after Doom Eternal (laughs), I mean, I really want to know where Doom goes, because we’ve seen nothing after Doom 2. This is the fifth Doom, and I’m waiting for the next Doom 3 – the real one, not the remake! Looking back at »Half-Life 2«, it was a great game. It was more expansive in scope and more scientific, such a great adventure to go on with all the changing environments and everything. But Doom… Doom is visceral, that’s the major difference.

From left to right: John Carmack, Kevin Cloud, Adrian Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, Jay Wilbur.

What did you think about all the easter eggs? Like the little Doom Marine figurine you fist-bump when you find it, the Icon of Sin or Commander Keen’s helmet and skull on a stick? (Laughs) The figurine was so great, and it wasn’t that hard to find. At some point you just turn and backtrack, and then you find him sitting there and I was like »Ah, so little collectibles are a thing now.« And it’s actually funny that they put the word ›Doom‹ on Keen’s helmet, because the only validation for that can be found in Doom 2. There’s a secret level at the very end, where Commander Keen is hanging, and you can shoot him, that’s about it.

Speaking of secret levels: »To win the game you must get 100% on level 15 by John Romero.« – A guy called Zero Master obviously managed to be the first to get 100% of all secrets in said level. Really? After more than 20 years? And what’s the story behind that? Yup, that’s real, nobody had done that before (laughs). Basically it was a special sector that I made while making this level. I put a secret teleporter behind a wall and that teleporter would take you somewhere. But instead of the destination where the teleporter took you being marked as a secret, I marked the teleporter itself as a secret. Normally, when you go into a teleporter, you never actually touch the sector inside the teleporter – you hit the line and you’re teleported. There’s also some weird movement stuff going in that little space. To mark a secret, you also need to be at the same vertical height as the sector, and this sector is above where the player is at. In this case, the players touch the line before they reach the same height as the sector and so they’re gone.

This player who discovered it actually used a Pain Elemental to push them into the teleporter to mark that secret. No one’s ever done that (laughs) and you could tell that guy did it on purpose because he pushed the Pain Elemental all the way down this really long hallway to get there. Sometimes it’s really fascinating what players actually come up with, they do all kinds of crazy stuff (laughs)!

If you could choose one game, you would’ve always loved or still would love to be a part of – your own games excluded –, which one would it be and why? Minecraft! It’s just the best game ever made, and unlike any other game. It’s absolutely incredible! World of Warcraft would be another choice; WoW is derived from »Everquest«, which again is derived from »Ultima Online« – there’s already a lineage there. But it gets to be grindy and repetitive, while Minecraft is just unlimited creativity – simply an amazing game, and its effects on the game industry are yet to be felt even more. Take »Fortnite« or, rather, its building aspect, which is obviously influenced by Minecraft.

In which regards do you think – positive as well as negative – has the games industry changed the most over the last 25 years? Huh… there’s been so many things. The rise of Facebook and Facebook gaming was very interesting and completely unforeseen, just like Minecraft. These huge things, they just appear. »POOF« and there they are, changing the internet.

If you’re a kid who loves Minecraft, however, have fun trying to download mods for it, because everybody’s mod pages and download sites are garbage! It’s horrible, they’re just trying to lure kids into installing all kinds of other stuff. Which download button do you click? If there’s ten buttons, nine of them are installing malware and one actually takes you to the mod you want – that’s insane! Especially as the appetite from kids is there.

And just look at Facebook games. Millions of people make and play these games. I made a Facebook game myself, and I had 25 million people playing it every month. That’s absolutely crazy! It was really interesting to see these things rise up and have this kind of exposure. And it influences everybody else. A lot of people are creatively influenced, others are influenced monetarily, and they just want to make money off that idea, so there’s a ton of ›gold-rushing‹ towards those things.

After 24 (!!) years, player Zero Master finally managed to discover the last and final unrevealed secret. Check the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=irNoHfnLXRM

Is that rather positive or negative now? Oh no, I think it’s great. The kind of gameplay that evolved on Facebook using your friend network was unlike anything anyone had ever seen in a game before. Nobody had a network like that to connect to, and it was really interesting to see how designers would exploit or use the network that they have or even extend the network to people they don’t know, because these are people that also play the same game. That way they even meet new people through the game. It was really interesting to see this development and it showed how a platform like Facebook could really influence game design in a big way.

… and something really negative? On the whole there’s been a ton of positivity. But… well, #Gamergate, that should never have happened. And lootboxes (laughs). Lootboxes are still in flux. But it depends: if it’s only about stuff for peacocking, it’s one thing. If it’s ‘pay to win’, then it’s so not cool!

What’s your advice for young developers who try to get into the industry today and hopefully survive there? Find something that you’d like to do and mod a game using that skill. Mod multiple games, get experience in doing that and if you like it a lot, then create a portfolio page and get in touch with the companies you’d like to work for. And if you want to make games – well, start making them, however you can. The internet is packed-full with all the information you could possibly ever want. There’s no excuse for not making stuff!

Over the years you’ve probably been asked the same questions over and over again, and once more today. Now is your chance: if you could pick one question you’d like to answer that no one’s asked you before, which would it be? (Laughs) Hahaha, oh geez! Well… (pauses), what was it like making games on the Apple II?

And now you’ve got to answer it. It was tremendous amounts of fun. The Apple II was a finite computer that has nothing to do with today’s computers, which are endless, and you never stop learning. This computer was finite and limited in what it could do and what it had in it. But even with those limits, there was still an unbelievable amount to learn in order to master it and going from BASIC to assembly language and then all the techniques that you could use in assembly that are very different than 8-bit computers of that time period that had hardware systems for sprites and stuff like that – the Apple II had none. A lot of programming techniques had to be developed to put stuff on the screen manually. The interesting ‘problem’ that programming in assembly language brings is that there’s a lot you have to have in your head to write a game in it. And when one person is doing that, it’s hard to really focus on a big and cool new game design, because you already have incredible amounts of stuff in your head in order to just make even a simple game.

Making big games didn’t really happen back then. And if there were any, like the Ultima games, and “Wizardry”, it was because that programmer was just better than most people. They had more practice before making their cool big game, so they could focus more on the design than on the implementation of it. They had already spent years getting good at coding, so they could now focus more on design. And in the early days it was hard to find the time because the industry had just begun in 1977, so it was a race. But it was an amazing time and fun sharing information with other people, and back then everyone was discovering stuff for the first time. There were hardly any books, so it was even cooler when you could actually get a piece of information from somebody, or find a cool trick somewhere in a magazine. It was simply the most fun time ever, because it was also during the arcade explosion and all of the creativity that was coming out in the arcades, all the games that no one had ever seen before, coupled with the fact that you have that going into your head and you could make that stuff happen on a computer. There’s no end to what you can do, there’s no end to what you want to do.

Looking back at your time at id Software: in hindsight and despite how it all went down between you and John Carmack, is there – still today – a specific moment you wouldn’t want to miss for the world? Basically, everything up until halfway through 1995.

John Romero is a legend! Besides that he was the Co-Founder of id Software and creator of classics like »Commander Keen«, »Wolfenstein 3D«, »Doom I & 2« and »Quake«.

The post John Romero about Doom: 25 Years of Rip & Tear appeared first on Making Games.

John Romero about Doom: 25 Years of Rip & Tear published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

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jmfdisco · 7 years

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Mobile Discos In West Peckham

Mobile Disco DJ Hire In West Peckham

JMF Disco has a great reputation for providing the best mobile discos in West Peckham and throughout the Tonbridge area.

Our aim is to provide you with your perfect party entertainment, providing you with all the help you need, from your initial enquiry to seeing you and your happy guests leaving after having enjoyed a wonderful night, dancing the night away to all your favourite tunes. with a good experienced DJ, with a neat and tidy disco set up and impressive disco lighting.

JMF Disco have been providing clients with experienced, reliable mobile DJs and discos at wonderful parties in the West Peckham area for many years.

As part of our comprehensive disco service we will provide you with a good experienced DJ, a neat and tidy looking disco set up and our special Party Planner Pack to help set out how we can help you to bring your party ideas to life, playing all your favourite tunes.

Having other DJs working with me also provides you with great assurance that no matter what happens, you and your guests will still be dancing the night away to all your favourite tunes – something that many other solo DJs cannot offer.

As well as providing you with a reliable, experienced party DJ with a wealth of knowledge gained over the years, who will ensure your evening will be a memorable occasion for you and your guests, I will help you with your arrangements from this initial enquiry until your guests leave singing and dancing out of the door at the end of your evening, suggesting ideas for you to consider to make your evening particularly special.

As part of our personalized mobile disco service I will provide you with our special Party Planner Pack.

Our Party Planner Pack (this is a document not a person!) helps to gather your thoughts on how you want your birthday party, wedding reception or children’s party to run, and gives a bit of help and guidance if you need it, it sets out a ‘timetable’ (a guideline really as timetable sounds too rigid) for your special evening.

Start and finish times, maybe our special surprise entrance, cake cutting, happy birthday sing along, speeches, opening of buffet, etc and any other ‘events’ you would like to happen at your event – you may have your friend singing a song with his guitar, you may be having a band as well, you might want us to run your raffle – whatever you want to happen at your party or event can be catered for. Your celebration can be as formal or as informal as you want to suit the party style you want. It’s your special day and I will ensure you get just that!

The initial Party Planner I send to you aims to get you thinking about your special evening – alter it as you want to and send it back to me and I will update it as many times as you want to provide you with the mobile disco party entertainment you want.

Within the Party Planner Pack you can list out the songs you want played during your party (and the songs you don’t want to hear!!), the artists you like, the styles of music you like etc. You party may have a theme – maybe a ska and reggae night, soul and Motown, a groovy 60’s feel, a 70’s disco night, an 80’s party night, rewind to the 90’s, a noughties and now night – whatever you want we can bring it to life.

You can have as much input on the music selection you want played on the night as you want – we will be playing the music you want – not what we want and it certainly won’t be the same as ‘last weeks’ wedding that some resident DJs churn out!

If you have a specific list of songs you want us to play that’s not a problem – it’s your party and we’ll play what you want us to!

When we have the Party Planner Pack in a nearly firm format, I’ll contact you both to discuss any refinements if required, discuss access, timings etc so there are no surprises on the day.

Nearer the day I will contact you again well before the special day just to make sure everything is going to plan and offer any advise you may need.

On the day we promise to turn up and be on time to set when required – I get phone calls all the time from people who have been let down by ‘cowboy’ discos (booked because they were a few quid cheaper) who have been phoned a few days before the event that the DJ can’t make it, they are double booked, their uncle has died again or they send their ‘roadie’ to cover for them while they take on another better paying job. I shouldn’t have to mention this but you hear these stories all the time – rest assured we will be there.

Your DJ will turn up appropriately dressed for your event – our standard outfit is a smart polo shirt, black trousers and black shoes or suit/tie/bow tie if required – you may not mind what we wear but we won’t be turning up wearing a scruffy T-shirt, ripped jeans and a baseball cap worn the wrong way round unless you want us in fancy dress…… You indicate the dress standard you want your DJ to wear in the Party Planner Pack.

We will provide a microphone for speeches/cake cutting/presentation of gifts, opening of buffet etc in the evening – if required.

We will make any necessary introductions, announcements, dedications etc acting as your MC for the evening.

It will be a fantastic evening – it’s a bit of a cliché but a night to remember.

A few photos of previous events can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/JMFDisco/photos_stream

We will provide copies of certificates for our Public Liability Insurance and PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) Certificate required by the venue management (Do not book a disco who does not have this insurance or PAT certificates the venue might not let them set up without it!).

Your booking will be confirmed in writing setting out performance and payment terms for your peace of mind and ours.

Some of the points above you may not of thought of or may not be bothered about but I like to provide my clients with that little bit more – I provide them with what they want, need and deserve for their parties – it is a special occasion and should be treated as such.

Doing it right first time with everything as you want it to be requires an experienced DJ with the right skills and resources that we will bring to your special day.

Traditional Celebrations in West Peckham

JMF Disco services in the West Peckham area

wedding first dance

DJ Hire For Weddings In West Peckham

Our disco for hire in Kent service is the ideal solution for your wedding disco – check out our Wedding DJ page for more details of our expert wedding service.

Wedding Anniversary Parties In West Peckham

Anniversaries are important dates to celebrate, a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday and a time to look forward to the joys of the future.

So whether you are celebrating a 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50, or 60th wedding anniversary – typical landmark dates or any other, JMF Disco can help you host a great party, providing your with our special Wedding Anniversary Planner Pack to help plan how you want your celebration to run and play all your favourite tunes that you and your family and friends will dance the night away to.

DJ Hire For Birthdays In West Peckham

If you are celebrating a 16th, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th or even an 80th birthday we can provide you with a great DJ to play all your favourite tunes – check out our Mobile Disco page for more details

Childrens Discos In West Peckham

JMF Disco can help you arrange the best children’s party ever! As well as a good mobile DJ and amazing mobile disco, we will provide you with our party planner to choose the music and games you want us to run for you – we take the stress away from organising your kids party – well most of it! – check out our kids disco page for more details

DJ Hire For Corporate Events In West Peckham

Our experienced DJs have performed at a wide variety of corporate and similar events ranging from black tie balls to football club presentations in the Swale area – check out our Disco Services page for our specialist event services

School Disco or School Proms In West Peckham

School Proms are big news at the moment, an idea that has been ‘imported’ from America where they have been popular for many years.

Proms are a formal party to celebrate an important date at school such as leaving primary school to go onto secondary education, or completing school at 16 or 18 years old.

If you sending of your pupils in style, get in contact with JMF Disco to find out how we can help you organise a great school prom that they will remember forever!

All the latest tunes, party dances and favourite party classics that the kids want to dance the night away to!

Christening or Naming Ceremonies in West Peckham

If you are planning to have your baby christened or have a naming ceremony to celebrate your child’s birth, there is no better way to bring family and friends together than having a party – a few drinks, some food, maybe some games to keep the kids occupied (big kids can join in as well!) and a bit of music to bring it all together – get in contact with us today to see how we can help to bring this all together for you.

Christmas Parties In West Peckham

JMF Disco can provide the perfect entertainment package for your Christmas party.

Christmas parties are a great way to bring people together over the festive period, whether it is for family and friends, maybe a good fund-raiser for your club or an end of year works celebration.

With our Christmas Party Planner Pack we provide you with you, can set out how you want your evening to run – may be some background music during your meal, provision of a wireless microphone for any speeches, presentation, raffles, secret Santa events and let us know all your favourite Christmas tunes you want us to play to add to the festive atmosphere – book now as Christmas dates get filled up very quickly.

We can provide a comprehensive service to hotels at great rates for Christmas residencies.

Map of the West Peckham Area

Information About West Peckham

Party Venues In The West Peckham ME18 Area.

JMF Disco offers a special Mobile Disco service in West Peckham and surrounding areas. Venues that have been performed at or are available for your celebration:

West Peckham Village Hall

Nettlestead Place

Nettlestead Village Hall

Teston Village Hall

Wateringbury Working Mens Club, 210 Tonbridge Road, Wateringbury, Maidstone ME18 5NU Phone: 01622 812167

Yalding Village Hall, Lyngs Close, Yalding, Maidstone ME18 6JS Phone: 01622 814163

as well as your home, local favourite pub, club, hall or marquee.

Get A Quote For A Mobile Disco In West Peckham And A Great party!!

So if you like what we have to offer, including

a good experience reliable DJ

a neat and tidy disco set up

impressive disco lighting

provision of my Planner Pack to ensure you get exactly what you want for your special day and provide you with some guidance if you need it

the advantages of using a full time professional DJ service

telephone/email advice

providing PAT and PLI Certificates to venue

liaising with venue with regard to arrangements

discussing with you to fine tune arrangements and musical choices for the main part of the evenings entertainment

making announcements and introductions if required

providing a microphone for your speeches etc

setting up just before the performance

performing when required playing the music you and your guests will dance the night away to

Get in contact with us today for a quote.

We will require a deposit to secure the booking date (and the firm fixed quoted price) – deductible from the overall cost – the balance to be paid by cheque or bank transfer at least 7 days before, by instalments leading up to the event to help with your budgeting or cash on the day before we press play!

As a thank you for your enquiry I will provide you with a copy of my Party Planner Tips with hints and tips to help you organise the party you want. When you book I will provide you with my detailed Party Planner Pack to help arrange the detailed programme of events and entertainment on the night – it’s your special celebration and the music and arrangements will be as you want them.

I hope this gives you a good idea of the great service I provide and I hope it meets your needs.

If you require any more information please ask – I’m here to help.

Check out other local areas and party venues we provide mobile discos in the Tonbridge area here.

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jmfdisco · 7 years

Text

Disco Hire Crawley

Looking For Disco Hire Crawley?

If you are looking for disco hire Crawley, JMF disco can provide you with a good experienced DJ, a neat a tidy looking disco set up with wonderful sound and lights and a fabulous party as well!

JMF Disco have been providing clients with experienced, reliable mobile DJs and discos at wonderful parties in the Crawley area for many years.

As part of our personalized mobile disco service I will provide you with our special Party Planner Pack.

Start and finish times, maybe our special surprise entrance, cake cutting, happy birthday sing along, speeches, opening of buffet, etc and any other ‘events’ you would like to happen at your event – you may have your friend singing a song with his guitar, you may be having a band as well, you might want us to run your raffle – what ever you want to happen at your party or event can be catered for. Your celebration can be as formal or as informal as you want to suit the party style you want. It’s your special day and I will ensure you get just that!

If you have a specific list of songs you want us to play that’s not a problem – it’s your party and we’ll play what you want us to!

When we have the Party Planner Pack in a nearly firm format, I’ll contact you both to discuss any refinements if required, discuss access, timings etc so there are no surprises on the day.

Nearer the day I will contact you again well before the special day just to make sure everything is going to plan and offer any advise you may need.

On the day we promise to turn up and be on time to set when required – I get phone calls all the time from people who have been let down by ‘cowboy’ discos (booked because they were a few quid cheaper) who have been phoned a few days before the event that the DJ cant make it, they are double booked, their uncle has died again or they send their ‘roadie’ to cover for them while they take on another better paying job. I shouldn’t have to mention this but you hear these stories all the time – rest assured we will be there.

We will provide a microphone for speeches/cake cutting/presentation of gifts, opening of buffet etc in the evening – if required.

We will make any necessary introductions, announcements, dedications etc acting as your MC for the evening.

It will be a fantastic evening – it’s a bit of a cliché but a night to remember.

A few photos of previous events can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/JMFDisco/photos_stream

Your booking will be confirmed in writing setting out performance and payment terms for your peace of mind and ours.

JMF Disco services in the Crawley area

DJ Hire For Weddings In Crawley

Our disco for hire in Kent service is the ideal solution for your wedding disco – check out our Wedding DJ page for more details of our expert wedding service.

Wedding Anniversary Parties In Crawley

Anniversaries are important dates to celebrate, a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday and a time to look forward to the joys of the future.

DJ Hire For Birthdays In Crawley

If you are celebrating a 16th, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th or even an 80th birthday we can provide you with a great DJ to play all your favourite tunes – check out our Mobile Disco page for more details

Children’s Discos In Crawley

DJ Hire For Corporate Events In Crawley

Our experienced DJs have performed at a wide variety of corporate and similar events ranging from black tie balls to football club presentations in Chilham – check out our Disco Services page for our specialist event services

School Disco or School Proms In Crawley

School Proms are big news at the moment, an idea that has been ‘imported’ from America where they have been popular for many years.

Proms are a formal party to celebrate an important date at school such as leaving primary school to go onto secondary education, or completing school at 16 or 18 years old.

If you sending of your pupils in style, get in contact with JMF Disco to find out how we can help you organise a great school prom that they will remember forever!

All the latest tunes, party dances and favourite party classics that the kids want to dance the night away to!

Christening or Naming Ceremonies in Crawley

Christmas Parties In Crawley

JMF Disco can provide the perfect entertainment package for your Christmas party.

Christmas parties are a great way to bring people together over the festive period, whether it is for family and friends, maybe a good fund-raiser for your club or an end of year works celebration.

We can provide a comprehensive service to hotels at great rates for Christmas residencies.

Find Out How We Can Help You Today

Doing it right first time with everything as you want it to be requires an experienced DJ with the right skills and resources that we will bring to your special day.

If you like what I have to offer, including

a good experience reliable DJ

a neat and tidy disco set up

impressive disco lighting

provision of my Planner Pack to ensure you get exactly what you want for your special day and provide you with some guidance if you need it

the advantages of using a full time professional DJ service

telephone/email advice

providing PAT and PLI Certificates to venue

liaising with venue with regard to arrangements

discussing with you to fine tune arrangements and musical choices for the main part of the evenings entertainment

making announcements and introductions if required

providing a microphone for your speeches etc

setting up just before the performance

performing when required playing the music you and your guests will dance the night away to

Get in contact with us today for a quote.

I hope this gives you a good idea of the great service I provide and I hope it meets your needs.

If you require any more information please ask – I’m here to help.

0 notes