On Cannibal Contagion

I thought about it pretty heavily over the weekend, and today I finalized my decision to remove the “Samurai Slaughterfest” bit from the name of Cannibal Contagion. This has kinda been nagging me for a while now, but didn’t jump into my mind full-focus until I found my original design document for the game over the weekend. There are a lot of initial ideas from that document that never made it into the current vision of the game, or that I’m holding onto for a lot more testing and possible release in an expansion – meaning, a whole lot of extraneous add-on kinda stuff.

Among those stripped-out ideas are most of the things which I had envisioned that would give it more of a Kung Fu Samurai kind of feel. I had originally intended to make a game that was quintessentially Versus, the RPG. Over time, I realized that having such a niche game was not something I wanted to do all that badly, and I felt that the basics of the game could better be served by expanding them to the entirety of the Zombie Survival genre, and not just one awesome cult film that a lot of folks just haven’t seen.

So I’m going through and cleaning up the text to remove references to the “Samurai Slaughterfest” part of the name. The game text itself already mostly ignores that original intended theme, focusing instead on the classic Modern Zombie Apocalypse theme. As such, the edits really aren’t impacting the game as much as I had initially expected. And since I’ve always been calling it just “Cannibal Contagion” anyway, it hasn’t impacted my own perception of the game either.

So from now on, it’s just “Cannibal Contagion” – no samurai required. Maybe I’ll work the kung-fu aspect into a later expansion if the core game is somehow successful. The first planned expansion I envision is one that extends the game into a more sci-fi direction, so it might be a while for the kung-fu stuff.

On RPGs

Last night we had the very first play session for the new Sky Pirates campaign. I can say this without any ounce of exaggeration: this was the best game session I’ve run since the last session of our Little Fears mini-campaign. The end-of-session combat encounter took over an hour, but it was over an hour of epic goddamned sky pirate-y awesomeness, involving swinging from anchors, dueling sorcerers, mysterious cultists, mechanist riflemen, inventors-turned-almost-suicide-bombers, and cannons firing full force into the middle of a busy dock. I can definitely see where this game will be going, oh yes. In that last stretch of the session, I could really envision everything, and all it was missing was a fantastic score. I’m going to have to play with some playlists and see if I can put together anything more inspiring.

Campaign basics: We’re using the Savage Worlds rules set, modified for XP gain based on actual implementation of character abilities. The setting is a home-brew we’ve been using off and on for a few gaming projects, which I call the Undiscovered Countries. The basic gist of the world is that everyone lives above a massive layer of corrosive clouds, and most settlements are on islands that float along through sky currents (I swear I had never played Skies of Arcadia at the time we came up with this). Most of the cultures have a very mainland Asia feel, with a smattering of Euro-fantasy thrown in for good measure. A month ago in the setting, a great Empire which lasted almost a thousand years fell to the Dusk Revolution. Now, the Empire in ashes, folks struggle to merit a living on the Fringe Currents, amidst lingering conflicts with the Imperial Remnants, among other dangers.

On Video Games

This weekend I took Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy off the shelf again and gave it another go, and I’m once again addicted. I love games that have craploads of unlockable content, and this game definitely fits that bill. Psi-Ops has lots of skins and extra levels that can be unlocked as you master certain achievements, and I’m kinda disappointed in myself for not having unlocked these things in my first play-through. Heck, I didn’t even know they existed until I accidentally stumbled across some weird “Evil Garden Gnome” in a level and unlocked a telekinetic bowling alley level. From that point, I went back and checked a FAQ, found the locations of more gnomes I’d missed, and since then I’ve been happily unlocking challenge stages, co-op trials, character skins and more. Combined with the game’s fairly rewarding actual gameplay, I can see myself charging through this game at least twice. I’m currently paying through it as Scorpion on Hard Mode. Oh yeah.

All the good stuff aside, I do have some gripes about the game. First off, you only get five weapons: a supposedly “silenced” pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle, a machine gun, and a sniper rifle. The whole “silenced” part of the pistol is pointless, because once you shoot it, if it doesn’t kill the bad guy instantly an alert is triggered (see below). The shotgun’s good, but ammo for it is very scarce. I can’t even tell any difference between the Assault Rifle and the MG, except the MG has more ammo, and the sniper rifle is so wobbly that accuracy is an incredible gamble. The wobbly scope combined with the slow reload, limited capacity, and loud-ass firing make it a totally worthless weapon. Since you can only carry two guns, and you’re required to keep the silenced pistol as one of those guns, you tend to use either the AR or the MG as your default Main Gun, and that typically only varies based on which one has more available ammo in the particular game stage.

Additionally, once an alert is triggered, the enemies always know exactly where you are. I hate it when games do this crap, and it’s even one of the things that bothers me about watching The Crew play through Metal Gear Solid 4. In both of these games (and many, many others), once the alert is thrown, a nigh-endless stream of bad guys swarm your location, knowing exactly what crate you’re trying to hide behind. It makes stealth an even less-enjoyable feature of these supposedly stealth-centric games.

But hey, in all fairness, weapons are not the main focus – that spot is reserved for the amazingly addictive head-explody powers you have at your disposal. While the gun selection is weak, and you tend to just stick with the machine gun for the constant supply of ammo you find for it, you more often than not forget about it. Instead, you will most frequently find yourself opting to TK (telekinesis) enemies into the air and slam them repeatedly face-first into explosive barrels, or sneak up behind them and suck their brains out through their ears (ok, that’s kind of an exaggeration, but still, Mind Drain is the shit). And while the game’s actual stealth content is made next to worthless by the omniscient enemy AI, there thankfully aren’t too many stealth-required moments of the game that I’ve noticed so far. Thankfully, at least the stealth controls are both pleasantly simple and effective when the AI isn’t screwing it all up.

So in summation, if you want a fun psychic shoot-em-up with a variety of gameplay options, fun and addictive powers, good voice acting, amusing bad guys, and a fairly engaging story, Psi-Ops might just be the game for you. If you want a similar game with more focus on stealth over action, better implementation of said stealth, and an amazingly well-written story, I suggest checking out Second Sight, which I personally consider to be a superior game, although it lacks most of Psi-Ops‘s replay value. Both games are actually pretty easy to find in the bargain bins of your local game-trade stores, too.

In other video gamey news, I bought a PS2 to PS3 usb memory card adapter, and I’m thoroughly disappointed in my purchase. What a rip-off! I don’t think I’ll ever be buying any third-party products from the HVG2 company again. I’d take the damn thing back if I hadn’t purchased it from Fry’s, which is 45 minutes away in Wilsonville, and just not worth the gas prices these days.

Also, I’m really please that Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is #2 on Mobygames’ Top 25 All-Time Best Games.

On Technology

I want this. Badly.

On Life

Last night I learned that contact lenses work so much better when you actually wear them in the right eyes.

Looking for some mostly-gaming, comic laughs? Check out Orcusville.

- NPC

Good Times (anytime you need a favor!)

Friday night Avatar: good times! Thanks for bringing over those episodes, Trinity. I’m glad you’re finally getting to see Season 3. Soon you will understand why I love Zuko so much! And thanks for Skies of Arcadia Legends, Andrea. I’m enjoying it greatly. Plus, it’s good inspirational fodder for the Sky Pirates game (further below). Also, Bethany picked up a copy of No More Heroes for the Wii, and so far, it’s pretty sweet. My one complaint: so far, I don’t notice any strategy in it. There’s several things you can do in it when facing enemies, but mainly it seems that the “hit A repeatedly to beat them down” strategy is really the best tactic. Regardless, it’s bloody and brutal and lots of fun.

Saturday Metal Gear 4: good times! As much as I dislike the horribly convoluted and oh-so-terribly Japanese story of the game, it is damn pretty. I think if I could get past Kojima’s frequent masturbatory expositions and lectures, I could probably enjoy the gameplay. That OMFG NERDGASM AMAZING fight Beth showed me was, well, OMFG NERDGASM AMAZING. It’s so hard to resist the urge to post spoilers, though.

Sunday Tea Party: good times! Thanks for putting it all together, Sarah, and thanks for the excellent cake that I unfortunately did not actually eat (all the other sweets killed my appetite). Having squirrels come up to me and take food from my hands was pretty nice. Those little tree-rats are so gosh-darned cute.

Gaming

We’re unexpectedly making a return to the Undiscovered Countries! Yesterday we met to create characters for Torch, but after we realized that none of us were really all that interested in a more serious game, we played some cards and then came to a unanimous decision for a new game: mufuggin sky pirates. Yargh! All of us loved the idea, and characters were made with an extreme quickness. The new campaign will take place within the months following the events of the Dynastic Purge (from the Burning Wheel game that was doomed to never happen, sadly). Back again we go to the Undiscovered Countries, this time mere months after the fall of the great Dawn Empire, we follow the adventures of a group of outcasts on the Far Fringe currents, trying to make a living in the post-war fallout. Remnants of the Empire still vie for control of scattered holdings, rogue nobles struggle to retain their tenuous grips upon ancient familiar properties, remote opportunists seek to establish their own power bases on the edge of the known currents, and all the while, the common man tries so desperately to cling to his traditional way of life.

The characters have a small short-range island-hopper craft, and are trying to make a living in the Far Fringe currents in a time of post-war fallout. So far, Sam is playing a deserter soldier-turned-card-sharp, Chris is a scholar-mechanist, and Kevin is a historian monk. The group is strong on the social and smarts, light on the ass-kicking, and I like that a lot. A beat-stick meat-shield might round the party out, but I’m good to go either way. Lacking a major physical presence can make for some really excellent adventures, as they use “non conventional” methods to achieve their goals.

Also, Saturday was Free RPG Day, and I ran the Ice and Fire demo. That will get its own Actual Play post much later.

Any of you remember the time back in The Olden Days when video games did not have movie-like cutscenes? Remember the ads and trailers for those games, and how they contained footage of the actual game play of those games? Yeah, I do too, and I miss that a lot. Nowadays, it seems that with every new video game trailer I see, the developer is trying to sell me on some Masterpiece of Digital Animation instead of an actual game that I’m supposed to have fun playing.

Miscellany

A sure-fire sign that I’m getting old: I’m seriously excited by the fact that I enjoy a high-fiber diet. That’s right: get the fuck off my lawn.

And if you didn’t know, yesterday was my pseudo-birthday, 6 months before the real one that I don’t celebrate anymore. Why, you may ask? No, it isn’t because I’ve always been slighted for presents every year of my life due to Christmas being two days later, no, not that at all, and no I’m not bitter. Truth be told, it’s because every year on my birthday, I’m cold and alone and rarely ever have anyone to celebrate with. On my birthday I tend to end up getting a free drink alone at a bar while everyone else is either out of town with their families, or so chock crammed full of Christmas Cheer that I can’t stand being around them until they stop crapping out all those damned candy canes. I’m jealous of all the good times I hear others have, so in order to actually enjoy good birthday cheer, I moved mine to June. And no, I don’t care about presents, I just want people to spend time with.

Thanks to Bree for the excellent Birthday dinner!

Hell, it makes me want to custom-time the birthdays of my own children, even. “No sex between the months of March and May, baby.” Yeah, that’ll be healthy, totally.

Grrr.

- NPC