Brett M. Story

[jeffgerstmann]

What happens when you do a backflip in VR?

The cord gets wrapped around your neck and you die

[brettmstory]

Games I Really Liked in 2017

Heroes of the Storm

Didn’t really come out this year, but it made me fall in love with MOBAs again after the emotionally abusive relationship that is DotA2 ruined me.

Kingsway

It’s like being on a computer inside of a computer!

Heat Signiature

Who would have thought they who produced Gunpoint would produce another great game? Me! Hotline Miami meets FTL, but definitely its own thing.

Super Mario Odyssey

It was really good! I liked Mario 64! Now I also liked this!

Assassin’s Creed Origins

Bayek and Aya’s story is one that deserves living through. Bonus points because Egypt circa 2000 years ago is pretty damned cool.

Thimbleweed Park

Ron Gilbert did the thing he said he was going to do and facilitated the making of an old school Lucas Art’s style adventure game. And it’s really good! I think it might be my favorite point and click ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This game reinvented the open world genre in ways that I haven’t experienced since playing Morrowind on a shitty computer ~15 years ago. Pure joy.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

Whoa! What a crazy awesome RPG! You can talk to animals, teleport places, and have gay sex with a real cool dude named Ifan! Also you might be a God or something, who knows.

[brettmstory]

The Loved Ones

The best show I’ve ever been to was The Loved Ones at a short-lived venue in downtown St. Louis called “Two Cents Plain.” Gaslight Anthem were opening for the Loved Ones, but a year later Gaslight Anthem will have blown up in the punk scene and the Loved Ones would be opening for them.

But the closest thing I’ve had to a religious experience was seeing the Loved Ones that night with my brother. I remember there were only about 10 people total on the dance floor and a few people back at the bar. My dad had driven me there, but he left after the second band (The Arrivals?), claiming that all music these days sounded the same and telling my brother to drive me home. He was wrong, the Arrivals fuckin’ rock, but that’s whatever.

Back to religious experience. The Loved Ones were killing it, I was moshing my teenage heart out. I loved these guys. Dave Hause was putting his heart into every word. 

I can’t remember what song it was, but part-way through a song, the lead guitarist of the Loved Ones pulls a harmonica out of his pocket and just starts fucking wailing. He grabs the mic off the stand and holds it up to the harmonica with one hand. A fan reaches up in praise, and the dude uses his free hand to grab that dude by the hand. And for a full harmonica solo, these two dudes are just locked together. One hand holding mic and harmonica. Killing it.

That image sticks in my head all these years later. It was such an intense moment. The guitarist and the fan gave each other a nod and smile when it ended, a knowing glance that they just shared something. I don’t know what it is they shared, they probably don’t either, but it was an inspiring in ways I can’t describe today.

Ten people in the crowd and the Loved Ones spilled their hearts out on stage. That shit was punk incarnate.

[jeffgerstmann]

What's your stance on juggalos vs nazis? ICYMI their will be a white pride march same day as the jug halo match in DC in September.

I’m not even interested in joking about shit like this. Fuck all nazi scumfucks.

[brettmstory]

Haskell.

[brettmstory]

This is my cat for historical records.

[brettmstory]

Whoa

Do people still use Tumblr? I’ve yet to find a better blog service. Maybe I’ll start writing on here more. I’ve been working on a game engine and I’ve had significant progress, but I haven’t really posted anything about that progress anywhere.

It’s got a physics engine and I’m working on the UI for the game engine. It’s tough, though. UI work is what I do at work, so coming home and deciding to do more UI work can be super tiring. I’m hoping this weekend I’ll get a lot more done with that.

In negative news, I’m getting divorced. It sucks. But hopefully it’ll be better for all parties in the end. I’m an emotionless husk and she needs more than that. Oh well.

I’m going to get drunk and spend my night playing video games.

[chrisclavin-deactivated20170830]

ERIK PETERSEN

We lost a really good person today. The world is much worse.  Erik was a great person and great musician. This is not fair.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSrZyzqjCh4&list=PL9A1DD01188AFD804&index=3

[sakana-comic]

THE SAKANA VOLUME 1 KICKSTARTER HAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!! Please tell your friends and family and coworkers and your pets and EVERYBODY!! THANKS SO MUCH!!! 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1940139969/sakana-volume-1-kickstarter

[sakana-comic]

HEY, DID YOU KNOW: Sakana Volume 1 was funded within 24 HOURS!!?? And we’ve already hit three of the five planned stretch goals!! Look at all the awesome bonus stuff you’re getting with the book!: 

And there are TWO MORE stretch goals after this: 

AT 40K:  a brand new “HOW TO MAKE SAKANA” minicomic added to the Volume 1 book featuring me, the author, explaining my comic-making process!

AT 50K: The 24-page HELP WANTED minicomic will be fully colored!

I REALLY THINK WE CAN HIT BOTH OF THOSE! Thank you all so much to those that have already pledged, are thinking about pledging, or have helped to spread the word by reading and recommending my comic! I appreciate all of you so much! ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT! LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!

>>> Please visit the KS page HERE to check up on our progress! <<<

[sakana-comic]

did u hear the good news??? 

[brettmstory]

LEGOs got really cool with some Gundum style shit at some point. Haskell mostly wants to eat it though.

[sakana-comic]

>> CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN! <<

>> WAIT A SECOND, WHAT THE HECK EVEN IS THIS?? PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ACTUAL COMIC. <<

IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE GOOD NEWS: 

The SAKANA VOLUME 1 KICKSTARTER was 100% funded in less than 20 hours! The campaign will continue to run and hopefully accrue more pledges until June 23rd! 

Now we’re closing in on the first stretch goal: a double-sided bookmark to be included with all physical copies of the book! The bookmark will feature normal Taisei and business Taisei. I’m still fiddling with the text, because I’m not sure JUST HOW CORNY I want to make these…

If you’ve pledged already, thank you SO MUCH for making this happen! This book is getting printed and that’s a fact!! If you’re still on the fence about pledging, maybe this giant business guy will sway your decision? ;v 

But whether you’re in a position to pledge to the Kickstarter or not, I appreciate all of your support!! Thank you for reading, appreciating, and helping to bring this book to life! 

[mynameismad]

LET’S GET THAT BOOKMARK!! 

[brettmstory]

Don’t Take a Swig of Hot Coffee

Funny story. Well, funny if you aren’t me. So last weekend, I woke up and made myself a pot of coffee.

While the coffee was still very hot, I decided to take a tiny sip to test the waters. As I took that tiny sip, I tripped a little bit. Giant gulp went right down my throat. I’ve had a burnt throat for about a week now. It’s awful. I’m just now feeling a little bit better.

So, uh, don’t take a swig of hot coffee.

[brettmstory]

First time playing with LEGOs in a while. Ran out of quality bricks to build a full house, so it's a ruined house I guess.

[brettmstory]

First time playing with LEGOs in a while. Ran out of quality bricks to build a full house, so it's a ruined house I guess.

[brettmstory]

Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive is an incredible game. The gameplay is fast and fun, the humor witty and sharp, and the visuals you witness in Sunset City are breathtaking. I may be overreacting, because I just got done beating it, but I think Sunset Overdrive has snuck its way into my top five favorite video games.

Traversal feels so amazing that I barely ever use the fast travel system. Grinding, bouncing, wall running, and swinging; this game feels like Tony Hawk or Jet Set Radio, but mixed in with Insomniac’s usual mixture of weapons, à la Ratchet & Clank. 

Weapon variety allows you to explode, burn, and electrocute your enemies into oblivion. That said, the weapon upgrade system isn’t nearly as in-depth as Ratchet & Clank games these days. You can level them up to level 5, which presumably makes them stronger at each level. You can also attach one amp to a weapon. Amps usually do something like cause burning damage, spawn a bomb on each kill, or freeze enemies. They aren’t terribly exciting and they usually aren;t terribly useful either. It was a nice thought, but I barely noticed the effects of amps. The weapons themselves were unique enough.

Usually I don’t find myself laughing at video games. Especially games that deal in what I call internet humor. Sunset Overdrive handles it differently than something like Borderlands, though (I find Borderlands unfunny). Sunset Overdrive has a punk attitude to its delivery that works. Small visual queues translate the humor into the gameplay as well. When you blow up a crowd of OD, some of the orange juice flying around will spell out words like “POP”. It works well. When you first spawn into the world, the camera is extremely close to the player, so the player knocks the camera back with his fist. Respawn animations include rising from the dead and being dropped by a UFO. Fast travel involves getting a stomach ache and waking up in a porta-potty across town. The humor infects every part of the game, making the entire thing one big cohesive joke that sucks you in.

I’m not even going to write much about how beautiful Sunset Overdrive is. It’s a brightly colored mess of a city and I love it. It’s got some serious style.

Sunset Overdrive rocks. I absolutely recommend everyone try it out sometime. I just hope it sold enough for a sequel.

[tommyrefenes-deactivated2020091]

You think spending the time to localize an indie game to other languages is worth it? I understand people wanting it, but it seems like a lot of time and money for a small team to put into something.

Good question!

I think it depends on the game. For instance, Super Meat Boy had almost no relevant text that the player needed with the exception of menus. I feel like a huge majority of players could have understood the menus without our terrible localization. So for Super Meat Boy, I would say no it wasn’t worth it.

For a game with tons of text where the story is integral to the game play and it’s presented via text, then yea, I think it’s for sure worth it.

[brettmstory]

I asked this question and thought the answer was useful.

[brettmstory]

A Few Days with the Xbox One

I have every console this generation, because I’m an adult who plays video games with expendable income and that’s what adults are allowed to do. I also have a high-end gaming PC. I know a lot of people would admonish me for playing console games when I have such a good PC, but those people can fuck off. I like consoles and PCs. Eat shit if you have some sort of misguided brand loyalty or brand non-loyalty.

Anyways, lets go into thoughts while comparing to other consoles. Most of my comparisons will be to the PS4, since the WiiU is like a generation and a half behind when it comes to the console experience. The WiiU has some good games, but fuck everything about the UI and everything else.

So, first off, I think the Xbox One UI is a whole lot better looking than the PS4 one. I have an affinity towards flat things. I was one of the few people who saw the Windows 8 UI and got excited. That said, the response times are a little slow. Tabbing through items always has a weird sort of delay. The console itself starts up way faster than the PS4, thanks to the Xbox One’s fast start up stuff. I know PS4 has a similar feature with Rest Mode, but it really doesn’t compare. I hit the button on my controller and the Xbox One is up and running. That’s great.

The controllers use AA batteries, which I’d consider a minus (I hate using batteries), but the controllers don’t die in an hour like the PS4 controller, so AA batteries win out. I haven’t had to change my rechargeable batteries yet. If this were my PS4, I’d have already plugged in my controller like five times to charge. I’ve also had an Xbox One controller on PC for a few months and still haven’t changed batteries. It gets a little bit less use, but the point still stands.

Xbox One Smart Glass is great for when I want to watch Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon without wasting controller battery. I think the PS4 has a similar feature, but the Xbox One told me about it as a feature somewhere in the UI and prompted me to actually try it. It’s great, I’m a big fan.

Let’s move on to a feature that most people hate: Kinect. I like my Kinect a lot. I don’t use it for games, but the convenience of yelling at my Xbox One to turn it on and then it signing me in by seeing my face is great. This goes will with the Smart Glass, because I can turn on my console, open Netflix, and start a show without ever having to turn on a controller. This will probably expand the battery life considerably. Also, my wife Rosa has an account on the Xbox One with its own custom dashboard and profile, using my Xbox Live. This means when she turns on the Xbox One, the Kinect automatically recognizes her and logs into her account. Very smooth experience and completely skips the first two button presses that the PS4 has.

I wish the Dashboard was more customizable, but its at least better than the PS4 in this regard. I can choose to pin things to my home screen (and Rosa can choose to pin entirely different things to her home screen), but there’s still a huge wall of stuff I don’t super care about above my pins. 

Games with Gold seems comparable to the early days of PS+, so nothing to complain about there, but I don’t really think its that much better than PS+.

In terms of actual games, I’ve played both Forza Motorsport 6 and Rare Replay. Forza is great. I haven’t really played a racing simulator since Gran Turismo 2 and things appear to have come very far. It’s a great game. Rare Replay is also very cool, but I’ve only spent a little bit of time in there. I like that you can unlock “behind the scenes” and interviews by playing a bunch of Rare’s games. Some are better than others.

If I could go back in time, I probably would buy the Xbox One over the PS4, but I’m glad I have both. I think the Xbox One will be my console of choice for a while (I’ll momentarily switch back to PS4 to play Uncharted).

I don’t know, that was a big ramble mess of text. I like the Xbox One. I like games. Backwards compatibility is cool. I like that every Xbox One will be a dev kit (albeit a limited one). Games are cool, guys.