LOLCHRIST

Dat Babylon 5

A few thoughts have occured to me. I am presuming that, since it has been described as X-COM like, this will be alternating rather than simultaneous turns: RTS or pause-able simultaneous provides more of a spectacle than TBS, because everything is going off at once. I am thinking of Dominions, where despite everything being sprites it still has a sort of grandeur to it as the two armies run at each other whilst wizards launch fireballs from the back. Part of

I prefer Git / Mercurial (I use Mercurial, but I gather they are very similar) to SVN, which I use at work. The advantages: * Merges usually work better. * Local commits mean you talk to the server less often. Less network IO going on means many operations are faster. * Local commits mean you can commit in smaller chunks, since you don't have to worry about breaking the trunk build until you actually push. Admittedly you can do the same sort of thing

Would it be possible to distribute the relevant schema (xsd) files so that we can have auto-completion? I'm not a fan of XML. I work mostly in .NET, where Microsoft seem to think that XML is the perfect tool for everything from configuration files to messaging protocols to UI design. Tooling and can make it a lot more bearable though.

This sounds excellent - I think diversity is one of the key areas that made Master of Magic so good. I have a request though: I really hate to have obsolete spells that I never use cluttering up my spellbook. Could we have it so that weak spells either get replaced by newer ones, or otherwise get better as you get more powerful and thus continue to have a use?

Icewind Dale was Black Isle, not Bioware. Planescape Torment was also Black Isle.

Maud'Dib, the little mouse that jumps.

Made me laugh :)

Morrowind's cities and Alkathla in Baldur's Gate 2 stand out for me as well. I think it's about exploration, starting from how the city is revealed. In Baldur's Gate 2, you spend a lot of time mucking about in the first dungeon, which is fairly dark and linear and frankly a bit of a grind. When you get out of there and into the city there's a real contrast: everything is bright and colourful and there are a hundred places to explore, the game just opens up and it's exciting.</

You should make the whole thing in Powershell [e digicons]:S[/e]

Scala, on the other hand, has pretty decent integration with Eclipse (the most popular Java IDE) these days, so I think I would always pick it in preference to Java when working on the Java platform. Although lately I find myself dropping back to development using VIM and Notepad++/Scite in preference to IDEs. I feel the greatest failing of Java, which is a result of its lack of function passing, is that it lacks proper set logic: you do everything with loops instead. Until I

I do think C# is a big improvement on Java, but there are also other languages in a similar vein on both platforms which are better still: Scala and F# both open up some of the more useful parts of functional programming, but you also write bog-standard OO in them to reap the benefits of shorter, neater syntax and a better type system. If you do decide to work on the Java platform, JavaFX is more or less the Java equivalent of WPF. I gather they do a lot of things in a very similar wa

I have switched out headphones a few times, and as yet I have no recommendation for a good one, only a recommendation that getting a good one first time will save you money. I have had: Logitech stand alone microphone £10ish - too much feedback (not as good as headsets). Logitech Bluetooth mobile phone headset thingy with Bluetooth USB dongle £30ish - poor sound quality and uncomfortable ear piece which eventually broke. XBox 360 headset which plugs into XB

Can it be written: UnitStatType InternalName =" UnitStat _ BluntAttack " DisplayName="Blunt Attack" Icon="Icon_Club.png" Description="The blunt damage this unit will deal when attac

I'm surprised at the smaller populations. There is a joy to be found in overpowering enemies with hoardes of sprites carrying tiny poking sticks.

I agree with the other commenters so far: I would prefer for perks/weaknesses you pick at startup to be special things which are unattainable during the normal course of levelling up your sovereign. They should continue to have a useful effect throughout the game in general, but not be overpowering (although they could be a part of a generally strong strategy). Most importantly of all ;), they should have good names and flavour text. I am generally against giving one-off spells o

Pants is one of those words which doesn't internationalize well: Pants: Underpants Trousers: Pants This has led to many a chuckle. There is a quest in Morrowind where a man asks you to find his missing pants, for example...

On a general point, I don't find upgrading roads terribly exciting, especially as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law means that lots of cities means a huge amount of roads to look after. I would rather have a budget slider for road maintenance and then have the computer figure out where to spend the money. Roads organically growing in response to how much they're used appeals to me though. I do think the

Team Fortress 2 is what I've been playing more or less since it came out, and it really is that good. Left 4 Dead 2 is cooperative, and also seems excellent. A lot of people like Call of Duty 4: it hasn't grabbed me because I find it thematically uninteresting (as in, too serious), but the game mechanics certainly work well. And then of course there's Counter Strike, which has been the most popular online FPS for the best part of a decade now. Serious Sam: it's

I don't think the Unreal Engine is really a good example of what most game engines are like. Since it is intended to be sold to other developers, it has to be more flexible than the majority of engines which are kept in-house.

On source control, I know people bang on about it a lot, but distributed source control systems like Git and Mercurial are absolutely worth it for one good reason: local commits. This means less sitting around waiting for a central server to pull its finger out, which really adds up. SVN is probably the simplest move though, it means less time learning the new system the tools to port your existing repository over should be pretty solid by now.

Well I'm too sure about your titans having, uh, titanic battles, but otherwise :). I do like a bit of backstory to lend colour to a game. I don't suppose you could get Leonard Nimoy to voice it?

How are you finding the larger team? Where I work, the Mythical Man Month is something of a creed, and I have never been on a project with more than 6 people. So, I am curious as to whether having 15 people on a project makes things harder or not?

Good luck people, welcome to being ripped apart by vicious fandom :D. Enjoy your positions, and I hope you all find your niche at Stardock.

Try games that have some combination of: A) Don't take huge amounts of time. B) Involve socializing/customization. C) Aren't based solely on violence: sometimes this is a bit of a crutch for the industry - people know how to make combat so they use it to extend a game's length. D) Have some atmosphere/style/wit that makes them interesting. Within my generation, I'm sure the proportion of women that would call themselves gamers is quite small compared to