All posts by Beau

PC Games

Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls

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Publisher: Legend
Developer: Legend
Year: 1990
Platform: DOS

When Infocom disbanded, Steve Meretzky was hired by up-and-coming Legend Entertainment to continue text adventures and compete with Sierra in the adventure game industry. While Legend’s first offering wasn’t entirely polished, and did not have very good sound support, Meretzky certainly did his job to jump start the company and this series.

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PC Games

Space Quest V: The Next Mutation

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Publisher: Sierra
Developer: Dynamix
Year: 1993
Platform: DOS

The two guys from Andromeda split up before this game, leaving Mark Crowe as primary designer while Scott Murphy pursued other interests. Whether or not this development led to a much improved sequel is debatable, as besting Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers did not come with a high bar. Nevertheless, Space Quest V is a playable, albeit short, adventure back in the spirit of the first three games.

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Writing

Survivor XV, Challenge 4: Rewrite

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We were given three horribly written stories, tasked with rewriting one of them into a good story, keeping all of the original ideas intact. 150 word limit. Here’s the story I chose to tackle:

I got out of the shower, took a good look in the mirror and thought, this would be the best night ever! I put on the only clothes worthy of the occasion and thought long and hard about the kind of fun I’d be having and the attention I’d get. Perfect! With my preparations in order, I was ready to head to the party!

And here’s the rewrite:

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PC Games

Scratches

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Publisher: Got Game Entertainment
Developer: Nucleosys
Year: 2006
Platform: Windows

Horror is my favorite fictional medium, and I think there’s a simple reason why. I have virtually nothing in my wonderful life to fear, and thus it is an emotion I rarely feel. Additionally, it is an adrenaline-inducing intense feeling with the security of fiction laced around it, making it very attractive. And when I mention horror, I refer to the suspense of the unknown, not hack’n’slash gore. True horror allows the imagination to create feelings of terror. Bad horror has a cat jump out of the cupboard, coupled with disproportionately loud noises, jarring the senses.

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Writing

Survivor XV, Challenge 3: 20 Questions

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This week our team had to answer questions and compete with the other three teams for the judge’s affections (e.g. Give me the tagline of a season of America’s Got Talent where all the contestants are from New Jersey). A few of my suggestions were used, but none of them won any points from the judges. As lot of the answers are in-jokes, I won’t be posting any of them here. Just know David Copperfield became sort of a running gag.

Thankfully, our team scored just enough with the judges to avoid having to send anyone off the island. There are now 25 players left, and Liam Neeson’s Walrus still has all seven of its members.