Instant wisdom:

Still Playing
Yes, Crawl Is That Good
"Boris the berserking troll cleaned out the orcish mines...."
07.27.03

Still playing Crawl to the exclusion of doing anything else but music for our next game. Boris the berserking troll cleaned out the orcish mines (killed all of the orcs; swiped all of the gold) and is back in the main dungeon again. You can see my latest character sheet here. Congrats to Iikka whose character retrieved the Orb of Zot yesterday. Here's proof. Iikka started a new character tonight, btw. Great game. Way too addictive.

Boris the Dodger
A Crawl Character Sheet
"You are completely stuffed."
07.19.03

Here's a character dump of Boris the troll, my current surviving Crawl adventurer. He may be dumb as a stump but he more than makes up for it with a giant spiked club. Will Boris retrieve the Orb of Zot? Many levels to go....

Boris the Dodger
Troll
Level 11 Berserker

Play time: 06:05:08
Number of turns: 13333
Experience: 11/15887

Strength: 34
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 4
Hit Points: 106
Magic Points: 6
AC: 14
Evasion: 20
Shield: 7
GP: 104

You are in the Lair.
You worship Trog.
Trog is extremely pleased with you.
You are completely stuffed.

Inventory:

Hand weapons

e - a +2,+1 long sword of electrocution
f - an uncursed runed glaive
l - an uncursed glowing bow of speed
r - the -1,+0 halberd "Bugopuh"

A truly terrible weapon, it drains the life of those it strikes.
It affects your AC (-2).
It protects you from fire.

t - a +0,+2 hand axe of venom
B - a +0 giant spiked club
O - a +5,+1 giant spiked club
Q - the +6,+1 knife "Ygos Su" (weapon)

It allows its wielder to attack twice when they would otherwise have struck only once.
It affects your AC (+4).
It affects your evasion (+3).
It affects your strength (+1).
It affects your dexterity (+4).

X - an uncursed great sword

Missiles

w - 42 arrows
N - 56 dwarven darts
S - an elven dart
U - an elven dart

Armour

i - a +2 wizard's hat of intelligence (worn)
j - a +1 animal skin (worn)
k - a +2 cloak (worn)
z - a +2 dwarven shield (worn)

Magical devices

b - a wand of confusion
o - a wand of cold
s - a wand of slowing
u - a wand of draining (3)
J - a wand of enslavement (11)
M - a wand of polymorph other
V - a wand of random effects (7)

Comestibles

a - 2 meat rations
x - a honeycomb
F - a bread ration
T - an apple

Scrolls

d - a scroll of magic mapping
h - 3 scrolls of remove curse
n - 2 scrolls of detect curse
p - 4 scrolls of teleportation
C - 4 scrolls of blinking

Jewellery

g - an amulet of resist mutation
m - the ring of Tuqu (right hand)

This ring increases or decreases the mental ability of its wearer, depending on the degree to which it has been enchanted.
It affects your intelligence (-3).
It affects your evasion (+2).
It affects your damage-dealing abilities (+2).

q - a ring of intelligence
v - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
y - a ring of levitation
A - a +5 ring of strength (left hand)
R - a +3 ring of intelligence

Potions

c - a potion of levitation
E - 3 potions of heal wounds
H - a potion of might
I - 5 potions of healing

Magical staves

W - a staff of earth

You have 122 experience left.

Skills:

+ Level 7 Fighting
- Level 2 Short Blades
- Level 2 Long Blades
- Level 2 Axes
- Level 3 Maces & Flails
- Level 1 Polearms
- Level 5 Darts
+ Level 3 Throwing
+ Level 11 Dodging
+ Level 1 Stealth
- Level 1 Shields
- Level 3 Unarmed Combat

You have 10 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Mutations & Other Weirdness

You have a fast metabolism.
You are clumsy (Dex -1).

Some Get It and Some Don't
Caspian's SAIS review
"Apparently the best was saved for last."
07.13.03

Caspian "gets it" (read the review) and he said some very nice things about our space adventure game. Unsolicited comments like this are priceless. From the Digital Eel News page:

Recently Caspian Rychlik-Prince of Puppy Games posted a glowing and thoughtful review of Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. This one caught us by surprise because we hadn't seen an SAIS review in a while. Apparently the best was saved for last. Here's a snippet from Caspian's article:

SAIS is an aural and visual treat. The 2D graphics have a beautiful, unique style to them, and convey the game to you simply and attractively. It takes all of 2 minutes to forget all the advances in 3D technology and become immersed.

The sound effects and little loops are funny, catchy, clever, and cool. Everything that needs a sound has a sound, and they gel together perfectly. In fact this may be one of the few games where I've been more impressed by the sound than the graphics.

But riding on the audio-visuals is the most addictive game since NetHack.

You can read the Puppy Games review of Strange Adventures in Infinite Space here. Thanks to Caspian, Charlotte and all at Puppy Games for the kind words and a very positive critique.

Do you like fantasy rpg's? Do you enjoy prowling the depths of a dangerous megadungeon in search of exciting battles and fabulous treasure? If you do here's the game you should be playing: Linley Henzell's Dungeon Crawl.

Crawl, as aficionados call it, is a roguelike game in the tradition of Rogue, NetHack and Moria. All of these games harken back to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and other seminal PnP rpg's from the late '70's and early '80's. Crawl is no exception.

You all know the story and it is typical.

The player guides a single character deep into a subterranean complex to retrieve the Orb of Zot, fending off many horrible and hideous creatures along the way. Once retrieved, the player must return both character and Orb safely to the surface world. Easier said than done, but fun all the same.

1] It's the most fair. Unlike NetHack, where a quick death can be inexplicable or unavoidable, Crawl almost always affords the character multiple ways of escaping a lethal situation if only the player can see it or figure it out.

When you die, your items are identified and displayed, a traditional feature of nearly all roguelikes, but you'll often be surprised at the number of "saves" you will find there. If only you had tried this potion or identified that item or switched to this wand or evoked that magical weapon...etc.

Tactical opportunities, and a fascinating (devious) dungeon generation system, play into this too. The tactical choices that the player has are always logical. All the player has to do is be observant and consider each move carefully. It's a turn-based game so there's no hurry. (Hurrying will get your character real dead real fast in this game.)

2] Unlike NetHack, Crawl sticks to the fantasy theme all the way instead of succumbing to the temptation to include anachronistic items (like NetHack's dilithium crystals) and spurious levels (like NetHack's infamous sokoban levels).

3] Crawl offers more variety with character creation than any computer role playing game that I have ever seen or played, and it all works. Unusual races have their own quirks, challenges, special abilities and limitations. This would suck if it wasn't very carefully worked out. Fortunately, a solid character system which has been refined over many year's time kicks this game off with a catapult shot. Here's the breakdown:

Character races:
Human, High Elf, Grey Elf, Deep Elf, Sludge Elf, Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Orc, Kobold, Mummy, Ghoul, Naga, Ogre, Ogre-mage, Troll, Draconian, Centaur, Demigod, Spriggan, Minotaur, Demonspawn, Kenku, Merfolk

Character professions:
Gladiator, Berserker, Hunter, Monk, Thief, Assassin, Stalker, Crusader, Reaver, Death Knight, Chaos Knight, Paladin, Priest, Healer, Wizard, Conjurer, Enchanter, Summoner, Fire Elementalist, Ice Elementalist, Air Elementalist, Earth Elementalist, Venom Mage, Transmuter, Warper, Wanderer

5] Crawl is relatively easy to play. It has fewer keyboard commands than NetHack yet doesn't skimp on the ways that a character can interact with the game. Crawl's keyboard commands are a tad more intuitive than other games of this type while at the same time sticking to roguelike conventions. A lower case z = Zap, or fire, a wand, for example. Still, if you don't like the default commands Crawl will let you remap them in-game.

6] Crawl levels are a gas. The deeper you go the wilder it gets. I don't want to spoil anything so that's all I can say.

I could go on and on about Crawl's virtues and I've done a fair bit of that here but I'm sure you get the idea. I'm not asking y'all to throw away your Diablos and Everquests. I just want to make sure you know that there are alternative choices out there that benefit from years, not months, of unfettered development and offer more features and deeper gameplay than anything you can buy at EB.

Did I say buy? Crawl is freeware.

You can download the current version of Crawl here (beta 26) but you should always check the Crawl development site for future and frequent updates.

Crawl information and help:
AADC (Association for the Advancement of Dungeon Crawling) | 13 Steps To CRAWL | Crawl Keyboard Commands List | Crawl Quick-Start Guide

Roguelike history:
B A L R O G | Adventures in ASCII

Roguelike development:
Dungeondweller Roguelike Development page | A.R.N.S. (Another Roguelike News Site) | Y.A.R.N.S. (Yet Another Roguelike News Site)

Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock | The Sun's Surface in 3D (color-enhanced image) | Binh Danh's Chlorophyll Art | Cat Herders | SpaceShipOne | Giant blob baffles marine scientists! (video) | Dr. Blob's Organism is here! | Bubba Ho-Tep | Bruce Campbell Online | Homestar Runner

Here's a cute one.

1. Go to www.google.com
2. Type: Weapons of Mass Destruction (Don't hit the "search" button).
3. Click "I'm feeling lucky."
4. Read the error message.

Again, be sure to read the whole error message carefully. It looks real but.... Origin? A mystery....

It's Alive
Dr. Blob's Organism is here!
"....blast feisty one-celled organisms...."
07.04.03

Here's the official blurb: "Cheapass Games and Digital Eel are very proud to announce the release of Dr. Blob's Organism on Independence Day 2003! For those who haven't played the demo, Dr. Blob's Organism is a lightning-fast shooter game where players blast feisty one-celled organisms as they try to escape from a petri dish. The Dr. Blob's Organism CD is now available from Cheapass Games for the low, low price of $10US. For more information (and free goodies) be sure to stop by the Dr. Blob's Organism website -or just click here to purchase the game."

The Sun's Surface in 3D
Here Comes the Sun King
"....Spectacular light-bridges rising nearly 500-km...."
06.24.03

From APOD, June 24, 2003, "The new Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, deployed in the Canary Islands only last year, allows imaging of objects less than 100-km across on the Sun's surface. When pointed toward the Sun's edge, surface objects now begin to block each other, indicating true three-dimensional information. Close inspection of the image reveals much vertical information, including spectacular light-bridges rising nearly 500-km above the floor of sunspots near the top of the image."

For more info head on over to the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. You can view the original The Sun's Surface in 3D post here.

Something To Hold On To
Dr. Blob's CD Art
"It's weird! It's disgusting!"
06.20.03

While we're waiting with baited breath for the full release of Dr. Blob's Organism here's a peek at the CD art (link fixed 06.24.03) we came up with. It's weird! It's disgusting! It's Digital Eel.

Dr. Blob's Organism was inspired by John Conway's LIFE, a celular automaton well known since the 70's. If you'd like to learn more about LIFE be sure to visit Math.com's LIFE page. Just the facts, ma'am, and you'll find a cool LIFE Java application so you can try LIFE yourself online.

Links of the Week
News from the Fringe
"Cosmic Encounter Online"
06.12.03

Encyclopedia Mythica | Games in Crisis (PowerPoint viewer) | Gecko inspires sticky tape | The Naked Cowboy: the world's most celebrated entertainer | Power Balancing: An Interview With Chris Crawford | Sun, Moon, Hot Air Balloon (be sure to click the image) | Destination: Mars | Saudi headsman tells all | Absolute Gamer's Files Archive | Oldest Human Fossils Found | Frictionless Insight reviews: Cosmic Encounter Online and Dr. Blob's Organism

[Click the Stop button (X) to freeze me]
Mr. Kosmik Sneez
from one of my sketchbooks circa 1974

Digital Eel Summer
Much Ado About Many Things
"Sorry. No time for links...."
05.26.03

Sorry. No time for Links of the Week. There's still too darn much going on. Dr. Blob's Organism has gone gold and the DBO demo is out. Busy time.

Diceland: Space, the Strange Adventures in Infinite Space add-on packs for Cheapass Games' Diceland tabletop combat game system, has been released. (Two flavors: Terrans vs. Urluquai and Garthans vs. Muktians)

I put together a zip file which includes the rules sheets (.pdf files) for all three Diceland game sets, Deep White Sea, Space and Ogre, as well as the advanced rules. Grab it here. (600KB)

We (Digital Eel) also have a board game and another PC game in the works. And then there are the SAIS Mac ports in progress....

My posts here will be spotty for a couple of weeks until and just after DBO is released. Of course, if something really cool comes up, I'll let you know. APOD is bound to force me to break my vow of silence.

Late News
A Demo; A Blob
"Lots of pesky things going on; all good."
05.15.03

Once again, it's been a while since the last bit of news. It's the blog-writer's cop out. Lots of pesky things going on; all good. We're readying this funny new game for release that we made over two months of week nights and weekends. It's called Dr. Blob's Organism. Eels, worms, blobs.... What's next, lint? (Inside joke.)

Ed Zavada is helping the Eel out with the Mac ports of SAIS. Thanks Ed! We have released the demos; we're just getting started with this. It's pretty cool to know that Mac gamers are, as we speak, blowing up stuff where no one has blown up stuff before.

I've got a batch of new links o' the week and I'll try to post them tomorrow....maybe! Now, off to Slumberland....

A Sonic Boom
An APOD Favorite
"Many people have heard a sonic boom, but few have seen one."
05.04.03

A classic rerun from APOD today so I had to post it. This is a 1999 photograph of an F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier. "Many people have heard a sonic boom, but few have seen one." Well, that's why we stop in at APOD every day -to see things few others have seen.

You can check out the entire A Sonic Boom post here.

Report from the Skink Works
Digital Eel's Secret Project Nears Completion
"A purpose both noble and silly."
04.30.03

It's hard to keep a secret and keep your mouth shut when you know about something cool under wraps. Such is the case for me right now. That's why I'm writing this post. To tell without showing. To entice without revealing. To type my giddy frustration away.

Scant weeks ago the thing I'm referring to was an off-the-cuff remark; a throwaway idea. A chuckle. A wink. Then the epiphany. It must be made. We immediately put our main projects aside and rewired the mystery kitchen for a different purpose. A purpose both noble and silly.

This thing on my screen which is fighting very hard to get to your screen is....unusual. It scares and delights me at the same time. It is also familiar. So familiar as to be almost a cliche if the mechanism itself were not so intriguing. It's a Mad magazine Horrifying Cliche is what it is.

There. I told you about it without spoilers. Vague? Sure. But it's days away and then you can see for yourself. Until then....

Shlupp.... Blurp.... Splorch....

M17: The Omega Nebula
A Hubble Close-Up
"...fantastic, undulating shapes..."
04.25.03

Too busy to write but the Astronomy Picture of the Day site saves me again with this celestial treat from the Hubble Space Telescope: "Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, these fantastic, undulating shapes lie within the stellar nursery known as M17, the Omega Nebula, some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius."

This one's a beauty but APOD isn't only about images. Click here to view the original M17: A Hubble Close-Up post with more information and links.

Attention Gwog!
I lost your recent email.
"...ratzifratzin Outlook Express..."
04.22.03

Gwog, I received your email but while I was reading it my computer crashed. Your letter was eaten by ratzifratzin Outlook Express never to be seen again. Please contact me at this email address and we'll get the conversation going again.

London at Night
And Links of the Week
"Do you recognize this intriguing globular cluster of stars?"
04.11.03

From the Astronomy Picture of the Day site, today: "Do you recognize this intriguing globular cluster of stars? It's actually the constellation of city lights surrounding London, England, planet Earth, as recorded with a digital camera from the International Space Station."

As usual, APOD delivers the space goodies to visual addicts everywhere. Click here to view the original London at Night post with more information and links.

And speaking of links, let's have some Links of the Week.

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time | Clusters and Nebulae of the Hexagon | The Museum of Retro Technology | Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars | Aurora From Space | 'Naked' galaxies found lacking dark matter shroud | Sony leads charge to cash in on Iraq

Light Echoes from V838 Mon
Hubble Watches Light from Mysterious Erupting Star
"V838 Mon somehow transformed itself over a period of months...."
03.26.03

From APOD: "Nominated for most mysterious star in the Milky Way, V838 Monocerotis briefly became one of the brightest stars in our galaxy....observations have indicated that V838 Mon somehow transformed itself over a period of months from a small under-luminous star a little hotter than the Sun, to a highly-luminous, cool supergiant star -- defying the conventional understanding of erupting stars and stellar life cycles....the dimmed V838 Mon is surrounded by an "expanding" nebula. But the nebula is actually a series of light echoes...."

As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating...."

Learn more about V838 Monocerotis by clicking here and here

New Images
More from Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Robert Williams
"Take a gander."
03.25.03

I changed up the Roth and Williams images a bit in the 3/24 entry below. Take a gander. The selection is much better. Also, be sure to czech out the Ed "Big Daddy" Roth sites (EdRoth.com, www.MrGasser.com and RatFink.org) and the Robert Williams sites (Robert Williams and I'd Rather be Dead than Mellow). What I have posted here doesn't even rate as the tip of the iceberg.

Monsters, Surrealism and the Kustom Kulture
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Robert Williams
"This was my mythos when I was a kid."
03.24.03

Here are some things you should know about me.

I love monsters. Frankenstein; Alien; Mothra; the Rancor; it doesn't matter. If It is hairy, green and toothsome, with bulging bloodshot eyes, an exposed brain, razor sharp claws and an unquenchable thirst for human blood, I'm completely digging It. I'm the kind of film fan that roots for the monster and I am always saddened by its inevitable Hollywood demise.

I love surrealism. Bending reality in some fashion even to the breaking point fascinates me. When I was in grade school, my mom gave me two art books; one about Escher and one about Magritte. On an intuitive level I related to Magritte right away. It was the first time I realized that the rules of an artistic discipline could be broken in entertaining and provocative ways. Pretty important.

I love comedy. I have a great sense of humor; very broad. I chuckle at gentle rural humor -yet I am just as likely to guffaw at a gory Penn & Teller trick. When I was growing up there were so many different kinds of comedy coming from every direction. Comedy was exploding its own 50's constraints and it was so happening that you can still hear the jokes being told on TV today.

I love cartooning and comic book illustration. Overall, my favorite artists are Dr. Suess, M. C. Escher, Chuck Jones, Rene Magritte, Gahan Wilson, Sergio Aragones, Basil Wolverton, Walt Simonson, Robert Crumb, Robert Williams and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Most of these guys are, or were, cartoonists of one kind or another. The reason comic illustrators dominate my short list is because I grew up with Mad magazine, Warner Bros. cartoons, the Sunday funnies and stacks of comic books.

As far as I was concerned in sixth grade there were three kinds of entertainment; movies, rock'n'roll and comic books. Sure, there were plenty of other things to do, and girls and cars would impinge soon enough, but this is what my crowd focused on at the time. Fifty cent double feature matinees, a new 45 each week and the latest issue of The Fantastic Four or Magnus: Robot Fighter. Heaven.

Monsters; surrealism; humor; movies; rock'n'roll; comic books.... This was my mythos when I was a kid. In many ways I think that it still is.

I intend to (eventually) write something about each of my favorite artists but first off I'd like to mention two guys whose art is particularly important to me; Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and Robert Williams. This is where everything I've written so far comes together. Roth and Williams are bright constellations in my personal cosmos.

I first became aware of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth from t-shirt ads in funny car magazines and comic books. At first I thought that he was just an air brush artist. His t-shirt art featured slavering monster caricatures driving hot rods, choppers and dragsters. Pretty cool stuff to an eleven year old.

Soon I learned that Ed designed, built and detailed custom cars and tricked-out three-wheeled motorcycles (chopper trikes). Ed was part of what became known as the west coast Kustom (Kar) Kulture, and his creations, hot rods with legendary names like Mysterion, Druid Princess and Beatnik Bandit, defined the era to rodders, bikers, boomers and 60's kids alike.

Roth's illustrations are of the Basil Wolverton school of "gross out" monster art. Characters like Rat Fink and Mr. Gasser, as well as dozens of Roth's kustom kulture t-shirt monsters, were as well known as Star Wars figures and no less cherished. Roth memorabilia and the numerous Revell model kits of his hot rods and outrageous monsters are still in high demand today.

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth passed away in 2001.

Robert Williams, who is still alive and kicking hard, thank you, first gained recognition as Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's art director. As the counterculture movement arose in the late '60's, Williams moved into the underground comics scene and co-founded the infamous Zap Comix series with contemporaries, and friends, Robert Crumb, Victor Moscoso, Gilbert Shelton and S. Clay Wilson.

Williams, Crumb and the others produced pen and ink art that was shocking, iconoclastic, surreal, anti-establishment and thoroughly entertaining. Among them, Williams is my favorite because he masterfully blends cartoon hyper-reality and acid-tinged surrealism with scatter-shot creativity and what I would term as a kind of provocative bravery. Williams' work is often disturbing -most folks won't understand it or like it- but it's some of the most visually intriguing imagery that I have ever seen.

Robert Williams' remarkable illustrations and oil paintings have been featured on album covers and posters, in comics and magazines, and at noteworthy art exhibitions, for over three decades. Williams has also recently assembled and published collections of his work. Malicious Resplendence, Zombie Mystery Painting, Visual Addiction and Views from a Tortured Libido are art books that I would actually recommend.

Roth; Williams; Rat Fink; Coochy Cooty... This stuff, these people and their whacked-out creations, are part of what I'm made of. This is where I come from. As I finish this entry up, I am struck by two things. 1] Bizarre art, and humorously over the top art, was fresh in the 60's and I miss that. 2] The notion of following your muse, doing the thing that delights and captures you, is one of the most important considerations in life.

Roth and Williams started out by scarfing used car parts, mastering the crow quill and the temperamental air brush, and making biker logos and t-shirt art. Humble beginnings but they paid their dues. Making art the way they wanted to was joy enough, and that simple intuitive non-philosophy of "Just do it" took them to places most of us don't even dare to dream about.

       

   

       

       

BushWorld and the Trees of Mystery
Operation Lumpy Gravy Begins
"...those resilient little birds..."
03.21.03

What is Mr. Bush's favorite computer game category? Massive Multiplayer Online War. Real time strategy and tactics in beautiful downtown Badgag, folks, and You Are There. Sort of. All you have to do is tune in to CNN, crack open a case of Bear Whiz Beer, kick back in your Lazy Boy and viddy well little brother. Viddy well.

Boom! We now have proof that violent video games will have spectators in the very near future. Grim. Anyway, the only war game I want to play anymore is Peep War*.

(And no, I won't hyperlink to CNN. Ever. The BBC rules. Alternately, if the BBC site is jammed, NPR will do.)

Meanwhile, back at the Purple Void ranch, we posted this bit of fun at the Eel game site:

Roll up for the Digital Eel GDC Mystery Tour 2003!
Ever wonder what it's like to hop in Eel Pod 1 and head off down the highway? Here's your chance!

Via the miracle of digital photography, you can experience the sights, the sounds and even the smells of a real live road trip with Digital Eel to the GDC in San Jose. Well, okay, maybe just the sights.

*For more crucial information about Marshmallow PeepsŪ, those resilient little birds, click here. (Thanks, Deanna.)

Links of the Week
News from the Fringe
"Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe"
03.14.03

Okay, archive #2 is tucked away. Before we go any further let's have some Links of the Week:

Robot Matilda | The Gratis Gamer | Switch Linux | In the Center of the Lagoon Nebula | Cliff Yablonski Hates You (thanks PlanetP) | Solar Sail | Battlefish | Passing the fish | Schadenfreude Interactive | Crawl beta 25 | official Dungeon Crawl website | The Golden Ratio | Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe