Instant wisdom:

Road Beat
1000 Miles of Music
"stay sharp, lucid and conscious"
04.02.04

Road trips. Fun. Taxing. How do you stay sharp, lucid and conscious during the long hours and countless miles on the road? You eat lots of music. Here's what we listened to during our recent GDC road trip: John Lee Hooker, Chemical Brothers, Randy Newman, Tangerine Dream, Beatles, Michael Hedges, Zappa, Ozric Tentacles, Jerry Garcia, Steely Dan and the Star Wars soundtrack. In other words, the best music in The Five Galaxies.

DBO Nabs Two
The 2004 IGF Awards
"hanging out with old and new friends"
03.29.04

I just got back from the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, and I'm very happy to mention that Dr. Blob's Organism won two awards at the Independent Games Festival awards event (for Innovation in Audio and Innovation in Visual Arts).

As you can imagine, we were all mighty surprised and quite speechless (and grateful) when we nabbed two awards in a row! That sure doesn't happen very often. After accepting the first one, we were backstage waiting for the attendants to figure out if we were important enough to interview. We weren't. Then, as we were heading back to our seats we heard this commotion and wow, there was trophy number two! Pretty freaky stuff.

The IGF event was fun and the variety of games was really good. The best thing about it, though, was meeting and hanging out with old and new friends. The second best thing about the trip was taking a fairly hardcore 90 minute underground tour of the Oregon Caves on the way back -a great way to wrap up the adventure.

In case you're interested, I posted a pic page of our journey to the GDC and back, including some great shots Iikka took in the caves. You can view the Digital Eel GDC Mystery Tour 2004 stuff by clicking there or here.

Dungeons of the Doomed
A Last Level Before the GDC
"the hidden switch is no more"
03.22.04

More level madness. This time it's Dungeons of the Doomed for Doom 2 (v1.9). I found this level (another one that I made back in 1996) in my oldies folder begging to be tuned up. Others have played and enjoyed it yet rightly criticized a certain hidden switch which made the level hard to complete. Well, the hidden switch is no more. To compensate (wink), I added eight secrets and doubled the monster count...among numerous other tweaks and fixes. So, for a good time, call 1-FUN-FUN-TOWN but if you're looking for a heavy metal fragfest of extraordinary magnitude, play Dungeons of the Doomed. It'll kill you.

Other news: Yo ho, it's off to the Game Developers Conference we go. (We meaning Iikka, Bill and myself AKA Digital Eel.) Yep, it's that time of year again. The time when chubby hibernating game designers emerge from their winter dens, yawn, rub their eyes and then head to San Jose to congregate, commiserate and otherwise hobnob with their fellows and peers. We'll be there because one of our games is an IGF nominee. We're going cheap so it's going to be another road trip with the usual detours. All in all it should be a memorable and weirdly cool™ adventure.

Doom Is Not Dead
It Just Smells Funny
"I just liked the blue skull."
03.17.04

I guess it's that time of year when I get bit by the level bug. This usually happens annually and when it does, everything else stops until the obsession has run its course.

I've been going through all of my idgame tools and apps lately making sure that I have the latest or last versions. Along the way I stumbled upon a number of Doom and Doom 2 levels I made in '96-'97. One of them caught my eye and after checking it out in WadAuthor (a long-abandoned shareware Doom level editor) I decided that all it needed was a little work to be a decent level.

The map was too easy -it needed to be tough, even for Hurt Me Plenty (normal difficulty) mode. There were no secrets, so you always got a 0% Secrets score. A blue skull key existed with no blue locked door to open. I just liked the blue skull. Other colored doors were unmarked, and the end of the level was hidden by a secret switch hidden behind a secret door. Not very fair.

The saucer layout was cool though, and the saucer outside was a neat thing I was doing in different levels at the time. I wrote a new midi music track for the level which sounds very dated to me now -but somehow in an odd way it fits. The level just needed some tweaking, more weirdness, a secret area, a light duty puzzle or two, a candle (?) and a hell of a lot more mayhem.

So, I worked on "Beehive" for a few days and got it to the point where it challenged Iikka, which is no mean feat because he's a hardcore Doom player (and level designer). Fellow mappie, Joe Pallai, who works for Zildjian of all places, gave me a few pointers which improved the level considerably. The saucer interior really needs custom textures; maybe later. The boxy exterior is still just a box, but I put in some fun things to do. Ah, but it's the non-linear gameplay that kicks! Check it out!

Links of the Week
News from the Fringe
"10 billion trillion trillion..."
03.16.04

Mars' Olympus Mons: the caldera in close-up | 10 billion trillion trillion carat monster | Paranoia XP | FlyPower | Enigma - E | The Classic Super Star Trek Game | IGN Gamestats.com | AI 20 Questions | MadMonkey.net | Weed, speed and LSD - in a video game? | The Best of Hubble | Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

Edge of Oblivion
Oblivion|noivilbO
"Which was the first space level?"
03.03.04

Oblivion update: Which was the first space level? Hard to be sure but early in 1997, Hipnotic Interactive (now called Ritual Entertainment) released an official Quake mission pack which included a single deathmatch level called (get this) "Edge of Oblivion" (hipdm1). No kidding, and it's basically a Quake level hanging in a black void!

According to Richard "Levelord" Gray, the level's author, literally thousands of suspended platform levels have been released since hipdm1. The Anachronox Oblivion is among the first of them, but I want to set the record straight and give credit where credit is due.

Although I never saw (until recently) or played Edge of Oblivion, I think it's all mixed in there. Pro and amateur level designers alike were playing around with such concepts at the time, sharing ideas, showing off and trying to top each other. However, in my search for yet another silly idgame-sounding map name I may well have subconsciously pilfered the name of Levelord's level!

Richard didn't care.

Btw, Underworldfan's Single Player Map Reviews posted a nifty review of Oblivion. You can check it out here. (Thanks, Tronyn.)

Oblivion Released
The Perfect Level for a Leap Day
"Oblivion is not a typical Quake level."
02.29.04

Oblivion, the "lost Anachronox secret level," for Quake is ready to play. Both single player mode (recommended) and three player deathmatch mode (not tested) have been implemented. No co-op mode, sorry.

Oblivion is not a typical Quake level. No room-corridor-room-corridor. Very few monsters. A lot of jumping (which is fun in this level, not a pain in the ass). The level terrain is both your friend and your adversary. If you play the level you'll see what I mean.

Visit the official Oblivion page here. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Cheapass Games Circles the Square
Big Box of Blox on CD ROM
"and lordy knows what else"
02.24.04

Quick news: Cheapass Games just released our latest game, Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox, on CD ROM. Phosphorous' CD art turned out great. Lots of cool extras on the CD too, like all of the Digital Eel game demos, wallpapers and lordy knows what else. Note: This game may warp your mind.

On a semi-related note, R.I.P., Humphry Osmond.

Ion Storm
When Dallas Was Green
"it began in the fall of 1996"
02.23.04

Ion Storm in Dallas was a big deal when it began in the fall of 1996. The ultimate computer game development company. Ion Storm in Austin is still a pretty big deal but the Dallas office was the mighty flagship, albeit one with a stormy end. The penthouse studio was located in downtown Dallas at the top of the Chase Tower, 54th floor. Look at the very top two glassed-in floors. That's where it was.

Was. I'm not going to get into why was. But I did work there with the first crew making games about a time traveling sword and an interstellar gumshoe named Boots. And it was one of the most remarkable experiences in my life. The environment there was beyond your wildest dreams. And the people were like every animal in the zoo. It was a crazy house supercharged with the money and hype of the post-Quake industry wide boom. It was also, once upon a time, a place of unfettered creativity full of people making games for the right reasons. It should have been a "world class bleeding edge studio meets Disneyland in the sky." It was for a while.

Zork
The Great Underground Empire
"the Douglas Adams award for sentence length"
02.17.04

Plunge far below the surface of the earth In search of the incomparable treasures of Zork

Thinking about Zork takes me back to Minnesota, sometime in the early 80's, hiking through a snow-drifted field to the school where my mom taught 4th grade to play Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz on the school library's newly acquired Apple IIe after the kids went home. (Did I just earn the Douglas Adams award for sentence length?) I guess that's a modern analogy of the old "when we were kids we walked five miles to school" stories my folks used to tell. Btw, Zork is 27 this year.

Name Matters
Miller Says No To Cheesy Titles
"one of the most important aspects of a brand"
02.12.04

For another angle on the cliched titles topic check out Scott Miller's blog and his February 9th post, Name Matters. Scott takes the issue a bit further and points out, importantly, that...

"...a product name is one of the most important aspects of a brand. In effect, a name is a brand's banner, or headline, and it needs to quickly convey a compelling, meaningful message about the product itself...A name is most often your potential customer's first contact with your game, and forms that always critical first impression."

JinxCam™
Online Again
"Meowrrowr!"
02.11.04

live JinxCam™
updates every 3-5 seconds

Links of the Week
News from the Fringe
"Thunderbirds Crash"
02.08.04

Nice SpaceShipOne Shot (gallery) | What Today's Game Designers Can Learn From Space Invaders (Thompson) | Don't Be a Vidiot: What Computer Game Designers Can Learn From Non-Electronic Games (Costikyan) | Tom Chick & Mark Asher Pick Tom's Top 10 | The First Computer Mouse (Dr. Douglas Engelbart) | Badgerbadgerbadger & Mushroom | The Quest For The Crown (stay for the credits) | Pickled dragon mystery | 'Hitchhiker': A Guide To Douglas Adams | Thunderbirds Crash: Truth In Images | Creators at Carnegie: Randy Newman

Steel Dawn: Forgotten Rebirth II Gold Edition
Cliched (Cheesy) Titles
"Because it's easy"
02.04.04

Writers, when you finish writing your next science fiction book, try not to name it something like The Orion Prophecy. Game designers, when you create your next fantasy game, try to resist the temptation to call it something like Lords of Legend.

The problem isn't that these are bad titles. I kind of like "The Orion Prophecy." The problem is that I have heard them before. They're made up of cliched words, generic words, that are too well known.

Certain words have been used in titles so much that they have all but lost their power, mystery and allure in this context, which is ironic because the writer who uses them is seeking resonances such cliched words can never convey. Results? Bland, pretentious, derivative or amateurish titles often occur.

Why do writers make up titles like these? 1] Because it's easy or 2] because the author is doing it intentionally or 3] because the author doesn't know any better or 4] because the publisher "suggested" it. However, these are the kinds of titles that first pop into your head. I'm pretty sure that's the real reason why they are so common.

By the way, anybody can do this. Anyone can make up a title for a science fiction book or a fantasy game. In fact, it's easy to make up dozens. Just look at your own game and paperback book collections, read the titles, pair key words together and you'll get into the swing of things right away. With a little effort you may end up with a list like this:

I guarantee you that there are titles here that will be used for books and games, if they haven't been used already. In fact, I left several existing titles which use words listed here off of the roster, like Master of Magic, Lords of Conquest, Dark Legions and, of course, Star Wars (and many more).

Before I wrap, I should stress again that these aren't necessarily bad titles. Such a list of words will always produce both interesting and mundane results (as you can see). Still, the fact remains that cliched words are being used, so, while the title might seem cool or even unique, it probably won't sound fresh.

I don't judge a book by it's cover but I do judge a book by its title, which is the first and most important hook. If I want to read trash, I'll grab a book with a cheesy title. If I want to be enthralled, I'll look for games with titles like I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Grim Fandango and Morrowind.

All Things Must Pass
Eel Busted By Yahoo
"I know you'll be back, and you'll be different and better when you return"
01.29.04

Crummy news to report today. Yahoo finally caught on that Digital-Eel.com was being hosted by the terms of an old unlimited bandwidth/unlimited storage space deal, circa 2000. Suffice to say that our 2.2GB-sized folder was dirt cheap to pay for. Now, it will cost too much money to maintain in its entirety.

Of course, the Digital Eel game homepages will survive, as will this blog, Iikka's game art and texture site, Phosphorous' art pages and a few other small folders containing various doodads posted elsewhere and stuff I use from time to time.

Unfortunately, within the next two weeks my id Software game levels site, Zdim's Weapon Rack, and my free PC games site, The Gratis Gamer, have got to go, at least until I find some other place willing to host them.

This wouldn't be too hard except for the fact that I refuse to place ad banners, or any other commercial gimmicks like pop ups, on my sites. My commitment to this is rock solid even if it means that these sites must disappear for a while. I won't sell out my hobbies, cheat people or waste their time and patience with BS.

So, until I can find a way to get these sites back up without allowing anyone to make any money off of my archives of free games and levels, TTFN ZWR & TGG. I know you'll be back, and you'll be different and better when you return, but I and the wonderful folks who have tickled you with mouse clicks all these years will miss you.

Check the "old" URLs for redirects from time to time. These sites are only mostly dead.

Intellivision Lives
Still Blocky After All These Years
"you'd never need another game machine"
01.17.04

There were four machines that got me started on this whole electronic game binge back in the 80's: the Apple II (IIe to be specific), the Commodore 64, a mainframe (I don't recall the model or make) and the Mattel Intellivision videogame console.

I used the Apple at the school my mom taught at to play the Zorks and Wizardry. On weekend nights we'd sneak into the offices where a friend worked to play Adventure on a mainframe with no monitor (unheard of!) -the turns were printed out on paper. The Commodore 64, cheap and powerful with a selection of games only rivaled in recent years, was the first computer that I actually purchased. Everyone who couldn't afford an Apple bought one and they were sure glad they did.

Then there was the Intellivision, a slick wood-grained console which plugged into your TV and offered solo and multiplayer games (for up to four players) in full 16 bit "better than Atari" glory -way ahead of its time. The Intellivision was the mainstay of the gaming area in the living room, and remained so even after the C64 came into its own. Together, you'd never need another game machine -ever- unless the lure of fancier graphics (or Nintendo) proved too enticing for you to resist.

Until recently these seemed only fond memories. A decade ago, an ex-girlfriend sold the Intellivision console and all of the cartridges we had collected at a garage sale while I was on the road playing with a band. Unthinkable (to a gamer) but these things happen. Of course, I moved on to Macs and PCs, and other entertainments and interests took its place.

So, during the holidays I'm at a local variety store and I pick up a cd called Intellivision Greatest Hits. These always suck, I thought, but I was overcome with nostalgia. I had to see. When I got home and booted it thing up I was pleasantly surprised. Here was a nice presentation, with full documentation and the history of each game, and a perfect emulator to play the games exactly as they were on the Intellivision. Exactly. Same code.

Btw, pound for pound, that little cd is probably the best game cd I acquired last year. At $9.95 to $19.95 these collections are a great value.

Anyhow, a couple of days ago, I'm looking for a couple of good freeware games for my free games site when lo and behold, I start reading about The Blue Shy Rangers; the original Intellivision crew. It turns out that Intellivision games are alive and well, thank you very much. The original team is back, marketing the original Intellivision games for nearly every platform you could think of. And here I thought that the cd I purchased was a knock off. Not so!

Here's the intro from the Official Intellivision Website:

Welcome. Intellivision, the first 16-bit videogame system, was introduced in 1980. With realistic graphics and challenging games, Intellivision quickly earned millions of loyal fans.

Thanks to the support of those fans, Intellivision was the only videogame system to survive the 1983 industry crash. Consoles and new games were made until 1990, well into the Nintendo era.

Today, Intellivision is the only retrogaming company run by the developers who were there at the beginning: The Blue Sky Rangers. We're working to keep Intellivision's history alive while bringing the fun of its classic games to new platforms and to new generations of fans.

Links of the Week
News from the Fringe
"The Official Dwight Frye Website"
01.09.04

Beyond Adventure | Disinfopedia | Flatulent Technologies | Doom Turns Ten | Fly Guy | The Yuckiest Little Miniature Golf Course in the West | Quake Level Name Generator | The Bentley Collection | War of the Ring | The Official Dwight Frye Website

Laurel & Hardy
Another Fine Mess of Pics
"Can you name the movies?"
01.01.04

I was archiving a bunch of old 3.5 disks recently and I found this small collection of Laurel & Hardy pics. I have no idea where they came from but I'm glad I saved them because if you're a fan like I am they're pretty fun. Can you name the movies? I can. (Hint: Look at the filenames.)

       

       

       

       

       

Have A Jolly Holiday!
A Day Of Peace?
"Orange, shmorange. Bra-la, how the life goes on!"
12.25.03

Download .bmp format wallpaper here. (1.7MB)

Quake Level Name Generator
Random Lists: Tool or Toy?
"generators to utterly waste your time"
12.18.03

I found this javascript quote randomizer somewhere. I goof around with it when I get bored. It's nifty though, because if you're even just slightly clever about it you can make your own lists and get some really fun, and occasionally useful, results.

The latest one was a quickie. Dedicated to all of my old Quake and Doom buddies, it's a Quake level name generator and you can try it here.

This generator is a parody of Quake level titles and the Quake vibe in general. It probably won't mean much to you if you haven't played Quake or user-created Quake levels. If you think "3D shooter" when you try it, you might get a chuckle though.

Some of my other generators to utterly waste your time (or not): Science Fiction TV Show Synopsis Generator | Ultimate Codex of Quest Items | Dunjon Of Düm | Telengard Tavern Generator

IGF Finalists Announced
Dr. Blob Goes To San Jose
"competition of the best kind"
12.14.03

This is pretty cool. The Independent Games Festival judges have chosen 20 games, including our very own Dr. Blob's Organism, as finalists in next year's IGF awards event. This is Digital Eel's second nomination in as many years so as you can imagine we're all pretty excited to be heading to GDC again in March.

The finalists in the Web/Downloadable category are: AlphaQUEUE, Beesly's Buzzwords, Billiard Boxing, Chomp! Chomp! Safari, Dr. Blob's Organism, Dungeon Scroll, Gish, Oasis, Space Station Manager and Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates.

I'm going to check out all of the nominated games over the next couple of months. I've already played Dungeon Scroll and Oasis, and I highly recommend them. Head over to the IGF website if you want to try them too. This is competition of the best kind.

O B L I V I O N
The Lost Secret Level
"disappeared into the mists of time..."
12.07.03

Wayyyy back in 1997 when I worked at Ion Storm in Dallas, I made a special Quake level called Oblivion. It was a secret level for Anachronox with nifty features that were novel for its day. Unfortunately, Anachronox's development took a long time and lots of things were changed, thrown away or forgotten. Oblivion was abandoned when I left the company and disappeared into the mists of time...

To learn the final fate of Oblivion, click here.