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Text of the page (random words):
ugh a mouthful of candy it s just a game let s settle down take it easy the jerk on the other end calls julian a couple of colourful words not fit for print and leaves the game how does this not piss you off i ask shaking his head he tells me that it does piss him off but what the hell am i gonna do about it he adds it s not like bitching about it will change much he grabs another jelly bean and tells the rest of his team to get their shit together an hour later he ends up winning julian joined the navy a couple of years ago now his practical nature and quick wit made him some easy friends and were instrumental in successfully passing his officer training either through study or through convincing the people training him that their test was hot trash i know my own brother half as well as i d like but i know the important stuff he s kind brave and practical he ll do anything for someone he cares about and is quick to defend those he deems worthy rolling with the punches comes naturally to the man and he s just as quick to dish it out when it does something useful more importantly than all that julian is a good man i suppose that s all that i need to know and knowing more wouldn t change a thing a chill wind blows past me a bitter english february evening in london as i walk down the street towards home i d just lost my teaching position at the primary school i d been working at for six weeks i wasn t even allowed to say goodbye to my class just a quick meeting with the head teacher and bam out on my ass looking for more supply work a gust whips at my face but through the comfortable numbness of oncoming depression and my very scruffy beard i barely feel a thing my iphone plays away the music turning from the game remix i d been listening to for the past few minutes into something i d forgotten about it takes me a minute to realize it s indie rock i instantly think of julian and i recognize the tune from the basement it had been at least half a decade since then since then julian had recovered from a terrible memory since then julian had become an officer in the navy since then julian had started seeing a wonderful girl and was now happier than i d ever seen him i whisper under my breath slow show it s a song by the national a group i know julian liked a lot i ve no idea if he still likes them or anything but i know he listened to this song once when he needed a good friend in a bad time thinking about julian fills me with a sigh and i start walking with renewed energy i smile and think it s not like bitching will change much right posted in calm mood story time the past the present time on july 25 2016 by slowwolf leave a comment on garbage so i ve decided to finally finish and edit my novel from nanowrimo just it s complete garbage i didn t make it 5 words before finding something i disliked and wanted to vehemently cross out in bright red ink like slashing a terrible monster or the like it s my worst nightmare come true it s 87 pages long single spaced and i would rather print it off to experience the catharsis of burning that piece of 10 year old kids can write better than this absolute tripe it s like watching a car with a bent wheel try to move only to have the one side of the car lift and fall like some shambling igor the bonus here is that at the very least i can tell it s garbage it s also telling that writing this abomination took a month and after having spent months teaching others how to write basic forms of stories in a variety of uninteresting and curriculum mandated ways i can look back on this thing and tell that it would take much much longer to edit multiple months to be sure five if i had to guess hulking is not a descriptor i would use for most novellas but the one i wrote has earned it not because of deep heavy hitting content it s also a novella so not size no the hulking bulk comes from the pedantic terrible pacing and ridiculous attempts at tension by focusing on the wrong parts of the story focus on character would have been much better than focus on environmental factors i was trying to write a video game but it s worse than that because video games present and environment for a player to interpret and this story rams it down the reader s throats not to mention all the edgy gore the attempts at horror action best described as a play by play on a football monitor clunky doesn t begin to cover it like a blanket for someone who is several inches longer than the motel bed there is much work to be done if it can be salvaged at all my dad always could find uses for good quality trash just the other day while he was visiting dad picked out several doors hooks and shelving units that others had thrown out to him these items were still useful helpful some things though are just trash posted in confused dafuq frustrated grumpy journal mood novel rantastic on july 16 2016 by slowwolf leave a comment response boss fights mike rugnetta of pbs idea channel asked in his latest video about boss fights what people thought about well boss fights in games specifically in reality he asked two questions what are boss fights to you and what do they do what about games without boss fights or adversity at all before i start drunkenly answering these questions you might want to go check out the video for yourselves click the link to watch it then come back i promise this post isn t going anywhere alright welcome back let s talk bosses or at least let me blow smoke up your respective asses about bosses he s listening boss fights are popularly a test of the skills you have learned traditionally boss fights are staged closed off skill checks that require a certain amount of mastery over skills learned over the course of a game some games test recently acquired skills a perfect example of this can be found in the more recent legend of zelda games where the means to defeating a boss is found within the dungeon preceding it in these kinds of games the boss fight is very much a licensing test where the dungeon is a training course and defeating the boss is proof enough for the developers that a player has mastered the item and can be counted on to figure out when and how to use it in other games enter the gungeon comes to mind simply because i ve played watched it a lot bosses are a pure test of in game skill the items you ve acquired and progress you ve made during a playthrough will make a boss fight easier no doubt but if you re garbage at dodge rolling you re still going to hit the ground hard enough to make a 6 foot deep crater more or less depends on how you died in these games the skills required to beat the game are typically given right at the start and each progressive boss simply ramps up the difficulty either by increasing the number of threatening situations or limiting the room for errors which forces a player to hone their skill to the point where the boss can be defeated boss fights aren t necessarily one singular entity though in devil daggers for instance there is one boss in the game somewhere so far into a run that under 2 of all players have ever seen it every other boss moment is either the introduction of new enemy types which quickly become a regular and terrifyingly numerous occurrence or a suddenly large wave of enemies to combat all at once moments like these are still tests but without all the drama of a big baddy the idea is that once these moments are mastered future parts of the game can be accessed and played better leading to further boss moments all of this however requires buy in from the player and this is where the second question kicks in can games without adversity still have boss fights my short answer is yes they can if we look at boss fights from a different point of view broken down to its essentials a boss fight in most games is a payout for the gradual structured rise in tension brought on from mounting difficulty and more complex game mechanics the rising difficulty of challenges designed to make players figure out how to use the bow and arrow in ocarina of time s forest temple climaxes with the shadow ganon fight at the very end of the ordeal this moment only feels like a proper boss fight so long as the player understands that this moment this fight is the ultimate skill check before the reward the player knows is coming they re accustomed to having their reward at the end damnit in addition the boss fight itself being a spike in difficulty earns its boss status in part because of the incredible difficulty spike now with 2 times the murder in short change and conflict create the emotional buy in from the player necessary to give it the oomph required of a boss fight good boss fights are tough but not too tough and you won t find them in the middle of a section of gameplay unless it is a mini boss a fight only significant enough to break up the steady pacing of a dungeon and create a mid point for the player to reference how far along they ve come in non adversity games the question becomes how do you create tension when mechanics and mounting difficulty are non issues unlike more mechanically focused games where story telling and narrative can help but are ultimately not necessary for building the tension to create a boss fight moment narrative games create the tension required of boss moments through writing and story journey for example creates powerful beautiful moments where the player is invited to experience the adventures of their pilgrim sand surfing for instance or the terrifying crossing where you have to avoid the large mechanical snakes lest they do something look don t ask questions here i don t want to know point is all of these emotions and thoughts the player brings with them start to stack one atop the other in a big unstable tension piled mess when the player reaches the final moments of the pilgrim s journey the payoff is palpable nerves hope for survival and the desperate chanting of come on you can make it these feelings are practically the same as a boss fight where instead of the payoff coming from beating a difficult check of abilities learned payoff comes from narrative resolution from a character overcoming the issues facing them through story and presentation at the heart of both of these ideas is one of conflict and its resolution boss fights are just big conflicts and if there s one thing that good stories do to the exclusion of all else it s conflict and the resolution of them instead of boss fights you have boss moments but in the end both kinds of games have bosses to cross moments of gameplay where a player invested in a game will find the same kind of feeling and weight from either one posted in rantastic the present time video games and tagged bosses game mike rugnetta pbs idea channel response video on july 14 2016 by slowwolf leave a comment dark this is the story of one brave boy and his need to go to the bathroom the boy lay in the bed sleeping soundly his chest rose it fell it rose again the rhythm of a slow pulse in and out the coming and going of waves on the shore unexpectedly a sharp intake of air and his eyes blurry from sleep cracked open he was awake and dimly aware of one of the most basic needs the need to go pee the nightlight at the far end of his room shone a comforting light a sunlike glow across the warm peach painted walls and the soft carpet floor first things first under the bed the boy carefully got to the side of the bed and like spiderman hung his head carefully over the edge of the bed unlike spiderman he realized he did not have sticky hands and began to slip causing him to scramble for a handhold anywhere on the loose duvet which of course he didn t find a short tumble later the boy was secure of two things no monster under the bed he was very awake carefully picking himself back up to avoid the creaky parts of the floor the boy snuck across the floor of his room to the door bordering his land and the land of his brother he guided the door open slowly the door made all the noise in the world much his chagrin but his little brother slept soundly for now still the boy knew what to do he had a lot of practice with these floorboards the hardwood a path of solid and creaky places to walk imagining himself a dashing adventurer like indiana jones the boy tip toed across the floor avoiding the noisy spaces like his heroes avoided the trapped squares creaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak went the floor the boy stood stock still halfway to the door on the opposite side of the room and he made the loudest noise he possibly could have practically thunderous his brother would surely wake up as luck would have it the brother slept along and the boy stood still for a whole minute listening to his brother breathe just to make sure couldn t be too careful around sleeping people he thought when the coast was clear the boy made sure to be more careful while stepping around after carefully navigating the rest of the room with all the agility of a heavy set sumo wrestler on tip toe the boy finally made it to the door this part however was tricky very tricky this part had the dark on the other side of this door was a long hallway where the brother s room was on one end and the parents on the other both on the long wall next to the bedroom the boy stood in was the washroom not more than 3 feet distance one small step for man but several small steps for the boy during the day this wasn t a problem but at night the risk was great down the hall at the very end lived the dark again no issues during the day the dark had to hide in the closet hidden in the wall next to the parent s bedroom this was fine the boy thought except it didn t stay there at night the dark left the closet and swallowed the end of the hall whole creating nothing but pitch black emptiness there the boy gently peeked around the door frame just his eyes to see if the coast was clear it was not even in the briefest second the boy could tell the dark saw him and turned its unknowable being his way it was aware not only that the boy could tell the dark was famished too the boy hadn t seen the dark eat anyone he didn t need to because it was obvious to him what the dark would do to you the boy broke into a slight panic he felt very uncomfortably hot all of a sudden and his palms began to sweat unseen eyes stared at him through the walls making his skin crawl it was waiting for him with all the care he could muster the boy pulled the door open again edging towards the boundaries between where it was safe and where he knew it wasn t the moonlight from the window across him lazily illuminated the area in front of him showing the short but altogether too long distance between him and the washroom door sneaking a peek leftwards again the boy could see the dark preparing to move it already lapped greedily at the moonlight like a cat licking a bowl of milk still its eyes were set on the boy and the boy knew that once he d made his move he d have to be fast breathing deeply skin cra...