Woohoo!
Our shiny new corporate site, for which I did 80% of the design/conceptualisation, all of the illustration, and all of the copywriting, was featured on Smashing Magazine!
(80% of the design because I extensively reworked someone else's original 'base' design.)
Wonderful talk. One of the things Bartle repeatedly mentions is that when designing, you need to know WHY you are doing it in the thing that YOU are designing.
Not because someone else has done it, not because everyone ELSE is doing it, but because it has a definite purpose in YOUR system.
Also has a great rant towards the end about how people don't do things better, because they don't realise that they can - that they're allowed to.
Some great quotes:
I won't be telling you how great text is over graphics, because that's an argument I've won many times... and still lost.
I won't be telling you how great permadeath is - God uses it, it can't be bad.
It behooves you all to understand WHAT you are designing, and WHY you are designing it.
What we wanted to do was say unpalatable things about the real world - within the protective frame of a game.
You must understand what's in the paradigm - then you can throw it away.
We put in the level system because it let you OUT of the (British social) class system!
Much of what he says isn't specific just to game design, but to learning and perfecting any craft.
Essentially I don’t get on with Guild Wars because every time I come to play it it teaches me just how bad I am outside of the basic piñata model of play. Every combat is so fast-paced and frantic that I finish it exhausted while not entirely sure what actually happened, other than I seem to somehow still be alive, which is the joy of having a healer henchman I suppose. In fact I picture the AI henchmen in my party silently mocking me for being an utter noob, and secretly all trying to vote-kick me out of the group so that they can continue on in peace without having to carry me.
If you play, have played, or are considering playing Guild Wars, you really, really should read this.
Also if you've introduced friends to your shiny new toy, brimming with happiness at its shininess, only to find them folding their arms, and saying, Vekk-style, 'I'm not impressed'.
It's a refreshingly honest and charmingly written look at why Guild Wars doesn't do it for Melmoth, and at the same time, is very clear on why it just might be your cup of tea.
It's definitely mine. =)
However, if I understand correctly, Nair for Men should only be applied to the back, chest, arms or legs. Why not a man’s face? My beard grows faster than Chia on a pet. I wake up at 8:00 and already have a 5:00 shadow. Why can’t Nair safely remove unwanted facial hair and make my face look as smooth as a baby’s behind without the diaper rash? Another problem I have with shaving is I tend to loose a lot of blood. Nair for faces would surely be preferable to scraping off the top three epidermis layers everyday with a razor.
You know, that's a very good question...
