Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and games

Why in modern video games are all the enemies still clones?

straight — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:49:00 -0800

Why, in video games, am I moving through an endless variety of environments but killing the same enemies over and over? I think this may be changing in the current generation of games, but if you go back just a few years to something like Half-Life 2, you have these games with enormous amounts of work put into creating level after level of unique environments, but then you have just a handful of models and skins for enemies and NPCs. You never see the same place twice, but you see the same characters over and over.

Why the disparity? Does it really take more work to make a single enemy than to make an entire level? Is this just an accepted convention carried over from the days when computers and consoles only had a tiny amount of room for character sprites?

I'd think that even if making functionally distinct enemies was too hard, they could at least create some (random?) variation in the size/shape of the models or in the skins to make the characters as unique as the environments.

And then there's games like Oblivion and Assassin's Creed where they do have lots of unique individual people but they keep saying the same handful of dialogue over and over. Wouldn't hiring a writer to make more dialogue cost about 1% of what they paid the artists to make all the different people? AC is particularly weird because you have different actors reading the same dialogue (when you save a woman from the guards, she'll give you one of three speeches, read by one of a dozen actors) so it's not like they were working within limits on disk space for the audio.

Help me trick out my kid's Mac

mds35 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:23:44 -0800

Help me trick out my old Mac for my preschooler. I'm handing my old G4 down to my son who is almost 4 years old. What kind of fun learning software (for Mac OS X 10.4 - PPC) do you recommend?

He's starting to learn to read and he likes trains, dinosaurs and space. I'm looking for educational games that he can enjoy on a rainy day. I'm thinking simple reading/spelling skills, matching games.

The computer is an old G4 "Sawtooth" PowerMac, 450MHz, 768 gigs of RAM, running OS X 10.4.11. It has trouble with Flash, and there is only 32MB of VRAM, so I want to avoid graphics-intensive games.

I'd also like to hear your own experience with setting up computers for kids. And if you have peripheral hardware recommendations as well, please share!

Games used to teach kids to research pre-Google

MCMikeNamara — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:52:40 -0800

[Apple II educational software AND encyclopedia filter] When computers came to our library/learning center when I was in elementary school (between 1983-1986), I was one of the first kids to get to play a library learning game during "learning center" time and was the first to finish two games. 1) What were the names of these games? 2) What encyclopedia was used? I believe there were two different games. Somewhat ironically, ithey was supposed to help us learn how to use the sets of the published sets of encyclopedias as reference materials. Each game required you to research questions in a volume of the encyclopedia -- one was in A, the other in M (again, I think) -- as you travelled from point to point.

Each game was on multiple 5.25" disks -- or used both sides. (I remember this because once my partner and I reached a certain point, he, ignorantly, thought that when it said to pull out the disk to change it, you had to turn it off, which meant we lost our work.)

I think the game was created by the encyclopedia that was necessary to use to answer the questions, but I'm not sure. Either way, finding the answers to the questions were specific to that "brand" of of encyclopedia. It wasn't World Book or Encyclopedia Britannica.

So my questions are:

1) What were the names of these games?
2) What encyclopedia was used?

Thanks

Ancient software for recent humans?

Mr. Anthropomorphism — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:38:26 -0800

Can anyone recommend great Apple II software for a kindergartner? I recently acquired and revived a couple of old Apple //e's. I've been having a lot of fun learning about a whole era of computing that I'd missed out on.

My daughter--a few months away from turning 5, but an excellent reader--also seems really enthralled with them (she thinks it's "silly" that these machines are older than her old man).

She's gotten into Word Munchers and a few other games that we've played together, and I'd love to find some more educational-ish stuff that she can dig into.

The problem--quite the opposite of the one I was anticipating--is that software is too abundant! There are literally hundreds if not thousands of disk images that have been ripped and archived online. It takes a few minutes to download, transfer, and write an image to disk, and it's hard to tell what any one program has to offer until you do; so if anyone out there has any good memories of particular titles, please help me narrow down the list!

Make this Mac interesting to kids!

amanda — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:04:46 -0800

My husband lucked in to a free iMac and we'd like to set it up for our neice who is 11. Can you help us trick it out? We haven't done much investigating into what is currently on the machine but we're pretty sure that if it has any software on it that it'll be office related which would be really boring for an 11-year-old!

We don't know her super well as she's the stepdaughter of my sister-in-law and fairly new to our family. She seems in to the typical tween girl stuff -- princesses, magical stuff, Disney -- but is also pretty smart and inquisitive.

We have a small budget to put into it but, of course, great resources for free games -- fun and/or educational -- would be ideal.

Gaming for the new oldbie

vizsla — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:39:28 -0800

I'm 40ish. I know nothing about modern gaming. I used to love adventure games back in the 80s like Zak McKraken, KGB and Thermonuclear Wargames. I have some time on my hands and want to take the plunge into the modern world of gaming. Where do I start? I had a look at those role-playing multi-user games like Second Life and I just don't see the point. Maybe I'm missing something. I like games that involve some (if not, a lot of) thinking. I guess I used to enjoy SOME games that involved a lot of manual dexterity - I did play Wolfenstein 3D when it first came out. I am not a huge science fiction fan. I like games that teach you something maybe. But again, I shouldn't put too many restrictions down - I might surprise myself. So I guess I'm looking for ideas for games and platforms to play them on. Again, I know nothing - never owned any gaming equipment before so please don't assume I actually do know what I'm looking for!

Games Programming vs Software Engineering

hgws — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:51:46 -0800

Help me pick a second major for my computer science degree. Background: I am a 30 y.o. undergrad Bachelor of Comp Sci student in Western Australia. Everything in my early life pointed to a career in computing; I remember being fascinated the first time I encountered a computer (a BBC Acorn), and although my family was too poor to afford any kind of computer I spent hours on the Mac Plus in the local library & would also borrow books on programming & write out programs & go through them in my head. Naturally I excelled in high school computing, & went straight into a CS degree. However life got in the way & I managed to get kicked out of my degree after second year. (Ironically despite failing most of my units in royal fashion I also scored 86% in my HCI unit.)

In the ten years or so between my first attempt at a CS degree & a second one, I discovered a strong interest in research & academic writing & graduated with a first class honours degree in history. I began a Ph.D. with a view for the traditional teaching/research pathway common to humanities graduates, but left after I got distracted by a full-time job & earning a real wage for the first time in my life. During this time I'd always retained a strong interest in computing, getting into HTML & web design in the late '90s, starting a collection of vintage Macs, spending most of my free time on the net/IFOC etc. The job I left my Ph.D. for also requires I spend 90% of my time IFOC, although it begain as data entry & has since evolved into Excel spreadsheets & if I'm lucky, an Access database. Frankly though it's dull work & it prompted me to think that if I was going to spend my working life IFOC I might as well learn to do it in a way that interested me, so I decided to return to a CS degree.

I'm now just starting my second year of this degree & it is going very well - I have gone part-time at work so I can study full time. So far I have straight HDs (A's) & I love what I am studying. I've become an incredibly anal overachiever, in fact, compared to the CS student I was when I left high school. I began my degree with a fairly vague idea of what I wanted to do at the end - something to score me a job in IT - but my life goals have changed, particularly since I've gone from a FT salary to a PT one & realised that I don't actually want or need much more than enough to get by, financially, and have zero interest in business and "getting ahead." In fact I am now eyeing honours and then PG studies in CS after I graduate.

To get to my question: there is no doubt that I should major in CS. I love programming & I find the theory side nifty too. But my degree requires that I either pick a second major or a bunch of electives. I think that a second major will give me more options and I have narrowed it down to two choices: Software Engineering or Games Programming. I assumed from the start of my degree that software engineering was right for me, admittedly without really knowing the contents of the units or what it exactly entails. (I assumed it was sort of an extension of programming.) I also ruled out games programming as I am not a gamer - I mean, really not a gamer! (For one thing I only own Macs, haha...) Well I have a weakness for Tetris & The Sims, and that's it. I would just rather do other things than play games and so have never payed much attention to the whole gaming area (aside from reading Ctrl-Alt-Delete).

But on futher examination of the units involved in games programming & software engineering, I'm starting to waver. Firstly, I emailed a student advisor for ideas & was advised that given my stated interest in programming, AI and HCI, Games Programming was the better fit. Secondly, I did a closer inspection of software engineering & became somewhat suspiscious that it might entail management and business along with the actual software design. In the gap between CS degrees I took an accounting diploma at vocational college & I've had my fill of management theory & commerce. In fact my least-liked unit so far has been first year systems analysis. However, I do see that most of games programming is mostly programming & not so much games: a lot of units on computer graphics, only 2 really specific to gaming.

Given that in many ways I just want to do a double major in CS, but that's not possible, what is the best choice?

PS. I have to confess that some of my aversion to games programming is that the majority of students are 18-20 y.o. males & stereotypical gamers. Not that it should bother me as I'm doing most of my units online at home.

Bully for the 360: How Do I Know It's Patched?

BitterOldPunk — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:36:10 -0800

I want to play Bully: Scholarship Edition on my Xbox 360. There was just a patch released for the game, but my console is not hooked up to the internet and never will be. How (and when) can I know that the physical copy of the game I buy is a post-patch version?

Recommend a chess program that runs in window rather than full-screen mode.

Pontius Pilate — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:26:28 -0800

Looking for a decent chess program that runs in a window rather than full-screen mode. I have to sit through a ton of long meetings at work which require my presence but not so much active participation. Still, I need to keep a couple of programs running (MS Word, Excel, etc.) to keep track of what's going on. Can you recommend a chess game that I can run in a window, so that I can easily switch between the game and other programs? Doesn't necessarily have to be freeware. Thanks!

Name that Apple //e edutainment software

Your Time Machine Sucks — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 02:17:29 -0800

Name that Apple //e edutainment software (Troll gems? Driving? Townhouses? Looking stuff up?) This is pretty self-indulgent so apologies in advance, but it has honestly been inexplicably bugging me lately, and if I'm going to get an answer, I'm probably going to get it here. I used to really dig this Apple //e game as a kid and I can't remember its name, and all perusal of retro game sites has turned up nada.

Relevant details: You drove around some town on a top-down map in a lozenge-looking car, going to houses and answering school research-y related questions (i.e. "when was the great wall built?") and you would get...I think...troll gems? Or parts of a single troll gem? Which were also lozenge-y? And if you had enough of them you would upgrade your house and move to a new map? I distinctly remember that the order of house upgrades went something like shack-->townhouse-->mansion or equivalent. I don't think it was Snooper Troops FWIW; I don't recall the investigation element being there. But I could be wrong. I don't think it was part of one of those Scholastic sets either.

Bonus (much easier) question: what was that game from the same era in which you were basically a conquistador exploring and exploiting the new world? I remember crossing the ocean took forever and you could export a hell of a lot of gold. It was supposed to be educational but mostly functioned as an imperialism simulator, which bizarrely seemed to impart the message that imperialism could be highly satisfying if you were a good gamer.

Thanks for shedding any light!

Free chess game?

mooreeasyvibe — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:13:54 -0800

Hi, does anyone know where to find a network chess game that is open source (free basically)? I'm a teacher and I want my class to play each other at chess during an ICT lesson.

We need some simple mapping software!

theantikitty — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:58:40 -0800

Calling online gamers! My husband is looking for a (seemingly) simple mapping program to make his life a little bit easier. He's basically looking for a program that will allow him to create maps of areas. All the program in question would need to do is be capable of responding to directional commands (n, ne, nw, s, etc) and create a little visual indicator of the location. For example, if he were to input N, the program would create a new little square linked to the previous location. It would also be helpful to be able to input some information (numbers, or location names, for example) onto each of the little location blocks. He would like to use this program without attaching it to a specific game -- he's creating stuff offline on his own. Is this possible!?! It doesn't seem like such a tall order, but he's looked high and low for something close to this and hasn't found anything. Preferably, the program would be free, but he'd be willing to shell out a modest amount for the software. Thank you thank you thank you!

Software for my mum.

divabat — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:32:10 -0800

My mum loves interior design. She also loves puzzles but finds black belt Sudoku too easy. She's inheriting a laptop. What sort of programs and games can I load on this laptop for her? I just got a new laptop, so my mum will "inherit" this one while I bring my new one overseas. I would like to load it with some useful software and games she can use.

She generally uses computers for the most basic tasks, though she has spent long nights playing Minesweeper. She's still getting the hang of things though, so we don't want anything complicated.

She'll mainly be checking email and looking at pretty interior design websites, so I'm keeping Firefox on there. I'm also keeping AVG. Is there any spyware program that doesn't need too much tech knowledge to run? I have Spybot S&D but I'm worried that it'll be too complex for her.

She LOVES puzzle games. As mentioned earlier, she has spent HOURS on past computers playing Tritryst, Minesweeper, Freecell, and Solitaire. She is now a Sudoku aficionado but is finding even "black belt" level puzzles to be too easy for her. What sort of games along the same vein (puzzle, easy to learn the basics, increasing difficulty, logical/mathematical) can I install? I'd prefer it be offline software than anything she has to go online for, but websites are good.

She also has asked for something that lets her design; I already have Photoshop on this laptop so I'm keeping it for her. Is there any good software for interior designers or those that like interior design?

Specs about this laptop:
* Acer TravelMate 290, 3 years old
* Windows XP SP2, has Office 2003 and Photoshop and a few other things
* 30GB altogether split in two partitions: C: has 20gb which is mostly taken up by software, D: has 10gb.
* 512MB RAM but kinda slow
* Internet connection is through a mobile modem (uses mobile SIM card); comparable to broadband but not always on
* Speakers passable, I think there's headsets in the house so she can use Skype
* Currently has trackpad; am considering getting optical mouse

Thanks! :)

game authoring software for young kids?

mecran01 — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:09:11 -0800

My son, who is 10, has been asking me all kinds of questions about creating mods for existing games and writing his own games. I am not a programmer, but I did show him kid's programming language and we're trying to figure it out. Any recommendations for either simple, fun game creation languages or packages that will run on our aging pIII windows machine? There's a lot out there, and I just don't know where to start. Some kind of meta-tool that let one create simple flash games would be cool as well.

LAN of Old Machines Needs Games

Megafly — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:10:23 -0800

Hope me find an older game with co-operative multi-player. I am looking for older technology games (video cards at least 2 years old) that allow LAN players to team up and fight AI opponents. FPS preferably, but RTS or other game suggestions are welcome. Please don't recommend RPG's this is for casual play without time investment. If you want to tell me where to buy them and download them online I would give you a gold star.*

*gold star will be glued to my monitor. I will be the only one who sees the gold star

What is your favorite video game or software games to learn to think logically and solve problems under pressures?

cluelessguru — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:51:37 -0800

What is your favorite video game or software games to learn to think logically and solve problems under pressures ( all platforms welcome e.g. Windows, Mac) ? I am inspired by the answers to the following question at http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/51374

One person recommends real time builder strategy games such as "Age of Empires" as a great way to master the skill of thinking logically and solving problems under pressures.

What about traditional software games such as chess , Solitaire , 9 Men's Morris , Go, Reversi ?

What do you think ?

If you agree, what video/software game(s) would you recommend ?

Thanks a million.

How do I install a PC game on MacBook Pro running Parallels?

eirelander — Sun, 14 May 2006 18:45:21 -0800

Has anyone successfully installed CivIII or Age of Empires on a MacBook Pro running Win XP SP2 over Parallels? Installation goes fine, but Windows complains that a CD isn't present in the drive when I attempt to load the game. However, I can browse to the cd under 'My Computer'.

1 More Arn

parallax7d — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:20:34 -0800

Is there any software that can limit the number of hours you spend at a certain domain, or with a certain piece of software? I want to be more productive, but don't want to go cold turkey on MeFi or Battlefield 2 (a video game).

Human Swiss Army Knife?

frogan — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 22:46:29 -0800

Keep being the jack-of-all-trades guy? Or master something specific? I'm a video game designer. My career background up until now has been serving as "the jack-of-all-trades guy." A little of this, a little of that. I'm comfortable with several different technologies, yet a master of none. I have experience with a producer's adminstrative/management tasks, and I have managed large and small teams. I'm a pretty damn good writer and a world-class editor, if I do say so myself, but there seems to be only limited real-world value for that in video games. I have casted and directed voice-over with some fairly big-name actors. I've run focus groups and have performed usability testing. Hell, I even have plenty of experience in marketing and public relations, to the point where I could go that route if I wanted (I don't ... but I could).

So ... suggestions for next self-improvement steps?

Should I continue being the company's Swiss Army knife? Or should I buckle down and master something specific? If the latter, what's your suggestion?

Favorite PalmIII applications, tweaks, and hacks?

loquacious — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 14:42:42 -0800

What are your favorite PalmIII-compatible applications, games and toys? Tips and tricks? Tweaks? Hacks? I recently recieved a Palm IIIc as a hand-me-down. Yeah, it's old and only 8 megs, but I've had a PalmIIIxe before, and it's pretty handy.

What are your favorite applications, games, and toys? Utilities? Tips and tricks? Tweaks? Hacks? Document readers? Hardware accessories?

I'm running PalmOS 3.5.0 - downgraded from 3.5.1 and the mandatory Palm Desktop 4.x installed 3.5.3 "upgrade". The 3.5.3 upgrade somehow makes the IIIc super slow on screen redraws/refreshes, and I'll more than willingly trade off some system stability for this speed increase.

Also, are there any operating systems/user interfaces available to play with that are not PalmOS? Ages ago, I remember hearing about people "running" Linux on a Palm device, but having no UI available - they'd have to telnet through the com port to actually access it.

Are Tetris clones legal?

Tlogmer — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:45:51 -0800

Are Tetris clones legal?

More old software

Pedagogue — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 16:03:20 -0800

Back in the '90's, I had a game for the Mac called "Mission: Thunderbolt". I heard it was moved to PC format. 1) Was it? 2) If so, where could I get it? 3) Are there any more like it?

I have a couple of questions about Sudoku.

obiwanwasabi — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 21:18:21 -0800

I have a couple of questions about Sudoku. [mi] Firstly, is there any freeware out there (windows, not Palm) that will generate Sudoku puzzles? US$15 is a bit steep for a trivial distraction.

Secondly, is there an algorithm for generating these puzzles yourself? I assume that you can't just throw down a handful of numbers into a grid and have it turn out as a solveable Sudoku puzzle, so I guess it'd have to be an algorithm that generated a 'solved' puzzle and then took out most of the numbers. I guess there's also an algorithm for working out which numbers to remove and which to leave depending on how difficult you want the puzzle to be.

Freeware or shareware games for old iMac (256MB, either 266 or 333Mhz)? Especially first person shooters?

blueshammer — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 06:22:25 -0800

I'm giving away an old tray-loading iMac (256MB, either 266 or 333Mhz, I really can't recall right now) to a friend and have loaded it up with productivity-related stuff. Now I'm looking for games I can download. Freeware and shareware, preferably, as opposed to warez (although if you care to recommend a NES/SNES/etc. emulator ...). In particular, is there a decent FPS I can download for this machine? It's running Jaguar.

How to play PS2 games on my PC?

Mossy — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 11:08:31 -0800

Playing PS2 on PC? I'd like to be able to see my ps2 games on my swanky monitor. Would a tv card with s-video in do it? Also, if I pick up a tv card, what do people recommend as a good show recorder (I have a good pc)?