Dream (radioactive parasite)

Had a dream where i was a low rank member of a team equipped to fight off a mysterious invasion of radioactive beings from who-knows. I somehow developed the ability to see the radiation they emitted (like a heat map) and the encounters were.like a tactical rpg (with a game over and retry). I lead the team to a fortress giving off loads of the radiation, but when we get inside, the radiation disappears from my vision. We go outside to find our exit path is in flames, and the other members of our team are irradiated and trying to stop us. The dream ends as I am trying to learn what the invaders' true motivations are by talking to the "infected."

the game i haven't made / musings about game design

I want to design a game that takes the player through the life of a girl with an extraordinary power that sets her apart from the people she meets...

in early life she set herself apart by not knowing she could see something others could not, but was sheltered by community leaders that understood the validity of her observations despite lack of visible evidence. Once those leaders are made unavailable, or she leaves the community, she discovers her insights are neither common nor widely appreciated and could be completely misinterpreted if not used carefully. The player must then choose how they wish to interact with numerous people using these insights to achieve her goals, one step at a time.

her journey starts in her home town, on the edges of a great forest filled with natural wonders and hazards. Scouts uncover an increase in hostile mutations, and her mother is brutally assaulted. When she finds her mother, alive but weak and delirious, her second sight is inadvertently drawn in to her mother's consciousness, affected by foreign energies, and pulls her out of her stupor. For this display of extraordinary ability, she is granted a selection of opportunities for her future outside of the town.

Each of those choices are presented to the player as offering different styles of game-play and additional playable characters.  At this point in the game, there are already several different possible outcomes based on the player's choices. Have they killed anything?  Did they help any of the villagers?  How helpful were they?  Did they stand still while talking to people, or did they pick up everything that wasn't nailed down?  It should be made clear that the main character is the player's avatar in a realm of people with unique perspectives, and their choices will affect those perspectives (despite being 100% programmed.)

A truly advanced game would involve some kind of AI that could form its own opinions and reactions, but I don't foresee that as being possible (or playable) any time soon.  I believe responses to player actions should be predictable to players with enough experience interpreting the reactions of other people.  As such, the most important development point of this game would be the NPCs' expression of emotion to the events in the game. These things are typically developed first by writers, and then by visual artists and voice actors with the assistance of a director.

This is not to say that the game-play is any less important, but if the objective is to achieve an outcome through character interaction, the rest of the game-play should simply be a chance for the player to reflect upon the interactions they've already had.  I would not force these reflections upon the player; having what is supposed to be the main character's thoughts read to me 5 minutes after I've thought of them myself is not what I call entertainment. If a player is unable to reflect on the events that have transpired and draw reasonable conclusions in advance, they should be given the opportunity to be surprised and act accordingly, without being outright punished.

But then, how will the game differentiate between a player that is surprised by an event and one that saw it a mile away?  Will it even be necessary?

"jokes"

i'm not a fan of lame jokes that target specific groups of people

but i'm especially not a fan of lame jokes targeted directly at me

a poem

I do right, I do wrong
I'm weak and I'm strong
I'm writing the song
While I'm singing along
The truth is my shield
My life is a sign
I am God, and I am human
To unite is divine

my face when You Don't Know Jack is remade

disregard fallacy
minimize resistance
progress

I don't dance...

To my "trouble" cousin's friend

The idea of asking some as beautiful as you to dance with me for my first dance ever makes me more nervous than words can explain, and I can't even remember your name.

I could write more, but it would just be excuses and maybe-ifs. (edit: I could elaborate on how beautiful you are...) I had a good time, and I just want to give you the chance to see my unspoken words

Sent via my iPod

Stress

My roommate needs to move back in with his parents so they can monitor his meds and exercise. He gave the landlord the two-months notice. The landlord is coming by on wednesday to take pictures to show potential tennants -- the place is a mess.

I'm a full-time student in the second term of Computer Systems Technician. Two of the labs have us plug our personal hard drives into lab computers to run virtual machines from. I am behind in these labs. Midterms are coming up.

I work part-time at walmart. My schedule for next week is under 14 hours. I am conflicted between begging profs to let me in to the labs for lab time and asking for more hours at work.

I'm going to a cousin's wedding this weekend.

............

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA