Archive for April, 2009

SoundClick, TooFiles and the others

April 30, 2009 at 11:10 · Filed under music, virtual-life ·Tagged , , , ,

I plan to record some of my songs (in Slovak) and host them somewhere. For free, of course. :-) While default Apache-generated directory index works just fine, it’s obviously not the best music hosting solution, not to mention I don’t have huge quota on my shell account. After some googling I came to this AudioHostings list. As I wanted to host OGGs too, I picked up TooFiles. A lot of space for free, but with very little features. Service is still in the beta stage and the question is what’s the future of the site. Important thing is that it’s easy to upload files, easy to listen to them and easy to download. But why there is language flag next to the file when I can’t change it? Whatever… I’ll wait for new features. But I wanted to try some “composer/musician hosting” too.

That’s how I got to the SoundClick site. It looks cool, but you never know until you register, right? That’s probably the reason why I’m registered on bazillion places and I use perhaps one tenth of them (sorry that I exaggerate, probably even less ;-) ).SoundClick offered me paid services, I ignored the offering as I didn’t know the site and it’s also waste of my money when I don’t want to make it at least semi-seriously (recording… selling?). That lead to a few disappointments soon. Check this FAQ if I could foresee them – I don’t think so. I uploaded MP3 with ABR (average bit rate) 192kbps, however the free service limits the quality to 128kbps. That’s obviously good “motivation” to buy premium services, as 128kbps is completely useless for clear piano or clear acoustic guitar (especially if it’s constant bit rate – CBR). Another issue is that online web-player plays very poorly on my Ubuntu Firefox – everything was OK on Windows though. TooFiles plays OK on both systems, but of course – two tests are not enough for serious comparison. Finally – you have to be registered (at least as a listener) to SoundClick when you want to download the file!

SoundClick on the other hand allows you to describe your band/yourself, allows you to add lyrics, descriptions and other stuff for every song, these features are very cool. That’s what I expect from “band hosting” site. Nevertheless I’ll quitSoundClick for good. I still can host the site somewhere else, make my own design and just link to TooFiles. It would be cool if the player from TooFiles was embeddable to other pages, maybe it’s possible, but I haven’t managed to rip the right part of the HTML code off the original page. There are more sites available on the list though – so I may register to others too to find out more. For now, simplicity overruled nice portal for musicians, because you have very little value for free there. And I wanted to host MP3 files in the first place. And yes, in original bit-rate. :-)

Be so kind and comment if you know about something similar to SoundClick without its many limitations. For free. I’m not making my living with music. (Yet. :-P )

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Galaxy Online? Phew!

April 25, 2009 at 22:15 · Filed under games, virtual-life ·Tagged , , , , ,

After my Travian experience I wanted to develop similar type of web-browser based game. I chose sci-fi star wars setting but before I started to code it I wanted to know that there is still space for it. So I googled for some time and I found more games with similar idea. However none of them was developed enough or so catchy. I had a few ideas how to make the game be the ultimate galaxy war, how to make it less frustrating for the player (in opposite to farming in Travian) and so on. Some were inspired by my short encounter with Sins of a Solar Empire. I quit the project after some time – simply because I wasn’t able to carry away my friends by the idea and it was too much for one programmer (maybe if I had been still just a student… :-P ). That was the fate of my sci-fi rip-off of every (not only) web-based game around.

Recently I was somewhere on some site and I noticed the ad about Galaxy Online. So – why not to try it? Not that I wanted to play a game, but there was still the professional me curious about the “market”. :-) And Galaxy Online – despite being small client based game (20 MB or so) instead of pure web-based game – simply put me to sadness. There was everything I wanted to do. There was safe home system (in my game it would be accessible, but still safe enough) that prevented you to be a farm from the start. There were fleets, commanders, travels from system to system – even connected by paths (like in Sins), although I decided to quit the idea of paths in my game during its development. There was a good idea of beginner’s quests that guide you through the first steps in the game. Not to mention that you can design your own ships! However…


Artwork is adequate – in login screen it looks like 3D!

The game simply didn’t grow on me. The client is very – and I mean VERY – unfriendly to the user. Things are not contextual there, you have to click back and forth, in dialogs you can’t go from one input to the other with tab or arrows (maybe there is some combination, but who am I to try everything when the most obvious and expected choice doesn’t work). What I mean by “not contextual”? There are generally only two views – big map and one system. So far so good. You have some gateways (stargate, whatever) to other systems. You click on your fleet, send it to the gate and then you want to go there too. I tried some clicking, but it didn’t work. Again – MAYBE there is a way, I just don’t know. So – back to the galaxy view and click on the system. Shock! There are bazillions of other fleets there and it’s not obvious right away which one is yours. No friendly shortcut, nothing. I mean… c’mon! This is DOWNLOADED executable client! Why it can’t provide the most obvious features to control MY units?!


View of your home system. You can see gates to other systems, training field where you can train on pirates, …

Not to mention until you go out of your system you’re just playing on your own sandbox and the whole galaxy can be of no concern to you. There is really NOTHING that somehow drags you to the fight, you have to do your first steps – and these steps are very, very unintuitive. Add some other details like very stupid battle system… I have absolute dominance over some pirates and yet they manage to fly back and forth around the battlefield and after 20 rounds or so they… what? Yes, they WIN! I couldn’t believe my eyes. But OK, it’s a system, right, I’ve read it in the newbie guide, so I’ll live with that. But after a few combats I simply hate this rule. Of course I can make better ships and deal quickly with them. But still… they can run and 20 rounds of the battle is not so much (like 20 moves of all fleets + some fighting). You have to take a lot of supplies with the fleet (no problem with that) and when you want to modify your fleet and anchor some of those ships you have to UNLOAD them first (escape from current view, click on unload, specify how much you want to unload – probably everything because I don’t know when any particular ship is considered loaded…). The whole unloading is waste of time. Simply anchor those ships and unload their load! Easy-peasy.


Splash screen is really ugly and there is no way of knowing if there is some login screen behind or not. No… simply press Enter. Great and warm welcome for fresh players indeed.

I’m sure there are many fans. The game isn’t that bad and probably the mechanics are cool. I played it for some time without interacting with others first. When I wanted to move around all my objections stacked during those few days became even more pronounced. That leads me to the idea that my game could still stand a chance. Too bad I’m lazy to do it (not to mention my passion for music, many unseen TV series, games, … you name it :-) ). I think people should try by themselves. I read some reviews first and then tried it anyway – but I was dissatisfied. Not by the idea behind the game, but by the execution. If you’re demanding player, skip this one. But if you wanna try it, just be informed that initial splash-screen with “News Center” can be dismissed by Enter key. Just in case…

Business model of the game is similar to other free to play games. You can buy additional advantages, some buildings cost you so called “mall points”. I haven’t tried this part of the game because I really didn’t feel to do so. :-)

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You still don’t have Orange Box?

April 24, 2009 at 20:57 · Filed under games ·Tagged , , , , ,

Very short and sort of promotional post this time. I remember myself buying Orange Box for $50. I remember signing up for Steam account for that reason. Now Orange Box costs €30 and it’s still great deal because those games haven’t gotten so old yet. This time – this weekend – you can buy Orange Box for €10 on Steam – because it’s current Weekend Deal. In case you like FPS – and I mean GOOD single-player FPS with great story – you are obligated to buy it NOW. :-) I mean it – and no, I don’t work for Valve, of course. That’s Half-Life 2 with two more episodes and one bonus level as well. Team Fortress 2 is for those who like pure multi-player FPS genre. And finally there is a bit shorter puzzle FPS (well, not shooter really) called Portal! I bet you’ve heard about it already. This package for 10 euro-bucks (maybe also for $10, I rather don’t care anymore ;-) ) is something incredible. Reason to create your Steam account if you still don’t have it.

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Far Cry Overdue Review

April 19, 2009 at 22:37 · Filed under games ·Tagged , , ,

I’m sort of torn between Virgo who wanted to write it short and the other one who scents that I can’t make it short anyway. Hence I rather took four screenshots and here we go. Not long ago I could say “was one of those games I finished”. There are still jewels I quit – like Bioshock (not because it wasn’t good for me, it just happens when you stop playing a game that you sometimes never return to it). Now I finished more games and I still count on. I killed the last bastard in Far Cry literally few minutes ago. Why to do a review? Even without reading others? :-) Why not… I like the game and I decided to write about it. It was also one of those reasons (aside from music, video editing, …) why I hadn’t written any post in April after all!

I got the game on Steam for 10 euro-bucks along with Il-2 Sturmovik in some Ubisoft pack I wanted in the first place. I knew there is some Far Cry, I played Crysis demo and I knew about Crytek. I started the game one evening and the game completely sucked me in. I liked everything about the game. Weapons – quite a big arsenal. I liked the meter showing if enemies know about you or not. I liked the feeling of gameplay, it really is great shooter where you can sneak around and snipe but also go aggressively into the battles. I picked third difficulty (and later I wished I picked something easier).


Nice open landscapes – especially tropical islands – that’s Far Cry

But first things first, right? It is FPS as you probably know. And the story is something about genetic tests of some crazy scientist you have to kill in the end. I don’t wanna spoil it out. You walk through a jungle, some interiors, caves, jungle again, catacombs, more jungle and some volcano in the end. Beginning is quite innocent but after you start to meed products of the genetic engineering the story (and especially the gameplay) heats up significantly. One thing that is extremely lovely about Far Cry is that the game doesn’t have bugs (at least version 1.4 that is on Steam). Well – it probably does some, even I noticed a few – but there are no significant, frustrating bugs. Here and there are soldiers who can see you through the tent or wall (especially those where you can fire through). Here and there some glitch occurs. But nothing that affects the very smooth flow of the game. Maybe I was just lucky, but this is simply something that the game should be – but often is not.


Unlucky… not only dead, but how he got there? :-)

Checkpoints instead of ad-lib save is something that can ruin the game. Few save-points in Mafia for instance were quite annoying plus some videos could not be skipped. On the other hand the system also helps the story to be better experienced and you play simply in a different way when you know you have to survive until the next checkpoint. In Far Cry saving is generally on a right place – sometimes it could be closer to some final fight. When I blown up some regulator or what I found out that space key (or jump?) skips the video sequence, nice touch. Why I found it out after the blowing part? Well because check-point was before the detonation and many enemies after the cut scene. It was probably first of those battles I had to do on more than 10 tries. (And later I did some of them again and again innumerable times.)


Final (sort-of) boss responsible for all the mess

Trouble with difficulty is that it goes up insanely in later phases of the game. It’s really frustrating but some fights are 95% matter of luck and 5% matter of skill. I don’t wanna say that the skill doesn’t matter – it does, because without it you wouldn’t simply do it. But in many cases you’ll get killed even when you did more than your best. When you enter the same room again after reload it is never the same – enemies are standing on different positions, sometimes even the number of them is different. This is very nice feature but very big complications as well – in those frustrating moments. I nearly gave up. I play games for fun and not because I have to prove to myself that I can beat some final boss. When I felt I was going to write a review (a few days ago) I thought I will be very optimistic about the game but it’s perhaps a bit hard-core in the end. I had to replay many checkpoints in Mafia and maybe I don’t remember my frustration. Many of them was about luck there as well – but Far Cry has a few insane battles on 3rd difficulty from 5.

Still – play the game if you haven’t tried it yet. It is worth it. It is cool shooter with cool equipment like the binoculars that can tag your enemies on the radar or heat vision that is very handy in some of those most difficult battles (but not only there). Far Cry is a long game, it needs some time and patience. I’d rather play it with 2nd difficulty now but your skill can be better (or you’re masochist ;-) ). Anyway, play the game.


Don’t fire rocket into the face of the enemy standing so close :-)

Wrap-up time! Cons? No subtitles in cut scenes, few extremely long runs between checkpoints, very frustrating (not only) boss fights, ugly cut scenes (Val could definitely act better in them :-) ). Pros? Attractive gameplay, great landscapes, freedom within corridor-like gameplay/story, weapons and binocs, and heat vision! I wish you good luck with those fights where you will really need it. And here is the guide I used (and it helped) – it’s nice and funny here and there, especially talking about cliches of the game, so let me finish with a quote from it:

“Don’t blame CryTek, though: federal regulations require that all first-person shooters have a sequence wherein you become a passenger on a fast-moving vehicle, are unable to control your movement, and are tasked with shooting at other fast-moving vehicles. It’s the law.”

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