Diecast #383: Text Files with Invisible Inc.

Diecast – Twenty Sided

E3 is cancelled this year, but we’re coming up on the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022, which should at least give us the stuff that Microsoft has to show this year. Sadly, the show begins next Sunday, which is too late for us to discuss it on the next podcast.

I’m not sure how I’m going to cover it. I’m not even sure if there’s going to be anything I’m eager to talk about. We’ll see.

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Hosts: Paul, Shamus. Episode edited by Issac.
Diecast383

Link (YouTube)

Show notes:

00:00 An Hour-long video on Plain Text

Link (YouTube)

Like I said, this video is surprisingly interesting. And it managed to be educational, even for an old-timer like me. And the presenter has the same accent and emphatic delivery as the late Total Biscuit.

04:48 Invisible Inc.

Paul has some thoughts on this 2016 game.

06:39 Dropped V Rising

Warning that my angry tirade here is basically a preview of something I’ll post in the next couple of weeks.

18:00 Real-time Browser-based Ray Tracing:

Try it. It’s fun!

19:43 Surviving Mars

This game is here to say that if we work hard, if we work together, and if we use our resources wisely, then someday humanity will have what it takes to put a complete loser on Mars.

I think the takeaway here is that when we do eventually go to Mars, I shouldn’t be in charge.

31:12 Mailbag: Kids, Heartstrings, and Video Games

Hi Diecasters,

I think we’re all familiar with the ways threats to children can be used to jump-start pathos in fiction – and the ways it can be mis-used, as with the brute force or over-the-top usage in Prey 2006 and the infamous Sum Kidd of Mass Effect 3. Shamus, I thought one of your effective criticisms of the latter case was that the kid was conjured up out of nowhere, as an obvious cypher, without buildup, characterization, etc.

My question: What do you think of the famous/infamous Dead Island reveal trailer as it keys into this topic? It was (and remains) very well-received for its artistic and non-dialogic story – but, similarly, introduces a kid with no other characterization than as a fatal victim. Do you think that the Dead Island trailer is just a more slick application of the same brute force effort at pathos, or that it might operate on a different scale because it’s a trailer, and trailers are by definition low on characterization?

Thanks,

David F. Ellrod, Sr.

38:12 Mailbag: Perfectionism in a Coder

Dear Diecasters,

While listening to old episodes I heard Shamus self-identify as a perfectionist. How does this trait square with being a programmer? Is Paul a perfectionist too?

Within scanning distance of perfectly,
Chris P.

43:47 Mailbag: Racing Games

Dear Diecast,

I’m not much of what you might call a ‘racing/driving gamer’, but there are a few I’ve played and really enjoyed and I’d like to branch out in the genre some more. (Recently, I’ve gotten into “Distance” and that’s largely been fun.)

So I was wondering if there are any racing or driving games that you really liked, what you liked and/or disliked about them (and the genre), and if there are any on Steam that you’d recommend.

Kind regards,
Andrew