Apr 05, 11:15 am
Every day I spend approximately an hour on trains commuting back and forth between work and home. Certainly that’s not a lot of time, unless you’re trying very hard to not stare at other passengers for 30 swaying minutes. Reading is a popular past-time on these trains. So is portable gaming. I admit I’ve been jealous of another female passenger who had an import light gray DS instead of the standard gleaming white or black, just because it was so… imported, man. That’s cred.
I decided it would be fun to take my DS along with me, as per usual, and put the time to good use by playing through DS games in these commute-sized chunks and seeing how they hold up. There are plenty of games out there that are wonderful but require significant time commitments per session. As an example, see pretty much every MMO in the world, and most western RPGs a la Mass Effect. Portable games really should follow different rules since people playing in these situations are usually like me. We have a bit of time, we’d like to squeeze some gaming in, but we have to close the top when our stop comes up. So it would be great to know which titles make it easy for commuters to play, right?
Sweet! Let’s do a commuter review. First up--Professor Layton and the Curious Village. I’ve seen this game all over since it came out and I’ve heard nothing but good about it. I’ve wanted to play it and I know the perfect project for it.
Commuter review!
The game begins with a few puzzles that scale towards the easy side but successfully introduce you to the mental flexibility needed to make headway in this game. Everyone you meet specializes in tormenting your brain in a different way, and puzzles can take a few minutes or an hour to complete. Frankly, it was sometimes a relief to see my stop coming because I could snap the DS shut and feel my brain ease off its threat to shut down all vital systems.
Hint coins, currency that can be spent to unlock a bit of help on solving puzzles, are my favorite and most-relied-upon feature in the game. They’re found by tapping on objects on the screen in which they’re cleverly hiding. These hiding places can range from a window shutter to a vase to a manhole cover. They’re almost a little guessing game in themselves.
In addition to the game’s 120 puzzles, which are distributed throughout a sleuth plot that would make Sherlock Holmes proud, there are also bonus puzzles that can only be unlocked by completing extra tasks like assembling paintings or gizmos. The art style is unique and cute without being sugary. the music is a little bit annoying sometimes. The writing is clear, if sometimes expectedly cryptic.
It’s a good game to pick up and play and put down again when needed, because the concept is simple enough that you don’t lose track of where you’re at and even if you do forget the game helpfully supplies you with your next objective. And, of course, sometimes it’s a relief so your brain can digest a puzzle while you’re not trying to glare an answer out of the DS.
I’m afraid I didn’t manage to play the entire game on the train. In spite of the sadism of some puzzles the game is hopelessly addictive! I found myself playing the game on my couch, in bed, and anywhere else where I had upwards of 2 minutes to kill. I’m really grateful to the game for making my train rides, and other spare moments, speed by. I can’t believe how quickly the stops tick off while I’m wrestling with my brain for an answer.
If you have a DS I highly recommend this game. Whether you’re a commuter like me or you have large amounts of time to kill, this game will help you, frustrate you, addict you, and delight you. I can hardly wait for a sequel.
Oh man! I would so LOVE a series of puzzle games based on the Lemony Snickett’s Series of Unfortunate Events books. Frankly, this art style would even be perfect for it. Someone draw up a licensing agreement!
- jinx
my mother knew the words to a lot of different songs
Mar 20, 2:00 pm
This is ask a doll, and you’re in my special corner of the world now. Make yourself at home.
Maverick 412 asks… What is it like being most recognizable Girl gamer groups in the world?
I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty fantastic. I have a free laptop from dell, more than 1TB of external storage kicking around my house, free cable internet from Comcast, a Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 courtesy of Ubisoft, free Ubisoft games, I’ve been able to go to Europe on Ubisoft’s dime, I even got a pair of slave boys to feed me grapes. Well, no, I haven’t got that yet, but I’m working on it. It’s on my priority list just below a magic carpet.
Mookel asks… If reincarnation is real, what would you like to come back as?
A housecat. Think about it. They get to chill out all day, sleep 16 hours, get backrubs all the time, and no one expects them to clean up after dinner. I don’t want to be an alley cat dumpster diving for scraps, mind you. I want to be spoiled by one of those owners who hold conversations with their cats (which I will ignore, since I’m a cat, but they can talk and spoil me).
LoserKid3000 asks… Will there ever be another Frag Doll opening? And if there is, will it be announced on this site?
Never say never. I don’t see any openings in the near future or anything because our team right now is amazing, but someday we’ll need new blood. And then, yes, of course we’ll announce it on our website. Probably in florescent glittery letters with trumpet sound effects to make sure everyone who visits the website knows that we’re looking for a new member.
MLGSkinny asks… Unless I’m just not seeing it why are there no halo 3 forums? Are you trying to make a statement about how much you hate halo or is there just not one? Thanks.
Uh, yeah, we totally hate Halo and that’s why there are no forums here… do you wear tinfoil hats to bed or something? A bunch of the Frag Dolls love Halo. If there’s not a forum here about it that’s probably because these are the Ubisoft forums and you should be looking for bungie.net. If by “forum” you meant “threads in this forum” then, uh, maybe it’s because we’re all busy getting pumped up for Vegas 2 or watching transsexual midgets impersonate Amy Winehouse.
DocHolidazed asks.. (a really long question which I will helpfully paraphrase) What do you want gain from this experience as a FragDoll? Or better put, what are you hoping to take with you when you move on? How would you want to be remembered? In your humble opinion. Do you believe that the Fragdolls have succeeded thus far in their goals?
Ok, first of all, dude, questions that last 3 paragraphs fall under the TLDR (too long didn’t read) category so isn’t it great I’m so thorough?! Anyway. One of the great things I wanted to experience when I joined Frag Dolls was to meet other female gamers. Before the team I had a bunch of gamer friends, but they were mostly guys. The girls I knew were gamers’ girlfriends who were cool enough to join in their boyfriend’s hobby, but didn’t necessarily care about games on their own. Mission accomplished! I’ve met loads of female gamers since then. I also really wanted to meet more people in the industry and turn it into an industry job. Mission also accomplished! It’s been a great ride so far and I look forward to seeing where it goes.
I want to be remembered as the mean one who could never decide on her haircolor. So far I think I’m doing a good job. I also want to be remembered as Josh’s BFF, which is straight up rad. Uh, and maybe as the one with the Nintendo zappers. As for what I want to take with me… give me my friends and my illustration and I’ll be a happy camper.
Part 3 (good lord this is long) I think so far the Frag Dolls have done a great job of balancing our Ubisoft sponsorship and promotion with the desire to promote female gamers. Even though a lot of the community doesn’t see everything we do, there’s quite a bit of work behind the scenes to promote female gamers. From holding FPS clinics to speaking on panels to highlighting that “hey, we’re here, and we like games and that’s totally normal,” we do a lot. I can’t say we take all the credit for the advances made in female gaming visibility over the last few years, but I like to think we’re part of it. More and more I see feedback like “female gamer, so what?” and that makes me pretty happy.
Ninja Raiden asks… Do you find it difficult on occasions when you need to act as a moderator if it’s the posting of a person you know?
Uh, no. That’s why I will be remembered as the mean one. Even people I know and love can be jerks, and even though I love them that’s not ok so they get a slap for it. I am Judge Jinxy.
Seductivpancake asks… Theres a ghost in the neighborhood. Who you gonna call?
Uh, wait. Hold on. I’ve almost got this one. Hmm, ghosts… neighborhood… that should mean something. And I’m almost sure there was a slimer involved. Maybe a giant Marshmellow and a lady that turns into a big dog… Who am I kidding? That’s crazy talk! I got nothing.
Otnemem_IroM asks… What movie would you like to be seen made into a game?
You know what would be excellent? A Spirited Away game that retains the beautiful cinematic illustration of the movie. I have big hearts for Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli is the new Disney! It could be a great action adventure game with a really cool open level design for the bathhouse and nice side-quests like taking the train. OR it could be an awesome bathhouse for the gods sim. Like lemonade stand, right? Except SO MUCH COOLER.
scworld asks… which sites did you make and could you list some techniques/libraries that you used?
I made websites for American McGee’s Alice, Clive Barker’s Undying, Black & White, The Longest Journey, and Shadowbane, among additional non-gaming projects like a dental supply website, which is FUN! Except when it’s not. I began with traditional HTML before moving on the Perl and PHP with SQL databases. I know a bit of Java, JavaScript, and CSS but don’t use them regularly. And are you seriously asking techniques? As in object-oriented or do you want to know the exact while{} statement I used to break screenshots into rows of 3 because, uh. No. I don’t have enough space in the blog for codeshare even if it is beautiful and organized and logical.
- jinx
i’m gonna sew my name into all of your clothes
Dec 30, 2:19 am
I don’t have Rock Band. What I have instead is a humble apartment, which I am fond of because it’s perfectly jinx-sized. Unfortunately the downside to jinx-sized is there’s not a whole lot of storage available. No closets except the one in my room which is literally stuffed to the ceiling with all my electronics boxes. What I’m getting at here is that I don’t have room for guitars and such, let alone a drum set, which I would feel very foolish indeed playing on the couch 3 feet from the TV.
But don’t weep for me (I had to catch myself before I made a horrible Evita reference there). I have a set at work, where I also have a steady supply of bandmates! We’re very productive with high morale as a result. Tell all your bosses!
I first played Rock Band on Thanksgiving at wedgewu’s house after a healthy dose of turkey and pie. The situation was such that I became besotted quite immediately and admittedly sulked a little when we had to stop with the drums because her downstairs neighbors don’t like it when people stomp on the floor, even if it’s in perfect rhythm! Joykillers.
Anyway, luckily we have it at work and I play it a lot. I even book meetings in that room to make it official. It’s always a good idea to cover yourself with paperwork! Or, well, I guess this is sort of binarywork. Either way, it’s a paper (or binary) trail to say that the room belongs to ME! And that means I am officially sanctioned to rock out.
I have a regular crew, most of which consists of other community managers and our desk neighbors. We make the trek all the way to the top floor, which holds the game room aloft like a beacon, and we proceed to do our best to bother everyone else on that floor with our undeniable metalness. I’m not the best on my team, by far. There’s this other guy who decided after 3 tries that he was ready for expert drums and he totally kills it. I must restrain myself from garrotting him in a fit of jealousy. I lack the same precision, but with a fancy hat most people don’t notice. See exhibit A below from when I rocked out at Rhoulette’s house this one time and man that was awesome.
That guy behind me is all like “was that a missed beat--whoa, sweet hat!”
Now that I’m an official rock star I have to name my band, right?! So what if the lineup of my band changes constantly and I’m the only member who’s always there. That’s cool, right? That’s Art. We still need a name!
I did the smart thing. I googled “Rock Band Names” and visited a Band Name Makers conveniently located at www.bandnamemaker.com (whoa! I didn’t see that one coming). So far I think “Certified Fantastic” best describes me AND my headgear, but Bacon Canal was also up there.
I made a playlist of indy, semi-indy, and not-at-all-indy-but-maybe-emo rock when I was bored on the train the other day, and I decided to call it December Train which is maybe not so creative but hey, that’s what it is. It’s a playlist from the train in December. I kind of like the word train. It’s a good word, right? So I plugged it into the generator, which recommended I call my band Bloated Train of the Corrosive Motion.
Whoa, man. Deep.
Also, Train Bubble of the Official Dragonfly.
These guys are GOOD.
My search for the perfect band name continues. I need inspiration! What do you call your Rock Band?
- jinx
show me the dirt pile and i will pray
Dec 13, 3:00 am
When I think of “educational games” I always kind of wrinkle my nose because that doesn’t sound like any fun. Then of course I remember Number Munchers and Oregon Trail, both of which occupied most of my third grade and both of which I remember fondly--I get that far-off look, sigh a little, and settle my chin onto my hand to reminisce. Oh those mischievous troggles.
But that’s school, right? Educational games outside the classroom can’t possibly be any fun. Except then my memory pops in again with a little wave and reminds me that even before I played Myst I played another game that would definitely fall under this category: The Secret Island of Dr. Moreau Quandary. I don’t even know where my mom got this game. For all I know we inherited it with the computer. I’ll bet my mom got it from an old gypsy woman and it actually had secret powers. Years later I overclocked this same machine to run EverQuest--no ordinary computer could handle that. I think I even had a Voodoo PCI card. You remember those?
Anyway, the premise of Dr. Quandary (I assume everyone in the world is familiar with Number Munchers and Oregon Trail already) is that you meet this creepy Dr. at a fair and win a doll from a shooting range, EXCEPT IT’S NO ORDINARY DOLL. You get turned into the doll and teleported to Dr. Quandary’s secret island! To get back you have to solve a series of puzzles--from assembling shapes into… bigger shapes to prime number games that can pretty much only be won by accident. Each time you beat a puzzle you earn some ingredient for the magical elixir that will return you to your body and, presumably, the real world.
For a game that’s supposed to teach things I remember having an awful lot of fun with it--you can see why I started in the puzzle game genre when I graduated to big girl games.
I have pondered my condescencion towards educational games a few times to decide why it is I look down on them, and I think it’s because I’ve largely come away with the conclusion that most of them lack what the fun games are supposed to have. I couldn’t tell you what this “most” is, since I have certainly enjoyed those I’ve got my hands on, but there always seemed to be something a bit dirty about mixing fun and learning.
I can’t say I’m terribly surprised to see Nintendo leading the charge to change this idea and create games that allow non-gamers to play games while learning at the same time so they don’t actually realize they’re playing games. That’s the problem with non-gamers (and apparently this gamer too) : they don’t seem to realize that games and learning are not mutually exclusive. I’ve been playing Big Brain Academy for months and months--how long has it been out? I’ve played it for that long, and enjoyed it greatly because it told me my brain was getting heavier. I totally forgot that I think educational games are dumb!
Segue.
Yesterday I went to get my eyes checked for new glasses. You didn’t know I used them, eh? I didn’t. I conveniently lost the pair I got in high school because I didn’t care for them and never replaced them. However, since I have an upcoming trip to Australia in which it would be great to see the things I’m going to see, I decided it was time to get lights shined through my retinas. I had to take a train and, in a panic, borrowed a DS (mine was tragically left home charging) and picked up 2 games from Ubisoft: My Word Coach and My French Coach. Truly, one of my greatest fears is to be bored. Wait until I pack for a 13 hour flight across endless water.
During the trip--before my eyes got dilated to alien proportions, I learned new words interregnum, aberrant, and facile. Later in the night when my vision cleared sufficiently I decided to dedicate myself to a lesson in French. I do work for a French company. The least I can do is try to speak it at a 3 year old level. After a quick test I got skipped ahead to lesson 11 (guess I’ve picked up something after all!) where I learned nice greetings like “comment se va,” and “bon journee.” BON JOURNEE! Cool thing about French Coach is that you can actually record your voice saying a phrase and play it alongside the french tutor to make sure you’ve got it right. I still can’t get the hang of pronouncing “Aller,” but that will be for another practice session.
Turns out I enjoyed both of these games quite a bit, and I’m coming around to the idea that so-called-games like My French Coach could be the next big thing for learning languages. Certainly nothing can replace a real tutor, but being able to record and compare your audio and interact with the lessons is a far sight better than the DVDs and books I have lying scattered unused around my house.
It’s kind of cool to feel like I’m learning again, without the over-air-conditioned classroom and inevitable napping-while-still-listening-in-case-of-pop-quiz skill development. I’m still turning around the “wait, learning...fun?” revelation in my head because it’s kind of a big concept, but if companies keep feeding me entertaining interactive tools through which I develop new skills, then I might be convinced to come around.
- jinx
when your walk on role becomes a major part
Nov 20, 2:02 pm
If you look around, very closely, you might see one or two small changes to the Frag Dolls website. After several months of planning out our dream website and then working with some amazing developers to make it happen, we’re stoked to be able to welcome you to the new FragDolls.com. We’ve had our original website for 3 years since the team was put together. Over that period of time we’ve grown enormously. The site did a great job of keeping up with us, but we feel like we’ve reached a point where we’ve grown beyond that website, and we think we’ve created a new one that’s going to do a great job of growing with us for several years to come.
Sit back, relax, and have a click around. Please be patient with us for a few days as we work out the kinks and growing pains! If you see broken stuff, dead links, wacky display issues, etc. please leave a comment in the forums (you can now click on the “comment” link at the bottom here to be taken straight to the blog discussion thread! See all the wonderful toys we have! Ok, that was kind of a nerd spasm). We’ll be trying to work all that stuff out as quickly as we can.
- jinx
im going to make a mistake im going to do it on purpose
