American Mensa Academy Score

My American Mensa Academy score. I believe that is the IQ score. I usually score 150-160, but sometimes I get lucky. I'm sure with practice, I can score perfect, eventually. :)

Wario Ware DIY Review (short version)

Originally posted on Amazon.com. I figure I'll need to refer to the game development steps later. A more complete review is at Amazon.com

The designers have selected a very clever set of instructions. These aren't the traditional game development algorithm set, but they do provide most of the capabilities desired. There are some instructions missing. Namely "Tap Screen" can use area parameter, and "Switch object" can use "Switch OTHER object". You can do a work-around the limitation, so those aren't strictly necessary, but the designers sure miss an easy way to define Hotspots, IMHO.

The package does provide all that a game designer needs. Namely, screen and objects, paint program, music program, storyboard (actually comic strip, but who's nit-picking?), and distribution channel. All you game designers wannabe, this is your chance to have your creation showcased to the world!

I managed to re-create my very first computer game (Cowboy shoots red dots) on the Amiga. The difference is, instead of 12 hours of work, on WarioWare DIY, it was only 1.5 hours, graphic included! Even though the options and animation are necessarily more limited, I daresay that the fun level is quite high! This is the natural result from the ever-increasing game speed as the play progressed. Granted, the design is fixed, and that is the hardest thing, but still, 1.5 hours! Including learning the package? I'm getting sick. I wish I had this "game" then!

My usual step is:
1. Idea (I use comic strip program provided)
2. Technical (Objects, AI, and programmer's art)
3. Presentation (Better graphics, color, animation)
4. Sound and Music (I use automatic music generation, and fiddle it a bit)
5. Playtesting (As a complete game)
6. Refinement (Trying out different ideas)

As you probably can tell, those steps are usually fielded by different hats. They are: Game Designer, Programmer, Artist, Musician, Play-tester, User (feedback). The really nice thing about this, is that you do not have to be everyone. Thanks to the sharing feature, you can choose to be an artist only, and draw graphics (Wario jobs). Or you can be a programmer (Advanced Dojo Skill). Or perhaps a game designer with great idea (comic strip as storyboard). Maybe you're just an avid gamer, and want to participate in game evaluation and give feedback? Friend code and Wii Showcase.

You can also use the sharing feature as a "Save" feature. I know I have modified a game several times, after I shipped it. Also, I have no hesitation to provide a game filled with programmer's art (colored boxes, really) knowing that somebody with a better artistic skill can put good graphics. Perhaps some comic book artist who don't know how to program, but want to put his characters in a game? Done!

More importantly, I think that this is a great program to share among friends. You are not limited to just games, after all. How about animated greeting cards? Or a Jack-in-a-Box surprise? Vocabulary builder type of games? Math skills? The sky is the limit.

In conclusion, this program is a very versatile, yet easy to use creativity program, limited only to your imagination. Its utility is far reaching, and yet another "must-have" in your Nintendo DS library. Sharing is highly encourage and that's a good thing.

Rayman Demo Nintendo 3DS

I just downloaded Rayman demo from Nintendo eShop. I had to update the system to do so, but I was so anticipating the demo. Rayman was very popular in its day.

The graphics are very nice. The frame rate is extremely smooth. The art style is very friendly. Overall feeling is that this is a very polished piece of software.

Unfortunately, I ran into high difficulty level immediately. This hard level of difficulty is supposed to sell more units? I doubt it.

Of course, this difficulty level is actually on par to what was then. About the same. It just goes to show you that as I get more sophisticated in my gaming taste, I become more discerning. So, unfortunately, I won't be buying this game.

Which is too bad. Even Earthworm Jim comes with easier to play difficulty level. In fact, if you look at the Kid Icarus game, the difficulty level is pitch-perfect, simply because you get to set it to very fine levels.

So, please, if you write/implement old games for modern day players, then please include selectable difficulty levels! Even id's Doom has it. Why can't you?

Kid Icarus Uprising 3DS Review

Kid Icarus Uprising 3DS Review

I have just finished throwing the greatest shot possible in the Universe, aimed at Hades. Predictably, he disintegrated into nothingness. It feels good to save the Universe. Now, onto difficulty challenge level 1.0!

Yep, it was Kid Icarus Uprising 3DS game, and it's brilliant! The story is engaging. The imageries mesmerizing. The game pace is pitch perfect, mainly because it is adjustable in very fine increment. The amount of weapons available is just mind-boggling, and the special challenges are extremely tricky, indeed. And the control, well, it can be better. A lot better.

There is a reason why they keep saying that you need to get used to the control ... a lot. They say that because you need to get used to the control. I would like to say that the control scheme is defective, but I can't. Not when just about everything else is brilliantly done. This isn't a game designed by some idiot-savant. This is a game designed by a master.

So, then, why, if everything else is perfect, the controls aren't good? Thinking about it carefully, I come to the conclusion that the control is great for the flying sequences where you can just float around and pick enemies one by one. When it comes to the ground fight, however, we have a problem. You need to move and dash and fire, not necessarily at the same direction. Move and dash is taken care of by the Circle Pad. L button fires the weapon. Looking around is touch screen. Aiming is touch screen. Okay, so we have looking around and aiming using the same touch screen. That's problematic.

How do we solve this? Looking around and aiming can be split into 2 different controls. That would work well, if people have 3 hands. Oops.

What else can we do? I like to Resident Evil Revelations solution: Use the gyroscope control to look around. It works really well in that game. I think it will work really well here, too. Until we get to Internet melee, that is. I can just imagine it, people rotating wildly, screaming "I've been hit! I've been hit! Where is he? I can't see him!"

Not a good solution.

Criticizing bad solution is easy. Any monkey can do that. But coming up with a good solution isn't. I'm not convinced that there is a good solution for this game. It is possible that you may have to use 3 different control schemes for this one game.

Which shows you just how expansive, and encompassing this game is. This is really 3 games in one, and it is all brilliantly combined. You have shooting game, adventure game, and FPS game. I like that. I don't like the control, but I can see that it isn't from stupidity or laziness. It's trying to have a consistent control across different gameplay.

I really like this game, easy and challenging in one game. I do wish that they would let me have different control schemes and perhaps the option to separate the flying scenes and the adventure scenes. They do provide boss challenge at the end, but I'd rather have selectable scenes, similar to that of the DVD movies.

All in all, everybody should play this game. The better for me to beat you on the Internet. ;)

Florence Ambrose meets Reggie Fils-Aime

For Nintendo 3DS anniversary, guess who comes to Mii Plaza? Reggie Fils-Aime himself! Guess who is on hand to greet him? Florence Ambrose of Freefall by Mark Stanley.

Bigger than small devices

COOL TECH

There are 2 devices that caught my attention: Nintendo DSi XL (LL in Japan) and iPad. They represent bigger versions of Nintendo DSi and iPod Touch, respectively. I think I will get that Nintendo DSi XL. It is a very useful device, and not just for playing game. It functions as a multi-tool for the intellectual, similar to PDA, except minus the geekiness factor. Of which, unfortunately, makes it less convenient to use although most of the functionalities are there.

The must-have DSiWare list are:

Flipnote

Browser

Clock (Photo)

Camera

Sound

Calculator (Animal Crossing)

Art Academy (First Semester)

When I get that DSi XL, these DSiWare will be on it!

I really want to include myNotebook, but as long as it has bad interface, I can't really recommend it. I also fail to see the point of myPostcard. Can't you just do it with Camera Graffiti?

Now, about iPad. Do you think Steve Jobs is losing it? iPad is a very useful device, and I can see how it makes a great ebook reader. However, the positioning of the device isn't that of iPod Touch XL, but rather iBook Touch Lite. Which is to say, a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they expect touch screen computer, instead of a touch pad with better user experience dimension, but is really to big for your pocket.

I think iPad can be a killer device, but it remains to be seen whether or not the public understand the true potential of the device, instead of complaining that it is simply a bigger, more expensive unit than iPod Touch.

Animal Puzzle Adventure DSiWare Score

FUN

It has been a week since I played Animal Puzzle Adventure. I have managed to lower some of my scores. No more 359 steps solution. The solutions aren't recorded, since there's no replay option. I'll probably make a computer program to do so later on.

Chapter 1: 8, 11, 15, 13, 20, 28, 24, 20, 38, 20
Chapter 2: 27, 35, 31, 58, 68, 63, 37, 29, 18, 53
Chapter 3: 25, 80, 25, 26, 37, 62, 71, 52, 31, 48
Chapter 4: 35, 82, 61, 32, 83, 74, 91, 34, 19, 47
Chapter 5: 30, 27, 42, 28, 44, 59, 104, 83, 63, 79

Dancing Pennies

FUN with MOTION CAPTURE

I was bored one day, so I decided to make a stop motion capture movie using my Nintendo DSi and Flipnote Studio, and these pennies are it. It took me about 30 minutes total to take pictures and import them, one by one, to Flipnote Studio.

Christmas Present

FUN

I got a Lego Bionicle as Christmas present, so I made a quick stop motion movie out of it using my Nintendo DSi Camera and Flipnote Studio. Just a quick 20 minutes run.

Nintendo DSiWare Clock and Calculator Review

REVIEW

I recently read a review for DSiWare Clock. Actually, there are different versions available. I have 2 of them: Animal Crossing and Photo Clock. Of the two, I like Photo Clock better. The Animal Crossing Clock is pretty much useless to me. I downloaded it because you can set musical tones to it. I was thinking like a song or a little ditty. Turns out, it was for hourly chimes, along with the extremely long play time, and very limited set of notes. I was so disappointed!

The Photo Clock, however, is terrific! I use it a lot! There's not much difference between the two, only that the Photo Clock does not have musical chimes, and that it displays pictures from your photo album. It works great as Picture viewer. This is where the reviewer on the other site got it wrong. The display WILL turn off after a while, thus saving battery. You don't need to have it plugged in all the time. Energy Saving settings come in 3 levels: Off, 5 minutes, and 1 hour. If you do plug it in, then the Energy Saving settings is automatically disabled, and you can use it as picture viewer on your desk/coffee table, with the saving setting automatically disabled. For 2 dollars? This is great! I set it to my pictures, paintings from Arts Academy at the time of this typing.

But more than that, you can use audio recordings from your DSi Sound. This makes it a much more useful alarm clock than normal because you can differentiate between different alarms. If you use it strictly as alarm clock to wake you up, then you'll be happy that the sound is loud enough to wake you up. The alarm bell sound is especially annoying enough to make me want to shut it off, as opposed to gently sounding music to put me to sleep. And since you can apply snooze settings individually, you can set sound of the sea to snooze and sleep at sleep time, while setting the loud alarm bell at wake up time.

Yet, there's more: You can do time offset. This is a big deal, and I'm glad for it. This allows you to use the Clock as a timer. Simply set the alarm to, say 1:10, and adjust the time offset so it shows 1:00. Suddenly, you have a 10 minute timer. When you pair this with the audio recording "The Eggs are Done! Go Take Them Out!", you will have an extremely fancy egg timer on the cheap. And if you would put Easter Eggs pictures on the display, then I'm sure you'll agree that 2 dollars is a cheap price to pay.

You can do more than this. How about setting the alarm to your kids DSi? "Quit watching TV! Do your homework!", "Take out the trash NOW!", "Time to stop playing and go to sleep!" are messages that comes to mind. Yes, you can customize this to anything you want. You can even record all the funny ringtones from your phone and use it on your DSi.

In short, Photo Clock is a great clock application. Don't bother with Animal Crossing or Mario version.

Now, on to the review and comments to it, I noticed that the review is full of inaccuracy. There's a lot of useful features that is missing from the review, such as time offset. Worse, the review falsely stated that you cannot turn off the display, risking running out of the battery! Yet, it is just a simple setting away. You don't even need to read the instruction for this. How come the reviewer missed it?

As to the replies, most are annoyed that it costs money to get. Some even erroneously claim $5. Nope, it's only $2. Some compare it to the fact that you already have clocks for free. Yes, but no timer nor alarms. Some others also compare it to phone alarm. Yes, but no timer nor customized sound, unless you're willing to pay and how much would that be? Some others insist that you should get it if you like Animal Crossings. Nope. Photo Clock will do better as you can take pictures of your favorite subject, whatever that may be, and display a bunch of pictures, instead of one single static picture of animal crossing. And if you like Mario, stick in a music file AAC.mp4 format in SD card, and play coin game that way.

I can't stress this enough: Photo Clock is an excellent buy because you can customize this to your heart's content, courtesy of DSi Photo, and DSi Sound. Think of the possibilities: Practical Jokers can record some flatulence sound, set a timer on it and place it on unsuspecting victim. Or how about cat's meow to annoy the dog? The possibilities are many!

Now, about the calculators: It is a simple, non-scientific 13 digit calculator with calculation history. You get arithmetic calculation and Memory functions. Also some conversion rates, although you don't really need a special function for that, right? Just a conversion table and you'll be set. No statistical functions, trigonometric, or what have you. Just simple arithmetic.

Lots of reviewers like the conversion function. I don't. It doesn't have the one feature I want: liters to cubic inches. It does have liters and it converts to several different volume measurements. Alas, no cubic inches. Anyway, like I said, I just need a table for it.

People are upset that this Calculator isn't free. I can understand that sentiment if the calculator is generic, but branding always costs money. Between Mario and Animal Crossing, I'd go with Animal Crossing. I couldn't stand the Mario sound of coin. It is very annoying if you're trying to think through the calculations involved. The Animal Crossing actually repeats the numbers (in animal voice), so you don't have to look at the keyboard, allowing you to concentrate on the calculation, such as password generating linear congruent theory.

In short, forget Mario Calculator. Get yourself Animal Crossing Calculator. I actually use this a lot more than the free calculator on my Palm phone. And the calculation history is a feature you'll be glad to have when your calculation result looks strange and wonky.

Art Academy First Semester Nintendo DSiWare Review

REVIEW

I just downloaded Nintendo DSiWare Art Academy First Semester for $8. It is a sketching and paint program for Nintendo DSi. The second semester will be out September 28. I'll be looking forward to it.

Having been spoiled with Colors! I'm not too sure about this program. The color mixing is different. I don't like the fact that transparency is related to wetness, which causes the colors to actually bleed! Then again, this isn't Mario Paint. This is Art Academy. When you look at it that way, $8 is cheap compared to paying someone a dollar per hour to teach you how to paint. And it is on that regard, Art Academy is succesful. Good lessons, good paint program.

The program is actually divided into two parts: Lessons and Free Painting. This is great, because it underscores the importance of skill. Too many kids these days think that tool, alone, is sufficient. That's not true! You need to know how to do this. The lessons are well paced, and relevant.

As I've been spoiled by Colors, I kept looking for mistakes to criticize. I couldn't find any! Sure the color mixing is inconvenient, and pencil drawing mode disappears once you get into painting mode, but those are nitpicks. Of the relevant importance is the ability to import pictures from your camera into the program and export them to the album. You have different modes to help you visualize the result. With all these help, you should be knocking out great drawings in no time! What's more, the adherence to reality, instead of digital painting, means that you can carry the skills out to the real world.

The tutorials themselves is filled with historical artists, and explanations of their painting styles. This encourages you to research such topic, either in the library or on the Internet. That can only mean one thing: a well developing talent to spot artistic styles. This is a much better lesson quality than expected. This is better art lesson than what the average student would get with a real teacher.

I especially like the grid inclusion very much, as it allows beginner to have good result immediately. For comparison, check out my pepper drawing, which I did without the grid. It looks positively depressed!

Okay, that one was done in a hurry. In fact, about the only disappointment is that it ends too quickly! I did the whole first semester in one sitting! Ah, well.

Overall, I wholly recomend this program to everybody, but especially to those who wants to draw but can't. Kids will love it, as well. Finally, when you consider that Nintendo DSi now seamlessly integrates with facebook, I think that this is the best thing in art education in a long, long time.