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Hey everyone, I'm back with 2 new music tracks for you to listen to. First up is "Endure". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5cw9Lru37c&feature=youtu.be And next is "Organ Trio" which, if you haven't guessed, is a track using only 3 types of organs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPzYNHd8gfk&feature=youtu.be I hope you guys enjoy them. I've been going through a lot of stress, and falling behind with uploading music.

[9:55:27 AM] Alcom Isst: My head hurts after programming this Typing of the Dead Game. [9:55:38 AM] Alcom Isst: Braaaaaaaaains. [10:37:41 AM] Alcom Isst: To think that my chosen career was going to turn me into a zombie. Who knew! [10:37:48 AM] Alcom Isst: Actually it's not much different. [10:38:21 AM] Alcom Isst: All it comes with is a hunger for brains and an intense desire to produce Flappybird and Minecraft clones.

This is easy to explain. For instance, when you and I play together, you are enemy 1 in my game and I am enemy 1 in your game. The software just picks the first Al racer to drive. It's actually quite logical why this happens, if you understand it. I haven't tried to read the design of the car from the memory yet. And even if this will ever be possible, it's gonna be quite a tough job to develop the software in a way that everyone can just see eachothers own car.

It's been a dream for all of us for a very, very long time... I'm proud to announce: LEGO Racers Online! Me and my brother have been working on this very hard for the last couple of days and the result is amazing. Please note that I'm not posting anything yet but a little teasing screenshot, but we are working REALLY hard to make something that we can all use and enjoy this game like when we we're kids! 02/08/2014: New video added. Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch it! 04/08/2014: New status update added. 20/08/2014: New status update and video added. 05/10/2014: New status update added. 12/10/2014: New status update added. 20/10/2014: New status update added. 27/10/2014: New status update added. 05/11/2014: New status update added. 16/11/2014: New status update added. Current status: Currently, the following functions are implemented and working properly: Play online with two players real-time (1 VS 1) - INCLUDING POWER-UPS! Patch the game automatically. However, we do have all the required information to drive all the opponent from within the software (tested and working). We are working on an implementation of playing against eachother with up to five other players right now. We can't say when this is finished, but we don't expect a very long time. Added 20/08/2014: Power-Ups are now working properly. This means, whenever someone uses Power-Ups, this is getting fired on your client too! Although it is now possible to patch the game automatically, this is not a perfect solution and we are working on something that makes it possible to play online "on demand". Added 05/10/2014: Although I have not been developing actively on game functions, I am now working on and completing a critical step to split the software accepting both TCP and UDP network traffic which is required for some functions, for example connecting to a game server. PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM CURRENTLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND I DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP ON THIS PROJECT! I HOPE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THIS! The following things must be completed and working before release: Full implementation of TCP and UDP traffic; Starting a new Race; A chat function, if people are interested in this function. Added 12/10/2014: Last week I have not been developing very much and this will continue for a few more weeks due to school. The good news is that Grappigegovert has proven his immensive skills again and developed and gave me the code to disable the loading of AI paths so patching the game can be removed from the software now. Also, he created functions to start a Race from the software so the Server can tell the Clients to start a specific Race. All credits go to Grappigegovert for his massive research and developing. Added 20/10/2014: Due to school, I have not been developing actively on the online functionality again, but Grappigegovert and me made some nice improvement with the API. This API will be released in the open source (near) future and will give developers the opportunity to create mods very easy. Added 27/10/2014: Due to school, I have not been developing actively again. The good news is, the software is now fully compatible with TCP and UDP, more structured and the API has been put into a seperate project which will result in a release of the public API soon. This API will be discussed in another thread that I will make in the near future. Please note that the project is not dead and I am still developing, but unfortunately due to school I just do not have much time for this great project. Added 05/11/2014: Good news. Last week I was able to develop more actively on the software, which resulted in the possibility to start races from the Server, which brings us a step closer to the release! I will create a new video of the current progress in the near future. Also, the API is getting prepared for a release with the last bug fixes and comments above the functions. Stay tuned! Added 16/11/2014: I am currently facing problems with the starting of the game client and additional events regarding to the API. I am still not satisfied with the way the API currently works. These problems must be solved in order to continue with the online functionality. Don't think that this project doesn't gain any progress, it just takes a lot of time. Please note the following things: It's not guaranteed that this mod will be ever online for public since this project has still needs many, many development hours; The Server and Client are both only in alpha stage at this moment. We are working really hard to create something that just works and anyone would understand; It is very hard to find all the addresses and the correct pointers, so this takes a lot of time; Currently our main goal is to make everything work on a basic game copy. This means that mods are NOT SUPPORTED (YET) and will likely crash the game when used! On the bright side: We currently do have something that works and we are working so hard to make it possible for everyone to enjoy this with us. It was our dream for many years and finally we took the step to actually create something, and not just for ourselves but for everyone who just loves LEGO Racers. I will keep you guys regularly informed. Make sure you check this post at least once a week as the project is under heavy development. Special thanks: We would like to thank Grappigegovert for his great help which resulted in massive improvement of the software. Thanks to this guy, a lot of things are now working (like using Power-Ups). Videos: The following videos show a demonstration of the system in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLzWxZYjNcs Yup, I'm loving this. So awesome.

So Mythrun/Ariistuujj made a nifty program thingy that I personally call the LEGO Universe Anti-Anti-Haxinator. It generates the string(s) the game uses to determine if a file is "legitimate" or not, thus allowing you to add/change the live game's assets... Er, dead game's assets. It's fun.

A couple days ago StewartG asked me to make the main theme for Rock Raiders 2, so I decided to upload it so that everyone can hear it, as a preview. Feedback and suggestions for improvement are very much appreciated. So yeah, I might be making the music for this game. It depends on what Stewart decides. http://youtu.be/2ohQ6J-1rbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EFMgj3u_eE

http://youtu.be/_p4F9d2k4IE The lyrics are just awesome, unfortunately there's no english version http://youtu.be/myhnAZFR1po

Oh wow, these tunes are great. I especially like the introduction part of Organ Trio, love it.

Looks like the Bionicle website is being built up again. http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/bionicle/-/

I have The Lost Temple... do you want me to scan it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6-ZGAGcJrk

More Smooth Mcgroove coming in : D http://youtu.be/mxYqsLPtqAk http://youtu.be/mJn8WvUOblE

*starts doing a jig* http://youtu.be/gzLPZml9VRI

If you understand what the title says, you may understand what I'm doing. If not, here's more to enlighten you. Animusic is a series of CGI music videos that are amazingly crafted. Here are a few of them for reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCIpKAIFyo&list=PLAE7974A68AC62B47 One of my favorites is Resonant Chamber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXNVbvFXyk&list=UUZVCuKveehUdmu5PV2p59VA So those should give you an idea of what I'm doing. I plan to make an Animusic style video using LDD. Here is a short rough preview that I've done. (It's sloppy and there isn't much to show, but we all have to start somewhere.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2TuQrFkX4&list=UUs1DSJ0v8SKMlXvxf9lA7nQ I can definitely clean it up, I just wanted to show something for this idea. Now, here's a catch. I will not work on this unless it gets a lot of feedback. That small animation took a long time to make, and that alone was only a few seconds x3 to make the video. It is a serious project that I will only work on maybe 1 or 2 days a week if that, but I will be working on it, as long as I keep seeing a benefit towards doing it. That's where you come guys come in. Please leave a vote above for what you think of this project and leave comments of what you think in detail. in a few days, I'll check the votes and see what happens to the project from there. If you want to help, I could use help building rigs to work with in the video. Rigs must have the proper posing elements (for instance my bell rig, the hammers move back and forth and the bells sway when struck.) If you have a rig built, please post a picture of it here along with the LDD file download. So, read through, vote, comment, and let me know what you think.

Xiron had an avatar that blinked, people got annoyed at it for some reason, one thing led to another and now Scotland is voting on whether or not to be an independent country.

[20:44:34] Noghiri: JC2 is my favorite spiderman game.

I love Skyland, but that version of the intro is way too pixelated. http://youtu.be/F1Uv6phBzxc Later, Yosakoi http://youtu.be/fdZboPhTdOM

Before we start; I don't like to insult or say harsh things about Game Developers. They work hard, long hours with minimal pay, and usually to little payoff. I'm sure with this game they worked their absolute hardest. However, I don't think it's right to ever let a game just slide away with cardinal sins, and so I will be brutal if need be. Not because I hate the devs, but because I hope that, if I can't teach them what's wrong, I can help prevent future devs from making the same mistakes. Furthermore, this is my first TT Game since LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga. I'm ashamed right now. I'm ashamed of the fact I'm a Game Designer. I'm ashamed of the fact I'm a LEGO fan. I'm ashamed of the fact I wasted 10 hours on a game that may just be the very antithesis of my existence. The LEGO Movie was incredible, to say the least. In my own opinion, a film that can start right in the ranks of Disney and Pixar classics, and my own personal favourite animated movie of all time. It was a film that went beyond simple product-placement and actually gave us significant, strong messages and a story filled with laughs, tears and heaps of heart-warming moments. The LEGO Movie Video Game has none of these. You're getting no images with this review. If I had to slog through this thing in its entirety, you can slog through my raving and ranting as payback. I went into this game hoping for the best. I ignored the comments and reviews, and I simply hoped that TT would do this game justice. A perfect trifecta between Movie, Game and Toys is virtually unknown in modern times. The LEGO Movie is an incredible movie as discussed before, and the LEGO sets for the movie are equally as magnificent, and some of the most fun sets to build to date. This game doesn't belong. My journey started with the immediate discovery of incompetence on the UI team. "The ability to change the graphics settings? Why would anybody ever need to change those *before* you start the first level? That's crazy talk! Why, what a coincidence that EA did the exact same thing with a few of their games! It's not like we're both going to make an evil, soulless, money-sucking game, correct?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6akps-b1k So, you finally decide to start a new game. 4 save slots is pretty standard for console ports, so I can't really fault it, especially since you'd be insane enough to even considering using one save slot and play the game. What happens next is absolutely incredible. Traveler's Tales decided the smartest thing to do was to take clips from The LEGO Movie, cut them up, compress them and play them onscreen at about 1/3 the size of the actually screen with massive black bars. And so help you if you dare want to use subtitles, those suckers will go right in the middle of the video. The definition of laze in the dictionary can probably be changed from whatever it is now to "Traveler's Tales' Business Plan". Unfortunately, what comes next explains where their entire development time was spent. TT Games assume that you're a moron. And, I don't mean a kid. Kids, unlike what many developers seem to think, are actually intelligent and can actually dissect and learn game patterns very quickly, sometimes faster than adults. Just look at the "Zelda" generation. No, TT Games assumes you're a complete nitwit who needs to be dragged along on their one-way amusement park. In fact, that's the exact feeling I got from playing this game. It's Disneyland Simulator mixed with Pants Simulator (we'll talk about that a little later). See, you've got these "Hub" worlds, and they act like the different sections of the Disneyland park. There's little mini-attractions here and there, and people begging you to spend your "hard" earned money on them, and they link up to some big rides which aren't worth the ticket price you paid to enter. Not only do they insult you with simple help messages, and not only do they use a trail of uncollectable green studs to show you the "correct" path, but the characters will go out of their way, good or bad, to tell you EXACTLY WHAT TO DO. And it's not like the challenges are incredibly difficult either. In many cases, they're telling you to do the most obvious thing you've already done multiple times in the same level. Apparently, this is linked to the "Dynamic" level of hints, which apparently makes it more annoying than "On". I decided though, in order to give you guys the best review possible, I'd stick with Dynamic, and see what'd happen. When the hints are telling you to do things that either; A) you've already done, B) are not an objective on this level or you lack the character to do something, or C) refuse to show up when they actually are required (for some new gameplay element that was not introduced properly), you know you have a very broken hint system. The saddest thing is that, the only point at which I had *some* enjoyment with the game was when the hints simply disappeared into the void. Frankly, I wish they stayed that way. Did I say that the options menu is hilariously broken yet? When an option (specifically Refresh Rate) appears twice, and you put most of your important configuration settings into an entirely different menu, you've got a big problem. And, what about those massive frame-drops during the hacking mini-game, or when you're fighting a Micro-Manager? There's just so many awful moments in this game, and one of them made the lack of attention to QA apparent. I was in Cloud Cuckooland, and I had already been introduced to characters sliding whenever they touched uneven terrain. It was an animation bug, but not major. It didn't become a problem until I was supposed to face off with a robot goon with a rocket launcher. I had just gotten Unikitty and Wildstyle stuck in separate parts of the geometry (don't ask me how), and Benny lacked a gun at this point, so I couldn't kill them to reset them. The robot goon needed to shoot these three silver objects, and to do that, you need to move your character behind each object and let him fire upon it "by accident". Simple enough, right? Apparently TT Games felt it in the best interest to send any competent programmers on holidays early before they decided to code the robot goon's AI. The Goon looks for the character in the shortest distance to itself, and fires upon that. Of course, both Unikitty and Wildstyle, who were stuck in geometry, happened to be closer to the Goon than Benny. Eventually I got Wildstyle unstuck, only to encounter the same problem, but not because of Unikitty. Because either Wildstyle or Benny would sometimes, when controlled by the AI, stray to the side of the silver objects a little bit, apparently that counted as them being closer to the Goon, who would then shoot promptly to the side of the silver object. Everything is tedious with TT. Hell, this same AI problem occurred with a code section later in the game. The game has two of those annoying, badly designed jumping puzzles, where you need to jump onto the correct buttons in sequence, with the camera in a locked position at an awkward angle while you still have platforming physics. Unikitty felt she needed to be the star of the show while I was trying to complete the nine digit code however, and so it took a LOT of attempts of trying to move Unikitty, who would quickly move back onto the keypad. I could go on about the AI, but there's far more problems. We don't even need to continue discussing the repetitive gameplay; TT tried to mix it up by adding platforming sections (with wall-kicks and climbing), turret sections, falling-through-space sections and more, but everyone of these new mechanics is both one-dimensional and wasted. Nothing is coherent or consistent. It feels as though TT tried to build this game out of a LEGO Duplo, a LEGO Friends and a LEGO Junior set, and couldn't quite figure out why the parts didn't stick together right. Anyone who plays Ratchet & Clank would remember the huge amounts of inflation between R&C and R&C3. What happened was that instead of making a single bolt worth a single bolt, Insomniac gave the engine leeway to come up with appropriate, random number values, so that the player wasn't constantly having to collect single bolt after single bolt. This was to avoid repetitiveness and make people feel more powerful due to the larger numbers. I can't quite figure out why TT Games have attempted the same thing, but they did, and it's jarring to say the least. The stud values remain the same; silver for 10, gold for 100, blue for 1000 and purple for 10,000. For some reason, though, in 10 minutes of play, I was already pushing 200,000 studs. The massive increase in inflation has naturally caused character prices to explode, with the most expensive costing a million a piece, and the lowest ones between 50,000 and 200,000. Let's just talk about the characters in this game. TT Games proudly boasts how they have so many characters. Something like 90? Less than the amount they have in Star Wars: The Complete Saga though. The process of purchasing new characters is a real pain the rear. After collecting the "appropriate" amount of studs, you must either find the character in the world, or open the character selection screen (which seems to be available when it feels like, rather than when it should), scroll over to them, press the button twice, and then watch a long and pointless animation as it purchases your character. So help you if you want to buy more than one character, because you'll be waiting at that menu for a long time. The increase in potential party characters is nice, if only wasted. You're only allowed extra party members in certain locations based on the story (and how much memory TT managed to waste on background effects). They can sometimes help, but usually you only need two people, and for most of the game you'll find yourself playing with two characters. The weirdest thing is they've modified the AI; firstly, the AI makes little to no attempt to follow you when you need it to, and vice-verse. It could be because this new system is supposed to allow you to have two characters doing actions at the same time and allow for seamless transitions, but it really doesn't work as advertised. Secondly, the AI is now capable of killing everything except the last enemy in the room. And, when I say it can't kill the last enemy, what I mean is that it stubbornly refuses to take any action at all. It just stands there like an garish rapscallion, watching you try to do the menial task of the hour and getting interrupt by the enemy. There really is just so much narm I want to talk about, but for size I'll need to cut down; the hacking minigame is the one mechanic I actually had FUN with, but it was less a "I'm so excited to be doing this!" fun and more like a "At least this is better than the crap I was doing before..." fun. The Pants mechanic, which allows you to have permanent special abilities for characters that wear pants (think the Star Wars hats if they were combined with powerups). The very lowest aspect of the game, and the one that highlights my argument the best is both the Master Builds and the Construction Builds. Master Builds simply require you to swing the camera around three times and then let go of a button. How that even constitutes as gameplay is beyond me. The Construction Builds, on the other hand, require you to look at a model, then look at a bunch of parts and select the one that should fit. Easy, right? Oh wait, there's a timelimit that's counting down your stud reward for both taking your time and getting the answer wrong. Oh wait, the controls are both hyper-sensetive and super-sluggish, so your chance of selecting the correct button quickly is very low. Oh wait, it regularly makes the bricks flip over and distorts them in some way to make selection harder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07So_lJQyqw The worst part, however, is the story. I'm going to be very blunt. It's bad. It's terrible. What Traveler's Tales do probably isn't Game Development. I think they may actually be butchers who just discovered how to use a computer. The amount of story they chopped up, jokes they ruined and the clearest and saddest irony of how The LEGO Movie Videogame goes completely against the morals and messages of The LEGO Movie, to the point they actually cut out the sequences in the movie that talk about those morals and messages is just pure disgusting. I'm going to wrap up here without even mentioning the other plethora of problems, because the longer I stay here to write the sicker I get. This game is a success. It's on a level of success far higher than Bioshock or Spec Ops: The Line. What it deconstructs is the art of lazy game making. It shows us, up front and center the grim reality of what the industry has become, and gives the player a chance to come to their senses and realise their mistake. Except, that was all unintentional. This is clearly the worst game I've played. Unlike Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing or WarZ, this wasn't made by people who were technically and theoretically incompetent. TT Games are responsible for my favourite Crash Bandicoot game of all time. This isn't due to a lack of good source material or assets, since The LEGO Group would have given them everything they needed, and the core message and ideas of the Movie were some of the strongest I've seen in a long while. What we have here is a game that blindly lies to your face; it shows you an experience that looks fun, but lacks any kind of subtance, and yet assumes it can stand amongst the greats. It abuses the LEGO logo, using that to ride the waves of success, without realising the deadly whirlpool of boredom that it's surfing over. The recent trend for big developers is to stop being creative and be safe, and do things as fast possible, over trying to do things to the credit of the idea (i.e. giving the original idea the respect it deserves). This game encapsulates everything wrong with that trend. The saddest thing is that you can tell people tried, but for whatever reason, the management of this game was lacking, and every fault in this product can be squarely blamed on the Creative Director. This game, and all TT Games as of recent seem to be stuck in the same trend as many, MANY developments. Instead of studying why a mechanic works, they look at how it works, and try to copy it without realising what made the mechanic fun in the first place. That's become extremely evident here. Do not buy this game. If you really must, watch videos on YouTube. Watch the Movie and then move on with your lives, because this is one experience you do not need to have.