Storypost | 2020.01.04

Pako - Car Chase Simulator

Pako Car Chase Simulator wrecking ball

Cattle's xmas Steam gift this year was Pako - Car Chase Simulator. It had me pretty well captivated for my first two-hour session. I think I worked out a little bit of strategy:

Anyway, it's a fun arcadey experience.
Pony Island

Pony Island firebreathing unicorn

And Pokey got everyone Pony Island. I expected a rainbow sidescroller or maybe a weird rpg.

Pony Island hopelessoul chat console

I won't spoil it, but the name is pretty misleading. It's a really cool puzzle game like Myst with a Lost (tv show) vibe - this is something you find out almost immediately so I promise I haven't spoiled it.

Pony Island assembly debug

Oh yeah, and part of it is basically a debugger, so that's fun.
Post-Scriptum

Post Scriptum flyover

Some of the PUBG crew bought in-development Post-Scriptum about a year ago. It was on the shelf for a while, but Cattle and I decided to give it another go. It doesn't seem to have changed much - it still has all of the complex, deliberate gameplay that is its hallmark. Of course this makes the game hard to play casually and it's hard to go deep into a game you're not sure you're going to continue playing.

I (calmly) ragequit the last session after 60 minutes, a dozen deaths, and zero enemies seen. Unless I'm missing something, it feels like the one sniper you're allowed to have per squad is just super OP. And if that's historically accurate, then it fits the game. But other than a few iconic scenes from the silver screen, I don't remember having seen or read about markmen being decisive tactical elements in WWII. Perhaps that has to do with the sheer numbers involved in actual battls vs 40/side Post-Scriptum.

So at the end of the day, all of the amazing graphics and team mechanics are - for me - defeated by the fact that as soon as you get near the front, you'll be shot long before you see an enemy infantrymen. PS is still(!) in (active?) development, but at this point if I want tactical MMOFPS action, I'll fire up Planetside, it has half the depth but infinitely more approachability.
PUBG

PUBG Miramar sunset Mirado

With increased stability and finally MMR (temporarily), we gone back to PUBG over the holidays and had a good time doing it.


Cattle and I had a very Silver League shootout. To narrate the above:
PUBG video editor updates

Anyway, Cattle requested a video, so it was a good time to try the updated (months ago) PUBG video editor.

Previously you could just watch replays and had to do a screen record, this actually has cameras and video output. That really opens up the editing options, where previously you needed a stationary camera or numerous tries to get a moving camera (with no pan).

The key frame settings are buggy, so you frequently have cut and retry key frames. It takes an hour or so to figure out how to work around the issues.

Export creates a strangely-encoded (Firefox hates it, Chrome plays it) webm with no mpeg or avi option. I never had sound on any of mine and found nothing when searching for solutions. I'm not sure if I have something wonky going on or if everyone just sets their videos to music. My workaround was to do a screen record and add the audio as a track for my webm converted to mp4. This, of course, means timing the audio start and not using slow mo: not fun.

The other major weakness is that you can't jump back in time. While doing so can be confusing, but if it's done right it can be really neat. If you're going to jump between perspectives, it's good to rewind a couple seconds so the viewer can track the camera change. And as can be vaguely derived from the video below, sometimes there are two cool paths to follow. I knew from memory that we had a neat buggy vs motorbike race to the island, but didn't realize there was a Kenny Powers-style jump from one of our adversaries. I could have generated two videos and cut them in, but I'd rather have multiple timelines and bounce back to the chase after watching that majestic bike jump.

The Hacienda Heist

PUBG gold Mirado

The new meme strat is to drop into Hacienda to nab the gold camaro (mirado). After one incidend where I ran Cattle over, we decided it's best to have one person grab the car while someone else loots a cold warehouse on the outskirts. You still end up having to drive through a town where people are already looted up, so it's perilous. But meme strats aren't meant to be easy.

PUBG Vikendi church service before chicken dinner Abbey

The old meme strat is to go to a Vikendi church and pray to RNGesus



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Risky click advisory: these links are produced algorithmically from a crawl of the subsurface web (and some select mainstream web). I haven't personally looked at them or checked them for quality, decency, or sanity. None of these links are promoted, sponsored, or affiliated with this site. For more information, see this post.

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