demagogue on 6/12/2015 at 08:12
I'm reading Howard's End, a Victorian romance in theory, except it's tone is more irreverant banter (for the time) among a gaggle of women & quiet bumbling by awkward and uncertain men. If I'm into it, it's because I feel like it's an authentic window to a time and place so alien to me, and I find it amusing how people react to things.
Yakoob on 20/12/2015 at 22:11
I've been reading (
http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Culture/dp/0812972155)
Masters of Doom which tells the story of id Software focusing on John Carmack and Romero, starting with their early childhoods. So far, it's utterly excellent and one of those books I can only read a chapter at a time before I feel too motivated to start working on my own projects.
What I do like about it is that it's not really a success story but more of an honest and rounded retelling, often even critical of the two Johns. Take this bit about Carmack getting rid of his beloved cat he had for years:
Quote:
Carmack shrugged it off and returned to work. The same rule applied to a cat, a computer program and, for that matter, a person. When something becomes a problem, let it go; if necessary, have it surgically removed.
Shudders. The book is well rounded in providing background information on the industry through these years and the big dogs or events at the time. It also occasionally delves into explaining design or technical concepts (such as how Wolf3D worked or the tiling engine) and actually very accurate. The authors definitely know their stuff.
Overall I am loving the book and it's doing a great job of inspiring my own game dev efforts, even if it does paint a less-than-heroic image of the two Johns and their crew. Only got to them working on Doom so far, so inevitable shit is about to hit the fan.
acquisto on 22/12/2015 at 15:46
I'm currently reading the Lies of Locke Lamora.
I thought Lies was going to be some weird word or mean something special, but nope, it's about Locke Lamora and a bunch of lies he tells.
It's pretty addictive. I'm about 400/700 pages in.
nicked on 22/12/2015 at 18:39
I really enjoyed the Lies of Locke Lamora. I found the sequel a bit of a slog though, and never finished it.
I'm currently working my way through Dumas' the Count of Monte Cristo, which is among the longest books I've ever read, but is written with simple, broad strokes and every character, even the bit parts, just leap off the page wonderfully. I was expecting an epic tale of suffering and revenge to be pretty dark and nasty, but on the contrary, it's largely upbeat and at times extremely funny. I'm only 2/3rd of the way through as it's like 1200 pages, but as long as Dumas sticks the landing, I'd highly recommend it.
Yakoob on 9/1/2016 at 07:28
Just wrapped up Masters of Doom and it has grown to be one of the best books I've ever read. Granted I am biased being a game dev, but even though I never had a big interest in iD specifically, the tale was utterly captivating. From humble and disturbing beginnings of the two Johns, though their burgeoning business and questionable actions, all the way to the crash and burn. Inspirational, yet brutally honest and critical, I'd highly recommend it as a must-read for any other industry folk!
Thirith on 9/1/2016 at 11:04
I got started on China Miéville's newish collection of short stories, Three Moments of an Explosion. So far it's good, but not as good as Looking for Jake.
demagogue on 10/1/2016 at 13:15
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Just wrapped up
Masters of Doom and it has grown to be one of the best books I've ever read.
I went ahead and read this too. Deth and some others had been raving about it. The story itself was interesting, the differences in philosophy and personality definitely come out, usually in hilarious ways. And the point that the two Johns were yin and yang for each other, and were missing exactly what the other offered after the break was pretty convincing.
But what struck me the most was how very lucky they were to be on the right track at the right time, seeing that the PC market was going to blow up, and solving the problems to get good games into that niche. Carmack is a great problem solver, but at this point I don't know if his sort of path can ever be possible just because game engines are so far along across the board, games can't really advance except in terms of sheer amount of content (the Bethesda & Rockstar route). It was a unique moment in history they owned by getting there first.
Aside from that, Carmack's work style, the early days at least, is my kind of utopia too. I'd love nothing more than working quietly all day on a creative and problem-solving project with a small team or just me, no one telling us what to do, no drama, on 6 month or year deadlines so stuff is consistently clocking out, and (the important part!) periodically big paydays roll in to keep it going indefinitely. Not a bad life, but seems like luck plays a big part in creating those kinds of conditions.
Yakoob on 11/1/2016 at 08:11
Quote Posted by demagogue
But what struck me the most was how very lucky they were to be on the right track at the right time, seeing that the PC market was going to blow up, and solving the problems to get good games into that niche. Carmack is a great problem solver, but at this point I don't know if his sort of path can ever be possible just because game engines are so far along across the board, games can't really advance except in terms of sheer amount of content (the Bethesda & Rockstar route). It was a unique moment in history they owned by getting there first.
Yea I know what you mean, most big pushes these days have been done by big studios. We have been witnessing a re-surface of small indies and one-man-teams (like Undertale or Stanley Parable) recently, but most of those are more of "my 5 minutes of fame" stories rather than trend-setting and genre-defining ones. I think gaming is established enough that at best we'll only really see incremental pushes, such as how 30 Flights re-invented jumpcuts in games or Walking Dead showed interactive storytelling done right (though this, arguably, was sort of sub-genre-defining). Though we might see a little bit of that in VR or AR world soon.
But yea, reading about their raise to famedom was really inspirational, even if my own successes are far, far behind. Definitely led to some late-night and waking-up-early excitment to work on my own thing.
nicked on 11/1/2016 at 08:35
Finally finished the Count of Monte Cristo. For once, the over-used word "epic" is entirely suitable. An excellent and timeless classic.
Now I'm comfort-reading a couple of Terry Pratchett stories before diving into Don Quixote.
driver on 12/1/2016 at 00:41
I'm almost finished with The Count of Monte Cristo, picked it up when it was mentioned in here, and it's not something I'd recommend. I'm finding it difficult to muster up the enthusiasm to polish off the last 100-odd pages because it's just been wittering on. The first 300 or so pages were great, but after he escapes from Chateau d'If the story seems to meander off. The foreword did mention Dumas was being paid by the word so there's an awful of of padding, but it just takes the mick at that point. For several hundred pages Dante pretty much takes a back seat and we're forced to endure chapter after chapter of seemingly irrelevant waffle with some guy called Franz, who crosses paths with Dante and just happens to be friends with Mercedes' son Albert, it then takes about 100 or so more pages for him to use this relationship to effect a meeting with her when there are any number of far simpler ways of managing it, at which point several other pointless subplots are brought in to pad things out (Valentine's arranged marriage, Benedetto's 'adopted' son etc). I'll get a kicking for admitting this, but I enjoyed Stephen Fry's re-imagining far more (The Star's Tennis Balls) because it stuck to the point. Right now I feel like I should finish it because I made it this far, not because I'm eager to see how it ends.
Maybe it's just not for me. I read The Three Musketeers before this and didn't enjoy that much either, but that's because I despised the main characters. D'Artagnan was impetuous to the point to retardity and the other three were pretty despicable, Athos especially for the way he treated his manservant. Beating your servants was rather ugly (Though I tried not to judge standards then with values now), but putting a pistol to his head and demanding he lead the way unarmed into no-man's land so they could have a picnic put me right off him. The only part I really enjoyed was near the end with M'lady's imprisonment, she was the only character who actually interested me.
I stand braced and ready for your abuse and brickbats, just not the face please.
