I need a new phone. The Sony Ericsson I am using has been serving me well for 3 years, but the fact is that it is getting old. Half the time my SMS’es don´t get send, and the rest of the time it just takes it a very long time to process anything I type into it. Also since I started using the Google Calendar and synchronizing it with my Microsoft Outlook 2007, I have been in desperate need of a phone that automatically synchronized all my calendars to it.

Actually its not something new that I need a new phone, the problem has been around for a while, but I just haven´t been able to find the right phone. Fact is, that my needs have evolved from being just a call/SMS gadget, to actually needing constant access to my e-mail, calendar, and instant messaging. And I am very picky about my phones, I went through 4 models before I found my current one.

So - enter the iPhone.

The original hype on the phone made me instantly hate it. It was heralded as being a communication revolution and that it would change the mobile business as we know it. I didn´t believe the hype then. But now I have been looking into it, and this phone looks like it has ALL the features I need, plus some nice looking games….

The major disadvantage of the phone is that you are forced into buying it from Telia, and I need to get a special iPhone subsciption for it. And of course, that subscription is crazy expensive. So I haven´t made the decision yet, but at the moment I am leaning on getting a iPhone….. and after that I guess I have to get Gucci glasses, hip clothes, and designer shoes. After all - isn’t that what Apple is all about?

I just watched the new Batman movie, and even though it has been hyped to unbelievable levels, it was well worth watching. Well actually - IT WAS BRILLIANT!

I have never been much of a Heath Ledger fan, and when I heard the news of his death, I was not really affected by it. But now that I have watched “The Dark Knight” and Ledgers performance as the joker, I am very sad that we won´t seeing him anymore. His performance is absolutely amazing, and the joker just went from being a semi-silly villain, to being my all time favourite.

The movie is well worth watching (and that is all I am going to say, I don´t want to post spoilers) - and now I am just annoyed that superhero games, based on movie IP’s - ALWAYS suck.

I want to play Batman and beat up the baddies in a game that is actually good

RIP - Heath Ledger

In my mind a game designer has always been a person specifically hired to design games, and help implement his or hers ideas into the game through the entire development process. Meaning that they had a hand in all branches of the production from brainstorming, to marketing ideas, to helping programmers decide what to do. Of course I realise that the professional game designer would be a person more focused on game theory than on programming, and would of course only be able to advice on obtaining the game goal, not on how the specific code should look.

However the last few months have changed my views on what it means to be a game designer. First I got involved with a student game design group in Aalborg after I went there and gave a talk about the psychological issues behind gaming. Here I suddenly realised that EACH AND EVERY ONE of those people there – artists, programmers, musicians, and team leaders – where actually acting as game designers. They were all part of the brainstorming process, they all had equal say in how the game should look and feel and in truth all ended up playing a large part in the game they were developing.

Jump to the present..

I started work at Nykredit a month ago. Nykredit is the second largest bank corporation in Denmark, with branches all around the world. They finance the real estate market, and help people get funds for homes, offices, and building of these…. but they also do so much more.

I am working in their Human Ressource department, more specifically in the employee education department. I got hired to do videos that are to be used for educational and promotional purposes. In truth I have not done a single video yet, why? Because they also create games. Games that teach employees about obscure laws, interest systems, and finance software. And at the moment they are trying to expand A LOT in this field. When they found out I know loads about game design, I quickly got pulled in on the wagon. And now I am (besides all the video stuff) involved in a major ARG game (I will post a link as soon as It’s out of “beta”), and tons of small flash games. Actually these last four weeks I have done 4 games in flash with ActionScript 2.0. The standards aren’t AAA games – and the games needs to be playable by anyone. So at the moment we are doing quizshow games, “point’N’click” games, and other types of puzzle games. At first I found the very low level of the games to be a bit silly, but after I have done a few and gotten some user response on them, I clearly see that there is a need for the games to be so low-key. If you can, please imagine the following. The games need to be played by people who have played games before, but also people who have never played ANY game (computer or tabletop) before. They need to be so simple that they don’t require you to use more than your mouse, or two keys on the keyboard. And they can´t have a too steep time challenge either since people need to not feel stressed by the games…..when you combine that with the overall need of the game to actually be FUN for players between the ages 18-65, you´ve got a real challenge on your hands!

Hopefully the work we are doing will be enjoyed by the 15.000 employees, and the entire flock of users visiting Nykredits website.

But my point here is this. In Aalborg everyone was a game designer. In Nykredit everyone in my department gets a say in the designs, and in the end it is the programmer and animators that get to take the REAL decisions on how the game will look and feel.

So perhaps we are heading away from the AAA game designer role I once coveted so much, and regressing back into the good old garage days – where everyone who could code, animate, or draw, was a game-designer?

I´m not sure which one I would prefer – but I am loving my new job!

If you want to see some more info on how people tend to categorize game designers, take a look at Applied Game Design, Brenda has a nice long post about it.

Today during my ActionScript 2.0 research for work (they insist on using version 2.0 instead of the advanced 3.0, or Silverlight…*sigh*) I stumbled upon this amazing game called “WTF?!”. As you can see it is a World of Warcraft clone, but the guys who have made it must have put an insane amount of work into it. It is a bit difficult to describe the game, but in short - it is their own version of WoW…running in Flash.

Apparently they have been having some issues with their host, so if you want to play the game you will need to download it (its about 9 MB), but it is well worth it!

The game has it all - WoW levelling, sexy blood elves, funny gnomes, and lots and lots of jokes about WoW. And it is actually very fun to play….perhaps I might actually get a character to max level this time around.

You can find the game at http://www.aoedipus.net/

So earlier this week I had the chance to playtest the newest version of Dungeons & Dragons.

The game session took place with 2 other guys I already knew, and 2 guys I have never played RPG’s with before.

We started out by making out own characters, instead of using the premade ones suggested by the introduction rules. It took us nearly 3 hours of number crunching, discussion, and planning, before we had a fairly standard group with a Cleric, a Fighter, a Wizard, and a Warlock. I´m not sure if the reason why character creation took so long was because the new rules are more advanced, or because we were all new to them. I am hoping that it was because we were all noobs, and that it will change when we get a bit more used to the rules.

The system has several new classes, and a completely revamped skill and power system. Gone are the days when gaining a level really didn’t do much, and the days when a wizard had hundreds of spells to choose from. The system has been cut down to a bare minimum, but by doing so have ensured that EVERYTIME you level, you actually gain something. Also the classes seem to be very well balanced. The days when a high level wizard could kill everything, and the days when a low level fighter could kill all same level wizards, are now gone.

We started playing the game and quickly got involved in a battle. It didn’t take more than two rounds for it to become apparent that we had to work as a team. The game is no longer a “do what you want each round”-game, but is now a very advanced strategically oriented board game. We learned this the hard way, and my Wizard character and our Cleric, nearly died in the first few rounds.

The one new thing I want to applaud about the combat system is that it really does convey the feeling of being a hero. EVERY round you can do something amazing, throw off spells, or use special powers. You are no longer limited to spending 95% of the combat rounds, just doing standard melee attacks. Each class now has special powers and abilities to throw at their enemies – and it really helps to differentiate the different classes! Some are good at melee, some at ranged, and some at dealing out massive amounts of damage in no time.

Our adventure then carried on, and we got to try out the new skill system. The amount of skills have gone from 30+ to 17. This makes the skill system a lot more abstract, and it takes a bit getting used to (compared to the old D&D systems). You need to be very creative with your skills, and work with your DM to get the system to work. A special part of the skill system is the use of skill challenges. A skill challenge is when the group has to work together, to accomplish X successful skill checks on several skills, across several rounds, to succeed at something. I think this system is one of the few problems that the new D&D has. It felt very motorized, and pulled away some of the game immersion. But then again – it might be because I am used to NEVER rolling skill checks…. my usual RP group tends to play with as few rules as possible…

And that’s the end of the post….

Final verdict?

I actually think that Wizards of the Coast managed to improve Dungeons & Dragons – but I am dreading what these new rules will mean to the future of Computer RPG’s – since the new combat system is more like Civilization, than NeverWinter Nights….but hopefully someone will come up with something amazing eventually.

Lately I have had a sudden interest in alternate reality game design. Mainly because I got introduced to it at my new work where the department I am in was just finishing up one the first week I was there. However I would definitely classify the game there as a “light” version of an ARG – but still it is very good. Sadly I can´t point you to it, since it’s an internal company game (meaning about 7k players being “FORCED” into participating – so it’s still pretty cool to be part of)

However this has gotten me to do some research into what other ARG games are out there, and on that note I just wanted to point you in the direction of the Avant Game blog by Jane Mcgonigal. She is definitely one of the coolest ARG designers out there (as well as an excellent blogger), and currently she is doing a lot of posts about the game “The Lost Ring”.

When I first read about the story for this game I had no idea that it was an ARG – silly me. I actually believed that someone had found an ancient Olympic sport and was trying to get it recognized and spread to the world. Now, a few months later, I have gotten a lot wiser. BUT the idea for the Olympic game, the websites, the wikis, the movies, and the people actually running around in a labyrinth blindfolded are just blowing me away! It looks like an incredible fun “sport”, but also I regret that I didn´t participate in the ARG.

However I would like to extent this invitation to anyone in the Copenhagen (Denmark) area – if you want to get a team together, I´m in! We are probably too late to participate in anything, but we can still have lots of fun.

Also, you should all check out some of the amazing sites for “The Lost Ring” – I think we will be seeing a lot more games like these in the future!

A good place to start is here: http://www.findthelostring.com/

I´m a huge fan of the “Dungeons & Dragons” game. Not because I find the rules to be particularly good, or that I find it very innovative. The reason why I like “Dungeons & Dragons” is actually simpler than that. It was the first game that REALLY got to me.

I was 9 years old when I first got introduced to it, and after that my life turned into a blur of elves, knights, and wizards until I suddenly realised I had completed high school and needed to “choose a path for my life”…. so what did I do? I began studying to make video games about elves, knights, and wizards….

But, along the way I have encountered lots of games that I find far superior to the “Dungeon & Dragons” game – however, when the newest version was released, I HAD to get it.

I have finished reading through it now, and there are some very interesting game mechanic changes in it. First of all most of the game is now focused on combat. All skills, all level increases, and all items make you better in combat – there is no pseudo system for RP’ing (like the good old illusion wizard spells). Either you fight, or you make up some sort of RP that leads you into a fight…

There has been a lot of discussion about if this is a good thing or not, but personally, at the moment, without actually having played the game yet, I find that the system looks like it has been improved. Combat seems to be more streamlined because of the singular focus on it, and the classes and races also seem to be very well balanced. For the first time in any “Dungeon & Dragons” version, the paladin and ranger class are actually a class of their own, and not just a weakened version of the Fighter class.

So now that I have read through the rules the next logical step would be to actually play the game. However age (aka “A life”) is catching up to me and my usual RP group, so we simply haven´t been able to find time to get together and play (Damn you girlfriends, work, and children – where did the days when we could meet up every weeknight go?!). So I have done something drastic, I have found an RP group seeking players, and on Monday I will be going to their Den of RP to play.

This means that on Monday I will actually get to play “Dungeons & Dragons” in its newest edition – and I am very psyched about it.

I am hoping to once again end up in a world of elves, knights and wizards – because it really is the best place I know…..and yes, of course I will be blogging about my hands on experience with the new rules.

I just came across this incredible “blog” by Joss Whedon, the guy who has made Buffy the Vampire slayer, and more importantly, Firefly. It´s a sing-along-blog… or in truth, its a short movie series that will only be online for a very limited time, to show that it´s possible to produce high quality video entertainment, for free, online.

You should check it out, its over at http://www.drhorrible.com/ - it will only be there for a very limited time, so you better hurry up!

So far I have always been a firm believer of Internet Explorer. I have always shyed away from Firefox because I didn´t like its user interface, and because I always ended up having to redo HTML so it could be viewed properly in it (back when I didn´t care much about if my sites could render properly I non IE browsers – those where the days).

However a few days back I installed the newest edition of Firefox and – well – Internet Explorer 7 went out the Window. But why?

I actually still prefer the interface of Internet Explorer 7 compared to the one in Firefox 3. However what really made me switch was all the add-ins available to Firefox. The vast amount of add-ins, and the effectiveness of them simply overruled the add-ins I´ve been using for Internet Explorer. I´ve even gone away from using FeedDemon to do my RSS reading, to now using the add on “Sage-too” for Firefox.

But here is the list of the add-ins I am now using on Firefox, and a short description of what they do.

Adblock Plus – a very effective add blocker program. I´m getting very tired of the Flash banners where the sound starts playing when I accidently put my curser over it. Adblocker completely removes all the banners when I want it too.

Dictionaries – I do a lot of internet forum posts, and incorporating dictionaries into my browser is just an awesome idea….and it’s free.

Firebug – an amazing web development tool that lets you check out the code on a website and lets you see what the hell you´ve done wrong.

Foxmark – a bookmark synchroniser, so I can now have the same bookmarks on all the machines I use (which is about 5 at the moment)

Hyperwords – and absolutely amazing add-in. It lets me instantly search for a word on Wikipedia, IMDB, dictionaries, Amazon, and whatever else I want it too. It’s highly customizable, and I am finding that I am constantly using it – gone are the days where you didn´t know what a word meant…oh…and it also does translations…

IE tab – an IE 7 renderer…so you can watch those IE only pages from inside Firefox 3. It even does the Windows Update site if you want it too.

PDF Download – gone are the days when Acrobat tries to open PDF files in the browser window. This add-in makes sure they are downloaded, so you can open them locally.

Sage-too – a very nifty RSS reader. The only thing missing with it is a pop-up that alerts me when news has arrived.

Screen-Grab – lets me save browser screenshots, parts of the browser window, or text, as image files with a single click. Very convenient.

Search Status – lets you know the PageRank and Alexa rank of all sites you visit. Also incorporates instant “whois” and lots of other features to let you know the what/where info of all sites you visit.

StumbleUpon – a very neat plugin that lets me share my favourites with my friends, but also suggests new sites for me according to my preferences and browsing history. So far it has been helping me find sites about stuff I like to read about, without me ever searching for those sites. It’s pretty amazing.

Posting links to all the add-ins would take me a long time…so if you need any of them just do a search…. or start by installing the Hyperwords add-in and just click on the add-in names in this post

So today I turn 24 for the third time, and will be spending the day out in the sun (hopefully) and out eating Sushi with my girlfriend.

If you should feel like sending me random gifts, I am always in need of new game, hardware, foreign vacations, and a new car or perhaps a Zune or an Iphone;-)

And now…for the Sushi I go!