Like a proud parent at graduation, I have been snapping pictures of our first online advertising campaign. I know it is silly, but I am very proud that our team has managed to do what we have done in the last year. Our first major advertising campaign is a big deal, to me especially.

Here are some screenshots of our ads on our favorite online magazine, The Escapist.

Here we see our advertising on the Warcry Network right beside an article on sci-fi games and below an EVE: Online ad.

It is a lot of fun to see our ads out in the wild, on websites that we all read and love. Look to see us in more places in the coming weeks!

So, the fine crew over at the Internode Games Network pulled us aside a while back and asked us some questions about our company and what we are doing.

It was a fun process doing an interview, over email and across time-zones. ( The Internode Games Network is down in Australia. ) It's mostly talk about Verse: Tactics, with a little bit of chatting about our white-paper on economics and Fool's Gold.

Take a spin over are read what we have to say about ourselves.

We've integrated Newton Game Dynamics into Ogre3d for our physics solution, and it's been a real learning experience to say the least. I was lucky enough to have snagged a complete printed copy of the GDC 2007 Tutorial on Game Physics Development handout, as far as I'm concerned a one of a kind collection of knowledge for how to implement physics in games. It's a collection of slideshows presented by a bunch of very smart people, all of which are listed here. The material for the tutorial is all here.

Anyway, it's been invaluable to have this wonderful reference available as I try and write code for things like limiting thrust as you reach your top speed, Auto-Guidance systems which need to know when to start slowing down before they overshoot their destination, and how we're going to deal with things like shells traveling through space at high rates of speed, which is, as it turns out, a form of rocket science. Fortunately these guys are heroes on the topic.

We are going to open source our engine (sooner rather than later, watch this space for more), so as part of that effort we'll be releasing our collective findings on what you need to know to do it yourself, but really it's nothing Jim Van Verth doesn't cover much better in his tutorials.

Thanks Jim. Next time we're in the same place at the same time, look me up and I'll buy you a pint.

My sketchbook now works with Windows Vista!

But which version is the real question...

I do so love stickers...

Our buddy Corvus has asked,

How important are stories to video games? Does your favorite game have an inherent story or not? Would it be better if it did have one or didn’t have one? Do you prefer games which allow you to tell your own story, or ones which provide a compelling story for you?

In my mind the answer to this takes on a dichotomy of sorts, because a video game is either aimed at telling a story in one form or another, OR it's a toy. Both are very valid and have their place in my mind.

I LOVE toys. I can still remember playing Pong when it first came out. Beating each other virtually gave us infinite excuses to be together in the same room and focused on the same thing, sharing in our losses and successes, and it required no story what so ever to be the most compellingly fun video game I had ever played before. Pac Man required no storytelling at all to be mentally challenging on entirely new levels, and I didn't even remember that the Mario Bros. (the original, not Super), were in fact brothers, let alone plumbers probably until I witnessed the horrible and scaring live action show of a similar name, where they took an otherwise wonderful experience and tried to do some of the most embarrassingly bad storytelling I've witnessed since Small Wonder (the one about the little girl robot, wikipedia it). And speaking of the Super version, I doubt it would have been any less fun if there was no princess at the end, and just completing the game was your reward, if this can even be considered storytelling.

So arguably storytelling can be completely absent from video games, and they can very much stand on their own right. Jonathan Mak (hey buddy!) said at GDC 2007 about his creation Everyday Shooter, (and I may be paraphrasing here, but I think he'll forgive me) "I made it this way because I like video games like this." and I think he's right on: If that's what you're feeling, go with it.

And on the far end of that spectrum, you have one of my personal favorite genres, the game designed to do nothing but tell a story, the poor downtrodden and mishandled Adventure Game genre, may Roger Wilco's soul rest in peace (disclosure: I worked on the SQ7 project). I just heard Telltale got $6 million... fantastic job guys!

But back to the point: I LOVE games with storytelling. Storytelling adds depth in the same way game mechanics adds breadth. Great examples of this are places where storytelling has been integrated with a typical FPS to bring about a whole new genre: the Adventure FPS. Half Life 1 and 2, Prey, Doom 2 and 3... they all stuck with me for reasons much more significant than how many monsters I killed, or what nifty new weapons were available. I remember having to turn on the lights and go for a walk after playing Doom 3 alone at night... It may not be much for plot, but the story mechanics being used were nothing short of terrifying, and it had everything to do with my firm belief that I really was walking into the gates of hell, as made very clear to me repeatedly through the compelling character driven interactions. It was identical game mechanics to any other FPS, but it was completely life altering because of the mood it brought you into, forcing you to literally look over your shoulder in real life, because someone is yelling at you to in the game.

I purposefully picked a game with a real lack of what most would consider a strong plot to illustrate in my last example. Prey took it to a whole new level for that genre as far as telling a story goes.

I must pay homage to the text games, for it is their root. Zork could do nothing except provide a story for you to interact with, and it even did that poorly, but it's still considered groundbreaking. Infocom refined their art of semi-liner storytelling in games over the years before video killed the radio star. MUDs, MOOs, and MUSHes are often focused on nothing but, and often the case here is this wonderful mix of pre-determined storytelling and collaborative story-making seamlessly integrated into this model of semi-controlled and often moderated expression.

A game with good storytelling is like a life partner: They're fun, sexy in their own unique way, challenging and mentally stimulating, you learn from them, they make you smile, they make you cry, and you're life wouldn't be the same without them. They lift you up and change how you see things, they draw you into their world, and when you leave your never quite the same.

And a toy video game is like a friend: It's there when you need it, and it's not when you don't. It'll challenge you, but not in a committal way that makes you rethink your own perspective. It'll make you smile, but not in a dreamy sort of way. It'll change your life, but only very subtly.

I couldn't imagine video games just telling a story, or just allowing you to tell one, and I definitely don't have a strong preference for one over the other. Rather I see a strong need for both, and all shapes and flavors in between.

So, the question posed by Corvus for the BotRT this month is How important are stories to video games.

They aren't. At the highest level definition of a video game, they are absolutely unimportant.

You can have a fantastic game without a lick of story. ( Pong, Pac-Man, Everyday Shooter, Ant Buster... ) I am talking in a very broad sense here, certainly there are video games such as Myst in which story is critical to the success and functionality of the game, but video games in general can, and do, survive quite nicely with a total absence of story.

Story is important to... I want to use the term 'genre' here, but it in itself implies story, so I am going to use 'species' here. Story is important to the species of the game. It is a subset of what makes up games. Visualize it like a spectrum where one end has a complete absence of story, and the other is all story. Story helps define what species of game you are dealing with, but you still have a game without it, just like you have a mammal whether you are looking at a bat or an elephant.

As a follow up to my adventures in physics, I did get everything that I was trying to do working... but not without my fair share of mishaps along the way.

I have some advice for people who are hitting their heads against a physics engine and why it's not working the way you're expecting it to:

No, seriously... did you divide by your timestep?

I'm headed off to Under the Radar tomorrow. Just reading through the list of attendees it looks like I'll have more than a few friends there.

I'm hoping to make some more money contacts in the southern California area, so we'll see how the Gods of Funding shine on me.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

So, I come in to work this morning to find an article on games.internode about CCP bringing on an economist. Not a big surprise, it's not the first time I've heard them having an economist floating around the offices. Each month that goes by the writing on the wall is getting bigger and in snazzier colours. People in the industry seem to be waking up to the fact that there is something powerful in 'game economies'.

I for one am glad to see it. I'll leave this discussion at that, least I become pedantic on game economics.