No Spoilers.
I really liked the sentiment behind this, and think that it probably has a lot of application beyond game design.
Focus on second-to-second play first. Nail it. Move on to minute-to-minute, then session-to-session, then day-to-day, then month-to-month (and so on). If your second-to-second play doesn’t work, nothing else matters. Along these lines, if your day-to-day fails, no one will care about month-to-month, either.
(via Applied Game Design)
One night over the holidays, Krissie became obsessed with trying to watch Four Christmasses when she found out that her visiting sister hadn't seen it.
Easy enough, right?
We started by checking Fios On Demand, no luck.
Then we checked Netflix streaming. Nope.
So then we checked a streaming movie rental app on our new interwebtastic TV. Not there either.
Next came Apple TV, negative (good news since I didn't want to finance a movie rental from Apple).
Hulu Plus app on our TV? Nah.
Xbox 360 video? No dice.
There we were, with an embarrassment of streaming technology and the expectation that we should be able to instantly watch ANYTHING in MIND-NUMBINGLY beautiful High Definition, for FREE, no less.
And it was then, in the midst of our outrage, that I realized that up until very recently, maybe a year or two ago, streaming movies was the stuff of science-fiction. People were burned at the stake as witches for even suggesting the that they could conjure movies on their TV using the Internet…much less at a resolution even remotely watchable. Animated GIF? I hope you're on a university ethernet connection, bud.
Didn't the future used to be more interesting for longer? Nintendo was amazing for YEARS! Now I have 10,000 songs in my pocket and I'm annoyed that I can only download a podcast if I'm connected to Wifi.
I guess it's really just this.
When I went to Virginia Tech, I had some engineers as roommates, but they never made anything as cool as this VT engineer (I'm assuming he's an engineer). Granted, the iPhone wasn't even a sparkle in Steve Jobs' wallet yet, so I guess they get off on a technicality. Although let's be honest, if they were worth their salt they would've invented the iPhone to make this happen.
I am sort of curious about how long you have to wait before opening the beer after it's been dropped a foot into a firing mechanism before being violently launched through the air.
I've written about Stupid Fun Club before. I still don't know what they do, but they are at the very top of the list of places that I would love to work if I wouldn't ruin them.
Manifesto
Across a land hardened of past, Before the hazy cloud of future, We state to you, the artists, creators, consumers, deciders, technologists, and sentient ones, our words of stupidity, our ideas of fun, and our intentions of club.
The world is an ever expanding sphere of knowledge with paths going in every direction like lightning splitting infinitely into the black universe. As animals we choose our path, consciously or not, causing reactions that effect ourselves, other beings, the economy, the environment and ultimately the universe. Every choice that is made has mammoth consequences, given time, and as humans one can only assume responsibility for certain somatic outcomes. Checking email, going to work, eating dinner, spending time with family, and participating in hobbies are basic goals that many humans share. These goals, though they may seem minute in relation to the universe, are humanly possible, for humans can only be humans and nothing more while operating unassisted.
Technology (computers, robots, and science) has advanced quite rapidly in the past 50 years and will continue to grow exponentially. It is difficult for most to keep up; this will only get harder as time passes. Therefore, as a company, and more importantly as a club, the Stupid Fun Club (SFC) strives to work for the human and for the robot in creating complete symbiotic unity between the two. It is paramount that the SFC and it's members (cadets) complete this goal as it is necessary for the survival of the Earth-centric universe; including human, animal, plant, rock, soil, water, gas and atmosphere. We therefore attest the following:
FIRST: Robots are our friends.
SECOND: Cadets and robots make an alert decision to work in unity.
THIRD: Cadets attain the following characteristics; stupidity, funness, and club solidarity.
FOURTH: Stay above and beyond the evolution of technology.
FIFTH: All forms of technology, no matter how old, are treated with respect.
SIXTH: Use technology consciously to spare the environment any unnecessary stress.
SEVENTH: Form an anonymous army; perpetuating SFC ideals, not promoting them.
EIGHTH: Provides products not opinions, and shall be kept from public controversy.To the unity of man and machine.- Stupid Fun Club