#48. One Step Toward Gaming Industry

Insert "Been a while" comment here.

No, seriously. It has been a while and I have gone through whole lotta transition in my life. Something that I've never expected in my life, not at least in this kinda form.

Okay, long story short. Weirdo Whoever is now an employed member of a game developer/publisher, as an aspiring manager-in-training.

Before you ask (not that anyone care), it's not exactly a big company. But it's probably one of the best shot I could make, at least for myself. The people are nice (which is surprisingly hard to come by), what little that can be explicitly called as my "talents" actually pays off (in fact, the only reason they employed this n00b was those little "talents" that I have never appreciated in my life), and my office is near the station and some good eateries I've had since like last two years or so.

But most important thing is, I like the job. It's fun.

I had this sensation of actually learning something, something that I've been forgetting ever since I graduated high school. Even back in my freelance life, which I kinda sorta appreciated (probably the easiest way to feed yourself without tough works aside from overnight bonanza), I had this feeling that I was sucked into a vortex of ever grinding myself into a translator machine.

Not here. Everything I learn anew, and every single concept fascinates me. It's like I just wandered into a massive multiplayer online sandbox and suddenly stumbled into a developer's secret debugging room.

My boss is a nice person. No, that came out wrong. So far everyone in the job is a nice person. Most of them are experienced workers, some of them have actually kickstarted their own games once in their lifetime, and I'm just a newbie who get to see their ropes. Lucky me.

Hope it pays off in the long run, just like it already paid off in the short run so far. For like third or maybe like second time in my life (I can't remember the first, but I do know it's all over by now), I'm actually making progress. End transmission.

#47. Differentiating Hybrids

Been a while. Things happened here and there, but they're all irrelevant so I won't write the whole thing here. Let's just say that I am going through a transition here, and let's just get down to business.

So as I've been working on D&D homebrews and critiques, I had some thoughts on myself. One thing I took interest, while talking with my peers and colleagues (if I can call them that), was the matter of hybrid classes. So after almost like half a century of trials and errors, the "class" system typically divides a character into some roles: Tank, DPS, bruiser, buff/debuff, heal, and so forth. Most classes can do only a handful of things by themselves, as far as multiclassing or whatnot is not concerned. Then there's hybrid classes, whose shticks are to step on toes of more than a class would normally do.

The problem of hybrid classes, especially in JRPG, is that they are jack of all trades but master of none. Take Red Mage from Final Fantasy, for instance. It is probably the archetypical JRPG hybrid class, who can do all melee swordfight, healing spells, and damaging spells, but none of them are as good as dedicated, or "pure," classes. And as an archetypical JRPG hybrid class, its flaw is shared among many JRPG hybrid classes: It starts strong with diversity, but ends up mediocre due to its lack of specialty.

"Specialty" is the word I'm looking for here. Many hybrid class fails to acknowledge that, whatever fancy fluffs they can provide, what matters most is their specialty, as in, something that can answer the question "So what can I not do without this class?" I've been hitting 'round the bush on this part, because hell, I am a fan of hybrid claass myself, but only recently did I find a suitable answer for myself. I found that answer from, yet again, D&D: The very existence of paladin class.

Take paladin. Your typical tank/bruiser/heal hybrid. Easy peasy. But what makes a paladin different (note that it's not good or bad that counts; it's always different) from a fighter/cleric multiclass? Currently in 5th ediiton, a paladin gains access to a number of unique benefits that only it can provide: A list of exclusive spells, Divine Smite, aura features, and super saiyan 20th-level feature. Of course some classes can gain a fascimile of these stuffs, but without that, only paladin can grant these benefits and therefore has its niche.

So ironically, a hybrid class must be specialized in its own way, while providing multiple benefits that a combination of lower-tier classes would provide. The aforementioned Red Mage has Dual Cast, which is an exclusive feature that only the class could grant, but my disdain is that it is the only feature that makes it different and it comes too late.

So yeah. Maybe I can take this into consideration when I make something that at least is corporeal. End transmission.

#46. Oh Japan and Your Shoddy Novels

Before I begin, almost all links on this particular post is either in Japanese or related to Japanese materials. If you ever clicked any of them and are lost in translation, trust me, you are completely normal.

I must confess, I am not a fan of so-called Japanese light novels. I don't read them on a regular basis, I only have like four books in my bookshelf and is starting to regret ever buying those. It's just not my thing.

Now, normally I won't whine on things I don't care at all, but these days I had some curiosity on what the hell is going on all those Japanese light novel market. Of course there's another world this, another world that, a truck runs over you and you reincarnate in (take a wild guess) another world, that all just happened. I read through the very same theme when I was like fifteen, so it was actually a surprise to me. I thought that thing was all past things. (What didn't surprise me was the titles, which are now almost always one or more sentences. With ten words or more. I miss the good ol' single-to-double word titles.)

But seriously, recently things get way too much. Last summer I saw some bloke wrote what he thought was clever but was stupid was hell, something like what, 300 normal soldiers going on a siege against 5,000 demonic warriors? And he called it "a genius tactic?" Anyone with the slightest idea of Lanchester's square law will see how unrealistic and stupid this is, seriously. I took a look at what the hell was going on and had to scrub my eyeballs to get rid of what I just witnessed.

And there's this, what was the title again? Second Life in Another World or something. That thing was going to be anime'd but actually cancelled? Because the work has a protagonist who massacred thousands of Chinese in the war, and the author tweeted something chauvinistic? I know Japan is all messed up as of these days, but if a chauvinistic half-writer can be a million-selling author, I think almost all hopes are lost. (Amateur Tip, because I am not a professional writer: Perhaps it's best not to cause international controversy based on your so-called patriotism, which, as Samuel Johnson has said, is "the last refuge of a scoundrel.")

So that got my attentions at last. Recently I made an account on Syosetsuka Ni Narou, probably the biggest online novel site in Japan. I took some look at the recent hits, and had to scrub my eyeballs off to get rid of what I just witnessed. (Good thing I had some leftover bleaches from previous incident.) I mean, I'm no writer myself, just a generic weeaboo/gamer hybrid with some taste at fantasy genre, and I'm not even a native Japanese speaker/writer/reader/whatever, but hell, I can write a masterpiece if my future competitions are all... these. No, seriously. Japanese media was one of my greatest fascination when I was young, but these days, they keep disappointing me. All the wonders they showed me with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (yes, this is a Jojo reference), Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, Shin Megami Tensei, everything... It's not there. Not at least in this so-called Narou-kei novels. It's just sad to have this feeling that you finally get to meet your childhood idol and find him/her all fat, old, lazy, and uninteresting. That's how I feel now.

If they can do it, I can. If I actually do it, then it's the end of Japanese subculture literature. End transmission.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Racial Subclasses

Another homebrew article I failed to update. Desperate, I scratched the bottom of what I think is my font of homebrew ideas. At least I think I came up with something that at least makes sense, or is it just me? I can't be so sure.

The WWPD&D document "Racial Subclasses" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whover Plays D&D: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Hello, darkness, my old friend... And this time, I'm doing it right!

I'm catching up with what I missed to update. I've been working on some cleric and paladin subclasses, and I mashed 'em up into a single WWPD&D article, with hurried spells for both classes. Yes, that's right, I'm running out of ideas.

The WWPD&D document "Hallowed Be Thy Name" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: Re-Imagining Psionics

Let's face it, I'm not the only one who is disappointed with how Mystic turned out. Which is why I've been working on almost complete overhaul of psionics for, I dunno, months? And now I think I came up with what I would enjoy.

The WWPD&D document "Re-Imagining Psionics" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.

Weirdo Whoever Plays D&D: The Scion

Hello, darkness, my old friend... Oh wait, wrong way to start a blog post.

So this is my old shame, my old nemesis, and my old ambition. The very first full class homebrew I attempted, struggled on, almost given up on, and finally finished. I give you... wait for it... the Scion.

The WWPD&D document "The Scion" can be found here (Google Docs) or here (GM Binder).

The entire WWPD&D documents can be found here.