vidconclass
Seriously though, lawnmower sim is maybe my favorite SB vidconclass name. itâs so useful and any time I have used it, people instantly know what you mean with only the slightest explanation.
Yeah I love using lawnmower sim as a descriptor
is âlawnmower simâ about going back and forth sucking up map icons in Ubisoft games?
yes exactly that
An apex of the form is Crackdown 1, where they served as micro-platforming challenges.
In general I think these are descended from collectabobs in the dead 3D platformer genre; their primary purpose is to give the player cause to poke into corners and notice micro bits of level design but theyâre too often placed without thought or wit.
And you canât build levels if you canât tell a joke.
is Crackdown 1 at all acknowledged as an influence on Shadow of Mordorâs Nemesis system? The way the gangs were organized such that each gang leader had a distinct and specific influence on their control of the island as a whole and the order you take them out alters the feel of later locations; killing the weapons dealer will mean the gang will be using cheaper weapons, etc
Seems like itâs coming at a similar problem from a different direction. Personally, I didnât feel like the changes to the gangs were pronounced enough that replaying while taking bosses out in a different order was sufficiently meaningful.
Not that Iâm aware of but itâs worth asking! Nemesis was envisioned at the start or Mordorâs development but that project coalesced as a fusion of a canceled Assassinâs-tinged Batman game and a canceled Lord of the Rings game and the stamping out of any multi-game development as the ruins of Surreal, Snowblind, and Monolith existing in WB Games Seattle reasserted as a one-project studio, Monolith, with one last shot at a game before closure.
Itâs why the codename for Mordor was Project Firebird.
And there are plenty of ex-Microsoft Studios folk here and plenty at that time, too.
It was a notable highlight for me, but not for replaying so much as choosing which goals to pursue. If I felt that each encounter had too many people, I would target the recruiter, if I was annoyed by all their rocket launchers I would go after the weapons dealer, etc
Can we next focus our energies on developing a suitable replacement for âblobberâ? It is a term used on rpgcodex to describe any first-person, party-based dungeon crawler with tile-based movement. They use it for everything from Dungeon Master to Might and Magic.
In my Taxonomy of Dungeon Crawlers I separate real-time games from turn-based but donât categorize based on movement style. I also donât have any good genre names. The best Iâve come up with is Wizardy-likes and Dungeon Master Clones. Together, these would include all the blobbers plus similar games without tile-based movement. I do think there is some merit to grouping the tile-based games together, so Iâm not opposed to that.
Blobber is almost as bad as shmup, so I need your help SB!
How about âHopscotch-em-upsâ due to the square hopping
What does âblobberâ even refer to?
I hope itâs Bullet Lobber.
Itâs supposed to represent the fact that the whole party moves together as one inseparable blob.
Gridcrawler? Itâs evocative and reminiscent of the tabletop gaming term âHexcrawlâ which refers to exploring a fantasy world one hex at a time.
I like it!
Yeah thatâs an odd one especially because the blob party movement doesnât distinguish it from many other party-based RPGs
âŚAre there first person tile-based âgridcrawlersâ that use hexagonal tiles?