Have you ever wanted a selection, via radio inputs, to change the outcome of a submit button’s action?
For a simple solution, you may have come to the right place.
Amidst revisions to a web project at my job, I found myself needing to answer the above question. I had to demonstrate a relatively simple user-experience requirement: provide a list of radio inputs that would control the user’s destination once they hit a contextual “submit” button. Fortunately, one of our lead web developers walked me through an incredibly simple inline javascript solution. It worked on the first try, and it’s so simple that I felt compelled to share it.
“We realize people do not care about the size of these boxes, they hide them anyway. So we made a cube.”
- The Verge’s Ross Miller (from a live recap immediately following Sony’s Playstation 4 announcement)
Miller may have been playing the role of a Sony executive in the above joke, and maybe Sony executives have actually said something like it behind closed doors. Either way, they’d both be right.
We don’t often associate the word “computer” with the word “easy”, as easy as “a cube” makes it sound. Companies like Apple, Google, and even Microsoft now are spending most of their marketing and design budgets trying to remedy this stigma (and sometimes go too far). Meanwhile, boxes that were built to be more straightforward (video game consoles, for example) have been doing the opposite, spending the past decade-and-a-half adding features that first appeared on traditional computers: disc-based drives, the internet, buddy lists, digital markets, social networks, YouTube, etc.
Every other hardware developer may be going in the opposite direction of their competitors, but their compasses will eventually lead them all to the same place.
All my friends play video games,
and one of them joined me to talk about Kentucky Route Zero.
I’ve already written a post about Cardboard Computer’s debut of their new game, but this one calls for conversation. Today’s episode introduces the game and its unique design, artistic influences, ability to tell a story and connections to theatre & film. Kentucky Route Zero may be a haunting single-player experience, but it’s ripe for sharing.
You can catch the episode here:
All My Friends Play Video Games, 2 – Kentucky Route Zero: Act I
Hit the link to stream it, or right-click to download it directly (mp3).
CAST & CREDITS
My sole guest on this episode is Hilary Bovay, a talented artist & photographer based out of Rhode Island. She’s got a keen eye for visual storytelling, and her love for the original Crash Bandicoot is all you’ll ever need to know about her taste in video games.
The few musical numbers throughout the episode stem from the game’s soundtrack, which comes with the presale of all five acts.
All my friends play video games,
and together we made a podcast about it.
This first episode is all about the games of yesteryear, 2012. The bulk of our discussion revolves around our favorite gaming experiences including Google’s Ingress, Planetside 2, DotA 2 and Journey, along with honorable mentions for Day Z and Dishonored.
Aside from that, we chatted about some of the bigger leaps forward for video games this past year, such as the culture surrounding Kickstarter and videogames after funding so many of them, the “free-to-play” model, and what’s around the corner for 2013.
You can catch the episode here:
All My Friends Play Video Games, 1 – Games of 2012
Hit the link to stream it, or right-click to download it directly (mp3).
CAST & CREDITS
This episode’s cast feature my closest peers from The Cleveland Institute of Art’s game design program: Matthew Barton, Cory Hughart, Jim Wiser, and myself. We’ve certainly kept in touch since graduating in 2010, but it’s been awhile since we all sat down and talked strictly games.
Music throughout the episode is comprised of various songs by the recently late Jazz legend and musician, Dave Brubeck.
Photograph above by John Carey.
It’s a pretty long first episode, but I hope you enjoy our discussions and I’d be happy to know what you think in the comments below.
Last night I picked up and finished Act I of Kentucky Route Zero by Cardboard Computer, and just about every inch of its design satisfies my current appetite in video games.
Aesthetically, it’s a stunning game that reminds me of the stylistic work seen in both Team Fortress 2 and Limbo. It utilizes sharp lighting, silhouettes and limited color palettes to tell most of the story, while exaggerated geometry adds even more character to its society. It also manages to reference other forms of art, such as poetry and theatre, without interrupting itself as a game. Read more…
The Walking Dead PS3 | Telltale Games | December
One of the conversations my generation seems most ready to have is what they’d do in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
- Whose house doubles as a good fort?
- Which local store would have the best stockpile?
- Whose car gets away the fastest?
- What kind of weapons could we make from what’s sitting in the garage?
- Who would you band with, and where would you all rendezvous?
It’s a fun game to play, partly because there are no right or wrong answers, but mostly because you get to learn something new about the people around you. The Walking Dead runs with these sorts of questions while putting the safety of others in the mix, making each subsequent one more complicated than the last. It tells an excellent story about people you could relate to, and not just for being a game.
Dishonored PS3 | Arkane Studios | November
This was once a great city.
Or at least there are signs of it. Across the river are what use to be people’s homes – homes that are now used to avoid thug infested alleys and a corrupt police force running the suburbs. You can even find paintings on what walls are still standing, mostly of people filling the streets of Dunwall or ships importing goods.
It’s calming though, isn’t it? I’d often climb up here for the view between missions, but every vista in Dunwall is just that: a vista. The city is actually overrun with a rat plague. Looks can be deceiving. Read more…
I write about game design here, and also share the music I work on with occasional thoughts about interactive design. 
See what I'm working on at Dribbble.
