Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! Zornhaw! Zornhaw! Zornhaw!

Music
Movies
Microcode (software)
High-speed pizza delivery

Already done.


/and unless he figures out how to resolve the weight of a weapon vs weight of a control vs frequency of your swings...its going to utlimately end up just like it too

It can't work. How do you block? In the game your sword will be stopped by your opponent, and in real life it will have just ploughed straight through your TV.

theorellior: The System of the World Trilogy was nothing but just-so-stories populated with a constellation, nay, a galaxy of Marty Stu characters.

Thanks. Saves me the trouble of reading them!

He wants to create a RL two handed longsword to be used first in PC Arena Dueling game.

But first, here's five pages about square waves as illustrated by ants and sidewalks.

skodabunny: It can't work. How do you block? In the game your sword will be stopped by your opponent, and in real life it will have just ploughed straight through your TV.

Gyroscopes!

skodabunny: It can't work. How do you block? In the game your sword will be stopped by your opponent, and in real life it will have just ploughed straight through your TV.

How do you execute the wrestling moves so common in the instruction manuals? There will be some trade offs, just like gun controllers without recoil. Apparently the funding is for the research, though, so it's not like they have a complete, finished idea and just need some bucks to manufacture it. Maybe they'll start out with a game & controller where blocking is just less frequent. I'm a bit behind on my Internet Tough Guy Magazine reading, but wouldn't some basic kenjitsu apply? No half-swording = no blade needed (can balance it properly without it), more evasion and foot work than blocking. Also, probably more fanbois than WMA styles.

I need to move into a bigger apartment with a higher ceiling, once they come out with the Zweihänder version.

"Ninety-nine percent of everything that goes on in most Christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion. Intelligent people all notice this sooner or later, and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshiat, which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds."

The fun of playing at swords isn't merely swinging a piece of plastic around. And despite what Mr. Stephenson wants to raise half a million bucks for, swordplay games don't suck because we're missing the adherence to medieval swordplay manuals.

The whole reason kids play with sticks is all about the primal, tactile feedback you get when they clash together, and the opportunity to smash the everloving crap out of each other. Sorry, Geeks, there won't be a good lightsaber game in your lifetime that doesn't require someone to stand right next to you. And at that point, you don't need the game in the first place.

This kickstarter, like so many others, is going to end with one disappointed project organizer, or legions of disappointed funders.

I just want a weekend in the sword fighting warehouse. How much for that?

Amper: The whole reason kids play with sticks is all about the primal, tactile feedback you get when they clash together, and the opportunity to smash the everloving crap out of each other. Sorry, Geeks, there won't be a good lightsaber game in your lifetime that doesn't require someone to stand right next to you.

Just like we all went from cops & robbers to paintball, and FPS games were a pretty short-lived fad?

There's a pretty broad continuum of physicality for almost any activity. Shooting stuff or football are prime examples, martial arts themselves go from forever alone katas to full contact, with many a step in between. Heck, no real contact, game rules, no real weapons? That sounds an awful lot like Olympic fencing...

Im 99% certain that the guy hammering on the crowbar is Gabe Newell. Can someone confirm this for me?

I like the idea and the end vision, but I'm not so sure how doable it is in a practical sense. Honestly, am still looking forward more to the Shadowrun game and SpaceVenture game. At least those have an idea where they're going, and the people capable of pulling it off.

Why would an airbender care about sword fighting?

Honest Bender: You had me at Neil Stephenson. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Yep

Well gotta hand it to him.

At least he has a better business plan than Curt Shilling!

That bald-headed fark should throw his own money into it instead of begging on the internet

theorellior: The System of the World Trilogy was nothing but just-so-stories populated with a constellation, nay, a galaxy of Marty Stu characters.

System of the World is the title of the third book, the trilogy is referred to as the Baroque Cycle, and one of the main characters is Half-Cocked Jack is an illiterate with syphilis, has questionable morality, and is far from the one dimensional Marty Stu stereotype as you are suggesting. You've managed to get the name of the trilogy wrong, claim different point of views that intersect along a narrative as just-so-stories, and misunderstand the term Mary Sue/Marty Stu. That's a lot for just one sentence, congrats.

I want to see this succeed just to see the amount of lawsuits that come from people farking their houses up when they smash shiat by accident with the sword.

If I had any money to give him, I'd ask him to shut up and take it.

semiotix: skodabunny: It can't work. How do you block? In the game your sword will be stopped by your opponent, and in real life it will have just ploughed straight through your TV.

Oh, you broke your TV with the giant-ass sword Neal Stephenson sold you? Guess you might as well curl up with a nice 1,100-page novel to pass the time.

Oh snap - someone just got reamde!

TheMadDefenestrator: /good friend of mine actually threw Snow Crash at me when he was done with it

And that's the story of your FARK name?

I like Neal, but that's seriously the worst Kickstarter rewards line up I've ever seen. A PDF? A poster at $250? Eh... no thanks.

After reading the rewards, I kind of wonder if it's a sarcastic Kickstarter. With Neal you never know.

I liked Snow Crash before it got all boring.

The best part of this is listening to my husband try to explain cyberpunk to our teenage daughter....

Tube: He wants to create a RL two handed longsword to be used first in PC Arena Dueling game.

But first, here's five pages about square waves as illustrated by ants and sidewalks.

I can see my work here is done.

Inconceivable!: I liked Snow Crash before it got all boring.

I was part of a book club that read both Snow Crash and Neuromancer.
I was the only one who liked Neuromancer more. Everyone else loved Snow Crash because 'Its got a girl as the lead character!' and 'I liked that part with the super strong japanese guy!' and 'Vagina needle!~1'

Also, nobody knew who the fark L. Ron Hubbard was.

I got about half way through his letter, where he says 'swords are fun, games don't do them justice, I want a more complicated scheme'. And quit. We've seen all that before, and it always ends with an ugly mess no one really enjoys.

I now have two questions: Does anyone know of any way to find, and get enrolled in, some type of weapon based combatative sport? I'm more interested in either small knife/blade fighting, or 2-handed longswords of the type he describes. Let's just say looking for this stuff in Dallas yields, at best, some creepy over the top 'defense system' gym type places that look as legit as 'Bobs house of sword training and pig feet'.

Second: Has he written anything recently that wasn't the Baroque (or similar) cycle? I liked his cyber stuff, but the historical fiction was just insanely dull and boring.

kroonermanblack: I now have two questions: Does anyone know of any way to find, and get enrolled in, some type of weapon based combatative sport? I'm more interested in either small knife/blade fighting, or 2-handed longswords of the type he describes. Let's just say looking for this stuff in Dallas yields, at best, some creepy over the top 'defense system' gym type places that look as legit as 'Bobs house of sword training and pig feet'.

For small knife/blade fighting, try looking at Eskrima.

t3knomanser: Hmm, I'd say you could get a decent light-saber game. Depending on how you define it, I'd argue we've had a few already- the control in Jedi Knight:II was incredibly fluid, especially for its era.

I guess I was a little vague, I meant that with regards to motion-control swordfighting. With the Kinect and Wii around, all I ever hear is "Why hasn't Lucas made a good motion-control light saber game?"

mhd: Just like we all went from cops & robbers to paintball, and FPS games were a pretty short-lived fad?

Your example is progressive, each of those improves on the concept of pretending you're a bad-ass soldier. Motion-controlled swordfighting, compared to swinging a stick at your friend's head, is several steps back.

mhd: Heck, no real contact, game rules, no real weapons? That sounds an awful lot like Olympic fencing...

Sure, this system could fill a role as a tool for those who are truly interested in the art and want to play around with a non-contact technical aid. But it's not going to work too well as a dueling game and will probably be financially infeasible without that. Gaming isn't about the athletic precision of kendo or fencing, most people just want to dream they're Obi-Wan. Just check out Tony Hawk's "Ride", the skateboarding game that lets you... stand on a fake skateboard. Those who don't already possess that skill get to grapple with an unfamiliar and unforgiving system, and those that do would probably rather do it without the hassle of trying to please some piece of software's exacting input recognition routine.

As to the lack of physical feedback: You can flail around in front of your TV like Star Wars Kid all you want, but it's not going to be as satisfying if you have to stifle your enthusiasm and hold back all your swings, just to keep yourself in-line with the game's definition of your avatar instead of doing what you really wanted to. That makes a pretty big dent in the reasons we play games in the first place: Immersion and escapism.

People can get pulled out of the experience when a few hundred milliseconds of network latency throws off their marksmanship in a shooter. Even assuming someone invents a perfect motion system that wastes no time in recognition and processing, a tactile-less swordplay system still doesn't even reach that. What about the second or two it takes you to realize that you missed Darth Vader's head, when he stuck his blade in the way at the last moment? He's already run you right up the middle because the computer player recovered from its block before you even knew you were stopped. Player versus player would be even worse, with the delays compounded between them.

First, you have to take stock of what happened in the absence of physical feedback, by quickly checking the screen, figuring out any differences, and reconciling what doesn't conform to your expectations. Then add in the time you lost while you continued carrying through even though your avatar stopped. Plus, you've got more space to move through to recover, since you're now stooped over at the middle instead of having your shoulders up where the block took place. You're going to have to compensate for players out of position with their avatars after an attack, yet make the system generous enough to tolerate rapid chaining actions like feints, counterattacks, and combination strikes.

I'd love to be proven wrong but until something changes in motion control, all we can expect from the system is an erratic, latency-ridden slapfight.

/Just started Snow Crash
//Hated Cryptonomicon, but constantly recommend people to read it