Sunday is the time to rediscover the joy of bouncing a tennis ball off the bedroom wall. When was the last time you hit a ball? I recommend it. Sometimes I play a game with myself where I say, “If I jump up and catch this ball 10 times in a row, I will win a million pounds.” Then I get to five and hit myself in the face. Every time. If you are able to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat, tell me your secret after reading the collection of interesting articles and fiction below.
Somewhere south of Paris, a group of carpenters, artists, blacksmiths, basket weavers, historians and archaeologists spent almost 30 years building a castle, just as people built castles in the old days. Ben O'Donnell wrote it all for Archaeological Journalwith sexy photos of fortifications. I know there are fans of medieval stonework among RPS readers. Go there and fix them. I'm sure you could build this castle in six months with enough money to declare war on Belgium.
The project started in 1998 with a simple task: to build a thirteenth-century castle using only thirteenth-century tools, techniques and materials. Medieval archaeologists will give recommendations. And it was hoped that every obstacle would reveal something that historians, architectural researchers, archaeologists and castellologists, or scholars specializing in the study of castles did not know. “In Guedelon we are looking for something that has disappeared in traditional archaeology,” says Florian Renucci, a master mason and longtime site manager at Guedelon, who formerly worked as a researcher at the University of the Sorbonne. “Experimental archeology means putting into practice what workers can do. We are always looking, hearing, feeling. Now, thanks to our work, the castle can speak.”
The most voted works in this year's Annual Interactive Fiction Competition were announced. There are stories about Phobos turning into a rocket, detective mysteries set in a fantastical 17th-century Venice, didactic speculative fiction about the current NSFW crusade, and exolinguist stories that feature “an interactive score that creates itself as you play.” There's plenty of choice. I only checked a couple. First place goes to Ben Jackson Detrituswhich has a resource control element – here is a short description:
Lost in deep space, your cargo ship has suffered a catastrophic hull failure. The engines are turned off, the AI is silent, the crew is not visible… and this is just the beginning of your problems. Explore the remains of an abandoned ship. From fragmented memories, discover what happened to the crew and piece together the events that led to the disaster. Find codes, hack keypads, and overcome biometric locks to get engines running again. The ship is filled with debris; use it to help you survive. You may find the truth you seek among the rubble.
IN VittlesSasha Patel and Ben Jacob produced an internal report into working conditions at British coffee chain Gail's following its acquisition by private equity, linking it to discrimination in Gujurat.
Since the takeover, Gail's has more than doubled the number of its branches and its parent company has nearly tripled annual revenue, while its cafe employees report increasingly deteriorating working conditions and poor management. In July, Novara's report alleged understaffing, overwork, union-busting and the use of CCTV to intimidate workers, which Gayle denied. Even as these allegations begin to reach the public consciousness, what is still missing from the story is how the company is expanding its operations by relying on recently arrived migrant workers from South Asia.
From Maddie Myers at Endless modea close reading of Super Metroid's sound design. I think some of the analysis is a bit straightforward: “this means that,” but I like how Maddie breaks down the silences in the game. I constantly kick myself for not taking audio into account in my reviews. Metroid is also good, isn't it? They should make more of these and put them on PC.
In addition to pure silence, large portions of the Super Metroid soundtrack use long, sustained, low notes reminiscent of the industrial sounds of machine hums. There are also songs with very sparse percussion intros, allowing the musical score to sound more like the background noise of clanging cars rather than recognizable melodies. It's only when the actual tunes begin to play that the player realizes that the sounds they were hearing were part of a musical score, and not just sound effects that accompany any dangerous area Samus explores. These minimalistic songs, punctuated by certain moments of silence, allow the more energetic and dynamic music cues – during boss battles, time escapes, etc. – to feel much more dramatic.
IN Fascinating stories about old video gamesDrew Mackie shows up about 39 years later to ask what the hell is going on with Bubble Bobble. This was posted three weeks ago, but I thought it was too funny not to include it. It just keeps going.
To summarize, two twin boys (both ten years old) who are dating two twin girls (also ten years old) go into a magical forest where they are accosted by Super Drunk, who kidnaps the girls but also turns the boys into magical dragons whose special bubble powers ultimately lead to his own demise, whereupon it is revealed, to everyone's surprise, that Super Drunk was actually Bub and Bob's own mother and father, fused together Crystal Gem style into one. body at some unspecified point in time before the game's plot takes place.
If I had explained this basic framework to my therapist as a story I had written, I think he would have really understandable follow-up questions about my relationship with my parents, the role of alcohol in my family growing up, and quite possibly the trauma that I might have sublimated into a tale that uses some archetypal imagery, as well as a lot of weird stuff that just doesn't make much sense.
Thanks to our colleagues at The Gamer who were fired this week as a result of Valnet's clowning operation. I wish good luck to all of you, as well as the remaining authors and editors.
Music? Hmm, maybe another wandering Balamb Garden.
