#second galaxy

There’s something brazen about the level of theft Second Galaxy performs vis a vis EVE Online that - much like a cocky dude with an incredibly terrible pickup line - will immediately turn some folks off entirely but lead others to go, “Okay, haha, wow” and give it a shot.

Like, they copied the geometric shorthand. I get copying “circles are planets, squares are humanmade structures” but “flat isosceles triangles are frigates” is kind of beyond the pale.

Similarly they copied a ton of the futurism. This leads to not only a similar set of mechanics but also a similar set of themes, as Space Mercantilism is not something merely emerging from EVE’s mechanics but also its story, its concept of what this future looks like, and the technology the player has access to.

Parts of my brain go for both of the responses to this terrible pick-up line.

As a person who designs games and has said that one of the biggest defenses designers have against random people stealing your ideas and making another game is the potential that they’ll be labeled an idea thief...well, I kind of want my labeling of Second Galaxy as an idea thief to mean something. To me.

But Also...I don’t think I’d be giving Second Galaxy a try if EVE itself hadn’t horribly disappointed me. Like, I tried EVE first, and I tried it multiple times, and I made an effort to like it. And there were just too many things that were not worth engaging with. Unavoidable PVP, with people who’ve been playing for months or years longer than you have. Long periods of doing nothing while mining but a strong chance that if you walk away you’ll be murdered. Difficulty restoring your character to a state playable at the level you’re interested in, on those occasions when you die.

So I was open to the possibility that Second Galaxy is a game born of frustration. I have designed games out of frustration with other games, and the DNA of the disappointing game I “stole from” is still visible in the product, though I do feel like I changed somewhat more than SG’s creators.

And...I feel like some of the things that frustrated me about EVE are absent in SG. For one thing I didn’t get murdered by another player in the whole time I was playing. That’s a plus. Also when I did die I was able to rebuild my ship using raw funds, without an involved process of ordering specialty parts and sending carriers all over the galaxy to gather them up just to reconstitute my “character” (that is, my ship).

There’s a snappiness to SG’s combat that seems like a plus at first but - and maybe this is personal preference - feels like more of a drawback the longer I play. The combats being quick and brutal is a nice match for the thrill of interstellar dogfights, but also I’ve died three times in the game and not once have I felt like I knew what happened or how I could have done something differently to make it not happen. Two of the three times I just went back in with the same ship and everything went fine the second try, and the third I deemed beyond my ship level and just left it alone.

I mean, I guess “the mission level was too high” is a form of “knowing what happened,” but also the missions have levels on them and it claimed to be at my level, so the “I don’t know what to do to avoid it next time” stands, because it’s not like I now have a way of avoiding walking into a similarly overpowered encounter without realizing.

This kind of problem - player comprehension of what’s leading to win/lose states - is one that gets brought up a lot in design videos, especially ones about strategy games. There are multiple parts to the whole “how often can the players make meaningful decisions” idea: The players understanding what’s going on, the players being able to impact what’s going on, and that impact leading to results that are different in a way the players care about.

(I include this third one to account for “false choices” in narrative games, where it turns out that refusing to shoot Pete “Dead Meat” Thompson yourself just means he’ll be eaten by zombies twenty seconds later. You’ve made a choice, but players who go through both of those options will only be satisfied with them as “different decisions” if they care more about the protagonist’s moral character than about Pete’s actual survival.)

Anyway.

The point I distracted myself from just now is that Second Galaxy doesn’t feel like it includes meaningful choices, because I tend to feel like either I can do everything (early on at least, you can buy every upgrade that your level allows, because the base currency is way too easy to get. I had six million by the time I could launch my first ship; The first round of upgrades cost 10k) so there’s no actual decision to make; or I feel like upgrades are so direct and obvious that no decisions are being made (do you want to equip Laser, or Good Laser? Deep decision-making!); or I feel like I don’t know what the hell happened so there probably is something that could be done differently but I don’t have a means of changing my behavior to match.

EVE Online’s slower combats - at least against similarly-leveled enemies; Enemy humans understand the tactical value of blitzing you so that you die before you can meaningfully respond - give you a sense of what’s going wrong with your existing build. Maybe you have no means of tackling, so the enemy ship can outpace you and pepper you with shots from inside their ideal attack range and outside yours. Maybe your build costs a lot of energy to run well, so your ship is really strong for about a minute but then basically gets winded. EVE has modules to swap in to deal with problems like this. It even has options for if you feel like you’ve got module slots to spare; You can add a scavenging node to make it so you can scrap your enemy ships more thoroughly once you’ve blown them up, and get extra goods.

I’m not 100% sure SG doesn’t get there, but it worked so hard to smooth the rough edges off of EVE that I’ve gotten kind of bored in the time I’ve spent on it, and I’m just not willing to put in the time to see whether it fixes those issues later. Even less so when a) they stole so much of their style from another game, and b) I keep seeing reviews of them saying that the deeper you get into the game the more things you find that are broken. I’ve already found some kind of issue where it constantly tells me there’s an upgrade to be had on my ship licensing and then I go there and there’s nothing. But that kind of flaw would apparently become even more commonplace if I gave SG more time.

I’m a Nerd and I’m okay, I play all night and I sleep all day, I read science journals, I eat my lunch I ride on the hover train (I wish). Welcome back to another exciting and fun filled episode from those whacky Nerds. First up this week we have a story about China influencing game studios to block any references to protests in Hong Kong. Obviously we weren’t approached, probably because of Buck’s rants. But this is kind of bad as it is enforcing the propaganda of a military regime. So please listen in and then go forth and show support for Hong Kong in its bid for democratic freedom from oppression. Viva la revolution!

Next up we look at news of resorts and hotels being planned for space. That’s right, hotels in orbit! You will be able to play basketball in one if you are so inclined. There is even mention of accommodation available on the ISS for a price, but no airport transfers, sorry. So if you know anyone expecting a return visit from aliens and wanting to avoid those pesky immigration queues then this might be just the ticket.

Then we look at the Emmy awards, particularly the creative side. They took place recently and there are some interesting winners to take a look at. There are the usual suspects that are to be expected, such as Game of Thrones, but also others such as “Age of Sail.” So take a look through the list and see who you like and also if there is something you like and we over looked it.

As always we have the shout outs, remembrances, birthdays, and special events from this week in history. We are planning on being at Supanova again this year, if you are let us know and we will be happy to see you. Until next time stay safe, take care of each other and stay hydrated.

EPISODE NOTES:

Hong Kong protest references removed in game - https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/d4brd7/mobile_game_second_galaxy_removing_guilds_with/

A Space hotel experience - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/fake-gravity-and-supersized-basketball-a-look-inside-the-space-hotel-experience/ar-AAHhTCr

2019 Creative Emmy Awards and the winners - https://deadline.com/2019/09/creative-arts-emmy-awards-2019-winners-list-1202734630/

Games currently playing

Buck

– The Orville Fan experience - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1096200/The_Orville__Interactive_Fan_Experience/

Professor

– Creeper World : Anniversary Edition - https://store.steampowered.com/app/422910/Creeper_World_Anniversary_Edition/

DJ

– Warframe - https://store.steampowered.com/app/230410/Warframe/

Other topics discussed

White Chicks (2004 American comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Chicks

Forensic Firearm exam (forensic process of examining the characteristics of firearms as well as any cartridges or bullets left behind at a crime scene.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_firearm_examination

Steam removes Devotion game

- https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18239937/taiwanese-horror-game-devotion-gone-steam-removed-winnie-the-pooh-meme-china

University of Queensland as students clashed over their views on China and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-24/uq-student-protest-anger-over-hong-kong-chinese-minorities/11343130

Shenmue 3 undergoing slight changes

- https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/09/shenmue-3-reportedly-undergoes-slight-alterations-for-chinese-localization/93134/?fbclid=IwAR3icI-5tQESFeT0-2G4i7Zgr_jhh89E8eJvjBQKaoA6eoGajwU7rIM1svM

Sony’s strict content censorship

- https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/04/23/sony-confirms-existence-of-strict-content-censorship-policy-regarding-playstation-4-releases/

AC/DC (Australian Band)

- https://www.sonymusic.co.uk/artists/acdc

Von Braun Station also known as Rotating wheel space station

- https://gatewayspaceport.com/von-braun-station/

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_wheel_space_station

Fly in Fly out (method of employing people in remote areas by flying them temporarily to the work site instead of relocating employees and their families permanently.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-in_fly-out

Launchbat (Bat hanging onto space shuttle)

- https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts119/launchbat.html

Space Elevator (proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

Space Station V (Largest orbital structure ever built. It featured an orbital hotel, run by Hilton Hotels; a Howard Johnson's restaurant; lounge areas; and picture phone booths. It was featured in 2001 : A Space Odyssey)

- https://2001.fandom.com/wiki/Space_Station_V

Age of Sails (2018 animated movie)

- IMDB page - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8908420/

- Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3HOcRayC8

Love, Death & Robots stylized as LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS (American adult animated science fiction anthology web television series on Netflix)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_Death_%26_Robots

If Memory Serves (Star Trek Discovery episode)

- https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/If_Memory_Serves_(episode)

It’s My Birthday (Thor Ragnarok scene)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8BBBJRxMk

Cutscene Saga (TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/cutscenesagapodcast

Imogen and Harrison Predict the Future (New TNC Podcast)

- https://thatsnotcanon.com/iahptfpodcast

Shoutouts

16 Sept 1959 - The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York, on live television from New York City. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_914

16 Sept 1976 – Armenian champion swimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir. While jogging alongside Yerevan Lake with his brother Kamo, also a finswimmer, Karapetyan had just completed his usual distance of 20 km when he heard the sound of a crash and saw a sinking trolleybus which had gone out of control and fallen from a dam wall. The combined effect of cold water and the multiple lacerations from glass shards led to Karapetyan's hospitalization for 45 days, as he developed pneumonia and sepsis. Subsequent lung complications prevented Karapetyan from continuing his sports career. He was awarded the Medal "For the Salvation of the Drowning" and the Order of the Badge of Honor. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavarsh_Karapetyan

16 Sept 2019 - Fisherman catches ‘alien’ fish with huge bulbous eyes off Norwegian island and ate it. Mr Oscar Lundahl, 19, was fishing for the blue halibut of Andoya in northern Norway, He nearly jumped out of his fishing boat when he saw the bizarre-looking species with bulbous eyes on the end of his line. The specimen is a ratfish, whose Latin name Chimeras Monstrosa Linnaeus is aptly derived from a Greek mythical monster that had the head of a lion and tail of a dragon. The fish — a relative of the shark that dates back 300 million years — live in deep water and are very rarely caught. Not wanting to waste it, he said he took the fish home and fried it up. Despite its ugly appearance, it was delicious. “It is a bit like cod but tastier,” he said. - https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/fisherman-catches-alien-fish-with-huge-bulbous-eyes-off-norwegian-island/news-story/7bee99e9f22dd336031d40692636c008

Remembrances

16 Sept 1736 - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a physicist,inventor, and scientific instrument maker. Fahrenheit was born in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), then a predominantly German-speaking Hanseatic city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but lived most of his life in the Dutch Republic (1701–1736) and was one of the notable figures in the Golden Age of Dutch science and technology. A pioneer of exact thermometry, he helped lay the foundations for the era of precision thermometry by inventing the mercury-in-glass thermometer (first practical, accurate thermometer) and Fahrenheit scale (first standardized temperature scale to be widely used). In other words, Fahrenheit's inventions ushered in the first revolution in the history of thermometry (branch of physics concerned with methods of temperature measurement). From the early 1710s until the beginnings of the electronic era, mercury-in-glass thermometers were among the most reliable and accurate thermometers ever invented. He died from mercury poisoning at the age of 50 in The Hague - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gabriel_Fahrenheit

16 Sept 2005 - Gordon Gould, American physicist who is widely, but not universally, credited with the invention of the laser (Others attribute the invention to Theodore Maiman). Gould is best known for his thirty-year fight with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents for the laser and related technologies. He also fought with laser manufacturers in court battles to enforce the patents he subsequently did obtain. He died from natural causes at the age of 85 in New York City - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Gould

15 Sept 2019 - Richard Theodore Otcasek known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and painter. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and songwriter for the rock band the Cars . In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars. That same year, he exhibited several his paintings in a national tour. He died from heart disease at the age of 75 in New York City - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Ocasek

Famous Birthdays

16 Sept 1875 - James Cash "J. C." Penney Jr., American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the J. C. Penney stores in 1902. In 1898, James Cash Penney began working for a small chain of stores in the western United States called the Golden Rule stores. In 1902, owners Guy Johnson and Thomas Callahan, impressed by his work ethic and salesmanship, offered him one-third partnership in a new store he would open. Penney invested $2,000 and moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming, to open a store there. He participated in opening two more stores, and when Callahan and Johnson dissolved their partnership in 1907, he purchased full interest in all three stores. By 1912, there were 34 stores in the Rocky Mountain States. In 1913, he moved the company to the Kearns Building in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The company was incorporated under the new name, J. C. Penney Company. By 1924, Penneys' reported income of more than $1 million annually. The number of stores reached 1,400 by 1929. He remained as chairman of the board until 1946, and after that as honorary chairman until his death in 1971. Until the end of his life, he continued to go to his offices. He was born in Hamilton, Missouri. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cash_Penney

16 Sept 1925 - Riley B. King, known professionally as B.B. King, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and is one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert and Freddie King). King performed tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing on average at more than 200 concerts per year into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he appeared at 342 shows. He was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.B._King

16 Sept 1956 - David Seth Kotkin, known professionally as David Copperfield, American magician, described by Forbes as the most commercially successful magician in history. Copperfield's television specials have won 21 Emmy Awards of a total 38 nominations. Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, Copperfield's career of over 40 years has earned him 11 Guinness World Records, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a knighthood by the French government, and he has been named a Living Legend by the US Library of Congress. Copperfield has so far sold 33 million tickets and grossed over $4 billion, more than any other solo entertainer in history. In 2015, Forbes listed his earnings at $63 million for the previous 12 months and ranked him the 20th highest-earning celebrity in the world. When not performing, he manages his chain of eleven resort islands in the Bahamas, which he calls "Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay". He was born in Metuchen, New Jersey - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copperfield_(illusionist)

16 Sept 1960 – Danny John Jules, British actor, singer and dancer. He played Cat in the sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf and policeman Dwayne Myers in the crime drama Death in Paradise. He was also a protagonist in the hit CBBC children's spy drama M.I. High, in which he portrayed Lenny Bicknall, the caretaker. On 13 August 2018 he was announced as one of the celebrity contestants on the 2018 series of Strictly Come Dancing. He was eliminated from the show on 11 November 2018. He was born in Paddington,London - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_John-Jules

Events of interest

16 Sept 1963 – The Outer Limits first aired on ABC, the series is often compared to The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction stories (rather than stories of fantasy or the supernatural matters). The Outer Limits is an anthology of self-contained episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outer_Limits_(1963_TV_series)

16 Sept 1979 - Eight people escaped from East Germany to the west in a homemade hot air balloon. The plot to accomplish this was carried out over a period of one and a half years, including an unsuccessful attempt, three different balloons, and various modifications until the successful escape occurred. One failed crossing alerted the government to the plot, but the police were not able to identify the suspects before their flight to the west. The escape has been portrayed in two films: Night Crossing and Der Ballon. The former, also called With the Wind to the West - the English translation of the German title, was an English-language film produced by Disney. The latter was a German-language production which "both families welcomed [Director] Herbig’s desire to, as he put it, 'make a German film for an international audience. In 2017, the balloon was put on permanent exhibition at the Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte (Museum of Bavarian History). - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_German_balloon_escape

17 Sept 1978 – Battlestar Galactica first aired its 148 minute pilot on ABC, starring Lorne Greene,Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict, it ran for the 1978–1979 season before being canceled. In 1980, a write-in campaign revived the show as Galactica 1980 with 10 episodes. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(1978_TV_series)

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

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Second Galaxy Reportedly Banning Hong Kong Players | #SecondGalaxy #Chinazi #HongKongProtests #HongKong

Zilong Game Limited’s free-to-play MMO, Second Galaxy, is currently being review bombed by Hong Kong gamers over on the Steam store due to what they claim are unfair bans on anyone who speaks ill of Communist China or are part of Hong Kong-themed guilds. (more…)

Second galaxy pt 2 of pt 1. I didnt understand all the controls at first but you can prob do some cool stuff with them. Full run in below & happy friday or saturday morning for my peeps in Africa👽