The Quixotic Engineer

I picked up a copy of Burnout Paradise last month, an open world racing game that’s over a year old now but is still commendably being supported by its developers. However, the timing of my purchase wasn’t by chance; I decided to take the plunge because the developers finally added the option to restart a race without having to drive back to the starting line. In my mind this was a major flaw, the one that made me initially lose interest and walk away from the demo. With that sorted out I could finally sit down and really enjoy the game.

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For this month’s Musical Box, I’ve invited friend and fellow blogger Denis Farr to share some recommended listening with us. Denis writes Vorpal Bunny Ranch, a thought-provoking blog about video games, where he often tackles issues of gender and sexuality. I’m always picking up great tunes from him on Twitter, so this post is really just cutting out the middleman (i.e. me).

Here are his picks for this month:

Greetings, Quixotic Engineer readers. I’m quite tickled that I have this opportunity to share my recent musical obsessions with you, which Matthew graciously invited me to do. Now, to the music:

Aleks & the Drummer is a local favorite of mine, based here in Chicago. It consists of ‘Aleks’andra Tomaszewska on farfisa organ alongside her siren-y vocals and Deric Criss on drums. I saw them open for The Octopus Project in 2007, and in 2008 they finally released the EP May a Lightning Bolt Caress You, filled with tracks that manage to sculpt out a space that brings to my mind space-age choirs. The ethereal landscape that is provided by Aleks through her two chosen instruments is well complemented by the driving force and reality that is Deric’s percussion.

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A discerning few of you may have noticed the distinct lack of major game releases post-Christmas. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest; I’m still savouring the haul from the Fall. However, if you’re looking for something new and different to play, I have a few suggestions from the world of indie gaming that are definitely worth your time.

Tag: The Power of Paint [PC]

Tag is a game designed by a group of students at DigiPen, and was a winner at the 2009 IGF Student Showcase. It’s a first person puzzle game wrapped in a shooter, along the lines of Portal. You are equipped with a paint gun, which you use not only to colour the bleak greyscale cityscape but also to explore the game space. Painting a surface green makes it bouncy, red increases your speed and blue allows you to stick to walls.

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Over the last few days I was given the opportunity to fly out West for an internship interview with a large Redmond-based software company. The interview was a really great experience and probably deserves its own post down the road, but today I have something far nerdier to talk about.

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Although I’m not taking part in this year’s Global Game Jam, I coincidentally decided to also put together a small game over the last two days. It was a feat only made possibly by the friendliness of the LÖVE 2D engine, a free weekend and several pots of tea.

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