I wanted my next Coding post to be about PHP’s arrays since they’re a little odd if you have a background in Java/C#, but I started re-reading JavaScript: The Good Parts and stumbled on “lexical scoping” in the first chapter. I decided it was a more difficult topic to try to understand and will post about PHP’s arrays later.

I tried to finish Time Gentlemen, Please! (TGP). Really, I did. While I did find that my UI/UX issues from the previous game (Ben There, Dan That!) were addressed, it seemed like the developers became conscious of their not-so-humorous sense of humor and took it to further extremes. Not to mention, the concept of time traveling adds another “dimension” (if it were a 3D game instead of a 2D game, I’d consider labeling it a 4D game) of complexity to the point I essentially got lost and my interest followed it out the window.

Orcs Must Die 2 is a very good example of how sequels should be made. It feels much like a continuation of the first game rather than a new game entirely. The addition of multiplayer, which is the mode I have been primarily playing, is a nice update to the game. I chose to play as the War Mage again because I didn’t want to play the Sorceress just yet. I suppose for the illusion of continuity. My friend has been playing the Sorceress, so I suppose it makes for a more well-rounded/balanced multiplayer experience?

Not quite aiming to start a weekly coding/PHP series, but I stumbled across another interesting topic while studying PHP interview questions yesterday (yes, I studied on Sunday). The question was simply, “What is the difference between the functions unlink() and unset()?” I have never used these functions before and had not had any reason to, but they are added to my arsenal and at least I know the concept/theory in case I ever do find a need for them.

This one-week review comes early because I actually finished the game. Two days ago. Ben There, Dan That! (BTDT) is an adventure game that pays homage to LucasArts’ adventure games of the 90s. I’ve only played through the Monkey Island series so a few of the references I didn’t recognize or was not too familiar with. Nonetheless, it was a fun game, if a bit crude in the humor department.

I’ve been studying PHP technical interview questions at a slow pace. But it’s better than nothing. Last week I dedicated time to reading through a compilation of questions and answers just to get an overview and feel for what I should know. I realized this is probably a good way to get a thorough beginner’s understanding of a particular programming language. PHP is sort of my pet language as it was one of the first “programming languages” I tinkered with (although at that time, I only used includes() – I was only in high school and more interested in design than development back then). Studying the technical interview questions have made me realize how much I don’t know about the language and how much it is fascinating me. For example, reading more thoroughly the concept of short tags explains why "<? /* code */ ?>" did not always work when I was working on various campus websites as an undergrad as the websites were hosted on a variety of servers with different php.ini files and configurations. So, I just wanted to share the concept of short tags and what I have gleaned from Q&A sites like StackExchange and stackoverflow.

I’m finding it a bit ironic that despite being unemployed, I still don’t have enough time to play games regularly. I read Cthulhu Saves the World (CStW) takes about 8-9 hours to finish and I figured if I can put in an hour a day, I should get close. Nope. Not even an hour a day. I’d get lucky if I could even play. That said, CStW is a throwback to the old SNES RPGs I grew up with, 16-bit graphics included, although with a lot more witty banter and punny lines. From my one week time with the game, I can already see myself finishing the game … if I didn’t have a backlog of other games to play for one week.

Last year (2012), I slacked off a bit on my one-week game reviews. In my defense, I had a lot of things going on, including some ups and downs in terms of wanting to play games in general. Not to mention, two of the games I had been waiting years for were finally released. I have, however, racked up yet more games from Humble Bundle and I intend on closing the gap between games-I-have-yet-to-play and games-I-have-played. So, I will attempt to be more dutiful in my sampling of games. I have also felt that my reviews have been a little unstructured and general impression dumps, although I have tried to be as fair as possible yet bias from unrelated issues manage to sneak in. This post will attempt to provide a little more structure in this year’s reviews.

NightSky is a puzzle platformer that is reminiscent of Limbo in terms of art and play. It is much more relaxed in that you don’t have to worry about dying by NPCs, but rather by falling off the edge of a platform and consequently off of the screen.

For an ominous-sounding title, Fate of the World (FotW) is more a game in patience and frustration than action. The game is meant to be more intellectual, a series of what-ifs, a simulation and model, more than the typical have-some-fun game. It’s okay if you have an interest in that kind of thing (and topic), but for me, I found myself slogging through the missions, effectively failing before retrying and spending more time on my choices.