Paradox on the Jick & Skully Show

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Gobberwart
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Paradox on the Jick & Skully Show

Unread post by Gobberwart » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:20 pm

So, MasTechno pointed out to me that a mention of Paradox was made on the Jick & Skully show on Radio KoL on Monday November 17. The audio was uploaded today so I grabbed a copy and had a listen. Here's the transcript:

Iram(?) says: So, you've been playing Paradox the Musical. What do you think of it?
Jick: Ah, it's interesting to see.. have you, have you checked that game out at all?
Mr. Skullhead: No, what is that game?
Jick: It's ah.. it's a Loathing-like. Yes, if there is such a things. It's interesting, there's not, it seems there's not nearly as much content to it as I would like. They just haven't really put in most of the, uh, sort of content structure, but the interface.. it feels like an interface that was made by somebody who played KoL and Secret Society Wars and kinda hybridised them, it's got, uh, it's got the like... for my tastes it's a little cluttered, like when you go to equip things it gives you, by default, like a set of dropdowns so you can, like equip a bunch of gear at once, and you know that kind of thing.. The kind of stuff that I am *sure* experienced KoL players would really like..
Mr. Skullhead: Yeah
Jick: But, uh, yeah.. it's got, it's got kind of an interesting, pretty well developed tutorial, like it does a better job of its tutorial than we do.. *cough*.. It's thematically a little.. I don't exactly know where it's going. Seems to kinda be set in the real world.. you're beating up joggers..
Mr. Skullhead: Oh right
Jick: ..for part of the time.. some anti-jogger version of the real world..
Mr. Skullhead: So, the real world...
Jick: Ah I guess so... Um, anti-jogger.. Fuck those guys. Whenever I see a jogger in Arizona, I don't think "Oh that jerk," I think "Oh that poor, crazy bastard"
Mr. Skullhead: Heh
Jick: Anywhere else, I think of jerks though

I left in the comments about joggers because well, even though they're not strictly about Paradox.. they're fair :)

Jick's comments on the interface are also fair, and quite astute. I'm a KoL player from way back.. Well, April 2006 anyway, so it's definitely been a very heavy influence on the development. Secret Society Wars less so, although now I think about it, the equipment drop-downs are probably similar. I think the shade of red we use is also a bit like the red SSW uses. In that it's got quite a lot of red in, and not much green or blue.

Quite a lot of influence has also come from numerous greasemonkey scripts I've used (and made) at various times playing KoL, and I think there's even a little bit of Diablo II in there (although surely there's a little bit of Diablo II in all of us).

As to where the game is going... I think somewhere it's referred to as being a "steampunk, time-travel mish-mash" or words to that effect. Which isn't strictly true, but I can confirm that time travel will definitely form a major part of the game's story-line, as will mish-mashness. Steampunk... well, it's cool and we'll see what happens. Rest assured, however, that we *do* have plans, and hope to be adding a significant amount of content over the coming weeks and months.

Set in the real-world? It's set in a real-world, early 21st century equivalent. Not strictly "real", but reminiscent enough of real. Oh, and no, it's not about being a University student. A few people have asked me that question, and that's not the case, it just happens that the game starts in a University.. and then continues in a University for a bit.. oh and there are things related to the University here and there, but it's NOT about University culture or anything like that.

Just FYI, and completely NOT copied from the Jick & Skully show in any way, other than that I'm pretty sure that's where the idea came from, we're looking into starting a semi-regular radio show where a couple of devs will be grilled at length on all kinds of Paradox-related issues. We're currently working on the details (minor things like, you know, where are we getting the radio station from, etc.) and will let you know more very very soon. In the meantime, questions/comments/feedback welcome as always, in here or in chat.
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