Idle Lumber Empire – Thoughts

Idle Lumber Empire – Thoughts

Byrichard

Many weeks ago I was encouraged to download Idle Lumber, but for weeks I didn’t bother to play the game. I don’t like new games, because I’m old, and I liked games where we bought the game, and then we could play for hours, with no instructions, unless we read the fabulous manual. With modern games they force you to RTFM rather than play and experiment.

Luckily this game isn’t awful, in this respect, so I have played it for two or three days and upgraded to new factories several times. I think the game play is good. It has just the right amount of actions to render it addictive. Until you take an overnight break and find that you need to tell the lumber trucks to go and pick up lumber every few minutes, and then you see that it’s a pay to win game.

You have a set number of actions you can do, and then you need to do boring, repetitive tasks, over and over, for hours. That’s why the game feels unhealthy, and addictive, rather than an actual game. I want games that allow you to do new things, to progress, and not to need to pay a few francs here, and a few more there. I want games where you play, without having to pay to progress.

Pay and It Plays for 10 Hours

There is an option where you can pay 10 CHF and it will play for ten hours, so you’re not stuck staring at a screen for hours in a row. In theory the game autoplays for two hours. If you log in every two hours the game requires less of your attention to be played.

The Premise of the Game

The concept of the game is simple. You cut down trees, and plant new ones. You debark the trees you cut down and then you buy machines to cut them into rough logs, then bigger blocks, before turning them into planks and sanding them. As you progress you upgrade each machine but at some point you need specific “staff members” to be able to upgrade that machine, and that’s where another aspect of the pay to win game comes in. Clash of Clans makers SuperCell made millions taking advantage of business men with money to blow on such games.

Defeating Themselves

We have all given in to the desire to pay, to win, and then found that by paying, we saved a few minutes or a few hours. Within seconds of game play we hit another wall. It’s that wall that makes it easy to resist paying for pay to win games. Get burned once, and you’ll never be careless loading the oven of pay to win games. (I might be comparing pay to win games to oven cooked food).

And Finally

If you have watched Big Timber, or are going to watch Big Timber then I recommend playing both at the same time. One easily complements the other. It’s a fun game, despite becoming repetitive after being played for too many hours in a row. In effect that’s a feature, because it makes it easy to stop playing for countless hours in a row, too often.

The Solitaire Puzzle

The Solitaire Puzzle

Byrichard

Recently I rediscovered my love of the game solitaire. It is the game we played on windows 3.1 and other windows operating systems, up to iOS and more. Solitaire is a simple game to play on a mobile phone, ipad or computer, whether laptop or desktop. 


I have found that a game of solitaire can last from two to four minutes between deal and win. It’s the type of game that takes a lot of focus when you’re learning to play it as a child. As an adult though I find that within milliseconds I make the decisions and move on to the next one. 


The paradox of solitaire is that it’s an old and simple game. Is the card red or black. Is there somewhere I can place the card. If not then I just deal, and deal, until I can. The more you play the quicker you recognise whether an opportunity exists or not. That’s why it becomes a relaxing thing to do, whilst watching television, or listening to something. 


The paradox of Soliaire is that such an old and simple game, is, in many ways more compelling than the games that require you to watch adverts every 30 seconds or so, depending on how quickly you fail, or succeed at a task. It’s the type of game you can play, fully focused, or as a distraction, and succeed. 


I have played plenty of modern mobile phone games and it’s the one that I gravitate towards now, because it’s the one that costs the least, and forces me to see the least adverts. It’s also the one that doesn’t require me to wait for three hours for A to b ready, before being able to do c, before completing task D. 


I think Solitaire is a great little game to play during our free time. 

Archery with the HTC Vive

Byrichard

Virtual Reality is a great opportunity to practice skills and keep fit at the same time. It’s fun to watch people play these immersive games and get carried away. In Holopoint you’re an archer shooting at targets and they shoot back at you. You need to dodge out of the way to avoid being hit.

At first you’re given enough time to shoot and avoid the arrows but as you progress in the game you need to react faster and dodge more arrows. From level 10 onwards you’re shooting at Samurai warriors and dodging arrows from boxes. The game looks both fun and physical. This game looks as though it could be addictive.

If I had an HTC Vive I think I would pull the cable so that it is hanging from the ceiling rather than from the headset down my back and on to the floor. From my experience of the HTC Vive in Crans Montana and from the comments he makes during the video it seems logical to get the cable out of the way. It would be a shame to trip and break the device or injure yourself.

The beauty of VR is that the graphics don’t need to be photo realistic for the application to be fun. As with Altspace you’re immersed in an environment and you know that you can interact with objects and talk with people in other programs. At first I was unsure about socialising via Virtual reality but after experiencing it I changed my mind. You are in a virtual environment and you can play with objects and move towards and away from groups. A friend was playing basketball in Altspace and I had fun piling mugs of beer until they fell to the floor.

Virtual reality is as much about the environment as it is about having fun. The ability to play in a virtual environment is entertaining. I look forward to seeing how these environments progress and become more realistic. I was thinking about how sailing and other simulators would be possible with such technology. That would be a lot of fun. It would make a change from car driving and flying games.