Spam Spam Spam Humbug 106 – Abstraction
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Podcast Topic(s)
Linguistic Dragon and WtF Dragon discuss abstraction, and its importance to game design and the RPG experience. Because there is quite a gulf of difference between the actual, raw, terrifying experience of being lost in a hostile wilderness and finding one’s way through it, and the rather more pleasant and fun-filled experience of navigating one’s way through a game’s open world whilst having to occasionally deal with the intrusion of a hunger mechanic.
Of course, there is such a thing as too much abstraction, as well; the argument could be made that the RPG elements of, say, Mass Effect were over-simplified for Mass Effect 2, to the point that the series jumped between genres. And equally, sometimes things aren’t abstracted away enough in games. Finding a balance is key!
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And, as always, this episode of Spam Spam Spam Humbug is brought to you by our Patreon backers; thank you to everyone who supports Spam Spam Spam Humbug and the Ultima Codex by that means. And, as always, a hearty thank you to our co-producers: Seth, Dominik, Chris, Violation, Adam, Erik, Thorwan, Pascal, Helgraf, Aaron, the Hearth of Britannia, Edward, Stirring Dragon, Cranberry, Slegnor, Bruce, Christopher, Gradilla, Shamino70k, and Brickbat.
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Music
Ultima VI Gates of Creation by OC ReMix
Ultima V – Stones 2001 Remix by DJ Lizard
There are some things that are better experienced in a…simplified form.