Shout-out to Dotted Route

I recently created a personal travel blog website called Dotted Route. Take a look and let me know what you think. My goal has been to write an entry a day. For some reason it has been easiest for me to write about food. Anyways the address is www.dottedroute.com

Flashback 2005: Schloss Hohenzollern

This was the day of the Lunar Festival while I was in Germany. My sister was visiting for a few weeks and my friends Jose, Jacek and his girlfriend Sylvia wanted to go visit some castles. I was very tentative about going since I had promised to make some small gathering in my kitchen to celebrate. I was going to make dumplings from the recipe Li Mei gave me. A friend I met who also worked at Bosch. But, they didn't have the five people needed for the ticket so I was persuaded to go.

Well, anyways this picture is either from Sindelfingen or Sigmaringen. I'm not sure. It was a fun day although I have no idea what kind of hand gesture we were doing.

A Conversation with my Dog

Four o'clock and I am getting burned out from trying to get something accomplished. A whole day and nothing has happened. I take a swig of water from my water bottle. Hm... it's almost empty. I head over to the fridge and refill my Smartwater bottle. The imprinted text on the bottle is starting to chip away. How long has it been since I had this bottle? It doesn't matter. The world feels numb.

Out of my boredom, I walk over to the door to the backyard and see my dogs laying down napping in the sun. The golden retriever is on its side on the concrete while the pug has his head on front paws in the dog house. I open the door and they lift their heads up at the same time.

PUG: Oh! Oh! Person! Pick me up! Pet me! Give me ATTENTION!!
GR: Oh! Person! Ball! Ball! Where is the ball?! He needs to throw the ball!

I put on my sandals and the dogs are wagging their tails as I step outside. The retriever sprints off to pick up what can only be his ball. The pug leaps up and claws at my jeans. He stretches on the pavement. The retriever returns with the ball and drops the ball at my feet.

PUG: Bouncy! I will claw at it. I will bite it.
GR: RAWR! Stupid Tiny! Stay away from ball! RAWR!
PUG: No! My ball! RAWR! RAWR!
GR: RAWR!

My two dogs growl at each other and run around each other trying to get a good hold of the purple rubber ball covered in dirt and spit.

PUG: Fine! I will find an avocado and chew on it.
GR: Ball! Throw? Yes?

I pick up the ball and lob it to the far end of the yard. The sun is setting behind the hills in my house. Rays of light flicker in the dust my dogs kick up chasing the ball. Before heading back to me, the retriever stops and sniffs around for a good spot to relieve herself. She always does this at the beginning of any kind of exercise; either walking or playing catch.

GR: Ball. Ball. Oh wait. Poop! Need to poop.
PUG: Found an avocado! Now to bring it to person's feet and chew while he watches. Nom nom nom...

Trick throws and hitting angled boards are the best. The retriever will quickly turn and leap to catch the ball. I will do this and until she doesn't come back to me and instead finds a spot to rest.

GR: Ball. Pant. Ball. Pant. Tired. Lay down. Oooo.. Water.
PUG: Nom. Nom. Nom. Nom.

Facebook Games Perspective

After having tried a bunch of facebook games for interviews that went less than stellar. But I think these are my perspectives on what makes a successful game on facebook.

Viral Hooks! The in-game gameplay elements that tie in with getting more people so that both players get rewards. Mafia wars does a really good job with getting multiple viral hooks in its game. Examples:

- Vault Collections: A whole collection gives you stat bonuses and other players gets to get rid of their excess items. And it's cyclical, people give and you give back.
- Help Bonus: When you help other players, you get a little bit of XP. And the bonus XP incentive applies for the player posting on their wall as well.

The best way to get new people (your friends) to play is definitely a wallpost. That's how I get hooked on Bejeweled. But that's just more from brand recognition. To make a good wallpost ad for your game it really has to appeal to the player's interest and the strong points of the game. That's one thing Farmville does really well. It appeals to the playful childlike nature of lost cows and ducks. It also showcases the eccentric nature of the game.

However, other types of games such as puzzle games suffer from this. Bejeweled only has its competitive nature. There is no progression of small achievable goals. It's all about skill in what you have. Puzzle games and quiz games have it tough in that there is no natural, organic viral hook besides its competitive nature. Quiz games could be more viral with UGC quizzes but that's really specific.

When these facebook games company make new games, I wish they'd look to cult classics that were really fun on console but weren't that commercially successful.

Harvest Moon - I think all the farm games pull some inspiration from 'Harvest Moon'. Although, I definitely think they could do a full on 'Harvest Moon' with house, dog, and town. Namco should do it I think.

Cooking Mama - There should be one where it focuses on cooking mini games and not leveling. Restaurant City and Cafe World pull some inspiration but it's not nearly enough. The minigames were the fun part and collecting all the recipes was fun too.

Pokemon - I really can't believe there is no pokemon type game yet. It could play like the text RPGs but you can have different pokemon do different mission chains. And it instead of a linear progression like chapters in Mafia Wars. It'll be more like a branching mission tree. And collecting pokemon will give different boosts and mastering will give boosts too.

Big Brain Academy - There are two games one with a game like this. One from Playfish and one from Wooga. The Playfish game is actually really similar to BBA. The other game too. How they make this super viral, I don't really know. That's probably why I did so bad in the interview. The suggestions I made weren't organic and I was racking my brain trying to put together any semblance of a usable viral hook.

Puzzle Fighter - This game would lend itself to a RPG/Puzzle mix. It could be a puzzle experience with leveling and stat progression. Kind of like Puzzle Quest for XBLA and PSN. Puzzle Fighter could be a good inspiration too.

Sims and Simcity - Although it would have to be stylistically similar because that's what made it successful IMO. It's realistic yet playfully cartoonish. The Farmville, Country Story, Restaurant City is too cartoonish. The semi-realism added to the appeal.

Out of all the facebook games company I like Playfish the best. Their games are original and there is some thought put to the gameplay. It definitely helps that their CEO is a gamer. Well, app notifications are annoying but I definitely get used to them after playing. But I do remove all the unnecessary posts. I don't need all my FB friends knowing that I'm playing Bejeweled Blitz at odd hours of the day.

Addendum to Back2School Night

I forgot to add this to my original post, but here is some more bashing about that night. I don't know what planet these parents are from but I felt like I was the only one asking questions. Maybe they've heard them all before but it seems like I was asking legitimate questions about the success of my cousin in school. Maybe the evil and conniving side of me made me more talkative but I don't think I asked questions that were too broad. They were pretty specific to the class. For example, in science class forty percent of their grade is based on labs. So I asked if any of that was done at home and the teacher said no. It would be good to know that wouldn't it? So I know that the student needs to be prepared to do labs and that he knows what's expected. Especially since it's such a big part of their grade.

I attribute that to L-A-Z-Y parenting and the general decline of focus into education in the US. Le sigh.

A trip down middle school lane

So living at home unemployed for a better part of a year has its responsibilities. My cousin is currently going to Orange Grove (ha!) and yesterday was back to school night. Her parents wanted me to go since they spoke almost no English and wanted someone there who could pick up any important information. I felt no apprehension about going since most of my teachers were fairly old when I was there and have probably already left. *Disclaimer: I have the utmost respect for what teachers do and if anything they are the ones 'indoctrinating' children with their philosophy.*

Ok. We start with homeroom. My cousin's homeroom teacher is pretty nice no weird kinks or whatever. It's an ESL class what can I expect. Next we go on to history. Again no weirdness or nothing. But I do find out they have some sort of state exam now for graduation. What the hell!? And it's cumulative from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Okay so that rang up a warning to me since my cousin just arrived in the US. So talked to him for a bit about the test and how to help my cousin. Said he'll give her a handbook to study. Whatever.

*Side note: What the fuck is up with the student guides wearing cop uniforms? What a waste of money. Just make them wear a sign or make them hold posters or something. I thought that was embarrassing but not as embarrassing as the 'head' cop. We'll get to that soon.

Back to the night of classroom hopping. So this is where shit starts to get interesting. Her 'science' teacher is tightly wound up. It's all about the rules with her. Rules and rules and more rules. She said it's all about preparing them for high school. I was going to grill her after the presentation about her curriculum, if she's connecting with the high school science program, and if she's connecting with the engineering program. I wanted to bring down this blowhard. But buzz, the bell rang and it's on to the next teacher and I didn't care enough to go back.

Her 'english' teacher. Actually, quite nice, very peppy, and gives off a good energy. She looks like the portly girl from 'Hairspray' with about the same demeanor. But this is a blog entry about judgement so here we go. I asked her about what books they're reading this year and she just said whatever they bring in. I'm like "Huh? There is no assigned reading? Well aren't you lazy." A thought bubble didn't actually say that. Then I asked her to take a look at my cousin's personal novel and see if it's level appropriate (I gave her a collection of short stories from my college English class). And here comes the fake Cali smile. It's that smile you see when they are trying to be nice but really they just want you to get the fuck out. I've grilled her enough. I just told her I'll give my cousin a different novel.

Now for PE. Mac is gone but guess who's still there. Out and proud lesbian Ms. Fowler (I don't actually know this but with that lesbian bob.. come on.). She and the other PE teacher starts talking about etiquette and dress code. I noticed a third name on the slide, Mr. Duncan. From what I remembered, I heard a story about some inappropriateness in the locker room early in the morning. And then he wore those ridiculous short shorts during sports day or whatever event that was. But he wasn't there yet. So the two teacher keep going on about locks and lockers and in walks 60-year old roided up beyond Lou Ferrigno, Mr. Duncan. I gave a little gasp and had to stop myself from bursting into laughter. He was wearing the most heinous security guard outfit that was bursting at the seams. He walked up and gave out an invitation to a girl in the first row to fist bump. Clearly, uncomfortable the girl did it and the dad sitting next to her pulled her in closer to him. That's some funny shit.

We end with the 'math' teacher who is as tightly wound up as the science teacher. She isn't espousing preparing for high school BS but again with the rules. So, it seems that all eighth graders now take Algebra 1. Good for them.

So my cousin and I did share some similar classrooms. Her history teacher shares the same classroom Ms. Wallace had. That was homeroom and Algebra for me. I remember lots of card games with Kelly and Katy. Lots of games of Speed if I recall. Fun times. Her science room was my seventh grade science class. Didn't step in Wilda-beast's room but doubt she's still there. Her math room was the Spanish teacher's room.

In closing, her ELD, History, and English are fairly nice. Science, math, and, of course, PE a little too much anal retentive and not enough of the absinthe. Orange Grove looks the same but it's definitely different in how it's run with the exception of the slightly mentally retarded stragglers. Wait.. that includes me.. Fuck it. I own my unemployment.

Dotted Route: The Epic Journeys

Seeing how my ideas are always stuck in my head, it seems prudent to start putting these down onto something physical. I am going to start compiling a list of epic journeys and great travel trails.

The Routes:

Mao's March
Asia
*Marco Polo and the Silk Road
*88 Temple Pilgrimage
*Trans-Siberian Railroad
*Annapurna Circuit
*Overland Southeast Asia
*Karakoram Highway
*Everest Base Camp Trek
*Taman Negara Salt Licks
N. America
*Lewis and Clark Expedition
*Appalachian Trail
*Pacific Coast Highway
*Route 66
*The Colorado Trail
Europe
*Ring of Kerry
*The Amber Road
*The Romantic Road
*Rhine River Valley
*Way of St. James
*The Orient Express
Africa
*Livingstone's Travels
*Mt. Kilimanjaro

This is a good place to start but I would like to reach out to the tens of you who read my blog. Let me know if there is a route that I completely glanced over. I think it'd be fun to research these routes famous and the not so famous.