This is the Phillip’s Blog category

A variety of post themes, including articles, ideas, stories and rants.

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A Turing Test for FPS Gamers?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Is it possible for players to know if their opponents are human? Could a test be devised to measure a player’s humaness?

When I first started playing FPS games I thought I was doing quite good in getting to just over half way on Unreal Tournament’s difficulty level. So I decided to try playing on God mode, obviously the hardest!. Dumb struck would be a good description of my feelings at the time. How could anybody play against bots that were that good? Impossible, I thought.


16th May 2004 3 Comments

Combining Genres Into One Online Event

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

What if all the multiplayer matches being played online, as you read this, were part of one big WAR? FPSs, Tank, Sub and Aircraft Sims, all controlled by the strategy games?

I don’t play multiplayer games online so this post might be plain stupid, but bear with me while I try to explain.


14th May 2004 No Comments

Remaking Games

The film industry does it, the music industry does it, so when will the games industry catch on? Should we let games Rest In Peace? I recently watched Solaris on DVD and often the first thing I do is visit the IMDB site to read other people’s comments.  This is the second film based on… Read More


12th May 2004 3 Comments

A Pack of Dogs

So, there I was, right in the middle of a fire fight and I thought how useful would it be if I could send in a few dogs to give me some breathing space?


7th May 2004 20 Comments

Level Design Wiki

There are many sites available to learn the technicalities of using a level editor but none that focuses on the principles behind good level design. I believe that if somebody started a wiki site then many developers would contribute.


4th May 2004 No Comments

Games with a conscience?

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half Life 1, 2 and 3

Imagine playing a game where you could adjust the level of you character’s conscience. I’m not exactly clear on what I’m trying to suggest but I thought I would open it up for discussion.

Imagine playing a game where you could adjust the level of you character’s conscience. Without getting to bogged down in a philosophical discussion we all have a conscience when playing a game but because we know the game is not real the power of this conscience is almost worthless. Admittedly the chance to utilise our conscience in games are small but anyway.


3rd May 2004 2 Comments

Level Design Commentary

Films often have commentary from the director, producer and actors. This commentary can sometimes be both interesting and enlightening. I think it could be very worthwhile if some level designers did the same.


30th April 2004 3 Comments

Enemy Possession

Introduction This idea may be more suited to DM or CTF type gameplay. Basically through some pickup you would be able to control a enemy for a short period of time.


20th April 2004 2 Comments

Flying Fortress

WOW I can imagine having some interesting effects whilst running on the wings to reach a valve or weapon. The wind making walking difficult, only to find you return path block by your enemies. This may be especially good if the level starts with the plane taking off (vibration turning into an earthquake-like feeling, followed… Read More


8th April 2004 1 Comment

A Multi Game League Idea

Single Player First Person Shooter Maps and Mods for Half-Life 1, 2 and Episodes 1, 2 and 3

Put aside any technical reasons for this not working and suspend your belief. Just imagine this:A multiplayer league where each team is made up of characters and weapons from other FPS games and each team has home and away rounds.For example the starting league could look something like this:


6th April 2004 No Comments