My soup

The method of loci (plural of Latin locus for place or location), also called the memory palace, is a general designation for mnemonic techniques that rely on memorised spatial relationships to establish, order and recollect memorial content. The term is most often found in specialised works on psychology, neurobiology and memory, though it was used in the same general way at least as early as the first half of the nineteenth century in works on Rhetoric, Logic and Philosophy.[1]

via Method of loci – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A finished game isn’t one big idea, or half a dozen. It’s hundreds of thousands. You start off choosing the speed of the bike and end up choosing the speed the text scrolls in the tutorial. The scary things are the tiny choices that can make or ruin your game just as easily as those big obvious decisions at the start. Right now we’re at that stage where we have to be perfectionists, every little problem a land mine to diffuse.

via “I could easy be a games designer.” | Edge Online.

Kellan dice:.

I’m really surprised we aren’t seeing more people writing and talking about what see as Facebook’s key competitive advantage: It’s a data driven company, which is nimble enough to act on that data.

Y enlaza a:

Writer Notes: Loose Ideas folders are great. Any half-formed idea that you think might have potential to become something someday? Type it into a .txt file of its own and fling it into a folder marked Loose Ideas. Make sure it’s linked to your backups. A Loose Ideas folder is saving for the future. One day, you’re going to find in that folder the exact thing you need at that moment, whether it be a new project or a bit of business that fixes the script or book in front of you.

via Google Reader 21.

The three largest film industries in the world are India, Nigeria and China. Nigeria cranks out some 2,000 films a year (Nollywood), India produces about 1,000 a year (Bollywood) and China less than 500. Together they produce four times as many films per year as Hollywood. Yet each of these countries is a haven, even a synonym, for rampant piracy. How do post-copyright economics work? How do you keep producing more movies than Hollywood with no copyright protection for your efforts?

via The Technium: How to Thrive Among Pirates.

Five years ago, we launched Linking Paths. During this time we have evolved, we got married and had children, we had bad times and we laughed, we have confirmed some ideas and left others behind, have met wonderful and hateful people: we have lived.uring this time we have evolved, we got married and had children, we had bad times and we laughed, we have confirmed some ideas and left others behind, have met wonderful and hateful people: we have lived.

via Five years ago – Linking Paths.

People argue that the money could be better spent elsewhere. Honestly, that's an argument that can be applied to pretty much anything. Imagine how many starving people could be fed if, say, a 100 per cent Simon Cowell tax was levied on any instance of Simon Cowell. Imagine if anyone caught spending money on Stephanie Meyer novels could be rendered down into their constituent chemicals and scattered on barren land as organic fertiliser.

via Warren Ellis: On space travel.

To oversimplify things a bit, D&D draws heavily from at least two very different strands of fantasy literature: the grim and sometimes savage world of “swords and sorcery” (think Conan); and epic, heavily plotted, highly moral high fantasy (think Tolkien). The influence of Conan-esque swords and sorcery can be seen in many core elements of D&D: dungeons to explore; treasure and money as a prime motivation for adventuring; the heavy representation of rogue-ish classes like the Thief, Bard, Assassin, and Illusionist; a very deadly world; and more. The influence of Tolkien-esque fantasy can be seen in many other elements: the character races available for play; lots of strange and interesting magic weapons and items; parties of adventurers who all work together; and countless “classic” monsters.

via Sandbox gaming vs. adventure paths: in defense of highly narrative adventures « The Lost Level.

In 1993, the message Doom sent to the videogame world was something like “use cutting edge technology to make something dark, edgy and violent”. The world has changed so much around Doom since then that very little of that original impact comes through to players today – though the industry has inarguably gone on to master the techno-fueled ultra-violence thing! Here’s what I’ve found after many years of enjoying the game and digging ever deeper into its design.

via vector poem » Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom.