Nibbler: Sometimes I fear we are cute.
Futurama, "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid"
A quick check around the Internet reveals that there's no easy way to get screen captures off a DS game. I found three possible options. One was to get a device which hooks up a DS to a TV, which can get screen captures. There are a few problems with this option: a) The device wasn't ever sold in the U.S.; b) the device was built for the original DS, and I have a DSi XL, so I don't know if it would work or even fit; and c) the device is no longer made. Another technique is to buy a specially designed video camera that fits on the top screen and records your game. The problems with this one are a) again, this was built for the original DS; b) the camera covers the top screen, making it impossible to play any game which uses it; c) since it's apparently a low resolution camera, the pictures may not be great. A third technique I found was to buy a developer's kit. This too has numerous problems, but for me the biggest one is that it's several thousand dollars. That isn't much if you're planning to design an actual game, since presumably you'd be hoping to make more than that in profit. But it isn't really economically feasible to just take screen captures of a game or two that you like.
So I continue to take my screen captures of the game using a camera. Since playing the game requires two hands normally -- one to hold the DS, one to use the buttons and/or stylus, I can't take photos unless there's a time when there's no gameplay. And since those are often animated scenes where a lot is happening, it's hard to get a good picture, since everything is moving. (Plus, I want to keep an eye on the game screen, rather than my camera's screen.)
As a result, a lot of the photos I've gotten don't really do the game justice. I'll miss the perfect picture and need to settle for good enough; or I'm moving the camera and the image is blurry.And certain angles show the granularity of the DS, something you don't notice as much when playing on it.
I suppose this means you should get the game and play it for yourself. That's the only way to really do it justice.
This is a preface to tell you that as soon as I realized what I was doing wrong yesterday, things got incredibly awesome. And also totally adorable.Some of this material is worthy of a site like Cute Overload or the Daily Squee. For example, consider this photo.
Warning: I'm about 12-14 hours into the game now. Spoilers follow. Adorably cute spoilers.
It's a puppy typing on a computer!
Let me make it clear this is not the best shot of the puppy banging on the keyboard. There was one where Kurow (the blond boy) batted him away from the buttons, saying he didn't know what he was doing. And there's another when the computer crashes and Chibi bangs away furiously, beads of worry sweat flying off him.
Let me back up a few seconds. Yesterday I said I was worried I was missing something obvious, and I was. You had to draw a certain pattern to get past one door, and I'd been drawing it wrong. I thought I'd been drawing it correctly but missing a key item needed to continue. Once I got the pattern correct, the rest of the ruin exploration went smoothly.
We found the computer room and got some useful information off it. Later on, we found a pair of wings that Kurow could wear; they make it look like he had a flower on his back.
And the first time we tried to use them, we got blown completely off course. We wound up back in one of the old locations. And there was another great psyche out, where you thought an old character had returned but it was a dream sequence.
Then we had to fight an old boss, a giant witch queen who ran a demon market. To the game's credit, this wasn't a rehash of the previous fight; it was a totally different mini-game.
Let me back up a few seconds. Yesterday I said I was worried I was missing something obvious, and I was. You had to draw a certain pattern to get past one door, and I'd been drawing it wrong. I thought I'd been drawing it correctly but missing a key item needed to continue. Once I got the pattern correct, the rest of the ruin exploration went smoothly.
We found the computer room and got some useful information off it. Later on, we found a pair of wings that Kurow could wear; they make it look like he had a flower on his back.
And the first time we tried to use them, we got blown completely off course. We wound up back in one of the old locations. And there was another great psyche out, where you thought an old character had returned but it was a dream sequence.
Then we had to fight an old boss, a giant witch queen who ran a demon market. To the game's credit, this wasn't a rehash of the previous fight; it was a totally different mini-game.
(I'm trying to avoid summarizing, because there's other places you can go for that. This is my impressions.)
Anyway, to make a long story short, we learned the techniques needed to get to the cloud, and learned a new brush technique, how to manipulate lightning. As I've said before, the animals who give you these are children of celestial constellations, and almost as cute as a puppy operating a computer. This is the tiger cub who game me the power of lightning:
I think it's the little rounded ears that make it so successful.That really does make it look like a baby tiger. Here is a video of one if you need an example.
And with the new powers he gave me, I'm ready to face a boss battle. My reports on that tomorrow.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we learned the techniques needed to get to the cloud, and learned a new brush technique, how to manipulate lightning. As I've said before, the animals who give you these are children of celestial constellations, and almost as cute as a puppy operating a computer. This is the tiger cub who game me the power of lightning:
I think it's the little rounded ears that make it so successful.That really does make it look like a baby tiger. Here is a video of one if you need an example.
And with the new powers he gave me, I'm ready to face a boss battle. My reports on that tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment