MINERVA: Episodic, Single-Player Half-Life 2
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2. low res texture
Posted by fitzrovia at 10:07AM, Friday July 25 2008
It would be an amusing art project to go around the world photographing featureless flat square images of the floors of games studios.
3. Instructions Step 1:
Posted by AiusEpsi at 1:22PM, Friday July 25 2008
Pitch the camera up 90 degrees...
4. It's A TARP?
Posted by Freakoftheuniverse at 2:33PM, Friday July 25 2008
Well, we better all be analyzing the Alpha channel and any residual data for Secrets and Hidden Meanings! It's our DUTY as Acolytes!
5. Throw us a crumb chum!
Posted by Baffled at 3:53PM, Friday July 25 2008
What's that orangey speck near the centre of the image? Could it be a clue? Will Adam lead us to some revelation by a trail of crumbs?
Wikipedia reliably informs me that "a rarely used term, crumb, can refer to a two-bit quantity, and can represent 4 values (2² values, 0–3)", so a crumb could be said to be a representation of the number THREE!
Aha! But why is it orange? Surely the new release will be a box of a different hue, but wait, it sits upon a carpet of grey! So will there be a "Gray Box" (American spelling inevitably) in all our futures?
Gah! Our Adam does like to torment us with these hidden messages ( and then deny there was any such intention, the wag! ).
Perhaps, then, it is all a reference to the late great comic artist Robert Crumb whose creation "Mr Natural" may have the answer:
http://www.zubeworld.com/crumbmuseum/nat2.html
6. Aha, trusty photo reference!
Posted by Campaignjunkie at 10:49PM, Friday July 25 2008
And now to make it into a texture and finally complete my epic cs_episode3room map.
7. Banks reference?
Posted by Pace at 8:33PM, Saturday July 26 2008
I was in a bookstore the other day and saw some Iain M. Banks books (somebody apparently just started publishing them in the US). I picked up a copy of Consider Phlebas and one of the quotes in the beginning of the book (originally from the Koran) is "Idolatry is worse than carnage." Made me wonder if it inspired the the titles of the 2 main pages on this sight? (Banks being a known influence around here and all.)
(I also thought that carpet image was one of those 3D things. A couple minutes and a mild headache later, I decided otherwise.)
8. =(
Posted by Nerolus at 10:28PM, Saturday July 26 2008
It's only been one day, and I miss the carpet in that building already.
9. Wibl
Posted by Cargo Cult at 5:48AM, Monday July 28 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/sets/72157606411754409/
10. play me a song, camera man
Posted by Omega at 5:54AM, Monday July 28 2008
A man of angled shots aren't you? Tis some beatiful pics though.
11. is it just me
Posted by kast at 10:13AM, Monday July 28 2008
Apart from being suprised to see an open market in the US, the indoor market with it's neon and it's old movie posters was giving me a strong BioShock feeling. I was looking out for a flying sentry chugging past the towers of russian dolls.
12. markets
Posted by Omega at 11:26AM, Monday July 28 2008
you've obviously never been to the US. We're full of em
13. Portrait of the artist as a young man
Posted by Baffled at 2:48PM, Monday July 28 2008
We catch another rare glimpse of the man himself in this shot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/2708460477/sizes/o/
Some lovely shots of Seattle, and yes Kast i got a strong Bioshock vibe from that magic shop too ( and I haven't even played it ):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/2709248172/sizes/o/in/set-72157606411754409/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/2708427085/sizes/o/in/set-72157606411754409/
That Bellevue popcorn looks yummy, and you've got to love the supersize packs everything seems to come in in America ( you'd better watch your weight out there Adam, don't go emulating Gabe in all things ;-) ):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119837@N06/2709204984/sizes/o/in/set-72157606411754409/
14. Camera
Posted by Omega at 9:55AM, Wednesday July 30 2008
Btw, what camera did you use for these shots?
15. Additional Information...
Posted by Cargo Cult at 5:37PM, Wednesday July 30 2008
Oh, if only Flickr had some means of looking at the EXIF data as recorded by the camera?
16. Re: is it just me
Posted by Penguin at 7:51AM, Thursday July 31 2008
That'd be Pike Place Market, a Seattle landmark and all-round tourist trap. ;)
17. Lost in Transition
Posted by Cargo Cult at 2:32AM, Friday August 1 2008
I've just been to Indianapolis!
18. WHERE AM I?
Posted by Cargo Cult at 4:05AM, Friday August 1 2008
http://gpsvisualizer.com/display/1217556125-02816-89.16.173.57.html
19. THERE!
Posted by fuzz at 9:56AM, Friday August 1 2008
On the linked map, have a look at 42.06178,-88.02266 (just north of the NW corner of the track)
A fortunate snap...
I'm going to guess you're touring friends and relatives round the US before Valve put your nose to the grindstone.
Come on, hop to it Foster, we want Ep3 by this time next year!
20. HERE!
Posted by Baffled at 3:31PM, Friday August 1 2008
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/chirm?_requestid=133650
Will an Acolyte phone the Front Desk and ask for a Mr Adam Foster? I think Adam will be sprinting for the exit moments after reading that! ( Unless he was canny enough to check-out before posting GPS data to the Great Unwashed ). Don't worry Adam I shall leave you in peace ;-) .
Didn't you stop over in Chicago on your way out to Washington? Then you fly back there? Think of your CARBON FOOTPRINT matey! The Acolytes demand that you plant some trees or something as soon as you settle in to your new abode in/near Bellevue!!!!
Perhaps you can name your plantings after Acolytes, hmm, a nice "Yankee Point" called "Baffled" would be rather appropriate, no? Perhaps the other Acolytes would like to nominate possible namesakes of their own? Yes, a planting list to take to the Seattle branch of Home Depot would be a fitting penalty for all this shameless jetting and driving ;-) :
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Navigation?Ntk=AllProps&N=10000003+90401+501012&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&langId=-1
21. re: HERE!
Posted by Pace at 9:35PM, Friday August 1 2008
I think I'd pick the "Lipstick Rasta in 8.0 Hanging Basket":
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100605684&N=10000003+90401+501012
Not sure why, but something about hanging about in a basket appeals to me.
Or if I could choose any plant, suitable to my position as a mature adult, it would be a knippelianus, as in Echinocereus knippelianus.
http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/ECHINOCEREUS/Echinocereus_knippelianus/Echinocereus_knippelianus/Echinocereus_knippelianus.htm
Go ahead, pronounce it out loud. (the k is silent.)
(some html tags might be useful round here..)
22. Basket Case
Posted by Baffled at 12:50AM, Saturday August 2 2008
Oh dear, Pace, your choice of vegetative avatar doesn't conjure up a very appealing image, being described variously as solitary, plump, soft, whitish and nearly spineless! I'm sure you're much more appealing than that!
( I'm going to politely ignore your attempt at smutty humour and your rather kinky attraction to baskets ;-) ).
It seems, judging by the new post, that Adam was on his way back to London and not on a random, and carboniferously wanton, jaunt. But still it does mean that he'll be boomeranging back very soon to start at Valve in October ... so concerns for the "Foster Effect on the Permafrost" persist!
But teasing aside, it does seem to be a rather inefficient way to go about relocating half way around the world, why are you going twice?
How was the Polynesian-themed Holidome, by the way? Don't the Americans describe such wonderful naffness as "kitsch"? ;-)
23. Holidome
Posted by Cargo Cult at 8:34PM, Wednesday August 6 2008
I'm still trying to forget it. I took care not to take any photos. Perhaps the horror will eventually fade?
(As for relocation - still need to get the visa stuff finalised. It's all terribly complicated...)
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1. So I wasted five minutes of my life...
Posted by Velvet Fist, Iron Glove at 10:01AM, Friday July 25 2008
...trying to find the 3D image in what was completely obviously a "magic eye" thing...
At least I know now why I failed.