Pokopia is blends different ideas for maximum engagement

 From what I can tell, the DNA of Pokémon Pokopia is 50% Minecraft, 40% Animal Crossing and 10% Pokamon.

Now, that opinion comes with the caveat that I have not actually played the game. Instead, I watched my wife play Pokopia. (And it is enough of a time sink that only one member of a household should be playing it at a time lol)

When I first saw the trailers for Pokopia, I had very mixed feelings. From what we saw, it looked promising. However, it was so chibi that I was worried it would be aimed at a very young audience and not interesting from an older audience. And by older audience, I mean eight and older.

We got burned by Detective Pikachu 2. We had hopes for a story-heavy game with interesting choices. Instead, our then eight-year-old felt that it was too juvenile for him, let alone his parents. You can have games and other media that work well for the very young and the not-so-young but Detective Pikachu 2 was not an example of that. I was afraid that Pokopia would be one tiny valley's worth of stuff and that you'd fill it up in a half hour.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Pokopia, while not huge by open world standards, has enough room for you to stretch. It has plenty of goals to keep you going. And the underlining story is actually pretty dark. Engaging but dark.

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(I mean, some of this is in the trailers so it's not much spoiling but hey)

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Pokopia pulls the good bits from different genres. You've got dollhouse decorating and social management from Animal Crossing. You've got resource harvesting and management with the ability to make everything under the sun from Minecraft. Ands it's got the Pokémon from Pokémon.

You take on the role of a Ditto, which is a Pokémon who has shape-changing powers. Although if you didn't know that, you are way outside of the games target demographic. Dittos have been around since the first Pokémon game but (and this took me a little bit to realize) the reason to make the player a Ditto to justify them learning and using different abilities. The game turns your Ditto into the Swiss army knife of the Pokémon world. 

So, here's the hook. Pokopia takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Humanity messed up the ecology so much that they had to abandon the planet. Now, the Pokémon who were put in electronic storage are awakening. And it's up to the Pokémon to restore the world. Humanity destroyed the world. Pokémon must save it. If you liked the movie Wall-E, this is the Pokémon version.

Honestly, the concept is so dark that it's fascinating that the developers were able to make it so cute and relaxing.  And make no mistake; this definitely falls under the cozy genre. You turn a bleak wasteland and turn it into a beautiful garden and find hundreds of Pokémon while you are at it. Honestly, the whole build up an environment is a well-traveled genre for video games. That part isn't new. The fact that it's Pokémon and the fact that they have to basically save the world, that's the engagement.

While I said that only 10% of the game's DNA comes from Pokémon (Although there has been so much media created for Pokémon that there could already be a cozy world building Pokemon game and I just don't know it), that's still an important part of the game. It's not just Pokémon is an IP that can apparently sell anything. Using Pokémon means that you already know the cast. You know Squirtle will have water powers and Charizard is going to do something with fire. So much of the explanation is already there for you. And part of being a beloved franchise means that the game sinks its emotional hooks in you.

The fact that it's blatantly draconian doesn't mean it doesn't work lol

The world building is solid and the gameplay seems to be strong. I was afraid that Pokopia would just be a cash grab with Pokémon slapped on. Instead, it blends different ideas into a lovely new work.

Toy Story is still Pixar’s gold mine

 A question I asked myself before Toy Story 2, Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5 was ‘Other than money, is there any reason this had to be made?’

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Well, Toy Story 2 ended up being so good I didn’t question Toy Story 3 existing. Toy Story 4, while I feel like it’s the weakest movie, is still heaps better than too many kids films.

And I thought Toy Story 5 was a step up from that. A good question with a sequel is ‘Did we tell everyone’s story already?’ And by the end of Toy Story 4, it did feel like Pixar had gotten the toys pretty well covered.

So Toy Story 5 shifted the focus to the kids.

While still told through the eyes and actions of the toys, the actual story is ultimately about Bonnie and newcomer Blaze. They are both creative, imaginative kids who struggle to find friends. (And, yes, of course they become friends at the end of the movie because this is Pixar, not Shakespeare)

For me, Andy was defined by his relationship with the toys. Heck, sometimes he felt like some kind of deity for them. I am going to argue that Toy Story 5 treats Bonnie as more of a complete character.

A key moment in the movie is her being cyber bullied. (The movie fails to give a simple answer to technology and screen time, which is fair) Her sadness and her withdrawal is very realized. It’s believable and, probably for too many, relatable. 

The toys do get plenty of focus. Jessie has an involved story arc, which includes her finding resolution with her original kid. It’s still _Toy_ Story. If you just came for the toys, you’ll still get them.

There is also a wonderfully insane subplot about a shippjng container of the latest Buzz Lightyear toys getting ship wrecked, resulting in a horde of confused Buzz Lightyears going across the land. I kept thinking it was the 1991 film Small Soldiers done right.

Simak’s Time and Time fails as science fiction but is brilliant as an allegory

 Time and Time Again (a title that I know has been used many times) by Clifford D. Simak is one of his earlier works. It managed to be a sweeping epic that spans galaxies and millennia and a tiny cosy parable.

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The book begins six thousand years in the future. Ashtyn Sutton is an astronaut who has come back to Earth as a game changing figure of destiny. He has literally died and will eventually write a book that will explain how all life has an equal stake in the universe.

And of course, that’s going to start a war between human supremacists and basically everyone else, particularly human made androids and robots. And thanks to the power of time travel, Sutton ends up in the thick of it. 

Simak does a good job making Sutton a down-to-Earth Joe and an enlightened prophet. He was a normal guy before he died, got resurrected and enlightened. Much of the book is about him coming to terms with both those things.

But here’s where my suspension of disbelief struggled. Simak did a good job conveying the vastness of space but not time. It’s very common for science fiction protagonists to really be contemporary people in future settings but even the future setting of Time and Time Again seems to be the 1950s. (A particularly jarring moment was when someone 6,500 years in the future’s desk has paper clips and an ink well)

The detail I struggled the hardest to swallow is that a key plot point is Sutton finding a letter from an ancestor that had just been lying around an attic… for six thousand years. While they make a point that the glue has dried up, it’s hard for me to buy the paper isn’t dust.

None of these elements hurt the theme or really the plot of the story, which just makes me feel like a pedantic nitpicker to be bothered by them.

And, if you view the book as a parable with Simak discussing issues of the 1950s behind a veil of science fiction, these incongruities actually make a lot of sense. Sutton’s world and issues aren’t in 8000 AD. They’re really the 1950s in disguise. And ink wells in the distant future are really his way of telling the reader to pay attention.

Time and Time Again isn’t about time travel paradox. It is a very thinly veiled commentary about civil rights. Sutton isn’t becoming a prophet but someone in a privileged position learning to understand others. 

I feel like much of Clifford D. Simak’s work seems escapist but is actually focused on discussing hard truths.

Okay, how travel gaming go?

 Okay, one more time. This one should be it, though.

Went on a non-gaming trip. Packed a few small solitaire games, knowing that I wouldn’t have much time or space. Wrote all about that already.

So what happened?

Well, it turned out I underestimated how much gaming time I’d have. More than that, underestimated how much space I’d have to work with.

One of my standby’s for limited time and space is Criss Cross which is smaller than a post card and twelve rounds. Almost entirely due to space, I only got a couple game of Criss Cross in.

(If I had brought a clip board along, it would have been a different story. Of course, I was trying to minimize how much non-essentials I packed lol)

Palm Island ended up being what actually saw serious play. It benefited from the combination of not needing a table (or any other kind of surface) and having a bit meat to it. I do enjoy The Starspeaker or Labyrinth Runner for fidgeting but they don’t feel like ‘full’ game.

I actually improved my Palm Island game during the trip. I hadn’t played Palm Island seriously in a while and found there was some more depth to be found. (And, yes, the Tool Maker really is the MVP of the deck)

My travel set is just the demo black-and-white deck. Revisiting the full game and the feats definitely feels like something to consider.

Couple of thoughts for the future:

If I’m just playing In Hand games on non-gaming travels, I’ll need to look for heavier games. Palm Laboratory is an obvious choice. I’ve had good experiences with the Zed Deck and Foothold Enterprises. I’ve also been meaning to look into Gloomholdin’ and Dragons of Etchinstone, among others. There’s stuff to look into.

The other thought, particularly if I am trying to be as minimal as possible, are In Hand games that use a traditional deck of cards. I’ve had Loot the Loop and Road Trip Solitaire recommended to me and enjoyed The Shooting Party more than I should. That’s also worth looking into.

Yup, still like Ukiyo

 Some years ago, I tried out Ukiyo and I thought it was a really solid game. However, it fell under the never-ending issue of ‘so many games, so little time’ and got buried under other games to learn and non-game life.

Last year, I decided that I needed to give Ukiyo another try. And it has ended up being a game I now get in the table all the time.

(I should note that I have only played it as a solitaire. That being said, I suspect that that is where it really shines.)

Ukiyo is a tile-laying micro game that uses Japanese symbols. (I have the first edition but the second edition looks very pretty) Each card is two-by-three symbol grid and the play area is going to be a six-by-six symbol grid. Cards have to overlap because it wouldn’t work otherwise.

Every card also has a goal on it. And that that is the heart of the game, multiplayer or solitaire. In the solitaire game, you set aside three to four cards and you try to achieve all of those goals in order to win.

One of the things that makes the game so very playable as a solitaire is that there are 20 different challenges, ranked in four levels of difficulty. 20 challenges might not sound like a lot, but there are many solitaire games that are basically just one challenge. 20 is a lot of replay value.

And the fact that you can choose your difficulty rating is also a big deal. I can handle the easy challenges basically on auto pilot. That’s great for when I’m not up for heavy thinking. And the toughest challenges? Haven’t actually won one of those yet which makes them a reliable challenge.

When I first played the game, I definitely thought there was good stuff there. When I went back to the game earlier this year, I was impressed all over. I was happy to find that it offered different flavors of mental exercise/escape in an 18-card package.

Now, mind you, there are a lot of options like this out there. Enough that there are some that are very, very good. Sprawlopolis and its many children are a strong example of this.

And, while Ukiyo can be played on a airplane tray, where Sprawlopolis might spill off the side, it isn’t the small footprint that makes the difference. It is my ability to choose the level of challenge and to choose it in a very fine degree that has made me add Ukiyo to regular play. 

It is a very good game. But, possibly more importantly, it is a very flexible game.

Ignition- an insightful and snarky history of early rocket fuel

 Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Drury Clark and published in 1972 is an interesting bit of history.

The only reason I know who Clark is because of his association with Isaac Asimov. The two of them worked together during WW II. Later on, Clark was directly responsible for the formation of the Trapdoor Spider Club, which inspired Asimov's Black Widower stories. In fact, the Trapdoor Spiders formed because Pratt Fletcher couldn't get along with Clark's wife so he formed a social club so he could still hang out with Clark. (To make matters even more like a soap opera, Clark divorced and married the woman Pratt had been married to when the club formed) Clark is specifically the inspiration for James Drake.

While Clark did write a couple of science fiction stories, his most famous work of writing for non-scientists is Ignition. When I started looking at the Trapdoor Spider members I hadn't heard of, that rabbit hole took me to Ignition and it was too fascinating a work to not read.

Clark does lightly touch on the chemistry that is the point of the book, the book is really as collection of anecdotes about the research. It is pretty much an oral history of the development of rocket fuel up through the 1960s. Clark was in the thick of it so he got to hear a lot of what happened. (There are some things he specifically mentions were classified and he couldn't discuss) The chemistry pretty much went over my head but the stories kept me going.

Above all else, the book is entertaining. Clark clearly was a story teller and he also had a snarky, black sense of humor. He is discussing the development of extremely volatile chemicals during the Cold War. Explosions, massive property damage and death were a part of that and he addresses them with a lot of gallows humor. A particularly dark comment that stuck with me was that they only had to make a limited amount of ICBM fuel because everyone would be dead if they ever got used so they didn't have to make enough for a second round. (The real point was they could be picky with how they developed ICBM fuel but the argument definitely sticks with you)

Ignition also made me think about how much technological development I take for granted. Ignition isn't about the engineering involved in rocket development, which is what you usually hear about if you look at the history of rockets. It's about the chemistry involved. It's about a very specific part of the rocket development, albeit an absolutely essential part. It describes decades of research that I'm sure is still going on, as well as vast amounts of effort and money. You couldn't just pump diesel into a rocket and watch it go. (I was embarrassed at realizing I never thought about how oxidation would have to be part of the chemical reaction to make rocket fuel work when it's so obvious that that would be essential. A big chunk of the book in fact discusses oxidizers)

The book is more than fifty years old. As I've said, much of the development that is described must have been superseded by now. However, it's good to know what we had to do in order to get to where we've gotten. It is also a good look at technological development that was driven by the Cold War. (Or was it the first Cold War?) Clark wrote an book that is pretty darn entertaining but it is insightful as well.