Post date: Jul 23, 2014 3:59:11 AM
Portal: Today I jumped right in to playing Portal. So far, the game is very interesting. I have learned how to walk and since there were no directions, I had to look at the tools menu to figure out what keys do what. So, the keys w s a d are for moving forward backward left and right. Then, there was something about mouse 1 and mouse 2 being the portal blue and portal red and I didn't understand how that would work so I changed the buttons to b and c. So, already I customized it. Hope it is not a problem later. So I have walked through some doors, easily taken an elevator to new "challenges" and learned how to pick up this cube that needs to be placed on a sensor. The mouse movement and forward and backward on the mouse help me look around, up, down, and turn. After a couple of challenges, I was allowed to pick up the portal gun which only shoots the blue portals and the red ones are strategically placed to make each challenge interesting. I played for 45 minutes and went through about 4 challenges. Fun! So, how did I learn? I learned by doing, experimenting so to say. Clicking on some menu buttons also helped but I did not read any guides and that wasn't a problem. Every time I completed a challenge, I heard a confirmation from the "computer" in charge of my "training"... It seems to have a bit of a sense of humor too. At one point it said that I would complete a challenge and not hear anything from them but the computer spoke up after I completed the challenge and it said "well, we lied, we are going to tell you you did a good job!. Then it warns me that it really isn't going to tell me any more next time. Hmmmmm. Later today I hope to try Monaco with a group of Cadre mates..
Hay Day: I have achieved level 12 and acquired some new gadgets - I can process all of my raw goods into such things as pancakes, bacon and eggs (turning my pig into bacon is a process of him going through a slim down machine, and coming out all skinny with a big smile on his face and pointing at his mouth for food), butter, and cookies. I have been selling these things in my roadside stand and trying to make sales. My farm feels extremely productive and it is fun to come back every once in a while. Previously, this game had an annoying notification system that could oink or cluck at any time on my phone..., I turned those settings off. Now, I am much more relaxed and do not feel obligated to go check on my farm all the time. It will be there when I get to it. I've got bigger fish to fry (a higher level actually, ha ha) I am on to Portal and Monaco today...
Monaco: Wow! What a challenge! Today I played Monaco for the first time with DeltaEchoEcho (Douglas) who also had only played it for a short while yesterday. So, he and I had no idea how to play it. Before we started, I had noted the buttons I could use for certain moves like pressing space bar for using gear and I think I could have used the mouse to aim the gear. I tried to join up with other online friends and was unable to connect until a friend request was sent to me. So, we learned by experience how to sneak so the guards don't see you, how to get and use the first aid kits when we were "down", and how to use the smokescreen when the guards are a coming for ya! We had trouble figuring where to go. But, thankfully, there were arrows on the screen to help. but once we picked up the trophy we weren't sure how to get out of there. Those guards are brutal! It was really helpful to play with a friend because I felt insecure about my lack of knowledge and what the other players who I wouldn't know would react to my inexperience. Before we even played the game we had to figure out how to communicate . Thankfully, my partner in crime knew a little bit about how to get us connected via voice chat. Being able to communicate via voice chat and talking it out was excellent! Thanks sooo much to my patient partner for agreeing to play for a little bit and experience the multiplayer game with me.