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5 Reasons Why Pocket Trains Is Better

Let me start by saying I love NimbleBit games and the studio as a whole. I, like many of you, was hooked when I discovered Tiny Tower. I love the pixel art, the bitizen characters and the little attentions to detail in their games like the Bitbook (mock in-game Facebook). Not only are their games good but it seems like they are the underdogs that everyone is rooting for, and I mean "underdog" in the best way possible as in they don't have the capital or resources that their competition has. It's hard not to respect them when they send notes like this to studios who copy their games.

Then there was Pocket Planes. I enjoyed Pocket Planes but not for very long. I played for less than a month and didn't monetize. I felt the game fell short in a few different aspects. Some complained the gameplay is a little repetitive but that can be said for most games. What's not repetitive about Candy Crush or Clash of Clans? However, the lack of missions or progression got to me. I also ended up discovering a killer strategy. Invest in the larger planes (level 3) and close all airports except your major (level 3) airports. The strategy wasn't dependent on how many airports/routes you had, but relied on sending better planes on longer routes. This seemed more like an exploit rather than a compelling strategy.

When Pocket Trains came out several people around me were initially underwhelmed saying things like "this is just another Pocket Planes." I had to remind them that many games are clones of another, or get inspiration from another game. This isn't a bad thing so long as they improve on the former or inspirational game. After playing Pocket Trains for a while now I think there are 5 critical things that NimbleBit improved to make the game more compelling and I'm sure some of these could be applied to other games out there.

1. Improved Strategy

NimbleBit improved on this in several ways so we'll tackle them one at a time.

• Pocket Trains encourages expansion. Like I mentioned above there's a point in Pocket Planes where it doesn't make sense to continue to operate smaller planes and airports so your network shrinks. However, in Pocket Trains you need to keep those previous routes open in order to keep expanding. This helps with the player's sense of progression since their empire is never shrinking.
• Planning routes is more simplistic. In Pocket Planes it costs money to fly somewhere. This might be more accurate in the real world, but it makes the planning process longer. In the end, I only care about the profit margin from each thing I'm transporting. I do enjoy more expansive/complex strategy games, but this game is on mobile so if you can make it easier to play then it's usually best to do so. 
• It's all about routes, not who has the best train type. In Pocket Trains each train type has a different set of stats. Some are very fast but don't hold much fuel, and others might have a larger towing capacity but are very slow. There are routes that work better for certain train types and it's up to the player to figure that out. On the surface, players won't recognize this but it's these layers of complexity over a simple set of actions that makes Pocket Trains a much better game. 

building a network and using the right trains for proper routes is crucial

2. Can't Buy Specific Trains

In Pocket Planes players can purchase plane parts in order to "build" new planes at a discount, but there's also the option to just buy the plane already built. Having the option to buy the planes instantly devalued them to me. There's no scarcity or nothing special about those planes if you don't need to work for them.

You can buy planes parts...

or skip it and just purchase planes

I believe NimbleBit realized this and that's why you can't purchase pre-built trains in Pocket Trains. Players need to collect crates and use "bux" (premium currency) to open them. This makes even paying players work for special train types and it also helps drain player's premium currency, but NimbleBit is also generous with the premium currency so they're not being greedy about it.

I need more special crates to finish these trains! Perhaps I should buy some :)

3. More Currency Types

Like in previous NimbleBit games there are coins and bux for the standard and premium currencies. However, NimbleBit also added "crates" and "special crate" IAP options. Players come by regular crates pretty often, but special crates are rare and require a large amount of coins to purchase. This is a great accompanying IAP option to bux because bux are required in order to open crates. If I spend $5 on 50 special crates then I'll likely also need some bux to help open that many crates. Adding complementary IAP options like this will greatly increase your odds to persuade players into repeat purchasers.

I bought some special crates...

And needed some bux to open all those crates

4. Delay with Refueling

In Pocket Planes when a plane lands from a flight it's immediately ready for the next flight. I also played Pocket Planes religiously for 2 weeks strait, uninstalled and then never played again. It's not a necessity to have delay in all F2P games, but I really encourage it for games that can be repetitive or shallow to break up sessions lengths to keep player's interest for longer periods of time.

In Pocket Trains, the trains have a certain amount of fuel that they can hold. After traveling, fuel regenerates at a rate of 1 fuel unit every 10 seconds. Players typically wait less than 20 minutes to refuel but this break helps them get away from repetitive tasks, or helps persuade them to monetize if they're in a pinch.

5. Daily Events

In Pocket Planes players could join a team (or flight crew) and participate in events that lasted a few days with other players. The concept sounds great on paper, but there were a few flaws.

• There's no way to communicate with your flight crew in game.
• There's no limit to how many players could be in a flight crews so just join a really large flight crew and you'll win. 
• Events that last more than 1 day on mobile are extremely long. 

I liked the concept of a team event because it was turning a single player game into a multiplayer game, but I don't think it worked out as well as one might have hoped during the designing process.

NimbleBit fixed these event issues in Pocket Trains. They have daily events to encourage players to come back every day to participate and the events are completed on an individual basis versus a team event. This also complements the delay with refueling because players might spend bux to refuel their train or fast travel to a location in order to finish an event if they're close.

It's true Pocket Trains didn't peak as high as Pocket Planes. If they can maintain the trend and get good bumps like they do with Pocket Planes then I'm confident Trains will be more profitable than Plains. Why didn't it peak as high as Pocket Planes? I don't know for certain, but I believe it's because of the similar style of game so some players aren't downloading, playing or paying. As for me, I monetized (twice) in Pocket Trains when I never did in Pocket Planes. I hope Pocket Trains can maintain its position, but only time will tell.

If you'd like help designing or monetizing your games feel free to contact me or hit me on Twitter!

D&D Booze Zine

Justin Ryan Isaac has written a plethora of RPG reviews for yours truly, so this is my chance to blog about his efforts!

The man and his cohorts are kickstarting a zine called Cade's Big Book 'o Booze. 

It looks both fun and useful, so please consider backing this project.  It's his first, and you know how Venger feels about popping cherries... only by the full moon and when I feel the loathsomeness of His tentacles wrapped around my glimmering emerald soul...

And who doesn't want to bludgeon monsters with a dwarven battle mug?  Huzzah! 

Only $5 for the PDF and $12 for both PDF and print.

VS

p.s. Would y'all like to see Purple Prizm in there?  Let's see if we can make that happen.  ;)

The Edge In Everything : Upgrading Your Hardware And Software

So you are a gamer. You are skilled, dedicated and committed to making it big. You want to make a career out of it? What is your strategy to achieve that goal? What specifically do you need to do to get to that ultimate version of yourself?  How could you personalise strategies that other successful people have used, in your life?

I am a firm believer that we are the masters of our own destinies and that every success and failure is of our own making… but this is not an "instaspiration" post.

Who am I? My name is Emile De Bruin and I am an ex-athlete, high performance coach and student of success. I have had the privilege of coaching Olympic and World Champions, Business people, Mind athletes, Teams, Teens, Parents and more. Finding the most effective way to achieve a goal is what drives me and I am passionate about giving people the tools to succeed in ANYTHING that they do. By combining science and experience I believe that I can help anyone take their lives to the next level….

SO WHAT? HOW?

Well, by looking at a person holistically (mentally, physically, socially/emotionally and spiritually). Then finding out what is the starting point (where are you REALLY right now?) and where do you want to get to. Finally, we put an individualised actionable plan in place where we continuously analyse and adapt and learn to operate with GRIT.

Think of it this way, every few years you get a new cell phone or pc and in that time you have to continuously update the apps and software right?  YOU are no different. Obviously you can`t get a new body every few years (at least not yet) but you can upgrade it! Your body and mind have performance requirements and YOU need to ensure that you diligently UPDATE.

 Your output (in life) depends on your input.

Most people are not even aware of this. Others don`t place any value on their own personal natural resources. Then you get people that think there are short cuts.

There aren`t short cuts.

So what do successful people put into place in their lives?  Whether its sport stars, performers, CEO`S , entrepreneurs or anyone else that wins at life, there are 4 pillars that are fundamental.

1. PHYSICALLY

There are 2 essentials :

• Exercise  that builds: strength , endurance, recovery, focus , reactive ability and general capacity and longevity Get a free strength and conditioning gym program here!
• Nutrition that promotes the above and minimizes fatigue Here are some great tips for diet and supplementation strategies

2. MENTALLY

We need to:

• Be challenged and stimulated in order to stay motivated
•  Be able to express ourselves and be creative
•  Learn by changing the way we perceive life and events in our lives
• Learn that I am in control and responsible
• Get more insight and tips here!

3. SOCIALLY/EMOTIONALLY

Regardless of whether we are introverted or extroverted we need to understand that from an evolutionary perspective we require human interaction to live well. If we can discover in what situations we are either energised or drained by people, then we can implement strategies to boost our output.

Read why you can blame your ancestors for this!

4. SPIRITUALLY

What separates us from animals is our soul. Figuring out what nourishes your soul is fundamental to any form of success in living the mission and vision you have for your life.

Think of the the 4 aspects listed above (physical, mental, social/emotional, spiritual) as 4 legs of a chair that you are sitting on. If any one or more of the legs are neglected  for the growth or advancement of another leg the chair will be off balance right? You would agree with me that it makes sense to implement a strategy where all 4 legs are developed equally right?

Check this out if you want to know more

This is the absolute best way to not only succeed in life but to also make your success sustainable… and enjoy the ride at the same time!

If this article made sense to YOU, I would be honoured to COACH you on the 4 pillars to help you find the best ways to take your life and what you do in life to the ultimate level.

Set up a FREE coaching session with me now via SKYPE or come see me at my office in Pretoria.

Contact me on info@meta4mance.co.za or on http://meta4mance.co.za/contact/#x-section-10

Let the future you thank you for what you decide to do today.

Sincerely, Emile De Bruin

Bringing Out The Dead (Scorsese, 1999)

"This is not about New York. This is about suffering, it's about humanity. It's about what our part is in life."
- Martin Scorsese

Barely making it into the top 100 grossing films of 1999, Bringing out the Dead (Scorsese, 1999) has never been one of Scorsese's best efforts commercially as a director, making back just $17 million of its $55 million budget. After Kundun (1997) and Casino (1995), the director returned to both New York and to his screenwriting collaborator Paul Schrader, adapting a semi-autobiographical novel by Joe Connelly about a burned out paramedic, Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage), working the night shift in New York's Hells Kitchen. Perhaps the fact that it was a film about empathy with a mis-marketed trailer and a low budget was the reason why it wasn't successful upon release, but unlike The King of Comedy, for instance, it has neither enjoyed a re-evaluation. Perhaps now is the time?

As with all Martin Scorsese pictures, the film owes much to his long time editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, who has said of the film:

"It's the only one of his [Scorsese's] films, I think, that hasn't gotten its due, It's a beautiful film, but it was hard for people to take, I think. Unexpected. But I think it's great.... it was about compassion, and it was sold, I think, as a car chase movie. When I saw the trailer I said, "Wait a minute! That's not what the movie's about!" I think people were made nervous by the theme of it, which I think is beautiful. I think it'll get its due...I can't tell you how many people talk to me about that movie."

Scorsese with Thelma Schoonmaker - perhaps his
most important collaborater of all. 

Comparisons with Taxi Driver are inevitable, the same low lives and dead beats inhabit the dirty New York streets and still, 15 years on (Bringing out the Dead is set in the early 1990s), The Big Apple is still being effected by a massive social and financial crisis - LoBrutto even argues that spiritually, the film takes place in the 70s (2008: 365), which was the era that Scorsese knew best. Drug dealers, prostitutes and murderers all permeate the environment, which is a cold, dank filthy vision of the city, full of graffiti filled interiors and neon lit shop fronts. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) and Frank Pierce are insomniacs who wish to cleanse the streets, but while Travis looks down in distain at the people he witnesses whilst driving around, Frank wishes to help them, which is why every street corner triggers a guilt ridden flashback, where he see's the ghosts of people that he has failed to save as a medic. One in particular, Rose, a young hispanic girl haunts him more than any other, and this is as close as the film comes to a real narrative - that Frank is looking for some kind of redemption from the people who have died under his care, 'his spiritual craving is a desire to be released from guilt rather than desire for immortality or godlikeness' (Nyce, 2004: 157). 

Ebert argues that there's a simple reason for the film's lack of plot, saying that 'the paramedics days have no beginning or goal, but are a limbo of extended horror' (2010: 316). But there is a kind of neat, episodic routine to the way that the film moves along, albeit in a completely nightmarish sense. Set over three nights, Frank is paired with a different partner, each one more unhinged than the last as they patrol the streets in an ambulance waiting for an emergency call to come through on their radio. There are recurring patients, who everyone in the ER remembers as regulars in the manic, overcrowded and claustrophobic hospital that is a kind of purgatory for the lost souls that are brought in. Most of them are the unwanted drug users and gang members who are on the fringes of society, in this sense Bringing out the Dead is quite a personal film for Scorsese: 

"Although he grew up in a decent family, they lived in a neighbourhood that was less than a block from the Bowery, and he saw the derelicts, the dregs of society, that is, people who are waiting to die. According to Scorsese, because of the human misery that he witnessed as a child, he has been conflicted by between feeling compassionate for the unfortunate on the one hand, and feeling repulsed by them on the other hand" (Miliora, 2004: 119) 

This repulsion is characterised by Nurse Constance who chastises the regulars in the ER by questioning why it is that they should be helped, when they're going to go back to their drugs and violent ways to simply end up in the hospital again. At one point Frank also shouts at a homeless man who has tried and failed to commit suicide, saying that the city is full of people who were viciously murdered and just want want to live. Ultimately though, what Frank likes about the job is that he has the ability to save lives ("the best drug in the world"), but the film follows him when he's having a breakdown, suffering because he's wondering whether his job is making any difference at all, he hasn't saved a life in months and is powerless to stop the spread of a new drug called Red Death that's making its way through the streets. In a constant state of oblivion, he mostly saves people such as drug dealers, who have brought about a great deal of pain and death to others themselves. As mentioned, many of the patients are self-destructive "frequent flyers", those who repeatedly find themselves overdosing or passing out to alcohol consumption, they're going to just need saving again in a few days. It seems like a futile job, and he see's himself as a "grief mop", being given training that was useful in less that 10% of situations, most of the time he's required to simply just "show up" to calls. If Taxi Driver is about a man who has a heroic god-complex, Bringing out the Dead is the opposite, or at least it's about a man who must gradually come to accept that just because he has the ability to save lives, he's not god. Frank's third partner, Tom (Tom Sizemore), is closer to Travis Bickle than Frank ever is - disturbed, angry and manic - genuinely wanting to rid New York of the scum through violence. 

Frank's redemption of sorts comes in the form of a woman called Mary (Patricia Arquette), the daughter of a heart attack victim who is being kept on life support, as he lies in the hospital bed he taunts Frank, telling him to let him die to free him from his vegetative state. It seems like the characters in the film who wish to die are doomed to spend their life in the limbo of the emergency room or the back of the ambulance, while the different suicide cases that Frank attends do are always failed attempts. Mary is a former drug addict and someone who Frank feels that he can save, but whether he knows it or not she's also someone who can save him. She's the closest that he has to a real companion after his first (and only sane) partner Larry (John Goodman) quits. We get a hint that the two of them are going to help each other right at the start, when Frank is resuscitating Mary's father. Here, the lighting keeps shifting in intensity, which cinematographer Robert Richardson did because he wanted to  'emphasize the dual nature of Pierce's experience, he's burned out, and his patient is dying, so Pierce feels like hell, however, at the same time he is seeing a glimmer of hope for redemption in the man's daughter'. Frank is skilled at his job but as Thelma Schoonmaker stated, this is a film about compassion. He knows, as best as he can in such a situation, how to calm the traumatised family down, whilst he's resuscitating the victim, he says that playing their favourite music can help - so the son snaps out of his panicked daze to go and put on some Sinatra. At the end of the picture, when he mercy kills Mary's father, who has been shocked back to life from his ultimately irreversible injuries several times, 'Frank overcomes the temptation to adopt the false transcendence of thinking of himself as god' (Conard, 2007: 154), as he accepts that can't reverse the course of the natural deterioration that is the essential fact of the human condition (Shary, 2013: 125). Eventually, after finally saving two lives on his third night, Frank gets the forgiveness that he's been seeking for the whole film, as he looks on at Mary as Rose's ghost and she tells him that no-one asked him to suffer.

A third of the film takes place inside the ambulance, but that's not to say that it isn't a hectic picture full of fast and frantic camerawork. This may have come out of Scorsese's research as he rode with paramedics, who after only a few days said he started seeing things in a blur - illustrated by the several sped-up shots of the ambulance driving down the dark streets, giving a hallucinatory look to the sequences as the shop and street lights soften as they whizz by, giving an insight into the unbalanced, sleep-deprived mind of its protagonist. Speaking of this, Scorsese at one point uses time lapse of the city's skyline to shift from early morning to evening - when Frank has to wake up and get back to work, showing us how his moments of solace are brief and fleeting. However, this method sometimes screeches to a halt, when Frank is

witnessing the ghosts of the dead in slow motion as he stares out the window, it's protracted, painful and drawn out, just as it has been for him in the years that he's been a paramedic. Likewise, as doctors are treating people in the ER, there are lots of long takes, these fluid oners move around the characters which to me is used to demonstrate their skilfulness in their job, and how they effortlessly take everything in their stride as completely routine. The camerawork is also restrained during scenes of quiet conversation, an article on the American Society of Cinematographers states that this was because of the intensely interior nature of the story, Scorsese has agreed: 

"I didn't want to be distracting, he's [Frank] a complete, utter spiritual wreck.. He's cut off from people. He has a great need for forgiveness, but first he must forgive himself. When you're dealing with that sort of material, you don't want to move the camera, you leave it alone"

Due to the episodic nature of the film, by the time we get to the third and final night, Richardson established the shots in the ambulance so that the 'lighting and camera angles become much more extreme', to coincide with Frank basically reaching the end of his tether after he's paired with Tom for the night. The music has also shifted by this point; Van Morrison's slow, blues song TB Sheets which featured prominently at the start of the film is replaced with the Clash's Janie Jones, and he see's even more ghosts of Rose, which seems to manically spur him on and make him desperate to save a life before his shift ends.

The pitch black humour throughout is akin to After Hours, also set entirely a night - when all the crazies seem to come out. Much of this humour seems to come from the religious Marcus (Ving Rhames), Frank's second partner. At one point, Frank discretely resuscitates an overdose victim (apparently by the name of I.B Bangin') in a gothic night club with a shot of adrenaline, and Marcus uses this as a chance to gather the club goers in a circle and preach to the lord, convincing them that it was god who spared the man, not medicine. This macabre humour is constant and in a melancholic film about the unwanted in society dying, adds to the unusual, nightmarish, dream-like experience of watching it. Sotinel (2010: 72) says that this humour has 'nothing in common with the sadism prevalent in American cinema at the time'. Again - perhaps this is why it failed, because it veers from the straight-faced hellish to the plain bizarre without any warning. Unlike, say Fight Club, released the same year, Bringing out the Dead also doesn't relish violence, but in fact seems appalled by it. 

Even though it's a relentlessly grim vision of 1990s New York, Bringing out the Dead turns out to be one of Scorsese's most optimistic films. It's certainly one of his most underrated. Damon Smith, writing on the website for New York's Moving Image museum says that it does not need to be rescued from oblivion; it needs to be resuscitated.

The Unloved - Bringing Out The Dead from RogerEbert.com on Vimeo.

References: 

Conard, M. (2007). The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.

Ebert, R. (2008) Scorsese by Ebert. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

LoBrutto, V. (2008). Scorsese: A Biography. Westport: Praeger Publishers.

Miliora, M. (2004). Scorsese Psyche on Screen: Roots of Themes and Characters in the Films. North Carolina: McFarland and Company.

Nyce, B. (2004). Scorsese Up Close: A Study of the Films. Oxford: Scarecrow Press.

Shary, T. (2013). Millennial Masculinity: Men in Contemporary American Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

Sotinel, T. (2010) Martin Scorsese. Paris: Cahiers Du Cinema Sarl.

'Urban Gothic' Cinematographer Robert Richardson, ASC rejoins director Martin Scorsese for a harrowing look at the life of a troubled EMT in Bringing Out the Dead. American Society of Cinematographers. (https://theasc.com/magazine/nov99/urban/pg1.htm)

Anime Iowa 2014!

Hey everyone!

I'm back! (Did you miss me?)

Today I'm finally going to make a post that I've wanted to make since the beginning of August. (Time flies when you have a job, I swear. Wow.) And that blog post would be: Anime Iowa! It's a super fun convention in the state of Iowa that of course is centered around anime, but it also (thankfully) has its fair share of other geeky things, like Doctor Who, video games, plus lots of cute fantasy items.

Anyway, this year was as fun as the last, and I took over 600 photos! (Don't worry, I'll only spam you with a few of my favorites!)

So, let's get started!

Me! I went as Mey-Rin from Black Butler, and since I didn't want to do the same thing as before, I decided to alter her costume to make it into the way she appears when she uses her guns. (Which I made very quickly out of cardboard shortly before Anime Iowa, haha. They're not very pretty to look at, but it's my first time making a prop, and I'm proud of them darn it!

And these three were fantastic. From left to right, 11th Doctor, 10th doctor, and River Song!  The 11th Doctor was so in character it was great fun to watch him at the photoshoot!

And the 9th doctor, and the 10th together. With their psychic paper, of course!

I really can't even imagine how many hours must have been put into this. Seriously, a fantastic job!

Deadpool + Loki? Oh yes.

There was even a Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time at Anime Iowa this year. Which was basically the best thing ever. Even talked like him. It was hard to suppress my inner fangirl at this point.

And then me and the boyfriend got all dressed up for the rave. Which, neither of us are exactly big fans of raves, but any excuse for me to dress up in a crazy amount of glow sticks, and I'm all for it!
(Honestly, I think my rave outfit was my favorite I wore at AI this year..)

And then this is the absolutely gorgeous outfit I bought at Anime Iowa this year. I got everything except the corset from a fantastic shop called Back to Earth Creations and I got the corset from Scoundrelle's Keep. I'm absolutely in love with all of it.

And so this was everything I bought this year during my Anime Iowa trip. The book Dragon Age: Asunder was actually bought at Barnes & Noble before I went to AI though, but I included it since it was in the same trip! The outfit I got is on the left, then some dice pendants, elf ears, a sonic screwdriver, dragon eye necklace, blunderbuss, a cute miniature replica of sting from the Tolkien books, Arwen's necklace, and the mockingjay pendant.

Yes, I go to anime conventions and get absolutely nothing anime-related what so ever. It happens..

And now, because I'm a loser that likes to pretend I'm a good photographer, I took pictures of the sky for each of the days I was down at Anime Iowa. Behold:

 (double rainbow!)

So, that was my trip to Anime Iowa. It was a nice relaxing (and somehow still very hectic) trip. And i can't wait to do it next year. :)

Thanks for reading!

Have you been to a convention?

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