Memory leak in Pattern Buffer (No spoilers)

[kholmes]

Having run into the well-documented memory leak in Pattern Buffer, I decided to try various game play options rather than turn off real-time sound effects etc...

Having tried several combinations, I can report that it is possible to complete the level without turning off the options - it can be done...

Which then throws up an interesting philosophical point... The game was introduced as having increasingly complex problems to resolve through the levels... Could it be that the memory leak is just one of those problems and, therefore, *isn't* a bug that needs fixing?...

Oh heck, going for a lie-down
Kev

[xander]

Having run into the well-documented memory leak in Pattern Buffer, I decided to try various game play options rather than turn off real-time sound effects etc...

Having tried several combinations, I can report that it is possible to complete the level without turning off the options - it can be done...

Which then throws up an interesting philosophical point... The game was introduced as having increasingly complex problems to resolve through the levels... Could it be that the memory leak is just one of those problems and, therefore, *isn't* a bug that needs fixing?...

Oh heck, going for a lie-down
Kev

No. Just... no. I hate silly meta-game solutions. Like the Psycho Mantis fight in MGS. Hate.

xander

[trickfred]

No. Just... no. I hate silly meta-game solutions. Like the Psycho Mantis fight in MGS. Hate.

xander

I also thought the memory card reading/controller swapping thing was a little too breaking-the-4th-wall-ish. Some games, it's funny to acknowledge you're playing a game, but for most, it just ruins the atmosphere.

[xander]

No. Just... no. I hate silly meta-game solutions. Like the Psycho Mantis fight in MGS. Hate.

xander

I also thought the memory card reading/controller swapping thing was a little too breaking-the-4th-wall-ish. Some games, it's funny to acknowledge you're playing a game, but for most, it just ruins the atmosphere.

Of course, MGS never really tried to pretend that you weren't playing a game -- "To fire, press the R1 button. You got that Snake?". It is even worse at the end of MGS2. All things considered, they are a good series of games, and they don't really try to pretend that there is a 4th wall, I just found some of the little meta-game tricks to be annoying, if appropriate, given the style of the game.

In a game like Uplink, meta-game tricks were great -- the game bibles, etc. (though I must admit that I really haven't done much with those bits and pieces -- I don't really have the expertise or motivation to figure it all out). In Darwinia, I don't think that they are appropriate. Furthermore, in this instance, it wasn't even intentional. The memory leak really needs to get fixed, and Pattern Buffer really should be made playable, no matter what settings one is using.

xander

[trickfred]

The memory leak really needs to get fixed, and Pattern Buffer really should be made playable, no matter what settings one is using.

Heh. You know it. Along with six dozen other things that need to be fixed. NEED. Honestly, I love the game, but it's still buggy as all hell a year later, and it would be nice if we weren't still having to mod around the bugs.

[xander]

The memory leak really needs to get fixed, and Pattern Buffer really should be made playable, no matter what settings one is using.

Heh. You know it. Along with six dozen other things that need to be fixed. NEED. Honestly, I love the game, but it's still buggy as all hell a year later, and it would be nice if we weren't still having to mod around the bugs. :(

Indeed.

xander