Game Project Updates (5/30)

Today's blog entry: Updates on whatever the hell I'm working on!


"Codename: EPIC":

We're currently working on chapter 1 of the project.

We had a meeting for the plot and background of chapter 1 on Friday and I talked to my friend Airen who is working on the plot and dialogue. I'm not very good with intricate story-lines and plots in a game and the basic premise I have (had?) isn't (wasn't?) very satisfactory. He came up with a very interesting overarching storyline and we're probably going to roll with it. I hope you guys will like it! :)



Unlike Dojo Adventure which primarily focused on game-play and puzzles and didn't have too much of a story/plot, this project is going to have a nice mesh of storyline and game-play reminiscent of SNES/early PS1-era role-playing games.

The screen-shots I'm posting here are primarily development pictures. I'm going to be spending the next three weeks working on spells and abilities for the characters. Then I will focus on development of translating our plot and dialogue and represent that with movements and visual cues in game. Then I will probably spend the next couple of months staying up late working out these cutscenes and timing it with the eventual voices that will be added. After that, we're going to gradually swap in the assets from the art team.



I am really taking my time here to get it to the point where I'm satisfied with it. The enthusiast in me wants to be done with chapter 1 by the end of Summer. The realist in me says it'll likely be done by December or early next year. It really depends on the pacing and how fast people go. I don't want to rush this for the sake of a deadline, but we'll see what happens.

I'm also hosting a beta testing of the battle system from June 13th-June 19th. Keep watching for more information about that.



Dojo Adventure:



I'm going to go ahead and say I'm pretty much done developing the game. I may go back and revamp it with a new art style and re-do it with more of a storyline in the future, but I would need a whole new development team for that, and that is just too much for me to do on my own at the moment. Luckily, the game as it stands is completed and I don't plan on releasing any further versions or additions to the game. (Don't hold me to it though. I may go back and suddenly get some inspiration to do radical changes in a future version. But don't hold your breath!)

It was a good six year run, and without that project, I'd probably not be interested in developing games at all. I conceived the idea for the project back when I was in middle school during my time when I was kept away from everyone due to suspension. (When one is suspended from school [in this area, at least] they ban you from all extra-curricular activities for nine weeks.) So I spent a lot of that time coming up with the foundation for the project and spent the next six years actually making a game out of that.

Now with the new project I'm working on, going back and seeing the difference in quality already makes me cringe. I think that may be a good sign, though. That means there's a vast improvement in quality, and that's exactly what I am going for. :)

_


Until Wednesday. If you happen to live in the United States and are reading this, enjoy the holiday and take some time out of the day to remember those who have paid the ultimate price to keep our country safe.

The Future is Perfect

Due to the immense amount of spoilers in this post, I put a picture of the linkshell as a cover for what's to come to not intentionally spoil anything. If you want to save or shield yourself from the pictures/spoilers of the final quest in the current Final Fantasy XIV storyline, I suggest exiting out of this post.



On with the post!


I finally got to start the R46 (and currently final main storyline quest) "Futures Perfect" in Final Fantasy XIV.


After activating the quest in the Merchant's Ward in Ul'dah. I was instructed by Minfilia to go to Camp Revenant's Toll in Mor Dhona to investigate the Empire invasion.

I took two linkshell members/friends of mine to help with the quest. Candlestar Arandur (left, also needed the quest), and Saltyblanket Hobnobgobbler (right, came along for fun).


The boss fight involved chasing several Imperial Soldiers down to a cannon which proceeded to fire in a radial circle following either Candle, Salty, or myself while fighting the soldiers simultaneously. If the cannon were to start beeping with the fire target underneath us, we had to move quickly or be fired upon for 9600-9999 damage.

After some fighting, the Imperial Soldiers decided to run even more, and we chased them down the purple-ish corridor you see above. We were then treated to a bunch of motion-capture cutscenes with NPC fellow as you'll see below.

As always, here's my NPC Shandomina being well... her sarcastic alliterative self.



After seeing epic cutscene that these pictures couldn't do justice. (Shandomina even talked!), Candle and I woke up in a cave with children and were treated to more cutscenes. (Salty was ejected back to camp due to not meeting quest requirement.)







And that's the end of it, pretty much. (For now.) I suppose the original plan was to have more in-game storyline implemented by now, but due to the old development team being fired and replaced, I imagine that got put on hold, which means the current storyline ends on a very epic cliffhanger where the empire goes back sorely defeated and likely wanting revenge. Why did they aim for Mor Dhona in particular anyway? And what will happen to the defeated Resistance?

The co-leader of my linkshell, Crevox Shadeseer has his own blog here which he .DAT mined the next quest and it involves a certain summon we all know and love. I'm looking forward to when they implement that in the future, but until then I will get to work on doing class quests and enjoying time with the Viva Eorzea Linkshell. :)




Until Monday!

Going to keep things short.

I don't have much to write today, not going to even post it on Facebook.


I'm working on the Codename EPIC Project and I'm a little behind.

I'm working on turning Viva Eorzea into a Endgame LS and I just started the official Twitter for the LS.


That's about it.

Rank 46 overview on Saturday!

Naoki Yoshida "Yoshi-P" Part VI

I am happy. No, I am really happy. Three factors play a role into this happiness:

-I don't feel like I've blown $75.

-I don't feel like I've wasted the last 8 months.

-We have changes coming! Lots of changes!

Anyway, I promised in my last blog entry that I would talk about my opinion on what's coming to the world of Eorzea in the near future. And I am really liking what I'm seeing. Enough to get me playing fairly often again. And leveling like crazy with the Viva Eorzea Linkshell.

_

See also: Letter from the Producer X
See also: Letter from the Producer IX

See also: Upcoming battle system overhauls. (By Akihiko Matsui)

See also: The Grand Companies of Eorzea

See also: All Previous Naoki Yoshida Posts / FFXIV Notes.

_

Letter from the Producer X:

Link

Yoshi-P posted the newest installment of the Letter from the Producer last Friday, it mainly contains what is to come before the end of this Summer.

While you can see the full list in the links I provided above, some of the noteworthy things I'm going to touch on and give my input.

-Grand Companies:

The upcoming patch is going to introduce the grand companies. Should be noted that one of the leaders is a female roegadyn. And all of the leaders of the companies hold mythic weapons. (Nod to FFXI?)

It's hinted that a lot of the new dungeon content will be tied to these new companies as well.

Personally, I'm going to be joining "The Order of the Twin Adder" situated in Gridania! ^_^


-Job System



As evidenced by this photo posted in a long ago previous Letter from the Producer strongly that old classic FF-jobs were making a comeback. In this letter (as well as the battle system post), it's been confirmed and it is coming. Current classes won't simply be replaced by jobs though (as many people seemed to fear.) It seems that jobs will be specializations of current classes. Like a Conjurer can rank up and take the quests to become a Black or White Mage. Or at least that how it seems to be. I could be wrong, but these jobs are going to have quests associated with them to unlock. While classes will be for more solo and small-group oriented play, it has been said that jobs will be more niche and rigidly defined.

I'm hoping to be a Paladin and Black Mage for my character. A nod to the two FF jobs I associated with the most in Final Fantasy XI! (My two personal favorite jobs.)

Ifrit Battle and Mounts:

We were teased left and right over Ifrit in the main storyline, and I don't know what the original team was thinking when we couldn't fight him in the story. But now it's going to be added before the end of the summer. I'm looking forward to it because the linkshell and I are going to get right on it!


And chocobos. Finally! It's about time a Final Fantasy game has rideable chocobo mounts. -_-

Letter from the Producer IX:

Link

This was posted earlier this month. But Yoshi shows off some of the new quest hubs and beastmen strongholds that are going to be released in June's upcoming patch.

The link contains the pictures of the upcoming hubs.

Upcoming battle system overhauls:

Link

Personally, my linkshell is torn on the opinion of Auto-Attack. People don't want to go back to the 'slow' system of FFXI. But something tells me it won't be like that. But then again I was a tank in both XI and now in XIV. I'm always working my ass off to keep hate rather than be a damage dealer. So I can't accurately judge a system until I play it.

I am peeved at the loss of Physical Levels though. I hate crafting, and my only motivation to do so was do raise my physical level. And now they're going away with it, I have a feeling crafts are going back to the back burner. But I am trying to get to level 50 before then just for the sake of saying "boo-yah" as all my progress away. :(

_

All in all, I guess it's for the best. I'm in it to see the game get much better no matter what it takes. I'm certainly having fun and enjoying watching actively all the changes happening while I'm playing the game. And more importantly, I certainly wouldn't be playing if I didn't think it was going to be a great adventure someday. Either I'm a really patient person, or I'm just cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

...Maybe both?

Good Knight, Sweet Dreams

Or so the quest says.


I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy XIV lately. And I mean a lot. Most of my inspiration of playing can be attributed to two large posts by the development team. An upcoming overhaul to the battle system and introduction of the FF-staple jobs (like Black Mage!) AND an upcoming list of changes to the game. (Including dungeons and a chance to fight Ifrit!) But enough about that, I will rant about that much more thoroughly on Tuesday.



The other day, I finally got my Conjurer to Rank 30 (finally), which allowed me to undertake the next class quest in the series. (There are three for each class. One quest undertaken at rank 20, another at rank 30, and the final one at 36.)

The boss fight is extremely difficult and mostly luck. (Or maybe I'm just terrible at nuking. I don't know!) and the guy (above) doesn't like to help at all!

In any case, it took me five tries before I finally got them defeated, and it involved rescuing a fallen knight from Coerthas.




...But eight ranks to go until I am done with it for now. (I'm hoping to get Conjurer to 38 so I can learn Raise and use it on others. Especially for the upcoming content.) Along with that, I'm hoping on taking Gladiator to 50 and get Physical level 50 before they dump it just for the sake of saying "Booyah"!

And in the process, I'm hoping to gear up the linkshell in preparation of what's to come. I'm looking forward to what's on the horizon. Bring it on summer (and Ifrit)!




So much to do, so little time!

Game Project: Battle System Preview

It's great to actually feel well enough to get back up and working again on my projects. I don't plan on working myself to exhaustion again (especially while having been sick for the last week and a half.)


Anyway, I'm working on the battle system for the game project the last few weeks or so. Since I've gotten sick though, I had to really throw it into back-priority while I focused on getting better. Anyway, some preview screen-shots.



I want this project to be what "Aveyond" was for RPG Maker XP. One of the noteworthy professional projects developed on the VX engine. There are too many VX games that are either poorly written, poorly developed, or blatantly copied. (Using pre-existing music and characters.) And I really want to set out to develop something original and exciting. Which is why we are taking as long as we need to get something the team (as well as I) can be satisfied with.

Anyway, going off the previous tangent, I'm starting to really get good with Ruby programming language. It's become some sort of hobby for me to do some programming on the side, especially tearing apart and rebuilding something code-wise. I find to be a lot of fun, and it's good practice to beef up programming skills/knowledge. :)

I think I said it the other day too in some previous post, but beta-testing for the battle system will be from June 13th to June 19th, 2011. I will post details at a later date, and invitations to those interested will be invited via e-mail.


Until Sunday the 22nd!

Selection of Video Game Music (May 2011) - Part III

Part III of my favorite video game music. To see parts I and II, you can check out this link and scroll down. It starts from most recent iteration and goes backward.

#21 - "Searching for Friends" (Final Fantasy VI)





Going to start off with a classic SNES-era Uematsu tune. This song is played during the world map of the "World of Ruin" in Final Fantasy VI after the airship has been recovered. It's a very enthusiastic song that plays that emphasizes the need of "searching for friends", the party members that were lost in the transformation from the first half to the second half of the game.

DJ Yuzoboy did a very good remix of this song, also. With lyrics from the song "Holla If Ya Hear Me" by 2Pac.






#22 - "To the Future" (Love Theme/Ending Song) (Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals)





Note: Spoilers!

Probably one of the saddest themes in existence, but this is the song that plays as main characters Maxim and Selan are trapped in the crashing Doom Island and sacrifice themselves to save their loved ones and their hometown.

The scene in context:






#23 - "Sword Search" (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)

One of the best Game Boy games that was ever released. It's going to be released on the 3DS Virtual Console, too! Hip, hip-

This particular theme plays at the very beginning of the game when you wash up on Koholint Island.





#24 - "The Road" (Street Fighter Alpha 3)

As being the first main Street Fighter game since Street Fighter II to have all-new themes, I as shocked when I heard this song back in 1998. SFA3 had a very good soundtrack, even if they dumped all the classic themes to introduce them in. This particular song plays on Ryu's stage.





#25 - "Gym Leader Battle Theme" (Pokemon Ruby-Sapphire-Emerald)

Ruby and Sapphire are my least favorite in the series by far. I never bought them near release day, and I was generally disgusted with Pokemon back in 2003. I thought they ruined the formula after Gold and Silver (loss of backwards compatibility) and I didn't want any part of it. Now that I've gotten back into the series with Diamond and Pearl, I got the Emerald version a couple of years ago to go back and see what I missed.





#26 - Haunted Hideaway (Mario Party 8)

Most of the Mario Party games past 2 were flat out terrible. And MP8 is no exception. However, there is one board on the game that is pretty catchy. Plays in "King Boo's Haunted Hideaway".





#27 - Angel Island Zone 2 (Sonic Advance)

Sonic Advance for GBA had a largely forgettable soundtrack, but it was a solid game. Solid enough to get various sequels, at least. Anyway, the song that really stands out is this theme which plays somewhat through the middle if I remember correctly.





#28 - Corridors of Time (Chrono Trigger)

Oh yeah, this one. This song is one of my favorites in the game. Plays when the party goes to Antiquity in 12,000 B.C. The world is in an ice age of sorts and most of humanity lives on a floating island in the skies above called "Zeal".


This is the song that plays in this area:



DJ Yuzoboy also did two interesting remixes of this song with Michael Jackson:










#29 - Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 64)

A pure classic this song is. Played at the very last level of the game. If you've never played Mario Kart 64, you've missed out on one of the best games of the second half of the 90's. ESPECIALLY TOAD'S SCREAMING.





#30 - Snow Bags (Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit)

One of my favorite PS1-era racing games. This was my first game when I played and raced from cops, before the widespread popularity of Grand Theft Auto and the PlayStation 2 years afterward.

This song plays on the Summit and Rocky Pass levels. The Summit has more of a rock theme to it while the Rocky Pass has more of a alternative rock theme to it by utilizing different parts of the song more. I like The Summit's version more.





My favorite part of the song starts at 4:48.

#31 - Fever for the Flava (Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2)

The sequel to the game (above). I played the Gamecube version for days and nights when I rented it. Absolutely loved the game, and it was the last NFS game I enjoyed. I don't like the ones they come out with nowadays. This was my favorite song out of this soundtrack. It's called "Fever for the Flava" by Hot Action Cop. I don't like the actual version of the song very much, but I like the one that has been edited for the sake of the game. Check it out.

Doom and Gloom! (But mostly Doom) - ...and Rank 42 Quest.

Today's entry: My recent adventures in FFXIV.


Doom and Gloom:




At least that's what this guy says, or what everyone in Eorzea has been saying as of late. Up until last update, the world has been mainly peaceful. (Outside of main story cutscenes). But now the music in Thanalan has been cutting off at random, and GM-like NPCs have been popping up at random places warning people about impending doom and gloom in various languages. This particular one was doing it in German.

Anyway, I'm excited to see what this doom and gloom is of, all I know that it's probably coming next update. (Was it mid-May or June?)




_

Rank 42 Quest:

I got my Sentinel level up to rank 42 which means that I was able to undertake the next quest in the main scenario sequence. (And yes, shield skill counts!)

Very underwhelming! :( I was told by my LS friends that the R46 quest makes up for it though. I just had to go to Camp Nine Ivies and kill some wolves with my NPC.












Later this week we're supposed to get word of the upcoming battle-system coming to the game along with the giant overhaul that's coming soon. Hopefully not soon after that and all this new content we finally get a PS3 beta testing announcement or something.

Well, I'm being optimistic.

Until Wednesday!

Meticulous Middle-of-May Musings

As very many of you know, I've been out most of this week feeling very ill. While stuck in bed, I spent the majority of the week going through with the implementation of the battle system for the Codename: EPIC project.

For those of you who use RPG Maker VX, you'd know as well as I do that the default battle system really sucks. If you're a beginning RPG developer, I'd go for XP if you don't know much about programming.

It took about two weeks to implement this battle system fully. It uses Tankentai's SBS battle script as a base for the coding but that's about it. The SBS battle script by itself looks too similar to old-school style Final Fantasy games to suit my tastes: If you don't believe me, you can see all these videos.

So I was inspired to re-tool it into a top-down perspective for the sake of the game looking unique as opposed to being just another recycled side battle system.





Beta testing for the battle system of the game project will be from June 13th to June 19th, 2011. I will post more info about it as I get close to finishing the system as a whole. I want to swap out the default monster art in favor of stuff that is developed by the team as well as a lot of the animations need to be re-done so it looks unique and fresh. The art is going to be the aspect of the game that will take the longest to do, and I'd rather not rush it.

(I also want to redo the looks of the damage numbers, too italic for my tastes.)




.

Plans for leading Viva Eorzea - New linkshell leading philosophy

Up until now, I've made it a personal policy to not play XIV on the weekdays due to other commitments. (I also attribute it to a lack of motivation.)

But recently, new dungeons from future patches have been leaked.


These were taken from a poster on NekoSentai, here is a collection of all the pictures on a safe non-18+ link.









Coupled with the fact that Yoshi-P hinted in Letter from the Producer IX that more quest hubs and dungeons for level 30 and 50 players are coming.

For this reason, I've started to play more often on weekdays (when there is free time) and use this time to work on getting Gladiator to rank 50 and Conjurer to rank 38 (for Raise). So I urge all linkshell members to keep working on the classes they love playing so we can gather a competent group of people to knock out this new dungeon content on release, and I also recommend getting Conjurer to at least rank 10 so everyone has Stoneskin and Shock Spikes (incase we decide to low-man these in the future.)


New LS Leadership Philosophy:

Due to a shift in focus from putting an emphasis on large-scale 15-person battles from the old development team into teams of 4 and 8, I'm also changing the focus of the linkshell.

By now we have essentially a core set of LS members. Sure some of them are shared with neighboring linkshells, and I don't really have a problem with that at all. The old linkshell philosophy was to round up as many people as possible to do (what I hoped would have been) large scale NM fights and what not with 10-15 people. Now that's changed and we went from a group of 128+ to about 45-50 dedicated friends/linkshell members. I want to shift the focus as well to being more of a close-knit group than an open linkshell. For this reason I'm abandoning all of the strict rules and making it more friendly.

From here on out, I'm going to discourage open recruiting and only emphasize bringing new members in if they're friends of current LS members and/or genuinely cool people. That way we can work to get all of our members good gear and accomplishments in a timely fair manner and reduce the amount of "snobs", "douchebags", and "elitists", so to say. :)

I'm also going to be more lax on the requirements to become a sackholder and/or moderator in the linkshell, but I will only entrust those who play somewhat often to have a pearlsack within the LS to maintain order and not eat up any dead spaces.


_


Anyway, I did have more that I was going to say, but the medicine is knocking me out. I may edit this post later if there was something I wanted to add.

100 Posts and 15,000 views later - A look back

New blog milestone!



Thanks to everyone who reads (or stalks... stalking isn't good) the blog! I'm very appreciative for all who reads my post-midnight ramblings on here for the past 7 months or so.

I don't know about you guys, but I get a great joy out of writing my thoughts out on virtual paper and know that there are some people who give a remote damn about the stuff that I do write, and for that I am thankful. :D


Top Four Blog Posts (By Views):

4. Pokémon Black Version: First Day Impressions (Unfinished) (March 2011)

I posted my first impressions of the new Pokemon games on release day. I honestly don't know why it garnered so many views, but two months later and I'm still playing it hardcore, so that has to mean something.

3. Dojo Adventure Download (2004 (Old Blog)-March 2011)

This was my first game project I developed for six years primarily on my own with help from a few friends. I have stopped working on it, but the game is primarily finished. The spiritual sequel to the game is the Codename: EPIC project (in development), as the two games take place in the same world, but on different parts of it, allowing for a whole new story to be created. Anyway, I still suggest playing it. Dojo Adventure is free, but Codename: EPIC won't be.

2. Final Fantasy XI Retirement (December 2010)

This remains to be my most viewed individual blog entry. It chronicles my seven-year adventure through Vana'diel, my handling with game addiction, and falling for someone over the interwebs. Some people who have read the entry were in similar situations and ended up actually getting married to people they've met in-game, and I'm happy for them! I also have some of my friends that are in similar situations, and it just shows that love itself has no boundaries. I have lots of pictures over my seven-year adventure, too!


1. Naoki Yoshida (Series - January 2011-Present)

I decided to clump all the posts related to him together since it's considered to be multiple parts of the same post. Anyway, the series discusses my feelings about the patch and the way Yoshi-P is handling the development of Final Fantasy XIV as it goes. For those who don't know, XIV had a disastrous launch last September, and since then the development team has been overhauled to try and save the game from disaster before the PS3 release. With that, they hired Naoki Yoshida to be the new director and producer of the project, and since then I have been continuously posting my opinions and feedback to his letters of the producer and the patches themselves.



_


Anyway, thanks everyone for reading my semi-daily rants on the interwebs. :D (Maybe I should get Adsense now...)



.

Awesome Saturday, not-so-awesome Sunday

So the title says, I write this blog from my bed rather than my desk (like I normally do).



My Saturday:

I got sick all of the sudden on Saturday morning, and I rarely get sick. But when I do, it hits hard. Anyway, I was still feeling well enough to attend the 8th BETA meeting and go to a friend's show that I promised her I would attend. Both were really freaking awesome.

The BETA Meeting unfortunately had a majority of the group who couldn't come, but we were able to make-do with who we had and made a very entertaining skit. I hope you all will enjoy it, we have a new member who makes her debut in it as well! It should be out sometime soon, but I'm not editing this one (due to my other commitments with other projects), so I can't provide a solid release date just yet. Note: It does contain massive amounts of Batman.


Afterward, I went to check out the circus my friend was performing in Redlands. I'd have to say, I was thoroughly impressed! There were a lot of talented performers and I can say I would probably be far too afraid to try and walk on a tightrope or climb a human ladder suspended in air. Those people have some real talent (not to mention courage!) I can say it is worth every penny and highly encourage you to check it out if you're in the area. Note: It's hard to get parking. I had to park quite a ways down the street! Damn you, narrow Redlands streets and your parallel parking.


I had to cancel the event on Final Fantasy XIV afterwards as I started feeling much worse and lost my voice entirely. I just don't feel like gaming when I'm in pain, you know?



Today's Plans:

Since today is Mother's Day, my brother, my dad, and I are going to visit her in the cemetery and get some flowers to put next to her plaque. I think I'm probably also going to see "Thor", I hear it's really good. Next week, I'm going to go to Frank and Son with one of my closest friends, and next month I'm going to introduce BETA to the place and we look for props and all that fun stuff!

Also, I'm hopefully going to try and get rid of my terrible sore throat for the time being, because it's hard for me to talk. and it's frustrating trying to drink liquids to try and get better. Almost feels like I'm choking on something, very painful.

On a side note, I feel like I have the need to point this out. If you have your mom, make sure you spend the day with her and show her that you care. You may never know when you can lose your mom in the blink of an eye at any moment, and she won't be around forever. Don't take her for granted!


Until Tuesday!







Rest in Peace (1962-2000)


.

Very tired, but very happy! Weekend plans and accomplishments! :)

A rant, but a happy one nonetheless!

Codename: EPIC



There's nothing that makes me happier than seeing progress. Progress in some sort of fashion, at least. I spent the last couple of hours (save for the two blackouts that happened out of nowhere) working on an updated battle system for my upcoming game project. I'm not ready to show pictures of it to the public just yet, but it is getting there.

But the game feels like one giant unfinished puzzle. Slowly all of the pieces are coming together while everyone works on their own section of said puzzle.

I'm also very grateful (and I'll probably end up saying this many times) to have such a talented group of friends who were willing to sign on with the project. I really like how the game is coming together, and screen-shots of the new battle system should be coming before the end of the month!

I have a lot of ideas and systems written down on paper that I really want to try and/or execute with this project, I'll need to write it all out on paper just so I don't annoy my friends/team members to death. (As if I don't already. :P)



Xbox 360 Project:

I signed on with a few of my classmates/peers/friends to work on groundwork for a "MMO" for the 360. I'm not going to spill any details of the game (they probably wouldn't let me, anyway), but I'm going to be involved with the programming and some mapping of the project, and we will be presenting what we did and our contributions as a senior project which will be most likely a year from now. We'll see. I want to get my B.S. first and that doesn't require a senior project. This will be likely for my second degree.



Developers' Interest Group:

Remember that thing I said I was going to a few days ago in Hollywood?

Well, it was interesting, but totally not what I expected. I got to meet some interesting people there, and don't think it's going to be a professional venue to show off what I'm working on. I really want to put this on a resume as a big software project I'm working on in a team. And it's a nerdy hobby anyway, nerdy hobbies are always fun. I'm planning on going back in a few months, but probably after they've established themselves, and I've gotten a decent way through the project(s) I'm working on.


BETACinema:

I'm going to be spending most of Friday working on the Tube skit. We'll see how that comes out later today. I'll edit this blog post and post it if it's done before Sunday.

We'll be meeting on Saturday to film a skit Ian was working on. Well, at least part of it. (As we have no indoor areas.) We may also get a bonus sketch done in time. We'll see.

After the meeting, I'm going to see one of my friends (and also a fellow BETA/EPIC member) perform in a circus show in Redlands and then the late night and beyond I'll be doing rank 40 guildleves with the Linkshell.

_

I was also informed that Sunday is Mother's Day, so I'll need to take a visit to the cemetery and also get some flowers.

It's going to be a fairly busy weekend, but I am looking forward to it! Make sure to spend time with your Moms on the special day.

Until Sunday, friends!




.

Wishy-Washy Writings of Wednesday

Where to start?



Apathy:

The past few days (since my last blog entry), I've been feeling a lack of motivation to do any work on any of my projects. I've also been more apathetic to people and started saying the "c"-word to people. Yeah, "cool". I hate hearing that word, because it gives the impression (or fact, even) that the person just doesn't care about what you're saying to them. Ooh, and "nice" too. That makes me angry.

I try to make it a personal policy to engage in a conversation and actually hold a listening ear to people, because people don't seem to do that much anymore nowadays.

For example:


Situation A:

"Hey, Grover! I was able to do x, y, z today!"
"That's great! I was glad you were able to do x, y, z. Congratulations!"

Situation B:

"Hey, Grover! I was able to do x, y, z today!"
"Cool."



Now is it just me or does situation B come off as just snide and insulting? The person takes their time and energy to share with you their excitement of the day and the best one can come up with is a one-word response.

Though, I'd have to call myself a hypocrite for accidentally saying it in my moment of apathy. I'm usually non-apathetic when it comes to my friends. I honestly, truly care about any conversation one brings up to me and I try to put my points clear on the table, unless I'm in a really bad mood, which I guess could be why I'm feeling this way.

So, if you had to unexpectedly deal with my apathy today, I apologize. It's normally against my nature.


Developer's Interest Group:

Later today, I'm going to be heading to Hollywood with two of my friends to the Developers' Interest Group. It's ran by SoftEgg which apparently publishes titles for the Nintendo DS and related systems. The event is claimed to be for event for "developers, artists, musicians, writers, designers, engineers, filmmakers, producers, directors and other creative folk". So I'm very interested to see how this turns out. If it's any good, I'll blog about it on Friday!

Also: If this DIG event is any good, expect me to show off our game project at the end of the year.

BETACinema:

Expect another skit to come out this weekend, with Friday at the earliest. I'll most likely be handling the editing of this skit as well as the next one which is posted next week. After that, I'm going to take a break from editing and other members will do some of the future skits. (Though I haven't determined who quite yet.) But it is clear that I know who to trust to get things done on time and at least some kind of notification on why if not. I'd rather prefer an honest person who is clear with me on why they agree to something and can't make a deadline rather than someone who ignores my messages and tries to hide.

Shows an unwillingness to accept responsibility if you ask me. Just sayin'.

Anyway... skit preview!







Xbox 360/PC MMO Senior Project:

I got into a group that wants to develop a small 360 MMORPG prototype in Unity for the senior project. I am not going to share any details, but I am going to be involved with programming parts of it as well as mapping. So I'm interested to see how this'll turn out.

_

Anyway, I think I'm done ranting for now. I think I'm going to try and get some sleep, maybe I'll actually get a good night's rest this time. I'll need it for the long drive to and from Los Angeles later today. Until Friday, blog readers and friends!



.

Beginning of May Rant: Goals and Aspirations

Hey, blog readers!

I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine had its ups and downs. As you can see I'm posting this very late at night because I have some strange sleep patterns. I am trying to take a friend's advice which said if I still have things on my mind and not ready for sleep, don't go to sleep. And so far that doesn't seem to be working. (Much to my detriment). I've stayed up working on several projects (including the movie I posted last blog entry) until early the next morning.

Also, while I was writing this entry (I usually write these entries hours or even days in advance), the news reported the death of Osama Bin Laden. I would have to say this is the first time in my lifetime that I'm happy about someone not being alive anymore. That guy caused a large amount of grief, a war on terror, and instilled fear and anger and sadness into so many people for the past ten years. Depending on your beliefs or values, he will surely be an undesirable and placed in somewhere he deserves to be. And if anything, this is a sense of closure for many people. But it surely isn't the end of the fight. In any case, we can rejoice as Americans over the victory, and I imagine a lot of people have this song stuck in their head when thinking about it. And apparently the YouTube comments agree with me.





_

Goals for May:

Final Fantasy XIV:

On a brighter note, Naoki Yoshida released a new Letter from the Producer, showing off some new features being added for Patch 1.18. This is pretty good news given that the population of the game (as well as our linkshell) seems to be on the upswing. We were able to get some people new gears too. Like Geumran with this bodypiece, for example:



Codename: EPIC:

I'm going to devote most of this month to working on a set plot for the game. It's going to take some criticism and a lot of collaboration to get a good balance between a good storytelling in-game as well as balancing it with engaging gameplay. I want to make sure chapter 1 has a lot of time devoted to it since it's the foundation of the game. It will be hard to go back and retroactively change things in the long run, so I want to have a good setup and exposition for the story.

I also need to get my laptop repaired this month. The lack of good USB ports (because they're de-attached for whatever reason >.<) so I need to get a new bottom frame and get that fixed as soon as I can so I can start taking this laptop places again.


Pokemon Black:

I'm currently working on EV training a Haxorus and Krookodile.



I EV-trained the hell out of the attack of the former, and I'm working on Attack/Speed of the second. And I'm aware of Krookodile's nose. Let's all be mature about it, 'kay?

I'm also working on the moveset of my Hydreigon. Debating between Flamethrower and Stone Edge... Hmm...




DJ Yuzoboy:

I recently discovered this guy on YouTube. He's good with remixing video game music and more mainstream songs: (or maybe I just have a bad ear for music. I hope not!)

Check these out:

Until Wednesday!