2006-09-29

Vacations can be… annoying.

Filed under: Games — Tags: , , — D. Moonfire @ 20:40

I took two days off from work to get relax a bit and get some things done. Mainly, I was hoping to work on Turf Wars and the Sepia wiki for this Saturday. What really happened was that I spent most of the two days watching television, playing a few games, and basically just staring at my screen for hours. Not exactly the best way to enjoy a vacation.

But, Fluffy should be home tonight, which means I will, naturally, have this sudden burst of energy and start working my ass off… just because she’s home. Oh well, at least I got about half of the things I wanted to get done on my todo list; I just avoided all the “big” ones.

2006-09-27

LiveJournal

Filed under: Technology — D. Moonfire @ 15:09

Well, I’m trying to set up something to synchronize the posts between my placeholder journal on LiveJournal and this WordPress one. It seems interesting, but it also lets people know when I am updating my site.

2006-09-22

Managed DirectX being killed?

Filed under: Programming — D. Moonfire @ 14:20

Yeah, I know the 2.0 managed stuff is beta, but the CeGui# project uses it, which is why I noticed it. The MDX is going to be replaced by XNA, but from what I’ve been reading, XNA doesn’t actually do everything MDX does yet. It doesn’t handle meshs and a bunch of other things. But, it is being replaced.

The annoying part is the “it’s beta, you should have guessed!” comments. Yeah, you should program for stable versions, but if you are working on a project that is coming out in two years, you aim for what is going to be stable in two years, not what is now. At least, that is how I thought game and graphics development went.

For CeGui#, it is easy. There is already an XNA renderer being worked on. And for Turf Wars, it won’t impact much since I’m using Irrlicht which talks to the DirectX 9 stuff directly. But, its interesting how people respond to finding out its beta, and also how people tell them to just “live with it” or “its your fault for using it.”

2006-09-21

Exalted Contest

Filed under: Games — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 21:48

I saw a contest for the winter quarterly update from White Wolf. They write the Exalted game system that I love so much. Since it is only a short story, no more than one per week, I’m considering submitting for the few weeks left over.

CeGui# and Linux

Filed under: Games,Programming,Technology — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 18:40

I managed to get Turf Wars and CeGui# working properly on my Linux machine. This hopefully will help with the project since I can actually use my preferred operating system, Linux. I’m also helping that a slight change of direction will help me get over this hump in development. I’m getting somewhat discourged by all the damn good looking screenshots on the game forum.

2006-09-18

SVG, Mono, and Mapping

Filed under: Games,Programming — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 14:20

I just found a link for a project working on SVG and it works with C# and on Mono. I’m really excited about that because if I ever get back to my recursive mapping program, I’ll have the ability to actually render it in proper SVG. Of course, that will make it the fifth time I’ve written a SVG-based mapping program, but why not? The part I last stopped, I needed a way of actually seeing the stuff being rendered, hence the reason this library is just so cool.

Mapping has always been something that I’ve found interesting. While I’m not all that great at it, it is a way of really fleshing out a fantasy world. However, I keep wanting a good way of encapsulating useful information into a map, more information than any program I’ve used can do. My “ideal” program would let me generate MapQuest or Google Maps style maps, including zooming, but also let me do path and route finding, include templates, and even keep tracking of various geological elements, such as terrain, height, and the such.

Development Stalling

Filed under: Games,Programming — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 13:54

My Turf Wars stuff is stalling and I’m really not happy with it. I haven’t touched it in a couple of weeks and the first time I did was yesterday. Of course, that was after a really good game session for Sepia Throne, so I didn’t have the creative energy to do anything but set up the menu to show up on the escape key instead of RMB. I started playing around with Triumph some more though, mainly because I was silly and poked fightertype and she poked me right back. Well, I got what I deserved.

2006-09-12

RiffTrax and The Fifth Element

Filed under: Reviews — D. Moonfire @ 15:20

Last night, I got to watch The Fifth Element with the riff trax from rifftrax.com. While there were bits that wren’t too funny, there was a lot of places that we. Specially the whole bit with Aziz. If like MST3K and pardoies, you might seriously consider picking up one. They are only two dollars or so and they play off a MP3 player. In our case, we had the DVD on the main speakers and the MP3 player on Bouncy’s laptop. It was pretty good and they have a nice little system for making sure the lines are synchronized.

2006-09-11

Tuxedos and Ceremonies

Filed under: Family — D. Moonfire @ 01:03

My brother is getting married in October and I am not looking forward to it. On Friday, I got fitted for my tuxedo and got to see what I’m going to be wearing. The feeling of dislike was rising with every moment.

It started with the suit. Sadly, I’m a larger than average man and have a bit more gut than I want to. So, the suit that I ended up going with is off on the shoulders by a couple of inches. I’m so used to custom suits and tuxedos, before this point, I had every one fitted for me; having a suit off the shell for the first time in fifteen years really points out how much quality changes.

The second bit was the shoes. I really am close to that point where my shoes need to be different sides. My left is 10EE, my right is 11EE. Just like most of the country, I’m not perfectly even on both sides. So, I asked if I could have two different sizes, because it was for two whole days (pick up on the 12th, must return on the 14th).

“Oh, we can’t do that.”

Why not? Why can’t a place that produces tuxedos and has every single size (but not wides, just slightly wides) not let someone have two different shoes for the two days required? Fluffy told me to let it go, so I ended up having to go with 12′s. My toes almost made the laces, but at least I can get my feet into it. Those are getting thrown off the second I don’t need to wear them.

I also got to see the tuxedo. Standard shape and cut, nothing remarkable, but… well, mango orange is a pretty color. Thankfully, it is just the vest and tie, but I look horrible in orange, my brother looks horrible in orange, and frankly, I think there is only one person on the wedding party, on the male side, that might look good. But, it matches the wedding dresses.

Joys.

This morning, I got a chance to talk to my brother. He basically said “suck it up” and told me about all the wonderful plans for the wedding. There is the rehersal dinner, naturally everyone has to practice for just standing there. No, I’m not interested but it is mandated that I go.

On the day of the wedding, we are doing the ceremony, then the wedding party is going to go upstairs and do pictures. Lots of pictures, about thirty minutes worth of them minimum. Then, they are going around town to get more pictures of the wedding party! He thinks that it should take less than two hours of getting all the pictures before heading to the reception.

One thing I really hate is waiting for the wedding party to get moving and do something. In this case, I’m going to driven around town (I can walk if I want), to get lots of pictures, because they went a couple thousand pictures (it seems).

As for sitting with my wife: no. Absolutely not. Not a chance, not even the possibility. I must sit up with the wedding party and I cannot have her sit with me.

It’s tradition.

Its times like this that I’m really, really glad that my wedding was a quiet affair, with eleven people including the minister, in our house and then to dinner. There were pictures, but it was… more personal. People were talking and having fun, not a horde of hundreds of people and peacocks running around. I had a nice outfit not, not some cookie cutter tux and shoes that don’t fit.

Even after six years of being married, I’m still happy with my wedding day. It was bittersweet (we had to put a cat to sleep an hour before) but still probably the most wonderful day of my life. I’m also glad that my brother found someone who made him happy and that he is looking forward to this day. Of course, he doesn’t seem to like all the work that is going into it, but I think he is hoping that it also becomes the happiest day in his life. And, I hope it is. I just don’t want to wear the suit, shoes, vest, or spend hours with pictures being taken.

2006-09-10

The Lost Keep of Kaywall by Charles Embrey Jr.

Filed under: Reviews,Writing — D. Moonfire @ 00:09

I just finished The Lost Keep of Kaywall which I picked up at GenCon. I will admit, I didn’t care that much for the book, mainly because of the mechanical presentation of the story.

The story itself was creative and interesting. I found the latter half more interesting when they were dealing with the actual Lost Keep than the first part of the book which details the growth of Clovis, a young Paladin. The descriptions of the buildings, the various puzzles and fights, they kept my attention and I actually found myself wanting to read the end of the book.

The first half, on the other hand, wasn’t that exciting for me. Clovis was too perfect. As a boy, he was everything. As he grew up, he met gods at second level, defeated dragons slightly higher up, was twice the fighter as men double his age and even braver than dwarves. His only flaw was girls, but that’s understandable, he was only in his teens when this happen.

Well, there was one more thing. Clovis seemed a bit strange on the whole “Father” thing. I felt that he already had one, he didn’t need to find a better, more “worthy” father, which is the impression both me and Fluffy got out of the book. It was just the wrong social dynamic in the story and it kind of bothered both of us.

The story is set in an interesting fantasy world. There are dragons, beasts that mean harm, and Orcs. Lots of Orcs. Orcs have capitals, along with Bard, Fighter, Druid, Cleric, Paladin, and “Son.” The world follows Dungeons and Dragons mechanics pretty closely. I suspect it is first edition, because Bards use druidic magic, but they didn’t listen to the obscene requirements (fighter and rouge) needed for that edition. Charles described the leveling process closely, with made it more… understandable to me, but it caused trouble with Fluffy since she doesn’t really like RPG’s that much and didn’t care about what happens when you level.

The mechanical aspects were joined by a somewhat jumpy flow to the story. Scenes seemed to jump from point to point instead of flowing smoothly, but I felt that was more of (implied in the back) following the results of an adventure.

Overall, I liked the book. The first half annoyed me, too many perfects but the second part is where the flow of the story smoothed out somewhat, I got used to the Orcs and Paladins, and the story really started to get going. The last hundred pages, I would say, were a great story that just started off slow. Would I read it again? Probably not. I would read another of his to see if things smooth out, but if Clovis is there, I probably won’t.

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