2008-02-29

DL and Keyboards

Filed under: Games, Programming, Writing — Tags: , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 17:16

I think I realized the balance in my life. It really isn’t a writer, as much as I want it to be, and it isn’t a programmer. Right now, it’s both. And while that makes it harder to excel at both. Mainly because I, through this blog for example, doesn’t show someone obsessed with the writing craft. Likewise, this blog doesn’t show a pure programmer. But, you know what? I’m both and there really isn’t much I can do about that. I love to write, it makes me whole. I love to put words on paper, to see the word counts slowly rise up as I find myself creating these fascinating characters that make me want to write about them.

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2008-02-27

Fluffy’s Birthday

Filed under: Family, Writing — D. Moonfire @ 22:01

Yesterday, it was Fluffy’s birthday. I forgot three times that it was her birthday, after wishing her a great day in the morning. But, there is always more. In this case, I’ve hand-made almost every card I’ve given her. One year was was crayons (“My Idaho baked potato with sour cream and chives” unabashedly stolen from the Taz cartoon series), another was a painting. This year, I wrote a short essay in the shape of a birthday cake. In retrospect, if you are writing an essay in the shape of a birthday cake, it is a lot more readable if you follow some basic rules:

  • Yeah, it’s cute, but you don’t HAVE to follow the line of frosting.
  • As above, but you also don’t have to write upside down to follow the curve.

I doubt she could read it, but she really liked it. And that is what’s important. Next year, I’ll plan a bit better on her gift. Plus, I’m running out of mediums. I’ve done a couple paintings, a comic book, some poems, some essays, love letters, crayons and pastels. Maybe I should convince her TV “boyfriend”, George Duran, to pose for me and I can make a statue or something. Haven’t worked in clay in a while.

In other news, I’ve been writing this short story series because I’m enjoying it, it feels good to write, and basically to basically get over that “goddess, I suck!” stage of writing. Last night, while combining the nine parts together, I realized I’m writing a novel. 20k words in basically 1.5 weeks. The character development has already gotten some nice compliments, the build-up is novel style instead of short story style–basically longer introductions, more depth in the character–and I’m even got the plot foreshadowing in. I’m at 1/4 of a short novel length and about 1/4 done with the story. I sense a pattern. I’ll see how it irons out, but maybe I’ll follow through with it and use that for my novel for the year.

2008-02-25

Writing and Code

Filed under: Games, Programming, Technology, Writing — Tags: , , — D. Moonfire @ 22:15

Ah, the two pleasures of life for me: writing and programming. I’ve been writing a short series lately. Just 2-3k words per day, but I’m enjoying it. Not entirely polished and pretty though. I’m trying to work on my writing craft, trying to make my words a bit more interesting to read about. I’m posting it on a random forum where it is on-topic, Like usual, I don’t get a lot of comments on it. So, my goal is to write so people want to comment on it. That and I have this idea that I’m not a good writer. Mainly because people don’t really get excited about most of my work. There are the few pieces that will get 20-30 comments, but most of them average about 0.1 comment, which is not a good trend. And I want to succeed as a writer, it is something I love to do.

On the other side, I’m working on CuteGod still. Mostly with getting things organized and maybe documenting my sprite library. I rushed CuteGod out the first time and it shows. I need to polish up some of the core libraries, like the GUI processing. I also pulled PlanetCute library out from the Sprite3 library and put it into CuteGod. No reason to make that generic when I’m moving away from it.

Yep, I decided that PlanetCute is nice, but there should be a different style, one that is easier to select things. So I think I’m going to create an isometric version of the game and let you pick between the PlanetCute and isometric depending on your preferences. Bit more work, but I think it will create a more entertaining game.

I also realized that the music I picked up from the always excellent Toucan Music, while free isn’t the right “free” for Debian. So, I need to find different music and sound effects for the game. If I can’t find a musican who wants to work for the right type of free, I’m going to have to make music that is the right type of free. Free is such a complicated word, you know. There is Creative Commons by-sa license (byline and share-alike), which is the most common CC license you can find for music, but only CC sa/3.0 is apparently considered “free” in Debian’s eyes. On Toucan, all the files are licenses CC by-sa/2.5. So, free isn’t free enough for Debian.

Why Debian? Because I use it and I want to see my game packaged and shared to others. And, if Debian accept it, chances are, the threshold for being put into other distributions is also lowered.

2008-02-24

Lack of gaming… *sniff*

Filed under: Games — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 17:14

Most of yesterday and this morning was dedicate to getting my game ready for Changeling. I thought I’d be all proactive and create the character sheets, figure out the points, and even have everything there. I knew that Fluffy and Evyl weren’t going to make it, but I still had two of the four gamers.

So, after listening to Science Princess for a minute, I suggested that we cancel. She sounds horrible with that head cold. So, we just have Ranger Tom who I can’t get ahold of, but the game I was looking forward to all week isn’t going to happen.

Oh well, time to work on CuteGod.

2008-02-23

Inspiration and a breather

Filed under: Family — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 06:26

Crunch time is over! Well, the boss is heading to the West Coast to sell the product I’ve been putting overtime into. I did poorly on one of my homework assignments during that week, apparently doing all that extra and burning myself out doesn’t work well with high grades. Well, 89% which is a low grade for me in night school. Specially on a simple, two-page paper.

I was getting discouraged on my job search. Part of me was telling myself that the company is doing much better now and that I should just stay with it. This has happened before, the main reason I’m looking for a job, I need some consistency in money. I already talked to Fluffy about it and we have a plan if I have to stay in Illinois for a few years (two homes if we can afford it). But, as I was about to give up, a friend wandered in and reminded me of the pain I was going through a few months back, the entire reason I was looking. So, I’m happy.

And I got a nibble. The job search looks right, a good match. I’ll tell the recruiter on Monday to submit me. And next week is perfect if I do have a job interview, boss is out of town at the convention.

2008-02-21

The bar is too high.. for now

Filed under: Writing — D. Moonfire @ 17:09

Fluffy pointed out this article about a literary writing contest where they basically just say “none of the stories are good enough, no prizes”. Kind of depressing, an entire contest where they basically decided no one was good enough. Well, reading into it, I came up with this rather frustrating and just as sad response, the reason for rejections. Now, I have no problem with “didn’t follow rules” or “it was late”. The others I can understand that they have to make a choice, but it is terrifying to see them display the exactly what they are looking for. Or more importantly, what will cause a rejection.

It is also terrifying that see exactly how “perfect” a story must be to be accepted. A single mistake, a single typo. That is the part that depresses me. I make mistakes, I spend hours, days, weeks pouring over my stories, and I still miss things. I pay editors to look over my stories sometimes, still mistakes. I have people say it is a good story but compared to this litany of flaws, I have to wonder if any story I write could ever match up to those standards.

That said, I’m still going to write. I just feel more crushed by that list. I’ll still submit, but it adds to the doubt of succeeding. I’m going to keep on writing and submitting and trying to create the best story, mainly because I love writing and I want to succeed. I didn’t need Thomas the Baker to be perfect for it to be accepted. I got One Regret into the White Wolf quarterly, but that list has really hit me on the side of the head.

Won’t give up though. Sooner or later, I can make it, perfection is just a hard goal to reach.

2008-02-20

Mememememing

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 20:48

It’s meme time! Now… stop. Meme time! Okay, silly 80’s references gone (I mean, I can’t believe he didn’t eat the sushi!), I actually got tagged for a little Internet meme. Naturally, that means I must do it or I’ll… be eaten by a slug or something.

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Too awesome for words

Filed under: Games — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 20:25

I was browsing the White Wolf forums when I found this thread about Exalted. In specific, how powerful Solars are and when one player complained that their Storyteller (ST) didn’t want high level charms because they were too powerful. Well, I commented on that, but given the response, it’s pretty obvious that I’m probably playing the wrong game system.

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2008-02-18

World of Goo

Filed under: Games — D. Moonfire @ 22:18

I pre-ordered World of Goo some time ago and then said “hell yes, I’d love to playtest!”. A couple days ago, I actually got my copy of the beta version and I have to say two things, the first of which is: “Damn!”

Secondly, it is a seriously fun puzzle game, with interesting sound effects and creative solutions. The trailer really doesn’t do it justice, but I’m seriously looking forward to having the full version of it instead of just the first chapter.

IHAP

Filed under: Games, Writing — Tags: , — D. Moonfire @ 18:22

This weekend was a relatively relaxing weekend. Getting the urge to write again, finished up a short story, stared pointlessly at Cleaning House, and struggling through my homework. I’m have a good idea why I’m struggling with homework, mainly because I’m working so hard, but I finally got it out and I’m pretty happy with the results.

I’m going to try focusing on a few things for a bit. Mainly and the biggest is Wind, Bear, and Moon and finishing that rewrite. On the programming side, CuteGod. I want… need actually to get these done so they stop haunting me. Though, reading this got me rather frightened of my chosen path. I remember it from my first published novel, or the lack of it more accurately, but it is one of those scary things. It’s also why I respect the people who get an author’s table at GenCon and everywhere else.

I need to get something done. And I think I need to seriously stop putting more things on my plate! Heh, I’m really bad about that. So, the plan for this week is to start getting up to speed on WBM and CuteGod.

I Have a Plan. IHAP, like IHOP but more planned.

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