2008-05-30

Unplanned Time

Filed under: Family,Games,Writing — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 15:34

Last night, I had the high expectations of finishing up the last big part of my game, Running Bomb. Got home a bit late because I gave a coworker a ride home and because I talk too much at work. Then, I had to make dinner *sigh* (I hate this dependency on protein some days). And then…

A friend’s website went down. Now, I don’t get paid to maintain the website, but I do it because I feel its right. So, I ended up spending about three hours trying to get the network to run smoothly with only 40 people hitting it at a time. Failed. Failed miserably actually, which annoyed me more than anything else since I should have been able to fix it.

So, that put me in a sour mood for the rest of the night and I got about, ten minutes of coding in. Plan? What’s that? I’ll throw it on the laptop before I go home for Fluffy’s black belt test, but I doubt I’ll get to it. Unless I’m really lucky on Sunday and Monday nights, I’m pretty much done. :(

In other news, I got paid today. Two in a row on time. Its still an amazing feeling and really helps with the stress levels. With Fluffy getting laid off, we are still juggling, but someone gave me an advance on five short story commissions, so that will really help later next week. The other cool part is I get to see what yen looks like, and then what a currency exchange looks like. :)

I know it works out in the end. Faith tells me that, but it doesn’t mean its painless to get there. Next week, I’m planning on doing nothing productive except enter DVD’s into the computer. Then, I start a round of editing with Wind, Bear, and Moon. And maybe to give it a new title? Something better sounding that Wind, Bear, and Moon.

2008-05-29

Up late on Running Bomb

Filed under: Games — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 13:33

Something happened last night. When Fluffy called to wish me a night, it was 22:15. I said I would go to bed “soon”. Somewhere around 23:41, I realized that I just lost an hour of my life and I really, really should be in bed. Needless to say, I was obsessing about my computer game. :) And I did a half hour of cleaning yesterday before I programmed.

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2008-05-28

burn out day

Filed under: Games — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 13:30

burn out day n: The day after obsessively programming a computer game for three days. Symptoms include:

  • Spending nearly two hours just playing a mindless hack-and-slash flash game.
  • Start up chat, then decide you didn’t really want to talk to anyone.
  • Talking to your dad for two hours about 3D modeling and finding out you have yet another thing in common with the man. And you might be able to help.
  • Enjoying said conversation with your dad.
  • Feeling frustrated that you can’t work on your game though you only have six days left.
  • Preparing to go to your wife’s black belt test, which means you actually only have three days left on the game.
  • Being depressed that everyone is a better programmer than you.
  • … and can do more in four weeks than you.
  • Feeling a bit better realizing that this is the first contest that you actually are entering.
  • … and only the third game you’ve ever created.
  • Still manage to go to bed two hours late.

I’m going to say, I didn’t “do” anything last night. :)

2008-05-27

Running Bomb Progress

Filed under: Games — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 12:14

You know, I really should stop doing these major coding weekends since it they slightly burn me out and in the end, I realize I’m not as good as I hoped. :) Well, it did help me not think about my financial situation, but I pretty much spent from Friday evening to Monday afternoon programming way too many hours.

I got a minimum “game” done Monday, with a main menu, help, credits, back story (about lettuce), the game itself, and the game over. You have a score and it play. So, I have a game. However, it is isn’t polished, but I realize that I simply don’t have the experience or tools to make a really polished game in three weeks. Its one of those skills that takes time and effort to do and I haven’t done it yet. So, my game is rather spartan in appearance. It also, in the words of Danc from Lost Garden might say, “where is the fun.” I mean, its fun to see how well you can get a ship through the procedural maze, but its still missing things.

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2008-05-23

Member Variables

Filed under: Programming — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 19:09

This is a bit technical and probably not interesting to non-programmers or those who don’t program C#. So, at lunch, I was talking about the use of member variables prefixes, such as m_, in the use of classes. Currently, Microsoft suggests that member variables have no distinction besides using camel case (someVariable) to describe them while my current place prefers m_. Normally, I use camel case, but I encountered a few situations where I want to distinguish special variables from being used internally.

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New foundation and some tunnels!

Filed under: Games,Writing — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 14:26

Yesterday, I got my replacement SleepNumber foundation. Yeah, I just got the bed, but the frame it sits on died already. The bed itself, oh, that’s so lovely and even on the floor it is one of the most comfortable beds I ever had. Actually, it was just the foundation (basically the box spring without the spring) just got bent and I blame the legs. I’m giving up on the legs from SelectComfort. For our king, it was redundant and the installers promised they would be in a return request for us. They never did and we didn’t really push it until the day we just tossed them. For the queen, this bed, the legs are on the edges but weight caused the middle to buckle where there were no legs. Armchair engineer says that you really should put at least two feet in the middle to prevent that, but what do I know?

So, this time, I took the legs off and left them off. The bed is about 12 cm too close to the ground, but far more comfortable than being just on the ground. And, since it is supported in the middle, it won’t break on me.

I’d still recommend these beds to people, just don’t bother with the legs for the queen (the king is two pieces so it is supported in the middle). So… comfortable…

In other news, I’m getting the bug to write and edit again, which is appropriate since I have but a week to finish this game contest. Focus issues abound in the mid-project depression. Last night, I got the start of the actual game started *gasp* with a bright red square flying around the screen, bouncing into another red square. Yes… exciting isn’t it? Well, tonight, if I don’t do board game night with some friends, I’ll have it bouncing around the tunnels I just spent a week working on. Once I get it so you can go from junction to junction and the timer, I’ll have the minimum “game” entry. Probably by Monday night.

Then, it will be a matter of making it more fun and maybe setting it up so you can actually make all million meters to “win” the game. Million meters starting in five minutes. :) And there is nothing in the game that adds to the time, but I’m planning on there being things that slow the time down, even if for just 30 seconds of real-time. Kind of like bullet-time in a space flight game.

2008-05-22

Meme: Google Images

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 13:22

*squee* A meme! And a fun one, though my search-fu gave it away when I did it for Ms. Francis. So, for your meme-obsessive enjoyment.

1. Think of the first word that comes to mind when you think of me.

2. Go to Google Images and search for that word.

3. Reply to this post with one of the pictures on the first page of results (don’t tell me the word).

4. (Optional) Put this in your own journal so that I can do the same.

2008-05-21

Addiction v. Sleep

Filed under: Games,Programming — Tags: — D. Moonfire @ 13:40

I hate being addicted to creating things. Last night, I was up way too late working on Running Bomb. Late enough that I promised that I would do a writing project next. Also late enough that by the time I went to bed, I was just drifting off to sleep… when I figured out how to solve my reverse tunnel problem (the game lets you go backwards despite it being a very bad thing). And then, an hour of trying to strap myself to the bed to prevent myself from hopping right up and fixing that problem right then and there.

I hate being addicted.

I do the same when I write. I know I’m getting obsessed when I start with wish that I didn’t have to sleep anymore and dread going to bed because of the hours wasted with mere sleep! I know that sleep is “important” but there are times when I really rather program or write. I also noticed that I’m creeping up to getting less and less sleep again, I need to make a point of going to bed early tonight so hopefully I’ll stay off the computer.

2008-05-20

I can has tunnels?

Filed under: Games,Programming — Tags: , , — D. Moonfire @ 14:41

I have tunnels. Took me most of the night and about 1.2 hours past my normal time to sleep, but I have relatively good-looking tunnels for my game. All nicely and procedurally generated using a good-quality random number generator. At this rate, I should have the first part (create the empty layout) done by Wednesday night. I still have to make it generate past the first one (relatively easy) and allow moving backwards (despite being not the point of the game, I’ll still need it). And remove the overlap and I will be done with that part. :) I might even ignore the “no computer one day a week” for this, in my obsession, but I haven’t decided that. If I behave, then it will be Thursday night.

Writing computer games is fun. There are so many little details, little systems that have to be solved to make it work. Its like writing a novel, but… different. Though, I get the same rush when I finish a difficult bit of code as I do finishing a chapter.

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2008-05-19

CuteGod and Running Bomb

Filed under: Games,Programming — Tags: , , , , , — D. Moonfire @ 20:30

So, I was feeling a bit weird and did an ego search on “CuteGod”. Why? Just because, and I found that someone actually reviewed the game! Very cool. I love reviews, even if they are negative. Yeah, it wasn’t that positive of a review, but at least I have some areas to focus on. Actually, the stuff I’m doing for Running Bomb are also for CuteGod. As soon as that contest is over, I was planning on returning back to CuteGod to polish it up. That and redo the graphic tiles since I’m still not happy with them.

I also found out that CuteGod has a very low nuisance score and no viruses. I knew that, but it is neat that McAffe scans the web for installers. And that I pass.

As for Running Bomb, that is the WIP title for my procedural game. Struggling a bit with the tunneling interface. The basic setting for the game is that you are in a hollowed-out asteroid with lots of tunnels leading out from the center. Your home, Bubble City at the moment, is in the center, 1 Mm away from the surface of the asteroid. Which is fine, except that as you were docking on a slow day, they found a bomb in the city. And, since you were the only person in dock, you got “volunteered” to take the bomb as far away as possible. With full freedom to break any and all speed limits, blow up things, as long as you save people. Of course, you’ll die in the process, but this is a game about how many people you can save.

It seemed like a pretty simple idea, given that I only have two weeks left to write it. The game is going to be procedural, which means that it will change every time you play it. In this case, the tunnel system is different every time, along with the random stuff inside it. If I have time, you’ll also be able to customize your ship during play, giving yourself higher speed or turning rate (it’s physics-based), shields, or weapons.

The idea sounds like fun, the question is can I actually do it? :)

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