Journals

A while ago one of my cats got its foot caught in a trap, and was limping quite badly. Today I came home from college to find out that the leg had to be amputated. Poor cat.

More Necromancy!

Hello everyone, I owe an explanation to everyone who was watching "Xen Assault" so far.

It indeed took longer than expected but it was because mostly of the real-life calls. Which I wont be bothering you with those details, as we all know it sometimes gets difficult.

Also I want people who have been distributing the old demo, to stop. Yes, it was a public release. But I though, I gave up on the mod at that time. It's actually not dead at all, but probably more like in a zombie state.. With a little polishing, it can provide more fun then the demo itself. So please stop distributing it.

I think the demo covered the first 4 chapters. There is actually 4 more. But I might not be including one of the chapters to finish the mod quickly instead. And I'm nearly done with the fifth chapter. So it leaves 2 more (10-11 maps) that needs to be mapped.

Some new screenshots;
Click on the images





I also started to improve some of the maps visually, the mod is very very old.. if anybody recalls when I started mapping, I didnt have the skills to back it up much. So the first several maps in the mod visiually sucks ass. Now they look nicer. Most of the people's complaint about the mod was how hard the gameplay was. Now the "Easy" mod, is very easy. "Normal" mod is a bit challenging followed by a smooth similar gameplay to Half-Life's normal difficulty and well... "Hard" mod may drive people crazy. But hey, nobody is pushing you to play "Hard" right?

Some old-new improvement screenshots;
Before;


After;


So shortly, XA is on the table and wont be getting down there until its done.

My band Broken Silence went into the studio yesterday for the first time to record a song, was sort of like a test run to see how things work out.

Once a few minor problems were sorted out with the mixing desk, tracking began! It really shows you how important it is to practice to a metronome, because it isn't easy!

I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it, it was a slow start but towards the end of the day we were getting some really nice stuff done, totally impressed with how it came out considering it's our first song, all I have to do now is mix it so it sounds somewhat professional!

Myspace with the song will go up in a few days, I want to get the final mix done for the song so we have something to put on it.

I hope this band goes far, we all loved it!

In response to Joebama's journal.

I don't understand how L4D can be a great game, have great campaigns(with literally no storyline at all). Maybe the best thing about the game is visuals??(which are seriously outdated on modern computers like mine that run fluently games like crysis). No, I have nothing about graphics, I play games like OpenTTD for example.

My problem is with Valve's big theft of money. Grand Theft Valve. They exploit every part of their fucking outdated source engine to squeeze that last bit of money, because they are so LAZY to actually produce something new.

Zombies, killing like an idiot and stupid NPCs. I suggest you try Painkiller if you want something better.
L4D2 just strengthened my opinion on their hunt for money. The worst part is that they create a sick virtual world for most of the pre-adolescence boys which are very influenced by such kind of games.

But stop whining The_(c)Striker. You and the rest of other critics. It's useless. Popularity means all. I almost have nothing to comment on the game, but I express my opinions because the game is just overpriced. Seriously, it costs more than a game where somebody USED their mind to produce PUZZLES and a storyline like ep2 for example. L4D should fucking cost less that 5 euro.

Lumea asta e cu picioarele in sus...

It rained earlier today and my window was open. The carpet in my room got wet. Does anyone know of an effective way to dry it?

Andrew Wakefield should be prosecuted for espionage.

He is currently hiding in the United States because the British General Medical Council is after his medical license.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

This is how it sounds: Clicky

So if anyone remembers my rant 2 weeks ago, i solved my problem (Which op-amp to use for a tremolo pedal) And i also ordered a crapton of parts online. The last of which came in the mail today while i was in class. So naturally, i tear everything apart, search for some wire i had hanging around, and i start prototyping.

I get the thing built, and it runs. Perfectly. First try. I couldnt believe it.
I couldn't build the whole thing because i ran out of solder so i cant connect my other bypass switch, or the other 2 pots i need for the tremolo circuit..
Here's some breadboard shots of the distortion circuit:

Up-close shot of the fucking enormous capacitor that i need to find a replacement for:Here's another shot showing power in, the bypass switch, and the clipping-diodes (orange things near the top right part of the giant black capacitor)And here's my old guitar hooked up to the input, and you can see the output going to my computer.I'll post some more pics of the rest when i can get down to Radio Shack and pick up some more solder (and some replacement caps for the behemoths)
Also i'll pick up my actual guitar amp so i can hear what it sounds like for real instead of out of my computer speakers.... Cant hear shit outta them because there's no pre-amp going into them, there's only about 500mV coming from the ass-end of the guitar pedal, i'm surprised the speakers could play that at all =]

I think I've transitioned to the source engine more permanently now. I expect I might make a map or two for Goldsource, but I think I'm hooked on Source =/

Is this a good thing?

When I first started to read this news report, I said to myself "what a waste of tax payer's money"! I mean come on, the government buying a shit load of PS3's to do a technical experiment? Well, I hope it gets some very, very, very good results, because if it does not and the way the economy is, some Air Force General's head will be on the proverbial chopping block:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/u-s-air-force-building-supercomputer-from-ps3s/1387199

I have the chance to travel to a rural French village to attend a relative's wedding this summer, but I don't know if I want to go or not. The idea of traveling to a place where nobody outside of my family speaks English scares the shit out of me, not to mention I'm too self conscious to try and blurt out patched together sentences from some English-to-French phrasebook. The opportunity for uncomfortable social situations is staggering.

It's this or I stay at home alone for a week.

I watched another scary film this weekend and this time it was Paranormal Activity.

Yeah. When I watched Hunter's Vlog on it and he said the hype always raises your expectancy I didn't expect it to be as low as can be.

I mean I didn't hold my hopes high and was really excited for a movie to scare me but it flopped and the fact that I kept singing the tune from The Twilight Zone whenever it was night time really said it all.

Hell White Noise 2 made me jump more and that wasn't even scary. I still hold The Grudge high though despite people saying it's shit cause it's Americanised unlike the real Ju-On which I've not seen and never will.

I think the difference between Grudge and Paranormal Activity is that there's something visual to see that haunts your thoughts as you wait for the scare to happen whereas they relied too much on sounds and acting.

Your thoughts?

It's started snowing again, which is annoying because the UK is absolutely pathetic when it snows, everyone and everything just stops working!

Alot of people avoid driving in the snow because they get too scared, I rather see this as an oppertunity to get some experiance while having less control as usual, it's not as bad as people think.

Also, that nightclub I went to last night, I forgot to tell you guys that one of my friends didn't get in because he had no I.D now, this guy is taller than me, he has a buigger build than me and pretty much a full beard happening, he goes up to the door and gets refused entry, I walk up to the door after him and the bouncer (massive guy with a tattoo on his FACE) just looks at me, I'm smaller, less of a build and have next to NO facial hair than my friend.

I hand over my I.D, the bouncer gives me a smile and says Happy Birthday to me, and right on in I go.

So yeah, past few days have been funny!

Oh, I also have a favour to ask of you guys, I've been using Lockerz for a while now and gathered up a fair amount of points, but If I invite 20 friends to the website I got double points, which means I could get some pretty awesome prizes, if you are not already signed up and want to be, would you mind leaving your email in the reply? You only need to fill in the info once and never go back if you so wish, but it will help me out greatly!

http://www.lockerz.com - that's the website, let me know if you want an invite.

Thanks!

Hey, long time no post.

Psychonauts was available for ?1 on Steam a few days ago. Luckily, that was just the amount I had left in my account. Took me 17 hrs to finish the beast, and I have to say, I haven't been that impressed with a game since my first playthroughs of HL.

While it's nothing too revolutionary gameplay-wise (although it's fairly fluid and clean for the most part), the story/writing and art were absolutely mind-boggingly awesome. The variety of places you see and the attention for detail in each of them created an insanely vivid, colourful and just plain beautiful experience. Black Velvetopia and the Milkman Neighborhood have got to be some of the awesomest places ever designed for a game.

Another thing to note is how nicely the environments/mood of the game progress from playful, fun & colourful to absolutely insane mindfuck. Not something you see pulled off that well very often.

The writing, jokes and references were absolutely bang-on as well, keeping a wide smile on my face for the most part. (Except for the teeth-grindingly-tedious obstacle courses during the last stages.)

My only problem was it got rather repetitive/tedious during the later, more harder stages, but even then the sheer beauty of it kept me going and wanting more.

Overall, well done, Double Fine. Quite simply, that's how you do it. I almost feel guilty about paying only ?1 for a masterpiece. Absolutely worth its current price (?5.99) if you're looking for a true experience.

To mark the occasion (and the beauty of it all), new avatar!

MWAHAHAHAHA!!!

I DID IT!!! I spent 15 straight hours, several Wiki and video tutorials and much of my sanity, but I finally got a fully working L4D nav graph made for my first level in my 5 level campaign...

Yeah...I'm stuffed...and insane...Still a WIP, but just a bit of detailing to do...

Dear TWHL,

I turned 18 on the 25th, and I also bought a new car.

That is all, thanks.