Journals
There are no words.
Scotland must seize this opportunity to get the fuck out of the UK, rejoin the EU and try not to wince as Farage's England tumbles further and further into a Dystopian wasteland.
This is a victory for xenophobia, short-sightedness and lies. Trump winning is the next milestone on this journey. This is the darkest timeline.
Scotland must seize this opportunity to get the fuck out of the UK, rejoin the EU and try not to wince as Farage's England tumbles further and further into a Dystopian wasteland.
This is a victory for xenophobia, short-sightedness and lies. Trump winning is the next milestone on this journey. This is the darkest timeline.
So, I played the HL: Day One demo, and I found a few interesting things.
First off, some animation differences.
The famous airlock guard had a trio of animations that differed from what shipped. At first I thought this was just an alternate standing_idle, but it also has 2 other sequences - halting_player and standing_looking. (His gun isn't quite on his holster, which may be why they changed it. Though I dunno why they didn't just use a higher quality version of the same pose.) There are 8 or 10 animations present in the barney model that just plain weren't used in the final version, not counting the unused ones that actually shipped. I kind of wish that Valve had kept them in - I can definitely see some of these having been used in mods if they were.
The hgrunt model, which has been presumably pared down to save on filesize, does not contain a shotgun submodel, balaclava, or cigar guy. There are a few unused unshipped animations, one of which is curiously reminiscent of the Sten gun.
(due to the odd rotation and the arm movement I assume this was a prototype shotgun fire animation)
The bullsquid death animation is different - instead of collapsing and spreading out, it does a backflip and lands on its back.
player.mdl has a gender submodel slot, featuring Gordon and Gina, and a weapon submodel slot, featuring a shotgun and backwards Mp5.
Scientists were apparently originally slated to feature in an aquatic area, with a tread, frontcrawlling, and 2 floating corpse animations. I guess this is from a cut section of the Icky area in Apprehension? Other notable things include a trio of animations for the scientist who built the gluon gun crawling out of a hidey hole and showing off his work.
The dead_osprey model, which if I recall correctly, was used in Opposing Force, actually originated in the HL1 beta. Looks like it was probably meant to be switched out when you killed the osprey, then play the crash animation when it hit the ground.
Headcrabs have two movement speeds, run, which is the one we're all familiar with, and walk, which I don't recall existing. (When I first saw it ingame I thought it was limping.)
I know that some of the model content, such as the spazhard animations for the zombies, were included in the HL SDK, but I really wish that all the animations made for HL1 were left in the files. But anyway, moving on. Let's get some map screenshots up in this bitch.
The second opening in this room in Office Complex is gone, and the hallway to the shotgun room is much more straighforward and not full of random crates. The submap does not exist, rather being nearly the exact same thing in the main map with the exception of the texture used on the fence.
(My shotgun is transparent due to an OpenGL error. Decals flickered a lot too. I guess my GPU doesn't support the older versions?)
The hgrunt in the first map of WHG is replaced with a barney, and there are vents in the walls. Not sure why those were removed, as the final version of the map doesn't have any significantly larger or more complex bits to it to warrant having to remove geometry like that.
Okay, now for stuff I can't show in screenshots - mechanics!
Auto-aim is always on, with no menu option to disable it unless you turn off the crosshair altogether. A neat feature with this, however, is that your viewmodel shifts with the auto-aim crosshair position, similar to non-ADS aiming in console games such as Goldeneye and Timesplitters.
The glock has no alternate fire - seems that was added late in development. There's also a modern-style tactical reload on it - if you have ammo, reloading will give you 18 rounds to represent the one in the chamber, but otherwise you'll get the standard 17. This also explains the reason why mods built with the HL SDK code often "give" the pistol the ability to reload at any time - seems in the version of the code we got, the tactical reload was removed as in gold HL, but the check for it wasn't - so if there's less than 18 rounds, and there will always be without the tac reload, the pistol can be reloaded. This feature, though cut, is long ahead of its time, so the only reason I can think of to remove it is that playtesters were getting confused.
Frag grenades are a lot lighter and more bouncy, closer to HL2's grenades in the distances and angles you can pull off with them. Not sure why this was changed, as the heavy grenades we got were a lot less useful.
The Mp5 has the same higher rate of fire as the Uplink demo, and on picking it up you have the full 50 rounds, rather than 25.
env_beverage does not restore health. The benefits of hydration were apparently lost on Valve until near the end of development.
A mechanic that was not present was the beta implementation of the long-jump module - but Gina's different line in the Day One Hazard Course gives us some insights as to what it was. Apparently the long jump module, like the beta flashlight, was going to use suit power, and a great deal of it per jump. The LJM, instead of a backpack, was a special kind of battery for "short duration long jumping" - either some kind of limited time powerup, or a second counter that you'd need to have points in in addition to suit power. They probably changed this to the final version because it was too complex for players and programmers alike.
Finally, something a bit cumbersome was that, like Quake, there was a limit to how high you can look in any direction. Presumably this was just a hold-off from the engine code they got from ID that they didn't get around to changing, but having it there makes barnacles a lot harder to fight.
All in all, the Day One demo had a lot more insights to HL1's development than I thought it would, having always been given to understanding that it was just literally the first few chapters of the game. I wish a lot of the cut animation content was left in for modders to play with, and I don't understand why a couple of the mechanics and map features were changed between the demo and release, (I'm looking at you, tactical reload and bouncy grenades! Also the damn extra Office Complex map we apparently didn't even need!) but there were still some dregs of the "bad" HL1 beta that Valve cut for good reason left in there too.
First off, some animation differences.
The hgrunt model, which has been presumably pared down to save on filesize, does not contain a shotgun submodel, balaclava, or cigar guy. There are a few unused unshipped animations, one of which is curiously reminiscent of the Sten gun.
The bullsquid death animation is different - instead of collapsing and spreading out, it does a backflip and lands on its back.
Scientists were apparently originally slated to feature in an aquatic area, with a tread, frontcrawlling, and 2 floating corpse animations. I guess this is from a cut section of the Icky area in Apprehension? Other notable things include a trio of animations for the scientist who built the gluon gun crawling out of a hidey hole and showing off his work.
The dead_osprey model, which if I recall correctly, was used in Opposing Force, actually originated in the HL1 beta. Looks like it was probably meant to be switched out when you killed the osprey, then play the crash animation when it hit the ground.
Headcrabs have two movement speeds, run, which is the one we're all familiar with, and walk, which I don't recall existing. (When I first saw it ingame I thought it was limping.)
I know that some of the model content, such as the spazhard animations for the zombies, were included in the HL SDK, but I really wish that all the animations made for HL1 were left in the files. But anyway, moving on. Let's get some map screenshots up in this bitch.
Okay, now for stuff I can't show in screenshots - mechanics!
Auto-aim is always on, with no menu option to disable it unless you turn off the crosshair altogether. A neat feature with this, however, is that your viewmodel shifts with the auto-aim crosshair position, similar to non-ADS aiming in console games such as Goldeneye and Timesplitters.
The glock has no alternate fire - seems that was added late in development. There's also a modern-style tactical reload on it - if you have ammo, reloading will give you 18 rounds to represent the one in the chamber, but otherwise you'll get the standard 17. This also explains the reason why mods built with the HL SDK code often "give" the pistol the ability to reload at any time - seems in the version of the code we got, the tactical reload was removed as in gold HL, but the check for it wasn't - so if there's less than 18 rounds, and there will always be without the tac reload, the pistol can be reloaded. This feature, though cut, is long ahead of its time, so the only reason I can think of to remove it is that playtesters were getting confused.
Frag grenades are a lot lighter and more bouncy, closer to HL2's grenades in the distances and angles you can pull off with them. Not sure why this was changed, as the heavy grenades we got were a lot less useful.
The Mp5 has the same higher rate of fire as the Uplink demo, and on picking it up you have the full 50 rounds, rather than 25.
env_beverage does not restore health. The benefits of hydration were apparently lost on Valve until near the end of development.
A mechanic that was not present was the beta implementation of the long-jump module - but Gina's different line in the Day One Hazard Course gives us some insights as to what it was. Apparently the long jump module, like the beta flashlight, was going to use suit power, and a great deal of it per jump. The LJM, instead of a backpack, was a special kind of battery for "short duration long jumping" - either some kind of limited time powerup, or a second counter that you'd need to have points in in addition to suit power. They probably changed this to the final version because it was too complex for players and programmers alike.
Finally, something a bit cumbersome was that, like Quake, there was a limit to how high you can look in any direction. Presumably this was just a hold-off from the engine code they got from ID that they didn't get around to changing, but having it there makes barnacles a lot harder to fight.
All in all, the Day One demo had a lot more insights to HL1's development than I thought it would, having always been given to understanding that it was just literally the first few chapters of the game. I wish a lot of the cut animation content was left in for modders to play with, and I don't understand why a couple of the mechanics and map features were changed between the demo and release, (I'm looking at you, tactical reload and bouncy grenades! Also the damn extra Office Complex map we apparently didn't even need!) but there were still some dregs of the "bad" HL1 beta that Valve cut for good reason left in there too.
To my friends and acquaintances; the good people of TWHL.
Life is certainly strange... A fact I have been constantly reminded of over the course of these last few weeks.
I have been going through a rather drastic series of changes in my life recently, and it hasn't given me much time to create the worlds that I once used to love creating.
The simple truth that I have been realizing is that I no longer feel any desire to map. It was something I did to distract myself. Something I did in my moments of weakness to build myself up and give me confidence in something because I thought i was halfway decent at it.
I would get absorbed and consumed but my motivation always faded and it all eventually became tedious work towards an end result that never seemed worth it once I invested so much time into it.
Truth is i don't like mapping anymore. It seems.... Like a nostalgic idea now. Something I used to love doing and have such a fond memory hammering away at these crazy ideas... And the worst part about nostalgia is that it's never the same once you try to go back in time. You get the taste but it's never as sweet as you know it once was.
My life and hobbies surrounding it have turned away from gaming as a whole. I no longer strive to make it in the gaming industry or develop a one hit wonder mobile game or a gripping multiplayer game that's refreshing and new...
I've undergone a transformation this year. Broken out of my chrysalis if you will... Really matured into who I should have been about 5 years ago.
Which brings me to my point... I'm sure some of you have noticed my absence. My apologies for going MIA when I started an ambitious project. I wanted a taste of glory and success that Urby had with TWHL Tower (cheers btw, epic work)
But I myself didn't want to put in the work; and I still don't. I'm forfeiting ownership of the mod and I'm removing my name from it.
So sorry for that. I shouldn't have committed to that project but i was in denial about a lot of things in my life.. It was a poor distraction for some things that desperately needed my attention.
Such as my health and well being as well as the health and well being of those around me.
So this is my note to all you regulars.. I'll skulk the forums and drop by from time to time because really... Nobody ever truly says goodbye to this website... There's the occasional question that I'll immediately know the answer to... There's the journal post I'll drop a comment into.. But maps or mods... Don't count on it..
This isnt a goodbye; more like a "see you around".
Thanks for listening, thanks for being such a large part of my life.
-Brett (Tetsu0)
Life is certainly strange... A fact I have been constantly reminded of over the course of these last few weeks.
I have been going through a rather drastic series of changes in my life recently, and it hasn't given me much time to create the worlds that I once used to love creating.
The simple truth that I have been realizing is that I no longer feel any desire to map. It was something I did to distract myself. Something I did in my moments of weakness to build myself up and give me confidence in something because I thought i was halfway decent at it.
I would get absorbed and consumed but my motivation always faded and it all eventually became tedious work towards an end result that never seemed worth it once I invested so much time into it.
Truth is i don't like mapping anymore. It seems.... Like a nostalgic idea now. Something I used to love doing and have such a fond memory hammering away at these crazy ideas... And the worst part about nostalgia is that it's never the same once you try to go back in time. You get the taste but it's never as sweet as you know it once was.
My life and hobbies surrounding it have turned away from gaming as a whole. I no longer strive to make it in the gaming industry or develop a one hit wonder mobile game or a gripping multiplayer game that's refreshing and new...
I've undergone a transformation this year. Broken out of my chrysalis if you will... Really matured into who I should have been about 5 years ago.
Which brings me to my point... I'm sure some of you have noticed my absence. My apologies for going MIA when I started an ambitious project. I wanted a taste of glory and success that Urby had with TWHL Tower (cheers btw, epic work)
But I myself didn't want to put in the work; and I still don't. I'm forfeiting ownership of the mod and I'm removing my name from it.
So sorry for that. I shouldn't have committed to that project but i was in denial about a lot of things in my life.. It was a poor distraction for some things that desperately needed my attention.
Such as my health and well being as well as the health and well being of those around me.
So this is my note to all you regulars.. I'll skulk the forums and drop by from time to time because really... Nobody ever truly says goodbye to this website... There's the occasional question that I'll immediately know the answer to... There's the journal post I'll drop a comment into.. But maps or mods... Don't count on it..
This isnt a goodbye; more like a "see you around".
Thanks for listening, thanks for being such a large part of my life.
-Brett (Tetsu0)
Haven't seen this website in a while.
Gonna update you all super quick.
My wife's Grandfather, Grandmother, and Father all passed away within the last year. We've been having a hell of a time settling the estates but it's almost done. We're getting a house, put in a bid yesterday on a nice European style condo. So things are going pretty well on the living side of things. Other than that, Lyssa, Nahmbo, and I are each in good health.
Game dev stuff has been going well. I've been doing commissions for various game features and tech for other people using the same engine. Stuff anywhere from simple scoring systems to full navigation map dynamic cartographer systems. It pays ok and I can live on it.
Super Matt Jordan is still in development, though its super slow, I've been focused on story and base systems. It will be completed eventually, it moves forward a little each day now. There will never be a kickstarter since I'm funding the project myself and releasing it as a Free-to-play.
Sometimes I miss mapping. I don't have the drive to do it anymore as other things are more worth the time. It definitely has been one of my more favorite hobbies. Maybe someday in the distant future.
Gonna update you all super quick.
My wife's Grandfather, Grandmother, and Father all passed away within the last year. We've been having a hell of a time settling the estates but it's almost done. We're getting a house, put in a bid yesterday on a nice European style condo. So things are going pretty well on the living side of things. Other than that, Lyssa, Nahmbo, and I are each in good health.
Game dev stuff has been going well. I've been doing commissions for various game features and tech for other people using the same engine. Stuff anywhere from simple scoring systems to full navigation map dynamic cartographer systems. It pays ok and I can live on it.
Super Matt Jordan is still in development, though its super slow, I've been focused on story and base systems. It will be completed eventually, it moves forward a little each day now. There will never be a kickstarter since I'm funding the project myself and releasing it as a Free-to-play.
Sometimes I miss mapping. I don't have the drive to do it anymore as other things are more worth the time. It definitely has been one of my more favorite hobbies. Maybe someday in the distant future.
Impressive, by just looking at it:
At first, I thought that my laptop had a...... something. But then, if it's what I think it is now, I will be able to plug in an external GPU!
Right now I'm thinking that it's an ExpressCard slot, because the manual of the laptop says that it has that slot.
Basically, using the slot, I could connect a good graphics card via a dock made for those. And, therefore, gaming would be a lot easier for me.
See, people dislike low-end laptops, like my Fujitsu S7210, which has:
-2 GB of RAM
-120 GB of HDD space
-an Intel T7500 CPU (with 2 cores at 2.4GHz)
-and worst of all, an integrated Intel X3100 GPU!
...thusly, the reasons to dislike are pretty obvious. But it can be upgraded
So yes, I hope that I'll someday plug an eGPU to my S7210, and enjoy playing Crysis (1) at 30 fps, also mentioning Far Cry (1), Half-Life 2, and Doom III, all three running at 60 fps. Those days are yet to come.
P.S. "Teh epik master plan Part 3: Moment of Truth" coming soon in 4k and 3D. 150 Limited-edition Blu-Ray copies, available at $59.99 on June 20th 2016.
Right now I'm thinking that it's an ExpressCard slot, because the manual of the laptop says that it has that slot.
Basically, using the slot, I could connect a good graphics card via a dock made for those. And, therefore, gaming would be a lot easier for me.
See, people dislike low-end laptops, like my Fujitsu S7210, which has:
-2 GB of RAM
-120 GB of HDD space
-an Intel T7500 CPU (with 2 cores at 2.4GHz)
-and worst of all, an integrated Intel X3100 GPU!
...thusly, the reasons to dislike are pretty obvious. But it can be upgraded
So yes, I hope that I'll someday plug an eGPU to my S7210, and enjoy playing Crysis (1) at 30 fps, also mentioning Far Cry (1), Half-Life 2, and Doom III, all three running at 60 fps. Those days are yet to come.
P.S. "Teh epik master plan Part 3: Moment of Truth" coming soon in 4k and 3D. 150 Limited-edition Blu-Ray copies, available at $59.99 on June 20th 2016.
cs meme...
Sooo... streaming. Let's talk about that. I'm going to be doing it.
You can check my Twitch channel HERE
My net connection isn't amazing at the moment which limits the quality somewhat, but I think it should be watchable.
I'll be playing maps and mods from time to time, as well as mapping every now and then.
Mainly I'm putting this out there in case any of you feel like dropping in for a chat. You can see my past broadcasts to get an idea of the feed quality, mainly the latest one. I will also be on mic next time.
You can check my Twitch channel HERE
My net connection isn't amazing at the moment which limits the quality somewhat, but I think it should be watchable.
I'll be playing maps and mods from time to time, as well as mapping every now and then.
Mainly I'm putting this out there in case any of you feel like dropping in for a chat. You can see my past broadcasts to get an idea of the feed quality, mainly the latest one. I will also be on mic next time.
My dreams are such that you'd think how I'm a crazy person. All of the dreams listed here were actually dreamt by me, so I'm not making this up.
To start off, I'll tell you how random they are:
It always happens, dreams shuffle and transform from one to another. I'm building a fence, and I suddenly become sucked in by a black hole (it was cold, and noisy in there). I'm in a castle, and then my brother chases me with an axe, while I'm on my bike. Some were dreamt twice, too.
It's weird. Totally. I mean, the greatest example of a weird dream is my dream when I dreamt how Tito (who was the leader of what used to be Yugoslavia) drove me through my village in a Zastava Yugo. The hills were cyan! And a famous folk singer was singing on the radio, too.
It gets weirder, as I once dreamt how I defeated my "follower of dreams". It was that guy from "The Darkest of Days" (good game, though). I found him in the canals (that airboat level from HL2) and threw a pair of scissors at him (yes, I dreamt of playing SMod, sort of). The scissors hit his neck, with blood splattering around it, and he became a ragdoll, and fell into the acid. I felt sorry for him when I woke up.
But, don't worry, there are happier ones, even if they are still 'dark'. Once, in a dream (of course), I was invited to a party organized by a person that I fell in love with 3.5 years ago. She'd never do that in real life! So, I drove a VW Golf through an abandoned city in a desert (similar to the map someone submitted a while ago). There was an earthquake, and a building collapsed, and the asphalt cracked, leaving the streets filled with holes. Instantly, I was teleported into Minecraft Alpha (because grass had that green colour), and an old man said "Go there." And he showed me a cave, which I had climbed into. Apparently, "she", nor anyone wasn't there. The lights were red, so was everything, except for the blue sofas and a power generator.
I went to exit the cave. But then, I saw her, and she saw me. Before I said her name, however, something pulled me down the stairs, and I hit them with my head, thus ending the dream.
Well, I once saw a giant, light blue moon in my dreams. It was so huge, it covered the whole horizon. I wanted to touch it, but it shrank, and changed colour to gray
But, luckily, I had 3 dreams about "her" in total, which are perfectly enough for good dreams, and I already told you one. I mean, who wouldn't dream about that cute, beautiful being? I already told too much, haven't I?
So, I told you something about my dreams, because only 1% of people have these, probably. I wonder if anyone else has similar dreams. I also find it weird how they are tightly related to the games I played.
To start off, I'll tell you how random they are:
It always happens, dreams shuffle and transform from one to another. I'm building a fence, and I suddenly become sucked in by a black hole (it was cold, and noisy in there). I'm in a castle, and then my brother chases me with an axe, while I'm on my bike. Some were dreamt twice, too.
It's weird. Totally. I mean, the greatest example of a weird dream is my dream when I dreamt how Tito (who was the leader of what used to be Yugoslavia) drove me through my village in a Zastava Yugo. The hills were cyan! And a famous folk singer was singing on the radio, too.
It gets weirder, as I once dreamt how I defeated my "follower of dreams". It was that guy from "The Darkest of Days" (good game, though). I found him in the canals (that airboat level from HL2) and threw a pair of scissors at him (yes, I dreamt of playing SMod, sort of). The scissors hit his neck, with blood splattering around it, and he became a ragdoll, and fell into the acid. I felt sorry for him when I woke up.
But, don't worry, there are happier ones, even if they are still 'dark'. Once, in a dream (of course), I was invited to a party organized by a person that I fell in love with 3.5 years ago. She'd never do that in real life! So, I drove a VW Golf through an abandoned city in a desert (similar to the map someone submitted a while ago). There was an earthquake, and a building collapsed, and the asphalt cracked, leaving the streets filled with holes. Instantly, I was teleported into Minecraft Alpha (because grass had that green colour), and an old man said "Go there." And he showed me a cave, which I had climbed into. Apparently, "she", nor anyone wasn't there. The lights were red, so was everything, except for the blue sofas and a power generator.
I went to exit the cave. But then, I saw her, and she saw me. Before I said her name, however, something pulled me down the stairs, and I hit them with my head, thus ending the dream.
Well, I once saw a giant, light blue moon in my dreams. It was so huge, it covered the whole horizon. I wanted to touch it, but it shrank, and changed colour to gray
But, luckily, I had 3 dreams about "her" in total, which are perfectly enough for good dreams, and I already told you one. I mean, who wouldn't dream about that cute, beautiful being? I already told too much, haven't I?
So, I told you something about my dreams, because only 1% of people have these, probably. I wonder if anyone else has similar dreams. I also find it weird how they are tightly related to the games I played.
NO. FUCK YOU.
"Teh epik master plan" Part II: The Research
Ah, hello, I haven't written here for a long time. So, for the unguided individuals, "teh epik master plan" is my plan to actually buy a game via Steam for the first time in my life, by opening a bank account and linking a debit card to my PayPal account. TL;DR is at the bottom!
Before commenting:
Alright, let us begin:
So, after 1 month of research, finally, I've decided in which bank to open an account, and they have a special account type just for teenagers like me! And, along with the bank account comes a debit card, using which the client can do, besides normal stuff, Internet shopping.
However, I'm uncertain whether I could buy something with a different currency, since we use BAM in Bosnia, and on Steam, there are Euros (€) for my region. So, this is the plan's question which will either kill it, or save it. Palaćinka! (Or 'блин!')
But, yes, if all goes well, I will inform you in 'Part 3: The moment of truth'.
If the plan works, however, I will:
-Finally buy some hats (in TF2) for my 5 year-old brother, and a copy of GMod for him
-Buy a copy of Call of Duty (either 2 or 3), in order to make some maps for it
-Buy a copy of Half-Life 2 (duuh, to make mods for it)
-Transfer some 'resources' to one of my friends' PayPal account, so he can buy Mount & Blade.
Of course, that will happen only if the plan works, and I'll buy games when the 'Summer Sales' hit. And, if it doesn't work, no worries! There's Fiverr, online surveys, and, of course, an app called Joy Rewards (because AppNana is poop, and I'm pretty close to the $5 PayPal gift card).
TL;DR: I did some research and found out about debit cards for teens, and I found a bank which offers "accepted-by-me" teenagers' accounts and debit cards. I'm only worried if I'm able to use currencies other than KM (a.k.a BAM).
And a message to other minors (people under 18) who are in a similar situation, use my plan if you wish to buy games, but your parents just won't allow you their credit cards.
Ah, hello, I haven't written here for a long time. So, for the unguided individuals, "teh epik master plan" is my plan to actually buy a game via Steam for the first time in my life, by opening a bank account and linking a debit card to my PayPal account. TL;DR is at the bottom!
Before commenting:
- First of all, I'm 14 years-old.
- Second of all, my parents won't borrow me their credit cards, hence the need of my own debit card.
- Third of all, I live in a second-world country, so we can't buy any Steam Wallet codes too.
- Fourth of all, I'm not poor, I am only unable to buy anything online for now.
Alright, let us begin:
So, after 1 month of research, finally, I've decided in which bank to open an account, and they have a special account type just for teenagers like me! And, along with the bank account comes a debit card, using which the client can do, besides normal stuff, Internet shopping.
However, I'm uncertain whether I could buy something with a different currency, since we use BAM in Bosnia, and on Steam, there are Euros (€) for my region. So, this is the plan's question which will either kill it, or save it. Palaćinka! (Or 'блин!')
But, yes, if all goes well, I will inform you in 'Part 3: The moment of truth'.
If the plan works, however, I will:
-Finally buy some hats (in TF2) for my 5 year-old brother, and a copy of GMod for him
-Buy a copy of Call of Duty (either 2 or 3), in order to make some maps for it
-Buy a copy of Half-Life 2 (duuh, to make mods for it)
-Transfer some 'resources' to one of my friends' PayPal account, so he can buy Mount & Blade.
Of course, that will happen only if the plan works, and I'll buy games when the 'Summer Sales' hit. And, if it doesn't work, no worries! There's Fiverr, online surveys, and, of course, an app called Joy Rewards (because AppNana is poop, and I'm pretty close to the $5 PayPal gift card).
TL;DR: I did some research and found out about debit cards for teens, and I found a bank which offers "accepted-by-me" teenagers' accounts and debit cards. I'm only worried if I'm able to use currencies other than KM (a.k.a BAM).
And a message to other minors (people under 18) who are in a similar situation, use my plan if you wish to buy games, but your parents just won't allow you their credit cards.
What a great year this will continue to be! ... and indeed was already! Last month I proved myself I can handle a 30km bike marathon with an almost 800m altitude gain. As a beginner, this was one of my most intense mind-over-body experience I ever endured. I finished it in 2 hours and 15 minutes, while the advanced guys finished it under 1:30. I'm now seriously considering investing some money in a good bike 'till the next year( but good bikes are very expensive).
Several challenges lay before me still, and uncertainties. Life is so fucking weird at this point. I have some difficult exams I'll have to pass to finish college, and then explore my options for the future. It's quite chilling to realize each passing birthday that your future options and opportunities "pool" shrinks.
This year will also be great from a technological standpoint. I'll be very Zen while fishing at Kaby Lake in early mornings, watching the Polaris star and philosophizing about Pascal's wager. Man, one can't wait for October as much as I do!
God help me I have so many thoughts, I don't know how to beat my fears and manage every anxiety so I can experience more of this life...
Several challenges lay before me still, and uncertainties. Life is so fucking weird at this point. I have some difficult exams I'll have to pass to finish college, and then explore my options for the future. It's quite chilling to realize each passing birthday that your future options and opportunities "pool" shrinks.
This year will also be great from a technological standpoint. I'll be very Zen while fishing at Kaby Lake in early mornings, watching the Polaris star and philosophizing about Pascal's wager. Man, one can't wait for October as much as I do!
God help me I have so many thoughts, I don't know how to beat my fears and manage every anxiety so I can experience more of this life...
The creativity of the human mind is amazing. This... is how not to use it. I used to think this type of stories were only internet fiction. Not anymore.
A few months ago I had to form a work group with a few classmates. In these cases, if you intend to work with digital files, one would think it would make sense to use a service like Dropbox, Drive or other comparable product. This way, everyone could have immediate access to the latest versions of all the files. Right?
No. This girl REALLY didn't like Dropbox or Drive. What kind of mess is that? The best way to maintain a tidy, up-to-date collection of files, of course, is Facebook. Because, amongst a thousand other reasons she gave me, you can tag people. How silly I am, of course, because how could I expect people in a group of 5 to know that they're supposed to be doing something! Besides, what if you're at someone else's computer? In the end, I couldn't convince her to adopt my whimsical processes and she went as far as decided to go do look more like creating an email account, and creating a Facebook account with that so that I could abandon my backwards ways and accept the goodness of Facebook. And tag people.
So far, I though this was a pretty incredible abuse of technology for file management. But as hard as I thought it was, last night someone managed to top that.
How do you send a file to a large number of people? If you have their email address, you could send it to them as an attachment. Or maybe if it is too large, upload it somewhere and email them a link to that. Or you could do what last night's lecturer did to send the students the slideshow of the day:
It clearly wasn't the case of the lecturer being old and not understanding technology, because there seemed to be CONSENSUS that it was a brilliant idea.
I am unable to comprehend what kind of thought process can lead to an idea like this. My brain is full of fuck.
A few months ago I had to form a work group with a few classmates. In these cases, if you intend to work with digital files, one would think it would make sense to use a service like Dropbox, Drive or other comparable product. This way, everyone could have immediate access to the latest versions of all the files. Right?
No. This girl REALLY didn't like Dropbox or Drive. What kind of mess is that? The best way to maintain a tidy, up-to-date collection of files, of course, is Facebook. Because, amongst a thousand other reasons she gave me, you can tag people. How silly I am, of course, because how could I expect people in a group of 5 to know that they're supposed to be doing something! Besides, what if you're at someone else's computer? In the end, I couldn't convince her to adopt my whimsical processes and she went as far as decided to go do look more like creating an email account, and creating a Facebook account with that so that I could abandon my backwards ways and accept the goodness of Facebook. And tag people.
So far, I though this was a pretty incredible abuse of technology for file management. But as hard as I thought it was, last night someone managed to top that.
How do you send a file to a large number of people? If you have their email address, you could send it to them as an attachment. Or maybe if it is too large, upload it somewhere and email them a link to that. Or you could do what last night's lecturer did to send the students the slideshow of the day:
- Create an email account
- Email the file to that account
- Give the students the password to that account so that they could log in to it and download the attachment
It clearly wasn't the case of the lecturer being old and not understanding technology, because there seemed to be CONSENSUS that it was a brilliant idea.
I am unable to comprehend what kind of thought process can lead to an idea like this. My brain is full of fuck.
Remember my fringe journal I posted last year? Well, things have developed a wee bit since then:
Around September time I applied for a technician job at my university's student union - I luckily managed to get the job but because I was working full time at the 'ol hotel chocolat, I had done about 1 shift between getting the job and finishing our production of Guys & Dolls ( feb 2016.. so almost 6 months).
Within the last few months ,I've gone from knowing a thing or two about tech to being able to plot, mic, setup, soundcheck and live mix a band ( on some decent peices of kit), use and rig lighting fixtures and consoles, and know almost every bit of troubleshooting under the sun.
I've mostly only used Analogue sound desks (Image is a midas verona 400, big and heavy desk that needs two people to physically set up - great guy to use) - Desks that are entirely physical, that is they don't make use of microprocessors to alter the sound- but yesterday I had to learn, within the space of an hour for a live band, how to use one of the worlds most common digital desks, a Yamaha LS9. ( spoiler: wasn't easy, but managed to set it up and sound great )
Who knows where I'll be in a couple more months time! I've been told from multiple sources that EUSA (The company I work for) is fairly well known in Scotland for making some really well trained staff - I had gone to PLASA ( Lighting & Sound expo ) in Glasgow with a couple colleagues - just by wearing our work shirts, we were literally handed business cards and offered jobs then and there!
I'm currently about to apply to work at the Gilded Balloon over the Fringe, so instead of volunteering to do the lighting op for a show, I'll hopefully be one of a team to overhaul our students' union, setup and mix several acts in a day, every day, for just over a month. And get paid too!
Gilded Balloon is one of the most popular venues, alongside the Assembly Rooms and Pleasance. These three get most of the big names.
If you don't know anything about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.. well, it's the worlds' largest arts festival.
Oh yeah, Guys & Dolls, never mentioned that. Nothing too major, just, y'know, Sky Masterson. Was good, but was completely disappointed with our tech & set; every review mentioned that. However I'll take this from a renowned harsh reviewer:
Oliver Barker’s Sky Masterson has a strong stage presence, especially when he abandons the Presleyish curled lip he overuses at first, but his singing does not match up to his acting, or to Millar’s huge voice. Nevertheless, he has just about enough pizzazz to carry off Luck, Be a Lady successfully.
....ehhhh, I'll take that as a "good actor with an improving voice". I never realised how nervewracking it is to read reviews about yourself.
Around September time I applied for a technician job at my university's student union - I luckily managed to get the job but because I was working full time at the 'ol hotel chocolat, I had done about 1 shift between getting the job and finishing our production of Guys & Dolls ( feb 2016.. so almost 6 months).
Within the last few months ,I've gone from knowing a thing or two about tech to being able to plot, mic, setup, soundcheck and live mix a band ( on some decent peices of kit), use and rig lighting fixtures and consoles, and know almost every bit of troubleshooting under the sun.
I've mostly only used Analogue sound desks (Image is a midas verona 400, big and heavy desk that needs two people to physically set up - great guy to use) - Desks that are entirely physical, that is they don't make use of microprocessors to alter the sound- but yesterday I had to learn, within the space of an hour for a live band, how to use one of the worlds most common digital desks, a Yamaha LS9. ( spoiler: wasn't easy, but managed to set it up and sound great )
Who knows where I'll be in a couple more months time! I've been told from multiple sources that EUSA (The company I work for) is fairly well known in Scotland for making some really well trained staff - I had gone to PLASA ( Lighting & Sound expo ) in Glasgow with a couple colleagues - just by wearing our work shirts, we were literally handed business cards and offered jobs then and there!
I'm currently about to apply to work at the Gilded Balloon over the Fringe, so instead of volunteering to do the lighting op for a show, I'll hopefully be one of a team to overhaul our students' union, setup and mix several acts in a day, every day, for just over a month. And get paid too!
Gilded Balloon is one of the most popular venues, alongside the Assembly Rooms and Pleasance. These three get most of the big names.
If you don't know anything about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.. well, it's the worlds' largest arts festival.
Oh yeah, Guys & Dolls, never mentioned that. Nothing too major, just, y'know, Sky Masterson. Was good, but was completely disappointed with our tech & set; every review mentioned that. However I'll take this from a renowned harsh reviewer:
Oliver Barker’s Sky Masterson has a strong stage presence, especially when he abandons the Presleyish curled lip he overuses at first, but his singing does not match up to his acting, or to Millar’s huge voice. Nevertheless, he has just about enough pizzazz to carry off Luck, Be a Lady successfully.
....ehhhh, I'll take that as a "good actor with an improving voice". I never realised how nervewracking it is to read reviews about yourself.
We will be in Stockholm from August 15 to August 21, 2016.
We have to deal with complex entity systems quite often in Goldsource. Until recently, I used to start working on them directly in Hammer without any preparation beforehand.
However, as a computing student, we've been taught Oriented Programming and the analysis and design process. Basically, it's about finding requirements for a software and designing the code before actually starting coding it. Naturally, I wondered: why not try the same for Goldsource entities systems? I always struggled to make complex entity systems and the method I used to use makes the system a real pain to build, to understand and to maintain, so it sound like a good idea.
So here it is, I tried to design the entity system of an elevator using the software Visual Paradigm with an object diagram. Each type of entity is a class and each entity is an object. Targets are represented with dotted arrows.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=A52162CFA2ECDDBB!28411&authkey=!AN3aD6RykHcT_i8&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
Classy, isn't it? The only problem is: for some unknown reasons, it doesn't work… -_- But I'm working on it!
However, as a computing student, we've been taught Oriented Programming and the analysis and design process. Basically, it's about finding requirements for a software and designing the code before actually starting coding it. Naturally, I wondered: why not try the same for Goldsource entities systems? I always struggled to make complex entity systems and the method I used to use makes the system a real pain to build, to understand and to maintain, so it sound like a good idea.
So here it is, I tried to design the entity system of an elevator using the software Visual Paradigm with an object diagram. Each type of entity is a class and each entity is an object. Targets are represented with dotted arrows.
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=A52162CFA2ECDDBB!28411&authkey=!AN3aD6RykHcT_i8&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
Classy, isn't it? The only problem is: for some unknown reasons, it doesn't work… -_- But I'm working on it!