Journals
I've been playing the first Half-Life for about 8 years now, and a large majority of that time was spent fragging friends on various deathmatch servers. Over time, my valve folder was slowing building up an arsenal of downloaded maps.
Recently I did a very long Twitch stream with my friend, and out challenge was to sit down and play a selection of maps that we’d remember from long ago and see if they still held up in any way. Our lot was 55 maps in total and we dedicated at least 5 minutes to each map, increasing it to 10 if we still wanted to check things out.
To our surprise, the maps that held up the most in our eyes were A) really shitty looking, and B) Had something hilariously fun about them that neither of us could describe. I mean, hell, our favourite map from the lot that night turned out to be a map by the name of 1337_Street, and it’s just a street with blocky as sin cars and buildings with rooms you could teleport into. And yet my friend and I had so much fun on this map during out session that it practically stole the night.
Another example of a shitty map being a hell of a fun time to play is just a map that was simply called “small.bsp”: a house that’s as badly brushed at it was textured, and yet I had a hell of a time playing it.
Now, contrast that with some of the other maps we played that night. Our folder wasn’t just filled with people’s apparent first map creations; we also had some other really nice looking, thought out maps with excellent design choices when it came to making the map look nice, but the odd thing was that a large majority of them (besides the Karnak, pictured below, which is a BEAUTIFUL map that we had to skip because it was just too big for it to be fun for two people) were surprisingly boring, and we ended it just thinking about how much fun it was to tripmine the fuck out of the kitchen in Small.
So what’s the point I’m getting to here? That shitty maps are better than well textured and well thought out maps? That sinfully blocky brushwork is far more entertaining than maps with excellent use of brushes? No, not in the slightest. However, our best moments from the session happen on those really shitty maps.
This just reinforces my, perhaps spotty, ideology when it comes to making HLDM maps. I usually don’t really use custom texture wads outside out of the ones that come with half-life, nor do I really try super hard to make my maps look good. If I complete a map and playtest it and my friends and I never want to stop playing it, that is WAY better (in my mind at least) to map that looks exceptional, but does not really get to the top of the list of map suggestions before we start playing. I mean, we still play 2Partment as our first map in our sessions, and that just uses textures that everyone has seen 18 billion times by now.
Maybe I’m just a naïve mapper that needs to grow up from bad practices, but that’s just how I feel.
\_(`-` )_/
Recently I did a very long Twitch stream with my friend, and out challenge was to sit down and play a selection of maps that we’d remember from long ago and see if they still held up in any way. Our lot was 55 maps in total and we dedicated at least 5 minutes to each map, increasing it to 10 if we still wanted to check things out.
To our surprise, the maps that held up the most in our eyes were A) really shitty looking, and B) Had something hilariously fun about them that neither of us could describe. I mean, hell, our favourite map from the lot that night turned out to be a map by the name of 1337_Street, and it’s just a street with blocky as sin cars and buildings with rooms you could teleport into. And yet my friend and I had so much fun on this map during out session that it practically stole the night.
This just reinforces my, perhaps spotty, ideology when it comes to making HLDM maps. I usually don’t really use custom texture wads outside out of the ones that come with half-life, nor do I really try super hard to make my maps look good. If I complete a map and playtest it and my friends and I never want to stop playing it, that is WAY better (in my mind at least) to map that looks exceptional, but does not really get to the top of the list of map suggestions before we start playing. I mean, we still play 2Partment as our first map in our sessions, and that just uses textures that everyone has seen 18 billion times by now.
Maybe I’m just a naïve mapper that needs to grow up from bad practices, but that’s just how I feel.
\_(`-` )_/
I have just launched TV
e-sports are growing up
e-sports are growing up
Fancy getting into a new podcast? Check out my flatmate's new series Crossover Quest ft. your friendly neighbourhood Archie.
It's still finding its feet, but it's a glorious concept. Every week they take two beloved franchises and create parody crossover fan fiction. It's rude, racy and often hilarious. I've heard some of the newer un-published episodes and they just keep getting stronger as the format grows and the recording and editing improves.
I'd love to know what you think and will pass on any comments! Constructive crits very welcome.
It's still finding its feet, but it's a glorious concept. Every week they take two beloved franchises and create parody crossover fan fiction. It's rude, racy and often hilarious. I've heard some of the newer un-published episodes and they just keep getting stronger as the format grows and the recording and editing improves.
I'd love to know what you think and will pass on any comments! Constructive crits very welcome.
This is going to be a long post, so buckle in if you're in the mood for journal reading.
It's weird how nostalgia grows. I mean yeah, sure, I'm only 18 pressing 19, but I remember hanging out on this website for a long time being a lurker before finally joining this thing many years ago. I have an oddly nostalgic relationship with TWHL.
I came for the tutorials and for the entity glossary, which still provides me help and guidance to this day, and I stayed (albeit quietly, and for a short amount of time) for the community. It actually didn't really take me that long to know the regulars, if only because their online handles were memorable.
My last map uploaded was 7th January, 2013 - the last time I made a journal was 8th August, 2012 - and then I stopped playing Half-Life for a while. And with Half-Life stopped, my frequent visits here ended. To be completely honest, I really didn't think much of the years I was gone.
However, this is the present. If you're the kind of human who like to round numbers up, it's been nearly 3 years since I've seen the inviting Orange layout of this site. And holy shit, is it great to see it again.
I'm happy that TWHL still exists, and I want to high-five the people behind it all that keep this place going. And hey, while I'm here, I might as well post some maps I've cleaned up that are hideously brushed and textured maps that play surprisingly well.
Hopefully I'll stick around longer on this second wind.
It's weird how nostalgia grows. I mean yeah, sure, I'm only 18 pressing 19, but I remember hanging out on this website for a long time being a lurker before finally joining this thing many years ago. I have an oddly nostalgic relationship with TWHL.
I came for the tutorials and for the entity glossary, which still provides me help and guidance to this day, and I stayed (albeit quietly, and for a short amount of time) for the community. It actually didn't really take me that long to know the regulars, if only because their online handles were memorable.
My last map uploaded was 7th January, 2013 - the last time I made a journal was 8th August, 2012 - and then I stopped playing Half-Life for a while. And with Half-Life stopped, my frequent visits here ended. To be completely honest, I really didn't think much of the years I was gone.
However, this is the present. If you're the kind of human who like to round numbers up, it's been nearly 3 years since I've seen the inviting Orange layout of this site. And holy shit, is it great to see it again.
I'm happy that TWHL still exists, and I want to high-five the people behind it all that keep this place going. And hey, while I'm here, I might as well post some maps I've cleaned up that are hideously brushed and textured maps that play surprisingly well.
Hopefully I'll stick around longer on this second wind.
XXIX
I am now 0 years old.
If anyone even cares and had been following, I now have one of these.
Comes with Android 4.4.2, it updated to 4.4.4 but hasn't offered me 5.x yet. After fiddling with it for a few hours now, I can say the following:
Comes with Android 4.4.2, it updated to 4.4.4 but hasn't offered me 5.x yet. After fiddling with it for a few hours now, I can say the following:
- My older phone has a 140dpi screen. After two years of use everything was good. The new one has a 330dpi screen. After two hours of use, there was no turning back. Everything looks so bloody fuzzy on the old one.
- I actually liked the 3x4 keyboard on the old one. The new one only has a QWERTY keyboard which I find much slower and error-prone. I'll look into installing a custom keyboard or something.
- It's pretty snazzy but I have one gripe: On the contacts list, the old one has an option labelled "Only show contacts with phone numbers". Which is pretty nice. The Moto G has no such option and it displays every Google contact ever. I do not like that. The list gets a bit long.
- It's pretty nice to have more than one app installed at a time.
- I probably don't need to worry about it freezing or hanging for several minutes every time I try to do anything, including nothing.
XXIV
Well, looks like I'm going to have to take a year out of uni for not passing a prerequisite course that's difficult as fuck, which means I'm going to be a year behind all of my mates, as well as having to work full time at this shitty chocolate shop.
Feel like shit
Feel like shit
//UPDATE1: Since I unexpectedly I can afford a tiny bit more if necessary, I've been looking a bit more. I've come across two models that are essentially the same, the only differences being a marginally bigger screen, more camera resolution (can't say I care about either) and a bigger battery (I do care about that though).
Does a 2600mAh battery vs. a 2000mAh battery seem worth a $75 difference? Because I'm thinking probably not and I'd rather find out if the bigger battery fits the smaller phone
I managed to scrounge up a few bucks from places I didn't know existed so I could get a long-needed phone upgrade* and now I must choose what to spend them on. From what I can afford, I'm between two models with very minor differences**.
Do I need to worry about 4G vs. dual-band wi-fi, or should I go for 4G without a second thought?
I don't care about the other differences, but I won't refuse an explanation if anyone feels I should know something I'm ignoring. Such as what's listed under Bluetooth or NFC***, which are things I'm intrigued about but I'll probably never need. I just want to future-proof it as much as I can so I can hold on to it long after most people change it. Because I'm poor and also because I'm lazy and I don't want to do this research too often.
*Current phone not only hangs, freezes and restarts, now it started to reject texts blaming lack of memory. Deleting all the old ones did nothing, so I can pretty much only receive calls.
**I know those sites might give incomplete or inaccurate information, but that seemed the most complete. I tried to double-check with the manuals, but they don't say anything at all about the specs. How silly is that?
***NFC intrigues me the most because the manuals don't even mention it. If I don't even know how to use it, how am I going to know if it's useful?
Does a 2600mAh battery vs. a 2000mAh battery seem worth a $75 difference? Because I'm thinking probably not and I'd rather find out if the bigger battery fits the smaller phone
I managed to scrounge up a few bucks from places I didn't know existed so I could get a long-needed phone upgrade* and now I must choose what to spend them on. From what I can afford, I'm between two models with very minor differences**.
Do I need to worry about 4G vs. dual-band wi-fi, or should I go for 4G without a second thought?
I don't care about the other differences, but I won't refuse an explanation if anyone feels I should know something I'm ignoring. Such as what's listed under Bluetooth or NFC***, which are things I'm intrigued about but I'll probably never need. I just want to future-proof it as much as I can so I can hold on to it long after most people change it. Because I'm poor and also because I'm lazy and I don't want to do this research too often.
*Current phone not only hangs, freezes and restarts, now it started to reject texts blaming lack of memory. Deleting all the old ones did nothing, so I can pretty much only receive calls.
**I know those sites might give incomplete or inaccurate information, but that seemed the most complete. I tried to double-check with the manuals, but they don't say anything at all about the specs. How silly is that?
***NFC intrigues me the most because the manuals don't even mention it. If I don't even know how to use it, how am I going to know if it's useful?
I truly hope it's considering it failed because I didn't agree to it, and not that it's constantly trying without my permission and failing for other reasons.
This appears to be happening since the day of the release. I like W7 and have no intentions of upgrading for now. STOP TRYING TO SHOVE IT DOWN MY THROAT.
The day W7 becomes W10 without asking me first, will be the day I turn to Debian and never look back.
The day W7 becomes W10 without asking me first, will be the day I turn to Debian and never look back.
This is going to be my view for the next fornight!
Lighting Op for Little Shop Of Horrors @ the Edinburgh Fringe; going to be good!
