Journals
I just played Estranged act 1 on steam. You do not need HL2 installed to play it. It is also free. and has source code as well, I think.
Basically you are the fisherman on a boat and must unfortunately get off the boat to inveshtigate an island. It is supposedly a horror mod, but I've played black snow and no mod can get scarier than that hands down.
It's not very scarey, honestly, and certainly isn't the best mod ever either. But it does offer slightly different play than the average HL2 mod, seeing as your enemies are all human and dont look like combine soldiers or headcrab zombies. There isn't that much combat either, and get this, you can only carry a single weapon with you at all times. Do I recommend this? Sure, if you want a quick revisit to the source engine. Wouldn't put it on any sort of priority list or anything.
(This was more of a review and less of a summary, which is what I typically did. Oh well.)
Basically you are the fisherman on a boat and must unfortunately get off the boat to inveshtigate an island. It is supposedly a horror mod, but I've played black snow and no mod can get scarier than that hands down.
It's not very scarey, honestly, and certainly isn't the best mod ever either. But it does offer slightly different play than the average HL2 mod, seeing as your enemies are all human and dont look like combine soldiers or headcrab zombies. There isn't that much combat either, and get this, you can only carry a single weapon with you at all times. Do I recommend this? Sure, if you want a quick revisit to the source engine. Wouldn't put it on any sort of priority list or anything.
(This was more of a review and less of a summary, which is what I typically did. Oh well.)
Bought Doom I and II from the Doom Complete pack from steam.
Which I am now proceeding to not play through steam, as the built-in DosBox emulation has really bad video colour and lag issues. (I'm running the WADs through the gzdoom interpreter instead)
Sometimes you just want a nice corridor-erm...maze shooter.
Which I am now proceeding to not play through steam, as the built-in DosBox emulation has really bad video colour and lag issues. (I'm running the WADs through the gzdoom interpreter instead)
Sometimes you just want a nice corridor-erm...maze shooter.
I got a really weird idea and it's hopefully not too weird.
In a nutshell, it's a singleplayer mini-game type where the player hunts down headcrabs tucked away in hidden locations. Kind of like an exterminator. Baby-crabs in HL1 work well for this because they are tiny and can hide in more locations. I tried experimenting with cockroaches in the original idea, but their code is incomplete and they trigger nothing when they are killed. The next smallest is baby-crabs so that's why its crab hunt and not roach hunt.
It would certainly be interesting to craft a small and detailed environment and stash 50 crabs in it to be found. Lots of interesting puzzles could be made of it too.
Would be more interesting if we each made a level and strung them together in a mod. All default resources would do nicely for it I suppose.
Thoughts?
In a nutshell, it's a singleplayer mini-game type where the player hunts down headcrabs tucked away in hidden locations. Kind of like an exterminator. Baby-crabs in HL1 work well for this because they are tiny and can hide in more locations. I tried experimenting with cockroaches in the original idea, but their code is incomplete and they trigger nothing when they are killed. The next smallest is baby-crabs so that's why its crab hunt and not roach hunt.
It would certainly be interesting to craft a small and detailed environment and stash 50 crabs in it to be found. Lots of interesting puzzles could be made of it too.
Would be more interesting if we each made a level and strung them together in a mod. All default resources would do nicely for it I suppose.
Thoughts?
Happy explosion day America. Blow something up for me!
It's not everyday that the Government can shut down a major highway... In Connecticut(CT) we have about 6,000 bridges and about 20% of those need replacing. The one in this video happens to be a bridge I cross everyday on my way to, and home from work.
CT shut down this highway's bridge over this last weekend (a major travel-lane through the state) in order to replace the aging bridge. In the months leading up to this, they built a replacement bridge next to the existing bridge.
Once it was complete, they tore down the old one, and SLID the new one into place. Just shimmied it right in there. It fit like a glove. This is one of the reasons why I chose to become an Engineer. Because shit like this. This is almost as marvelous to me as the NASA engineers landing the last Rover on Mars. I love being blown away seeing what humans can accomplish when we focus on the betterment of society instead of bickering about meaningless problems.
Check the time-lapse: http://youtu.be/vX-XjeXocNE
The stress test begins tomorrow. I'll drive over the new bridge; I have faith it'll stand up.
Also, the machines look like they're quite hungry in fast-motion.
CT shut down this highway's bridge over this last weekend (a major travel-lane through the state) in order to replace the aging bridge. In the months leading up to this, they built a replacement bridge next to the existing bridge.
Once it was complete, they tore down the old one, and SLID the new one into place. Just shimmied it right in there. It fit like a glove. This is one of the reasons why I chose to become an Engineer. Because shit like this. This is almost as marvelous to me as the NASA engineers landing the last Rover on Mars. I love being blown away seeing what humans can accomplish when we focus on the betterment of society instead of bickering about meaningless problems.
Check the time-lapse: http://youtu.be/vX-XjeXocNE
The stress test begins tomorrow. I'll drive over the new bridge; I have faith it'll stand up.
Also, the machines look like they're quite hungry in fast-motion.
[IMAGE HEAVY]
I Was DoP on a completely bonkers shoot last week. It's one of the most ambitious indie films I've ever worked on! Amazing fun. We had a freakin' stunt horse!
This is one of those amazing things that'll stick with me forever. Total commitment to the setting from the cast made it such a surreal experience. So much fun.
I Was DoP on a completely bonkers shoot last week. It's one of the most ambitious indie films I've ever worked on! Amazing fun. We had a freakin' stunt horse!
Got me a Bass Raider 8 with a 50lb thrust trolling motor.
Time to hit the water.
Time to hit the water.
Tough Mudder 2014 : Completed.
What's tough mudder?
A half marathon pretty much completely covered in mud, littered with obstacles designed to push you to your limits. Electric shocks, tight plastic tunnels, massive drops, ice baths... not fun stuff.
Our obstacles differed a bit from last year but the jist is the same
Youtube Video
It's tough and definitely thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but somehow managed to pull through. Last 3 miles were horrific, cramp started to make itself known and my legs were killing me.
From left to right, Me, Ben, Matty Brown, Ramsay & Johnny
Definitely getting done again next year!
What's tough mudder?
A half marathon pretty much completely covered in mud, littered with obstacles designed to push you to your limits. Electric shocks, tight plastic tunnels, massive drops, ice baths... not fun stuff.
Our obstacles differed a bit from last year but the jist is the same
Youtube Video
It's tough and definitely thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but somehow managed to pull through. Last 3 miles were horrific, cramp started to make itself known and my legs were killing me.
Definitely getting done again next year!
Update to my datacenter, so with space running out in the first basement with the help of my father i moved all of the machines to the other room further in the basement.
Here are some pics:
Finally redid all my networking, its now all vlan based and ready for a second ISP when i get the funds for it. First time punching down a patch panel, this one has strange wiring schemes so had to use ports 1 and 3 since i couldn't figure out how the 2nd is wired (just didn't work, weird).
The red box is a Mikrotik RouterBOARD, it has all the features of highend Cisco gear except way way cheaper, run a bunch of them at work too. In short such reliable, much recommend. Also grew fond of D-Link switches got a similar one with less ports in the apartment upstairs, this one is quite cheap, but still packs quite a lot of features, at some point i also want to try running fiber optic so with the 4 sfp ports and 1 sfp in the router i have some options.
Yeah, i know what ur thinking - nasty. Well it works, but i really want to get an APC unit to replace this crap which keeps overcharging the battery and killing it.
Scored the rack and patch panel from an uncle who once ran an ISP.
So much space now 
And now some eyecandy for those who love some older server gear
Always dreamed of getting a dual/quad socket motherboard and there you go.
Custom case and cooling too
Got 4 dual core Opteron cpu's and 32gigs of ECC ram. I can get quad or even six core cpu's if i wish later.
The whole thing is destined for another purpose and will probably not be in the basement datacenter any time soon, though some other new machines will
Here are some pics:
And now some eyecandy for those who love some older server gear
Custom case and cooling too
I made a slot machine game!
LOiNK
I have this odd habit of finding something interesting and then delving into the deep end onto what it is. I was speaking to my girlfriend about this, almost thinking it was some sort of sign of autism, it's made me OK in some lua coding, haskell, photoshop, and a bunch of other things. I find it strange that I let myself be "slightly OK" with a lot of things rather than amazing at one thing.
So yeah, my latest fad?
grandMA.
I don't even know why, I find lighting interesting and thinking of joining the Edinburgh University Bedlam theatre tech group - was going to last year, but irresponsible drinking took that over.
Although the physical desks cost almost half a grand to hire out for less than a week, I thought it would be quite smart to learn it as the FREE program comes with a 3D visualiser for everything you do in it, so you could theoretically programme a whole show and then plug in a real desk and do the real thing.
It's bloody complicated, and i'm still trying to learn how to properly use timecode, cues and executors but meh.
So far I've made a couple shitty little things
( These are GIFS )
So yeah, my latest fad?
grandMA.
I don't even know why, I find lighting interesting and thinking of joining the Edinburgh University Bedlam theatre tech group - was going to last year, but irresponsible drinking took that over.
Although the physical desks cost almost half a grand to hire out for less than a week, I thought it would be quite smart to learn it as the FREE program comes with a 3D visualiser for everything you do in it, so you could theoretically programme a whole show and then plug in a real desk and do the real thing.
It's bloody complicated, and i'm still trying to learn how to properly use timecode, cues and executors but meh.
So far I've made a couple shitty little things
( These are GIFS )
So after having Serious Sam 3: BFE for ages, I've finally gotten around to actually playing it (and finishing it). I've played through The First and Second Encounters several times, and I still love 'em. Haven't touched SS2 any more than the demo.
This one though... I can't put my finger on how I feel about it.
Yes, it does have the more "modern" quirks, I.E. aiming, reloading, sprinting, and I thought that that might harm the game. But really, they impact it so very little. Sprinting, eh, who cares. Aiming is only with a few weapons and even then it's not like they're particularly inaccurate without doing so. Reloading is a little annoying, but again, it's only with a few weapons, and all in all doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
More than anything I was worried that it wouldn't recapture the feel of the previous games. I mean, the first two set the bar pretty damn high, so I wasn't expecting "better than", I just didn't want "way worse". But the more I play it (started on a second run through, on Serious of course =P), the more I realize that beneath the more modern perspective, it really hasn't changed much at all.
Weapons do pretty much the exact same amount of damage to enemies as in the past (5 rockets for Major Bio-Mechanoids, 4 for Adult Arachnoids, 2 bullets for rocketeers, etc). The pistol is no far reach from the .45s, perhaps slightly more useful. The shotguns are exactly the same, bar the 10-clip of the single now. The Assault Rifle is the Tommygun. It fires roughly the exact same speed, does the exact same damage, is just as useful. Minigun, Rocket Launcher, Lasergun, Sniper Rifle and Cannon are no different either. I miss the Knife, but the sledgehammer is just as practical. The Devastator seems to have replaced the Grenade Launcher, and frankly I didn't really get what it was there for (a faster-velocity rocket launcher, basically), but in use it seems different enough to justify it. The C4 is new, and I quite like it. Fills a nice niche left by the other weapons.
As for the enemies, not a whole lot changed there either. Beheadeds are the same. The Clone Soldiers are effectively just the Zorg from Scecond Encounter with different guns (distanced them from the Rocketeers, which I'm very okay with). Gnaars look quite different, but are functionally the same. Bio-Mechs, Arachnoids, Kleers, Werebulls, Witch-Harpies... They're all there. The Highlander's replacement (whatever they're called... Knumm or something?) are more of a bother than the Highlanders were. I don't like the Technopolips, but they fill a good role. The Scrapjacks are just a beefed up version of Zumb'uls. Wasn't fond of them to start with, but that's just me.
The final boss was a bother, since it took me (and my co-op partner (brother)) quite a while to figure out what we were supposed to be doing, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Sniper Rifle and Lasergun. They (and their ammo) are only ever found in secrets, meaning that compared to the other weapons, you really have to moderate your usage of them. Especially considering that they're not all that particularly more useful than the other weapons (sniper rifle especially, does the same damage as the rocket launcher), they seem needlessly limited.
If nothing else is worth saying about BFE, you must really appreciate how smoothly they blended modern shooter-ness into a classic-style game. With the aforementioned quirks (and shreds of PLOT), players who aren't used to the Serious Sam-style stuff are eased into the experience more (by the last few levels, you're pretty much playing Second encounter). The plot felt like it was just being shrugged off a bit by the end, which was a bit jarring.
So yeah.
tl;dr: Played Serious Sam BFE. Feelings status: Mixed
This one though... I can't put my finger on how I feel about it.
Yes, it does have the more "modern" quirks, I.E. aiming, reloading, sprinting, and I thought that that might harm the game. But really, they impact it so very little. Sprinting, eh, who cares. Aiming is only with a few weapons and even then it's not like they're particularly inaccurate without doing so. Reloading is a little annoying, but again, it's only with a few weapons, and all in all doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
More than anything I was worried that it wouldn't recapture the feel of the previous games. I mean, the first two set the bar pretty damn high, so I wasn't expecting "better than", I just didn't want "way worse". But the more I play it (started on a second run through, on Serious of course =P), the more I realize that beneath the more modern perspective, it really hasn't changed much at all.
Weapons do pretty much the exact same amount of damage to enemies as in the past (5 rockets for Major Bio-Mechanoids, 4 for Adult Arachnoids, 2 bullets for rocketeers, etc). The pistol is no far reach from the .45s, perhaps slightly more useful. The shotguns are exactly the same, bar the 10-clip of the single now. The Assault Rifle is the Tommygun. It fires roughly the exact same speed, does the exact same damage, is just as useful. Minigun, Rocket Launcher, Lasergun, Sniper Rifle and Cannon are no different either. I miss the Knife, but the sledgehammer is just as practical. The Devastator seems to have replaced the Grenade Launcher, and frankly I didn't really get what it was there for (a faster-velocity rocket launcher, basically), but in use it seems different enough to justify it. The C4 is new, and I quite like it. Fills a nice niche left by the other weapons.
As for the enemies, not a whole lot changed there either. Beheadeds are the same. The Clone Soldiers are effectively just the Zorg from Scecond Encounter with different guns (distanced them from the Rocketeers, which I'm very okay with). Gnaars look quite different, but are functionally the same. Bio-Mechs, Arachnoids, Kleers, Werebulls, Witch-Harpies... They're all there. The Highlander's replacement (whatever they're called... Knumm or something?) are more of a bother than the Highlanders were. I don't like the Technopolips, but they fill a good role. The Scrapjacks are just a beefed up version of Zumb'uls. Wasn't fond of them to start with, but that's just me.
The final boss was a bother, since it took me (and my co-op partner (brother)) quite a while to figure out what we were supposed to be doing, but that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Sniper Rifle and Lasergun. They (and their ammo) are only ever found in secrets, meaning that compared to the other weapons, you really have to moderate your usage of them. Especially considering that they're not all that particularly more useful than the other weapons (sniper rifle especially, does the same damage as the rocket launcher), they seem needlessly limited.
If nothing else is worth saying about BFE, you must really appreciate how smoothly they blended modern shooter-ness into a classic-style game. With the aforementioned quirks (and shreds of PLOT), players who aren't used to the Serious Sam-style stuff are eased into the experience more (by the last few levels, you're pretty much playing Second encounter). The plot felt like it was just being shrugged off a bit by the end, which was a bit jarring.
So yeah.
tl;dr: Played Serious Sam BFE. Feelings status: Mixed
Hey All.
I'm not entering anything into any community competition for a little while.
I recently came across a project that I'm devoting 90% of my spare time to, and let's just say the Unreal 4 tools are everything I've ever wanted as a developer.
Not leaving, mind you, and I might drop a map here and there... But if this project takes off, I'll keep you all informed.
I'm not entering anything into any community competition for a little while.
I recently came across a project that I'm devoting 90% of my spare time to, and let's just say the Unreal 4 tools are everything I've ever wanted as a developer.
Not leaving, mind you, and I might drop a map here and there... But if this project takes off, I'll keep you all informed.
Game Idea
What with open world survival now being the trend, I came up with an idea this evening while watching a documentary. How about an open world, first person survival game, where you play as a cat.
You have to hunt small creatures such as birds, mice, rats etc for food, while avoiding other larger creatures such as dogs. Hell you could make it a post apocalyptic setting if that's your bag, or maybe set it in the chernobyl exclusion zone meaning you could enter buildings and such to find food as well, while having to avoid heavily irradiated areas.
Take it online and you have the potential of teaming up with or facing off against other cats in order to defend your territory / to have the ability to hunt in the area undisturbed.
What with open world survival now being the trend, I came up with an idea this evening while watching a documentary. How about an open world, first person survival game, where you play as a cat.
You have to hunt small creatures such as birds, mice, rats etc for food, while avoiding other larger creatures such as dogs. Hell you could make it a post apocalyptic setting if that's your bag, or maybe set it in the chernobyl exclusion zone meaning you could enter buildings and such to find food as well, while having to avoid heavily irradiated areas.
Take it online and you have the potential of teaming up with or facing off against other cats in order to defend your territory / to have the ability to hunt in the area undisturbed.