Journals
/startlogg 9-2-13
It is now Day 3 of my musical journey of trying to create an album based on Half-Life. My first song that got completed on day 1 crashed my computer. However, on Day 2, i was able to fix it briefly to make some changes and little tweaks and export it. However, after the rendering process was complete... my project file crashed again. Luckily, I am content with the song so i shall not fix what isn't broken. Halfway through Day 2 i start looking through my audio files for inspiration for my second song; no luck. Day 3 is now coming to a close and i still have nothing to show for progress... I asked a good friend of mine on Day 2 for some insight and a little inspiration, and came up with a pretty good idea: a conversation between a scientist and a soldier... heh i thought i should introduce barney in replacement of the soldier because, well... im lazy. The soldiers audio files are 1 word. that means a mass of audio leveling and a crapload of piecing together. It's making my brain hurt. So now i'm trying to figure out a decent script that actually makes sense using Barney and the scientists' audio files... problem is though... since when does Half-Life make sense anyways? xD
/endlogg 9-2-13
It is now Day 3 of my musical journey of trying to create an album based on Half-Life. My first song that got completed on day 1 crashed my computer. However, on Day 2, i was able to fix it briefly to make some changes and little tweaks and export it. However, after the rendering process was complete... my project file crashed again. Luckily, I am content with the song so i shall not fix what isn't broken. Halfway through Day 2 i start looking through my audio files for inspiration for my second song; no luck. Day 3 is now coming to a close and i still have nothing to show for progress... I asked a good friend of mine on Day 2 for some insight and a little inspiration, and came up with a pretty good idea: a conversation between a scientist and a soldier... heh i thought i should introduce barney in replacement of the soldier because, well... im lazy. The soldiers audio files are 1 word. that means a mass of audio leveling and a crapload of piecing together. It's making my brain hurt. So now i'm trying to figure out a decent script that actually makes sense using Barney and the scientists' audio files... problem is though... since when does Half-Life make sense anyways? xD
/endlogg 9-2-13
Writing books is hard.
Work is hard.
School is hard.
Mapping under time constraints while everything else hard is going on is hard.
That's why my drinks are hard.
And the internet is easy.
I like the internet.
And all of you.
And mapping.
Work is hard.
School is hard.
Mapping under time constraints while everything else hard is going on is hard.
That's why my drinks are hard.
And the internet is easy.
I like the internet.
And all of you.
And mapping.
I wrote about Sledge development in my blog, detailing the process I go through when implementing a new feature (decal rendering in this case). If you're interested in Sledge or programming it might interest you.
The post is here: Decal Rendering In Sledge
(For those who don't know, Sledge is a project I have worked on for a long time, it's intended to be a replacement for Goldsource Hammer and hopefully, eventually, Source Hammer as well. It's completely open source which means the code is available to all to use, modify, and add new features. It's not finished yet, however I hope to release a beta sometime this year.)
If you do take a look, please let me know any feedback you might have. Is this kind of thing interesting? Would you read something like it again? Am I just a nerd who likes really boring stuff? Let me know in the comments! (either on the blog page or here on TWHL)
The post is here: Decal Rendering In Sledge
(For those who don't know, Sledge is a project I have worked on for a long time, it's intended to be a replacement for Goldsource Hammer and hopefully, eventually, Source Hammer as well. It's completely open source which means the code is available to all to use, modify, and add new features. It's not finished yet, however I hope to release a beta sometime this year.)
If you do take a look, please let me know any feedback you might have. Is this kind of thing interesting? Would you read something like it again? Am I just a nerd who likes really boring stuff? Let me know in the comments! (either on the blog page or here on TWHL)
Seems like Dacia is getting on the right track with its budget models. I'm not particularly proud, but some of the newer models are beginning too have a better look. Well... except Logan 2, which has a nice front but one of the ugliest backs I've ever seen. That's what happened with the first Logan and it got a facelift.
Here's a video with the newer Sandero(UK review!): linky.
Here's a video with the newer Sandero(UK review!): linky.
Well I wish we could have done it, but life has been rather hectic lately. We got a considerable amount of progress done, but alas, it wasn't enough. So Overturn didn't make a Christmas release, or a New Years release. Though it's been a month, where is it now?
Rafael, Overturn creator, has been on family vacations, and should be home within the week. He's tried contributing what he has been able to in the past couple of weeks, but it has been proving to be extremely difficult.
Joe, myself, along with our current coder, have also been working at a slow pace. For right now everything is very slow. However, we are about to kick it into gear and we will have this demo out, for it has been haunting us for almost two years now! I can't give a definitive date, but it will be very soon, I can tell you that much.
Comments! Something that has been very lacking on this site, finally has arrived with Disqus, a service which provides a comment system for sites such as mine. You don't have to have a Disqus account to comment on here, and I don't filter out any comments (unless it's advertisements/spam or something highly illegal). Free free to post your thoughts properly now!
Note: Comments for blog posts will be viewed on all blog posts, so be sure to state which blog post you are referring to in your comment. Also, for the time being, ignore "Comments are not allowed", for that is referring to my blogging system and not Disqus. This will be fixed soon enough.
Last but not least, Vektar is a modification for Quake developed by my good friend Marco (same guy who did Qreate), and quite a fun mod too. It basically involves players finding a randomly placed statue and destroying it to collect a "Vektar". The one who collects the most wins! Be sure to check the page I created for it to download the mod.
Along with this release, Missing Signal: Part II was released, the second part of my compilation album containing various unreleased songs I've composed over the years. Part III, the last release of this set, is coming soon.
That's it for this blog post. Be sure to check out Bloodbath Softworks and Dethklan Games!
Also on: My Site and ModDB
The past few days have been quite fun, found out that one of my closest friend's life is going to be completely fucked up.
Her step-dad abused her when she was younger, but she didn't tell anyone apart from a few days ago when She told her doctor - she went to them to see if they could do something about her self-harming scars. Because she has a younger sister that she's worried about, the doctor went and told the police.
Today, her step-dad's been taken away and her mum was told about the matter. Her mum will have to quit university, and probably move to somewhere that's cheaper to live as her step-dad was the only source of income.
If only I could've punched him in the face when I stayed over at her house.
Her step-dad abused her when she was younger, but she didn't tell anyone apart from a few days ago when She told her doctor - she went to them to see if they could do something about her self-harming scars. Because she has a younger sister that she's worried about, the doctor went and told the police.
Today, her step-dad's been taken away and her mum was told about the matter. Her mum will have to quit university, and probably move to somewhere that's cheaper to live as her step-dad was the only source of income.
If only I could've punched him in the face when I stayed over at her house.
This is just plain amusing. It seems that until now there were some kind of restrictions in UK concerning immigrants, and now their government is planning on cutting these restrictions. Now they fear of a massive invasion of immigrants from eastern countries, especially Romania and Bulgaria.
How do they plan from keeping these immigrants to come to their country?
I cite:
"Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid" -The Guardian
You have to notice that they specifically target these two countries. I think the press or public spokesmen have never mentioned the true reason for this. What country would try to keep out civilized, educated people that hope to get a better life? It's all about gypsies. I'm not a racist, I have personally met gypsies that are educated people who deserve their respect. But it's an unfortunate exception from the rule. Nobody wants to deal with the rest of these people. A lot of them lead a miserable life based on begging, and it's so hard-wired in their culture that they just won't care. The "higher class" part, who are dubiously rich, promote a chav(or how do you say it) culture.
The sad part is that they actually had tradition and folklore, but it was lost as the years past and their old people died.
These are facts I know just by observing, why do publications keep omitting such informations?
How do they plan from keeping these immigrants to come to their country?
I cite:
"Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid" -The Guardian
You have to notice that they specifically target these two countries. I think the press or public spokesmen have never mentioned the true reason for this. What country would try to keep out civilized, educated people that hope to get a better life? It's all about gypsies. I'm not a racist, I have personally met gypsies that are educated people who deserve their respect. But it's an unfortunate exception from the rule. Nobody wants to deal with the rest of these people. A lot of them lead a miserable life based on begging, and it's so hard-wired in their culture that they just won't care. The "higher class" part, who are dubiously rich, promote a chav(or how do you say it) culture.
The sad part is that they actually had tradition and folklore, but it was lost as the years past and their old people died.
These are facts I know just by observing, why do publications keep omitting such informations?
Just destroyed the partition that had all my stuff on.
The only good thing that i had some photos backed up to an external drive.
All my maps, everything gone.
Digital media huh ?
The only good thing that i had some photos backed up to an external drive.
All my maps, everything gone.
Digital media huh ?
Hello everyone, I have been busy trying to learn Maya lately. I tried to animate a humonoid but.. I failed miserably. Since I failed, and I had to submit the project in a few days later. I decided to use Motion Capture instead.
Check it out from here. And tell me what you think..
In other news, I'm also trying to learn about the updated Source Engine. And I believe, I made good progress with it. Made my own textures, models and etc. While learning, I'm also turning everything into an experimental adventure game (or a mod), only using the Source SDK Base 2007.
A few screenshots for those who are interested;
Screeny-1
Screeny-2
Screeny-3
Note: They are just prototype shots, to see and test if I am able to make the rest of the game. So in short, they are all WIP.
Check it out from here. And tell me what you think..
In other news, I'm also trying to learn about the updated Source Engine. And I believe, I made good progress with it. Made my own textures, models and etc. While learning, I'm also turning everything into an experimental adventure game (or a mod), only using the Source SDK Base 2007.
A few screenshots for those who are interested;
Screeny-1
Screeny-2
Screeny-3
Note: They are just prototype shots, to see and test if I am able to make the rest of the game. So in short, they are all WIP.
Last night I watched the last episode of "Babylon 5". ;(
The only movie/TV series that made me REALLY cry. Because President John Sheridan died and the Babylon 5 station was demolished, 20 years after the Shadow war.
The only movie/TV series that made me REALLY cry. Because President John Sheridan died and the Babylon 5 station was demolished, 20 years after the Shadow war.
Processed in a speedy 73 milliseconds.
Hello fair and just TWHL! It's been a long time, how are you? I'm fine-ish! I posted it in the chat a day ago but I'm going to journal this accomplishment so anyone who cares can see it FOREVER*. I made a game in Action Script 3. I call it EatManyHats, no spaces.
You play as a Fez, who eats other hats.
It took me about days to get it to where it is, and I'm very proud of what I've down. It started from me just wanting to learn how to code, something, ANYTHING! And while I decided to take a programming class in school next year, it wasn't good enough, I wanted to learn now! And I did! So that's the long boring back story of how it came to be.
Here is the game, I'd like to add it is not complete, I'm adding to it almost constantly in my little free time.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/28045253/EatManyHats.swf
T..Touch the Stetson. I dare you.**
Don't feel like playing it? Or giving me feedback I can use? I made a video of it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4ntWzcWj8
Quick update for 2.1
http://youtu.be/MwT9ZJX9FzU
2.4 - Points
http://youtu.be/ZWTMnOrYeHw
*Until TWHL is shut down or older journals begin to get deleted.
**This eats the Fez.
Here is the game, I'd like to add it is not complete, I'm adding to it almost constantly in my little free time.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/28045253/EatManyHats.swf
T..Touch the Stetson. I dare you.**
Don't feel like playing it? Or giving me feedback I can use? I made a video of it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4ntWzcWj8
Quick update for 2.1
http://youtu.be/MwT9ZJX9FzU
2.4 - Points
http://youtu.be/ZWTMnOrYeHw
*Until TWHL is shut down or older journals begin to get deleted.
**This eats the Fez.
I saw a satellite in the sky just now. I was in the car and saw that the sky was extremely clear (not a visible cloud in the sky, which is unusual), and the moon and stars bright. One of those nights where you can see quite well by the moonlight, which normally only happens on a full moon, so I'd stood out to look at the stars. Anyway, one of them was moving, faster than a low flying jet would seem to go, but there was no sound, and no flashing lights, so it must have been a satellite.
In other news, I built a simple version of a Valveless Pulse Jet Engine, which is basically just a jar with a hole drilled in the lid. At the moment it's kind of dangerous to use, as they apparently explode on occasion, and to use it I have to fill it with fuel and hold a lighter to the hole in the top. I am working on an electric ignition system though, so I should put a picture or a video up when I do. And perhaps I might even build a fuel feed some day and turn it into something other than a useless novelty.
In other news, I built a simple version of a Valveless Pulse Jet Engine, which is basically just a jar with a hole drilled in the lid. At the moment it's kind of dangerous to use, as they apparently explode on occasion, and to use it I have to fill it with fuel and hold a lighter to the hole in the top. I am working on an electric ignition system though, so I should put a picture or a video up when I do. And perhaps I might even build a fuel feed some day and turn it into something other than a useless novelty.
So today I made my first major performance in front of a large group of people.
As a final summative project in Drama, we had to create and perform a one-act play clocking in at around 50 minutes. So we got the entire class on board for one massive production. Today we performed it in front of a large portion of the school as part of the arts festival. We got good laughs, (it was a dark comedy) and surprisingly, I got good laughs. People were coming up to me for the rest of the day and telling me I had a good performance, that I was great, that I was the best person up there (that last one, IMO, is BS, but I appreciate the gesture)
So yeah. Timid old me was up on stage playing an old retired mob boss and talking about how to get laid. One of my friends described me as being the most confident she's ever seen me, and I just got this message from our director:
"Jeff, I cannot express how impressed I am by your performance today. To be honest, I was a little nervous about how you would do. Nothing personal, but you've never performed something of this magnitude before, but I'm glad to say that I was proven wrong. I'm so proud of how you made Old Man Jannety into your own character. You were truly a highlight of the play, and I'm proud to call you a colleague and a friend. 10/10 would perform again."
You could say I feel proud of myself right about now.
As a final summative project in Drama, we had to create and perform a one-act play clocking in at around 50 minutes. So we got the entire class on board for one massive production. Today we performed it in front of a large portion of the school as part of the arts festival. We got good laughs, (it was a dark comedy) and surprisingly, I got good laughs. People were coming up to me for the rest of the day and telling me I had a good performance, that I was great, that I was the best person up there (that last one, IMO, is BS, but I appreciate the gesture)
So yeah. Timid old me was up on stage playing an old retired mob boss and talking about how to get laid. One of my friends described me as being the most confident she's ever seen me, and I just got this message from our director:
"Jeff, I cannot express how impressed I am by your performance today. To be honest, I was a little nervous about how you would do. Nothing personal, but you've never performed something of this magnitude before, but I'm glad to say that I was proven wrong. I'm so proud of how you made Old Man Jannety into your own character. You were truly a highlight of the play, and I'm proud to call you a colleague and a friend. 10/10 would perform again."
You could say I feel proud of myself right about now.
I wrote a game guide for my own Portal 2 puzzle.