About a week ago, I had to tear down my office and put my computer in the corner of my bedroom while we had some work done on our house.
It wasn't a bad week using my iPad Pro as my sole connection to work/games, but I'm happy to finally have the desktop set up again. That was a long week!
Yesterday, Twitter was bought out by a private investor - or at least, it's in the process of being bought out right now - and I'm outta there so fast I'm leaving a Marty-shaped hole in the wall.
I've never really liked Twitter, honestly. It's not a bad platform, from a feature perspective, but I have never liked the short-form text format for expressing thoughts.
I can't have been the only one because over the years, Twitter expanded its Tweet size from the original 140 characters (designed for texting in a pre-smartphone era) to 280. Eventually, they added the ability to link together/post multiple Tweets at once, so you could more easily write something much longer. But the platform still encouraged you to distill your thoughts down to something bite-sized, and I just don't think that's good for having real, interesting interactions with people. I never have.
Ads became a more prevalent part of the experience over time as well, with every Nth Tweet a promotional message. Then a bunch of grifting losers flooded the platform trying to hawk bad products, bad people, etc. The scourge of NFT clowns and lying, political hacks twisted Twitter from a sometimes interesting and intimate experience to something rotten and awful.
I had a few fun moments connecting with people I already knew in person and from other platforms, and I saw (and shared!) lots of cool art there. But engagement with people I care about really fell off a cliff over the last few years, and watching the company be acquired by someone who doesn't seem to have any interest in the things that made old Twitter fun and useful is enough for me.
If you're a frequent visitor of my website (and why would you be, honestly?) you might have noticed that the site's look has changed a bit over the last few days.
Well, as you might've guessed, I've updated the website's theme again, and will be continuing to make improvements and adjustments over the coming days / weeks. This is an effort to both make the website more clear, as well as take it away from the stark look it had since the last revision. A spring cleaning, with a little bit of fashion, if you will.
If you happen upon something that looks weird drop me a note and I'll check it out. Thanks, and I hope everyone enjoys the new look!
It's funny how your brain's memory works. Things that you haven't thought of in decades can suddenly come back and fill you with feelings that were, at one time, something more familiar.
I experienced this the other day while going for a walk. My girlfriend and I were walking past a school where little league baseball games are almost constantly being played. I never really pay much attention to it, but for some reason the sounds of the games really grabbed me for a moment.
Ping! An aluminum bat made contact with a baseball. The small crowd of friends and family went from talking to enthusiastic yelling. A few yelps from people with loader voices, chirps of encouragement, and then all became quiet again as the play came to a close.
I didn't see what had actually happened during that moment of excitement and I couldn't make out the names people were directing their cheers at, or even what they were actually saying for encouragement. But the general feeling, the pitch and tone of it all, really brought me back to my youth when, for a few years, it was somewhat normal for me to have to go to baseball practice and wake up early to go to games on the weekends.
I've never been much of an athlete, so I didn't always like having to do those things, but I still remember it being fun, in a simple sort of way. I suspect that might just be the rose-colored glasses of lots and lots of time having passed that has made me forget the things I didn't much like, but maybe it's better that I remember it just for the good parts.
Anyway, it's funny how easy it is to go back to those thoughts, even after just about 20 years of never once having thought about it. Transported through back in time by the sound of an aluminum bat!
Recently, a few of my friends have made comments to me about how I "hate Apple". I just wanted to take a moment here and clear the air on the subject.
I do not, in fact, hate Apple.
Am I critical of some of the stupid things they do? Sure. But I am that way for many things, including things that I really enjoy using / being a part of.
I do, however, hate Apple's throng of fanboys; that loud, angry minority of Apple users who will argue how great their new iDevice is while they're lugging it through the mall to their local Apple Store to get it repaired. But instead of going on and on about why I hate Apple zealots, here's a good real-world example (the first comment on this article from 9to5mac.com):
I'll stay with my two-year-old opinion. iOS and Mac OS X will never merge, but they will continue to complement in feature set (Mac to iPhone to iPad to Mac, and so on) and connectivity (iCloud, etc.). One day, iOS and Mac OS X will get canceled after Apple creates a new OS that reinvents computing. When they find a way that's got the precision and speed of the mouse and keyboard and the ease-of-use and mobility of the touch screen, they'll implement that input method into the new OS. I give it 5 years (up to 10) - otherwise, another company (I'm not betting for Microsoft - they never did anything extremely innovative, IMO) may become the new Apple.
I've bolded the worst part. The whole comment is bad, but the ignorance, arrogance, and stupidity that went into drafting that single bolded sentence is mind-blowing to me. It's like reading the words of a religious zealot. Totally ridiculous.
So long story short, I don't hate Apple; I hate its pretentious, die-hard fans. And just to keep things fun, here's a short list of other fanboys I can't stand, in no particular order:
Anyway, that felt good to get off my chest. Feel free to leave me a love letter in the comments about it.
So the other day I was playing Team Fortress 2, and someone accused me of being a "free-to-play noob". I was chided as being one of the newbie players who only recently got into the game because it became free-to-play, despite my owning and playing the game since 2007.
But let me back up a little bit. I was playing Team Fortress 2 the other day, and having a less than stellar round. Some people on my team, who had been playing on the server before I got there, were using their microphones to play the game. These players were being too vocal, to the point that I couldn't concentrate on the game because of all the "mic spam". Being annoyed at my repeated effort and lack of results, coupled with the inane chirps and squeals of the mic spam, I did what any right-minded online gamer would do: I told them to "shut the fuck up".
Bear in mind, I merely typed this phrase into the game's chat; most of the time, these messages are either not read by those they are directed at, since that person is too busy playing the game, or it is swept off the screen quickly by in-game announcements. My message was immediately recognized by the person who I considered to be the primary offender, however.
What was seconds before only friendly banter and playful chatting suddenly became a shrill torrent of insults, disagreeing with my command and demanding that I "shut the fuck up" myself. The tone of voice degenerated into what I could only describe as "ghetto". It's funny how quickly someone's world can come crashing down at the slightest bit of confrontation.
So we argued a bit more, me click-clacking away at my keyboard, and the annoying mic spammer answering my few messages with an elevating level of shrieking. Another player said I should get banned.
Then, the original mic spammer decided that the best way she could deal with me was to call me out as a "free-to-play nub".
A little bit of history, before I continue: back in 2007, Team Fortress 2 used to come as a standalone inclusion in the Orange Box, with Half-Life 2. After that, it became possible to buy the game separately. Finally, as of June of 2011, the game became "free-to-play", meaning anyone could download the game and play with everyone else. Since then, the newest, greatest community-spawned insult is to call someone a "free-to-play noob", meaning they stink at the game because they've only recently begun playing, since the game was made free.
Obviously, I do not fall into this category, and I stated that plainly. Ms. Mic Spam backed off rather quickly after this, and was quite quiet after. And rightfully so, since most of my characters in Team Fortress 2 are outfitted with either The Proof of Purchase hat, my Primeval Warrior pin, or both. These items show that I bought the game back when it was still for sale, and that I have been playing since September 18, 2007, respectively. They are not tradable, and anyone who has them is very obviously not a Team Fortress 2 free-to-play inductee.
So what's the lesson here, other than that I like to have petty arguments with stupid people while I am playing games?
Simply this: if you're going to be an asshole and toss around the "free-to-play noob" insult liberally every time you disagree with someone in Team Fortress 2, make sure you know what the hell you're talking about first. It's not hard to check out people's loadouts first. Unless of course, you're some kind of noob.
Also, if you want to chat with people constantly, start up a private Steam voice chat conversation, or use Xbox Live, Skype, Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, or some other chat client. You can even play games while you're doing it. Just leave everyone else out of the conversation, because I assure you, we're not interested.
Just a small update here. Wanted to let everyone who might not have known that I'm not dead, and haven't entirely forgotten about this blog yet, hehe.
It's been a while since I've updated the blog software though, so I'm going to do that, and will probably revert back to a default theme for the time being to make sure there aren't any odd incompatibilities between what's up now and the newer version of WordPress. I was a bit sick of the old look anyway.
Thanks for bearing with me here, if you've been checking in. Will be back later on with a more detailed report on what the hell I've been up to!
Continuing my string of posts about things that I wanted to talk about during my hiatus, following is a list of stuff that happened in the world of video games that I found interesting or noteworthy. And addictive. Horribly, horribly addictive.
A couple of months ago I was browsing Reddit, and I happened upon a submission about a game in its Alpha phase that people were absolutely salivating over. I posted a comment about how I'd never buy a game in Alpha, because it's bound to be bug-ridden or possibly never even finished. I was ridiculed, but held fast to my opinion.
A few days later I was lurking around Reddit again and looking through my message log. I found my anti-Alpha post, and since I was bored, decided I'd check out the game's website and possibly give it a try, if a demo was available.
That game, of course, was Minecraft.
And nothing, not even a lengthy stint with World of Warcraft, could have possibly prepared me for the vise that slowly wrapped itself around me as I loaded up the free, browser-based client and started playing around with it.
I moved around the game world. I liked the blockiness of it. Then I clicked and accidentally removed a block. Amazed, I did this several more times, and then figured out how to make blocks. Looking at the vast landscape generated before me, I quickly realized that this was a game with almost limitless possibilities.
I spent the next hour or so building a massive tower with a door in the back that led to an underground tunnel. Building was easy with infinite blocks and no enemies around.
Curious to learn more about this game, I checked out the feature set for the single player for-pay Alpha client. The prospect of building massive structures with limited or mined resources sounded daunting, but I wanted more, so I quickly made the payment, took a quick moment to note my hypocritical nature, and then plunged into a gaming obsession that lasted for weeks.
By day, I dreamed up new and unusual ideas for structures to build, and by night, I built them. I went from putting in a good deal of Team Fortress 2 almost every night to putting in a ton of Minecraft, exclusively. I created a modest safe house, a massive network of mines, a two way mine cart system that went deep underground and underwater, a huge lighthouse, a giant stone skull carved into a mountain, and the beginnings of a second home, an underground lair with trees and deep shafts carved into the hillside above for light. I even crafted a replica of Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin. Yes, I played a ton of Minecraft.
But then I just grew tired of it. I still had my massive plans for construction, and still had plenty of inspiration from the official Minecraft forums and Minecraft's home on Reddit. But I'd log in and I just didn't want to spend hours and hours mining all that stone, moving mountains, and chopping wood. To put it in short, I ran it into the ground.
I'm still looking forward to the October update, since it includes so much cool new stuff... but I'm otherwise pretty much over it. I've got too many other games that I haven't put much time in with yet, and I need to get them out of the way to make room for the holidays.
A lot of other Game Maker-related events have happened since I last blogged, as well.
Another big development over the last few months is that I am now an admin at the Game Maker Community forum.
Following the sudden retirement of longtime community leader KC LC, the GMC needed admins. Chronic, who was pretty much the sole active admin after KC LC's retirement, needed help. Xot and I talked with YoYo Games' Kirsty Scott about this, and within a few days we were given promotions. We've both previously served as global moderators, and earlier, simply moderators. And I'd also like to think that we both bring something fresh to the community's leadership.
I guess it all sounds a bit silly when you write it out. But I am happy to be a part of the community, and glad that YoYo Games trusts many of us enough to help guide the forum into the future.
Speaking of the future, a lot more information has come to light recently (and over the period of time where I didn't update the blog) on the continued development of Game Maker's runner.
At the beginning of the summer, we were shown a copy of Skydiver running on PSP, and much more recently, we've seen Madness Madness Madness running on an iPod and Skydiver on iPad. It's an impressive feat, and I look forward to seeing where it leads for Game Maker users.
The PSP runner wasn't as impressive to me, simply because I knew that even if they did work out all the kinks, it would never truly be easy to release GM-made games on the platform. There are simply too many hoops to jump through. For that reason alone, the iOS runner seems much more promising to me. I hope that I might get a chance to help push out some games for it early on, depending on how YoYo Games plans on publishing user-created content.
I still hate saying "iOS" out loud though. Eye-oh-ess. Does not roll off the tongue.
Oh, and I've also been really happy with all the information Mike Dailly (YYG) has been posting on his blog about the development of upcoming Game Maker releases. It's been a good read, and I like that someone so experienced is heading up that project.
A much smaller blip on the radar was the Discovery Competition entry me and some buddies (Matt "Lethalanvas" Griffin and David Perritte) were working on. It took off at tremendous pace, and then we all got a little too busy and we stopped working on it.
Originally, we wanted to keep it a secret, so there wouldn't be much hype about it if we didn't finish (good thing, right?), but now I figure we might as well show off what we've done.
Basically, it's a game about a ninja assassin type guy who's lost his memory and who wants to stop the world from collapsing around him. It features a robust platform engine, coupled a ton of slick animations by yours truly, which lets you run, slide, grapple ledges, swing from ceilings, and eventually a lot more. The gist of it was to create a story-driven platforming experience that gave players a lot of difference challenges at once, so they could work on levels in whatever order they liked, to an extent, depending on their skill level.
If we can all find the time, I wouldn't mind working on it again sometime next year, actually. We all put a lot of work into it, and although there isn't much to do in the game right now, there is a lot of stuff that we have done, including a written story, an awesome platforming engine, some killer graphics and animation, and some cool tunes. I don't want to see it go to waste.
I'll try to get a demo or something up eventually. Like I said, we don't have much of the actual gameplay hammered out yet, but it's fun to play around with.
I haven't been able to keep my blog up as often as I've wanted lately because I've been busy with lots of different things in both personal and professional capacities.
My girlfriend and I are looking at buying a house soon, and as you'd expect, it's a complicated process. We've been spending months combing through home listings online and going to view them in person at open houses or with our Realtor. We've been spending the rest of the time sorting through the details of lenders, the finances, taxes, and so on. My girlfriend has done much more than I have, and I still find it extremely exhausting.
It'll be great, at the end of all this, to go home to a house instead of an apartment, however, and that keeps me going through all the extra work.
I've also been busy with website jobs. I've been contracted to work on a site for a friend of my girlfriend's uncle's son, and it is in the second revision now. Unfortunately, my laptop hard drive broke (again!) and my working files are all lost, until I have time to plug the drive into my desktop computer to see if I can recover any of it. Normally this wouldn't be much of an issue for a website, because I've usually got an online copy floating around somewhere, but this site needed a Flash element built in, and I never upload FLA files, so I'm probably going to have to rebuild it. Not fun.
I'm also working on a revision to the look of my buddy Andrew's website, noLove Skateboarding. It's coming along really nicely, but because of the increased activity in the aforementioned house hunt, I haven't been able to put as much time into it lately as I would like. "Not enough time in the day" seems to be a recurring theme for me these days.
By the way, the new site isn't live yet, so if you visit the link above, brace yourself for our original janky design.
On the upside, one of the other projects I've been involved with for noLove (putting my tree painting onto a skateboard), has finally come to fruition - and I even have one of them in my possession now! All things considered, the final product looks pretty nice, and after taking an impromptu trip to one of the local skate shops, I think the art stands out a lot more than a lot of the generic crap out there.
You can buy a noLove tree deck from my buddy Andrew. Drop him a line on Facebook or Twitter.