Daily (Maybe)

Update

2012-10-11T20:22:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since I last updated this so it's about time I showed off some of the stuff that we have been working on in uni.

Although I have 3 modules to work on (as is the case every year), I feel like I put a lot more work into one of these modules than the others (again, as is the case every year). I'm still not entirely sure why I do this, it may be because I find one module more interesting than the others and want to work a lot more on it or it could be that there is just a lot more work to do in one module over the others. This trimester I think it's a mix of those two reasons. Introduction to Graphics Programming is a module that I find quite interesting, especially the coding side, and has a large amount of work to do and because of this I am much more likely to do work for it than the other two modules I have. So, here is some of the work I have done for that module:

At first, the work was fairly easy so it wasn't too much of a hassle having a lot of it to do. We started off just setting up OpenGL and basic windows for use throughout the module and then moved on to basic 2D shapes, culminating in the creation of a 2D Sierpinski Gasket.

A 2D Sierpinski Gasket

At first this was quite difficult but looking back on it now, just a few weeks later, it seems quite simple. The main problem I had was getting the divisions to work properly but luckily it didn't take too long to figure out. After this we moved on to simple 3D shapes, cubes, tetrahedrons and the like. The majority of this work was just making sure that vertices and indices were properly calculated as well as upgrading our background code to improve how we rendered the shapes. At the end of this section we were challenged to make a 3D version of the Sierpinski Gasket using tetrahedrons.

A simple 3D cube

3D version of the Sierpinski Gasket

A 3D scene using a plane and six cylinders

The 3D Sierpinski Gasket proved a lot more difficult to create and I ended up spending hours trying to work out how to make it work. In the end, one of my classmates helped me understand how the divisions worked and from there i was able to create the final product pictured above. Again, now that I've done it and know how it works, it seems fairly simple and thankfully I wasn't too far off the end product which helped my confidence a lot.

After this we worked on improving our graphics engine to make it even simpler to render objects and now we are working on lighting effects on our objects.

A torus with a diffuse lighting effect

The 3D Sierpinski Gasket with the diffuse lighting effect

So far I've had no problems with any of the lighting code although I have only really just started working through it. I have managed to implement an ambient lighting effect with no problems at all and a diffuse lighting effect as shown above with only minor problems, again with the Sierpinski Gasket but thankfully it didn't take me as long to get it working with the new effect.

I am extremely happy with where my skills are at the moment, given two years ago I had never attempted coding before apart from small javascript and html projects. Although I have struggled a few times in the Graphics Programming module I have always managed to work through it either by myself or with some help from my classmates and my other two modules are going well so far as well. In these modules I am using Java and C# and having absolutely no problems with the coding side of the work at all and I put this down to the work I done over the summer in C#. Simple things that used to trip me up are no longer a problem and I feel like I've gotten much faster at recognizing where problems in my code are and solving these problems.

Unfortunately due to the workload I have at the moment I'm finding it hard to find time for any personal projects but I'm trying to work out a schedule that will allow me to work on some things during term-time and with the Global Game Jam just round the corner I would really like to get my head around Unity so we can make an attempt at a professional looking game. As much as I loved the experience last year and the game we made, it was fairly simplistic and didn't really require us to code too much but this year we will have more experience and more team members which will hopefully allow us to create something much better.

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Summer

2012-08-08T14:41:00.000+01:00

Summer has been quite hectic for me, I had a lot to deal with at the start including the stress of finding a job so i could have enough money to live. In the end i got quite stressed and ended up doing nothing for the rest of may and most of june. I eventually got a job though which made me even more stressed and it got to the point where I was sleeping all day and only rising to go to work, a lifestyle that was annoying me more because I wasn't doing anything. So I decided to start rebuilding my life and get myself together, first I made sure I had enough money to last me the rest of the summer and left my job. Then I started working on programming properly, every day for a few hours to start with and gradually increasing the amount of time I was working. Now I'm much happier, less stressed and for probably the first time in my life I'm actively working towards a proper goal (outside of term time).

I started off working through C# again and gradually building a working tile engine as well as a menu system including character selection. I'm confident that in another month or so I will be able to make a proper game using C# however, recently another project has taken my attention away from C#. In the last few weeks I have been discussing and planning to make a game with my friend who already has made graphics for games.

This project will have us launching a game on the iPhone/iPod Touch and as such I have been learning Objective - C. Given the short time I have been working with it, I am very pleased with my progress with the language and this is in no small part to various tutorials I have been using. If you are interested in making apps or games for the iPhone, I thoroughly recommend the tutorials on www.raywenderlich.com.

Unfortunately, I've only started saving videos of the finished tutorials but the ones I haven't included on here are on my Facebook page and show how much improvement I've made with the help of these tutorials.

Here is a video of a simple defence game where you control the turret and have to stop the monsters of varying difficult from getting to the other side of the screen. Although this does look very simple, it took a few days to make and to properly understand what most of the code does. If there is one thing about objective - C I dislike it's how confusing it can be at times compared to some other languages.

And here is a video of me working with a sprite. I thought it was important that i learn at least the basics of sprite coding as I believe it will be the simplest way to animate our game.

I doubt I'll get round to updating this as often as I would hope as after a few more tutorials on some basics I will be concentrating on trying to build our game and making it the best it can be, after all I do want to try and make some money off this. I shall try and update on the progress of the game as I go but it will depend on how busy I am, otherwise check my twitter or facebook for more up-to-date information on how the project is coming along.

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Take this, it's dangerous to go alone

2012-05-16T22:31:00.001+01:00

Ok, I've been lazy the last few days.

I decided to take a few days off to relax a bit seeing as I was fairly busy in the week leading up to my birthday so I've got no coding done in the past day or two but that will all change starting tomorrow an ill shall keep you all updated.

In other news, look at my cool new sword!

GAME OF THRONES!!!

2012-05-12T22:22:00.000+01:00

Yeeeahhhh, didn't get anything done today, but it's the weekend!

What's worse? I'm going to be busy pretty much all tomorrow so i won't have a chance to do any coding. It's not that i don't want to, it's that I'm going to be far too tired after tomorrow to do anything so i think it's going to have to wait until Monday to do any more work.

So not much to report today and i think tomorrow may be the first time in a whole week that i won't be posting anything but we'll see. On the plus side I've got the whole first season of Game of Thrones to watch that i was shown last night and subsequently wanted to watch EVERY EPISODE EVER! I only saw the first two episodes last night but they were AWESOME! So that's tonight's plans, i might play some Pokemon as well 'cause Pokemon is just as awesome.

This picture does no justice to the series....and yes we have a projector in the flat.

Anyway, I'll try and get something posted tomorrow but I'm not going to promise anything at the moment but be sure to check back on Monday when I'll definitely have something for you.

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Lazy Day

2012-05-11T20:41:00.000+01:00

First proper day of relaxing, woooooooooooooooo!

So today i told myself that i would get up fairly early and get stuck in to some C#......that never happened. I did start on C# though but didn't get too much done. So far I've started making the required tile engine for the next few tutorials but hit a rough patch when trying to convert some class diagrams into code, hopefully when i come back tomorrow I'll see the problem straight away and get it sorted so i can carry on.

Pretty much got nothing done today....it is Friday though.

Haven't played any games yet apart from Swordigo on my iPhone which is excellent and also free at the moment, its a fantasy adventure game with a few RPG elements and kept me occupied for most of last night when i should have been sleeping.

Swordigo! Recommended!

Also, my watch I'm getting for my birthday arrived yesterday!! So I'll have to go home at some point to collect it and start showing off how awesome and cool it is.

AND, if you haven't noticed yet i got round to finishing off a review last night of Sonic Generations so check it out, especially if you're a fan of Sonic or even just platform games in general.

Hopefully I'll have a bit more to talk about tomorrow when i finish off the tile engine I'm working on, but until then...

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EPIC FUN TIMES! (Seriously this time)

2012-05-10T20:30:00.000+01:00

SUMMER TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exams are now done for the year, although admittedly that last one could go either way depending how my luck holds up. I managed to sleep most of the day away after getting home from the exam which was fortunate given i had about 8 hours sleep spanning the previous 3 days.

Over the next few days I'm going to concentrate on getting a job but, obviously, I'm going to play soooooooo many games, starting with Catherine. Brilliant puzzle game with a great story and I'm looking forward to finishing it off and seeing how it concludes the story, it can be really crazy and over the top at times but its definitely worth a play through if you have the time. Apart from that, as i keep saying, I'm going to start working through C# again tomorrow now that i don't have any revision to do.

Also, if i don't get too caught up with Catherine i might finish off a review seeing as it's been quite a while since i managed to get one posted.

Anyway, time to enjoy the next few months while i don't have anything to worry about except how to spend my birthday.

***UPDATE***
Got round to doing that review i promised, if you want to see my take on Sonic Generations feel free to take a look.

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Heat Wave

2012-05-09T23:35:00.000+01:00

I can't wait until 11:30 tomorrow morning.

After tomorrow i will officially be on summer holiday! And more importantly i won't have to study meaning i can get back to working on C#! YAY!!! And in a few weeks when I've gotten round the core concepts and done some experimenting i can start a project to make a game which, fingers crossed, i can have published in some way even if i gave it away for free. Although some money would be nice....

Of course what i would like to happen is to work on my own personal project and work on a group project with the other guys from uni. I loved working in our small group for the Game Jam and although it was much more stressful i still loved working on our group project during the semester. I really can't wait to get started on some form of project during the summer and I'll be posting any developments on any project here for all you lovely people to see.

On another note. Its absolutely boiling in my room. Window wide open, heating off, lying on top of the bed covers. Still boiling. And for once i don't have 5 or 6 different electronic products running and producing massive amounts of heat. At least on the bright side i might lose some weight in this sauna.

Well, that's 5 in a row now (just, seeing as its 23:30), let's hope i can keep this up....if i don't melt in this room.

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EPIC FUN TIMES!

2012-05-08T18:18:00.000+01:00

....but not today.

I actually got round to studying today, after catching up on some Family Guy and House. So all in all, around 2 hours of studying. I don't want to waste all my studying energy in one day do i?

So I'm slowly struggling my way through my notes on Algorithms and Data Structures and i think i can maybe just remember all the different types of sorting methods i need to know but it's in knowing all of these that i start to get annoyed. We live in an age where the internet is at your fingertips almost anywhere in the world, why should we still be taking exams on things that are easily accessible to even a child if they wanted to know about it? I personally will have a hard time remembering these 6+ sorting methods after the exam but that doesn't worry me because if i ever need to use one of these methods i can simply search for it and quickly implement it in my code, as long as i have the basic understanding of sorting methods then i shouldn't have a problem searching the internet for the specific one i need and this goes for most of the things being asked for in at least the mock exam papers we've been given. Don't get me wrong, i still think these things should be taught in lectures for the benefit of having an understanding of each method and what each one does and i do think exams are important for some modules/courses but in this specific circumstance where the majority if not all of the people that are taking the module are going to be working in an industry where the internet is constantly available i really think it would be a more accurate "exam" if the students were tested on how well they implement the things that are taught through more coursework rather than testing them on how well they retain information for a day.

Unfortunately i know the way things are and the way students are tested is never going to change, for some reason exams are seen as the perfect way to prove how well a student is doing despite the fact that the majority of people i know are definitely smarter than some exams would show, the combination of stress and having to recite specific parts of various courses within a time limit often puts too much pressure on some and as a result their marks in an exam suffer. I am considered lucky when it comes to exams, although i do study you can see from the last few blogs that i really haven't done much for this exam but my brain tends to swallow up information during exam periods meaning i can usually pass an exam without too much effort but ask me the same questions a week after and i would probably get confused and give you an answer along the lines of "Pub, anyone?".

I know i have another two years of exams left in my life and i am well aware that some jobs that i am going to apply for will ask me to take part in a coding session in which i have to solve a problem within a set time limit. One day though, I'll never have to worry about exams or tests ever again.

Hopefully soon.

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Studying....Sort of

2012-05-07T16:41:00.000+01:00

I'm supposed to be studying right now but let's be honest, no one can ever be bothered studying. Ever.

I have an exam on Thursday on Algorithms and Data Structures, still there? Just making sure in case you fell asleep reading that immensely boring title. As much as i know that it is an important subject and there are some parts to it that i do find interesting, most of my studying has resulted in me "checking the internet", I.E. doing this and checking if any of my subscribed channels have uploaded anything on youtube.....they have not.

At this moment i would much rather be going through more C# code and learning some more of that. Although it didn't look like much, i spent 3 hours last night working through a Space Invaders tutorial through which i learned a fair amount from.

A classic!

Like i said, it doesn't look like much and it didn't require quite as much coding as the C++ version that i done earlier in the year but it does look better purely because it has animation in the invaders and a bit more colour to it than just red and blue cubes that were used in the 3D version. I also found it much easier to implement certain parts of the game, such as the control mechanisms but I'm still unsure whether that was because i understood what i was doing a lot better than when i was starting out with C++ or because it was just simpler in C#, i hope it was the former purely because i want to feel like I've learnt something over the last year but i suspect it has something to do with the latter as well.

3D version, I'm sure it would look better if I put some proper models in.

Now I'd better get back to studying.........or a may start writing up a review for something.

Either way, I'll probably be lurking around the internet for a while longer. There's plenty of time to study tomorrow.

X-Box: IkasuKiller
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£4.91

2012-05-06T16:27:00.002+01:00

Today it finally hit me. I have no money.

Since i left my last job at the start of the year to concentrate on uni a bit more I've been spending a little more than i should have been. I knew this but every time i tried to correct myself something happened....like Mass Effect or Avengers. So now I'm poor and jobless and have no income whatsoever as May is is the last month for my bursary coming through and although i have been looking for jobs on and off for the last month I've had no luck. One of the main reasons for that though is because i don't particularly want to go back into bar work, it's not that i don't enjoy it but i don't feel that i can give uni my full attention when I'm still catching up on sleep because i was working until 4 in the morning.

£4.91 All that I have left.

So now i have just under £5 to last me at least a month (assuming that i get a job and they pay at the end of the month) which of course means that i can't buy any new games. On the plus side though it gives me the motivation to go back and play some games I've been meaning to return to including Catherine, the original Prototype and Red Dead Redemption which I've been meaning to go back to and finish for a long time. And of course this means I'll have more games to review which keeps me busy which stops me eating as much meaning i don't have to spend as much on food which will hopefully mean i can stretch £4.91 to last a whole month.

Fingers Crossed.

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May

2012-05-05T23:48:00.000+01:00

It has been a long time since I actually wrote anything for this....

So! The last few months have been fairly hectic, I've had a lot of coursework to get done and of the coursework that needed done I can quite happily say a lot more time was spent on making a working game. For the most part, I was working on the games physics which could be a major pain at points and although i eventually got it working with the help of the other two guys in the group, we unfortunately couldn't get it working in the final build. This was due to me working mainly using separate objects for the walls, floors etc. while testing and the final build using a mesh for the level. Of course, we found out nearly straight after the hand in that there was an easy fix for the problem.

Although this piece of coursework in particular was very stressful and had us working nearly to the last moment before the deadline, I had a great time. Despite all the problems and frustrations and having to run the game and do the same thing over and over again to the point I was running on automatic most of the time, it has made me realise that this is definitely what I want to do for the rest of my life. The satisfaction and happiness achieved just from getting a simple thing to work in your code is unbeatable.

Spurred on by this, I am now working through more tutorials but this time on C# as opposed to C++ and will hopefully have my own fully working game by the end of the summer. Alongside this, our year group may be adventurous enough to try making a game together over the summer, if we don't get too lazy.

In other news, I'm building up a horrendously large collection of games on Steam, much to the dismay of my bank balance. On the plus side it does mean I've had a lot more games to play, and most of them are worth the money. My only regret is that it took me so long to get back into PC gaming, it does mean having to spend a whole lot more on upgrading my PC though.

Anyway, now that I only have one exam left it frees up a lot of time. So alongside personal projects I am hoping to come back to this a bit more as well as the game review side of things, gives you lot something to look forward to, doesn't it.

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Camera Work

2012-02-14T00:23:00.000+00:00

Today, after milling around on Steam wondering what games to add to my wishlist for when I actually have money, I buckled down to some work.

For the most part I was working on Uni stuff, some of which involved building cameras. This is part of our on-going practical work to build a game engine for use in our project.

This doesn't show the camera actually working but I'm sure you get the idea.

I'm still finishing off this part but will have it finished by tomorrow night, then I can play around with a 3rd person camera which we hope to use in our game project.

I'm still trying to find time to write a review for my other blog but feel free to have a look at the ones already there if you haven't already. The last one I put up was on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which safely gets my vote for game of the year.

Time to sleep now!

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Global Game Jam, PC problems and more!

2012-02-12T14:48:00.002+00:00

First post of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How bad am I at updating this?

Anyway, a few note-worthy events have happened in the last month or so. Firstly, a few of us from my uni class decided to take a risk and enter the Global Game Jam with very little game coding skills to help us. Secondly, I have started trying to make some mods for various games in order to increase my skills and lastly, but most importantly, I have gotten my hands on a better computer so I'm back on the PC gaming scene after a large number of years.

The a-MAZE-ing Caterpillar! Our Game Jam project was brilliant fun to make and, although there was a few things we wanted to change, we were all very pleased with the end result, especially as it was our first attempt at making a proper working game.

Screenshot from the 3rd level of our game

Unfortunately we didn't have the time to learn how to code a game within the 48 hour time-limit so we decided to use Gamemaker, a game making program designed for those who don't know how to code or who only know very little. You still have to have a basic understanding of various logic methods but for the most part it is a fairly simple program to use. Next year we hope to improve by writing our own code and making our game without the help of such a program, and I can't wait for the large amount of stress it will bring. For those who missed it here's the link again: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/maze-ing-caterpillar. Just scroll to the download part, download, un-zip and play.

I also mentioned i had started modding some games, by this i mean i have started learning the basics of Minecraft modding and, now that i have a better computer, i am looking for more games that i can add my own ideas to.

A very simple block mod in Minecraft

In regards to Minecraft, i have gotten my head round the block images and creation, as shown above, and i am getting used to the crafting system (The block above was made by making a 4-square of dirt blocks). Unfortunately it has been a few weeks since i last touched on modding but i hope to make some time for it soon, especially since now I have......

A NEW PC!!!!!! (sort of). My little brother (who at one time had more money than sense) has lent me his PC, which although a few years old can still run new games with minimal effort. Thanks to this I have a much better work station for uni work and any modding I decide to do. Previously when building a very small Space Invaders game as part of a university practical exercise, my PC took just over 5 minutes to build and run the game (my laptop takes at least double this despite being only a year old). Now, I can barely blink before the game is up and running.

Main Hard Drive failed on my old PC

Another upside to having a much better PC is that I can finally play PC games again so I am now playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, which i can highly recommend, and Civilizations V, which has already sucked 8 hours out of me despite only being installed yesterday. So if you're on Steam I can now officially say that you can add me (ikasukiller) and recommend any and all PC games that are worth playing.

I WILL update this tomorrow again, i promise this time. So stay tuned for more and remember to add me on whichever social network you like, you can never have too many friends.

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Christmas Plans

2011-12-18T21:05:00.000+00:00

This holiday season i am planning to get a lot done, assuming I can keep away from the new Star Wars MMO. Firstly I want to really get to grips with Unity so I can try making some prototype games from some ideas I have, I also want to re-read my notes on C++ so I'm ready for the next semester at uni because, being the geek that I am, I want to do really well in this year and so far I could have done better. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to complete all these games that have been stacking up. For the last month or so I have been collecting these great games that have been coming out but have had no time to play them and this holiday is the perfect chance.

On top of all that I've found an interest in Bleach (the anime not the liquid) which is slowly sucking most of my time away for the moment but luckily I'll have ran out of episodes soon and can continue with my plans. Unluckily however, play.com are selling the next few seasons I want for under £10.

Time to make some harsh decisions.

While I'm here, we have made a facebook page for MercuryForty4. There isn't much there at the moment but it'll do until we get the actual page up and running so feel free to "like" it if you want to give us some moral support.

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All Night Long

2011-12-12T05:48:00.001+00:00

Enough with the promises, I'll just have to get round to updating this whenever I can.

At the moment it is 5:50 AM, and my plan to stay up until at least 6 PM is going well, I foresee an hours nap or so around noon but that shouldn't hamper my progress. I should mention that I'm doing this because I have trouble waking up at a reasonable time due to my late nights at work so I am resetting my body clock so I can actually get up for my exam on Thursday.

In other news, this staying up all night business has allowed me the time to finally write my Skyward Sword review which is now available on my review site: A Game Developer Reviews:. Hopefully this large amount of spare time will also allow me to get some other work done and possibly even revise for the aforementioned exam.

For the meantime, however, I shall be collecting star coins on various levels of Super Mario 3D Land.

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Mobile Blogging

2011-12-07T18:01:00.001+00:00

Today marks the first time I try to write a post away from my laptop. Despite the negative reviews for this iPhone app I wanted to give it a try, not least because I tend to have 0 time to sit down and write proper posts that you are all no doubt used to from me. A couple of points I've noticed already from a brief once over of the app is the lack of a landscape view which would have been much more comfortable to write from. Apart from that it seems fairly simple but that is not necessarily a bad thing. You don't get the option to read other peoples blogs but that doesn't concern me as much, it also lacks the ability to post links as I usually do but I can live without for these short mobile posts. Overall I would say that the Blogger app is very simple in what it can do, but for the average blogger such as me it's enough to get by on.

The photo options are also hidden by the keyboard so I nearly didn't notice them. They are the usual options you would expect in an app: take a photo or select a photo. For the purposes of a full review I will now post a photo of my girlfriends flat:

Well that's 2 days in a row I've posted now, that must be some sort of record.

Weekly (Maybe)

2011-12-07T03:39:00.001+00:00

This blog is quickly becoming the Weekly (Maybe) and I have no one to blame but myself.......and 9gag.

BUT on the upside I have a lot of free time now that the semester is all but finished and I will be trialling the Blogger app to see if that helps me update this more often.

In the meantime I'll be starting to design my own website to go alongside MercuryForty4's site, you know so I look a bit more professional but it more than likely won't go live for some time. On top of that I have started getting to grips with Unity, a game development tool, although this will mainly be used for prototypes as I've been told, quite rightly so, that developing games directly from the code allows for much more freedom and greater control over the final product. That being said, it is a useful tool for using during development challenges such as the Global Game Jam as it allows for quick development of ideas. So I've been told, as I said I'm still getting to grips with it.

In other, more personal, news, my room is a state once again and I intend to restore it to its former glory again tomorrow and keep it that way....for a few days. After that's done and I've done some revision AND I do some work on personal projects I can start getting into Skyrim again and Saints Row as well. Might even get a review on one of them for you after I get the Zelda one out the way as well as a few that I've had planned but never got round to.

Okay, how many things can you find to insult me in this picture?

Here I had a short review of Resistance: Fall of Man but it became slightly longer than I thought (I was expecting a few lines but ended up with a decent paragraph) so I've moved it over to A Game Developer Reviews: but don't worry, I'll have a bigger review for you to chew on later on.

You stay classy, Internet.

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The week that was

2011-12-01T23:51:00.001+00:00

I promise to all of you that I will start updating this more often. Maybe.

Anyway, it has now been nearly 2 whole weeks since my last post and I've still been pulling in an average of 20 viewers a week. Makes me feel a little bit popular for once in my life but that's not the point! The reason for my minor absence is, of course, coursework. Two weeks ago I had a very important piece of coursework due in (from my view it was the most important of this semester). My C# coursework caused me many, many problems but I LOVED every moment of it. Call me strange but I love the thrill of working through code and finally getting it running after putting so much effort in. Unfortunately I ran out of time far too quickly and had to hand it in when I really wanted to finish it off to a higher standard and implement some more techniques that I had read about. On the plus side, I have finally realised the importance of managing my time better and sticking to schedules which I hope will help in my next semester when I have to programme a working game.

On a related note, I thought I would treat myself to something after stressing myself to near death for a few weeks.

All that hard work paid off.

That's right! A Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Legend of Zelda 3DS! I've been wanting a 3DS for a while now and I thought this was as good a time as any to finally get one, especially since the price drop from it's initial release. I especially wanted this one as Zelda is one of my all time favourite game franchises and not only is it designed in a cool black and gold theme with the crest of Hyrule emblazoned on the front but it also came with a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D! One of my all time favourite games!

On a related Zelda-esque note, I've been working my way through the new iteration, Skyward Sword. This is a game I could note recommend highly enough. If you still have a Wii go and get it now, or as soon as the shops open. You will not be disappointed in the slightest. I'm guessing that I will probably make this amazing game next weeks review for A Game Developer Reviews:. Hopefully I'll be able to tear myself away from the Zelda universe long enough to write up a review for another interesting game.

In the mean-time however, you will have to make do with this post but hopefully I will start getting more regular and have more for you to read. Also I might try using some form of sign off phrase as I find it quite hard to end these....

Its dangerous to go alone! Take this blog.

...nahhhh.

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TEA CAKES!!!

2011-11-19T17:30:00.001+00:00

This ones a proper post after yesterdays quick one.

So yeah, 200 views within the space of a month, i think that's pretty good considering i barely find the time to write anything on this, and as some of you may have noticed A Game Developer Reviews: hasn't been updated in a while but i intend to sort that tonight.

Anyway, recently I've been busy with coursework (again) so I've had to curtail the amount of adventuring I've been doing in Skyrim which makes me very sad. It also means i haven't been able to play various other games I've been planning to play, ones that I've bought like Battlefield and Batman as well as ones i want to get like Zelda and Assassins Creed. Unfortunately I've also got an exam that i need to start studying for which means even less time to play games. Why do all the good games come out when all my coursework and exams are due? WHY!?

On the plus side my girlfriend bought me 36 tea cakes yesterday, although roughly half of them are now gone. But she will be happy I've mentioned her, and how nice she is, finally.

I give it until tomorrow, then they'll all be gone.

Next Goal: 500 views before the end of November, should be easy enough. I hope.

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200 views!

2011-11-18T17:04:00.001+00:00

This is just a quick one to let you all know how extremely popular my blog is.

Now over 200 views within a single month, not bad for my first blog is it?

Well, back to coursework now, promise i'll get all of you a bigger more interesting post later on, possibly tomorrow at this rate.

And thanks for reading!

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PANCAKE DAY!

2011-11-16T01:55:00.000+00:00

Today i made pancakes for the first time in forever! And can i just say i make a pretty good pancake when i can be bothered! For those of you interested i use a basic recipe taught to me by my dear old mother: Flour of varying amount depending on how many pancakes you want to make (sorry i don't know how much flour is needed to feed 4 people or similar generic measurement), half the amount of sugar as there is flour (i.e. 4lbs of flour == 2lbs of sugar), 2-3 eggs whisked with milk in a large mug filled near the top (by this point you will have realised my mum didn't cook using known measurements and preferred to measure with "a cup about this size"). Add half the contents of the mug to the flour and sugar and mix together, adding more of the egg/milk mix as required, until the mixture reaches a slightly runny point but is still sticky. I know that's quite vague but i can't think of how else to explain it, you should know when its ready though. Make sure you grease up a large-ish pan with some butter and put it on the hob over a low-medium heat, adjusting as necessary. Put some mixture in and flip the pancake when you can see a bubbly texture on the top, wait a minute or two and your first pancake is done!

Looks nice, doesn't it?

Of course your first pancake won't look like the lovely one pictured above but that's just because it has the job of soaking up any excess butter left in the pan, after that all your pancakes will look as awesome as mine...as long as you flip them in time.

Near the end of my mixture i decided to try something new, feel free to try this too if you want. I got adventurous and made a double-stuffed pancake, which actually worked out much better than i thought it would and it tasted really nice!

You can clearly see the first pancake in the middle of the second pancake in the upper slice. I was so impressed i wanted to make what i would call "The Inception" which would consist of a mind altering 3rd pancake within the 2nd pancake within the 1st pancake! Unfortunately i had ran out of mixture so it will have to wait until i can be bothered making pancakes again.

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Mercury Forty 4

2011-11-15T02:39:00.001+00:00

Sorry i haven't said anything in a while, I've been busy adventuring in Skyrim. More on that later.

This week I've made a conscious decision to update this blog as much as i can, even if i only update what I've had to eat that day and also to start actively working on my ambitions to own my own development company. To that end I've started designing the company logo for a very very small venture that I and 2 others are setting up. If nothing else this will serve as experience for all involved although at the moment we are still in planning stages for our first project but I'll update you on progress as and when it happens.


Logo Design v0.01

After much deliberation and many ideas we decided upon the name "Mercury Forty 4" with the "40" spelt out and the "4" left in its numerical form. Currently one of us is working on a website but this will probably not be active for a while as all three of us have coursework to complete which is more important at the moment. Hopefully we will manage to make some progress over the holidays.


Many more ideas to follow.

Throughout this venture i hope to develop my skills and hopefully build up my portfolio to the extent that companies will send all other applicants home after seeing it at an interview.

On another note, I've been slightly busy fighting dragons to find a game to review, it will be a while before i even attempt to review Skyrim and no, i will not be touching CoD because it will just descend into a rant against Activision. So, as it stands i will probably be doing a shorter review on a downloadable game but we'll see. In the meantime make sure to check my previous reviews at A Game Developer Reviews:

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Darwinian Difficulty

2011-11-07T03:12:00.000+00:00

While browsing about the Internet, as one does when bored and should really be sleeping, I found a very interesting article about game difficulty. In the article, published on Gamasutra, the writer explores the idea of a "Darwinian difficulty curve" where a game starts off being hard and stays that way without the option to lower the difficulty should you decide that you are struggling a bit too much. The writer, Josh Bycer, uses two games to prove his point that this way of making games is better than the much more popular difficulty selection method, those games being Ninja Gaiden Black and Demon Souls. Unfortunately i have yet to experience the "horror" that is Demon Souls but from what I've heard it's even worse than Ninja Gaiden. The main difference between this method of designing games and the more common method is that the player will be given all the skills needed to complete the game at the very start and within the first level or section of the game will be forced to use each of these skills at some point. This means that the player is aware of all if not most of the skills required to successfully go through the game from the very start, usually this is done without the use of tutorials and through putting the player in a situation where they either see the skill being used or come across a new enemy/area that requires them to expand upon their knowledge of the game so far and to increase the skill they have. Throughout the article Bycer notes that through the use of Darwinian difficulty the player is left feeling more rewarded having used their own skill and knowledge to overcome obstacles, from personal experience i can say this is very true of Ninja Gaiden which to this day I am yet to complete due to its difficulty. I won't go into it any further as Bycer does a very good job of it but it is an interesting read if you are at all interested in games.

On a similar note, in the previously mentioned article someone posted a comment directing readers to a video by Egoraptor. For those of you who don't know, Egoraptor is a highly entertaining animator, most popular for his "Awesome" series of animations which mainly parody popular game series. In the video Egoraptor talks about Mega Man X and how it cleverly hinted at how to complete it instead of using tutorials or characters telling the player how a challenge could be overcome. The video itself is both highly informative and entertaining but be warned Egoraptor can be a bit foul mouthed.

From now on i will be including links to my social sites and gamertags to make things simpler for people to find me, these will be located at the bottom of my posts (if i remember to put them there). And just in case you missed them, here's the links to the article and video:

Darwinian Difficulty: How Throwing Players In Headfirst Can Work by Josh Bycer
Sequelitis - Mega Man Classic vs, Mega Man X by Egoraptor

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Coursework...

2011-11-05T18:06:00.000+00:00

Ever get that feeling that the coursework you're doing has absolutely nothing to do with anything? Well that's where I am right now. For the last week my life has revolved around databases and SQL and I can't wait until it's out of the way. I know that most people complain about coursework but I really don't mind it too much, in fact in the case of my C#, C++ and Java courseworks i fairly enjoyed it. Being pushed and learning by myself makes me feel like I have learnt a lot more than if I was just shown how to do something, it gives a sense of progress. While this is still the case with SQL programming, it is much less enjoyable and a lot more stressful so as soon as this is out of the way I can concentrate on C# and enjoying programming again. I know it sounds sad but I'm going to be doing it for the rest of my life (hopefully) so its probably a good thing that i enjoy it.

SQL. I have the utmost respect for those that have to do this on a daily basis.

Anyway, not much in the way of gaming this week, sad face. And i completely forgot about Sonic Generations coming out! On top of that I'm now swaying over if i should get Saints Row or not. Originally i had decided to leave it but recent footage and the character creation demo has made me think twice, so if one of you lovely readers could lend me £40 it would make my decision much easier!

The next review isn't up on A Game Developer Reviews: yet as I've been too busy with coursework. I was hoping to play Battlefield a bit more and get a review done for that but i think I'll wait until I've played it a bit more. So now I've got a few options but whichever i decide on you devoted readers will have another brilliantly written review to read, hopefully by Tuesday (8th).

I Hate Games

2011-10-31T02:43:00.000+00:00

You know what? I hate games.

There. I said it. After an entire day of mulling over what to do in regards to my coursework for uni I decided to play a quick game of Battlefield citing the reason "I probably won't have much time to play it until after Thursday", Thursday being the hand-in day for one of my courseworks. This quick game then turned into a few quick games and before i knew it the clock had already span past 8 o'clock. And instead of stopping there i decided to play a few more quick games on other titles before returning to Battlefield again but this time to go through the campaign. At this point it became a "one more level" situation and now its 2am and I'm going to get hardly any sleep.

On the plus side, i did get a fair few achievement points (Xbox) and from what I've heard I'm fairly close to finishing Battlefield AND I got the MVP pin in multiplayer! BEST. FEELING. EVER. This was after failing to even get close to the top half of the scoreboard for the first few rounds so i felt unbelievably happy with what i accomplished. Adding to the fact that it was a tremendously closely fought round and a brief moment of adrenaline where i had to flee a crumbling building which pulled me to the edge of my seat (bed) for the rest of the round. You just can't beat the feeling you get from epic moments of action like that in games, or drama for that matter, or sudden epiphanies if you're playing a puzzle game, or the sheer smugness you get from outsmarting your opponent in strategy games.

You know what? I love games.

And while I'm here I should let you know about the other blog I started, A Game Developer Reviews:. This one will concentrate on game reviews and possibly on game related news if I feel that this one is getting a bit clogged. Anyway, this week the review is on Batman: Arkham City so have a look and let me know what you think.