The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt, Super Geek

Death: The other side of snow

Sun, 5 Feb 2012 14:50:23 +0000

The other side of snow

Last night, people died on our streets. It�s impossible to believe otherwise. A thick layer of snow added to a recent cold snap makes its unthinkable that all of Britain�s homeless would have been able to survive. Sometimes in takes a cold snap to make us look down and see the people huddled in doorways, swaddled in blankets and peering out at us from underneath the hoods of old coats. For so much of the year, Britain�s secret shame is [...]

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Web Dev Secret Cohort of 2012

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 13:12:30 +0000

This year twelve website projects will receive my dedicated hep free of charge.

Every year it seems I find myself with more people wanting help getting a business website to do the business. Some of them are people wanting to make a better blog, many are small businesses but all have asked for help.

Before things get out of hand I am going to set a limit. The limit is twelve a year. This should allow me to really give 100% to each of you (you know who you are) as well as giving me a decent portfolio of success stories.

Talking of success there is one success of whom I am very proud. I would love to say that he was the cream of the 2011 cohort but I am no where near that organised and to be honest 2011 did not see me help that many other people enough to claim much credit. God and Christian is his blog and it is a good one.

A few years ago my friend who writes this blog had no idea what a blog was, how to run a website or even why he would want to. Skip to the end and he's being invited to award dinners and being offered writing gigs not because he's looking for them but because they have come looking for him. He is that good.

There was a time when I was teaching Keith but these days it seems that he has more to teach me than I have to teach him. When it comes to writing the guy is brim full of pure concentrated talent.

God and Christian God and Christian

How to think like a new Christian.

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There are still spaces in Cohort 2012 and most of them are going to be filled by invitation only. However I am open to suggestions - if you want to join this group and you are 100% dedicated to making or improving your website sot hat it is a success story you had better drop me a line fast.

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Writing Excuses

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 13:01:02 +0000

Writing Excuses

An awesome podcast/blog for writers.

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Ben's Chapter 11: Leapfish go and no one cares

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:52:18 +0000

I've been so busy not paying any attention to LeapFish that I failed to notice that they filed for bankruptcy last year.

The people I feel most sorry for are the one's duped into buying Ben's keywords on the site. I'd love to hear from anyone that managed to see a positive ROI (return on investment).

In fact I'd love to hear from anyone who saw any significant traffic from them at all.

To be honest I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.

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Firefox at 10Gbytes of RAM

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:07:19 +0000

Can I just point out to Mozilla that although Firefox is damn fine I did not install epic amounts of RAM to have my web browsers slowly eat it all while I was out.

The reason for putting 16 Gig of RAM into my Ubuntu PC was so I could casually run lots of stuff. If I have a paused game or two kicking about my memory space, VLC running a video and decided that now is a good time to edit some huge images then I expect my PC to just get on with it.

What I didn't expect was for Firefox to get greedy.

Yes, I killed the process and no, no damage was done but WTF Firefox?

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Something has changed and 2012 will be the better for it

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:50:36 +0000

Maybe it is the fact that I have finally faced up to some painful bits of my past and looked them in the eye this week. Maybe it is that I have (with a lot of help) made big changes to my flat. Maybe it is that I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Maybe it is these things but something feels like it has changed.

I think 2012 is going to be good.

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Some big [SENSORED] geeking.

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:51:09 +0000

Today, for no reason other than it seemed like a good idea at the time I have moved The Fantastic Site to Cloud Flare.

Actually there is a damn good reason - I want to see what improvements it can make in stopping my most busy website from getting smacked upside the head by spam touting **** heads.

Also of interest is that they are also supporting the blackout against SOPA and PIPA (the American's extra stupid ideas for laws regarding the Internet).

Talking of censorship I recently failed to learn anything remotely sensitive but I thaught it would be fun to play with background colours anyway.

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If I had just one wish

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:22:42 +0000

If I had just one wish that could be magically granted I would end Child poverty in Thanet at the very least and UK or the world if possible.

I've just been reading that 25% of the families with children in Thanet, Kent suffer from deprivation. Deprivation being less than �12 per person per day.

To be honest most of the time �12 a day after rent and bills would be a luxury for me at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing a hell of a lot better than I was 9 or 10 years ago when I was faced with the prospect of �8 to �10 every two weeks for food and clothes.

I know what a parent will do to protect their children from the effects of such shortage. I just wish that no-one else would ever have to find out what it is like.

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Why the world needs a stand-alone tech tree tool

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:39:31 +0000

It might seem, at first glance, a bit pointless to suggest that an important tool missing from our lives is a tech-tree tool unconnected to any actual game. However a stand-alone tech tree tool would provide a significant number of advantages.

What is a tech tree?

First, for those that are late to this debate, let us ask What is a tech tree any way Matt?

Thank you for asking.

A tech tree, or technology tree, is a map of technologies that can be unlocked in a computer game. Each technology makes available additional technologies available (for research). Usually a player would start with only the most simple technology and can then research to wards more advanced forms.

A technology tree (tech tree) is basically a diagram that shows the dependency of each technology on the ones that come before it.

For example starting from say, spear making, it would be illogical to jump to nucular warheads. However by researching each step oft he way your camp, civilisation, faction or tribe can incrementally work along the tree towards this technology. The diagram is tree-shaped in the sense that it branches at certain intervals, allowing the player to choose one sequence or another.

If you are still feeling lost please feel free to read the Wikipedia Tech tree article

before you continue here.

A stand-alone tech tree - what is it good for?

I am going to assume that you appreciate that a tech tree is an integral part of planning strategy in playing the more advanced sort of game where research is needed. And a tech-tree engine might be a huge boon to the indi game developer world. A stand alone tech-tree tool could form part of that engine but that is not quite what I am trying to promote.

Designing a new game

A stand-alone tech tree would allow game developers to plan the technology progress of a game and share both ideas. In FLOSS (Free and Open Source) development a good tech-tree from one game could be incorporated into another.

This would also allow game planners (and power players) to analyse the tactical implications of their ideas.

This could only lead to better games.

To get your idea made then you are going to need to spread your idea. If your idea spreads to the right place, to the right mind then the game you dream of playing might get made.

But of your idea is kept hidden it will never happen.

Listen to seth explaining why:

Inspiring a new game

So you have an idea for a new game? So does everyone else.

But what if you could actually express your ideas with tools that would not only inspire other people to examine your ideas (ideas that spread win, don't forget) but could actually be used to get the new game started? A stand-alone tech tree tool could generate a file (say XML based) that coders could use. Your art work and expression of your ideas have already started the development.

You could spread your idea.

A stand-alone tech tree tool would increase the chances that a good game idea might be implemented.

A stand-alone tech tree aids documentation

So your gang just spent six years making the best MMO ever but now you face the monumental task of making online documentation and/or printed manuals for players. Wouldn't it be great if you could just plug your tech-tree into a tool that generates all that for you? Especially good if said stand-alone tech tree tool generated a full description, help text, and all the other elements for in game use. Half the manual and the web site for that mater is already made.

Balancing game play

You stand-alone tech tree tool was used to create the best ever space game. The game engine reads the tech tree file. You've got public beta testers. But oh, what's this? Leeroy has discovered a short-cut that unbalances the game and stops it being fun for anyone else.

No problems. You can simply tweak the tech tree.

Fast expansion and mod development

So you have a great game but now you want to add a new continent, new races, new technology (or magic, or skills or whatever) but don't fancy re-working the game engine to fit it all in.

Again not a problem. You've been using the tech-tree format. Your expansion pack needs to only introduce the new tree elements and the new technology (or magic or whatever) is added.

Tech trees are also good for other things

Tech-tree methods for other things

Take your epic MMO RPG for example. You have a skills tree for characters, a magic tree for magic users, a weapons tree for fighters and a technology tree for races or factions or whatever. All of this dependency and unlocking can be expressed with the same self-documenting easily edited format.

Tech-trees for pen and paper games

A stand-alone tech tree tool would also allow your pen and paper gamer to have access to planning for technology unlocking (and/or spells, abilities etc) and/or quest pathway planning.

For example: The Super Evil War-Lord Bob does not enter game play until the characters kill Slightly-Evil Bobson and find the crown of super evilness (or whatever). As the DM you can plan all sorts of contingencies and dependencies into a campaign that might have otherwise been a touch difficult to track.

A stand-alone tech tree as a project planning tool

Let's face a tech-tree is not so different from a GANTT chart.

However tech-trees are more fun - they can have pictures and text and are just super geeky. They can also have rewards seeded all along them.

Being the super disorganised soul that I am sometimes a digital tree of activities that leads to say "two hours free time to play games" or "friends nolonger complain that there are no clean cups" or whatever would be a huge bonus. I can actually see myself getting on very well with such a tool.

That reminds me of another idea...

A stand-alone tech tree for reward unlocking for children

Because geek parents should use geek tools

I'm sure every geek parent has thought to themselves at one point that it would be cool to offer their geeklings a chance to earn, say, the right to have a puppy.

What normally happens

Right to unlock getting a puppy kids you first have to show that you know how to take care of it... to show that you fist need to do all this list of stuff.

Kids look at list. Kids give up.

With a tech tree tool to show them what you mean

Let's try this again. This is the box you need to light up for puppy, this is for goldfish and this is for hamster. This box here represents a day out at the petting zoo and this one reprisents a new bike. To get these prizes you have to first light up all the boxes that they are connected to and to like "doing these chores every day". Before you get a chance to have a go at that task you must first...

Kids look at chart. Kids start to plan the shortest route(s) to the prize(s) of choice. Kids get cracking and can see their progress. Parent's proudly watch little Leeroy become the very model of good behaviour...

For example

In my case I know full well that my off-spring would love to be allowed to use the washing machine but that I'd be left with the epic amounts of folding and putting away of clothes that were worn for all of half a day, if that. Now if I can make technology number one - show me you know how to put your own clothes away then I can make number two show me you know how to make sure the clothes get hung on the line properly. Eventually we get to Okay then guys you may also learn to use the washing machine. Also as a side effect the amount of clothes washing that I am lumbered with falls by 75% and my collection of cheeky monkeys suddenly learn why daddy gets upset if otherwise clean clothes end up back in the washing pile before they are even used.

I'm sure I am not alone in finding that a clear pathway of rewards is a good motivator for my little ones.

Stand-alone tech tree as a carrier planner

So you want to learn to be a rocket scientist or a marine biologist? So what do you need to learn to get there?

With a well worked out tech-tree you can actually show the steps needed. Many of those steps are going to be "pass a course in X".

Likewise say you want to be a world famous blogger. There are enough how to blog articles out there that a suitably geeky blogger could easily express those ideas as a tech tree. When you feel you have mastered one level of activity then you can let yourself move on to the next.

Basically you are...

Using the stand-alone tech tree to make the almost impossible possible

Okay so running the London marathon this year might not be possible if you are a couch potato but with a well worked out tech tree for your own progress you can track how far you have come and get a feel for how far you need to go.

Walking from the UK to India with no money is a big project (that someone tried to do once) but think it through and you might notice that learning French should be a dependency that you must unlock first. As might public speaking and talking to journalists. Also any number of back packing skills, physical fitness, camping skills and so forth are going to be needed.

Your dream might be impossible but actually it is simply the culmination of a lot of smaller steps.

Creating the most epic RPG ever might not be within your grasp yet but planning your personal tech tree might be.

Of course first we need a stand-alone tech tree tool

All of these above ideas are fine but they are all theory without the tool in question. So many similar tools already exist that I am sure that the right geek for the job must be out there. All we have to do is find him (or her).

What would you do with a stand-alone tech tree?

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Every writer should subscribe to: Writing Excuses

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:57:48 +0000

This site is Lord Matt approved and recommended for all writers.

Writing Excuses

Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.

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