Worked on namegen. SPECIAL is now randomly generated. Characters that are given level-ups will spend 10 skill points with every in-game tick when they have 10 to spend. I should probably make it so that they can eat. Which would require settlements having food. Thinking about working on regions soon, which would represent the general areas that the settlements are being made in. Also changed the skills listing back so that they use the same skillset as FoE PnP Revised Rules.
Considered adding ‘scenarios’ which present a series of challenges and let the player try to build up characters to solve them. Like needing a minimum amount of mechanics to start building a new home. Or trying to draft allies for an upcoming battle, and can let characters with high Speech or Barter deal with it, then other characters good with melee/firearms/unarmed/mew try to train them up in preparation.
Mother asked me some questions about an uncomfortable topic.
I am now responsible for scheduling the appropriate payment of my mother’s aides.
Heard mixed sections of Murky No. 7. Some sections of ch 1, 3, 15, 14, 24. Not my kind of fic.
Mother has an appointment tomorrow. I might be accompanying her.
Switched from Notepad++ to Eclipse for my Linux IDE for javascript development.
I still probably need to retitle this thing sooner rather than later and piece together a decent concept doc. Anyway, that Name Generator thing I linked a while back? I’ve been working on that for the past three or so days. The name generation dictionaries are still kinda lax and not-great, but slowly things are starting to almost become a playable thing. Characters can be made and renamed. They get hungry/thirsty/sleepy… But they can’t eat, and can’t die. And once a new character is made, they cannot be selected again…
But Retl, what happened to Bunny Bounce, and that shooting game, and those games you made for classes? I’ve shelved them all for the time being.They require a lot more work invested into graphical assets that I do not have the patience to do alone. Which is why the focus on ‘Overmare’ so far. Less graphics needed to function, and if I really need to, I can add graphical elements later.
Today: Characters now report ALL skills, they are generated with an age and sex, they get hungry/thirsty/drowsy over time, and time auto-advanced, but can be disabled in the sidebar menu.
Looped this song over and over lots. Yay! http://music.gamechops.com/track/no-yoshin-around-ft-mega-ran
Got mother’s morning meds all in order… though she slept fo
AC adapter for EP121 has arrived. SUPERYAY!
Diffused awkward situation when niece was dealing with false friends. (It’s okay to tell unwanted guests no. && Kids at a computer need supervision.)
Mother claims she took night meds. Noone else was around to confirm or deny it. However, she forgot to take a particular med that was on the tray in front of her…
Saw the last 20 minutes of Prince of Persia Sands of Time movie! Yay!
Phonecall at 12:30AM from father indicating that something bad has happened and he feels very sick and needs a pick up. He didn’t know where he was. It took him over an hour to check the map on the phone he used to call me, figure out where he was, and report back. A family member just left as of one minute prior to writing this to pick him up. Hope he’s already. Had awkward realization that my father dying frightens me a lot less than my mother dying, when in terms of benefits and rationality, it should be the other way around. If this turns out to also be food/heart related, it is ill omen for my future health.
Walked in on a puff of cigarette smoke when I should have knocked. It feels like the smell is stuck to my nosehairs and it is not-nice.
Alright, so I kinda fell behind on writing this thing. This is that post that I owed! Which is kinda being written more because I feel that I should than out of a need to record tasks which have been completed recently.
Something something something PIX
On Friday, I:
Met up with Ben. Recorded video and audio for The Seas Have Eyes postmortem presentation. Did something akin to pair-programming with another unrelated project. We didn’t switch roles though. I was observer and helped troubleshoot some errors with GetComponent<>() and using doubles where floats were needed. That made up a large portion of the day. Also, we talked about MLPFiM.
Washed clothes.
Played a bunch of Brave Frontier in the downtime.
Drew a bunch of Sandy from Fallout Equestria: Better Days. (Those sketches above.)
On Saturday, I:
Tried to work on the LLD for Resonance. Ate incorrectly for breakfast. Spent most of that time lazy and lethargic.
Played a bunch of Awesomenauts.
On Sunday, I:
Tried to auto-generate a documentation for Resonance using Sandcastle. Took me a few hours to figure out I needed to run it on existing XML documentation, then a about another half hour to figure out MonoDevelop can also generate such documention and that I had to enable it via checkbox in the project (not solution) settings menu. Then to build it. Then took another hour to realize I had to explicitly tell Sandbox to include the global namespace in the generated docs. And once I figured all of that out, I got a very thoroughly outlined website with lotsa cool pre-made themes for the website and everything! …Which I couldn’t turn in, as the assignemnt wants a standlone doc file, not a full website.
Wrote up the LLD portion for the status indicators. (Just in case anyone is wondering, the High Level Design and Low Level Design documents are supposed to be written BEFORE coding, not after. So this was backwards and a pain and felt largely redundant.)
Played a freaking ton of Awesomenauts and Brave Frontier
On Monday, I:
Got hype for tacos! Unfortunately, they were fish tacos. On the other hand, they were serving fairly-tasty nachos and really-tasty taco-pizza. But I didn’t want to hurt myself on the pizza part of the taco-pizza, so I didn’t get too much of that. Also, BALLOONS!
TACOS AND BALLOONS TACOS AND BALLOONS wait what do you mean it’s supposed to be bubbles. OH. And. The Mayo thing. This is that Mayo thing.
Asked a friend a bunch of silly questions on Tumblr.
Spent about 4 hours pouding out about a third of the LLD for Resonance.
Picked up my Cap, Gown, and Tassel. Hung it up for the folds to fall out. It looks cool.
Spent about 6 hours pounding out the remaining third for the LLD for Resonance.
Played a lot of Brave Frontier. Finally figured out that the best time to attain Idol unit is to grind them in the vortex in that map that’s only available on Tuesdays. Also figured out that grinding the same map over and over doesn’t work too well in BF because of the ‘Energy’ mechanic. Successfully evolved Shock Bow Loch to Thor Bow Loch. Got a bunch of idols of different types stored up in prep for evolving my other units.
Today, I:
Looked at pictures on the internet. It was fun.
Had a rant and ramble about why demanding people on the internet to not do something becomes a challenge, whereas sometimes things left well alone might seem offensive but were done out of affection. Yes, fiction authors. When I draw those pics of your characters, it’s because I like those characters. Not because I want to ruin them. And while I know you might say “don’t do that” to me specifically, it doesn’t mean that I won’t. It means that instead of posting it to my usual galleries, I try to keep it to smaller circles of friends… Or sometimes it means I completely lose interest in the thing I was fawning over in the first place and stop following it, but that’s not too common.
I’d kinda like to commission some work from b0rn-t0-die and see their interpretation of Sandy. Probably on an inexplicable balloon-bursting spree. I’m afraid I’ll end up being unable to afford them, though, but the only way to find out is for me to write up some specs and ask. I’ve got time today, so maybe I’ll do that.
Comfirmed plans with family to move out on Sunday and turn in key just before the graduation ceremony and whatnot
I plan to resume work on Super Bunny Bounce to see if I can get the core mechanics working with some placeholder objects. I’ll probably remake it using Unity 3D’s new 2D tools instead of trying to make these objects just kinda work otherwise. I’m also thinking I’ll use Ribbons Bunny as the feature character. If I do that, I’ll probably change her color scheme to use Carrot-Orange, Glitter Gold, and Taffy Teal instead of Grass Green, Bark Brown and Lemon Yellow. The contrast should make her easier to follow and less likely to be lost in any particular background. (And I kinda favor warm colors when given an option.) You can kinda get a vague idea of that kind of contrast with this image, but it’s not exactly what I meant either. I’ll probably also get rid of her pants (or make it optional) simply because I think it’s sillier and more entertaining that way. Kinda like how Donald rarely wears lower-body clothes, or how Sonic characters are typically nude except for shoes… Though come to think, the latter case draws attention to the fact that they run a lot. Ribbons will hop, bounce, and rebound a lot. What clothes are good for that? (The jist of what I’m thinking of for the game is to toy around with the idea of the ‘homing attack self-projectile’. Also, since Ribbons has ribbons, she may grab things with those ribbons and pull herself to them. I’m not sure yet.) I’d also like to add joystick support for that, in addition to touch.
I’d like to write a fic or so about Pokey Pierce / Pinprick. I’ve got a lot of built up headcanon about the guy, and I’ve seen some pics of Scootaloo and her implied family that are just dumping more fuel on the fire. And it especially helps that there’s so many episodes of FiM in which he or his apparent family seems to show up as well. Would be fun. Would be a long term project though, not a single day. And would probably go freaking slow. If I do it, I’ll do it in first person.
Also played Brave Frontier, wrote about digital ponies and holoponies for about two and half hours, and started trying to make a 3D model of a catlady but then got all frustrated.
Tomorrow: Documentation for Resonance must be completed. Day after: PnP day. Day after: Continue trying to get job. Two days after that: Major Field Test. Three days after that: Meet the dean pre-graduation. Week later: Graduate.
I lived. Meetup with Travelport was cool. Got pizza, a travel bag, a cup, and a lot of info for potential job infos. Other meetup was a dead end: the guy I went to meet was not present. Might have to reschedule. Or. Something.
Pro: $20 of free taxi credit to get to (potentially misinterpreted and nonexistant) job interview in style! Yay!
Con: The app required to use credit crashes on my phone. The ability to get pickup via SMS was retired. And the webapp version of site was disabled. But the customer support responded within the hour… to ask for screenshots. Which have been sent.
Pro: Finally got in contact with those other people about their job offer! YAY
Con: But since I’m graduating in 17 days, I am no long eligable in any meaningful way.
Drawn by alorix and not me http://fav.me/d7ewnv9I didn’t draw this either.
23:57 <Wirepony> http://i.4cdn.org/mlp/src/1397708544956.jpg
23:57 <Retl> Wirepony: I am totally OK with this
23:58 <Retl> 10/10 would play as in videogames
23:58 <Wirepony> 5/10 because not Angry Marines
23:58 <Retl> …and stare at their hind end 80% of the time because that’s how adventure action games go
23:58 <Wirepony> digital butt syndrome is real
23:58 <Retl> So the question now is
23:58 <Retl> how do we get that into a game
[Time passes]
00:10 <Retl> See now I have this super armoed Rarity on my desktop
00:10 -!- Wirepawny is now known as WireFTLpony
00:11 <Retl> And I can’t stop staring at this leg and thinking
00:11 <Retl> “that thigh must be huge aw yis”
00:11 * WireFTLpony sends four mantis troops and two boarding drones
00:11 <WireFTLpony> XD
00:11 <WireFTLpony> big meaty thighs
00:11 * Retl dies to whichever was the weakest sent thing. ded
[…]
00:11 <WireFTLpony> She doooooo
00:11 <Retl> but the thing is it’s just a letdown waiting to happen
00:12 <Retl> She’ll take off the armor and them BAM
00:12 <Retl> normal size
00:12 <Retl> And I’ll be all like
00:12 <Retl> 😐 PUT IT BACK ON
[…]
00:12 <WireFTLpony> a powersuit like hers could be multiple CM thick
00:12 <Retl> In real life, maybe
00:12 <Retl> In cartoons, I have no idea
00:12 <WireFTLpony> since it has systems _in_ it
00:12 <Retl> YAY SYSTEMS
00:13 <Retl> wait what systems
00:13 <Retl> does it have an explosion generator
00:13 <Retl> hot
[…]
00:13 <WireFTLpony> I apologize for booty rocking
00:14 <Retl> BOOTY ROCKING CONFIRMED FOR ARMOR INTERNAL SYSTEM
[More time passes]
00:22 <Retl> http://alorix.deviantart.com/art/Fallout-Equestria-Ghost-Of-The-Wasteland-448301781 claws and crotches. I should like. go make endless diamonddog / hellhound / sanddog characters
00:22 <Retl> and they will never wear pants
00:22 <Retl> ever
00:23 <Wirepony> pants are for assholes
00:23 <Wirepony> and the covering thereof >.>
00:23 <Retl> And like because of NOT DYING they will wear super fancy armor from the waist up. But that’s never going to get drawn ever
00:23 <Retl> …
00:23 <Retl> unless it’s super-massive-thigh-power-armor
00:23 <Wirepony> …
00:23 <Retl> but it only comes up to like. Just below the buttocks or something
00:23 <Wirepony> armored thigh-highs?
00:24 <Retl> ARMORED THIGH HIGHS YES
[The above was noted so that I don’t forget to eventually make one of those bipedal doggie creatures with POWER ARMORED THIGH HIGHS prominently displayed crotch and optional top garments. Probably not for PnP, but for SOMETHING]
What I did: Flailed at code with partners for an hour and a half. Figured out a process for importing the new, improved models. Did not commit those changes. Partner discovered a bug where script references persisted in unity after a scene was destroyed (we mistakenly believed having all gameobjects destroyed would destroy the script instances with it) when references were given to events by listeners. To resolve it, we purge all listeners when the scene ends.
Also, today was fried chicken day at the cafeteria again. Or Cougar Den or whatever it’s called. Not sure I ever mentioned, but every day that the cafeteria serves fried chicken, the place is jam-packed, it’s incredibly difficult to find a free seat without basically hovering over someone waiting for them to leave, and it’s not uncommon to run out of plates or cups while going through the serving lines. Was mostly tasty though.
Had a moment where I questioned why the dead things we cook and eat (like fried chicken) don’t really look like muscle and flesh and blood vessels and stuff. Later asked on IRC. Someone pointed out that meat for food has the blood drained away, making the vessels less visible, and meats like steak are almost entirely muscle.
Our ‘record and playback maze solver’ bot was finally completed and worked successfully. Though it was very much prone to misalignment since the playback did not response to whisker-touch-detection, and one had to physically pick up the robot and place it back as close as they can to where they believed the original start position to be.
Experimented with Dreamweaver in Digital Multimedia. It’s OK. Maybe nice for filling content, but in general I’d rather just have a text editor to keep the html tidy and manageable instead of generating DOZENS OF LINES OF CRAP when I wanted to just have a video tag and a source. I like the WYSIWYG editing in WordPress and whatnot just fine, but I never bother to look at the source there, and don’t plan on having to tweak or manually maintain that section.
Drew some more doodles. Reminded I’m still not too happy with the familiar look anymore. Didn’t reboot to Ubuntu where I have drivers for my scanner, so I haven’t scanned it yet. Calling these people back about this job tomorrow. For certain. Because there’s only two weeks left, and if they wait much more to confirm the work, I’ll be graduated before I can start. 😡
Drew: Combined stuff I do all the time with stuff I haven’t tried.
Learned: Computer lab is open on weekends 8AM-10PM. Must have ID and must go through correct doors to avoid lockout. ID scans on white plastic with red light, not black with blue light.
Worked On: The Seas Have Eyes. 3 hours logged. Three player control modes supported. Placeholder enemy will only damage when facing player (detected via raycast) doesn’t turn to look at player unless player is looking at it (detected by imported cone mesh collider). Need to merge branches to master, add weapons and score. Other two enemy types. Game Over Screen. High Scores Table.
Played: 3 matches of Awesomenauts. Playing on revised league 8/7 has made it clear I’m not that great.
Tried to play more Sprit Stones but corrupt game data necessitated a reinstall, and because I didn’t link with facebook, I lost all of my save data with the reinstall. Tried out some new games instead.
Cut the Rope Full Free – Don’t bother, the ads are incredibly obnoxious. Also, it’s almost all physics-puzzles. Not my kind of game.
Angry Birds Friends: Pretty, cheerful, but ALSO physics puzzles. And thus I don’t enjoy it.
