Sierra Kilo

I played with Managed DirectX a bit this weekend. I went through a couple of tutorials that go through the basics of doing a tile-based game.

I downloaded VC# Express for home just to see what the differences were. It’s a pretty full-featured IDE. Very impressive that MS would release it for free, although I didn’t read the EULA, so I don’t know what restrictions it has.

I heard a blurb that MS was thinking about releasing an XBox development kit for around $100. I’m sure it would use the XNA system (basically Managed DirectX, I think). This is the best thing MS could do. Allow people to develop home-brew software for the 360 without having to hack the system. They could even buy the rights to distribute the software on XBox Live Marketplace. Why spend time and money developing stuff when the community will do it for you? I hope they end up doing this, but I hope they do it soon. The lifespan of gadgets is getting shorter and shorter nowadays.

Anyway, I want to do a simple tile-based RPG (as I mentioned a few days ago). Really, I want to capture the feel of the 2D Zelda games. Simple mechanics, good puzzles, and a large, fun world to explore. Once I get the tiling engine done, it’ll just be a matter of adding different elements. I really hope I can get this going. I have a bad habit of putting a project down for a bit and letting it rot. With everything I’ve got going on and coming up, I’m sure it’ll be difficult.

via Slashdot

Ranged weapons are the reason Sci-Fi MMOs don’t work well. It has nothing to do with the gun being impersonal, though. It has to do with the fact that you can’t take cover from fire.

You see, in a fantasy setting, you’ve got a sword and shield (in the generic sense). You don’t have to aim and it’s easy to defend yourself (block, parry, dodge). With a ranged weapon, it doesn’t make sense to stand there and shoot back and forth Civil War-style. You should take cover. If you’ve got that element, then you’re making a shooter game. Shooters are better done in first-person, while most MMOs are done in third-person.

Another reason why guns don’t work in MMORPGs are because they tend to kill too easily. A single hit from a gun can kill a character. If your level 100 character could be killed in a single shot, what’s the point of making it to level 100? It can’t be skill because it doesn’t require much skill to point and shoot. Sure, some can do it much better than others at long range, but generally speaking, it’s easier to kill with a gun than a sword.

An MMOFPRPG (first-person RPG) might work, though. Huxley is on the road to making that happen (if it’s ever released). As you get more sci-fi, you start getting armor that can withstand a gun blast similar to how plate mail can withstand a sword hack. You gain the cover aspect from the FPS, your character doesn’t die in a single hit, and your skill level can affect your weapon use. Until then, though, it’s either stand and hack with a sword, or stand and shoot Civil War-style.

The company who can do fast action ranged combat without doing Quake-style spawn points and merge RPG elements might have a fun game on their hands. Of course, then Blizzard will do a Starcraft MMO with just extremely polished basic functionality and kill the genre again…

Without saying too much to violate any possible NDA I might be under (who reads the entire EULA, anyway?), I’ve got a few comments on Test Drive Unlimited:

- The freedom is awesome. You seriously have the freedom to drive around the entire island of Hawaii.
- The physics are good. It uses the Havoc physics engine, which is good stuff. You get points for airtime and drifting. If anything, it doesn’t use it to the full potential. When I head-on a car, I want flips.
- The navigation system is good. It gives you a map and directs you to destinations, which is realistic. The full map is alot like Google Earth. It loads more detail the longer you view an area.
- I still don’t get what the point is. Driving around and racing is fun, but how do you include multiple players when the races are asynchronous? I’d like to see some redlight racing. Pull up next to somebody, rev the engine to signal you want to race, the other person revs his acceptance. Your cars are lined up evenly and your nav systems are given a route with quarter-mile checkpoints. The more checkpoints you win, the more points you get. You can quit any time, but if you quit while you’re behind, you lose points. Maybe that’s in the final version, though.
- I’d like to see more Sims-like play. I only played for about 1.5 hours, so I probably missed alot of stuff, but I should be able to customize my look, see other players’ homes, etc.

Anyway, it’s got potential. It’s pretty unpolished right now, though. It reminds me alot of GTA without the GT. Just alot of free driving.

I got into the Test Drive Unlimited Beta test for PS2. The disc(s) should be in the mail. It’s a racing MMO, basically. It’s based on the island of Hawaii with something like 1000 miles of actual Hawaiian roads. I’m not sure what the point is, but from the looks of things, it’s a little like the Sims. You can get a house, clothes, cars, and motorcycles, then call up other people and race them around the island. Sounds really cool. I hope it’s sandbox-y.

No word on an NDA, so I might not be able to write about my experiences. I have never set up my network adapter for my PS2, so that’ll be an experience. I tried once, but was having problems, so I stopped. Maybe it’ll be brainless w/ the beta discs. We’ll see…

So, here’s the deal. I’ve got tons of ideas. I’m a very creative person. The problem is, I keep myself from acting on most of these ideas for one reason or another. In the past, I’ve found that I’ll have an idea, spend money on it, only to have it fall on its face or get bored with it. Realizing that I spend way too much money on projects that don’t bear fruit, I’ve stopped doing these projects, or at least cap them off.

My software ideas are the same, except the cost is not money as much as it is time. Wasting time is a bit easier to justify than wasting money. The webcam thing is still there. The cheap-o cameras work perfectly, the software has some bugs, but nothing I can’t fix. The problem there is that there’s nothing interesting to watch I can’t put the cameras in good spots. The other piece of the software was hooking up my TV card. I can’t get DirectShow to just show me the feed. It acts like it wants to, but just won’t.

Lately, I’ve been having game ideas. I’ve always loved the design of Animal Crossing for Nintendo. It’s a single player game where you do mundane tasks like pick up trash and work (fish, harvest, etc) to pay off debt. Harvest Moon is similar, except you run a farm and have to grow crops. If you wanted a trashed out town or dead crops, you could just not do anything. In Oblivion, you’ve got the freedom to follow the plot or to go off and do your own thing. Same with GTA. Those games are fun that way. They’re just a big world to play in. A sandbox.

So, I’ve been jotting down some ideas to actually start a game. I want to start small because I don’t know jack about it. I’m thinking it’ll be a top-down, tile-based 2D game. The best example I can think of is Zelda or the Ultima games. I might get my brother to make me some tiles and animation, but he’s busy with his school stuff now, so I’ll end up using some basic or free stuff. You can always get better art, the hard part is getting the engine running. I’d like to try to do some Managed DirectX with C#, since that’s what I’m doing at work.

I’ll start by drawing ground. Then, I’ll make it scroll around. Then, draw a character. Then, animate him. Then, add obstacles. I’m not sure where I’ll go from there. I’d like to make the game mouse-driven, but key-driven is much easier since there’s no pathfinding involved. The thing is, if I have aggressive enemies, I’ll need pathfinding anyway. We’ll see. I would like to do a line-of-sight algorithm. Terrain would be visible all of the time, but objects and NPCs could be hidden. Maybe at a much later point. After I’ve got the character moving with obstacles, I’ll probably do buildings, doors, and roofs. Who knows. The point is to start small and start simple. KISS.

Real quick observations:

There’s this “One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)” thing that’s going on right now where this guy is building a laptop that’ll cost around $100 and has features that are accessible and usable by children in 3rd world countries. Nigeria signed up for 1 million of them (that’ll cost $100 million). India passed on it saying that they need to study the health effects of a child using a laptop. Um…it’ll increase carpal tunnel, deteriorate eyesight, and may cause neck and back problems, but at least they’ll be able to…um…compute. Anyway, I saw a comment on Slashdot saying, “not one industrial country has so far implemented a similar program for its children.” Totally. Why doesn’t our government drop $100 mil for a few of these to give to inner city children? That amount of cash is nothing next to other expenditures, so it can’t be the cost. The things can be powered by hand crank or pull string, so it can’t be the power. Why offer these things to people who need food and clean water more than a laptop? I get that it’s supposed to help them get a leg up on technology, but $100 million would go further feeding people than grooming them for Dell tech support would. Maybe I just don’t get the point of these things. I saw something where they were talking about how you might be able to buy one for yourself for $300 and the company would donate 2 of them to some country. That would totally be a good cause. Better still, buy one for yourself, and they would send one laptop and $100 of food or health care to a country. There are plenty of people who would step up to the plate. Heck, you could even donate the one you bought to a US organization to give yours to a local child for computer education. If you can build a decent laptop for $100, why not get the richer countries to help like that? Anyway…that’s a long paragraph.

Also…TiVo is going to start researching ads. They’re going to steal my idea. I better patent it fast. Wonder where you start…

This week’s Diggnation was filmed at ComicCon. It was a “live” show, which really just means that they taped it with a large (loud, obnoxious) audience at a bar or something. Here’s the deal Alex and Kevin: Stop doing “live” shows.

Why? Well, having the show interrupted by idiots bringing shots is very annoying. Yes, I like your show. I like the content and the humor. I like hearing your opinions on different topics. I do not like 5-minute interruptions where Alex is forced to drink hard liquor and everyone else is cheering and booing and causing chaos. That is not entertaining video.

It’s been just over a year since you started. Much of the format is still pretty good. I like the “beers” segments. There’s nothing wrong with having a beer while talking over some news. You should probably stick to that, though. No guests unless they are relevant to the topic. Posh Suicide? Who cares? I’m sure she’s sexy and whatnot, but if I wanted to see her, I’d be on her website. Tiki Bar people? They have their own show. Give me news, chatter, and funny.

There’s this war going on with the Weblogs, Inc. guy and Kevin Rose. Believe it or not, I think Kevin has lost his edge. I’m down with his Apple pride. The Unix-based OS still has some street cred. But Alex was right, Kevin…where’s the Dark Tips? Where’s the Systm? You’re a big Digg pimp now, and I’m sure that takes most of your time, but you’re losing favor with some of the fanbase because you’re starting to get corporate and commercial. Pimp your sponsors, that’s cool, but get back to the roots and give us some grit.

Alex, on the other hand, is still funny. I wish he’d change up the Ctrl-Alt-Chicken format a bit, though.

Other big news is that Metallica was added to iTunes today. Take that Lars!

Why is that big news? Well, it’s not, really. Back in the day, Metallica was this cool rock band. There was this peer-to-peer file sharing software called Napster that allowed others to copy your files. Some of these files were the emerging MP3 format music. Some of the music was Metallica’s. The drummer/leader of the band, Lars Ulrich, led a protest against digital music and refused to allow people to download their songs.

Well, after a quick decline in popularity, it seems that Metallica is now willing to allow downloads of their music. Anything for a buck, eh?

Seriously, though, I’m all for digital music. Most of my digital music I’ve ripped from CDs that I own. Another large part is from music that I owned at one point, which I, then, sold the hard copy (i.e. CD). The other part is from sources unknown. Legal? Who knows. I’m sure some of it may not be completely legal according to some sources, but oh well.

Would I buy digital music? Yes, as long as the price was right. $1.00 per song is too much for me. If it came with album art, a full ID3 tag, and lyrics? Definately worth $1.00. Otherwise, it’s just a file. It costs the musician very little to produce in the grand scheme of things. If I can get along earning what I do and producing what I do at the cost I do, then they can do the same thing. Communist? Hey, there are some valid points there. Commercialism and capitalism are easily swayed out of balance. But that’s neither here nor there…

Lunch time…

Porous Paving

Once in a while, I read the Treehugger.com site. It’s got some cool hippy ideas that are meant to help the environment. Some are not that great, others are thought provoking, and some are brilliant. There’s a recent article that falls under the last category.

It talks about porous paving, which is basically like pouring a grid of concrete (i.e. ###) and having little open sections where grass can grow through. The pavement is strong enough to hold vehicles, doesn’t crack as much causing pools to form, and retains less heat.

I’m not a big believer in global warming. Sure it’s been getting warmer and pollution can’t be good for the planet, but I don’t think that it will destroy the planet. Urban sprawl, however, could destroy the planet. If we pave or build over every inch of grass and forest, we’ll suffocate ourselves (eventually, way down the line).

That’s why I think that these “open cell concrete blocks” are a good idea. Sure, we level a square mile or so of land to create a parking lot. We have to resurface it every few years. It gives us a place to park our rides. Why not allow 30-50% of this area to be beneficial? With the right planting, you wouldn’t have to mow it. The amount of traffic would keep it manageable. Rather than painting parking spaces, you could just plant a different color of the turf.

One thing you would have to be mindful of is foot traffic. Women in high heels would have a hell of a time traversing this parking lot, especially when it’s wet. Full concrete walkways might be a good idea. Also, you’d have to think about grocery carts and wheelchairs. But it’s a perfect place to park vehicles. Heck, it would be great for neighborhood streets. Have crosswalks and sidewalks be full concrete, but everything in-between be porous pavers. The traffic is low enough, and you could really add alot to the value of your neighborhood by making it look nicer. Of course, in Texas, it would all be dead from the lack of water, but still.

I picked up my new 2006 Lexus IS250 on Friday. Black with Cashmere leather interior. LT/NV packages (luxury with navigation). In a word: Cool.

The navigation works extremely well, even though it doesn’t always recommend the best routes due to construction or traffic patterns. It’ll definately get you to where you want to go, though. The POI database is good and includes telephone numbers for most locations. It doesn’t have my street in the database, though, so I had to set my home location by GPS.

The radio is great. 13 speakers, good bass/treble, sounds excellent. I wish it had a true iPod interface, though. Something that would allow me to navigate playlists or browse my music on the touchscreen. I think there are aftermarket things, but I’m just not interested right now.

Engine is good. Enough power to get me along. Transmission is good. Shifts smooth, and the step-tronic is very responsive. The ride is smooth, yet still gives you a good feel of the road. The leather is creamier than my BMW. Feels like soft butter. The ventillated seats do a decent job. I don’t feel alot of air in the small of my back, where I get the sweatiest, though. I’m a bit worried that the smell of sweaty butt will start to permiate the interior. The AC is simple and works well. There’s even an air filter.

There are a couple of things that I’m not especially fond of, though. The wheels are 18″, which means higher-priced tires. Not too much more, though. They are also different sizes for the front and rear. The spare is a donut for this reason. The navigation screen makes you agree to *something* before you use it. I think it’s something about concentrating on driving instead of navigating. I’ve never read it. I wish there was a simple way to turn that crap off, or at least agree to it once and let it go. There is an override that will let you nav while driving, but you have to override it every time you start the car. Blah. The voice command prompt is one of my biggest peeves. It waits a few seconds before explaining that you should “Say your command after the beep”, then waits, then beeps. If I wanted to wait that long, I’d just manually do it. Sheesh. Anybody know a way to turn that prompt off and just give me the beep?

The last peeve is the storage space. I guess storage just isn’t a very big concern for car makers. Ashtrays are, though? What the heck? Anyway, I’ve got a tiny cup holder easily accessible, another if I slide the armrest back, and bottle holders in the doors. The rear armrest has 2 cupholders that would probably be most useful for the front seat. The console is a pain. I had to get a 90-degree power splitter for my iPod power and with all of the iPod stuff in there, there’s hardly any room for anything else. Even the cupholder is covered by the iPod when it’s positioned where I can get to it. I’ll probably figure something out for the iPod eventually. I might just make an organizer for the console or something out of foam. We’ll see.

Overall, still cool. Better than the Bimmer so far. More tech, more luxury. Not especially fond of the black, but it’s frickin’ sweet when it’s clean. Cashmere interior is perfect. Exterior looks are perfect.