Posting Good
I’ve actually been working on something for a while now and it’s starting to sort of shape up as something I might be able to work on soon. I’m doing a lot of maths to figure some things out though, but once that’s done I’ll get to work for real and at this rate might even have some sort of prototype very soon. Hopefully any way.
Hi Again
I’ve been gone for a long time for no real good reason. I wanted to start working on a game and write up a post with what I’m doing and a nightly build every day, but I’m just stupefyingly lazy so that hasn’t been happening. I did, uh… fix? … my… “copy” of Windows 7 to be “real”. So now I have Visual Studio 2010 Express installed and I can use XNA and all that. Not really sure I want to. I did pay for Game Maker and it’s not really that bad. Using a real language would be better in many ways, but I’ve already done a bit on a game - really several - in Game Maker. That’s good work that I can build on where as coding from scratch would feel too much like a step backwards. Well, in any case, after the break, some notes on what I did do before I stopped doing and the build of it.
An Hour a Day
Hey, Tumblr. Been a while. How’s life? I’m hoping mine is looking up. Decided I needed to make a change; mainly to stop doing absolutely nothing. In that regard, I’ve set myself a few rules. Firstly, that I will spend no more than an hour a day being electronically entertained, with music and books being the only exceptions. Secondly, I have created a list of things to do that aren’t playing video games or surfing the web - I’m doing list item “write” now - to be completed daily. Those were the basic rules I set up over the first two days. I’m on day four now and I’ve added a couple more. I am no longer allowed my one hour until I have completed at least one item on my list and once everything on the list is done to satisfaction and I have no other obligations I may do as I please until bed time. After all, the object is to get into the habit of actually doing something during the day not to cut out playing on the computer entirely. Ideally, I will one day do away with all restrictions and still continue a more productive daily routine. I feel like somehow this is the opposite of adulthood. That somehow upon some magic age I should have automatically become this more productive person, preferably before flunking out of college. Oh well. Maybe I can force it.
Does Anyone Read This?
I bet there’s a lot of abandoned Tumblrs out there where that’s the title of the last post. Oh well.
The last time I did post on this, I was heaping praise on Google+. Well, they kicked me out. For not using my full name. Not for not using my real name, but for not using my real entire full name. Sure, I’d been using my handle, but before that and on Facebook I was quite happy to just use my first name and last initial. That’s not enough for Google apparently.
That’s really all there is to say on the matter. I just wanted to keep this ever so slightly up-to-date.
Top 5 Reasons Google+ is Better than Facebook
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It’s not Facebook. Just the idea of being freed from Facebook’s numerous pitfalls puts a smile on my face. That something would come along to usurp Facebook was inevitable. I was willing to go anywhere.
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It’s Google. This might not seem like the best part to some, but it’s quite meaningful to me. I use an Android phone and even before getting that was happy with Gmail and other Google services. Seeing the ways they have updated and supported those, I’m expecting good things going forward.
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No ads. Not yet any way. And you can bet the ones we get won’t be the giant, obtrusive ones of Facebook.
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No Farmville. I don’t know what Google’s plans are, but I hope they don’t include these sorts of scams. Spam is a defining trait of Facebook and right now Google+ provides relief.
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Privacy. This is a huge issue on Facebook. Google smartly made it a selling point. Making groups and defining and changing who can see what couldn’t be simpler. And if you ever feel the privacy provided isn’t enough, unlike Facebook there seems to be a simple method to delete your entire account.
It’s not perfect yet; it needs things like events and groups to truly be the better option. But Google+ shouldn’t have any trouble toppling the Facebook empire merely through existence.
And Then I Did Nothing
I like how the post about getting close to finished with actions went into the queue and went out immediately after I posted in excitement at getting actions working. Actually I only got one action working, but it’s a system that will let me add actions easily. Since then though I haven’t done a danged thing. Hopefully I can sit down and hack out some more code tomorrow. It’s too late right now I think (this is going in the queue). What I’d like to work on is giving the room description the rules for listing all its items. The format should be like this in the end:
(That after the break because this ended up being pretty long. There’s also some stuff about gameplay and story ideas.)
Close
I’m really close to having really sloppy - but working - actions in my text adventure. Yeah, that’s the thing I just said I wasn’t working on because I thought I’d be more productive working on several projects and I was probably right. Who cares! You can almost use a table with a chair to probably not do anything unless I make this a game about putting chairs on tables.
To the North There Is Chair
I know exactly what I’m going to do to make it describe the items in a room, but for now I frankly just don’t feel like it. Not only would it not really be the most productive place to start when you can’t even sit in the chair or even so much as look at it, but I’m getting burnt out on this project. I need something else to either work on along side it or just to switch to for a while. Finishing any undertaking isn’t something I’m good at. But I can get a lot closer if I either eliminate all distractions or have enough distractions that I keep working without even noticing. The former has only been made possible by a classroom setting where I have no internet access. The latter I can accommodate with music and multiple projects, but will never be an entirely workable solution. It’s the latter though that is currently doable. So I’ll just have to start working on whatever comes to mind and keep going until something ends up done.
