http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/index/ Mind the gap between the keyboard and the chair en yakumo9275@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-13T14:36:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/mandolin/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/mandolin/#When:14:36:00Z I got a new mandolin on the weekend (thanks Nan-nan!), to replace the one I had that didnt quite work. The previous one had some frets inlaid really deeply to the point you couldnt hit some notes without the strings hitting other frets, no matter how high the bridge was set, it was a cheap mando, unfortunately this time, was not even suitable for learning on. The new one is a Ibanez M511SBS, all solid woods, no ply or such, and yes, I checked all the frets, this one is good to go. Now I just have to get back up to speed and start learning again. You can see Joy’s Alvarez MD90 in the background. I do need to tighten the nut on the armrest but apart from that… Life, Personal 2008-05-13T14:36:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/quest_journals/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/quest_journals/#When:17:13:00Z In between drawing some arms and legs (see previous post), Ive been doing some testing on the PSP. Its amazing the little things that show up on there that don’t on the PC. (Porting is not an exact science). I found a couple of really stupid errors, obvious things that really only manifest on the PSP because of how its control pad reacts. Auto repeat is not good in menus, dialogues and quest journals). Speaking of quest journals, my roguelike has one and I’m thinking of implementing it to augment the current quest journal, only not as verbose as my roguelike. Right now the quest journal just shows given but not completed quests which you can page through and then completed quests. Each screen has the option to quit out or go to next item. I need to change it to use ‘X’ to quit out or directional pad to scroll through the items instead of buttons to page through… Thats the basic quest journal, but I want to add something like a game notes. Not something the player can edit but something the game tracks and shows you, example; On 4th of Foo, year 1203 The Party defeated foobar the great On 8th of Bar, year 1249 Pinky was turned to stone On 8th of Bar, year 1249 Foozle died from poisoning On 30th of Zot, year 1253 Baz was recruited to the party On 30th of Zot, year 1255 The party accepted the quest to find the hold grail On 24th of Bar, year 1376 The party entered a moongate Now the roguelike is more verbose (detailing on move X you did Y etc), but we dont need that kind of granularity. I think the journal notes would be recording bigger events. Not every combat the party undertook but used more as a memoir type thing and using a book type interface drawn with good old pale yellowing paper. mmm… if I should be able to adapt my CNC code… mmmm Thinking some more I don’t know if it would really offer anything up to the game. It makes sense in the roguelike but this kind of journal, I dont know for a traditional CRPG.... Think I’ll stick to the quest journal. Computers, Development, Fishguts 2008-05-06T17:13:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/the_combat_front/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/the_combat_front/#When:15:54:00Z Not a lot of updates on the Fishguts front. Minor minor things really. I’m going to split out all the combat sprites into their own sprite sheets rather than bung them all onto one large sheet. Its a minimal help for memory consumption and means I can make several versions of the same sprite and not feel guilty about having them all in memory in the one sprite sheet. I’m still debating (though 95% sold on the below idea) paperdolling to a limited extent, only because the player will always be a humanoid size (so no need to account for dwarf / ogre sizes in paper dolling) . 1 - Need only draw a couple of same size icons 2 - Draw a couple of weapons. Each sprite will consist of a couple of primary colours (chest colour, arm, leg, boots, hat etc) that the player can cycle through to select. Once chosen, this sprite will be composed as a flat bitmap and saved as a file on disk, so I don’t have to recompose it each time we go into combat Lets think it over a bit more. Players icon is composed of; 1 - Ready/Guard sprite 2 - Attack sprite That would consist of; 1 - head (bald, hat, short hair, long hair) 2 - torso 3 - arm overlay (see below) 4 - legs 5 - boots Placement must accommodate any one of 1 - One hand weapon only 2 - One hand weapon and shield 3 - Two handed weapon 4 - Bow 5 - Staff 6 - Nothing Now right away I can see that a two handed sword selection doesnt mesh with anything else so separate arm overlays will be required… Each item could have a one or two colour selection.. lets make it a one colour selection, using the ‘bright’ colours and I can map in the second colour for shadow/detail as being its ‘dark’ alternate. (Those that remember the old ANSI colours or 16 colour paint programs will know what I mean by this). Looking over this I have immediately made things more complex than I intended, but I think its a good complexity than forcing the player to always have a preset icon… Now, in an ideal world, and which I may still implement, is have the player choose his primary colours for torso/arms/legs/boots/head and at the start of combat dynamically create the sprite using whatever selected weapon is on hand. That would require recomposition when changing weapons mid combat… that shouldnt be too bad since combat is turn based and not realtime… Time to get back to work-work and stop thinking game development. Computers, Development, Fishguts 2008-05-02T15:54:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/bump_friendly/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/bump_friendly/#When:15:51:00Z I’ve made the start town ‘bump friendly’ now, so if you bump into a guard you wont be summarily wiped out. You can still hit ‘a’ to attack and force an encounter but bumping by happenstance wont kill you. I’m thinking of extending the time give before being kicked out of town, so that the player has more of a chance to see whats in the town than only being able to hit the supply shop first… Things are slowly progressing nicely toward an 0.5 release Computers, Development, Cracks and Crevices 2008-05-02T15:51:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/chaotic_neutral_human_fighter_ranger_3rd_2nd_level/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/chaotic_neutral_human_fighter_ranger_3rd_2nd_level/#When:15:58:00Z I did the What DnD character are you meme (130 odd questions) Kinda odd coz thats the character I create in any CRPG that I can play (usually I pick ranger over fighter but dualclassing both is nice). My stats are a bit low :( doh! I Am A: Chaotic Neutral Human Fighter/Ranger (3rd/2nd Level) Ability Scores: Strength-15 Dexterity-14 Constitution-15 Intelligence-14 Wisdom-15 Charisma-11 Alignment:Chaotic Neutral A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn’t strive to protect others’ freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it. Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be because it represents true freedom from both society’s restrictions and a do-gooder’s zeal. However, chaotic neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all authority, harmony, and order in society. Race:Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like. Primary Class:Fighters can be many things, from soldiers to criminal enforcers. Some see adventure as a way to get rich, while others use their skills to protect the innocent. Fighters have the best all-around fighting capabilities of the PC classes, and they are trained to use all standard weapons and armor. A fighter’s rigorous martial training grants him many bonus feats as he progresses, and high-level fighters have access to special melee maneuvers and exotic weapons not available to any other character. Secondary Class:Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter’s dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger’s Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast. Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus Detailed Results: Alignment: Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXX (9) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Law & Chaos: Law ----- XXXXXXX (7) Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8) Chaos --- XXXXXXXXX (9) Good & Evil: Good ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15) Evil ---- XX (2) Race: Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Dwarf ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXX (10) Gnome ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Halfling - XXXXXXXXXX (10) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Half-Orc - XX (2) Class: Barbarian - (-2) Bard ------ (-6) Cleric ---- (-2) Druid ----- (0) Fighter --- XX (2) Monk ------ (-13) Paladin --- (-21) Ranger ---- XX (2) Rogue ----- (-2) Sorcerer -- (0) Wizard ---- (0) Computers, Computer Gaming 2008-04-29T15:58:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/high_scores_and_tombstones/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/high_scores_and_tombstones/#When:00:52:00Z I branched my cnc repo tonight (git checkout -b is sooo nice!) and added highscores for multiplayer goodness. I’m going to use the same framework for tombstones and display small markers in the park of the last couple of deaths. I can “trust” this on unix (my primary development system) but cant really trust it on win32 (everyone runs as administrator so… shrugs). Computers, Development, Cracks and Crevices 2008-04-25T00:52:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/minor_updates/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/minor_updates/#When:00:14:01Z Honestly, I’m not doing a lot of work on fishguts lately. Been mostly messing with my language/compiler and my roguelike. I did do some work on cleaning up my quest interface. I split it out into three files, one is just a set of constants, one a set of descriptions and such and the third is the basic routines. This way I can use my quest functions and just include the constants for things that dont requires the mss of loaded text for the quest descriptions. Computers, Development, Fishguts 2008-04-21T00:14:01-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/szechuan_chicken/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/szechuan_chicken/#When:18:07:01Z So I went looking for a szechuan chicken recipie online… I googled, as you do, and started hitting the top 20 or so links. I even hit the first 10 links at places like cooks.com… NONE used szechuan peppercorns. They all just listed generic garbage like chili peppers or “cayenne pepper” to taste. ugh. There is a tonne of “10 minute” recipes out there too. Most seem to think rice wine / vinegar is all you need. One of the top links is even a Betty Crocker recipe whose secret ingrediant is… ”bag (1 lb 5 oz) Green Giant® Create A Meal!® frozen szechuan stir fry meal starter”. Thats just pure awesomeness. Another mix recreated the zing of Szechuan Chicken with powdered mustard and texas pete hot sauce! I also learnt some new things. - Chinese pea pods = snow peas. - Szechuan Chili oil recreates any meal prefixed by Szechuan, aka Szechuan {insert favourite food type here} - Barbecue sauce makes for great “authentic” recipe’s. The top rated recipezaar “Szechuan Chicken” recipe is basically nothing but rice wine vinegar and has from 13 reviews 4 and 9/10ths out of 5 stars… ridiculous. No wonder you cant find good Chinese food in America. I did end up finding a proper recipe which included Tien Tsin Chinese Chile Pepper, Szechuan Peppercorns and Arrowroot Powder… at The Spice House which is a online seller of exotic spices… So of course they need something to showcase szechuan peppercorns! If Joy wouldn’t kill me because we are in a “no spending” mode, I’d love to spring for some unground peppercorns and the other two aforementioned spices..... Life, Cooking 2008-04-16T18:07:01-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/financial_meltdown/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/financial_meltdown/#When:15:49:00Z I read this article on CNN Careers vanish after subprime ‘free fall’, its a wonderful tale of woe of the family of Kent and Mysti Cope who live in the so impoverished Orange County in California. Lets take some quotes..... He has been out of work since August when he was laid off OK, He lost his job and has not found one in… 7 or 8 months..... Today, they’re trying to get by on his unemployment benefits of about $450 a week, which covers only about an eighth of the basic payments they owe every month. For Mysti, 37, all her efforts to find work since she lost her job last May have been futile. His wife has no job either… and hasn’t had one for 11 months… Their home equity line, mortgage, health and life insurance premiums alone cost about $10,000 a month. Still, they are trying to hang onto what they call their dream home with a view of the Pacific Ocean Awesome! Keeping the dream alive, a mansion on the coast… “We’ve used up most of our reserves, cashed in her 401K,” said Kent. “We’re going Mach 1 into a wall. When we run into it, then we’ve got to decide what to do next.” This is the “we have no plan going forward” routine, also known as “we are waiting for something magical to happen and money to fall into our laps!!” And they’ve made cutbacks: trading in Kent’s Corvette for a Suburban and getting rid of the gardener, Awesome, they switched from a gas guzzling corvette to a.. gas guzzling huge ass SUV! Since he lost his job, Kent has gotten a real estate license and is trying to start a business selling the rapidly increasing inventory of foreclosed homes in Orange County, Calif. Mysti is trying to build an online business selling jewelry and beachwear, some of which she designs herself. I know!! Lets get a job selling houses.. that don’t sell in a market that is thrashing around and wallowing in its death throes! Awesome decision there Kent. You go Mysti (Is that her porn actress name or something?), just think how many sea shell necklaces and self designed bikini’s you need to sell to make that 10k minimum a month. “The media has somewhat tarnished the subprime industry and all the employees, and portrayed them as being dishonest,” she said. “We’re not dishonest. Not everybody was a bad borrower. Not every company was a bad lender.” Yes yes, its all the fault of the media Mysti, thats why you cant get a job. Must be tough living in Orange County, CA and needing to make 10k a month to pay your mortgage and health insurance. They obviously didn’t create any kind of safety net with there 2million+ income (they both had a six figure+ income each)… I mean.. really.. you have a combined two million plus income and you don’t push jack shit into savings and we are supposed to sympathise how tough life is for folks living in Orange County CA? Cry me a river. Life 2008-03-31T15:49:00-05:00 http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/using_skills/ http://www.mega-tokyo.com/blog/index.php/site/using_skills/#When:14:03:01Z So I know what my frame limiter was… I had sped time up to test some time triggers, which in essence converted it from 1000 ticks a second to 250. Hence the dropping by 1/4… Putting this back to 1000 ticks brought me back to 16/17 frames a second… I double tasked the use option, so now when using an item you can toggle to using a skill! Now I can hunt in forests for food. When using the hunting skill, it scans the tiles around the player, different tiles give different weights to what game can be found. Forests are best, then woodland then grassland. Each tile type has a multiplier, and a bonus is applied if your enclosed in all forest. The scan is a 49 tile block (3x3 around the player). This is calculated into a chance of finding game, making that chance then applies your hunting skill to see if you actually brought down and bagged that game. Passing that, gives a random chance for game type, the rarest gives the most meat, the most common, the least meat, (There are only 3 types of game). Without building big, what I would have liked to implement would be a reference underneath so you couldn’t hunt more than once in a set area without reducing the amount of game there. IE you couldn’t farm a set of tiles indefinitely without exhausting them, and over time they would replenish… but thats not code I am willing to spend on something I’m trying hard not to bloat unnecessarily… Computers, Development, Fishguts 2008-03-31T14:03:01-05:00