Author: Dennis

30 Day Movie Challenge – Day 1: Favourite Film

by Dennis••1•Posted inFilms

So I decided to try to do the 30 day movie challenge. Instead of doing it on Facebook and annoying everyone with embedded trailers and such, I thought I’d do it here instead. Day one starts off with a bang as they ask for your favourite film and why you picked it. I think this should be the very last item on the list, so that you get 29 days to sift through your own thoughts about films and come to a particular conclusion about your favourite one. It’s like quitting a $20 a day heroine habit cold turkey.

So what does a “favourite film” require? It doesn’t have to be the “best film,” just your favourite one. So it’s the one that you’d love to see the most, with infinite rewatchability and entertainment value. There are many films in the running; Predator, Aliens, The Crow, Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Sunshine…but I think I’ll have to settle for The Warriors.

This was probably the first film I ever got fascinated by when I discovered it on a VHS tape my parents had laying around. I love the visuals, the music and the atmosphere of the film. The story is simple but effective and the characters are strong but simple. It planted the seed for many of the fascinations and interests I have today.

It’s not the best film, but it’s likely to be my favourite film.

Fearless and Endless

by Dennis••0•Posted inJournal

I wish I was the fearless and endless well of love and support for my friends and family that some people think I am. Unfortunately I’m not. I want to take all your burdens away. I want my shoulders to be broad enough to carry all the load. I want more than anything to help, but I know that I can’t and that if I will try it won’t end well. I’m always reminded of the cabin pressure loss procedure on planes; first put the oxygen mask on your own face before helping others. You’re no use to others when you’ve suffocated. I have to make sure I take care of myself first before I take care of others, no matter how much love, respect and admiration I have for the people that I want to help.

Dragon Age: Origins – Arcane Warrior

by Dennis••4•Posted inGaming

Dragon Age: Origins

As some of you might know, I’ve been playing Dragon Age: Origins pretty solidly for the last few weeks. I had bought Mass Effect on Steam, talked about the richness of the game with Richard and he gave me his copy of DA:O because he said it had the same depth. I started playing it a little bit, then a lot, then abandoned Mass Effect all together in favour of DA:O (to be picked up later) and now I’m pretty hooked.

The game has an over-arcing storyline, with four sub storylines and several dozen smaller storylines running through it. The four sub storylines are like separate chapters in the story that you can follow in any sequence you desire. You can either go to Castle Redcliffe, where Arl Eamon, a powerful ally has been gravely ill. You can go to the Circle of Magi, who’s tower has been overrun by deamons. You can go to the Dalish Elves, who have been set on by werewolves, or you can go to the Dwarves of Orzammar, who are currently without a king while two factions are vying for the throne.

I first went to Redcliffe, only to find out I really needed the Circle of Magi to finalise that storyline, so I went to the Circle of Magi after completing 99% of the story in Redcliffe. Then completed them both in succession and went on to the Dalish Elves, which I thought was a really solid storyline. That’s where I picked up the Arcane Warrior specialisation for my Mage. Then I went to Orzammar and completed that last night.

What I only realised in Orzammar is that heavy armour suddenly didn’t require higher strength to wear, but higher magic! I could finally take off those horrible robes and wear a kick-ass set of armour. Holy mac, the game suddenly took a turn for the awesome! The idea of the Arcane Warrior was one that I was attracted to almost immediately, but I couldn’t figure out where to unlock it, so I chose the Spirit Healer as my first specialisation. It was the most practically applicable most of the time. I usually run around with Alistair as the main tank (champion/templar), Leliana for traps, lockpicking and archery, and Wynne for the needed healing backup.

Man, if I had know how cool the arcane warrior was, I’d have done the Dalish Elves storyline first and then the rest. I think I made a lot of mistakes with my build, and unfortunately you can’t respec in the game.

Self Motivation

by Dennis••0•Posted inDevelopment

Self motivation can be a big problem. When you lose your momentum or enthusiasm in any project it’s hard to pick it back up again. With Corrosion, I had that when I was trying to figure out what to do with the pathfinding algorithm. It was just not performing and it was a draining and harrowing experience. It’s still not the way I want it to be, but at least I got it to work to a degree that I could continue.

Then it was implementing spells in a solid way. Shadowrun spells are funny things; they don’t operate in a uniform way, so there’s a lot of exceptions that you have to build into the code. I’ve got the spells implemented for players now, but implementing it for enemies is going to be a bit of a pain still. That’s where I am right now, thinking about the best way to implement them for enemies. Luckily, I was smart enough to build in several hooks when I was busy setting them up for characters, so it’s definitely not going to be quite so difficult as when I would have to build it from the ground up, but still.

Surprisingly, it’s also not about the reward; the reward will be a whole new mission that’s just waiting to be used once spells get done. All the players are begging me for more content while I plug away at the foundation and the new mission, The Arena, is just sitting there waiting for me to get off my ass and do it. I suspect it’s going to be about a week’s worth of work. So about 20 hours in total, so that’s not so bad, it’s just the start that sucks. I’m an idiot. :)

And I can’t even start to think about implementing spells into the PvP engine, because that requires a level of sophistication that I don’t know how to tackle yet. The PvP engine requires a lot of sophistication it’s lacking right now. The combat for characters is all automated, so ideally you’d make a few smart decisions for characters, like when to reload their weapon, when to switch to unarmed combat when their bullets run out, when to apply a slap patch or cast a Heal spell, how long to keep casting spells and at what wound level do you not risk any further drain? And ideally, all these things should be lightly customisable for a player.

Anyway, I’m just ranting a little bit. Talking (or writing) about this project usually gets me motivated. I should do it more often. :)