ihavefivehat

I tried that, and startup repair doesn't seem to be working at all. It hung on the loading screen for startup repair for about 2 hours. I'm probably going to take this thing to the mac store when I get a chance, to get an estimate if nothing else.

Well, I'm having some weird issues with my laptop. I think something might be seriously wrong with it I have a 4 year old macbook pro. My original power chord died a while ago, so I've been using a cheap third party one that I bought off of Amazon. Last night, my cat decided to roll over into the power chord and somehow cause it to do something terrible. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my computer turned itself off immediately, and the power chord no longer works. Luckily I was able to borrow a friend's power chord while I try to figure out what's wrong. I have Windows 7 installed using bootcamp, (which is the OS I was using at the time). Windows will now no longer start up. Instead, it just hangs on the windows logo forever. Surprisingly, I can start the computer up in OSX, and everything seems to be running fine, except that the computer no longer recognizes my battery. The battery indicator in OSX has an X through it, and when I click on it tells me that no battery is available. It seems like the battery is actually working, though, because the computer doesn't shut down as soon as I unplug the chord. The other weird thing is that my fan seems to be always running at full power no matter what temperature my computer is. I don't know much about electronics, but it seems like a power surge has fried something or other in my whatever stuff. The computer's out of warranty and I'm pretty much broke, so I'm hoping I don't have to replace the motherboard or anything. I'm backing up my files now, and I was thinking about formatting the hard drive, but I don't know if that would be a good idea if this is a hardware issue. Any advice would be welcome.

I'm really not a fan of the art. I don't mind the saturated colors, it's more the proportions of the characters and buildings that bother me. I understand that they're going for readability, which is awesome, but I think this feels a bit too cartoony. It reminds me of a mobile city builder. I bet it looks better in motion, though.

speaking of which... here is the most horrifying thing to happen to a fruit ever do not watch if you want to continue to find grapes appetizing

Practice is always the most important thing, so keep that up! In the beginning, don't get too hung up on how good your drawings are. Just keep making new ones. The skills will build eventually. There's a book called 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' which is pretty good for beginners. For figure drawing, learning anatomy is a huge boon. Learning how people hold their weight and tense their muscles makes a big difference. Once feel like you're starting to get a handle on things, I would recommend picking up a book or, if possible, taking class. Here's a collage I made for the cover of an album my brother's putting out.

nice!!!!!!!! I'll probably be too exhausted to make anything when I get home from work, but I'll find two hours some time in the coming days!

This talk by the writer of 80 Days was really great: "Unfair Game" I definitely recommend it if you're interested in writing for games.

Dear Esther and Mountain may not be games, but they are definitely video games. The people who made them seem to be video game fans. They are using the skill sets and methods, as well as the language and tradition of video game development to express their ideas. What's more, they are clearly seeking to engage with the video games community. Much of the potency Dear Esther and Mountain comes from the fact that they are presented as part of the video game continuity, and thus challenge and expand what that continuity can entail. If you label them as something else, like a 'software poem', you are effectively robbing them of that potency (unless you allow that a 'software poem' is itself a type of video game). They are seeking to join the 'video games' conversation and you are categorically denying them entry. That may not be your intent, but effectively and emotionally that's what you're doing.

I know! There were absolutely no flying toasters at all!

That Robocop music is great! Nice find! That's actually a perfect description of some of my favorite c64 music... like this soundtrack for a pretty straightforward shoot em up... (By Rob Hubbard, one of the best chiptune composers of that era) I think that's one of the the main differences between Japanese and Western chiptune composers. Western composers liked to show off by, for instance, cramming a 10 minute long Philip Glass adaptation into a game's title screen. Pushing a sound chip to its limits was a way to gain cred. Japanese composers, on the other hand, tended to be more economical and used quick, catchy melodies and tight compositions. Both are great in their own way. And I learned about that Smurfs soundtrack from Legacy Music Hour, the podcast I mentioned in my last post.

That's interesting! There's so much great European VGM from that era, and even going back to the C64 with composers like Rob Hubbard. Actually I can't think of any really fantastic music from the USA back in the day. I think most Americans think of Japanese games when they think about music from that era. edit: Speaking of which, this Terminator 2 game for the NES has a really cool soundtrack by an English composer:

Recently, I've started listening to a really great podcast called Legacy Music Hour, about video game music from 16-bit systems and earlier. The hosts, Brent Weinbach and Rob F. Switch, are both professional comedians, but they take the music seriously. Something I often hear said about video game music from this era is that it's good because we associate it with classic games, but it doesn't necessarily stand up on its own compared to other music. I used to agree, but since listening to LMH I've started to think differently. And even though the show isn't meant to be a comedy show, the hosts can be really funny once you key into their sense of humor. If you're interested, I recommend starting out with this episode. It's the one that really got me into the show. This episode, which has Jake Kaufman (the Shovel Knight composer) as a guest host, is also really great.

Wow, this random Smurfs Game Boy game has amazing music:

You're right... I've found all sorts of explanations for it in the past few minutes. Some people say it's an unusual symptom of stress and anxiety, and other people say it could be an indication of a serious brain disease. I think I'll just try to sleep it off for now

Wow... so for the past hour or so, I've been having this really strange feeling. It's a sensation where I'll look at my arms and feel like they're not mine. I can still move them and control them normally, but somehow it feels like watching somebody else move. It's not interfering with my life in a major way, except that I feel like I'm going crazy which is terrifying. Is there a name for this so I can look it up and see what could be causing it?

Morrowind morrowind Morrowind spelunky morrowind morrowind oh yeah and Civ V uh and doom

If I were to see Mad Max with my prudish and somewhat conservative parents, how uncomfortable would I be?

I'm enjoying the E3 podcasts. I forgot that Jeff is knowledgeable and interesting when he's not just complaining about video games.

"I'll see you again in 25 years..." 25... 2+5... 7... it's all happening as was foretold! Lynch controls reality!

You're absolutely right, but for the moment it's probably easier for me to rely on bulky things like Unity's collider compenent while I figure out other, more basic and essential programming techniques. Someday I will want to figure out how to program more robust collision though, I'm sure!

Cool game. This game has a very similar atmosphere to Yard Doggz. It's sort of empty, bleak, and dreary. It gives a really strong impression of a muddy, overcast day despite supplying so little to go by. The janky movement between screens makes you feel like you're always lost; the game is tense and uncomfortable, forcing you to wait for something terrible to happen, even when you realize that it's never going to. The feeling of it stayed with me over the months since I originally played it.

Ah ok, so it seems like it actually is out of my current skill & knowledge range. Thanks for the FlatRedBall recommendation, though!

Hmm.. I've never tried coding my own box collision before, but you made me curious. (coded in Processing) boolean x_is_colliding = false; boolean y_is_colliding = false; // Check by x axis if (my_x_position > other_x_position) { if (((my_x_position - my_width/2) - (other_x_position + other_width/2)) < 0) x_is_colliding = true; } else if (my_x_position < other_x_position) { if (((other_x_position - other_width/2) - (my_x_position + my_width/2)) < 0) x_is_colliding = true; } // Check by y axis (only bother if x is colliding already) if (x_is_colliding) { if (my_y_position > other_y_position) { if (((my_y_position - my_height/2) - (other_y_position + other_height/2)) < 0) y_is_colliding = true; else i--; } else if (my_y_position < other_y_position) { if (((other_y_position - other_height/2) - (my_y_position + my_height/2)) < 0) y_is_colliding = true; else i--; } } if (x_is_colliding && y_is_colliding) return true; else return false; This seems to work, but is there a better way of doing it that I missed? edit: I realized it would be a bit more efficient if it didn't bother checking for y-axis collision unless x-axis collision had already been detected.