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Thyroid

Do you do anything creative in your free time?

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I roleplay. MMO roleplay (AQW), play-by-post roleplay (Zeldafront; The International Academy of Roleplaying [created, managed, designed, and adminastrated by yours truly]), Tabletop roleplay (D&D), Tabletop-by-post (Wizards of the Coast forums), MUD-based roleplay (mainly Lusternia: Age of Ascension). I do it all.

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I used to write a bit, including poetry. But that was so long ago. I've dabbled in photography a bit but not seriously at all. This is probably my best shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47129281@N00/32913991/

As a kid I used to design board games (and completed them!) and during highschool & uni I worked on maybe 10-15 different computer game projects over time but completed none of them (except for two which were too basic to release).

Right now I'm working on a simple 2D game (Orbitum, posted about it here earlier this year) that I'm pretty sure I'll finish (but this year the situation at day job kind of intervened with development) and also a game engine/library, programmed in Scala. I'm starting to think that maybe I'm obsessed with Scala and actually should be doing stuff in C++ to be able to potentially get the game on more platforms, but I just don't like to work in that language. Also, for some weird reason I don't like Flash, although my game might work well as a browser game.

Also, most currently I'm working on some low-level Scala compiler optimizations for part of the game engine which might (or might not) end up giving the best performance/code-readability ratio for 2D vector math on the Java platform (and I'll probably add 3D later). But I'm really messing with something I know almost nothing about (compilers) so it has already eaten more time than I planned for and still needs work.

I have some other programming projects too (like Ziggy) but I'm letting go of some of the non game related stuff to focus more on making games (except that I have this somewhat good non-game product idea that might let me start working for myself if it works out, but it requires lots of time to develop).

Beyond that I hope that once I have finished my first game or get rich with selling that product I'll somehow find a way to do games as an indie and make some money off that or get a job at a game developer (as a game-play or tool or engine programmer, except I don't really grok any of the complex 3D engine stuff).

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That's a brilliant idea :)

Thank you!

I also used to take a lot of photographs, and got told by various photographers and lecturers that I was good, but I think that was far more to do with my love of experimenting and eye for oddities than actual photographic skill. When this photo, by far the best I've ever taken, happened by accident, something switched in my unconscious and it's now kind of "Fuck it. That was the peak" :)

Nah, you've got talent. That Portishead picture (I am fucking jealous you saw them perform by the way) should've been, "This is the start," not the peak. I also really like the stuff you've made. Those glowing bottles are something I've been trying to make for a while (also to decorate my room while using them to practice lighting painting).

Edited by Kroms

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(as a game-play or tool or engine programmer, except I don't really grok any of the complex 3D engine stuff).

There is much more to game engines than just 3D stuff.

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When this photo, by far the best I've ever taken, happened by accident, something switched in my unconscious and it's now kind of "Fuck it. That was the peak" :)

Haha, I (sadly) know this feeling. I think in reality it's total bullshit but I am susceptible to it for some reason. There are multiple pursuits where I have felt that way and been too intimidated to continue, until I just kind of passively fall out of it entirely.

(Nice picture though!)

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I often come up with a concept that feels amazing, develop it in my mind to a point that I'm convinced it's actually worth doing, promise myself that I will start working on it tomorrow, go to bed, wake up, remember what I have promised myself, notice that the idea doesn't feel that awesome anymore, realize that I don't have to keep promises the tired me had made to himself, and abandon the project before I have even started it.

Anyway, I sometimes take photographs, sometimes play with Inkscape and do some programming every now and then. Right now I'm thinking of doing some actual carpentry and make a neat box for my current electronics project (the programming side of which is in a halt because I broke my laptop). There is a fairly good chance that I will actually finish this one eventually as I have paid actual money for the components.

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I had an awesome idea for an adventure game the other day, so I downloaded Adventure Game Studio, installed it, stared in confusion at the interface and closed the program.

"Maybe I'll just write a script" I thought. I opened wordpad and realised I had forgotten what the initial concept was.

Then I just played someone else's game.

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I often come up with a concept that feels amazing, develop it in my mind to a point that I'm convinced it's actually worth doing, promise myself that I will start working on it tomorrow, go to bed, wake up, remember what I have promised myself, notice that the idea doesn't feel that awesome anymore, realize that I don't have to keep promises the tired me had made to himself, and abandon the project before I have even started it.

... and this is basically why Herzog the Vile reboot has been not-happening for two years now—only imagine, between going to sleep and waking up, a month of furious writing and brainstorming, and then repeat the entire pattern many times over, and, erm, also the pattern happens to Daniel as well, so it is somewhat asynchronous between two people... :deranged:

There is a large chunk of the story in the middle that alternatively feels like filler, and like it needs to be padded yet more.

Woit a meument, could this be an epiphany: Maybe I could pull off a jump in time and just scrap the entirety of what I think needs to happen in that middle part. This is a new idea, and one worth entertaining!

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I'm an aspiring screenwriter, but fuck do I write slowly. I hate myself for it, I really do. I've been working on the same script for almost two years now. Every time I get to page 80 or so, I look back at the first ten pages and think, "I can write that so much better now." And so I start another draft and the whole horrible cycle starts over. Behold, I am Sisyphus the Screenwriter.

Although on the one hand, I should probably take any sign of improvement in writing skill (read: less amateurish, I've still got a long way to go) as a plus, but man do I just want to finish this thing.

Oh yeah, I've also been thinking a lot about game design lately, though it's not anything I've ever attempted before. I know fuck all about programming, but in the last month or two I've thought up a game idea that I'm seriously considering learning how to program in Flash just so I could take a crack at it. I'll probably just get lazy and not do it though.

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NOTHING AT ALL.

I code a lot, something like 6, 7 hours a day

You have 6 or 7 hours of free time a day plus time for the other stuff you mentioned? I envy you. Actually, if I did have that time (like I do this week, as I'm on holiday) I'd only fritter it (like I am this week, as I'm on holiday).

Part of my problem is that I'm far too hesitant to spend my time on something that might not work out, so I don't spend my time on anything meaningful, meaning that nothing works out because I never even start anything. But at least I haven't failed at anything in particular! I also don't really have any particular talent for anything. If I had to list my skills, computer programming and scripting would be somewhere near the top, but the stuff I do is so hilariously basic that it really doesn't even bear mentioning. It's a bit strange, because I don't think of myself as stupid or utterly incompetent (I might be fairly incompetent), but when it comes to assessing my knowledge of or skill at a particular thing I always seem to be hopelessly outclassed by everyone with a genuine interest with it. I guess I do have quite a defeatist streak to me. Basically, I have to be sure I'll succeed at something before trying it, and nothing is ever certain, so I never try anything. That's an exaggeration, of course, but it pretty much sums things up.

So yeah, about the closest I get is occasionally mucking around with programming stuff (which I mainly did while I was unemployed). I was also half of a project that made horrible sounds that one might call music if that weren't a mockery to music itself. It was mainly done by mucking around with computers and pre-existing material, didn't involve any talent, compositionally or in "performance" (most of which I couldn't recreate live, or recreate at all), was a lot of the time deliberately abrasive and unpleasant, and was borne out of something far more destructive than creative. The original idea was basically a joke that we kind of followed through on very slowly for a couple of years. Some of it was funny to us, and I do kind of like some of what I made, but it's not indicative of anything greater. It's like when I muck around with the filters in Photoshop. I can piss around until I stumble on some pleasing distortion, but it's not part of any coherent idea or direction. Also, it's not appealing to anyone with any taste at all. Anyway, the whole idea was basically pointless and stupid contrariness.

I probably sound a lot more depressed than I actually am, by the way. It's a bit disappointing and frustrating not to have more skills (or focus), but I don't really mind too much. And it may just be laziness that's holding me back, so what right do I have to be depressed about something that's my own doing?

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You have 6 or 7 hours of free time a day plus time for the other stuff you mentioned? I envy you.

I don't. I just cram everything into everywhere and have a strict schedule. When I'm in a car, I write. When I'm reading the news of the day or checking internet forums, I code. Sometimes it takes me three hours to finish a post because I keep on looking at Java instead. Instead of taking a nap or taking a break, I start coding. I usually am so exhausted by nightfall that I read one or two chapters then go to sleep. But yeah. It's all in the scheduling.

Keep in mind, I don't code seven hours in a row. And I don't always have some fingerpuppet to make, etc. Some days are busier than others.

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It's all in the scheduling.

Yeah, I don't do that.

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I think what inevitably happens is we think we are hot shit and then go into the thread and get envious of everyone else's productiveness.

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Apart from the adventure games which you've all played and enjoyed and donated towards, I write short films with the intention of directing them. I've written a few ace scripts, but haven't got my arse into gear with making them yet. I shot one ages ago but never got round to editing it, and I think I'd now rather use that as a practice run and re-shoot it with proper actors, lighting etc now I have a few more contacts in the tv industry. I'm trying to get into camerawork at the moment, which I'm hoping will make resources so easily available that I won't be able to procrastinate any longer...

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Well I play bass and I really like building stuff. Mostly woodworking, building a grandfather clock right now.

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I sing and play guitar in a band. My wife is the drummer, so it's cool that we get to travel together when we play out of town or tour.

I also draw, paint, do collages and design stuff when I make the time but frankly, outside of music - most of my free time is devoted to consuming other people's creative output: mostly games and movies, but books and comics too (though less frequently).

Edited by zomboid

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Kickass music, Zomboid! Took MySpace a few gos to get it going, but it was worth it! Any music videos anywhere?

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Kickass music, Zomboid! Took MySpace a few gos to get it going, but it was worth it! Any music videos anywhere?

Thanks!!! No proper music videos (unfortunately), but lot's of live footage on the YouTube.

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I just stumbled upon a folder with loads of old crap I made. Here's three:

  • A room I drew in paint for my awesome AGS game. This was as far as I got.
  • An isometric city I drew in paint just because I think it's fun, and the ixometric style appeals to me.
  • Bonus 90s desktop, with shortcuts to awesome stuff like Commandos 2 and Temp. The wallpaper was made by yours truly, one of few projects I spent more than an hour on before discarding. I spent quite a few hours on that before discarding it, still.

As of late I've been getting all fired up about my game idea, wanting to make a Flash game about-- oh, that's right, I always start making games before I know what they should be like at all. It's like I start coding before I know what genre it is, it's ridiculous. The thing about being disheartened by the fact that there are always a twelve-year old kid doing ten times as awesome shit as you, and what's the point, etc., and it has usually been the killer of my progress. Ah, maybe this time...

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Ghost Recon is awesome though. I still think it's weird the number of things people have on their desktop.

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I still think it's weird the number of things people have on their desktop.

I have no icons on my desktop. I used to limit myself to one column for tidiness' sake, but I then realized that I spend almost all my time at a computer with at least one program maximized, and I accessed everything from the start menu. I used to have browser and "show desktop" links in the quick launch bar, but I realized that I could just have the browser at the top of the start menu and never ever use the desktop and therefore free up a bit of space on the taskbar. Now my wallpapers look nice and unsullied in the three or four seconds before I cover them up completely with something else.

But yeah, I can't stand cluttered desktops. The very idea of having the desktop as the default download location is repugnant to me.

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I have some desktop icons, all either game shortcuts or my most used programs. They're always nicely laid out, though. I also stick things I'll need immediately (images for upload, installers etc.) in the corner to remind/encourage me to deal with whatever it may be.

http://img22.yfrog.com/img22/3548/desktop0809.jpg

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