The programming itch

Ah looks like I got the itch again, The itch that drives me to pick up a language and try to create something with it, Usually a game but I never get that far I normally quite way before that point.

So I have picked up M$ C# express edition which is very much not $$$ being free for all to use but lacking a few features of it bigger brother Visual studio, I was tempted by Java but the learning support structure just isn't as rich as it is for C# which is a shame.

My current stab at learning is different from normal where I grab a starter tutorial and work through variables, arrays etc for the umpteenth time and instead have dived straight in to a ready made RPG game kit where you learn by modifying the code as you go. I think this might be a good approach for me and my slightly ADD brain :)

Heres the MS site wit the RPG starter kit for windows and XBOX 360 RPG Starter kit

Fire pit

Fire pit, originally uploaded by Fishamatician.

A cozy fire at the beach a few years ago, I had forgotten all about it till I started to sort my photos out. Turns out I have 47Gb of photos on the HDD!

Desk at night

Desk at night, originally uploaded by Fishamatician.

There are far to many lights on in there at night!

Georgette pebbles

Georgette pebbles, originally uploaded by Fishamatician.

Mediterranean spur thigh tortoise cooling off in the pebble pool.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

oddminecraftitem1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

oddminecraftitem1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Strange item found in a dungeon chest.

c66oo.jpg (2800�2100)

c66oo.jpg (2800�2100)


We can stop any time we like. Honest!

YouTube - caroemerald's Channel

YouTube - caroemerald's Channel


Fantastic Dutch female vocalist well worth a listen.

There is a handy dandy starter video for minecraft




The video shows building a wooden house but I prefer to dig into a hill or cliff and add an L shaped blind behind the door, This way skeletons cant fire arrows at you through the upper part of the door which is see through, This has happened to me already and is not fun :(

YouTube - Minecraft Doom E1M1

YouTube - Minecraft Doom E1M1

More reasons to love minecraft :)

Revamp

Well the old blog has had a little bit of attention to make up for the neglect lately, New feeds and a new look to make it feel a little more ... you know ... lived in and used instead of the half heartedly updated lump of code it really is.

It might even make me upload more of the photos I take to Flickr to share with the world rather than just taking them and promptly consigning them to a folder on the HDD to while away there years before finally succumbing to drive failure and oblivion.

I have added a twitter feed the top so you can all see the link I tweeted and that you followed emblazoned on the top of the page along with the updates about my mundane life of work, housework and working on making things in virtual space, all the while protesting about having to do any work at all and bemoaning the fact that yet again I haven't won lotto.

Versus the World Productions - Pictures - Host�Photos

Versus the World Productions - Pictures - Host�Photos

Warcraft again

Well i resisted for a while but everything else has stopped for WoW as we ramp up to the November launch of cataclysm YaY!

So much is being changed it should be a real blast to level a new character (or 3) to 85.

Well this blog was supposed to chart the things I get into as they happen but as usual ive had my nose buried in my crochet project and Starcraft 2 so much lately i've totaly neglected to tell you fictional readers all about it :)

Not posted much lately been to busy playing DDO a free to play D&D based MMO. Ill post some builds later when ive decided what im gonna stick with for a while.

Welcome strangers!

Well after my delight at having a blog that I hadn't told anyone about and no one ever read I thought id better check it was true, Its not. I stuck analytics in there just to see what would happen and so far ive had 10 visits! This isnt meant to happen! Its my shonky blog of ... of .. well stuff really. I never thought people would read it.

I droppped the link into twitter yesterday with no explination as to what it was for just to see if any of my mates would poke there noses in and 2 have so far. Well as its no longer my secret blog-o-ramblings i'd better improve the content a little :)

Vile DRM and how i caved to it.

Ok i caved, I have been really anti ubisofts latest DRM which requires a permanent connection when playing even for single player offline content. So no playing on the move or on trips or in any fact any place that does not have a rock solid connection. Any blip or pause in connection and you booted out and all progress is lost to last save point or auto save. Why? Because you dear reader are a lying cheating lowlife and will steal there games if they dont do this. How ever should you get a pirate copy it will be bereft of said DRM so you can play on planes train and automobiles till you hearts content. Isn't it great?

Anyway back to the caving bit, I played the demo of settlers 7 and its amazing, ill talk about it more later when i have my copy but i did end up buying 2 collectors packs for £24 on amazon.co.uk. One each for my wife and I so we can play co-op, This shows how bad we are at voting with our wallets to protest against draconian DRM. But really what dchoice do we have? If we pirate they win and they only knock out sub par crap for the console kiddies and if we buy it then they see it as us embracing the evil machination.

Im off for a cooked breakfast now so enjoy your day.

Towel day

Lest we forget.

Well im finaly getting the hang of shooters on the 360! Hurray! Iv'e been playing through Borderlands as a soldier and hit 19 today but just cant be arsed to push on to 20 to even it up . I do have a little OCD possibly, I like things symmetrical and neatly numbered. Only 15 or so levels and I can grab the Zombie island of doctor Ned DLC.

So far i'm really enjoying writing this blog especially as i have told no one at all about it :) It makes me feel all smug and warm to think I have a blog and no bugger reads it. I recently deleted my facebook page due to the sheer amount of stupid groups people want you to join and the endless beer, flowers and other assorted digital crap they send each other.

In all I think its fair to say I am a friendly and chraming person that just really doesn't like 90% of other people due to to inane bollocks that they like and want me to find facinating too. I fully realize the irony of posting that on a public blog but hey i'd prefer noone reads it any way. Please come again and have a nice day.

Borderlands

YaY finaly got my copy of borderlands for the 360 today, I have it for the pc and have completed the first play through with the soldier class and boy was it fun. This time i'm trying the brick class, a melee and explosives expert that im not to sure about yet but i did manage to down the first boss 'nine toes' (also has 3 balls apparently!) first time with great ease. this could be my l33t skillzor or its more likely its just been dumbed down for the consoles control method. Yes I am an elitist jerk when it comes to PC v's console.

Games

I recently got back into X3 Terran Conflict a space trading game, I've been a fan of the series since the start and can loose many hours to it slowly building up my fleet and trading empire. The deploying of stations and with x3 whole complexes is great fun and I have finally figured out using wings of fighters to take on pirates :)

That was befor i managed to pick up a copy of Forza 3 for the xbox 360 a great driving sim where they have even taken tire temp and pressure into account for the handling. You play through seasons with a championship race every sunday and play 1 of 3 offered races during the month. The races offer either using your current car, a new track to try or a new car class to drive. Its sucked

up about a week of play non-stop so far and I feel i've found a reason to play xbox over pc for a change!

This was one of my first custom car designs.

The wife has got back into Cities XL a city building sim similar to the old simcity franchise but with greater scope and allows for curved roads and some spectacular cities.

Ashcloud of panic! Hoard the milk marjory.

Ah its a shame flights are back on, I was really hoping for the big one to blow as well and halt flights for years to come. Imagine the ship building industry being revived on a huge scale, local farming getting a massive boost and unemployment dropping like a stone as a result. The rail ifrastructure would receive billions in extra investment. IT and communications would like wise be forced to evlove to make remote access and remote meetings easier and more wide spread. No more junkets Mr fatcat!

I think all of that would stimulate the economy in new directions, Sure short term pain and lose of a few airlines but adapt or die. Maybe even new forms of air travel like zepplins using electric or hybrid motors to move bulk cargos.

Ah well looks like buisness as usual tho :(

One of those days

Having one of those days today, wonderfully sunny and a nice day to to be working outside yet still I've ended up in bed early in a mood after an evening of trying to find something to do. I have an extensive games collection and several content creation applications to pick from yet nothing seems to be what i wanted to do, neither did watching tv or reading. So I spent my time booting one game after another playing for 5 mins and seeing if the next felt any better. It didn't.

This happens once or twice a month and if annoys the hell out of me. At the moment im struggling with the fact that im getting bored of games but have no idea how to fill the void they occupy atm the moment. Reading is out as I work on my own and listen to audiobooks all day and end up confused as to which plot is which, I did flirt with crotchet but thats another fad that lasted about a week and has left me with an overdue library book and a bag of wool.

I think the start of todays malaise was leaving my last job late and then to be told they were bringing 2 large mobile homes down the narrow lane and it could take upto an hour. So while waiting i called Orange to see when there going to get the HTC Desire im after to be told by a bored rep that they got it 3 days ago and have run out already. How? its not even on the website yet! Yes it is says rep, no says I I've just looked. Oh well says rep we will probably have more soon. Fine.

A call for Unity

I have a constant urge to write a game of some type and have tried to learn a few languages
Python, Php, Ruby, VB, C# and Java most recently but C# was the most successful i think as i managed to get a basic top down 2d game editor written but then there was a version mismatch between the tutorial and the compiler i had and frustration won the day.

I found a game creation tool/suite called Unity 3D this week and it seems very easy to use so far, It comes with a lovely premade island to explore that i'm having fun altering to learn the various effects of the tools. I had lots of fun with particle effects and made a tower of multi coloured smoke that must have drifted up for miles. A video tutorial from the splash screen showed importing from Photoshop and 3Ds max that looked so simple i'll have to give it a go some time soon.

Im hoping if i can persevere with it long enough to write a very basic RPG with some kind of crafting system. I would love to get it to work like Wurm online but thats a pipedream if ever there was one.

First post

Yay First! Oh wait I dont think that counts as its my blog :)

This blog might not last long or may have huuuge gaps in it as my possibly ADD ravaged brain flits from shiny thing to shiny thing.

I have never been able to settle to one interest and the internet has made this worse i'm starting to believe. Take Steam the games market place for instance they had a xmas sale and i went crazy and got 15 games roughly have i played half of them yet? No. Have i bought more games since Yes! Did I recently get a Xbox 360 and promptly have a need to play playstation 2 games i remember from my youth Yes :(

This kind of thing happens all the time, When i get into something i research it like crazy ill buy magazines, search forums , websites and visit stores and ill enjoy that for a while until the next thing catches my eye and it all starts again.

I might create a few posts of previous interests for photography, Tropical fish, Games, Programming, and now blogging, oops here we go again.