http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:sevenofeleven&section=today deviantART RSS for by:sevenofeleven en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:18:51 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/27645995/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/27645995/ Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:03:56 PDT
I am a member of an Indie game group and we are doing a sports based flight sim called "PrizeFlyers" for the Xbox. Imagine something like Unreal tournament except its planes flying around and blowing each other and or other stuff up. So far we are still coding up the base gameplay and there are no screenshots. When we get them, I will post them.

There are some renders of the ship models we will be using in the game.
Can thank Randy B. for these great models.

Ships:
[link]
[link]
[link]

What do I do?
I am one of the programmers on the team, I handle the GUI and some other stuff and help out with game design. My gameplay background is Pc based and I do not play sims except for Microsoft flight sim and the Comanche helicopter games way back when. Have played a bunch of non sim type flying games like Magic Carpet, Freelancer, Starlancer, Wing Commander 1-5 and Freespace 1+2.

Got an Xbox a few months ago and have not bought a sim flyer yet, Oops.
Did get the Hawx demo, now I have to stop falling into the water.

For the coders out there, we are using XNA and C#.

Later on, I want to post some info from the other team members and have more ships to post.

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/22224289/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/22224289/ Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:42:50 PST
I got my copy of Fallout 3 and Crysis for Christmas.

Fallout 3 is pretty good so far, I have to find out if I can take screenshots from within the game. There is some great eyecandy here and I have most of the eyecandy turned on by default.

Nothing says fun like going to a school and being hunted by raiders. Have to remember not to drink out of toilets, too many rads.

Wonder if the game supports multiple chars?
My first char is more of a soldier type with a gun background.
I would like to make another char thats more of a smooth talker and another char thats a tech maven.

Character design is done well in Fallout, instead of a screen or a sequence of screens, they go through the char's early years.

Am having a great time with Fallout 3.
Probably will be installing Crysis later on.

Will be getting the other games like Mass Effect, Dead Space, GTA 4, Half life episode 3 and Red Alert 3 later on next year. I might get WIC(World in conflict) too, not sure.

Dragon age looks interesting too.

Probably will have to burn down my current config and turn my computer into a Vista/XP Dual boot.


Am a member of *3dmodeling
3D Modeling Club

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/21296307/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/21296307/ Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:17:19 PST
Beggar1: My legs are covered with manure again.
Beggar2: Anyone spare some cialis.
MeatSeller: Shoo flies!
Beggar3: The Beast will slay us all.
Beggar4: Darn, this beggar internship is not paying me enough.

*Jaheira and Aerie walk up to Gameplayer*
Jaheira: Well? When are you coming back to Faerun?
Gameplayer: Not sure, having so much fun here.
Aerie:*Pouts and screams* I want my wings!
Jaheira: You are needed please come back.
Aerie: *Cries* Thought you loved me!
Gameplayer: Um?
*Peasant woman walks by and winks at Gameplayer*
Gameplayer: Hey!
*Geralt walks up to the group*
Geralt: We need to talk.
Gameplayer: I am going to be very busy soon!
Geralt: We have serious business to discuss
*Puts hand on sword*
Gameplayer: Whats your problem Dude?
Geralt: *getting angry* I am not your "Dude"!
*Starts to pull sword out*
Gameplayer: *Gets scared* Ok, what do you want to talk about?

Geralt: You are a lousy player with no sense of timing or even the basics of money management. Spent all my money on useless trash and then we kept losing at the fistfights. Even the Wimpy Fighter laughs at us. Oh yeah, your timing is the worst I have ever seen. Do not like being killed by low level trash like Barghests or even Drowners.

Aerie: Well, maybe he is not a fighter?

Geralt: Gameplayer, you have managed to ruin my social life too. I can do quite well by myself *Turns around so the women can see* but you have turned all the interesting woman against me.

Jaheira:*Starts to drool* Forgive me Khalid!
Aerie: Yum!

Gameplayer:*Gets mad* You are a game character and I can do with you what I wish!

Geralt:*voice gets dangerously quiet* Does that include forcing me to take potions that have failed?

Gameplayer: Yeah, thats fun *laughs*.

Aerie: You sick son of a *mouth is covered by Jaheira's hand*

Geralt: I think your fun has ended *Draws sword and goes into a Strong Stance*

Aerie: *summons earth elemental to block Gameplayer's way*

Jaheira:*Screams* Nature! Take back the life you gave!
*Casts Hold*

*Grasping plants twine around the Gameplayer's legs and he is held fast*
Geralt:*Hits gameplayer with a 50 hit combo and turns him into a pile of cubed meat*
*Walks off with Jaheira and Aerie*
Geralt: So little one, I shall show you another way to fly!

Reminds me to not try out those failed potions anymore.
_______________________________________________________



So for my birthday I get to choose 2 Pc games.

Shooters:
Crysis
Dead Space

RPGs:
Witcher
Fallout 3
Mass effect (if its out yet for PCs)

I am leaning towards Crysis and Witcher but I would love to play Fallout 3. Have tried demos of Crysis and Witcher and am having fun.

The next question is where do I buy the games from:

1. Internet
Cheaper, well until tax and shipping gets added and I have to wait.

2. Store
More expensive and I may have to search around but I can play the same day.

So its basically one from each group.

Shooters:
Crysis
Dead Space

RPGs:
Witcher
Fallout 3
Mass effect

Which 2 would you pick?

Am a member of *3dmodeling
3D Modeling Club

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/19428888/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/19428888/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:34:14 PDT Lyrics based on NERD's LapDance.

*At Helos, a lone hero steps up to a NPC who needs someone to save his horse.*

Titan Quest Player:
Stay away satyr, stay away.
When I kill you, I will become greater!

Stay away satyr, stay away.
When I kill you, I will become greater!

I'm a hero, not a zero.
Something you did not see before.
And I dare the monsters to come up to my face some more.

I got somethin' bronze or iron, and I got it from home. Its a mace of destruction, good for smashing a monster's dome.
And I dare the monsters to come up to my face
It's so real, how I feel It's just the game that makes a player wanna kill.
I'm just straight ill, Running with my pet down the street.

The NPCs, they sounded like strippers to me
They sayin' but I don't wanna hear it

*Game NPCS step forward*
NPCs:
Ooh baby you want my weapons.
Ooh baby you want my mage goods.
Ooh baby you want my side quests.
Ooh baby you want my warrior goods.
Now you could get this stuff from me.
Now you could get this stuff from me.
Now you could get this stuff from me.
Now you could get this stuff from me.

Titan Quest player:
It's day or night, who wants to mage fight?
Ya'll come on, alright
But I dare a monster to come up to my face
Bloodthisty bats, I got somethin' for that
It goes Zap-zap-zap.
But I dare a monster to come up to my face
It's so real, how I feel
It's just the game that makes a player wanna kill I'm just straight ill, stridin with sword and shield down the street.

While the creatures, they sounded like strippers to me
They keep sayin' but I don't wanna hear it

Female Monsters:
*Female monsters appear and start singing*
Gorgons: Ooh baby don't kill me
Maenads: Ooh baby don't kill me
Djinn: Ooh baby don't kill me

Gorgons:I am not worth that extra XP!
Maenads:I am not worth that extra XP!
Djinn: I am not worth that extra XP!

Gorgons/Djinn/Maenads:I am not worth that extra XP!

Gorgons/Djinn/Maenads: Ooh baby don't kill me
Gorgons/Djinn/Maenads: You could finish that quest without killing me!

*Typhon steps over player and the camera moves up to the titan's face*
*camera moves back so all the titan is seen*
Typhon (The Titan)
When you think of power you think of me,
telkines and my fellow titans made the gods flee.
*3 telkines stand in front of Typhon*

The gods were our slaves and they longed to be free,so they made Man and that was not good for me.

I told them to destroy that trash and
they refused and that started that bash.

So we go and fight and the world was changed
Fighting like we were all deranged.

Somehow they won, maybe it was strength or guile but they were not done with us in a while.

My Titan homies were send to Tartarus and the telkines were banished,
it seemed that all opposition to Zeus had vanished.

Me, they stuck under a mountain in a dark pit,
felt so pissed I could spit.

Eons pass and I start to plot, will find a way to escape this spot.
Man and god will pay when I reach the light of day.

*viewpoint moves down to the telkine's eye level and moves back so all the telkines are visible*
*The game's hero steps in front of the three telkines and they start to sing to him*

Telkines:
Telkine1: Ooh baby You can't kill me!
Telkine2: Ooh baby Try to kill me!
Telkine3: Ooh baby No way you can kill me!

Telkine1: You can get this dirt nap for free.
Telkine2: You can get this farm for free.
Telkine3: You can get this trip to Hades for free.

I keep playin' but I can't stop playin'.
*song ends*

Wish I had the skills to animate this.

Would have Typhon step over the player and say his rap with the 3 telkines in the background like backup singers. After Typhon does his rap the telkines would step forward and sing the "ooh baby part".

It would be good for some laughs.


Saw 2 videos on Diablo 3, one gameplay video and the game intro video. The gameplay video was pretty good. They showed the Barbarian on a bridge over a yawning chasm. Water was running on the bridge and flowing off of it. The Barbarian's feet were making ripples too. All the stonework had a pretty good level of detail.

Get the demo video and check it out, seems like Diablo 3 will be very good.
*Crosses fingers*

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/15905485/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/15905485/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:31:41 PST oohkipsie

Demons have invaded the Hundred Acre Wood and have turned it into a burnt wilderness. Pooh, Christopher Robin and friends must stop the demons from turning their beloved woods into an permanent outpost of Hell.

Tyrael: Those poor creatures, they do need a brave hero.
Deckard Caine: Well, maybe I can get one to help out.

Sorry guys this is my review.
Move along there is nothing to see here.

Ok, thats enough of that.

You are probably wondering what am I going on about, well I will tell you.
Hellgate: London,is an action RPG made by the same folks who used to work at Blizzard.
They were responsible for Diablo or diablo 2, not sure. So these folks have some background on making games.

Will tell you from the start, they could have spent a bit more time honing and adding more polish.
The game is stable, it only crashed once and that was after several hours, I guess that was a hint to take a break. One of the glitches is that the character models disappear. So you might see weapons and shields walking around with no people attached. Also inventory item graphics disappear when you Id certain items. Store NPCs might be working on their stealth skills so you may not see them but they are there to buy and sell. Some monsters like death maggots don't die and some monsters could end up floating in the air.
Sometimes the game slows down during big battles and it turns into a slide show. Not good for your character if they are melee chars. Since my machine is sorta on the low end now, I have to put up with stuff. NPC depth and cut scenes are not as good as Diablo 2. The intro movie is good and gets you somewhat into the game.

Where was I?
Um, demons invade Earth, take over London, people cower in the subway or the Underground.
Your char's job is to level up until strong enough to give the boot to the Big Bad. How does one become a demon booter? Well you have 3 basic Factions to join Templar (Melee), Cabal (Magic User) and Military (Ranged).

Templars either slash and dash (Blademasters) or act as the Rock of Gibraltar and have the enemy break against them (Guardians). Blademasters and Guardians can also dual wield too. Guardians have a bunch of skills for their shield, smacking enemies with a shield is pretty useful. Stunned enemies twitch in place and are open to lots of hitting with weapons.

The Cabal tries to turn the power of the demons against them. Summoners summon creatures to fight against the demons. Invokers/envokers are mages that are into energy and poison attacks. Nothing like Word of Fear to keep a pushy crowd back. Wonder if that will work for Christmas shopping.

The military profession has the Engineer and Marksman. The engineer has bots to support and attack while the Marksman has different weapon attacks. Marksmen can use sniper rifles to reach out and touch someone. Don't wound a monster or it will come after you.

The great thing about this game is, depending on what class you pick, the gameplay changes. Playing as a melee char plays differently than ranged/magic. Melee is done using a 3rd person camera, which is good so you can see whats around you while the ranged/Magic classes play with a first person view. All factions have access to different guns. Weapons can do direct and splash damage. Molten edge swords do direct fire damage while firebrands do splash fire damage.

Melee classes have problems with floating enemies until you get the Heaven's Sword which allows you to jump up and attack floating enemies, you can use a gun too. Guns need points in accuracy, so you have to decide if its worth it. Those points could be more useful in the other attributes. The ranged/Magic classes can dual wield pistols and use spells too. Invokers use foci which fire spectral energy.

Spectral energy makes enemies cause less damage when then attack and they take more damage while phased. If you want to gib something spectral energy or fire is the way to go. If you get phased, run away or turn on the spectral brace so you don't get killed.

If you take damage from special effects, poison, fire, spectral and you have the right item equipped, the UI is good enough for you to hit the control key and cure your char. You don't have to dig through the inventory while in battle to find the right item. Also if you set attack skills to be activated on shift and can use them during battle. Magic users can use a focus, gun and a spell, so they get 3 attacks.

In the beginning you are wearing shirts and pants but later on you can buy or find or make armor. Some armor comes with a shield too. Enemies have to get rid of the shield first before they can harm y... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/14454613/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/14454613/ Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:02:39 PDT Sidorvich: Hey! Take it easy, those satyrs gave you a good beating.
*Checks the player for other wounds or bruises*
*Sees a mark*
Sidorvich: *whispers to self* The Mark, could be the one.
*Player tries to get up*
Sidorvich: Take it easy or you will not live long.
Player: Where am I?
Sidorvich: You are on the road to Helos, right in my caravan.
Player: How did I get here?
Sidorvich: One of my guards spotted your body on the side of the road. It seems that the satyrs left you for dead.
Player: Who am I?
Sidorvich: Don't know. We, um I found a scroll in your pocket that mentions a powerful Telkine called Strelok.
Player: Telkine? Strelok? Whats going on?
Sidorvich: Not sure, but things are bad all over Greece. Monsters are attacking towns and farms. Nobody knows where the monsters are coming from.
Sidorvich: Telkines are powerful demigods that served the Titans long ago. The Gods fought them with the help of some brave warriors. In the end the Gods defeated the Titans and Telkines and banished them from this world. One Titan was imprisoned under Mt. Aetna.
Sidorvich: I guess they did not get all the Telkines.
Sidorvich:Maybe we can help each other. I need some tasks done and well, you need more info about Strelok.
Sidorvich: Help me and I will help you find this Strelok.
Player: Ok. *Gets up and starts to walk outside*
Sidorvich: Wait! At least take these *Gives the Player a club and a buckler*
Sidorvich: Be careful out there!

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/12418108/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/12418108/ Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:53:59 PDT *At the Cybrid Research facility, the alarms are going off*
*Dr Brackman's Hologram materializes*

Dr Brackman: Dostya, what is going on?
Dostya Ivanovich: *Runs in from Ops Command*
Dostya Ivanovich: I will find out.
*Dostya accesses the command console*

Dostya Ivanovich: It seems that someone is attempting to play Supreme Commander on an underpowered machine.

Dr Brackman: Oh my, thats going to be an unfortunate experience for them, Oh yes.

QAI: I predict a 35.7858949% chance for frustration and a 65% uninstallation and return to the store probability.

Dostya Ivanovich: Well, if their machine can't handle the game, maybe they should stick to Minesweeper! *Laughs*.

Dr Brackman: Oh my, that is vicious my girl but oh yes we should not care about their weak machines. *Laughs*

QAI:*Laughs*

So I was playing Supreme Commander, its like TA: Total Annihilation on steroids. It does tax my machine, oh yes it does.

Dostya Ivanovich: Weak Machine. *Laughs*
Dr Brackman: Now, do not be a naughty boy and make fun of me. I am famous, Oh yes I am.
QAI: You also overheat your machine, I predict a ....

All of you be quiet, this is my review!

Dostya Ivanovich:LOL!
QAI: *Laughs*
Dr Brackman: ROTLMAO!


Instead of 2 sides in TA, there are 3. UEF, Aeon and the Cybrids. The units look different but they have similar uses. The 3 sides units don't feel different until you get the superunits (experimentals). The buildings look different though, so you can easily tell who's who. The campaigns all have decent backstories so you can see why each side is fighting. Each side believes that they are right and the other sides are wrong. The Aeon act like religious fanatics and want to convert everyone and the UEF wants to recreate the Earth empire. I think the Cybrids have the best reasons, they just want to be left alone.

Dr Brackman: Oh yes, it seems you have grasped the situation, oh yes indeed.

The economy is real easy to deal with, just need power and mass.
Can get mass from certain areas or just make it. Power is the same thing. Once you get enough, you can go about waging war. Just remember that the more advanced weapons and defenses need more of power and mass and you don't want to start a death spiral of power/mass neediness.

Units are pretty smart, can queue up commands, patrols, etc. Builders can be told to build a bunch of items and left alone to do it. Can even tell other builders to help out, which is pretty good. Adding more builder units will speed up the completion of a task. Can also coordinate attacks between air and ground units pretty easily. Need that because the computer is not stupid and will have anti air and ground defense turrets.

Like TA, there is a main unit but this time there is a twist to it. In TA if your master unit gets toasted, your game is over but in Supreme commander, master units go up like nukes. So if you are dealing with more than one master unit, you will want to take them out in their base and not yours. Oh yes, this game has nukes.

When you go up the tech tree high enough, you get nukes, can launch them from a silo and from submarines. Think all sides gets nukes but I have not played as the Aeon or Cybrid in skirmish games yet. The UEF has subs and missile silos. Have to build the silos and the subs and then build the nukes on the subs. Any free builder unit can help out with the building too. Launched nukes are pretty slow, can see them in the map sauntering their way over to the target. Launched one from the sub and it looked like it took the same route a walking bot would take, did not just fly over the cliffs to the target. Maybe it should have taken the bus and got there faster. When the nukes finally get there, you get the flash and much damage, oh yes, its glorious.

If you don't want to go back to the stone age, you can put up antimissile defenses and or shields or stealth generators. Can also build multiple bases too, just need some free builders and power and mass.

Intelligence is very important in this game. Even if you nuke an area, until you send a unit over the area, you won't know whats left to clean up. Definitely need the spy planes in this game. Make sure you have anti air defenses and fighters to take out enemy spy planes.

Got a mousewheel? Um, not in the corner but on your mouse!
Good, you will love the zoom in/zoom out at the cursor command. Can zoom out to get the "Big picture" and zoom in to check out whats going on locally.

Sometimes the transports get stupid and you have to tell them what to do. When they are not stupid, its great. Basically the transports will ferry units from one place to another. Can tell t... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/10203679/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/10203679/ Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:21:47 PDT

]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/10076773/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/10076773/ Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:10:59 PDT 2 Bryce pictures in various stages of incompleteness and 2 ideas for lightwave pictures. Probably have to do one of each but which one?

Bryce
1. Death of a paranormal Investigator -needs some models
2. Dead marshes- Missing impact, might have to redo

Lightwave
1. Captured- Have to do some effects with hypervoxels.
2. Tidbit tussle. Creature designs/models could add a huge amount of time.

I am leaning towards bryce picture 1, it just needs some models. Not sure about the lightwave models, 1 needs work with hypervoxels and 2 just needs detailed models and extras. The backgrounds for both should be quick and easy to do. Quick and easy is good when the deadline is Oct 31st. Will need time for final renders but I might be able to use the Mac mini to render one picture and the new laptop on the other one.

So kind reader which ones do you think I should do? ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/9456215/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/9456215/ Sat, 22 Jul 2006 08:48:57 PDT
I wonder about the const support, using const is a way to get rid of magic numbers and to help make the code self documenting. Attempts to use it cause the app to hang. I would love to know how to find out what version of javascript I have.

Javascript supports "Really really late binding", can add functions to a class tomorrow, its really good for coders who like to do things last minute. That means misspelled variables/functions or functions added to the wrong object will be treated as swell but will crash at runtime.

I will be having fun this weekend, got some games.
Far cry - real cheap
Prey- played the demo a lot.
Rise of legends

Maybe I will do a review of Galactic Civs 2 and Titan Quest next journal. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/8742108/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/8742108/ Thu, 11 May 2006 16:48:09 PDT *Monkey screams*
*feeds monkey a banana*
Hope this thing won't be a pain when I start digging that hole.

Managed to avoid being hooked on WOW, Eversmack and the other online Multi addict um roleplayer dungeons but I got caught by Guild wars. Probably was just a matter of time, sometimes spent too much time online with Diablo 2 and Dungeon seige 1. Deep down I knew I would fall hard for the first online RPG that waved the right set of armors/mage books in my face.

What is Guild Wars? Well its a online rpg in which you roam around and smack up assorted beasties (not the Beastie Boys) for cash and goodies. I know you are going to say, well so far its just like my daily commute to work. You just pay for the box and thats it, no monthly fees. The company comes out with episodes and you can buy them or not. There is a new episode coming out called Factions, can't talk about since I have not gotten it yet. Factions adds 2 new classes but I don't know if they are PVP only. More on PVP later. If you get the Guild War game, you can make 4 chars using one of the six classes. They are Mesmer, Necromancer, Warrior, Elementalist, Monk and Ranger. Sorry thats just Ranger, not Walker. The six classes have their own attributes, unlike the standard rpgs, in which each char has (str)ength, (dex)terity, (int)elligence, etc. Each class has its own stats and each class feels different. Have to tailor your strategy for each class.

Each class comes with their own set of skills, skills are abilities that you use during battle. Regular arrows not taking foes down? How about using the "Ignite Arrows" and "Penetrate" to bring enemies to their doom. You will run into monsters that use that combo and you can feel how effective it is. Before you think, well its like Diablo 2 or Dungeon siege 2, the folks at NCSOft added a twist. Can only take 8 skills. That forces you to think about where you are going and what you need. Going up against a bunch of spell casters? Maybe that mana draining spell might be useful. Also some spells take longer to cast than others, don't want to take a minute casting that superspell if your health is low. Warriors have adrenalin, thats used to power some warrior skills. Get adrenalin by getting hit by monsters or by certain battlecries. Lots of the necro skills involve self sacrifice, you lose some health as well as energy to zap foes.

Another twist is that they want you to have 2 professions, a primary and a secondary. Want to live the life of a Warrior but suffer from loneliness? Add a Ranger or Necro 2nd profession and you can have a pet or a dead thing as a buddy. You can have either a wolf or a panther like cat as a pet, know someone that tried to charm a bear. I guess she wanted the "brutal mauling" attack but that did not work out so well. Someone told me about the lizards in the Crystal Desert are tameable. Tired of being beaten up before that spell is cast? Take the Warrior as a 2ndary profession. Now when enemies move into Melee range, can go medieval on them. Unlike the dead things you can animate in Diablo 2, the necros in Ascalon never got the reanimation mojo working well, dead servants keel over after a while. Its still hard to get good help.

The game has 2 parts pre Sear and Post Sear. You start out in pre Sear, typical fantasy land except with striders/moa birds *cough Chocobos cough*. Yeah, there is a Final fantasy look to the game but it looks great. If you have a good video card, can see details like leaves falling down and moving clouds. Spells are colorfull and detailed. Get your photos, take as many as you want because you will want to leave once you have finished all the quests. There is the Northlands, home to the unhappy Charr. Somehow the Charr were snubbed at the last great party and they took it to heart. Can't go to the Northlands by yourself, need a buddy to pull the lever so you can move to the Northlands.

The Northlands, dotted with picturesque ruins, lovely lakes, flesh eating Oakhearts and deadly Charr. Well maybe the Oakhearts don't eat flesh but they don't like company. You will have to go here for one quest. Every time you level, you get less xp from monsters. Soon you will not advance by beating up the monsters in the pre sear areas, then you have to come to the Northlands. The bad news is that that the Charr are well organized, no single Charr to ambush. Charr parties have a mix of fighters, archers, healers and spellcasters. Rushing in will mean a quick end. The good news is, you can die as many times as you want with no penalty unlike Post Sear. Even if you bring a one shot ress skill (signet) you will run out of the ability to ressurect you or your teammate. So when your team bites the dust they get ressurected at the shrine, no cost no bother. Well you have to run back to the place you got killed at. No running to recover your corpse at... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/7159201/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/7159201/ Sun, 27 Nov 2005 14:37:38 PST
Glad I got the new machine, Hl 2 runs great on it, except when Steam is downloading in the background. Not going to tell too much about the story so, don't expect any spoilers. Graphically, it looks very good, the water reflects the environment and everything is shabby looking. When you are looking at the buildings and the other stuff. The people do look much better than HL.

Soundwise, when you are in the city there is a female voice calling out alerts in the background. If you have played the first HL, you will find it familiar. Shoot the guards and they emit a flatline tone and the loundspeaker voice says "Unit down in sector bla bla bla". Headcrabs and slime are well done and look even nastier. The jumping puzzles so far are ok, nothing annoying like that jumping puzzle in Elite force 2. Some genuine thrills and scares here. Stepping into Gordon Freeman's shoes is a blast.

Installed Quake 4, and its definitely a step up from Doom 3.
In Quake 4, you step into the shoes of a genuine badass Corporal so and so (forgot his name). Some real scares here and better pacing than Doom 3. Wish the sky was higher detail, it looks a bit grainy. What I don't understand is why only the blaster and machine gun have a flash light on them and none of the other weapons I have don't. The Stroggs don't pay their light bill too often so you will need a light. Gonna need that light if you want to find secrets.

Basically Quake 4 is like an updated Quake 2 but you get to fight alongside other marines like Halo and you get to ride in/on vehicles. There are a few levels in which you man a gun and blast enemies and other levels you drive and fire cannons. Those sequences are fun but they don't last too long and wear out their welcome. Like that you can hide behind cover while in the mech and the tank, that takes the weight off the shields and you can wait for them to recharge.

Thought that the multiplay would be like quake 3 with bot support but I have to wait for that. Someone did make a mod that spawns some marines for support but thats in the game. Quake 4 marines are pretty smart, when things are slow they will fix your armor or health without you asking them. So I am pretty happy with Quake 4. Can take lots of screenshots, which is a good thing.

Slo mo is a good thing in FEAR, you get to play a FEAR member with special skills. He must be Max Payne's brother, instead of going into law enforcement , he joined the army. No voice overs though. There are some melee combos but I will not bother trying to fuss with a 3 key sequence in the middle of a gunfight. The story is, a psychically gifted colonel makes contact with something nasty and he goes nuts and takes his army of clones with him. You have to take him out, not in the Franz Ferdinand way. Did I mention that he has a lot of buddies to watch his back?

So far I have gone to 2 places and shot up a bunch of baddies. The weapons are pretty varied but you can only carry 3 types of guns. I had to give up the shotgun when I got a sniper rifle. Too bad, its great when you set up an ambush and they come around the corner. Go into slo mo mode and fire once and its another mess for the cleanup crew. Saw some great gibbage from the shotgun but its not so good for distances. The penetrator weapon is great, its a powerful nailgun that can nail folks to the wall. It has a slow rate of fire, faster than the shotgun but you can't fill a room with shots. The game warns you not to toss your default weapons because of ammo issues, that kinda bites because sometimes you get your hands on better weapons.

Unlike the enemies in Doom 3 these guys give a good fight, they will flank and throw grenades. Frontal assaults will earn you a quick game over, so its better to move slowly and listen. Can kill a few sneaking around before they get wise. Grenades cause this great distortion wave effect, it looks great.

If you are near a grenade explosion, your ears ring for a few minutes.
The key to throw a grenade is right next to the use key, don't make a mistake or its KABOOM! Thank goodness there is a quicksave key. Last time I buy a keyboard that matches my computer case. Beige next time or glowing keys.

You will be using the use key a lot, opening doors, climbing ladders and my favorite, listening to clueless phone messages. Was in one place and this guy had called up asking if everyone is alright, he had heard some loud noises.
Sorry du... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/6855557/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/6855557/ Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:05:19 PDT I'm gonna bust a fireball in your jarhead a$$!
Space Marine: Bring it on! Wait! Have to find that red keycard!
Pink Demon: I hope he did not bring that damned chainsaw.
* Baron of Hell puts knitting away*
Baron of Hell: Crap! Can't that guy bother someone else?
I never get anything done here!
Baron of Hell: Dude get ready, space marine is coming.
Cyberdemon: Almost got those Sara Michelle Gellar Jpegs.
Baron of Hell: That stuff will rot your brain!
Cyberdemon: Yeah right! and your knitting is not gay?
Baron of Hell: Show the space marine your porno collection and see if he does not kill you faster.
Undead grunt: Ha! ha!
Cyberdemon, Baron of Hell : Shut up!

When I first heard about they were going to do a Doom movie, my stomach got queasy. Well not really but I figured that they would screw it up. No demons, just mutants. No big deal, it could be interesting. Well they made a mess of it again.

To be fair, Doom did not exactly have a story line. Its an old school shooter but the writers could have done a better job. Heck, I could have done a better job. What is so hard about writing a story based on Doom. Give all the characters some personality and some feelings, make the viewers like them and kill most or all but one of them. One of the reviewers said it came across kinda like a watered down Aliens. One of the best things about Aliens was that the writers spent some time to make the characters likeable so you would care about what happens to them. Still remember the part when the hispanic soldier and her buddy blew themselves up so they would not get caught by the aliens. Doom does not have too much of a story, then make a good one up!

The second thing, do not make a movie act like a game. Who wants to pay $10.25 more or less to watch a glorified playback/demo? The guy or gal that thought up the first person parts needs to be fed to the headcrabs! Tell a story first, special effects 2nd! ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/6359600/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/6359600/ Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:11:41 PDT
Thank you Rockstar for bringing on the ire of the antigame folks on the game industry. At least with the ratings system, lots of them would not attack but the inclusion of crappy porn has made the ratings system suspect. I see that you do not have code reviews, so you could not see that content in your game and take it out. So the problem is your fault. Do not blame the parents or the opportunistic politicians. Don't blame the hackers either, since if you did not have the code, there would be nothing to mod.

Again I thank you for making the situation worse and probably causing a chilling effect on other companies. If its not happening now, it will happen. Even Uncle Sam in the form of the FTC will be investigating you. Everybody pays for your goofup, game players, game companies and game publishers.

So when I am stuck playing a 3 year old game because the new stuff is so bland and uninteresting, I will be thinking about you. Not in the good way.

*gets off of soapbox*

Finally got the Sacred Underworld expansion, its pretty cheap $20.
Can't tell you about the Underworld campaign because its after the campaign thats in the sacred game. It adds some graphical upgrades and 2 new chars, Demoness/Dwarf.

The dwarf has a shoulder cannon that can act as a mortar, flamethrower and cannon when you get the combat skills. So you can set enemies on fire if they are in melee range. The cannon can hit a bunch of creatures and stun them. There does not seem to be a limit on the number of enemies that get ignited by the flamethrower except that the creatures have to be in front of the dwarf. The unique thing about the dwarf, is that he can use pistols or rifles. Don't know if he can dual wield pistols, the folks at Ascaron left out the skills table for the 2 new chars in the manual and its not in the readme either. Guns cause long range damage but point blank is better.

The demoness has a bunch of good skills and can morph to different demon types but thats only good if the skills regen fast enough. First use morphs the demoness to a form and the second time does the attack. The demoness can fly which adds some great twists. Can go places and not have to look for a bridge to cross. So the demoness can go to places where higher rated enemies hang out and mess with them. Ranged enemies hit hard and are to be avoided but melee ones can be shot with a ranged weapons. Don't want to fight with them hand to hand because they hit hard too. Have to see if the flying makes fighting the flying creatures like gargoyles and lizards easier.

So far I have been using the new chars in the Sacred Campaign, can import the other chars to the underworld campaign but I have to finish the first campaign.

Played the demo for Dungeon Seige 2, its pretty good. They added a specialty tree. Basically its a tree for skills like Diablo 2's. Each char type has special attacks, get a new one every few levels. Fighters get a massive melee attack that gives 100+ points of damage. Combat mages get a fire attack or an auto attack globe, it attacks without you having to target. Nature mages get a gravity stone attack but it seems pretty weak. This is from the demo, so it could be better in the full version. There is less of the auto attack that the first one had, have to get in and run things a bit more. Will write something more detailed when I install and run the full version of Dungeon Seige 2. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5769920/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5769920/ Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:59:06 PDT
Space marine librarian: Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

Ork Boss: Dem Humies are cruising for a stompin!

Eldar Bonesinger: My music is the foundation on which whole worlds have been built.

So I finally got a copy of Warhammer 40kawn of war, have been playing the demo a lot.

What is Dawn of War, its a RTS. Build a base, fend off enemy attacks and eventually crush your enemies. Can also kill them too. Wait! There is more!

The game has 2 different modes, campaign and skirmish. Campaign mode has you playing through a story as a space marine commander while skirmish is like instant action. Can pick a map and opponents and go to war. I like this game's skirmish mode because you get enough time to have some sort of defense for your base unlike the Blizzard rtses, the enemies in those games tends to have its act together real fast while I just have the basic economy going. Its no fun to just have peasants harvesting and a few footmen and the computer has a hero and catapults smashing up my base. Starcraft is like that too except that the tanks cause more damage.

There are only 2 resources, requisition and power.
Get power by building generators and req can be obtained from strategic points. So you have to get out and get and defend those strategic points. Actually you have to go out and get Relics and Critical points too. Relics allow you to make the super unit and Critical points can win you the game. If you get all of relics, Critical points or more than 50% of the strategic points, you can win the game. Well there is a 6 min countdown timer that starts. If the enemy can't break your stranglehold, its game over for them. Don't have to scour the map for the last enemy building to win.

Critical points are special because you can't build a listening post on them. Have to keep them by parking a infantry squad near them. You can capture them and walk away but the enemy is going to take the critical point. Listening posts are special buildings that generate req from Relics and strategic points. They can be upgraded so they can defend themselves and your builder unit can build near it. So you can build minefields or bolter turrets for extra defense.

Regular infantry units come in groups and special ones like the apothecary (healer unit) can be attached to squads. Squads can be reenforced and upgraded on the fly. Can do it in the middle of battle too!

Cover and morale seems to be modeled well. Its pretty easy to see who is in cover and some of the maps have big craters and trees for soldiers to hide in.

There are 4 sides: Space Marine, Ork, Eldar and Chaos Space marine. Each side plays differently.

The Orks even have a resource that the other sides don't have. Have to build a bunch of WAAGH banners to move up the Ork tech tree. Orks are not so good with the shooting but they are very good with the chopping. Orks have a unit called the Squiggoth, its a giant beast with a lightning gun on top. It can mess up regular infantry units and soak up tons of damage.

Eldar have a squad that can teleport, can use them to attack an enemy squad from behind. They also have a larger squad of units with sniper rifles. Not so good for vehicles or buildings but they lower enemy morale. Low morale makes the enemy run away in most cases.

The Space Marines have a vehicle called a Dreadnaught. Its a giant mech that can tear up infantry and buildings. Have seen them grab enemy units and break their backs and toss the bodies away. Need a bunch of them to take out the Ork Squiggoth though.

Chaos marines have Defilers (demon machines) that have powerful ranged attacks. Can also summon demons and drop them behind enemy squads for more fun.

The game has a tutorial for each side and thats good because the buildings are different from each other.
Each side even has different building animations too.
When an Ork builder builds a building, it gets dropped off as a pile of junk. Chaos builder units actually summon the buildings from chaos.

Can't just make a huge army, there is a squad cap for units and vehicles. Have to keep researching to raise the cap but there is a final limit.

Its a pretty good looking RTS, can move the camera really close to the action. The cut scenes are good but don't check for realistic lip synching. Most of the voice acting is good except for Inquisitor Toth, that guy needs to go back to voice acting school. The "capture the points" game mechanic is good because you can't win by playing defensively. Have to get out and get stuff. If you don't want a long game, grab most of the critical points... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5560269/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5560269/ Sun, 05 Jun 2005 12:17:51 PDT
Its not a bad game, actually its a pretty good game. KOTOR is a sci fi rpg in the star war universe way back when the Sith were about to take over. It plays like NWN, get into a fight, the game pauses and you can change weapons and tell people to heal themselves.
Need to do that a lot, switch from ranged to melee.
Don't want to have a blaster while enemies are clawing/smacking/slashing. In D&D ranged users have penalties to hitting while under melee attack. You and your homies up to 2 of them try to stop the Sith from taking over the galaxy. It has that star wars look and feel and if you survive your char can learn force powers. I have not gotten that far yet.

There is a strong moral thread here. Do you give the poor guy money so he can pay off his gambling debts or do you let the enforcers carry him away? Find the cure to the disease and let the free clinic guy sell it at cost or sell the cure to the local crime lord, so he can rack up the bucks?

The thing that bugs me is the constant analysis that you have to do on your party members. Deanna Troi would love this.

*Carth looks confused or the Twi'lekk ice tea does not agree with him*
Player: Yo! Carth, got a second?
Carth: Sure! What do you need?
Player: Dude, you have trust issues!
Carth: No, I don't. I don't trust anyone but I am happy with that.
Player: Well?
Carth: Well, um. Can't we get back to the mission at hand?
Player: I would love to but the game thinks its important for me to grill you on your trust issues.
Carth: Anything for a few lousy Xp points?
Player: Hey, you might get to level up too.
*Carth grimaces as the player hits a button and a couch and chair appear out of nowhere*
*After a few hours of psychoanalysis, the chair and couch fade away*
Carth:*wipes tears from eyes* I hope it was worth the trouble!
*Player Levels up*
Player: Whoo Hoo!

*Later on, the party gets a Twi'lekk team member'*
Carth: Kid, don't let Player get you on that couch!
Mission: Don't call me kid!
Player: Mission, you have issues with your brother?
*Reaches for the couch and chairs button*
*Mission calls for her Wookie friend but he is at the base eating and can't hear her*
Mission: Bantha Poodoo!

The game has 3 different char types, fighter/thief/rogue. Made an extra char thats going to go to the dark side. I wonder if the game be completed if you go to the dark side.

I am thinking about sueing the UAC for gender based discrimination. Have noticed that there are no women in the Mars city base. Can hear their voices on the public address system and emails but I saw no women scientists or soldiers. I have the demo and I bought the full version yesterday. Will check the full version before I start sueing.

Was whining to someone about the fact there is no Stargate game, well there is one. Its called Stargate alliance. Don't know too much about it, so I will have to report back. It would be cool if it was like the old Xcom game, the first one. Players get to manage bases and lead teams on tactical missions. Imagine leading the SG1 and other teams against the Gua'lds. Pick who goes and what equipment they can use.

There is also a game based on "24" too, have to get more info. There are so many games that I have not bought yet.

I am toying with skipping Half life 2, just to spite Valve.
Yeah, I know they won't feel a thing but I don't like being treated like a criminal. What are the benefits of Steam for users? Do you get updates automatically or do they just make sure you are not ripping them off?

Tried to reinstall Freelancer to my new machine and the sound is messed up. Since they don't have subtitles, it could be difficult to complete missions if you can't hear orders. Time to start googling. Whee! ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5338690/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5338690/ Thu, 12 May 2005 12:48:25 PDT
Finally got my new machine home and installed the Doom3 demo. *in best Jerry Seinfeld* voice, Whats the deal with the flashlight?

The nameless marine that you control has two hands, so why does he have to choose between a flashlight or gun in one hand? Whats in the other hand? Maybe he is clutching his dog tags so they don't make noise and attract attention. Its probably that oversized PDA, not going to get a new one if he loses it. Demon pdas are usually red hot, not good for stashing in pockets unless they are fireproof. Zombies don't need a PDA.

Zombie to do list
1. Eat Brains
2. Eat Brains
3. Eat Brains
4. Watch Oprah
5. Eat Brains

Whats the deal, with shootouts in the dark with zombies?
They always get a few hits in because I can't see them.

Dr Betruger looks like a winner. Can you imagine what they put in the graduating class yearbook? Voted "Most likely to open a demonic gateway and doom everyone".

So I am playing through the demo and picking up anything I can get my hands on. Keep getting System shock 2 flashbacks. Read the emails and watch the videos and you get some useful hints. Wait I have done this before but its no big deal.

Remember playing the old Doom but the new Imps are threatening. Not the pushovers the first doom had.

I will get Doom 3 and the other games I missed.
Don't worry half life fans, once I try the demo, I will probably get half life 2. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5239596/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/5239596/ Sun, 01 May 2005 15:37:10 PDT
After getting some comments from a deviant here that 3d may not be the best medium for me, I decided to try to explore 2d. Have been a bit unhappy about 3d anyway, having doubts that I can do what I want with 3d.

2d is hard, let no one tell you otherwise. Thought it would be somewhat easier but its not. There are no primitives to mess with to make things. Just my shaky hands and the pen/tablet.

Anyway made some stuff, not sure if they will be good enough to be deviations or just scrap. If its just scrapworthy why bother posting it?

The make it yourself computer project has turned into a timesink, thank goodness not a moneysink. The motherboard from Asus ended up being defective, am hoping new board will be better.

Getting tired of pc with loaner videoboard. Videoboard is slow, when I start up Truespace, can see it draw the screen. Now thats slow. Its better than the previous dying board, no wonderful purple stripes all over the place and being limited to 640x480.

If I get a working machine, will not buy boards from Asus. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4800691/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4800691/ Sun, 13 Mar 2005 09:29:13 PST
Steam creeps me out, am hearing too many weird stories about it. Don't like the idea of logging into an online service to play a game on my hard drive. Its one thing if I am playing an online game but logging in to play the single player game is just plain wrong. Valve does not trust you that much that they have to treat you like a potential criminal? If you know about this let me know.

Used to play a game called 688 attack sub way back when. Start up the game and you had to look up and match submarine profiles so you can play. Thats not too bad but you have to do that after every mission.

Another thing that pisses me off about certain games is why do they not put the savegames in the game install directory? Dungeon seige does that. If you wanted to save your savegames, you have to go some place else instead of the logical place which is the game's directory. Its one thing if you buy the game and immediately play it for weeks until its done and then uninstall and move on but if you want to take your time and play then it will take longer to finish.

I like going to stores and looking at the game boxes and have misgivings about getting games on the internet. Yay! More change even if it does not make things totally better.

Off to the Brave New World! ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4526834/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4526834/ Tue, 08 Feb 2005 05:53:01 PST
Sometimes I hate 3d, you get hit with the "Wow, it looks so abstract" comments. Its a scene with a spaceship and some alien plants/fungi. Lets see, I spent time to model plants/fungi that don't look like something you see everyday and it looks "Abstract". Oh yeah, thats a great reward for being creative. If I painted or used painter/photoshop/artrage to do this picture, it would not get "Abstract" comments.

When you do 3d, it must look like something people have seen somewhere, no deviation from the rule. Can't be creative or you will trigger a WTF moment and you will get another "Wow, its so abstract" comment. Whats so great about being abstract when the scene is not intended to be abstract? ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4212420/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4212420/ Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:30:52 PST
Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year.

*Peruses bunker plans from catalog*.

Thanks to the folks that helps out with the Quandry.

Going to get a pc as a render machine and a low end mac powerbook. This way I can still use my mac stuff like artmatic pro, would miss it because it makes such great textures. I use the textures on a lot of my pictures. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4184316/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/4184316/ Wed, 29 Dec 2004 10:49:32 PST
So the question is which machine to get?
It will replace the old mac g4 I have.

Saw a review in which a high end mac was up against some high end pcs, it did well.

If the price difference between buying and making is less than $500 then I will buy but if its more that $500 then I will be more inclined to make. Don't care about picking up geek bragging rights.

Since this is a render machine, it does not need to support a lot of boards or have a primo sound card. So a decent sound card, maybe a top of the line video board, lots of memory and a fast cpu(s) would do it.

This is not exhaustive or totally accurate.

New mac
Cons

1. More expensive
2. Can't fuss with the hardware, a friend of mine brought that up but I won't be messing with the innards anyway.
3. Plugins for LW are mostly for PCs
4. Comes with extra stuff I won't use.
5. Color issues with Bryce red/orange lighting.

Pros
1. Can install software and be working same day.
2. Can still play network games.

Self made pc
Cons
1. Since I have not built my own pc before, can guarantee all sorts of hassles/mistakes.
2. Have to buy pc versions of games or copy cds and hope that works. It might be hard to find the right version.
3. Can't use artmatic pro, need that for special textures.

Pros
1. No Bryce color problems
2. Can add notch to geeky belt
3. Will be assured of having decent quality parts.
4. Cheaper?

Bought Pc
Cons
1. Quality of parts may not be so good, power supply main concern.
2. More expensive?
3. Xp network weirdness. Can't have 2 way network access.
4. Extras that I don't need or have already.

Pro
1. Can install software and be ready to work same day.

Comments welcome. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3932537/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3932537/ Sat, 27 Nov 2004 14:58:27 PST
Minsc: I did not like the exhibits but Boo liked the shiny metal ones. He could see his furry little face in them.

Aerie: I am so glad you let me come along, I never dreamed to see such things.

Minsc: Swords not words!

Have to remember to reduce Aerie's and Minc's allotment of caffeine.

I finally got to go to the Museum of Modern Art, Friday November 26. Unfortunately a bunch of other folks got the same idea too. The line for ticket buyers was so long it stretched into a vacant lot. Saw some guy with a pizza in a box getting on line. Yeah, that pizza will be warm for a while.
It was also pretty chilly too but it took 30 minutes before we were on the main line heading to the entrance. The line for buying tickets was much shorter since they had 7 or 8 ticket sellers. Then it was off to the coat check to check in my bag.
After that somebody had to scan my ticket, took longer to do that I thought it would.

MOMA is large and very square. Unlike the Guggenheim , which is curvy or the Met which has this gallery feel to it, MoMA is a large multilayered box. When you get to the 1st floor you can see people on the higher floors.

Checked out the sculpture garden, liked the white marble vs black marble pool area but most of the artwork there was uninteresting. In some places where they placed slabs of marble over the metal drains, the marble was cracked. I was also surprised that they leave the artwork out in the elements.

Left the sculpture garden and went back inside. I don't really understand modern art. Some of it I can understand or like but most of it looked bad. Liked the Jasper Jones "Diver" piece. Saw De Kooning's Woman, that was good. Its great to see stuff up close and in person. Some of the large artworks were a pain to get info on because they don't put the plaque near the item, you have to search on a wall for it. I guess this is so you can see the artwork the way the artist wants you to see it without being distracted.

I think that the museum is not finished, wanted to take an elevator down but they did not seem to work. A friend complained that the water faucets did not work. Could not take the escalator down because it was broken and it was being fixed while we watched.

Probably will not go back for a long while. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3804484/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3804484/ Wed, 10 Nov 2004 19:08:15 PST Whats Morrowind you ask? Morrowind is a PC rpg in which you play a nobody that somehow saves the world. Even the NPCs who say "Make it quick, outlander" or "Kahjit has no words for you", will get saved. Well at least they don't call me liberal.

Morrowind is different than normal rpgs because you make levels by increasing 10 skills and you increase your skills by doing them. Cast fireball enough times and your destruction skill goes up a point. So you can increase your destruction skills by casting poison or fireballs in a room while the mage guild members give you funny looks. I would do that but it gets boring after a while, its better to use the skill on the stupid cliff racers and other hungry creatures. Most of the creatures will attack you because they grew up on adventurer meat and they can't go into town because the guards will kill them.

The cool thing about this game is you are not lead by the hand on the main quest, you can roam around and get killed by the local creatures. Go into tombs and get skewered by skeletons and when you get outside a cliff racer is waiting to peck you to death.

Actually its not so bad, made 4 characters
Crusader, a fighter that can cast spells.
Archer long range specialist but can use swords
Mage - spell casting bird feeder
Monk - smack em down killer.

Each char type plays differently.

The mage is the hardest because you don't have armor and your weapon skills suck. You have spells but if you run out of mana, things go south. Can drink potions or sleep to regenerate your mana, it does not regenerate on its own. Can conjure minions but they don't last long and the spell could fail. Usually when a hungry beast is putting garlic all over you and licking its chops. When you have enough mana you can put the BBQ sauce on the monster after a few fireballs. Well if you like your rat, cliff racer, Nyx hound, kagouti, kwami forager, ogrim or guar pink or slightly charred.

Archer, basically your ranged weapon user but you can also use a longsword when enemies get too close. You actually have to aim and fire which puts you in the game. If you use the wood elf as an archer, you have the best Marksmanship skills and you can get an animal helper. Wood elves can cast a spell that makes an animal your ally for a while. Only works once a day. You can't sic your animal ally on the attacker, you have to defend yourself and eventually your animal friend will attack.

Crusader is a spellcasting fighter, you can use armor and shields. So when the birds attack, you can block their attacks with the shield. Blocks are done by the character automatically sometimes. Its a skill, so if you work on it, the character will block more often. Can cast some healing spells and cure disease spells. That saves money, more on that later.

The last char I made was the monk character, made a cat man (Khajit) Monk. The cool thing about monks is that they use hand to hand fighting.

Hand to hand is different than regular weapon fighting because the attacks are against fatigue. Fatigue is what keeps you on your feet and fuels your athletics and your running. Regular attacks damage health, no more health and its curtains. So the monk smacks up his/her enemies till they are knocked out and then he bangs on them till they die. Was able to max out the hand to hand combat skill because you use it twice as much.

Khajit Monks are fast, their regular walking speed is faster than that running speed of some characters. You need that speed because it helps with attacks. A monk can take out a brotherhood member if the monk is not hurt too badly. My monk got double teamed by a ninja and a nyx hound. Ended up knocking out the ninja and he fell in a pool and drowned and then the hound got killed. Can knock out one enemy and concentrate on another. When knocked out enemies get back up it takes one hit to put them out again.

Whats a Black Brotherhood member? Well he is an assassin.
I installed the tribunal add on (oops) and now ninjas dog the steps of my chars. If the ninjas just had regular weapons it would not be too bad but they have daggers with poison and health damage spells. After the cut, you still take damage.

I would disable the tribunal add on but if my chars kill the ninja its $2500 worth of stuff to sell. Its pretty hard to make money in Morrowind if you don't do guild tasks. Even if you repair your own armor you need to buy hammers, if you pick locks or disarm traps you need to buy lockpicks and probes. Raiding tombs is real dicey, some nasty things hang out there. Good for battle training, not so good for cash. So far most of the tombs I have raided did... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3552604/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3552604/ Sat, 09 Oct 2004 20:00:41 PDT
I don't like the 20 minutes of commercials they show before the previews. Except for the new starburst bubble gum commercial, that was funny.

Went the local Virgin megastore, it bites if you want pc software, they used to have a bigger selection. They do have a big rack for porno, wait I meant "Erotica" dvds but I find it kinda gross to be picking out porno videos with other people. Imagine standing on line with a "Debbie does Dot coms" video and have some woman with the "Velveteen Rabbit" or "Barney's Christmas" videos giving you nasty looks.

Maybe the next time I visit I will look for Tool or Fear factory video dvds.

I did buy a small book of HR Giger artwork for $10.00, that was a good deal. Lots of interesting pictures in there. Maybe I can mix in some Giger in some of my future pictures. Maybe a "Nighthawks" picture with space marines and aliens. Have plans for a Lee Bontecou and Edward Hopper picture already. I hope that I can get the feel of both of them.

Walked in one section and they gave me a free condom, yeah that sucker is going to be put to use tonight! Party Balloon Time!

Went to the local Barnes & Noble and checked out the calendars. They had a Edward Gorey calendar of the "Evil Garden". Poor folks visit an evil garden and succumb to assorted incidents. Good ideas for a series of fun pictures. Maybe I will do the picture in which the baby and rugs get carried off by big hairy bugs.

Changed the idea for the Lightwave halloween picture, its easier to do but it still fits. Less ambitious but more doable and still pretty cool. Hooray for Black Humor.
Hope I can finish the Bryce and Lightwave halloween pictures within the contest's time limits.

The pic for the Bryce emporium is mostly done, all thats left is some tweaks and the final render. After that its postwork. Should be done way before the deadline. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3334041/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3334041/ Fri, 10 Sep 2004 17:46:27 PDT
I try to produce something special for Halloween so I can compete on the Halloween contest at Renderosity. I will probably lose since my stuff is so weird and not mainstream but I will keep trying.
Have to check and see if they have one here.

The problems I have ideas but nothing definite. Still waiting for the picture idea thats easy to do within 2 months and still have some punch to it. Need something that has an idea that users can see right away. Want a picture that to me is cool and does not take more than 1 month and change. Also want something that is not clicheish. Don't want to do the usual Halloween type picture.

Would love to do it all in Lightwave but I am still learning it and the amount of stuff that I would have to learn could impact the end date. Could do it in Bryce with assists from Lightwave and Truespace but I would like to get away from Bryce and Truespace.

For me its more important to get a picture done than to worry about what I use to make it. Its a no brainer, 6 years and more vs less than a year, guess who wins. That said, LW does have nice stuff but its going to take awhile before I get to some level of mastery.

What can I do for the Halloween picture?
No clicheish stuff.

Sci fi - Gotta stay away for Doom3ish stuff. So no demons in a technical setting. Already doing a picture with that.

Fantasy
Horror

Have been toying with the idea of a western/horror picture for Halloween, not sure.

Any ideas? ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3033201/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/3033201/ Tue, 03 Aug 2004 08:45:58 PDT
Now you could think thats sooo far fetched but was the last hooker you met, short but with really high heels? Wore lots of perfume and did not like to be spanked? Had really dark large eyes that you could get lost in them? Did she use really weird lingo, sounded like someone from a 50's or 60's movie? Did she look vaguely familiar? Did she look someone you kinda remember from tv or your past?

Ahh Yeah! I can see some of you are agreeing with me. Guess what, it gets even stranger! She does not have a "Docking port","Bearded clam" or "Snatch"! Whats that you say? I had a wonderful time, it was so unearthly! These ETs use mind tricks to make you think you had a good time. So when you thought you were "Knocking boots" or "Tapping booty", you were on the floor gasping and groaning while the alien seductress had her way with your mind!

That means that that the alien hooker could know your social security number, bank and credit card pin numbers and any other important details. That little bit of mind nookie could be very expensive. Scientists and high level military officials need to be especially careful. National security could be compromised.

How can you protect yourself from being rolled by Extraterrestrial Jezebels? If you are expecting to stay away from little green ets with halter tops, high heels with blonde wigs, you will still get caught because some of them are mindreaders and shapeshifters. They can read your mind and look like anyone you want.

The best way is: Stop going to hookers! Mess around with folks you know. Be vigilant! That next bit of action could cost you your humanity!

So when that street hostess walks up to you and offers some hospitality. Decline it for the safety of all mankind!


/start disclaimer

The previous is meant only for entertainment purposes.
Any resemblence to anybody mentioned living or dead is their bad luck.
No animals were harmed during this message.

/end disclaimer ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2804159/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2804159/ Sun, 04 Jul 2004 18:29:43 PDT
go here and follow the instructions, if you want to see stats about your deviations. Only deviations at DA will be tracked, any deviations that involve alcohol will not be tracked.

[link]

Use what you type in when you login.

Just got a demo of a new rpg called Sacred.
I did not read the readme, just jumped in and played. So some of the stuff I complained about could be explained in the manual but this is a rpg not a flight sim, you should be able to have fun without memorizing the keyboard commands.

Roam around a big land and open cans of whoop a$$ on assorted miscreants. You can buy a horse and ride it around and use it in battle too. Its less like Diablo 2 and more like Divine divinity except you don't repair stuff and you don't make potions. Less humor here too, no skeletons wondering how they are able to talk without having any tongues. Your first primary quest is to meet a general so you can fight orcs which is also like Divine Divinity.

Riding horses actually has lots of consequences. You can get around faster and you can charge people and knock them over but you can't use certain battle skills while on horseback.
Can also ride away from a mob and string them out a bit so its easier to kill them one at a time. They have different levels of horses and saddles too. Your horse can be killed, so you have to be careful so you don't end up having to hoof it.
Don't want a 2k investment becoming goblin or wolf snacks.
While riding the horse you take damage first before the horse does.

I finally got to use combos and they do a lot of damage. A seraphim's attack seems to cause 30-37 points of damage but she hits 4 times. A gladiator using the attack skill hits for 70 pts, one hit. the celestial flame skill makes a pillar of energy where you want it, it gives 22 pts of constant magical damage to enemies, so you can cast it and enemies take damage when they do a melee attack. Can cast it on enemies that are in ranged distance too and they don't run away, they just stand there and take damage till they die. I grouped an area attack and a hard hit attack into a combo, so the enemy gets a good smack and his friends get some hard loving too.

The bad thing is that skills are not learned, you have to find them or they are given to you. Can also update weapons with different runes too. The blacksmith has them, I don't know if you can find them or you get better runes from the blacksmith when you level up. It has a Divine divinity feel because you can roam anywhere you want. You may not survive the trip but you can take it if you want.

If you get whacked, the game puts you back in the nearest town, maybe the game should ask you about loading your last save game, maybe you saved right before you went into the bad place.

Your quests are kept in a logbook and the map shows where you have to go which is great. Also the interface has pointers that aim towards your primary quest and secondary waypoints. No aimless wandering unless you are sightseeing.

In the demo they only give you 2 classes to work with, Gladiator(Fighter) and Seraphim(Knight). Gladiators are strong. Seraphim were outfits that fit in at a strip club, well except for the wings. They can do magic, so far I have just seen the offensive stuff. Seraphim attacks are fast, so she ends up with more total damage than the Gladiator. The magic spells help a lot too. Both chars start in different places and have different starting quests. Also they regain their health pretty fast, if you can get away, your char can heal themselves without healing potions which is a good thing.

The land of Sacred is a high rent district, an iron dagger costs about 300-400 bucks/gold. There are plenty of magical hiding places where you can find stuff, this is done better than the big stone object that says "Hidden stash", that they use in diablo 2. Yeah its hidden real well if you can see it. If you are patient and not running around, you can find these magical hidden places and get some goodies. I did not have problems with money because the goons that attacked me, except for a few stingy animals, had stuff to pick up and sell. Your char has items specific to her/him you can't use other class's stuff, so you can sell that stuff too. Things are expensive but you have enough money for decent stuff. Unlike diablo 2, you don't have to repair your armor and weapons and no paying for bolts or arrows either.

Lots of animals walking about though I did see a rabbit with pathfinding issues. Actually the deer turn funny, they rotate in place and then move.

The enemie... ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2642402/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2642402/ Sat, 12 Jun 2004 09:34:43 PDT
go here and follow the instructions, if you want to see stats about your deviations. Only deviations at DA will be tracked, offline deviations will not be tracked.

[link]

Use what you type in when you login.

Yesterday's lunch was not too good, went to an Indian restaurant that me and my friends have been going to for a while. The restaurant had doubled their prices and they got rid of the buffet. Since they did not have a sneeze guard, I was not happy about that. If you get to the food right when they put it out, thats ok.

I ordered a dish with shrimp and got 5 small shrimp. Am more annoyed with the amount of shrimp than anything else.
I guess I will have to order dishes that give you more meat, like chicken/beef/lamb dishes. The Kashmiri naan was good.
Last week's lunch was way better, got a big plate of veal and mushrooms.

The Pina Colada sucked too, it was pretty bad. The first one they made I could not taste any pineapple, so I asked them to make a new one. The new one was bad too but I did not want to be a pain. I have had pina coladas from this place before and they were tasty. Will not ask for one from this place again.

Last week's lunch was kinda funny. We have been looking for another Italian restaurant to put on our list. This new place was easy to get to so we decided to check it out. I get there first and tell the restaurant guy, I need a table for 3. The guy says "I can't seat you untill your party is complete". What a dump! The place was not even full and it was not a fancy restaurant either. Also it looked like there was no air conditioning but that day was cool. Plenty of better places within walking distance. So we walked to a better place with less attitude.

That area is full of places with attitude. We used to go to a seafood restaurant called Aquagrill, the food was good. Was there at noon but they made us wait while they had some meeting. If you want to stay in business serving food you don't keep paying customers waiting. There are plenty of restuarants in that area. Anyway, we left and have not come back. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2086604/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/2086604/ Fri, 26 Mar 2004 02:35:53 PST Your 12 deviations were viewed 1,760 times, with 961 fullsize views.

Overall, people left 205 comments and added your deviations to their favourites 10 times.

Your most commented deviation was Willowisps and Fireflies with 31 comments, while your most favourited one was The Sanguine Migrants with 3 favourites.

Average comments per deviation: 17.08
Average favourites per deviation: 0.83
0 Favourites were given for every 10 Comments

Every 31 days you upload a new deviation, and you uploaded 25% (3) of your deviations on Wednesdays, while your favorite time of the day during the week to upload is at 11 AM with 3 deviations.

Your busiest month was March 2003 with 3 (25%) deviations.

go here and follow the instructions
[link] ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1935337/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1935337/ Mon, 01 Mar 2004 18:37:36 PST [link]

It sorta annoyed me that 3d does not have the same categories like drawing does. I am not going to do anything yet but if I get an ok, I am going to petition the admins for more categories for the 3d group.

Right now, am waiting for a response from the admin. ]]> ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1926507/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1926507/ Sun, 29 Feb 2004 10:54:56 PST ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1659400/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1659400/ Sat, 10 Jan 2004 17:17:15 PST ~sevenofeleven http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1494731/ http://sevenofeleven.deviantart.com/journal/1494731/ Fri, 05 Dec 2003 15:11:53 PST
My win me evironment went south, was getting blue screens of death lots of times. Dopey me, I saved everything except the os at a good point. Tried to go to Win Xp but there is a problem with the wireless card drivers. Sent emails to the company but one first things they did was say dual boots are bad. They have unresolved issues with the Win Xp drivers and dual boots.

Without the dual boot, I would not be able to send them emails. Was dual booting with win me and win 2000. Anyway finally got a win me install that works and going to try to upgrade to win xp. The stupid win me install killed the bootpicker, so I can't go to win 2k which was working fine. Can't do a clean install because the wireless drivers won't work. If it fails can go back to win me and install win 2k for the serious stuff. Did that before 6- 8 months ago.

Hate having to reinstall my games, some games won't let you resume from your last saved game. So you have to start over again or not bother with the game.

Yay! I love formatting and using fdisk (not). Have to get this fixed so I can get back to making pictures. Machine is basically useless until the apps and oses are back on it.

In case you are wondering, this is being written on a Mac. ]]> ~sevenofeleven