corundumgames-blog - Tumblr blog

[corundumgames-blog]

Wanna make a "Coming Soon" page memorable?  Then make it weird.  Make sure to discuss diamond-encrusted Jacuzzis.

For more brilliance and silliness, make sure to sign up for Corundum Games news!  You could win something dangerous, pointless, and stupid in the process.  Oh, and there's that whole "video games" thing, too.  Yeah, you might be interested in that.

[corundumgames-blog]

The Big Picture

So I want to start a video game studio.  That's all fine and good.  Thus, I am.

What, you thought I changed my blog's name to Corundum Games for my health?  Heh, nope.  Corporate branding, biatches.  I've already got the following domain names, each of which lead to the same site;

www.corundumgames.com

www.corundummedia.com

www.corundummediagroup.com

(As well as .net versions)

The company's official name is the Corundum Media Group, and Corundum Games is a division of it.  I keep the Media Group around so I can have a general brand, in case I decide to make something not directly related to video games.  For instance, I'm in the early early early stages of a Brainfuck interpreter, and I'm probably going to release it under the Media Group name unless I can somehow turn it into a video game.  The Media Group is going to have its own website down the line, but that's not for a while.

I have e-mails as well.  My own company e-mail will be director@corundumgames.com.  The site's not ready yet (I'm designing it myself), nor are any actual products, but I assure you that throughout college I'm going to create interesting and relevant things with the help of some (hopefully) wonderful classmates.

This will no longer be my personal blog, and @CorundumGames will no longer be my personal Twitter.  My GitHub's staying as Gemstone Games until I finish my AP Calculus project, and after that I'm turning it into an organization.  I will continue to follow the blogs I currently follow, because after all, I'm still a high school senior.  But now this is my company's identity.  I'm thinking big.  And I'm gonna make something big.

My name is Jesse Talavera-Greenberg.  We're about kicking ass, we're about taking names, and we're about making games.  We are the diamond in the rough.  We are Corundum Games.

Thank you.

[corundumgames-blog]

Join the club.

Reblog if you're a nobody on Tumblr but you're still very proud of your blog.

[corundumgames-blog]

Ah, 1997.  This is a remix of one of the songs from the Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007, one of the few movie-based games that's actually really good.  It's based on the Facility stage (Level 2), and provides a sort of electronic flair to it.  Plenty more where this came from on ocremix.org.

[corundumgames-blog]

Overlap, Right Out of the Starting Gate

Since SOLAR opened up its shopping cart today, I've decided to start placing my courses in it.

Unfortunately, CSE 150 (Discrete Math Honors) and CSE 220 (Systems-Level Programming) both overlap. So CSE 220's gotta wait until spring, since CSE 150's only available in the fall.  Great.  I need a new CSE course to cleanse myself of the repeated material from AP Computer Science, and I don't quite count discrete math as that.  So instead I'm shooting for CSE 334 (Intro to Multimedia).

Ought to be interesting.

[corundumgames-blog]

Sure thing, Brett.

I want a Tumblr best friend. Reblog if I can go on your page and write stupid things in your ask box whenever I'd like to.

[corundumgames-blog]

He Mentioned WHAT!?

A few weeks ago we were doing presentations on our research about someone we considered newsworthy. (I did Dennis Ritchie, inventor of C and Unix; got an A!) One guy, let's call him Tyson, did Richard Branson, founder of Virgin. You know, that megacorporation that nobody seems to have heard of. Tyson mentioned in his PowerPoint (whose slides he just read off for his presentation, by the way) Virgle, a collaborative effort between Virgin and Google, hence the name, to colonize Mars. But Virgle was an April Fools' joke. If Tyson'd done his homework, he would've known this and not spoken about it! I discovered this yesterday as I was checking out Google's past pranks on Wikipedia. Tyson doesn't exactly resonate with me as the most polished diamond in the jewelry store, but come on. This is just embarrassing. I just had to get this out there. Maybe I should do a future essay or something about Google's April Fools jokes. :)

[corundumgames-blog]

Classic Game Development? Yes, Sir.

Know C?  Then you can make games for classic video game consoles.  Everything you need is now in these development kits right here.  Someday I'm so gonna hit this up.  And maybe even this fall, since I'll likely be taking Systems-Level Programming (which uses C and MIPS assembly).  Click the Source link below to see more.

[corundumgames-blog]

I'm a Not-Quite-Honors-But-Still-Pretty-Good Student

I got admitted to University Scholars!  It's not the Honors College (that's the top 1% of admitted freshmen), but it does mean Stony Brook gives a damn about me.  What do I get?

Priority registration for classes among those in the class of 2016

As a result, earlier orientation (June 29th)

A different "Welcome to Stony Brook" seminar this fall (as opposed to ITS 101)

Invitation to a special event this April right after Admitted Student Day

Invitation to the Brookhaven National Lab tour, though that's not a Scholars-specific thing (more for anybody with good grades).

I do NOT get different dorms, courses (sans SCH 101), or degree distinctions.  I'm like on the second or third tier.  And I'm OK with that.

[corundumgames-blog]

Two Steps Forward, No Steps Back

Life update. I've been assigned my undergraduate college in Stony Brook; I got Information and Technology Studies, my first pick! The undergraduate colleges are basically just welcome wagons for freshman year. I also got accepted to NYU! Sweet! But not Harvard. I've been denied bragging rights. :( Waiting on Columbia at present. As for my project? I'll tell you later.

[corundumgames-blog]

Corundum It Is

(Rubies are a form of Corundum)

[corundumgames-blog]

NOOOOOOOOOO

Someone already has the name Gemstone Games.  It's a podunk board game designer who's not much more prestigious than I am, but the name is rightfully his.  Also, he has the name on Twitter already, so I can't take that from him.

I wanna keep a gemology motif in my studio/brand.  Problem is, lots of other people do as well.  Topaz Games?  Sapphire Games?  Emerald?  Diamond?  All taken.

I also want my name to be simple to remember, spell, and Google.  It's got to stand out.  It's got to pack a punch.

I'd kind of like to use the original logo as well (typography aside).  I have two contenders for a name;

Corundum Games

Crystalline Games

I kind of like the first one better.  I might go with that, but not until after I finish my project in AP Calculus; I'd have to mess around with changing my GitHub name, since I already wasted my one rename.

I really liked "Gemstone Games", too.  Alas, 'twas not meant to be...

[corundumgames-blog]

It's been some time since I posted

So I will.

My game is on hold thanks to schoolwork.  I've been getting my programming fix by doing something else, but that requires a bit of explaining.

In AP Calculus, our teacher has us write what he calls Math is Alive summaries.  At the beginning of the year, we each picked a topic from a list, usually an application of math.  I chose video games.  Then every few weeks, we hand in a summary of an article on our chosen topic.  The next writeup is an outline of our final project, which will be due well after AP Season.

My project is quite ambitious.  He expects an iMovie or Powerpoint from everybody, but I'm going all-out with an Arduino demo!

My demo is going to showcase basic uses of linear algebra in linear transformations, like scaling or rotation.  To keep it interesting, it will be interactive (e.g. a photoresistor will change the speed a cross spins on one screen).  I'm going to be using my Gameduino for this.  Currently it's on my GitHub, and far from ready.  But I will release it officially under the GPL soon.

In other news, I'm beginning to plan out the courses I want to take in college.  Soon I'll have some screenshots up.  I'm gonna have a heavy workload, so I wanna offset that by taking some online courses throughout the next four years.  For that I'm hitting up StraighterLine; they've got enough courses for two years of general education!

This summer I'm likely going to take Introduction to Business from there. I just want to see if Stony Brook will consider it valid credit first.  I've been advised by several people to not take more than 15 credits my first semester, but I'll only comply if I can take an online course.

Now, back to planning.  My, this is fun!

[corundumgames-blog]

int mai--"DINNER!"--n() {--"Economics homework!"

//TODO: Implement that-- "Bedtime!" The next day: /me gets in the zone and becomes highly produc-- "DINNER!" My passionate hatred for these would boil steel.  I would put these in a food processor to watch them suffer.  Then I'd burn them (with my passion, of course), pee on the ashes, and use them as paint for a sign that says this; DO NOT INTERRUPT. The primary violators are my parents and my brother.  I hate interruptions when I'm interrupted when I'm trying to do work or study.  Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it.  Did I mention that I love it when I can get a consistent stream of productivity going? My best "in the zone" times are in the early-to-mid afternoon.  I'm golden if you set me up with energy chews, protein bars, water, silence (or at least consistently loud background noise, I have good headphones), and no worries about having to leave or being called to do something.  The problem is, the last is a precious resource for me, and I hate outright lying about my responsibilities, especially since I know damn well that they'll catch up to me.

"Put up a sign"  Nobody takes heed, or only does so when I'm least mentally alert.

"Wear headphones"  I do.  They're good for shutting out noise itself, but that's not the issue

"Get your other responsibilities done"  They crop up intermittently.

"Tell people"  "I'm your mom, I'll interrupt you whenever I want" or "Shut up, Jesse"

"You're in high school, you should be having fun"  So whatever happened to "doing what you love"?

"Tell people no, you can't"  "Stop making excuses, Jesse"

"Go to the library"  I do, they aren't open forever.

"Get off Tumblr"  Don't you tell me how to stop distracting myself, I use StayFocusd.  And it works.

"Finally, alone at--"  "HEY JESSE LOOK AT THIS CYANIDE AND HAPPINESS COMIC" or "Someone's gonna interrupt me any second, why bother?" or "JESSE CAN I USE YOUR COMPUTER TO GET THESE VIDEOS SINCE MOM TOOK MINE AWAY"

"Jesse, why don't you come out here and do your work in the living room?"  "OK."  "*blares TV*"

I can't win.  I can't seem to both please people and meet my standard of productivity.  And the thing is, I'm not trying to do post-Doc research or anything.  I'm just trying to sit here, take my Udacity course or develop my game, and WHAM!  Something messes my mojo, I get back into it, and rinse and repeat. This is why I look forward to college, for two primary reasons.  One, I have near full control over my schedule, and Heaven help anyone who tries to take that from me on short notice.  Two, since I won't be laden with bullshit, time-wasting classes (I'll have strong control over what general-ed courses I'll take; suck it, Spanish!), I can dedicate more time to my own interests, and when they overlap with my major... I'm considering stripping down to nudity whenever I code or study, in private of course.  This way, people will be less likely to interrupt me once they get the message.  It seems to work for one of my friend's music teachers.  Only problem is, it's always a bit chilly in my room.  Maybe I could also start lying some more. 

[corundumgames-blog]

Blog by E-mail Test

Can't believe that Tumblr lets you post via e-mail, which is nice, as I can still blog without having to wait for StayFocusd (a Google Chrome browser extension) to let me log on again. Testing that now. Also, I'm dropping one of my Coursera courses, at least when they implement the ability. Sayoonara, Software as a Service! Sorry, but that's too much for me to take on all at once. That course seems to be made for juniors or seniors who are comfortable enough programming to learn a ton of new things on the fly. Also, regular expressions in Ruby are a bitch. Actually, they seem to be annoying in general. But in it's place I signed up for Game Theory. Wheeeee!

[corundumgames-blog]

WANTING something you like to be delayed?

Dear Jesse, We're sorry to have to tell you that our Cryptography course will be delayed further. There have naturally been legal and administrative issues to be sorted out in offering Stanford classes freely to the outside world, and it's just been taking time. We have, however, been able to take advantage of the extra time to debug and improve our course content! We now expect that the course will start either late in February or early in March. We will let you know as soon as we hear a definite date. We apologize for the lack of communication in recent weeks; we kept hoping we would have a concrete launch date to give you, but that date has kept slipping. Thanks so much for your patience! We are really sorry for repeatedly making you wait, and for any interference this causes in your schedules. We're as excited and anxious as you are to get started, and we're looking forward to your joining us soon in Cryptography! Dan Boneh and the Cryptography Course Staff

You know what, take your f@%#ing time!  I'm signed up for eight of your courses, and with two (plus Udacity) in progress I'm in no hurry to begin more!

[corundumgames-blog]

I Am Bloody Insane

So Udacity's got a competitor called Coursera. That's fine and good.  It even started around the same time!

Being the nutjob I am, I went ahead and signed up for all of these on top of the two Udacity courses, and my normal schoolwork;

Making Green Buildings

Model Thinking

Machine Learning

Software as a Service

Human-Computer Interaction

Computer Security

Cryptography

Probabilistic Graphical Models

Only Software as a Service and Model Thinking are running right now, but the others are going to start very soon.

Game on.