#because the money i get from humble bundle and donations

[suckmybussy]

Binding of Isaac Character overviev part 3: Cain

Depending on how often you use shop, cain might be insanely fast to get, or really hard when you spend all your money, his difference in looks from isaac, comes from his eyepatch that bleeds in tainted form, which to me always resembled pirate, And he always felt like really strong character, while he doesnt really have strong items.

Cains Gameplay is that of DESTINY or rather, lack of it. After killing his brother he had to make own destiny and became symbol of greed, he is wanderer. All this is reflected in his gameplay, as he uses alternative win conditions such as pills and machines.

Cain is of course refference to biblical cain, who in act of envy killed his younger brother abel (who is also an item), first human born and already fiirst murderer huh. Althought neither his gameplay nor items, reseble that of actual cain from bible, having no biblical Curse Of Cain, that whenever someone hurt cain, would deal damage back 7 folds, and no reminder of him being farmer (tho after killing abel, he was no more able to grow anything so i guess that checks out). He is also called the first murdered, creator of greed etc.

cains tarrot card is: X Wheel of fortune

Cain

Unlock: Have 55 or more coins at once

starting items:

-Lucky Foot

-Paper clip (after donating 68 coins to donation machine)

-key

Important stats:

-1.2 damage modifier, which puts his starting dmg to 4.2

-1.3 speed

Cain is interesting character to play, especially to newer player who doesnt yet have characters like azazel or d6 on issac unlocked, because untill you learn how stats and items work, you dont really know what cain does! But as less advanced player, i always knew for sure, that somehow he is much stronger character! It is of course atributed to lucky foot and higher base damage mod and speed, which allow him to dodge easier, kill faster, and lucky foot allowing for additional win conditions, since pills are always positive or neutral and machines paying off more often. This allows Cain to get much higher stats than others even with medium items, even when player does things basically by random. Althought his lack of clarity on what he does, makes him get forgotten by player fast.

Strong items:

Cain being Jack of all trades as he is, doesnt really have much good items, only really notable ones are Birthright, to get more and better arcades, paired with money generation like deeppockets and humbling bundle or PHD for more coins from bloodbanks, And items like echo chamber to make most use of always positive pills.

Strategies:

Cain being the Jack of all trades dont really have actual strategies, except for eating every single pill and playing machines as much as possible, if this can give some benefits and pay beggars as much as possible for more items.

Tho it should be noted, that because his starting 2 health, he is much better to go angels instead of devil deals, which synergises because beggars paying out with item give angel deal chances!

Tainted Cain

Tainted cain Takes the DESTINY aspect to 11, stripping him from one, because he cant pick up items, and has to create his own win condition, where cain does this by gambling and drugs, T Cain like expert scavenger creates own items from scrap (pickups) he finds along the way, quite nicely fitting in his biblical representation of wanderer and symbol of greed.

He does this by using his handy friend, bag of crafting, combining 8 pickups lets him create item, which rarity and item pool depends on pickups, so golden key helps make much better items than key, and sacred heart adds +10%chance for item to be from angel item pool

Also by touching item on ground, buying one from devil/shop or crafting active item while already having one, will cause the item to burst into random pickups, with additional pickups depending on room, for example bone hearts when in secret room

Good items:

-Pickup generators: As T Cain needs all pickups he can get, he understandably need mostly items that help him get them like, sack of pennies, deep pockets, sack of sacks and importantly rune bag (since runes are rare)

-Items that change pickup quality: Here probably only real example would be Dark bum, since he changes 1.5 red heart into chance to get dark heart, which has much higher bag quality and gives chance for devil items

-It is also advised to craft rock bottom first, before tears rate/tear mod shenanigans

-Sacred orb has unique interaction, which doesnt allow to craft items below quality 2, but it changes recipes as well, so you loose all remembered info about items

Bad items:

-Items that can destroy items for little reward: Lil Portal, key bum

-Items like humbling boundle and bogo bombs as they make it harder to craft specific recepies

-Magneto like items that will cause him to pickup everything himself

-Item rerolls items like D6, spindown dice, glitched crown or additional choice from options and options2

Strategy:

Tainted cain has 2 very unique ways of playing, as its common to use external item descriptions mod, to see all recepies we can craft with pickups on whole floor, making this character instantly THE STRONGEST in the game.

Case 1: no recipe showing mod

You really want to get 16 pennies as soon as possible, as this allows to craft 2 slot machines (slot machine has fixed recepie of 8 pennies), inside secret room or other special room (curse room, angel room, devil room), to get high quality pickups, and then basically pick up best pickups you get hoping for strong items

Case 2: Recipe showing mod

machine strategy works here as well but better, althought our priorities change, we want to create deep pockets as soon as possible, because this allows to craft multiple slot machines on single floor, which resoults in game break 100% of the time

This character unfortunatelly doesnt really change from run to run,and his runs are either annoying because we theoretically can make anything but get bad items anyway, or we can one shot delirium by 3rd floor depending if we mod game or not, either way he is one of most interesting, but most boring to play character, unlike normal cain who always is nice to play, even if he doesnt have strong side

[fanonical]

what's vague about change your url lol. You're "searching" for a new url? You could literally change it to ANYTHING. What you really mean is you like getting followers for having a "canon" url and you don't mind being followed by Harry Potter fans and terfs if it means you get more followers. how long you gonna "search" jk Rowling being a transphobe has been extremely common knowledge since BEFORE COVID. just admit u care more abt fandom than other trans ppl

yeah basically. basically i love Harry Potter soooo much and want to kiss this book sooo bad. i am also a terf and i hate all other trans people and hope they die and then are replaced with new harry potter books. you are absolutely right, and this isn’t a remotely unhinged thing to project onto somebody who has a username on a website

[alwaysscreechingbasement]

Comment: “Its a pretty crappy looking move on paper, but really its still one of the more generous charities. The US has a real problem with regulating charities. For context: “Charities that are A-rated generally spend at least 75 percent or more on their programs, so more of your money goes to causes you want to support,” says Stephanie Kalivas, analyst at CharityWatch. It's a common misnomer that the majority of your money actually makes it to the people you want to help. In fact most of it just goes into keeping the operation running. (and the people at the top are not making minimum wage...) I highly recommend anybody willing to donate to a cause to not give to a charity. It's horribly inefficient and your time and money are better spent helping directly through volunteer or direct donations. Always make sure you know how much of your money goes to what it should. Charities while not technically profitable, are more profitable than we care to think. That's why we have over 1.5 million different charities (which is a rate of 1 to every 300 people). I know it's easier to think, "well it's money I was spending anyway, why not see it get to some people in need." but really you are better off throwing loose change at homeless people because they are actually gaining more from you, and directly than what you are giving to most places.”

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

in an attempt to keep my shit together, a list of things I would really, really like to get done this weekend:

reply to a couple new Etsy messages

actually make my one outstanding Etsy order, which really shouldn’t be that hard

answer the survey for a Kickstarter I recently backed

try to finish my will, I mostly just need to make like...one more decision (I mean the accompanying “here’s what I would like to happen with my shit that isn’t monetarily valuable but it’s valuable to me and

check out a couple different “hey you could get like $10 from this class-action lawsuit” notices I got recently, because if they seem legit and I qualify, then yeah of course I want a little money for minimal effort

write and mail postcards for a local candidate (I only have 10, it should be easy, and I have a good motivation because apparently this guy needs petition signatures to get on the ballot at all and I definitely want him there because he seems like the only halfway-decent choice for my state house district)

bonus: I might be able to play the slot machines in the current SWTOR event while I write postcards, which would be nice because a) I always feel better when I’m multitasking and b) it will probably surprise no one to learn that virtual slot machines are incredibly fucking boring and if I can’t multitask I’m gonna lose it, but also I do have chips to spend

pick at least one good organization helping in Beirut and donate to it

submit an appeal to my insurance company and hope I can convince them to pay for the vision therapy that might help my headaches

also figure out wtf is going on with this dental claim because yes, y’all definitely cover me?? this has not changed since the last dentist appointment, which you covered no problem??

buy one or two Fanatical game bundles because there are some I definitely want and I’m not sure how long they’ll be available

handwash my face masks because I uh, haven’t done that whoops

try to read a bunch on Comixology Unlimited because my 60-day trial is up next week and no I don’t know how the fuck that happened so fast

leave more voicemails for my legislators, particularly my senators, because FUCK YOU FOR GOING ON RECESS BECAUSE YOU COULDN’T DO YOUR FUCKING JOBS AND PASS MORE COVID RELIEF. BECAUSE MCCONNELL IS OF COURSE BLAMING THE LACK OF COMPROMISE ON DEMOCRATS WHEN HE DICKED AROUND DOING NOTHING FOR MONTHS AFTER THE HOUSE PASSED THE HEROES ACT AND NOW SUDDENLY IT’S THE DEMOCRATS’ FAULT THAT THEY WANT SOMETHING BETTER THAN THE SHITTY HEALS ACT THAT INCLUDES PATHETICALLY TINY UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENTS AND ZERO MONEY FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. LITERALLY FUCK ALL OF YOU GHOULS

also I keep meaning to email my state legislators and I should really just...do that

keep trying to get Hazy adjusted to the sound of the nail grinder so I can maybe actually try to use it (should also probably do yet more research on what to do when your dog haaaaaates getting her nails clipped)

close some tabs oh my god. close a lot of tabs. I have four Firefox windows open and one of them is 22 tabs of articles I’ve been planning to read and then post on Facebook, which unfortunately takes kind of a lot of time (but also they’re probably important and if I just bookmark them I’ll never return to them??), and another has 19 tabs of mostly ADHD advice that I need to read (and of course all of those include links to similar articles, so it’s like a fucking hydra every time I try to weed through them), and all these tabs are making FIrefox very slow and bad and I have got to deal with them somehow.

things that would be really nice to do:

glue some stuff that needs gluing, it shouldn’t take that long and it would be just be nice to finally get that done (also one of the things is glass and it’s...probably not the smartest or safest thing to have glass pieces just, like, lying around)

type stuff and maaaaaaybe even work on a fic?? like there’s this one fic that is genuinely almost done, and a few others that are probably almost done, and I haven’t finished anything since fucking January and it sucks

do a couple more finishing touches on my Young Loki custom and take photos of him

do...some other painting stuff? designing more Pride Cap shields?

it wouldn’t hurt to download whatever I want from Humble Trove now and I should work on deciding what I want to do about Humble Choice, but I don’t really need to do that until next weekend

[jojostory]

How to Fight COVID-19: Geek Edition

Hi friends! Given the pandemic going on, I thought I’d interrupt my irregularly-scheduled artist alley tip posts to point out some resources and tips on how to help fight COVID-19 in the U.S. First, choose your fighter: Are you a gamer, an artist/cosplayer/craftsperson, a merch enthusaist, or some combo of the above? Once you’ve chosen, keep reading to find out what you can do! Let’s gooooo!

Gamers

Donate computing power! Do you have a sick gaming rig? Put it to work for science when you’re not using it! Folding@home is a project for crowdsourcing simulations of proteins to help find cures and treatments for various diseases like Alzheimer’s, Ebola, and now, COVID-19! You just download a program that runs in the background on your PC, and you can pause it whenever need need that computing power back. (Don’t forget to turn it back on though!)

Pay what you want for the Humble Conquer COVID-19 Bundle! Get a WHOLE bunch of really great games for whatever price you name and support charities like Doctors Without Borders and Direct Relief! Ended April 7, 2020. Thanks to those who bought the bundle!

Artists/Cosplayers/Craftspeople

Donate personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals! Do you have leftover gloves, safety goggles, or N95 respirator masks you use in your art that you’re probably not going to be using since conventions are cancelling left and right anyway? Check out GetUsPPE and let them know you have supplies. You’ll be contacted by a volunteer to arrange a time for them to come by to pick up the stuff (and you can just leave it outside your door at the appointed time, so no contact needed!)

PPE also includes hand sanitizers/wipes (that I know a lot of us artists carry to conventions to prevent con crud after handling money all day!)

Sew and donate facemasks! Yes, cloth facemasks are not going to protect you from coronavirus, but they can help as a last resort to mitigate spread of the virus. There seem to be less official donation drives for this sort of thing, but consider giving a couple to folks that are in non-medical but essential jobs like grocery store cashiers or delivery folks (and make sure to instruct them to wash them often). Some hospitals will also take cloth masks for use in cases when N95 respirators aren’t absolutely needed so that they can conserve their mask supply (see below Vanderbilt link for source).

Here’s one tutorial for cloth facemasks from Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

More tips and info on cloth facemasks from Good Housekeeping.

Sew facemask headbands! Get some stretchy fabric and buttons to make it easy to wear masks for hours on end! See this Twitter post for inspiration. Consider giving them to people you give masks to!

Keep making art if you can! It’s easy for us to tell ourselves that art isn’t important in times when many are just struggling to survive. But remember that art can help people feel less alone in bad times, and can remind people of good times.

Merch Enthusaists

Donate money! Got extra cash you were saving for artist alley/exhibit hall shopping sprees, but no conventions to go to? Donate to a good cause! Here’s some ideas:

World Health Organization COVID-19 Response Fund

GetMePPE: support the volunteers who are collecting PPE donations for hospitals

Feeding America and Meals on Wheels: support getting food to people who need it, especially in times when many grocery stores are wiped out.

Local homeless shelters: to prevent spread, everyone needs to be able to social distance -- and that includes homeless folks too! Help keep shelters as uncrowded, safe, and healthy as possible.

Support small businesses! Many of your favorite artists have online stores (look for Etsys or Bandcamps), so you can still support them there! However, because many artist’s suppliers (think charm printers and such!) are still closed, artists are having a hard time keeping things in stock. Consider asking for custom commissions!

Buy gift cards if you want to support a business but don’t need anything right away.

If you’re getting takeout/delivery, remember to tip extra well!

All Geeks

Stay inside as much as possible! It’s a good time to get through your video game or anime backlog. Tell everyone how good your shows are so they’ll stay inside too.

Put your internet-savviness to good use! 

Make sure your friends and relatives are getting accurate information about COVID-19 prevention.

Set your friends and family up with apps so they can watch shows/play games with each other online.

Consider giving blood. Unfortunately, the need for blood to help people in critical condition in hospitals doesn’t stop because the pandemic is here. If you’re healthy and can make it to a donation center near you, please consider giving!

A tip I really liked from one of my favorite podcasters: call your dumbest friend and tell them about all the tips above!

Any other tips (or categories of geek!) I should add? Please feel free to contact me to let me know, and please spread far and wide if you found it helpful!

Last updated: 2020/03/31

[yourmajestysworld]

What Can I Buy With Bitcoin?

More people are getting interested in Bitcoin. It uses a peer-to-peer system (P2P) without a single administrator, like a Bank. It s also called decentralized digital money. This way, Bitcoin makes the transferring or transaction between countries much easier and more private. You don’t need to reveal your identity to own or use it. You make a transaction anonymously. That’s why many people are interested in this digital currency. What can I buy with Bitcoin? Can I use it for buying something on the global e-commerces?

What Can I Buy With Bitcoin?

Online Shop

Can I use Bitcoin for online shopping? Yes, you can. Though Amazon refuses to accept cryptocurrency as payment, there is another way to spend your Bitcoin to buy things here. You can use digital gift cards to purchase the products on Amazon or through the lightning network, like Moon extension. Moon is a crypto payment processing company that will accept payment from any lightning-enabled wallet, including Bitcoin. The other online merchants where you can spend your BTC are Overstock.com. Etsy, Shopify, Newegg.com.

Video Games and Movies

Gamers can use Bitcoin to buy games and videos. Some game platforms like Coinmall, Humble Bundle, Big Fish Games, BitPlaza, Green Man Gaming, and Zynga allow you to pay with Bitcoin. Even the leader game-selling platforms like Xbox, PlayStation Network, and Microsoft now accept digital currency as a payment. In those places, you can buy games and other redeemable gift cards or pay for subscriptions.

Services

From VPN, newspaper subscription, to online dating services accepts BTC – which stands for Bitcoin – as a payment method. Here are some of them.

Dish.com — Satelite TV service provider

ExpressVPN.com

PureVPN.com

Teamtreehouse.com — online education

Bloomberg.com

Chicago.suntimes.com

WordPress

Reddit

OKcupid.com — online dating website

Travel

You can buy flights and hotel services using digital currency, like BTC. These are some platforms where you can book the services you dream of.

Expedia.com

Cheapair.com

Airbaltic.com

 Bitcoin. travel

Virgingalactic.com

Webjet.com.au

Travelforcoins.com

Charity and Donation

Doing charity with bitcoin is a perfect way to contribute your donation because it provides anonymous features and fee-less. Moreover, Bitcoin is accessible worldwide and works 24 hours a day. There are some websites you can visit to donate your bitcoin.

SaveTheChildren.com

HumanRights.foundation

Wikileaks.org

For more websites that accept bitcoins as donations, you can visit the following or visit this website.

Foods

Pizzaforcoins.com is a platform where you can order a pizza in California and Bitcoin in exchange. The pizza man will deliver the pizza right to the door where you live. Some other restaurants that allow you to pay with bitcoin are KFC Canada, Old Fitzroy in Sydney, Bees Bros, and Burger Bear in London.

[milesyart]

December Livestream Schedule

I've mentioned before that I'm trying to get on a decent livestream schedule.  Well, December's a crap month for it, because of the Jingle Jam.  If you don't know what the Jingle Jam is, every year for the month of December, the Yogscast host a massive charity drive with livestreams happening all day.  In fact, if you're looking for some charities to donate to, and do some Christmas shopping at the same time, check out their Humble Bundle.  This link will not go live until December 1st, but the charities included are as follows:

Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation - http://ift.tt/1cIofuz

Cancer Research UK - http://ift.tt/1B661KL

International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association - http://ift.tt/1FsZdi2

Whale and Dolphin Conservation - http://ift.tt/2gMuweH

Special Effect - http://ift.tt/1RAa5RY

Mental Health Foundation - http://ift.tt/PnsjpY

Save the Children - http://ift.tt/rW1bI7

Humble’s Choose Your Own Charity - Over three thousand amazing causes, so if there is something close to your heart, you can choose to buy games and do great things with the money!

The Yogscast also work closely with game devs to make this something even more special.  Donations over $35 will also get an advent-style gift packages of games and DLC for the month of December.  This year, the total value of the package is $600.  Every day, you'll get an email with a new set of Steam codes, for you to keep or give away as you choose.  This has been my husband's Christmas gift for the last couple of years, and will be again this year.  What does this have to do with my livestream schedule?  Well, a lot.  Because my December usually has me glued to the screen watching these streams.  Because of this and a variety of other factors, my usual streams will no longer be at 10am.  I may still do some random 10am streams, but they will not be happening with any regularity.  Instead, I'll be streaming at 6pm.  I know this is a bit late for people outside the US, but 10am was a weird time for people in the US.  And for me.  And for my husband, who doesn't go to bed until 7am, and is often asleep in the next room.  10am streams will mostly be on days when he's home and awake at that time.  But they will definitely NOT be on the following days:

Friday 1st

Saturday 2nd

Monday 4th

Wednesday 6th

Friday 8th

Sunday 10th

Tuesday 12th

Wednesday 13th

Sunday 17th

Monday 18th

Tuesday 19th

Thursday 21st

On these days, I will be watching a bunch of grown-ass adults drink too much gin and get salty at video games.  Outside of these days, morning streams will depend on my husband's schedule, which is nebulous and in a constant state of flux. But I'm hoping the 6pm streams let more people come in and participate.  6pm streams may wind up cancelled at the last minute, depending on who the Late Night guest is, and how long Late Night streams run. from Blogger http://ift.tt/2AKEx96 via IFTTT

[curvycrip]

If anyone wants to donate money to my Paypal I’m gonna be starting up my game stuff - a new laptop and some software, because my current laptop is awful and almost dying and I need to update it - my parents are loaning the money for the laptop, so thats fine. I’m fronting for the graphics tablet, which is £90.

But I also need some money for software - I’ve got art software, rendering software and graphics software to get but I have /some/ money off vouchers from Humble Bundle so it is not too outlandish. Just to stay on schedule, I need some donations for starting up game stuff. About £50 should do it but this month has been phenomenally expensive (3 birthdays, 3 hospital trips, and unexpected fees due to fuel expenses) and I still have vet bills and overdraft fees to go out. 

So donations would be appreciated, if anyone can spare the money. If you can, please donate to jayisanerd@gmail.com.

I will be setting up a patreon and an exclusive blog soon, detailing game dev processes/sketches/music samples/etc so please keep an eye out for that in the coming months. 

If you can help me afford software or balance my overdraft please donate to jayisanerd@gmail.com. 

I can afford this stuff on my own, but it would set me back a lot more than I can reasonably afford and I would not be able to start making games for another 5/6 months at this rate, especially as I’m paying off my laptop. 

[tranderas]

Unlimited Possibilities

I’ll be starting a Wurm Unlimited server for my friends in a few days and I wanted to talk about it because I absolutely love the game.

Between WU and its parent mmorpg, Wurm Online, I have close to 700 hours played. This includes a lot of double-character time on WO as I used one character to build ships to sell and the other to drive the boat on which the first would ride back after delivery. It was a nice setup as the alt was grinding up to become a priest.

My 250 hours on Wurm Unlimited were mostly positive with a very sharp negative at the end that’s 100% to do with the sort of drama that happens when you’re on a community server. I enjoyed my role on Sklotopolis as a ship-builder and the only shieldsmith that was selling shields on a regular basis, and I would blow so much time fishing in the middle of the map’s bay. My one neighbor on the peninsula was extremely friendly, and had his own pet project of building a bridge to connect our peninsula with the mainland across the bay.

Wurm has such wide possibilities of activities for a survival game. You can specialize in anything from ships to metal weapons to fletching. There’s the standard light - medium - heavy armor and light - heavy shields of fantasy. Being a priest in Wurm means more than just a holy symbol and a prayer, having world-shaking consequences. There’s bosses, and the gods’ avatars, and mining, and fishing, and crafting, and monsters, and champion versions of those monsters, and monster breeding, and lots and lots of building.

The priest part is the most fascinating to me because of how much different it is from any other fantasy game. Priesthood unlocks powers, but in WO, and in its default state in WU, it carries heavy penalties. Once you become a priest of one of the four gods, many activities become forbidden to you, including skills to craft the gear you need to survive. Sure, you have powerful spells to help those around you, but you’re also reliant on them to make things you need. Priesthood brings about this codependence that you don’t see in most survival games. And each god has an epic spell that requires multiple high-level priests to cast and gives benefits to the entire world. Vynora’s Rite of Spring, for example, gives every one of her followers on the entire server a rested bonus and a stat increase. Priests give powerful tools at a steep price.

There was a time when I was the only WU caster on Twitch, and I enjoyed my role as a gatekeeper of sorts to the game. I had at least two people come in and tell me that the fact that communities exist for the game, and watching my gameplay, convinced them to buy it. That interaction with a community, talking and casting and teaching, is so exciting to me.

With WU’s stint in a Humble Bundle coming to a close, I bought a few copies to send to friends. Server hosting appears to be about $15 a month for a server good enough for a couple friends on a small-ish map, so we’ll see what happens.

For people who do know the game well enough, I’m going to list the rules I intend to set:

* Basic deeds are free; expansion costs money, as does upkeep

* Just no griefing, don’t be dicks ffs

* All skills are going to start at 25 for all players; each new player will be able to PM me for a 30ql weapon of his choice

* Skill xp will be doubled

* PvP will be off unless the group of people I invite want it turned on

* Priest penalties will be turned off; however, with that comes a limitation of only one character per player

* If I run the server off my PC, I will only grind my character’s skills when someone else is online, so I don’t get any unfair advantages in the trading department. If I decide to buy an online server, my primary character will grind just like everyone else. Either way, the GM character will only be used for building the castle at the starting area, settling disputes, and handing out prizes for building contests.

* Money will be obtained through selling to the trader or the token as per WO. The amount of silver that the traders have will be adjusted as time goes on.

* Should the server ever get so big that we feel the need for more RAM or more involved rules, I’ll start a new server with a new world and ask for donations to help pay for it

My main goal of making my own server is to be able to experience the “endgame” of WU, of building and making my castle and exploring and fighting and crafting, on my own terms. Someone wrecked my deed on Sklo and it killed my drive to play there, and I want a place where, if I build something, then feel like taking a break, I can come back and it’ll still be where I left it. I hope my friends are willing to come on that adventure with me, because it’s a fascinating game.

[talyara]

20 37 131

20: First thing I notice in new person

Probably the people they’re with (or lack there of)? Idk, I just feel like you can tell a lot about a person from who they choose to surround themselves with and how comfortable they are in the presence of other people? If that makes sense?

37: Tattoos and piercing i want

I really wanna re-pierce my ears. I used to have 3 piercings in each ear, but since I didn’t wear more than one earring in each, most of them grew over. I also wouldn’t be apposed to a cartilage or belly button piercing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As for tattoos: I like the idea of lightning pattern sleeve tattos in white ink, based on the very first concept I ever had for a D&D character. That said, I’ve already decided what my first tattoo is gonna be. I’m currently keeping the motif secret because it’s just that nerdy, but I will say, that I’m planning on having it done in all black ink, down my spine, starting between the shoulder blades.

131: Helped with charity?

Only through donations so far. I tend to keep an eye on Humble Bundle and I always try to give at least a little bit (if I have the money to spare) when my favourite content creators do charity drives. I also give monthly donations to Amnesty International.I’d love to get more involved in charity work if I had the opportunity! ^u^

Thanks for the questions Anon! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ💕✧💕:･ﾟ

[bistatelodge-blog]

Sweat Lodge Protocols and Safety

First let me say, this is intended to only be a very basic general knowledge and certainly is not all inclusive and does not apply to every tribal tradition and way of practicing the sweat lodge ceremony. It is only a brief description of protocols that from my personal experience seem to be good rules of thumb when attending any Native American ceremony. When attending a ceremony with a particular ceremonial leader of a particular tribe or group, you should consult someone who knows that leader and ceremony for information on what is expected of those attending.

Sweat Lodge is a ceremony that has been used by many Native American Tribes and other indigenous people for centuries. Contrary to some people's beliefs, the sweat lodge is not just a sauna. It is a very sacred ceremony of spiritual and physical purification. The main focus is prayer. The sweat lodge is also used for many specific purposes. There are doctoring lodges, lodges to prepare people for other ceremonies and many other purposes. The sweat lodge most people are familiar with is commonly called prayer and purification sweat.

The first thing that is important to know is that every stage of the sweat lodge is part of the ceremony. The ceremony actually begins when it is determined that the ceremony will take place. Building the sacred fire, covering the lodge, and creating the altar are all part of the ceremony. Be respectful in behavior and speech during all stages of the ceremony. Click here Bistate Lodge

Don't attend a sweat lodge if you are under the influence of any substance. The repercussions of this are too many, too varied and sometimes too severe to discuss here. You should simply do not do it. A general rule of thumb for substance users is; have at least 4 days clean/sober and have deep sincere intention of staying clean/sober prior to attending.

What I have been taught by the Elders is that one should never take without giving something back, whether you are taking from nature, receiving the gift of other's work, or asking from the spirits, therefore it is customary to gift a pouch of tobacco to the leader and the fire tenders. It is also good to gift them after the ceremony with goods, or a monetary donation. Value and cost are not important. If you are struggling financially and have no gifts to offer, that is okay too, but any small token of gratitude is good. It is important to know ahead of time whether a lodge leader is offended by a gift of money. By all means ask someone who knows the leader! I know of no traditional leader that will evercharge for a ceremony, however, many appreciate a gift of money while others feel that is too closely related to charging for the ceremony.

All the ceremonies I have ever attended have a feast afterward. Bring food for the table. Juice is also good. Maybe some paper plates and cups too. Whatever you can bring to contribute to the feast is good. Alcoholic beverages are not appropriate.

While waiting to go into the lodge, ask what you can do to help. And remember, all stages of preparation are part of the ceremony. Whatever you help with, do in a respectful and careful manner. It is good to watch those with experience to learn and follow their example. I have been taught to do things like the Creator and Spirit world are watching. (mainly because they are!)

Don't touch the belongings of others. There will be many sacred items present for the sweat lodge such as Sacred Pipe bundles, rattles, drums and many other items. Yes, they are very beautiful and seem to attract touch, however, do not touch. These items are the personal ceremonial and sacred items of the individuals present and it is considered serious disrespect and desecration to touch them unless invited to do so.

Sweat lodge is a place to humble your self before the Creator and Spirit world. Don't wear make-up. It won't stay on anyway, it will run down your face, into your eyes and irritate. It is also important to remove jewelry and any other tokens of vanity.

Don't pass between the sacred fire and the lodge structure. There are many reasons for this. It can disrupt the flow of spiritual energy, it can make you sick, and numerous other reasons. If you need to get to the other side walk all the way around.

Don't pass in front of elders. Now here's the tricky part. Elders aren't always elderly and sometimes they are even younger than you. The lodge leader is your elder, he/she sits ahead of you in ceremony, therefore is your elder. Little things count too, example, if an elder is approaching on the same path as you, step aside and stop until the elder has passed.

I won't speak specifically here concerning women's issues, however, if you are a female of child bearing age it is important for you to speak to an experienced woman about attending the sweat lodge ceremony prior to attending. She will know what to tell you.

When it is time to go into the lodge, the leader will usually speak and give direction. Listen and follow direction. If you don't understand, again, watch those with experience and follow their example. Go into the ceremony without expectations and with a humble heart and attitude. You will be blessed.

Once inside the lodge the heated Grandfather Stones will be brought in. Depending on the leader and the tradition followed, Pipes may be smoked, food may be passed, the leader may take time to speak and teach and like I said, go without expectations as every ceremony and every leader is different. Once the door is closed it will be pitch dark. The leader will pour water on the stones, steam will be produced and it will be very hot. Usually everyone will be asked to pray, songs may be sung, drums may be played or rattles may be used. Most sweat lodge ceremonies have 4 rounds, or, the door will be closed and opened 4 times. Again, this may vary with different tribes and leaders.

Safety Issues Surrounding the Sweat Lodge Ceremony

In light of the recent events in an Arizona (so-called) sweat lodge during which several people died and several others required medical attention, I want to speak now on safety issues surrounding the sweat lodge ceremony. Let me start by saying that I have been attending sweat lodge ceremonies for many years and have never been in a sweat lodge where someone needed medical attention or died. Of course, I've never attended a so-called sweat lodge with a self-help guru as leader either. I've only attended Native American traditional sweat lodges and have always been very safe there.

Know who you are sweating with. If you don't know the lodge leader personally, ask those who do about the leaders experience, training, history, background and reputation. If you don't feel you can trust them, find some place else to attend ceremony. Many times I will attend a sweat lodge as a helper only for the purpose of observing, getting to know the leader and getting a spiritual feel for the energy and the experience of the leader. It is very important that you trust your lodge leader as your physical and spiritual safety may be in their hands.

If a price is set and money is being charged for a sweat lodge this is a good indicator that you should not attend. The goal of such so-called sweat lodges is to make profit and you can bet they will pack in as many people as possible. Traditional ceremonial leaders will never set a price or charge for a ceremony and if there are too many people that need to pray, most of us will do two sweat lodges back to back to take care of all the people who need to pray instead of packing people in too tightly.

If you have medical conditions or physical limitations, make them known. Always discuss the sweat lodge ceremony with your physician prior to attending to gain understanding of how the heat and steam may affect your condition. An experienced sweat lodge leader will know how to help you with any safety concerns and will do so without hesitation.

Hydration is very important. Drink plenty of water prior to going into the sweat lodge. Many leaders will also have water passed to drink between the rounds when the door is open. An experienced leader will also allow you to go out between rounds if you need to or stay outside for the remainder of the ceremony if need be. Again, make your needs known. The sweat lodge is about prayer and if all you are praying for is to survive then the purpose has not been fulfilled. The sweat lodge is not an endurance contest or to show how "tough" you are. It is about prayer, purification, healing and humility.

Make sure to wear lightweight cotton clothing. Some synthetics can melt during the ceremony, so cotton is best. Be sure to ask beforehand what attire is appropriate for the sweat lodge you are attending. Bring in a towel. Remove all metal jewelry as it will heat up and can cause burns. Remove contact lenses and glasses, these too can melt and cause eye damage.

Many people will experience some distress during their first sweat lodge ceremony such as feelings of claustrophobia, difficulty breathing, and some begin to hyperventilate. Don't be embarrassed about this and certainly don't be afraid to say something. Sitting next to an experienced person can help as they will know skills to get you through it. Some good things to remember are; focus on your breathing, breathe in and out slowly and rhythmically, begin to focus on your prayers while breathing. It is much cooler next to the Earth, lie down if you need to. Everyone in the lodge is there to help each other and they will make room for you to lie down and help you through any struggle you may experience. If you can't get through your distress don't be afraid to ask for the door to be opened. An experienced leader will open the door right away.

The sweat lodge ceremony is a sacred ceremony and a very healing experience as well as an intense spiritual experience when done properly, according to tradition, and in a deeply respectful manner. The sweat lodge has helped thousands to heal, to overcome limitations, and to grow personally and spiritually, and should always be so.

If you choose to attend a sweat lodge ceremony I hope you find these things I've talked about helpful, and like I said in the beginning, this list is not all inclusive and does not necessarily apply to all tribal traditions or types of sweat lodge ceremonies. But it should be fairly close. Journey well.

[r1ugames-blog]

Humble Unity Bundle - My Experience as a C-Level Developer Using AAA-level Assets

Recently, various Unity Asset and Unity Game Developers collaborated with the Humble Bundle to create an incredible opportunity, both for Unity Developers (of all skill levels, from the most basic of beginners to the most advanced of experts) as well as for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a charity aimed at making the dreams of gravely or terminally ill children come to life, and Girls Who Code, a charity movement aimed at bridging the fairly substantial gender gap within the world of Computer Science and Computer Game Development.

These developers decided to provide over 90,000 copies (at time of writing) of their various assets and finished games to those willing to put a few dollars up for charity, not only to the benefit of two worth causes, but also to allow folk who see fantastic, beautiful games made with some incredible assets that would otherwise be too expensive for them to get into the world of game development with some incredible assets, ultimately making the world of Game Development a lot more accessible to newer developers using Unity, as well as raising money for great causes.

So, I took the plunge myself with the bundle. The bundle itself has multiple tiers of donation, with the $15+ tier allowing access to all of the featured items in the bundle, and boy was that the best $15 I’ve spent in a very long time. I decided to challenge myself on Wednesday with a neat little challenge of trying to use a large number of the available assets and make something with little-to-no additional scripting of my own. There were two main goals to challenging myself in this way: 1) to prove just how easy it is to develop a high quality game with the bundle with little-to-no prior knowledge of using Unity and 2) just because I wanted to push myself and essentially force myself to complete a game at least to a releasable level, a goal that I often fail to reach with a lot of projects.

The result? Well, see for yourself!

Watch Humble Unity Bundle Vampire Shooter Game from RoryExtraLife on www.twitch.tv

(Note: Apologies for the jittery video, the combination of the high-graphics settings with the high settings of my Streaming program caused my CPU to suffer, causing a lot of dropped frames)

This was roughly 10 hours of effort from start to finish. That’s it. The only external scripts that I personally added were to set up the pause menu, to set the Navigational Mesh Agent on the Enemy characters to follow the player, and to keep a count of the amount of Kills made. That’s it. All of the shoot-em-up scripting and visuals were from Ultimate FPS, essentially a drag-and-drop FPS engine for Unity, the Vampire Models and Animations came from the Fantasy Creature pack, and the landscaping came from arguably my favourite but also most graphically intense asset package in the bundle, Gaia, randomly generated based on a few inputs that I’d made. I could have potentially avoided using any C# scripting completely if I had chosen to also use the Visual Scripting asset packages provided in the bundle, but that was a personal emission since I generally struggle with implementing visual scripting, in prior experiences I found it to be quite limiting.

If you want to try out the game for yourself, then you can download the game below:

Click Here to download Humble Vampire Shoot-em-Up! (Windows Only - ~320mb)

Considering I was able to make this game in only 10 hours, I am quite impressed with the outcome. Could I have done it in less time? Absolutely, while I was serious about getting it done, I wasn’t serious with the amount of effort I put towards it. If anything, it was an exploration into the use of the assets provided, and it was a lot of fun. I tried my hand at implementing one or two other asset bundles into the mix as well, however they didn’t work out so well, so quite a bit of time was put towards fixing mistakes and removing assets and imports that would have otherwise messed with a lot of aspects about the game. 

With that said, however, I have spent some time looking into getting said assets working as intended, albeit in a separate project altogether, and what has started out as an exploratory project into using Inventory Pro with a 3D game has turned into my next project, an isometric point-and-click RPG similar to games like Runescape or the Diablo series. While I haven’t got any screenshots or video footage to show in this post, I’m making the project itself my priority project, and as a result putting Sigma.Infiltration(); on the backburner slightly. I will return to it, but at the moment there isn’t much more that I can add to the game at this point short of making my own assets and making more levels, both of which are things I want to come back to when I’m more confident in my modelling and texturing capabilities.

The best way to keep up to date with the advances of the Iso-RPG that I’m developing is to follow my Twitch account and keep an eye out for development streams. I’ll also be endeavoring to make more update posts similar to this one and making regular releases of the latest versions of the game over on the games page. If you’re interested in checking out the Humble Unity Bundle, check it out here, but be quick, since it’s only up for a limited time. 

That’s everything I have to say for this blog post pretty much. If you’ve made it this far, then thank you for reading through all of it! And if you’ve just scrolled down to see if there’s a “too long; didn’t read” of the post, then tl;dr humble unity bundle is crazy, go help charity you fool. But for now, I’ll leave you with a sentiment that I mentioned a lot last time: if 1 person reads this and takes the plunge into Game Development, or 1 person reads this and decides to part with the money to get the bundle and help charity, then I’m over the moon. Game Development isn’t for everyone, but the difference between someone who can’t develop games and someone who can is whether or not they want to give it a go. With resources like the Humble Unity Bundle, and a lot more free resources on the web, anyone can do it, no matter what.

[takenews-blog1]

Nexus Mods outlines plans to compensate modders

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/nexus-mods-outlines-plans-to-compensate-modders/

Nexus Mods outlines plans to compensate modders

Nexus Mods, one of many largest mod websites and communities with greater than 13 million registered customers, will introduce a donation-type system in 2018 to compensate those that create standard and helpful mods.

The compensation system is oblique and sophisticated, and nothing just like the transient interval of paid mods offered on the Steam Workshop, which started with Skyrim mods. The compensation the modders obtain will come out of a month-to-month pool initiated by Nexus Mods (at a worth between $5,000 and $10,000) and supplemented by customers who want to donate.

From there, modders who’ve opted into the system will obtain a factors distribution that’s primarily based on the variety of distinctive downloads of their works and corresponds to the prize pool. (Distinctive downloads means one consumer per mod creator, not one consumer per mod. So somebody with 14 mods all downloaded by one consumer would haven’t any benefit within the pool scheme over an individual with one mod downloaded by two completely different customers.)

The factors modders obtain are redeemable in Nexus Mods’ storefront, although they can be transformed to money as a PayPal remittance or an Amazon reward card. Robin Scott, the proprietor of Nexus Mods, stated that he hoped the storefront would supply gadgets and choices fascinating to modders.

“The plan is to supply standard video games from storefronts like Steam, Humble Bundle or GOG, subscriptions and software program licenses for standard software program that modders use for his or her modding or wish to use however cannot afford and even PC , for instance, video playing cards, motherboards, reminiscence and so forth and so forth,” Scott stated.

That stated, Scott acknowledged the potential for controversy and disappointment in organising such a system.

“I perceive that is going to be contentious for some folks, particularly with regard to huge mods that have already got a mess of distinctive downloads throughout the group,” he wrote. “However sadly there are restrictions with our stat monitoring that won’t allow us to, for instance, rely all downloads from the beginning of this scheme as having been reset and ‘distinctive’ from that time on.”

Scott went on to elucidate extra particulars of the system — modders can accumulate their factors month over month, and received’t lose them in the event that they don’t spend them. Charitable giving choices can be included if modders don’t want to redeem their factors for something (together with giving the factors to a different modder).

An FAQ on the Nexus Mods web site explains the setup in better element — together with the query on everybody’s thoughts: What about Bethesda Softworks?

What Nexus Mods proposes just isn’t the identical factor because the paid mods fiasco on Steam in April 2015. Neither is it the identical because the Bethesda Creation Membership mod portal that opened in September for video games on PC in addition to PlayStation four and Xbox One. That may be a closed system whose content material is put by way of Bethesda’s full inner growth cycle. Customers don’t pay for any of the mods; exterior mod creators are compensated as exterior contractors.

Nonetheless, Nexus Mods’ plans may very well be seen as aggressive to the Creation Membership, particularly if Nexus modders are receiving some consideration for work performed with Bethesda’s content material. Scott stated he’s not involved that it will bother Bethesda.

“Bethesda have made it very clear over time that should you power them to present you a solution on a selected subject it is a lot simpler for them to say ‘no’ than it’s to say sure,” Scott famous. “Nevertheless, should you merely get on with it and do not ask them, they need not say ‘no’ or ‘sure’ and so they’ll let if they’ve a really critical subject with it.”

Scott is right, to a degree; Bethesda might change its thoughts at any level for any purpose. Initiatives akin to Skywind could not have the corporate’s official blessing, however what they’re doing with Bethesda content material isn’t obnoxious to the writer, both.

“If [Bethesda is] adamant that [mod donations have] to be eliminated then I’ll take away it for any Bethesda video games we host, as I am positive you may recognize getting right into a authorized battle over this would not be prudent,” Scott wrote.

There’s much more element on how the donation system will work and the way creators can opt-in (it’s opt-in solely). This system will launch someday within the first quarter of 2018, with Scott’s hope being the top of January or starting of February.

[silentcoder]

Lilly's Adventures in Toyland. Watching my 3 and a half year old daughter taking her first steps in gaming, I've been observing what she struggles with. I feel there is a real gap for games that are playable by children not yet old enough to read, but beyond the simple activities in gcompris's earlier levels. More-over I'm a big fan of the idea of learning without knowing it - rather than setting out to teach a specific skill, I like the idea of learning things just by playing. And if there is a skill worth learning from gaming, more than anything else, it's simply how to solve puzzles. I've spent the past several days working on the idea in my head, and it's time to write it down. So I have an idea for a game like that. Specifically designed with the idea that my daughter could play it, mostly on her own. Much of the design then, is dictated by the requirements thus imposed, but there is also an original idea. Rather than drawn graphics, I want to use stop-motion sprites created from her own toys. This could be time-consuming but it isn't exceptionally hard to do, just photograph the toys in various pozes (to the extent they are posable) in front of a solid green background that's easy to edit out. You don't need highly complicated animations after all. A simple two or three frame animation in each direction suffices for "walking". Core design ideas: - I think a semi-side-scrolling platformer like the original Super Mario Bros is the easiest to learn - but Mario (and games like SuperTux) are still too complex, some things need to be reduced to fit a 3-year old's abilities. - No jumping. Nothing time-based. The game should be slow, and not require fully developed spatial reasoning to play. It shouldn't rely on fast reflexes either. So all screens must be walkable, and the challenge should come from puzzles that are more about simple reasoning skills than speed. - Controls should be simple. I think controller support is a must, but even then it should consider that the players have small hands which struggle to reach the triggers and top buttons. So a very simple scheme - movement on the left joystick. Actions on the 4 buttons (keyboard variants can be done - I'm not sure if keyboard + mouse is worthwhile, it's too reliant on fine motor skills that aren't quite there yet). Vertical movement should use ladders and slides, concept a three-year-old are already familiar with from the playground. - Only four basic actions. For my game, I'm thinking spells. And you start with just one - more can be added over time as the child gets familiar with the idea. So a simple magical game, in a world of realistic looking toys - on a simple 2-d platform. It's not a nightmare to code, and the work can instead go to the art and level design. - Child-friendly content. Combat, if any, should be on the "My little pony" level of violence only. Instead of a spell to set an enemy on fire, I'd rather have spell to simply turn him into a harmless creature like a mouse, with some implication that the spell is temporary and will wear off sometime after safely leaving the area. While I subscribe to the theory that good fairy tales should teach children that monsters can be killed there is plenty of other ways to learn that, there should be space also to just have fun and learn to solve puzzles and maybe learn that not all monsters HAVE to be killed to be defeated. An equally important lesson. - Backgrounds should reflect the regions the current set of characters derive from. Some of my African landscapes for levels using her animal-toysets, thus teaching (very subtly) a simple bit of geography and the idea that different creatures live in different places. That said, there should be no shortage of fantasy here. This is learning through play - and I think imagination is far too important at that age to focus on realism beyond the scenes based on what is already real. - Everything that is written must also be voiced (I'll need help here), including the opening menu etc. It must be navigatable by children who do not yet know how to read. - A rock solid set of editing tools to allow parents to easily add new levels, and a way to share those levels so that everybody can benefit. This would also allow the game to be much bigger than I could do on my own, and I could ask Caryn to help make some levels. - These tools should give full access to the pre-existing assets and sprites, as well as an easy way to import your own. So level design should be possible without knowing how to do green-screen stock-motion animation, but those who do, should be able to add new creatures. - This rather rules out things like gamemaker or rpgmaker simply because they are too complex. While that is great if you want to create your own game for older audiences, it is overwhelming to a three-year old. - I've set out to create games before, and never finished them because it was too much work on a busy working parent's schedule so on this one I'm setting out also to make the work-load manageable, partly by making as much as possible creation accessible to other people. On the other hand I have successfully finished a game as well (tappytux long ago), and part of why it worked was that it's major additional content could be crowdsourced - there were wordlists in dozens of languages at it's height - and the coding was written in such a way that, once the engine was completed, only bugfixes and optimization was needed - new additions did not require new code. That's a design imperitive now i think (it also helped that, at the time, this was done as part of my job and on company time) - Code should be available however, so parents who can code can make modifications, improvements and customizations for their own kids unique needs, and be freely share-able afterwards. The code will be GPL'd however. While I understand this is unpopular in the gaming community, I want everybody to benefit from every improvement. I am happy to put the artwork under a more liberal MIT license and use MIT-licenses art from other people. - I want the game accessible to as wide an audience as possible, so I intend to use a donation/pay-what-you-want model, which means you can get it for free if you don't have money available. A bit of money from those who can make it would be great but I'm not doing this to make money, I'm doing it to create something for my child. And, in the humble-bundle approach, half of any income recieved will go to a children's charity. - As she ages, more advanced versions introducing new skill requirements would be cool to add. So that a 5-year-old would be able to enjoy their own adventure, which is challenging on their level. These could be level-packs, or require a more advanced engine. That's something for the future. I'm sure more ideas will come out as I start working on the game. But these are the thoughts currently in my head. I wanted to write them down, and get feedback from fellow coders, parents and friends to expand on this before I start writing code and taking a whole lot of pictures of toys :P I'll incorporate the ideas I like (and consider how many likes a comment gets as votes for the idea) and then start working on the actual code. PS. I will gladly accept volunteers who wish to help with any part of this. If you're hoping to get rich it's the wrong project, I don't know if it will make anything, but if it does, I'll share the income fairly with any contibutors. PPS. Please feel free to share this post to any groups where you feel the audience would be interested and able to provide useful feedback or possible collaborators.

via Facebook

[lloyd-mills-blog]

Final Major Project - Evaluation

Research:

EGX 2017 Rezzed (Public Event): Though I did get some nice information and details about a few developers and games, I feel like I did not get the most out of the time I had at the event, I did spend a while talking to the OCTAHEDRON developer about his game but hardly spent as much time talking to the makes of speed Jogging or EaldorLight. I even missed out the careers section which would have been really good for looking at alternate careers if working alone doesn’t work well. – I wasn’t feeling good at all there either later, so I was slowed down for the event even more.

I will improve my research in public events by stopping by and talking to more people, visiting as many various areas as possible and writing so many more notes down like what kind of games and companies you can find here.

Starbound: I researched another game called Starbound, which I picked because of its numerous similarities to my game such as its target audience and themes.

Looking at this game was a very effective research for me since it taught me effective ways to make combat less violent and various details about biomes and environment (freezing cold places were not just a desert of snow and ice, they had trees made of ice and crystals shining).

Source code: One of my great research areas that would be the most challenging but helpful was source code analysis, where I could develop greater knowledge of coding in GameMaker: Studio (GM: S for short). There was previous a humble bundle offer where if  you donated a certain amount of money, you’d receive various codes for things, a GameMaker bundle came up offering GM:S Pro, various modules and a bunch of games with their source code. I took this bundle and looked at the source code for their most popular game, INK, because it was an eye-catching platformer. I first adopted INK’s coding standard for labelling, if something is a sprite then its name starts with s, objects start with o etc. I looked at the code and tried to determine what things meant and how they worked, but I fell back badly here. What I did in the end was try to understand some bits of code there, and if I’d try to apply that code to my game, this was mainly gravity and movement which looked very basic and simple, I thought I could type it up in a notepad doc and put it in my game but it didn’t work and set me back a little in production.

From this, I now know that I need to be much more professional when studying source code like this. I should write down notes and log about areas, take snippets and talk about them like what they mean and what they do – and If I don’t know what they do then I should teach myself via YouTube or the GM: S help menu

YouTube: One of the most useful research sources was YouTube, where I watched tutorials made by Shaun Spalding who has loads of knowledge, skill and experience with GameMaker: Studio. The tutorials he had that I used for my game included platformer tutorial, camera tutorial.

I watched these tutorials only when I needed them. I could and should improve this by watching Shaun’s tutorials on other things, like particle effects, in my own time which should help me develop even more knowledge and ideas in my games.

So, I have looked at various research sources that cover a variety of areas of my project, I looked at public speakers, similar products and tutorials, and I have researched my age rating, my theme and the software that I’ll be using. I feel like I could have done a lot more research though, like looking at more sources whether they’re new or old to me, and look more into parts of my game in general.

Pre-Production:

What you did: Pre-Production started off developing the basic idea for my game furthermore with details such as where the game is based exactly (A huge island in the middle of the Northern Atlantic Ocean, I chose here after I looked into locations and ecosystems like this via wiki). I made a Gantt chart to help plan and coordinate my time, however I didn’t stick to it all that well at first. Soon I updated it by colour coding the tasks to label the progress or state of the work, such as later, to begin, near completion, complete or progressing. -This proved to be exceptionally helpful as I could open up the Gantt chart at the start of a lesson and straight away know what I need to work on. I’d update it once I complete said work or the lesson finishes. As of for ‘later’, I’d label things I don’t need to work on yet as ‘later’ such as production and evaluation tasks. *I also cut off a couple tasks that I originally added but were not relevant to my project.

I went onwards to produce some concept art to show off some ideas for my game, one of a ‘fragment’ and another of a ‘gemstone’. Producing these helped shape more ideas and concepts for the story and gameplay, I went onwards to produce documents like my One Sheet, Game Design Documents, Character Profile, Script, Mind Maps, each progressed when looking at my Gantt Chart but took longer than I thought they’d take which made times spill over and got a little stressful once production was coming close. The other extremely useful document I made was a list about all the aspects and mechanics of a game that I intended to add, and all the visuals that I would require for the game too. Just like the Gantt chart, this made it very easy to pick up where I was and what I needed to do.

I could avoid time spill-over by working on documents as soon as I can, and avoid leaving things to do exactly when I say to.

Production:

What you did: In production, I created 2D platformer game that went fairly well. In this, I develop a greater understand of GameMaker: Studio and its programming language, GML, The start of the game worked very poorly, as I produced a lot of code based off of the source code of a game I researched, this code followed different coding standards than I was used to, since the programmer must have been an insanely more experienced than me. Since I wasn’t all too sure about the code and functions I used, the game hardly worked to start off. I however quickly overcame this by watching Shaun Spalding’s YouTube tutorial for a platformer. I followed a production list of everything I needed to make, game with its mechanics and everything plus what key decisions did you make There weren’t really many ‘key’ decisions that I made.

Challenges and overcoming them:

The usual challenge that came up for me was setting up mechanics that I’ve never done before, usually I would look up previous work for functions that I could use, or the f1 key in GM: S which brings up a whole help menu that comes with an index that I use to search up functions and aspects of GM: S – This help menu was a vital asset I used for learning various functions but it’s downside came to having to search by the keyword, it could either bring you exactly the function you’re looking for or some random feature of GM: S. I also only used the index in this menu, so in future I should try looking for other things.

End product and audience: I find that my final product is very suitable for my audience, the game and its controls are easy to understand and follow End product and initial idea: My final product ended up very similar to my initial idea, the main differences were that I missed out some of the small ideas and concept that I thought of, they were cut due to running short of time and focusing on more important parts of my game.

Improvements to end product: My production could have been improved by performing more research on relevant software before production began, and tested the new code I wanted to use before production. I did not include audio for this project again, I focus really hard on developing my game and it’s mechanics in class while I spend ages at home creating the pretty visuals, leaving sound as a forgotten aspect. In future, I need to use sounds from royalty free sound sites, quickly go on field trips with my phone to record more sounds, and edit them with Adobe Audition or Audacity.

What to do next time: Next time I make a game, I would have most likely done my research looking at lots of new elements and areas of GM: S (like the tutorials from Shaun Spalding), so hopefully I would have expanded my knowledge greatly which should allow me to both create mechanics I made before even faster and probably better, and create mechanics that are new to me.

Conclusion: What I learnt: From this project, I’ve learned of new documents that are necessary, or just helpful to the project, such as beat charts and Gantt Charts. I’ve also developed some more knowledge for digital art in Adobe Photoshop from friends in lesson which got me into viewing tutorials on YouTube. I also need to stick to YouTube for researching code for the time being, later I will start to look at source codes of other games and develop a stronger understanding of their logic.

Favourite Part: My favourite part was watching people playtest my game especially when it was nearly complete. I believe the game is the most important thing about a project like this because it is the fruit of your labour, still all the production documents and drawings are pretty neat to look at but the game is what people are mainly after. I enjoyed seeing how people were amazed when they saw the trees grow when they walked past them, it’s like magic to them but it’s so simple to me because I made it. -I’m usually very critical of my work, so praise helps me appreciate my effort a little.

Most challenging part of the project: The most challenging was the problems in coding that I discussed earlier.

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Dump the Junk Software!

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Dump the Junk Software!

Undoubtedly, some of my friends out there will wake up Christmas day and find a brand new shiny Windows-based computer under the tree. Or, maybe you have a computer that’s not that old, and you just want to get rid of the junk software. What do you do with it now that you have it, and where is the best place to start? The PC manufacturers want you to unpack it, fire it up and get busy, leaving all their crappy little software applications alone. My advice is that once you have it powered up and running, back away from the keyboard slowly to think for a moment. This article includes some facts and info for you to consider. Now, I am not asking you to take the case off and start disassembling it. I am just suggesting a few tweaks to the software before you dive in and start using it.

Let’s start where, hopefully your computer has already started for you automatically. Understand that the PC manufacturers keep the versions of their software, somewhat current, but the first thing that should happen when you start a new computer, is a Windows Update. The Windows Update goes out to the big Microsoft Server in the sky, and updates the operating system. During this update, it goes out and grabs entire new versions, version updates, and what are called patches, to the operating system. When a new virus or security hole in the operating system appears that needs fixing, sometimes the only way to fix i,t is with an upgrade or a patch to the software. That is where Windows Update comes in. Your new system should be set up, so that straight out of the box, it runs a Windows Update when it detects a network connection. That Windows Update will run on a schedule, and will go out and keep your machine current. If it doesn’t do it automatically, then click the Windows Control Panel’s “Windows Update” link and let it do its work.

The next thing you will possibly see, is a prompt from an internet Security program bundled into the software that came with your computer. The anti-virus developers play on your emotions, to make you think you are going to have all sorts of problems, if you don’t use their software. They give the software to you free for 30, 60 or 90 days, and then you are hooked. You have to sign up and give them a credit card for 12 months worth of their valuable service. My suggestion, is to uninstall their software asap, and download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, it comes from Microsoft, it integrates well with their Operating System, and in my humble opinion, it does a better job than the ones you have to pay for. You can search for Microsoft Security Essentials, or do a search and download. So my first suggestion is to dump the included anti-virus that comes with your PC, it will save you money and a lot of headaches down the road. To uninstall and then delete a program like the anti-virus that came with your new PC loaded with Windows 7, here is how you go about doing that. Go to your Control Panel and click the “Programs and Features” link. Scroll down in the list until you find the program you want to delete, and click the uninstall button at the top of the box. It is not a good idea to keep 2 anti-virus programs running at once. They may conflict with each other, so I would delete the one that came with the PC first, then download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. Next step is to update what are called plug-ins on your system. The most important plug-in is the Adobe’s Flash plug-in. Flash is used to play most web videos, and is also used in other content included in websites that requires user interaction. The latest version should be downloaded here. The next plug-in that needs installation is Adobe’s Reader X, it can be installed by downloading here. The Adobe Reader is used to read any PDF Files that might be emailed or sent to you. The next PDF related plug-in, is needed if you have Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Word 2007 installed. That MS plug-in is the “Microsoft Save as PDF” plug-in for Word. It can be found here. It doesn’t hurt to install Oracle’s Java update, but it isn’t used much by most home users, and is required more in a business setting than for home use. Here is the location to download and install, if you ever need it.

Next step is to install some sort of backup system. In order for any backup system to work, you need to create the backup copies on an external disk. For most users, that means either an external USB hard disk drive or an external USB RDX drive. The RDX drive is a rugged hard drive, in a protective case, and is the more expensive option of the two, but they both give you the option of unplugging the disk, and plugging in a new disk, one allowing you to create more than one backup copy. The RDX is possibly overkill for a typical home user, but I mention them here just in case you want to go that route. You can find links on the web to look at RDX drive technology, my suggestion is to look for a Tandberg RDX drive, so you can see what one looks like and what I am talking about here. Most users will make backups to an external hard drive attached to their computer by plugging it into an available USB port. Once it is plugged in and the drivers are loaded for it, you treat it just like any other hard drive in the system. When you are done, you can either leave it plugged in or unplug it for safe keeping. If you data is highly critical, I would suggest unplugging it, storing it and plugging it back in, when you need to make a backup. There is a software developer located in Longmont, CO, that creates a very well featured software product and for the money ($99.00) you can’t buy a better backup product, for a laptop or a desktop computer. The product you want to look into is, the dataStor Pro Desktop version. Go online and search for their website for a demo of the product. Another, no cost option is always to use the backup software included inside Windows. The big differences are in usability, and the Pro Desktop software from dataStor includes data de-duplication, which is a great disk saving feature, and is a nice product for a home user to use. Download an evaluation and use it. If you like it, after evaluating it, you can buy it online with a credit card. To setup the free backup application that comes with Windows, start by going to Backup in the control panel or click start and type Backup in the search field and you will see the Backup application pop-up in the window or in Windows 7 you can click the little red flag that pops up in the bottom right corner of your screen. That little flag is Windows 7’s reminder that there are items that need attention. With Windows backup, you can backup to a CD, DVD or an external flash or hard drive. My recommendation is always backup your data to an external hard drive because it is quicker, easiest to use, and it provides the most capacity to store your data on. If you don’t own one, make sure you get one next time you make a tech purchase.

Now that we have addressed system security with Microsoft Security Essentials, and we discussed the need for a good backup of your system data using dataStors’ Pro Desktop product, let’s take a look at all the many icons on the desktop and clean that up a bit shall we? Any unused icons on the desktop, can be deleted or drug off to the recycle bin. When you delete the desktop icon, you are not deleting the application, only the icon that starts it. Uninstall any trial software using the uninstaller, we discussed earlier in this article. To get rid of unwanted tool bars, drag your mouse down to the task bar at the bottom of the screen. Find an empty spot and right-click. Up comes a menu and you want to click tool bars. Next, a small window will open up with all the installed tool bars listed. The ones with checkmarks are active, and you see them on the screen. If you un-check one of them, the tool bars will go away until you repeat the procedure and re-check the box next to it. When you have the tool bars the way you like them, on the way out click the link that says “lock the tool bars”. Next time you want to make adjustments, unlock them, make changes and lock the tool bars on the way back to your desktop.

There is a program, I will mention here, that might help you with your PC cleanup process. It is dangerous, so use it carefully! The program is the PC Decrapifier and can be downloaded here. The PC Decrapifier is absolutely free for personal use. However, if you have found it very helpful, and would like to show your appreciation, you can make a donation under the purchase tab. I dislike the included Windows browser, Internet Explorer very much. I prefer to use Mozilla’s Firefox browser. I find the Firefox Browser to be more intuitive and faster. Firefox can be downloaded here. Another option is Google’s Chrome browser, I am told it is faster, and that it updates it’s Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins automatically. Chrome can be downloaded and installed here. As I have stated before, your PC is probably the biggest tool in your toolbox, at your disposal to use while you are reinventing yourself.

This article hopefully will help you whip a new computer into shape, as soon as possible. Besides there is nothing better than a finely tuned computer, ready to go and nothing worse than a poorly equipped, and under powered computer. As always, if you need help, ask for it. Only delete programs with the uninstaller included with Windows and before you delete anything, think twice. Software is a lot easier to delete than it is to reinstall. Since you have a new computer, call tech support and tell them what you are doing they most likely will be helpful. They have an interest in keeping the anti-virus and the other software installed, so remember that, and stand your ground if you want to uninstall it. I hope this all helps and I hope all my friends have a very Prosperous New Year!

I am Mark McIntyre, and I write about reinventing yourself. Not the kind of reinvention you get on a couch paying someone by the hour. The kind of reinvention you get, when you want to, or need to change your circumstances. I provide practical tools, tips, techniques and tactics, that a healthy balanced individual like you and I, can use to reinvent ourselves with. The best place to start is by looking in the mirror. I hope you enjoy my twist on things, and that the tips I pass along are useful to you. If the articles I write are useful to you, I hope you will come back often, and tell your friends about them.