what happens to a blog deffered?
i suppose it drys up like a raisin in the sun
or does it implode?
Monday, July 14
Tuesday, April 29
So I've decided to try to beat all the Final Fantasies I haven't beaten yet. Those would be:
Final Fantasy 1
Final Fantasy 2 (original, not 4 that was released as 2 here in the states)
Final Fantasy 5
Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy 12
I'm working on 1 and 10 currently. I'm only about 12 hours into 10, but I'm doing better on 1. Tonight I beat the Fire dungeon and obtained the Airship. Sweetness.
Umm..That's all, I just felt like posting that
Tuesday, March 25
So, I've decided to start this project as inspired by www.feltron.com, it won't look as nice as that.
but ive decided to record everything in quantitative form in my life.
from # of times i see people
distance traveled
total hours sleeping
total hours in car
# of poops
# of alcholic drinks
$ on food
$ on ent
# of hours at various stores
every aspect i will meticiously record over the next year
this will start at the beginning of next month
April 1, 2008 - Apirl 1, 2009
No, it's not a joke
its going to be great insight into my life
really, it will be.
i'd suggest others to do the same if you have the will power.
my system will be to have one giant notebook that i record everything into
this will be my HOMEBASE
i plan to have a # of fat 'baby' notebooks that will be my mobile satiellites
i will weigh myself on a weekly basis
it will be really fun i think
i'll just have to make sure to stay on top of it religiously
its going to become pure OCD after one month
Sunday, March 23
heh.
this is going to be a very unintelligible post
that was my disclaimer
who the hell reads this?
its all in vain
leave a comment to let me know you are alive/us
dirty dozens
i have a pretty petty putrid plastic pearl phone pulling parasecs post-haste.
hm.
that was easy and boring.
honesly
its 134am
on a monday morning
so grim
man
i just had to skip through 50 songs to find one that i wanted to listen to
like
skipped aphex twin radiohead
etc.
and got offspring
ok
ill live with this for 4 minutes.
my gatorade is cool and pacificing
i horribly mispelt that
and probalby that
and yes, that too.
heh.
rant and rave
nothing constructive here tonight
not even a rant muchless a rave.
im hungry but ive ate crap all day
cept for those cheesy potatoes
man theys good.
i could read
should read
but i dont feel like it
wait
8minutes
what the hell this song isnt 8 minutes
oh hidden track
thats right
duh
nothing but time
time time time passing
nothing but blog
blog blog blog passing
nothing but ABCD
ABCD ABCD ABCD passing
i want my house damnit
stop pulling my chain
let me get it or turn me down.
it doesnt matter either way.
;\
chopped up face look
like
;/
im in a real let me be to myself mood right now
i didnt partcipate in several debates this evening
usually i poke myself around into them and argue my point
i think these nights are wearing on me
JUST ONE MORE NIGHT
holy shit
one more night?
crappity crap.
oh i turned 26 it came and passed much like i excepted and hoped it would
easy cheesy
i think ill lose weight now
ok i lost weight
MOM
mind over matter
its time to get another tatoo
dont care
need one
to show something
that i can take pain
rar
no
something special
just cause i want one
a cross with 2 stars on the left and right
one for ethan on the right one for ryan on the left
i got army guns
i want a desert eagle.
ive decided thats what im gonna get once i get a gun.
357
big power baby.
semi-auto.
blow dem head off
i dont know i dont know i dont know i dont know
i think im done with this post.
Wednesday, March 12
I found an interesting read on RPGs. Something that made me think "whoooooooa" (and the reason I'm even posting this) is this little excerpt:
Probably the biggest single source of bad rule and mechanics decisions comes from the fact that most game designers, rather than actually going to a library, base most of their research on the work of other game designers. In this way errors are compounded, unrealistic ideas are perpetuated, and design flaws from the earliest of games become commonplace in all modern iterations. It all goes back to the origin of the "role playing game." Here we are talking about the true origin of the "let's pretend" game like House or Cops and Robbers, but of the origin of the systemized, rule-based role playing simulation. It all starts with Chainmail.
Chainmail was a short, cheaply published book by Gary Gygax and Dave Perren, originally published by Guidon Games, copyright 1971 (Gygax claimed 1969, but the copyright information contradicts this). It was a set of rules for tabletop miniatures battles using lead figures and dice, and contrary to popular geek-convention myth, there was indeed a 12 page fantasy rules supplement present (in addition to the now-standard concept of "hit points"). By 1974-1975 it was being published by Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). About this time, the first version of Dungeons and Dragons came out as sort of an add-on to Chainmail, three little brown books that focused on the playing of individual figurine-characters as opposed to conducting large scale tactical combat. The combat tables determining hits, misses, and damage were very similar to those in Chainmail. This is where all the trouble begins.
The modern idea of the systemized RPG, from pen and paper to MMORPG, all stems from this Chainmail legacy, and several silly factors have never been properly weeded out. The two biggies are:
The focus on combat as the core activity in games that are purportedly about assuming a role, as opposed to a tabletop miniatures battle system
Arbitrary and unrealistic characteristics ascribed to weapons and armor, very convenient for calculating casualties in mass combat quickly yet wholly inappropriate for small-scale tactical simulations
It is difficult to underestimate the ability of people to consider themselves an authority on things when their only source of information is a game manual someone else wrote before them, which was in turn based on another game manual, etc. etc. Things become worse when these designer-types elect to "make a few little adjustments" in the thirdhand systems they're stealing from.
Thinking about RPG design is something I've been doing quite a bit lately as I'm intending to make one. In particular, I've been musing lately about RPGs I've played and what I like and dislike about them. I have my own thoughts on the subject of RPG design overall, but the two points in the quote above seem to ring true.
I may come back and post my own thoughts on RPG design.
...But then again, I may not
Saturday, March 8
Hello blog, it's been awhile. In fact, this is my first post on my new computer. where does time go?
Well, as I said, I got a new computer. The HD gets accessed at odd random times, but I suspect it's just the way Vista works. I won't pretend to know what it's doing or why, only that it's certain services working behind the scenes. It seems to have died down quite a bit, so I'm at peace with it.
Oh, and for the curious it's a Compaq Presario, 1.8mhz Intel dual core, 2gb ram, 250gb HD, Vista Home Premium. It's not the greatest, but it's more than adequate for my needs at this time. I also bought a GeForce 8600 videocard so I could work on game development.
Work is insanely insanely boring. I wish now I had found a programming job, and searched harder for one. But at least now I feel more confident in my programming skills and would probably do better on interviews.
I'm feeling more artistic lately. It usually happens when I feel trapped by the world, it's a good escape.
Monday, February 4
This lesson may or may not be a bit longer. I'm not only going to talk about functions because in this lessons I want to introduce some actual real life coding.
Hopefully you downloaded C++ Express like I mentioned. If you haven't I recommend doing so now (unless you already have some form of Visual C++).
To begin, open Visual C++ Express edition. Click "File", then hover over "New" and select "Project..." A new dialog box will open up which allows you to select what type of project you want to create, the name of the project, and where you want it to be created. Visual Studio automatically creates a directory for keeping all of your projects so I recommend leaving the project location at default. Also, leave the "Create directory for solution" checkbox checked which it should be by default. If it's not checked then check it. Feel free to name the project anything you like, I recommend "CLessons" or something similar.
On the upper half there's a list of options on the left. Click "Win32" and this will open up more options on the right side. Highlight "Win32 Console Application" and then, after making sure you named the project, click "Ok"
After this a ewn dialog box will open. Click "Next" to go to the next page of the dialog. Make sure "Console application" is chosen for "Application type" and check the "Empty project" option under "Additional options"
Click finish and your new project will be created. At this point you should see a list of items on the left in a window called "Solution explorer". You should see the name of your project (ie "CLessons" or whatever you named it) and underneath this three folders named "Header files", "Resource files", and "Source files".
Right click "Source files", hover over "Add" and click "New item..." A new dialog box will open similar to the "New project" dialog. This will be your C++ source file which will contain the code of your project. Name the file whatever you want, but I recommend something like "Main". On the upper half click "Code" on the left hand side and then "C++ File(.cpp)" on the right side. After doing this and naming it click "Add"
Now you have a blank sheet to fill with code. Type the following code in:
int main()
{
int a = 0;
int b;
return 0;
}
After this you can click the run button to build and execute your program. The run button looks like a little green play button on the top toolbar in visual studio. It will ask if you want to build your program so just click "Yes" to have it build your program and run it. This program will do nothing but initialize 2 integers so you'll only see a command prompt window open then immediately close.
Well, I know I said this would be a lesson about functions but I guess it turned out not to be. I'm going to leave this here and explain what's going on next lesson. Ok, on second thought I'm going to stop saying what I'm going to do next lesson because I usually end up changing. See you next lesson!
Sunday, February 3
damn blog!!! why dont you display the timestamp!!!! rattin fattin varmit!
this blog is hardcore nothing.
you know, this stomach virus or whatever it is is really kickin my ass
so i woke up an hour earlier today at 230am.
and its 6 hours later at 8am.
you know ive had 6 craps so far??????
crazy i know.
lets get away from that topic.
so what?
i watched across thte universe.
think grease with beatles
and war
and hippies
and bono on LSD trip.
it was pretty good.
but i <3 musicals zomg!
hahahaha heres dj assault again
this is just a funny song.
"bi sexual bitches that do their friends...i love yall ho's for letting assault join in"
some iconic dj/rapper combination who is seemingly promiscious, likes bi sexual women. who are equally promiscious.
lovely
duuuude
i slept so much better last night
i laid down at 845pm.
on a saturday night
yes i know
there might have been a time
when id have been out
doing things
but man
i couldnt wait to lay down
and sleeeeeep
its a good feeling.
or an old feeling.
growing up is something easy to do
maturity...ahahahahaha...there's the rub.
since my main defense for fighting with my son is "well he started it" i suppose there is less hope than i want.
extreme weather in china!
sucks.
you know what else is extreme.
gabes mom.
UNGH!
let me go off on gabes mom for a bit, since everyone else already has
UNGH!
gabes mom is like a blackberry, multi functional but serves on main purpose, oral input.
UNGH!
gabes mom is like an STD, sucks having, but you did it anyways!
UNGH!
gabes mom is NOT like this blog, which no one sees!
UNGH!
gabes mom is like myspace, she has space for everyone
UNGH!
gabes mom is like my lower intestine, really tore up right now!
UNGH!
eeeee
sorry gabe!
i have to go to the restroom
again.
sigh.
i should go home early.
Saturday, February 2
This is a tinier lesson that's a bit of a continuation from the last one. A variable's scope is where the variable can be "seen" by other parts of the program.
Let's say we have some nested blocks of code such as this:
{
int a;
{
int b;
b = a;
}
a = b; //Error
}
Blocks of code get "nested." Developers usually show this nesting visually by indenting blocks of code like I've done here. Basically, variables can be seen only by the block of code it's declared in and any blocks nested within the block it was declared in. As you can see in my example the block of code that b is declared in can see a because it's nested within the block a was declared in. The line below that block of code produces an error however because b can't be seen by blocks of code "higher" then the block it was declared in.
The reason for this is that when the end of a block of code is reached any declared variables are discarded and forgotten. In the above example the end of the block the b was declared in was reached and therefore b is discared and forgotten. When a then tries to get b's value the program no longer knows what b is.
Next I'll begin on functions, but at this point you should download the free "Visual C++ Express" from http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/. I'm going to begin teaching from hands-on examples rather than keeping this abstract.
Tuesday, January 29
damnit! i freaking love the Ode to Joy.
such passion!!!
such avarice!!!!!!!
one can only admire the feelings packed into this piece.
i dont know what to write about to day.
maybe something witty?
maybe something droll?
maybe something apologetic?
hahahhahaha no.
i yams what i yams.
im glad the things are they way they are.
sometimes i want to eat beef
sometimes i want to eat tofu
sometimes i like to kee pthe lines in perfect arrangement
i bet no one got that.
im just to far out there.
way out there like David bowman.
no one got that either.
comeon josh retrack and take them where you want to go.
ok.
ill take everyone down to the bar
where the piano man will sing us a song for the piano man
ok tghe song is finishing up!
so will i
ive been weird this post
i cant help it
if i dont do it ill explode!
i bet gabe got that one
never knows best!!!!1111
twenty errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-r----rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr------rr-r-r--r-rr-r-r--r-r-r-rr--r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r--r-r-r-rr-r-r---ror!
Sunday, January 27
Ah I love this blog, I really do...anything Bob and I contribute loses such continunity and the line...don't even ask about the line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's beenin crack-a-lackin?
Kid B was born. Kid B is different than Kid A.
It's weird being a father of two.
Why?
It just is. It's weird how love separates equally, yet wholey for both.
Yeap.
EXTRACTED INFORMATION
Damnit...ass & titties, 2 asses - 4 titties.
DJ Assault is zuning.
I donht know why I read books that make me question
Once I answer them I'm left with even more questions.
Here's a though in my mind.
Question -> Answer -> Question (repeat into infinity)
Ah, I'm reading a lot lately. I think I'll read some C++ books and learn.
Why not.
"Assault fuck me harder"
this is music?
I scoff but I enjoy it.
Once I said I was very stable.
I think that was a lie, I'm so unstable its funny. Thoughts in turmoil always thinking. Questioning.
Happy^Sad^Anger^Complacent^Josh mood.
Ah yes but I am loving life. The mind I have is blessed. The famiyl I have is great.
Why should I hate life.
Donkey Rhubarb and Lizard Pancakes.
I think we's done here folks!
Wednesday, January 16
In the first lesson I talked a bit about what the processor is doing in terms of programs. If you recall, I briefly pointed out that the processor handles only one line of instruction at a time. Programs are linear in this way, starting at a certain point and reading line by line until an end of the program is reached. For the time being, think of programs in this linear fashion.
However, programs don't have to be pictured as a straight line. Programs can be split into "blocks" and can run different blocks of code in the middle of any given block. For instance, your main program may call for another block of code to be executed before it ends. In this way, think of the program as being able to branch in any direction. It starts some place, and reads each line of code line by line, but it may jump to another section of code. If you'd like an analogy then imagine you start a walk from your house and intend to return to your house. You walk one step at a time but you don't have to go a specific path around your block, you can choose to go to the store or somewhere else before returning home.
Blocks are designated in C++ by two symbols: { }. { signifies the start of a block of code and } signifies the end. An example:
{
int a = 1;
}
{
int b = 2;
}
This represents two different blocks of code, one which declares an integer "a" and sets it's value to 1 and another block of code which declares an integer "b" and sets it's value to 2. Note as well that blocks of code don't require a ; symbol at the end, the } symbols works in place of the ; to tell the compiler that the block of code is done.
There's several ways programs can be split in this way, and I'll go over 3 specific methods over the course of the next several lessons.
Estimated future lessons:
Lesson 3: Functions
Lesson 4: Programming logic
Lesson 5: Loops
Please feel free to leave comments if you find my lessons too hard, too easy, just right, stupid, or anything else
Sunday, January 13
Ok, I attempted to begin these sorts of lessons awhile ago (though they were to cover C#, not C++) but my first lesson ended up being huge and I was bogged down by the size. This go around I'm going to keep each lesson shorter and simpler (or at least more focused).
I'm going to begin with a brief overview of what programs are. Programs, in the most basic sense, are what makes the computer actually do some task. In the lowest level this means the processor is processing information. In the lowest level of "programming" programs are only code that is passed to the processor to execute an instruction (via a series of 1's and 0's). The processor handles only one instruction at a time (unless you have a PC with more than one core, such as new dual or quad core processors). The types of instructions the processor handles are varied, but almost all of them deal with manipulating information of some sort or sending or retrieving this information to or from other hardware, in particular the system's memory which is most often where program data is kept.
I'm not trying to go over anyone's head by delving into speaking about the processor, but it's important to understand that C++ is a low level language. Each instruction, in some way, gets interpreted into machine code. When you're working with C++ you are in reality working with low level programming.
So, on to variables. I mentioned that the processor mainly deals with manipulating information, and variables are how a program keeps track of information to manipulate. I'll give some brief examples of variables here:
int a;
unsigned int b = 0;
Don't fret about not understanding it if you've never seen C++ code before. In a nutshell, the ; symbol marks the end of a line of code. In other words, every line of code in C++ ends with a ; symbol. It's merely a way for the compiler (which handles turning C++ into machine code (1's and 0's) that the processor can understand) to know when each line of code is complete.
The format for declaring a variable is [Variable type] [Variable name] [Any initialization to take place]
Take a look again at "int a;" Given the format I described this means "int" is a type of variable and a is the name to give the variable. The easy one out of the way first: the name is simply whatever name you want to give your new variable. The compiler will then keep track of this variable in the code via it's name.
The variable type is a bit trickier. At this point I'm going to remind you that the processor does alot of manipulation of data and that this data is most often kept in the system's memory. The variable type, therefore, does two things: tells the compiler how to handle this variable when it appears in code and how much memory to set aside in the system memory for this variable. If you look up information about variable types on MSDN (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s3f49ktz(VS.80).aspx) you'll see that "int" causes the compiler to set aside 4 bytes of memory for your program. You can then fill this memory with whatever data is allowed.
Remember that the compiler also understands how to use the variable because of the type you specify. Variables can have different uses depending on the type you specify. "int", or integer as it's called sometimes, tells the compiler that this variable will hold a number. "char" on the other hand, a different variable type, tells the compiler that this variable will hold a letter such as "a" or "b".
The second line "unsigned b = 0;" is even trickier. I'll cover the " = 0" part, but covering the unsigned part is a bit advanced so I'll only briefly mention here that "unsigned" tells the compiler this number can't be a negative, such as -1 or -7. As for the " = 0" part, this is call initialization. Variables don't hold any information before you initialize them, but you can give them a value as soon as you declare the variable, such as I've done with b. The variable a, on the other hand, would require another line such as this:
int a;
a = 7;
Advanced (skip this paragraph if you want): [The "unsigned" keyword is actually so the compiler can give a specific instruction to the processor itself. Understand that ultimately all variables are simply numbers, even "char" variables. However, the processor has 2 flags it can set to handle two specific kinds of numbers: negative and decimal. When a processor recieves a number these two flags can either be set or unset, letting the processor know whether the number has a negative sign or if it has a decimal place. ]
Conclusion:
I'm taking a rather unorthodox approach to teaching this, but I think it's important to get a bit of a peek behind the scenes to understand what's truly going on. Understanding variables from the standpoint of the processor and memory helps when dealing with the concept of pointers.
Pointers, the last thing I'll mention, hold memory addresses rather than data. I could declare a pointer using the * symbol like this:
a = 7:
int b* = &a;
What this does is assign the memory address (a number that tells the processor where the data for "a" is kept in memory) of "a" to b so that b will reference the data of a every time it's used. The & symbol in front of "a" instructs the compiler to get the memory address of "a" rather than the data it holds.
That's the end of lesson 1. This is alot of work, and I have no idea who will or will not understand it. I'm putting this out there though, for the heck of it!
Saturday, January 12
I made one of the best purchases I've ever made a short while ago. I was at the bookstore, looking for a good book to buy with my gift certificate, and my girlfriend casually pointed to a book about 3d game programming. It seemed pretty decent when I flipped through it, so I decided to buy it.
The book's titled Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0c A shader approach and it's by Frank D. Luna (Wordware publishing). It begins with a brief overview of some of the mathematical concepts you need to know, such as Vector algebra, Matrix Algebra, and a bit about Planes. After that it goes into a decently thorough look at DirectX (thorough for a beginner at any rate). Just in one chapter alone I learned much about 2d programming that I was hoping to learn (and that got me so excited I decided to post). Also, the book gives exercises that it expects you to figure and do on your own. They're good practice and generally helpful.
The book is a bit tough though. I've never had a decent Trigonometry lesson so the math sections were a bit of a struggle at times (especially the exercises). Given that I've studied a bit about DirectX on my own already the first two chapters are easier, but I suspect the coming chapters on more detailed 3d concepts is going to be truly tough for me.
And the book expects that you have an understanding of C++. If you don't, I recommend finding a good book on the subject. Awhile ago I was thinking of posting programming lessons on this blog but I never really got around to it. Maybe I'll try it again, and this time only post lessons in smaller, easier to manage chunks.
Monday, January 7
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
I ran across this Andre 3000 video today for a song I've never heard. Apparently it's from the Idlewild DVD, a movie starring Outkast (who also wrote the soundtrack). Andre's a musical genius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq-AZ_SuFm4&feature=related
Wednesday, January 2
I bought the new Radiohead album In Rainbows today. I already had it downloaded for free from their website but I'll gladly buy the album in support.
It came with stickers that you can paste on a jewel case to make your own case for the cd. Pretty cool. I think I'll do that later.
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