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Emzee

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Blog Entries posted by Emzee

  2. Emzee
    For all the time not spent dealing with real life and the BZPRPG, I've been working on this flash project using an ActionScript 3 framework called Flixel. I really did not realize how simple is was to get a Flash game going (I still thought you needed Flash :embarassed: ). The scripts can't handle anything too intense, but Flixel is good for simple games like platformers. It took me very little time to get something up and running, and right now I'm spending more time trying to fit the many game mechanics I have in mind together than actually programming (I'm realizing more and more that this is a common issue).
     
    Anyway, here's what I was able to make* in about an hour (not including time to learn Flixel and make the graphics). NOTE: You'll need to click somewhere in the new tab in order for the controls to work. Speaking of, here they are:
     
    Move: A and D
    Jump: W
    Attack: S
     
    No, you can't do anything yet. This was really just to show off what I discovered (Flixel!), rather than what I've accomplished. Right now I'm just trying to get game mechanics down and I've taken a break from the coding part for awhile. Once I've made some solid decisions, I'll get back to the coding.
     
    *: as usual, it might not work - but I think all you need is Flash for it to run (and maybe AIR, but I forget).
  3. Emzee

    So This Is The End

    By Emzee,

    As usual, I'm quite excited about the upcoming year. So many high-hopes and resolutions (not that I bother setting any, but it's fun to hear about them ). This year wasn't too bad though, I got my first internship, which most likely helped me spring-board into my full-time job offer (from another company).
     
    I'm also glad I'm not scrambling trying to reboot the BZPRPG like we've been doing for the last oh-so-many years. Continous arcs are fun.
     
    To those fortunate enough to already encounter 2012, happy new year! Hope nothing changed too much.
     
    P.S. I also recommend reading through the RPG entries and casting your votes if you haven't already. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, and I'll let you know my decisions later.
  4. Emzee

    New Avatar And Brickfair

    By Emzee,

    Okay, so this avatar as hardly new now, but still... glad to see no one was freaked out by the slasher smile. I saw that online and felt a compulsion to 'avatarize' that one frame.
     
    Also, I'm going to Brickfair! No, not the one a gazillion miles away (though I suppose that's not officially off the table yet), but the closer one in Alabama. That time will definitely be the best time in 2012 for me to go anywhere, so I thought it'd be best to take advantage of the good timing.
  6. Emzee

    'friday'

    By Emzee,

    Hardly the worst song ever. All who say so either aren't BIONICLE fans or are ex-fans who dropped out before 2006.
     
    *cue slew of comments referencing songs even worse than Piraka Rap*
  7. Emzee
    Well, I'm just going to say it.
     
    I'm disbanding the company.
     
    Now, hopefully the natural response (besides "what company?") is "What do you mean?"
     
    Allow me to elaborate: Cyan Productions is a collection of game developers that release games, music, stories and other stuff in the Fan Created Games forum. Unlike most of the "game companies" that swept through BZPower in the mid '00s, Cyan developers mostly did their projects, and reached out to artists when they needed them.
     
    Now however, most of us have moved on. Despite this, the games we created to still hosted and downloadable from cyanproductions.net. Because we mostly each worked on our own projects, this creates a bit of a support issue. I do not know all the ins and outs of my peers' games, and they likely do not know the ins and outs of my games. This is why I've been hesitant to bring the Cyan Productions topic back. There aren't really any active projects going on, and because the games are hosted in my topic, members would likely expect me to be able to help them with bugs, game secrets, and general game support (can't blame them, of course) for projects that didn't work on.
     
    So here's the idea that I'm toying with: I post two topics in FCG, one for each of the games that I made. The rest go to the Software Library. I haven't done it yet because I'm still thinking things over. It sounds like a good plan though. They'll still be playable.
     
    Of course, you wouldn't be able to just casually discuss the other Cyan games since there would be no topic. If enough people ask for it, I may remedy that with another "Official Topic for Older Games," but the last one tanked, so I'm reluctant to start another one.
     
    Well, that's where we are now. I'll make a final decision in the coming days, and I'll update if I change my mind.
     
    Note: Plans for Influx and its associated resources will go in the next entry.
  8. Emzee

    Welcome Back Bzpeeps

    By Emzee,

    It looks like most of you didn't forget about us after all.
     
    So, how did I spend my BZP-less summer?
     
    Well,
     
    12 week corporate internship for one of the largest companies in the world, where I did programming and database work, and received a full-time offer to begin next summer (haven't accepted yet, but there is a likelihood that I will).
     
    BRICKFIESTA! That was such a fun time. Finally meeting with Pat, Andrew, and Ray again after disappearing for 2 years, and meeting Nukaya for the first time. It was definitely a different experience than Brickfair '09. The Fiesta was a lot calmer, and I actually took home a prize!
     
    Oh, and there was also the bats. Can't forget the bats.
  12. Emzee

    Brick Fiesta

    By Emzee,

    With my summer internship coming up, it turns out that I'll be a lot farther from Austin than I had anticipated (Arkansas to be exact). I'll see if I can still make it though. The event's coming up rather quick (quicker than Brickfair anyway, which as usual, is getting all the fanfare).
     
    At any rate though, I am expecting to attend the 2012 Brickfair -- can't think of much of a reason why I couldn't.
  13. Emzee
    Update 2: "On a Quest" has also been added. Like "Cy-Wahi," I was also going for the feel from the MNOLG soundtrack. Let me know what you think!
     
    Update 1: The 'Cy-Wahi' theme has been added. To give you a frame of reference, I'm trying to go for the MNOLG feel (Le-Koro especially), with the techno/vaguely tribal feel. Please tell me how close I've gotten to achieving that. It would really help.
     
    Part of any game development process is music composition (or music ripping if you're lazy =P). I've been having dozens of melodies and rhythms swimming around in my head for the last several months, and only I've recently built upon some of those melodies to the point that they're tolerable to listen to. I'm now in the final stage of these pieces. Usually, I wait a week or two after I finish a piece, and then go back and listen to it again. It allows the song to be fresh to the brain again, and I'll make it easier to spot issues. I'm impatient though, so I'm allowing you to be my ears.
     
    http://cyanproductions.net/media/
     
    If you click the link above, you will see the music section at the bottom. You can use the buttons to navigate through the 7 tracks. Just to make clear: these are DEMOs and definitely subject to change.
     
    Also, I can't really explain the context of most of these tracks, except that Hub is the central location in the game where you will access all the levels, and Sa-Koro is the first level. Any additional information falls under spoilers.
     
    Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!
  14. Emzee

    Oh Hey, The Sun Came Back

    By Emzee,

    ... with a vengeance. The poor snow didn't even have a chance to plead its case. I almost felt sorry for it.
     
    Almost.
     
    Take note, kids. Don't mess with Texas - especially on Super Bowl weekend!
     
    Speaking of which, this will be the second time I've been in a city where the Super Bowl is held. I wonder if there'll be any huge halftime controversies like last time.
  16. Emzee

    Lego Star Wars 2

    By Emzee,

    I've never played any of the LEGO <insert franchise> games, and I thought it'd be a good idea to pick up LEGO Star Wars 2, especially since I already said in my Cyan Productions topic that Influx would be inspired a bit by this game. Hard to do that when you haven't played it.
     
    I'm liking it so far. I'm only on the first level, but it's super easy. It's still really fun though, and I'm sure it's going to get harder as I go along. I'm already getting some good gameplay ideas to use in Influx, though I might up the difficulty for my implementations -- I think that it's better to get complaints of difficulty than complaints of simplicity.
  17. Emzee

    My Bzprpg 2011 Characters

    By Emzee,

    Name: Lekori
    Species: Le-Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Good
    Guild: Gukko Force
    Mask: Teal Great Kakama
    Power: Dormant Air element
    Weapon: Knives
    Color: His torso and arms are yellow-green. His legs and hands are teal.
    Bio: Lekori is a brave, hard worker who is always there to assist his family and friends in Le-Koro. One night, two skillful bandits kidnapped Lekori’s little brother for ransom. Wasting no time, Lekori left his home and led a search for the bandits who took his brother, while his family remained in Le-Koro, scrambling for widgets to pay off the bandits.
     
    Lekori is a very serious individual, but he is a respectable leader, and his willingness to always press forward always inspires the people around him to pick their heads up and keep fighting along with him.
     
    Name: Kafua
    Species: Po-Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Good
    Guild: Po-Koro Defense Force
    Mask: Purple Great Kakama
    Power: Dormant Stone element
    Weapon: Hammer
    Color: His torso and arms are beige. His legs and hands are purple.
    Bio: A shameless cynic, Kafua gets joy from pointing out flaws in one’s logic, deflating pomposity, and all around saying what’s on his mind whether others like it or not. Some regard him has a jokester, but it is not always obvious when the Po-Matoran is jesting.
     
    After bandits ransacked his hut, Kafua gathered clues and set out to hunt down the thieves and get back his valuable belongings.
     
    Name: River
    Species: Ga-Matoran
    Gender: Female
    Alignment: Good
    Guild: None
    Mask: Medium Blue Noble Kakama
    Power: Dormant Water element
    Weapon: Spear
    Color: Her torso and arms are light blue. Her legs and hands are medium blue.
    Bio: Intelligent and rational, River is very protective of her little brother Tam. She was a doctor in Ga-Koro, tending to the sick and wounded. When her young brother mysteriously disappeared several years before, River struggled to get permission to leave in search of her brother, and to receive help from the Guard. Finally, she left the village on her own accord and embarked on a journey to find Tam. She finally found him near Kauae Bay, but his mind was under some sort of Xa-Koronan curse. After fleeing from the two Xa-Koronans hired to find and retrieve Tam, the two wander the island of Mata Nui, moving from place to place to avoid the Xa-Koronan agents.
     
    Name: Tam
    Species: Ga-Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Neutral
    Guild: None
    Mask: Dark blue Great Komau
    Power: Dormant Water element
    Weapon: Disc
    Color: His torso and arms are light blue. His legs and hands are dark blue.
    Bio: Tam is a broken child who was recently rescued by her older sister, River, from Xa-Koro. They are now on the run from two Xa-Koronan agents determined to bring them back to Xa-Koro for unknown reasons.
     
    Name: Tahku
    Species: Ta-Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Evil
    Guild: None
    Mask: Red Kaukau
    Power: Dormant Fire element
    Weapon: Cutlass
    Color: His torso and arms are red. Her legs and hands are yellow.
    Bio: Tahku and his ally steal and ravage unsuspecting villages, taking what is valuable and selling it on the black market. When sales are low, they are also known to kidnap children for ransom. Tahku is the more cunning person in the duo, and he can be very manipulative.
     
    Name: Lakea
    Species: Onu-Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Evil
    Guild: None
    Mask: Black noble Huna
    Power: Dormant Earth element
    Weapon: Disc
    Color: Black.
    Bio: What Lakea lacks in brains he more than makes up for in strength and brutality. Never hesitant to harm people who annoy him, Lakea is extremely dangerous to even experienced fighters.
     
    Name: Booda
    Species: Matoran
    Gender: Female
    Alignment: Evil
    Guild: Xa-Koro
    Mask: Black Great Rau with blue streaks
    Power: Some Xa-Kuta skills
    Weapon: Broad Sword
    Color: Black with blue streaks.
    Bio: Booda is one of Xa-Koro’s go-to women for tasks requiring speed and combat skills. She is very cunning, but has little patience for failure.
     
    Name: Pest
    Species: Matoran
    Gender: Male
    Alignment: Evil
    Guild: Xa-Koro
    Mask: Black Pehkui with teal streaks
    Power: some Xa-Kuta skills, though they are different than what Booda can do.
    Weapon: Broad Sword
    Color: Black with teal streaks
    Bio: Pest is exactly what it says on the tin. He is very arrogant and has a nasal accent commonly found in sociopathic nerds – of which he is. Pest regularly studies the history of Xa-Koro and is enamored with it. He wants to do all that he can to help the guild succeed and keep Makuta in control. Unfortunately, he does not see Booda as fit to lead the hunt on River and Tam, and this often leads to fairly intense conflicts between Pest and Booda.
     
    ---------------------------
     
    I know it looks like a lot, but they all travel in pairs, and will eventually travel in quads. So at first, it's going to seem more like I only have 4 characters.
  18. Emzee
    ... but do shadows expand or contract when the character is off the ground? I thought they contracted... but Unity is making me second-guess it, by having its default blob shadow expand.
     
    And no, I can't just go outside and see because it's the month of January, and January in north Texas = no sun.
  19. Emzee

    How Glorious!

    By Emzee,

    I finished my dialog tree system for Influx!
     
    Did you know that a dialog tree isn't usually a tree but a complex directed graph? Yeah, that can mislead you into trying to create a Tree data structure that wouldn't work anyway.
     
    < <
     
    > >
  23. Emzee

    I Turn 21 In Five Days!

    By Emzee,

    And you know what I'll be doing?
     
    Fasting! It's a pledge for charity - companies donate money to this charity for every person who pledges. It's being run by the Muslim Student Alliance at my university (I'm a part of a handful of multicultural organizations - I am not Muslim myself) Ramadan's going on now, and to give non-Muslims a taste, we fast for a day. On my birthday.
     
    Now, to clear up any misconceptions, I'm very proud to be doing this. It's for a good cause and I'll learn something in this process.
     
    In other news, I've been trying to get started on Silverlight, while also looking closely at companies like Oracle and Amazon - I'd really like to get a job in two years, and I have to know these companies to achieve that.
  24. Emzee
    Here's a screenshot of the Character Stats menu that I've been working on:

     
    The Kanohi images need a little bit of tweaking, but function-wise, they're pretty good. For the Skills Panel, you click on the glassy orbs to choose your skill level (green is low, yellow is medium, and red is high). However, each level upgrade requires a certain amount of Skill Points. Clicking on the button will do nothing if there aren't enough SP.
     
    My biggest issues are coming from the Equipment Panel at the bottom though. Allowing an easy way for the player to change equipment in a highly visual manner is a lot more complicated than one would think...
  25. Emzee
    School started this past Thursday, and I'm taking 18 credit hours (which is 6 classes for those not in college yet). I thought I'd just share what I'm taking this semester, so here we go:
    Digital Art - designing professional-looking artwork with Photoshop Understanding World Music - studying the basics of music all around the world Probability and Statistics for Software Engineers - Math Math Foundations for Software Engineers - more Math Business and Public Law - An interesting look at civil court cases involving both small businesses and corporations Professional and Technical Communication - teaches one how to write like an engineer I have a full load this semester. I would say how this will inevitably cut into my activity here at BZP, but my work load here is light and I haven't been that active here. At best, I'll be just as active then as I am now. I'm not looking forward to the new math classes I have to take, mostly because they involve a lot of Calculus, which didn't serve me well when I took Physics. I have to take these classes though, and do well in them, do I'll just deal with it. 
    ...can't like I'm excited about writing either, as I'm afraid this may be another English class -- there's a reason I didn't major in English or Humanities. Math is the lesser of two evils.
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