Adventure in Game Development

Posted by Timothy on Mar 19, 2010 in Random Babble

Since my ADD is off the charts, why not add one more thing to the list of distractions? I’ve been tinkering with NeoAxis Game Engine which is built on the Ogre Engine. I’m quickly finding out it’s quite difficult to be everyone while developing a game. There’s so many different roles that need to be filled. There’s menus that need to be developed and coded for using the tools provided by the engines framework. There’s graphic elements that are needed for these menus. After that, there’s the in-game UI that needs to be designed and coded. You can’t have one element without the other. Going solo in game design could take years to complete anything ready for the masses– And this is with the ‘hard parts’ already done for you (3D, shading, lighting, physics, camera POV, etc). Even with a team of 3-4 people I could see a project taking years to complete. The biggest problem I’m having now is deciding where to start. Do I start on game UI? But I need menus to start/exit the game. Do I start on the characters in the game? They need weapons– Ugh. Weapons. You could spend a full week or more with modeling, skinning, assigning attributes and coding a single weapon! As I’m writing this my thoughts are all over the place just trying to describe how much crap needs to get done! I’m sort of hoping I’ll have some friends to help guide me and keep me on track. It’s just a personal project of mine and I don’t intend on releasing anything to the public. Just having fun experimenting.

Learning to DJ

Posted by Timothy on Jan 22, 2010 in Random Babble

I’ve been tinkering with the DJ thing on and off for quite a long time. I just never had the money or could justify the cost of buying the equipment. But now days, things are a little more affordable and when I think about where I waste money, this hobby could save and possibly make me money. Anyhow, just wanted to post a short clip of one of the ‘better’ segments of a 1h15m set I put together one night.

Just learning how to spin and DJ

Windows 7 UAC & “Drag and Drop” Issues

Posted by Timothy on Jan 13, 2010 in Random Babble, Software

So apparently Microsoft is at it again– providing some of us with hilarity and leaving the rest scratching our heads as to just WTF they were thinking. So apparently when you leave User Account Control (UAC) on even on a lower setting, you’re unable to “Drag and Drop” items onto applications. For example, I’ll typically open a file in Textpad by dragging the file over the Textpad window and Textpad will happily display the file contents. Another common task I perform is using WinSCP to copy files up to my server. UAC strikes again and I’m unable to drag files to the WinSCP ‘Explorer View’ making it nearly impossible to even use the application. So, anyhow– Long story short. If you’re used to dragging items over the respective application to open them and you’re getting the ‘No Access’ mouse icon, disable your UAC!

Note: If you prefer not to disable UAC, you can go into:
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> Security Options and Disable the “User Account Control: Only elevate UIaccess applications that are installed in secure locations” option

San Francisco

Posted by Timothy on Apr 7, 2009 in Random Babble

Just wanted to post a little update while things were still clear in my head– You know how vacations go-

Anyhow, Arrived at SFO Saturday night to find that the Pontiac Solstice doesn’t have a trunk, nor a tiny ‘backseat’. I really thought this thing had a little bit of extra space. It doesn’t even have a cup holder to put my Starbucks in. I managed though. Monday, I visited the Google campus to have lunch with a few of my friends who work there. I was also greeted with this spiffy little black box that contained a ‘Developers’ version G1 Android phone. *Awesome* I’ve been hacking away at Java for awhile now trying to use the Android SDK. I’ve also being using some ‘unofficial’ firmware on my G1 as well. Having this dev phone will be great so I’m not worried about breaking my working phone!

Unfortunately, I’ve been suffering from some sort of head-cold which quickly turned into a sinus cold. Lunch was great, but I wasn’t really feeling well enough to be chatty and social. I did my best to be all smiles and have a good time.

I didn’t realize where I was staying, but I really am in ‘Silicon Valley’. Yahoo is about one exit down the street. Google is approx 30mins drive. I’ve seen buildings for Cisco, Microsoft, Intel and McAfee.

I haven’t had much time to take a billion pictures. Something about being Mr. Tourist. ew.. But I was able to visit Chinatown which wasn’t exactly what I thought it’d be, but it was definitely interesting and well worth the trip.

Lets see, what else? Oh and I think I’ve come to like the footprint of the MacBook Air. But we won’t really talk about that. Mac = EW!!!

I’ll be posting pictures when I get back since I’ve forgotten my USB cable for my camera. (It’s sony)

Goodbye 98 — Hello 08

Posted by Timothy on Sep 1, 2008 in Random Babble

I made a bit of a hasty decision and purchased a 2008 Mazda 3. As you know the 1998 Blazer with 167,000 miles on it was on it’s way out. Gas mileage was really bad and I drive nearly an hour to work and back each day.

I sort of jumped the gun on this purchase as I wanted to save a little more for a larger down payment. But I got sucked into test driving and ‘lets work some numbers’ and next thing I know, I’m picking my car up the next day.

It’s a pretty spiffy car. The only things I dislike about it is the lack of a true ’tilt steering wheel’. Sure, it tilts— what? 5 degrees?? Worthless. The sun visors are crap as well. They’re entirely too short and they’re pretty flimsy too. I’m impressed with the factory stereo. It’s not even the Bose system you can get with the Mazda 3. It’ll play my previously burned MP3 CDs as well. The seats are comfy with lumbar and 4-way positioning.

I got the windows tinted so it doesn’t feel like sitting in the middle of a fish-bowl with everyone looking in. Plus here in Florida, the sun is pretty tough. I don’t have to run the A/C on full blast now.

I took a bunch of pictures.