Valve Developer ‘Community’
Feb/103
If there’s one thing about the source engine, it’s so frightfully simple to build a really terrible map. That’s why I believe the source mapping community is very noisy; filled to the brim with inexperienced mappers gloating themselves in their own glory with ambitious ‘mods’ and projects that they come up with after 5 minutes of experimenting in Hammer.
I would classify myself an inexperienced mapper, I learn new things about the source engine every week. I try experimenting with them, and then fail at my first try. The good thing is, I don’t RELEASE my abominations to places like Fpsbanana, where the mapping community is comprised of 18% mappers who know what they’re doing, and 82% “HEY GUYS THIS IS MY FIRST MAP, IT’S A BRICKWALL TEXTURE WITH A GUN, KEN SOMEONE TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE SKY?”
What is worse, inexperienced users offering terrible advice.
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Advanced_Map_Making
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Super_Mario_Arena
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Point_refrigerator
Anyway, just really bored, I need some more original content to post :\
Henry the Pigeon Goes to Runnymede Station
Feb/102
Not my video.
Featured by Ray William Johnson but I found it before him so he can suck a cock.
Where’s the love GSC?
Feb/105
Quoting from steam forums:
Call of Pripyat is not in Canada!
For all the Canadians wanting to play Call of Pripyat, for get it the game is not in the country so don’t waste your time looking for it. This it just sad the publisher totally overlooked Canada, retailers here don’t even know what it is let alone have it in there system. I emailed the publisher asking why this is and I got this message back
“Sorry for any inconvenience at this time, our manufacturing and distribution partners had difficulties supplying the US markets let alone Canada so a decision was made to push back the Canadian release to some time in march”
They also said some BS on how important there Canadian customers are etc..
I also asked about a steam release in my original email but there was nothing in the reply regarding a steam release
Wow, if this is correct, this is probably one of the worst launches in history.
Current happenings
Feb/107
I once remember a time when my blog was somewhat popular, where my friends looked me up to laugh at my poorly written posts, where people I didn’t know in the slightest would suck on my e-chode because I was an admin on a forum.
But, I think I like it now that it’s a lot quieter, and I feel compelled to post more often, and everytime I see a new comment, I get all excited (before discovering it’s a spam message, anyway).
Anyway, regarding what I’m attempting to accomplish, there are a few personal milestones I’d like to fufill this year..
- Finish my map, and release it with some good feedback.
- I want to do exceptionally well in school (for once).
- Learn 3DSMax / Maya 2010 / Or some other industry standard program.
Amidst all of these, I’ve recently pondered over making a wordpress theme, I think it’s been a while since I’ve made anything interesting web-wise. And after that.. Well, I might join a mod team on ModDB, see if I can apply any of my current skills by then.
On my map, it’s been coming along pretty well, I can’t wait to see it finished, which at this rate is going to be a couple of months from now. Currently I’ve been experimenting a bit with texture creation, and improving my bad mapping habits (polishing certain areas before peicing the map as a whole for example). I really don’t have a deadline so I’m trying to get some good ideas in before I reach a point where it would take too much effort to redo some areas.
Now I’d like to ask whoever still reads this, I’d like to comment on your blog. I’ve begun to notice a lot of posts on other blogs that I’ve missed out on, and that deserve to be noticed. I’m not much of a follower, but I’d like to be one, and if you think yours is worth noticing, let me know.
Seriousness aside, Lurk is awesome
Wallpaper Pet Peeves
Dec/091
You ever come across a wallaper that is THE perfect wallpaper for your desktop but comes in a size that is not ideal for your resolution?
I wish windows would come up with a resize that retains the wallpaper’s aspect ratio and centers it to fit your native resolution. I have to resort to “center” for certain wallpapers that are larger than the monitor’s native resolution, and that leaves some stuff out.
It would be a 20x better alternative to opening up photoshop resizing the largest dimension of the image and cropping it manually.
This may seem like a minor thing, but I’m deeply frustrated by this. Anyone know of a quick tool that does this for you?
Subway Map
Dec/090
In case you didn’t know about the subway map I’ve been making for Garry’s Mod, I’ve been working on it for the past two weeks and so far it’s coming along nicely. The only part that bugs me is the surface, I’m not entirely sure what to put, be it a city-17 themed district, or a shopping mall, or whatever. Anyway, that’s what’s coming up next for this work in progress, it’s only one station at the moment, but here’s some pictures to give you a better idea of how this is coming along.
Oh and lastly, here’s a video showing the train in action.
I <3 Steam
Dec/090
If it weren’t for steam I would have been made penniless by the investments I’ve made, I’ve used this since 2007 but I never quite payed attention to how much I was saving exactly. Well I spent a short bit of time looking over my purchase history for this year, and I’ve managed to stay < $100 after purchasing 5 GOOD Games Including the Orange Box.
- $7.49 – Left 4 Dead
- $19.99 – Killing Floor
- $29.99 – The Orange Box
- $9.99 – Max Payne
- $29.99 – Crysis: Warhead
Buying 3 or more of these games at EB probably would have costed me a hundred up front, I am so glad I’ve been dedicating my purchases to Steam. BTW This is not a paid testemonial : )
Also stfu, Max Payne pwns.
My 360’s Back from its 5 Week Journey
Nov/091
I did have a picture of the whole ‘Thank you’ package, but it mysteriously dissipated from my camera. Damn my inconsiderate family..
This replacement console is my fifth one over a span of 3 years trying to ‘enjoy’ my 360.
The next time I have to send ANOTHER replacement 360 back to Microsoft, I’ll probably send the helpless apology letter with it. I’m sick of it, is it really that hard to come up with an idiot-proof heatsink for a graphics card and mobo? (and some fans that don’t blow [pun intended])
I’m 100% sure my computer has outlasted the 360 almost 17 times over now. The only reason I’m still in the Xbox scene is because I want to finish my year subscription to LIVE before ‘retiring’.
Where are you Microsoft? Why are you just standing around inconveniencing us like this!? Enough is enough…
Things I’m Constantly F5ing
Nov/090
Well, following is probably the correct term, but to be perfectly honest, I keep checking back to these websites for updates that I know won’t happen in a long time. It’s what I’m currently anticipating.
Robert Briscoe’s Devblog – For those of you who don’t know, Dear Esther is one of my favourite source mods of all time. Although limited in gameplay, it’s story is compelling, it’s concept is absolutely brilliant. However, the maps and the buggy narrative makes me want to stab forks into my eyes (figuratively speaking). This is where Rob comes in. Well known for his work on Mirror’s Edge and a few other sourcemods, Robert is transitioning all of his talent to the production of a Dear Esther re-make, the map design looks absolutely superb, my views on the rather outdated Source Engine have changed completely. Every update he makes is an inspiration to me in my pursuit of game design. I highly recommend you check this out for some crazy eye candy.
Stalker L.U.R.K Mod – The stalker SOC community has always been alive with pretty crazy stuff. I had recently completed Stalker Complete (awkward wording), and I’ve been looking at this mod for about a month now. The modifications they plan on making with the upcoming 1.1 patch are absolutely brilliant, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game this refurbished by a mod before. You should definitely check this out if you’re an avid Stalker fan.
LasseKongo @ DeviantArt – Absolutely brilliant stuff, I’m a big fan of minimalist desktops, every work released by this guy is awesome. His taste in desktops = Revolutionary, his taste in women = Ehh
I’m pretty sure I have a few others on my mind, but they’re currently not as important.