Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Part of something bigger
I've taken the plunge and signed up for a one year membership with the IGDA (International Game Developers Association). Figure if I'm going to get serious about working in the business then I might as well be a card carrying member of the party club. Some of the perks include discounts on conference tickets, reference books and of course attending local monthly meetings with the Brisbane Chapter. Can't wait for the next get together.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
House stuff
Turned out to be a bit of a home improvement weekend. The state of our lovely home has fallen into some disrepair and clutter which is understandable given that I've been ill for the past week and we'd been in Sydney the week before. More clutter obviously means that we need more storage space so Als and I decided that it was about time for a trip to our favourite Ikea outlet.
The first task we decided to undertake upon our return was to set up two 'floating' shelves in the main bedroom. After much measuring and ten thousand pencil marks later I felt we'd pretty much outline where what needed to go. We even bought a mini spirit level to prevent any unwanted slopage in our outlines. Now it was time to make the holes.
Of course this meant drilling into a concrete wall again so out came the drill and I started pounding away (Which I'm sure our neighbours appreciated to no end). I'm glad to say at least that I was a little more competent than my last attempt and managed to drill ten holes right on the mark.
Putting the dynabolts in for the upper shelf on the other hand turned out to be a bit of a saga. The dynabolt wasn't sticking out enough for us to get the cap onto it so I started pulling it out with pliers... of course the problem with that is that dynabolts are effectively springs without the cap so when I let go the screw flew straight back into the wall. We fiddled with fridge magnets to try to get the screws out for a while (useless exercise) before I had the bright idea of substituting ramset plugs and normal screws in those holes I guffed up. Worked a charm and I think I'm on my way to becoming a little more handy around the house.
Now today we'll just have to go out to find more clutter to put on these two new beautiful shelves.
The next assembly was a small book shelf for the study downstairs. This one wasn't as challenging, aside from the crazy number of nails they require you to put in for the back board. I left that to Alison as she's far better with a hammer than I am.
Fits perfectly next to the computer desk and is well within easy reach.
And now at last I have space for my growing collection of reference books.
On a less constructive note, Als discovered an unsettling amount of water pooling behind the washing machine yesterday morning. At first we thought one of the taps or pipes must be leaking but on pulling the washing machine back and running another test run it seems as though the cause of the leakage might actually be coming from within the wall itself.
The water is even seaping out on the other side of the wall into the internal corridor which really suggests a problem with the pipes if you ask me. We'll monitor how things go over the next few days and get the body corporate to call out a plumber if things get any worse.
The first task we decided to undertake upon our return was to set up two 'floating' shelves in the main bedroom. After much measuring and ten thousand pencil marks later I felt we'd pretty much outline where what needed to go. We even bought a mini spirit level to prevent any unwanted slopage in our outlines. Now it was time to make the holes.
Of course this meant drilling into a concrete wall again so out came the drill and I started pounding away (Which I'm sure our neighbours appreciated to no end). I'm glad to say at least that I was a little more competent than my last attempt and managed to drill ten holes right on the mark.
Putting the dynabolts in for the upper shelf on the other hand turned out to be a bit of a saga. The dynabolt wasn't sticking out enough for us to get the cap onto it so I started pulling it out with pliers... of course the problem with that is that dynabolts are effectively springs without the cap so when I let go the screw flew straight back into the wall. We fiddled with fridge magnets to try to get the screws out for a while (useless exercise) before I had the bright idea of substituting ramset plugs and normal screws in those holes I guffed up. Worked a charm and I think I'm on my way to becoming a little more handy around the house.
Now today we'll just have to go out to find more clutter to put on these two new beautiful shelves.
The next assembly was a small book shelf for the study downstairs. This one wasn't as challenging, aside from the crazy number of nails they require you to put in for the back board. I left that to Alison as she's far better with a hammer than I am.
Fits perfectly next to the computer desk and is well within easy reach.
And now at last I have space for my growing collection of reference books.
On a less constructive note, Als discovered an unsettling amount of water pooling behind the washing machine yesterday morning. At first we thought one of the taps or pipes must be leaking but on pulling the washing machine back and running another test run it seems as though the cause of the leakage might actually be coming from within the wall itself.
The water is even seaping out on the other side of the wall into the internal corridor which really suggests a problem with the pipes if you ask me. We'll monitor how things go over the next few days and get the body corporate to call out a plumber if things get any worse.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Looking back
Haven't had a chance to work on the game much in the past week as I'm trying to fight this stupid virus. Still coughing up half my lungs and it's been going on for far too long now so we're off to see the doctor in an hour.
I have however tentatively settled on a name for the game. It was one which I'd been considering for a while but James suggested it unprompted so I think we're on to a winner. Elementals. Probably make more sense if you knew more about the game though so I've included a link to the latest design documentation in case anyone is interested in having a flick through. It's still an early draft though so be gentle.
On a game related note, I checked out Google Pages for the first time and I'm loving the free webspace that my favourite company provides. To make use of it I've put up a link to a page I created that details my previous attempts at game projects with a few screen shots. Half of them are old DOS Pascal programs which don't run all that well in Windows so it was pretty challenging to get screen captures of them. Really should have written more games by now if I want to call myself a Games Programmer though. :P
A stroll down memory lane
I have however tentatively settled on a name for the game. It was one which I'd been considering for a while but James suggested it unprompted so I think we're on to a winner. Elementals. Probably make more sense if you knew more about the game though so I've included a link to the latest design documentation in case anyone is interested in having a flick through. It's still an early draft though so be gentle.
On a game related note, I checked out Google Pages for the first time and I'm loving the free webspace that my favourite company provides. To make use of it I've put up a link to a page I created that details my previous attempts at game projects with a few screen shots. Half of them are old DOS Pascal programs which don't run all that well in Windows so it was pretty challenging to get screen captures of them. Really should have written more games by now if I want to call myself a Games Programmer though. :P
A stroll down memory lane
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