Fractal Dreams

Yesterday, I told you about the mysterious lockup I’ve experienced, and I’ve told you that I’ve been only able to induce it when I was visiting the Yahoo Web Messenger.

Not anymore!

Somehow the same thing happened twice:
1.) I was running the pidgin IM and the Transmission bitorrent client on the background, and I was browsing through yahoo groups.
2.) Everytime I encountered a Coppermine photo gallery in a site, the box also freezes.

I’ve been doing some light browsing in forums, and some guys have similar problems. Looks like it has something to do with the FireFox browser. I’m using the pre-installed IceWeasel browser, which is based on FireFox, so it might be possible that I’m experiencing the same stuff. But others have noted it might have been because of too much plug-ins installed. So far, I haven’t installed any plug-ins yet. I think.

I’m not really an IM (instant messaging) guy.

I mean, not that I have a bunch of friends to IM with, and the only things I see when I log in are all “OFFLINE”.  Add that to the fact that Yahoo Messenger was so infamous as an access route for malware, and that until just recently, I was operating by the minute on a prepaid dial-up line, so there wasn’t much reason to, you know, connect. (Bleh.)

But there were times that I needed to chat with someone online. You know, for schoolwork. So I turned to the web-based alternative, meebo. That worked fine, I guess, and I eventually forgot about it. Then I switched to Linux, and about the same time, I felt the urge to chat with some of the guys for old time’s sake. That’s what unemployment and a DSL line does to you.

So I tried meebo again, but looks like web traffic is heavy there, since it takes forever to load. (In fact, I had never seen it load. Most of the time, I just got pissed off and closed the browser.) My old college buddy was using the Yahoo Web Messenger one time, so I tried using it.

It loaded, thankfully, and I was chatting again. But I found the ever-changing ads on the side to be irritating, since they load on and on and on,  and it’s really distracting.  And not only that.  Linux is famous for being stable. But when I use this site, sometimes the whole box freezes. No movement from the mouse, keyboard, screen, nothing. The whole thing just hangs, and no error messages. I really don’t know if the Yahoo WM is causing the problem, but I haven’t been able to induce the lockup in any other way. Tsk. Don’t tell me even the web messenger version is jinxed?

So any other Linux users encountered the same problem? Or has this been already addressed? Cause, I really don’t read online that much. Poor uninformed me.

Well, the pc is back in its rightful table here in the pseudo-office. Just received it yesterday afternoon. True enough, the windows installation is nixed, and now I’m using the nifty Zenwalk Linux.

I cheated on the experience, since I had someone else do the installing and configurations of the OS for me, so I really can’t comment on the ease of the installation of the system. The graphical user interface (Xfce) that Zenwalk uses is crisp and visually pleasing. The usage conventions do feel different from someone just out of windows, (such as right-clicking to access your programs menu, akin to the windows’ start button), but since I tried damn small linux for a little while (just hours, actually) before hand, I’m getting used to it. The OS is preloaded with a variety of applications, like GIMP for graphic work and AbiWord for typing documents, and they all load quickly, which is quite surprising compared to the old lumbering memory mammoths I once used.

But since I’m stuck in the windows GUI mindset, I still have a ways to go before I can feel comfortable working with a Linux system, and I still feel daunted with fiddling around with the Bash command shell. But, as they say, it never hurts to try (as long as you don’t delete anything).

If you guys are solvent readers, I guess that you already know that I’ve had problems with my big white metal box (no, not the ref, the PC), and well, as usual, I couldn’t fix it.

Well, since that aside from hunting jobs, studying new (computer) languages developing a new website and updating the blog, there isn’t much use for the PC right now. So I had it shipped off to my cousin, who, hands down, knows a way lot more in that stuff than me, but even he has troubling fixing it.

The problem was I can’t install a new windows installation due to an unknown hard error in ntdll.dll. But Linux installations seem unaffected, because my cousin’s zenwalk installation worked just fine. So if he couldn’t find a way to fix it, the PC will just have to go on with a new OS installed.

It sounds like I hate Linux, but actually, no. I just don’t have an idea on how to use it yet, because I was spoonfed with microsoft baby food since elementary school. I’m game in trying the OS for size. Just give me the manual.

Rockstar.

Almost everyone who has ever held a game console controller these days knows the name. After all, they were the daddies of the one of the most controversial game series yet, Grand Theft Auto and it sequels and spinoffs.

So far, I’ve sampled 2 of their offerings, GTA:Vice City and Bully. I don’t really buy the hype of them being controversial for promoting violence and organized crime. I played the game because of the gameplay.

Let’s take for example, Bully. Sure enough, the game’s premise of a rebel kid in an uptight but corrupt school ain’t your typical game plot, even though the violent stuff has been watered down to warrant a T rating in ESRB (as opposed to an M rating in GTA), the game still allows players to engage in “mischievous” behavior, which many special interest groups hate.

But I’m 21. I’m not dumb. I know it’s just a game, and it’s a game that’s fun to play. Bully follows a sandbox-type of game play which allows players to roam around as they please. Rockstar vancouver stuffed the town of Bullworth with lots of mini games and customization options for your character, and you practically never run out of stuff to do. And doing them never feels like a chore, since if you don’t like one of the sidequests, you can skip it. Now that’s some pretty novel gameplay. And the story itself is fun. It’s full of tired cliches, but it’s still entertaining and gives you a sense of accomplishment as you progress.

I don’t really believe that banning these kinds of games will make our world much better. What’s important that the gamers know that this is just a game, and what happens in vegas, stays in vegas. A little maturity in our part is all that’s required, leave the immaturity inside the game.

Oh, poor poor me, left behind by the times.

By now, next gen is PS3 and XBox360, and PS2 is oh, soo, few years ago. Unfortunately, I have the case of the “late luck syndrome”. By some odd turn of fate, a video game console pops unto my awaiting hands. However, that is, when something better is out there. I got my Playstation as the PS2 came out, wore it for 5 years until it broke down, sated my gaming addiction on the PC until I landed my own PS2, just when the 3rd version came out. Granted, on both cases I didn’t pay a dime, so why complain?

Anyway, Iron Man started showing last April 30th, and I feared I was gonna miss out on playing the video game of my most favorite superhero (As if 11 Iron Man figures weren’t proof enough). While Shellhead has his main games on PS3 and XB360, the comic gods graced their less fortunate supplicants with a PS2 version.

Analyzing the guides over at GameFAQs (kudos to those guys), I’d say that the PS2 version is a somewhat toned down versions of the high-end games. While simplified, the PS2 game somewhat mimics the features of its PS3/XB360 brothers, but does so in its own unique way. And of course, the PS3 graphics are way kewler that the PS2’s can ever hope to be.

As for gameplay, it’s your run of the mill action adventure game- you control Shellhead, make him fly, walk and blast through enemies to meet objectives. Unlike Spiderman 2, which featured free roaming -ala- GTA, IM is stage based.

Iron Man, well being a guy in armor, looks and plays like one. You can walk, hover up and down as you like, dash with your foot repulsors when you need a quick aerial sidestep, and when you really need to go fast, tear through the skies in afterburner mode.

As for ordnance, IM comes with more than his trademark repulsors. He is also equipped with a mini gun on his wrist (which conceals itself after use) and a micro rocket launcher. He’s not War Machine yet, but not quite the old Iron Man that I’m used to seeing.

Sure, the stuff above seems pretty standard as of yet. In order to give more variety, Iron Man can customize his arsenal. And this is where the different console versions deviate. In the PS2, you could only assign what weapons would be loaded into the minigun and microrocket bays of the suit. What stinks is that there are only two choices for each weapon type, which just upgrades with experience. Yes, experience. In a lame throwback to RPG features, you can upgrade your minigun and rockets by continually using them. The two different loadouts for the weapon types have 4 stages of development. The repulsors and armor technology upgrades as well, but they’re passive upgrades and you don’t even need to set them up.

From what I’ve read in the XB360 guides, their customization system is a little bit more involved. You buy the upgrades with points, which means you can customize IM’s growth as you please, unlike the linear progression offered by the PS2. Plus, the XB360 has a bigger selection of upgrades, including stealth. Boo-hoo!

Complaints for weapons aside, Iron Man has one more customization feature available- the energy rerouting system for his suit. Basically, you can opt to distribute the suit’s energy to three different subsections, Propulsion, Armor and Weapons. The first one makes Iron Man’s flight in afterburner mode go faster, and eventually he can use himself as a huge bullet and punch a hole through enemies. The second option increases his max life bar. The third option changes his default arm repulsors, he fires his famous chest unibeam instead (slower, needs to charge first, but deals damage like hell). The catch is, if he reroutes his power to one subsection, the other two take a hit in performance. Sweet. There’s strategy right under there.

But, no matter how nice the armor and its features are, if the rest the game sucks, the armor goes down with it. Level design, is well, meh. Some levels feel linear and drab, while some are a wee bit better in keeping my interests (Like a flying fortress. No it’s not the SHIELD helicarrier. You’re assuming too much.). Each level has a specific sub mission that will keep you on your toes, some of them are time-limited missions that ask you to destroy an enemy, or reach an area.

There are a few bosses placed here and there, which are typical “find the weak point and then strike” battles, except for one where you don’t need to fight at all. I won’t spoil who or what exactly you’ll do to win. And oh, this isn’t really a spoiler, since if you’ve watched the movie , you already know it, if you don’t, the merchandise has already given it away already- Iron Monger is still the last boss.

Despite the abundance of bosses and enemies for every level, the game is short, and ridiculously easy. I sat down and finished it in a day, breaks included, in normal difficulty. In fact, the game doesn’t let you die that easily. When your armor reaches critical state, Tony Stark’s heart stops, and you are tasked with reviving him. Just press a series of buttons as they appear on screen, and bam! Tony’s back up as if nothing happened. And even if you screw up with the button pressing, you just use up a backup battery system and the game continues as normal. (There are 5 packs in easy, 3 in normal. Not sure in hard.)

The game also has bonuses included with it, and is the subject of my harsh geekboy whining about version differences. The PS2 comes with an armor select feature. Before entering as stage (starting from stage 2), you can choose what armor to wear. I’m not pretty sure whether the changes in the PS2 one are purely cosmetic or not, but for the other versions, it has an effect in gameplay. In the PS2 one, you get a total of 6 armors to choose from. In the XB360 one, seven. And all of the PS2 ones are also present in the XB360 ones, while the other version has 2 armors exclusive to their own. You might be thinking my math is wrong with the previous sentence, but actually, the XB360 has 8 functional armors, but only 7 are unlockable. As for the PS2 all of the 6 armors available can be unlocked and used. Hah! Revenge tastes so sweet.

The other bonus for the PS2 is a gallery mode, which is a good fanservice treat, but hardly worth fussing about. The other version gets a sub-game, with its one man army mode, and has an achievement record where you can brag how you beat the crap of everyone else without losing a life.

Graphics and audio wise, it’s fine. Obviously, the other high-end versions trumps this one in terms of pretty pictures, but Iron Man’s graphics here is serviceable. Kinda irritates me that he looks pudgy in the Mark 2 and 3 suits, though. As for audio, the music is forgettable, but the banter of the characters isn’t lacking, and brings the game to life.

And now for the final verdict. As much as I hate to say it, Iron Man for the PS2 is a rental game. If you have a better system than PS2, might as well try the high-end versions than this one. But if that’s not possible, then rent this first and play through it, with such a short game, I’m sure you’ll finish it before the return date. If you like it, then good, go get a copy. Otherwise you won’t be regretting you paid some big bucks for something that’s not to your liking.

I was supposed to call yesterday my ‘break’ day.

I was coding the last modules for my thesis project, and after making some progress, I decided to take a little breather and get back to other stuff- like my always postponed attempts at writing a novel. As I was settling in for a nap, my former thesis groupmate (older readers may remember my dilemma at explaining to them why I want to go solo) called for help.

Earlier that day, in my “feeling good” mood, decided to share some codes I’ve gleamed from books and internet resources. In this case the little VB6 tidbit: App.Path. (I know most programmers know this by heart- I’m one of those who don’t.)

It’s actually useful, rather than referencing a file the most common (but unfeasible) way, as in:

Open (“C:\WINDOWS\PROGGY\BAMF.txt”) For Output As #1

which can potentially cause problems should users put the PROGGY folder in some location other C:\Windows, if it is instead done this way:

Open (App.Path & “\PROGGY\BAMF.txt”) For Output As #1

we can ensure that the program can load the BAMF.txt file as long as it is in the PROGGY folder. It couldn’t care less whether the PROGGY folder is in drive D, E, or where ever else.

My classmate, eager to apply the idea, rushed home to modify his code. But somehow it didn’t work. So he SMSed me asking how the “App.Path” works.

This is how he did it at first:
(Some parts are condensed, since I forgot much of our conversation, since we were practically going around in circles)

nam =Text1.Text
Open (“App.Path” & Right(nam, Len(nam) \ 1) & “.txt”) For Output As #1

As you can see, he got the “App.Path” wrong. He put double quotes (“) on it, but VB naturally takes anything with double quotes on both sides literally, i,e. it looked for a drive location named App.Path. So I said, remove the double quotes.
Later, he SMSed again, saying that it works, but he can’t find where it dumps the file to. So I asked him for the original line of code. He replied:

nam =Text1.Text
Open (“D:Windows” & Right(nam, Len(nam) \ 1) & “.txt”) For Output As #1

So  I think, maybe the file goes to the windows folder, but he said it doesn’t go there. So I instead suggest that he tries rewrite the code into something like this, and I ask him to make a subfolder inside his main folder named SAVE.

filename = Text1.Text & “.txt”
Open (App.Path & “\SAVE\” & filename) For Output As #1

I didn’t know what he did next, but he said something along the lines of the program belching out a “Path not found” error. So I asked him the name of where the Textbox where the filename was derived. Later I find out that it was from a separate form!

The “parch” form contains the Text1 textbox which the “frmpause” form references in the filename variable. Also, all the variables are collected in a module. I also found out he didn’t follow my suggestion of using a folder, so I removed it as well. So using the example I gave earlier, I suggested this line revision.

filename = parch.Text1.Text & “.txt”
Open (App.Path & filename) For Output As #1

Another SMS, much later. Still didn’t work. So, he finally gave in and gave me his thesis prototype. After downloading it, I see these lines.

‘declared in the parch form
nam =Text1.Text

‘declared in the frmpause form
FileName = parch.Text1.Text & “.txt”
Open (App.Path & Right(nam, Len(nam) / 2) & FileName) For Output As #1

The Right(nam, Len(nam) / 2) in the frmpause form was uncessary, since it was already using the variable “filename” to lift the contents of text 1. So I remove the line. Still didn’t work. The next error? The filename variable wasn’t declared. So off I go to module1 to add this line.

Public filename as string

Finally thought it would work, so I left him to his own devices. But still, it didn’t. So back I went to the code for a more thorough analysis.

FORM PARCH- Basically, the user enters a name in a textbox. He then clicks a label to proceed after typing which creates a textfile named after it. This textfile is used to track the user’s progress in the program (a game save state).

CONTENTS OF FORM PARCH (INTEGRAL PARTS ONLY)
Private Sub Label3_Click()

If Text1.Text = “” Then
MsgBox “Please enter your game name!”, vbExclamation, “Error Detecting Name”
parch.Show
Else
nam = Text1.Text
Unload Main
Unload parch
frmmis.Show
End If
End Sub

Then it jumps to form FRMMIS, then to form FRMCITY. There is an instance in form FRMCITY that triggers a save prompt, which saves the current state to the text file that was created earlier (theoretically). Here is that save operation originally:

Private Sub lblsave_Click()
If frmcity.Key.Visible = False Then
lage = True
Else
lage = False
End If

End Sub

After making the modifications I said earlier (removing the Right and Len, and adding a variable declaration), I watched how program creates a file. When it creates a file, it appends its current folder name plus the filename I typed in the textbox, (for example the folder name is FOLD and the user name is JELSAN, it creates FOLDJELSAN.txt) and then dumps it to the DESKTOP. I was really, really boggled until it occured to me- ALL HE DID WAS INITIATE FILE OPENING PROCEDURES! He never CREATED THE FILE in the first place! (See Form Parch’s code) That’s why when I ordered a file open procedure, windows creates a text file on the spot and dumps it somewhere else. So this was the remedy I made:

0.) Beforehand, I created a SAVE folder inside the main one.
1.) On the VB project references I added Microsoft Scripting Runtime.
2.) On the module, I declared a variable:
Public fso_1 as new FileSystemObject
3.)And I revised part of the save procedure to this:
FileName = nam & “.txt”
Call fso_1.CreateTextFile(App.Path & “\SAVE\” & FileName)
Open (App.Path & “\SAVE\” & FileName) For Output As #1

There, it now creates the file first on its intended location and then opens it. Of course, this code is only usable the first time it executes, because I put in the wrong location. The file creation should be placed where the user first creates an account, in this case, form PARCH. But it was only a temporary solution, and I seriously hope my classmate figures it out.

Whew. God, what a day.

Video Games are supposed to be fun, but sometimes they feel like electronic torture devices that the Spanish inquisition would like to have in their arsenal, if computers existed during their time. Of course, considering that every single gamer has his own taste in games, so some of the features I’ll be mentioning in here maybe some other guy’s cup of tea, but if I had my way, I wouldn’t add these stuff to my game:

Timed Games. Not to be confused with timed events in games. This means that the whole game is tied to huge clock, and if you some how run out of time, you lose. It’s disappointing the game is just supposed to last 24 hours, and no longer. I think of games like Burn:Cycle and X2: Wolverine’s Revenge. Boo~hoo!

Jumping Puzzles. FOR~THE~ LOVE~OF~GAWD! This is my most hated feature. You need to jump from point a to point z, and when just about you reach it, you slip by a pixel and plummet back into the hole of despair. Please. Stop it, I beg of you. (But honestly, I survived the heavy jumping games Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1 and 2 and their cousin LoK: Defiance. Ahh, the beauty of youth..)

Save Game Limitations.
A.) Limited Number of Saves. The game quirk dreaded by all saveophiles*(including me) . Earlier on I would’ve forgiven this feature. But as I get older, I have less time to be gaming, and I need to save what little progress I’ve made and go. And if the level is really big and I need to do a pretty tricky thing to pass, and I fail, I need to restart from way back instead of before that critical moment. Bummer.
B.) Auto Saving Checkpoints. Not really a big peeve, but sometimes has the evil tendency of autosaving when you’re low on health, and are vastly outnumbered. So you have no choice but to restart the level.

So there. You guys agree with me? Or would hate mail be suddenly flying onto my mailbox? Frankly, I don’t want to find out.

*saveophile: A term I coined. Means a gamer who likes to save his progress every five minutes, maybe even less. Better safe than sorry, I say.

Finally!

I finally slogged my way through January 12, or more accurately, the third (out of four)thesis defense for my course. For a few weeks, I’ve acted as if I was the lead designer, the graphics artist dept., the programming dept., and the beta testers of my game project. What did I learn from all of this? When someone sneers at some other guy for being in the game development industry, I ought to beat them ugly with big freaking stick. Game development, like any other decent job in the world, is not a lark.

Some ill-informed (I’m being nice) people think that when a guy says he works in the game industry, they think that all that he does is play games all day. They couldn’t be any more wrong. First of all that’s the beta tester’s job, and second, they (the testers) aren’t playing the shining pieces of electronic marvels that normal gamers play. Instead, they are handed the buggy and incomplete initial versions, and are tasked to play them to point out any game imbalance and errors. Have you ever bought a PC game that is so buggy that playing them is so darn frustrating that you want to toss your keyboard off the wall? It’s kinda like that. (At least in my thesis game’s case, it was.) Of course, there’s the issue of making the game itself…

Here are some random points that float around in my head while thinking upon this subject. You could sort of call them tips, from what I experienced making my first game prototype. Of course, this is coming from someone whose only experience in creating games is a itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny homebrew program, so it’s best to take this with a grain of salt…

*Don’t aim too high. “I want to make a kewl game.” That’s the first thing that crossed my mind when I told that I’m going to make my own thesis program. I assume most of those aspiring to be the creators of the next Diablo or Final Fantasy are thinking of the same thing, but I learned that when starting your magnum opus of a project, is that plan very, very well, and be modest on your goals. Of course, we should always be trying to give it our all, but think of whether your ideas will come to fruition given your resources and the available time in your hands. A lot of us in our thesis class (including me, of course) were over our heads in proposing our games, and we’re now choking on the really steep project goals we presented our professors. So, clearly define what you want to present on your program, think carefully whether you can really finish it all, before you commit it into paper.

*Stick to your schedule. Seriously. Before the thesis defense I was cramming for a week, with barely a working prototype, eyelids heavy and vision foggy. Good thing I got most of the kinks out before presentation, but before that my program was debilitated by 3 wrong lines in the code. Uh-huh, just three. Come presentation time, my program has still 2 bugs on it, but at least no error messages spewed that could seriously undermine the show. So after producing a project schedule for your work, STICK TO IT LIKE GLUE! That three month slack time in your schedule is gonna look pretty short in a little while, so better start working while you’re ahead.

*Features, features, features. You got a lot of ideas brewing in your head that you want to incorporate into your projects. 3d this, Multi-branching that, blah, blah. As I said earlier, try to be modest in your goals and stick to your schedule. If you give in to the temptation of adding more and more features to your work, you’ll never gonna finish it. Think of it. Your new brand spanking feature x will usually cause some conflicts in the programming of your earlier features u,v, and w, forcing you to revise your code all over again.

Well, that somehow points out some of the lessons I learned the hard way. Hope you guys picked up a few stuff, and may we never see the hated error screen ever again.