Kind of Antsy

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  • I Am Kind of Antsy.

    So, I’ve been wanting to write for a while now and figured it was time to get started. This blog will essentially be a chronicling of my hobby activities, which currently include close-up magic, yoyoing, video games (playing, collecting, and developing), and random electronics projects. Being that I am antsy, I tend to try out a lot of stuff and see what sticks so this should be a fun adventure!

    I’ve never really blogged before, so hopefully this ends up being at least mildly entertaining!

  • Dev Log Week 3

    I’m back! I was in Las Vegas for work last week, got home Friday, and slept pretty much all weekend to get my brain right. Now that I’m back, I’m ready to be productive again!

    I worked a little today and got stats to carry over from one level to the next using a ScriptableObject (I’m using Unity, for the record). My current goal is to get all the menus working properly so that the game is TECHNICALLY playable from start to finish. By “technically”, I mean that I can start the game, accumulate experience, level up, spend points on stats, and see the change in subsequent plays. Once that’s done, it’s time to tweak and refactor everything. I want to make sure the game feels good to play, doesn’t generate debug errors, and the code is sound. My fear is that I’ve been so focused on getting things implemented that I haven’t been making the best architectural decisions.

    In short, I need to iterate and refactor!

  • Dev Log Week 2

    So, this week there isn’t too much to show. I’m traveling for work and I’m in Las Vegas. So this week and the next probably won’t be too exciting in terms of updates, however I wanted to make sure that I kept the train moving by posting anyway.

    My to-do list is basically a carry-over from last week: keep stats from run to run, make sure menus work properly. I’ve done a little work on both, but haven’t had much time and probably won’t this week either. Regardless, I’ll keep you updated!

  • Dev Log Week 1

    Okay! So, I’ve been working on developing a game for a couple months and while it’s definitely not ready for primetime, it is starting to take shape and I figured that I should write down my thoughts on the process. So this is week 1 of me writing, not week one of development. I try to spend at least a little time every day working on this, but being that I have a full-time job and kids, it’s pretty difficult to commit a lot of time. I’m collaborating with my buddy Andrew who runs RenGen Marketing where I’ll handle the development and he’ll handle the marketing and we can bounce ideas off one another to make this small project something worthwhile.

    The goal of this project was to be something that a single developer could accomplish in a reasonable amount of time, so a pretty small scope. The project is a top-down horror game that uses light surrounding you as your life. If the light depletes, you die. Light depletes as time passes, and when you’re hit your light ‘spills’ onto the ground and can be picked up again. When enemies are killed, they also drop light. As you play the game, you gain experience that carries over from life to life, and allows you to level up strength, defense, and the light’s rate of decay. Currently, the only objective is to defeat zombies, but there will be other objectives for the level and a story tying the levels together.

    Here’s a screenshot of what we have so far (I’ll switch it up to videos in the future):

    Note: The blue light is a pickup that expands the radius of your light circle as you are inside of it.

    So, now for some thoughts on the process:
    I really wish I was better at planning my code out. I feel like I’m decent at figuring stuff out and getting things working, but I’m still learning how to best structure out everything in terms of the architecture. At this stage in the game, things are changing pretty quickly, so it may end up being that the planning goes to waste. That said, I’m trying to adhere to good coding practices as much as I can, but I know that I’m making mistakes. Fortunately, I think this project is small enough that it can withstand some less than perfect coding and still be viable.

    My plan right now is to just get everything working with no polish, then work on iteration and polish. The combat isn’t where I want it to be yet, for sure, but that’s something I think I can correct through iteration. There are also effects and better UI that need to be implemented at some point.

    The next few steps:
    1. Keep experience, level, and stats saved from run to run
    2. Get all menus working properly (Death, Level Up, Pause, Main Menu)

    Once these are done, this will be a hugely flawed and unpolished, but technically a playable game.

  • Depressed Gaming

    I’ve been having a hard time finding a game to get into lately. Ever since I finished God of War: Ragnarök, I’ve been bouncing around from game to game a bit, trying to fall in love with something. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty depressed lately and haven’t been able to really get into anything. So here’s what I’ve tried and what I’ve learned about myself along the way!

    Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age – Switch
    I played Final Fantasy XII on the PS2 back when it first came out and I remember liking it, but not loving it. I figured it would be a good game to go back to and try playing again. I played for a dozen or so hours before ultimately realizing that I just wasn’t having much fun. I don’t care for the license system, and while I think the gambits are a cool idea, it just felt a lot like work. The other thing I didn’t love was the script. It’s got this old English feel to it, which I’m not a fan of.

    Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – PS4
    This is a game I played a couple years ago, right after playing Demon’s Souls. I stopped playing because I felt like it had a gameplay similar to Demon’s Souls, but worse. It just felt like a chore to play. I figured I’d go back and give it another shot with the benefit of a couple years of distance. I felt exactly the same way. The game just feels bad. The story seems interesting enough, but didn’t capture my attention enough to overcome my dislike for the game’s feel.

    Elden Ring – PS5
    I loved playing Demon’s Souls, so I figured I’d jump from Fallen Order to Elden Ring. I just don’t like open world games. I feel like, in most cases, they don’t respect the player’s time. When I was younger I may have liked to explore more and see everything, but now I have limited time to play and can’t go explore every corner of a giant world. I just want a good, tight experience. I’m not saying Elden Ring is a bad game, but it’s not for me at this point in my life.

    Resistance: Fall of Man – PS3
    I remember really liking this game back in the day, but meh, it really doesn’t hold up.

    Resistance 2 – PS3
    I checked and this is the least loved game in the series. I thought it started off well enough, but eventually I just lost interest.

    So those are the games I started and gave up on. What I’ve learned about myself is that real life is open world and I want to get away from that. My job and my hobbies are not controlled experiences and require a high level of exploration and research. When I play video games, I want the exact opposite of that: a tightly controlled experience where every moment keeps me wanting more. I don’t particularly want to be the best at one specific game, nor do I want to explore a giant world. I want to live through a well-crafted story with fun gameplay. Oh, also… God of War: Ragnarök is amazing. 10 out of 10.

  • High on Life and Atomic Heart (PC)

    So, I decided that I didn’t want to spend a ton of time reviewing games, even though I think my opinions are awesome. That said, I do want talk briefly about two games I was really excited to play: High on Life and Atomic Heart.

    My review: meh. I didn’t complete either game, so take that for what it’s worth.

    High on Life was interesting for a little bit, but the jokes went from being amusing to boring pretty quickly. The gameplay was okay, nothing to write home about, but the writing and the world in general made me not want to play.

    As for Atomic Heart, this game needed to either have good writing or good gameplay and it had neither. It was a beautiful and super interesting world, but the writing was atrocious. I didn’t like the main character at all, and it really felt like it was edgy for the sake of being edgy. Now I love swearing, but this game just felt like it was written by a preteen who watched their first R-rated movie. The thing I hated the most, other than the horribly unlikable main character, was the horny upgrade station. Such an awkward and off-putting thing to include.

    To sum it up: if these games weren’t on Game Pass and I paid for them, I would have been really disappointed.

  • My Magic Journey

    So Far

    This story begins in 2019 when I started yoyoing (a story for another day). It was a super fun way to satisfy my urge to constantly fidget, but with one big limitation: I have to be standing. I started looking for other ways to fidget while sitting. I tried a few things before discovering cardistry, which ended up being perfect for fidgeting while sitting on the couch. After a little while I figured that if I was going to carry a deck of cards, I should learn a few tricks, so I started Googling before ultimately picking up Card College 1. After reading that, magic was my main focus and I started buying tons of books, decks, and tricks before easing up and trying to take a more systematic approach of trying to build a small routine that I could perform. I did end up creating one, but I didn’t love it… so I’m starting again.

    Current Goals

    I’m currently working specifically on card magic, trying to find ungimmicked stand-up and sit down tricks so I can make a small set of each. I’m mostly focused on stand-up tricks now because I want to be able to do a few tricks at any time.

    Stuff I Like

    I tend to like short, straightforward effects. I also like tricks with at least somewhat justifiable handlings. If I need to do specific moves, I want it to be routined in such a way that it doesn’t look odd or out of place. What I don’t like spelling tricks or number tricks. There are definitely exceptions, but overall, not my jam. I don’t mind counting to a number or using a chosen card value as a number, but I don’t tend to like the plots that feel “mathy”. Another thing I don’t like is an unrelated kicker ending. Like if a selected card is 5 from the top, and the four cards before it are the aces, it just feels kind of random since it’s not related to the setup. I could go on, but it seems like there’s a lot more stuff I don’t like than stuff I do like (which I’m sure will be a recurring theme in my writing).

    Current Approach

    Consume! I’ll read books and watch DVDs until I find something that really stands out to me. If it doesn’t meet the criteria of my current goals, then I make note of it and continue on. I’m focusing on card magic and I’m going to re-read some of the books I’ve already read since I have a better idea of what I’m looking for now. I’m super excited to see what I can find and learn!

  • Game Review: Earthbound (SNES)

    Earthbound is one of those games that I really wanted to love. The world and concepts are so interesting to me and the game’s aesthetic really strikes a chord. I started playing Earthbound on an SNES emulator on the Steam Deck, but gave up before completion. I found the combat bland and I really don’t enjoy the way the game progresses. It doesn’t feel like a puzzle to figure out, instead it just felt like you explore a town and something happens. Then you explore the entire town again to see what changed until something else happens. Rinse and repeat. Each time something happens, it didn’t feel like it logically connected to the next thing (with some exceptions), instead you just have to go talk to everyone again and see what NPC will now let you continue. The story beats themselves feels connected, but the actual act of getting from point a to point b does not.

    Based on a walkthrough I checked, it looks like I gave up about a third of the way through the game. I just was not having any fun, despite really liking the setting and the world. I probably wouldn’t play it again, but if Netflix made it into a movie or TV show, I’d definitely check it out.

    Play stats:

    • Game: Earthbound
    • System: SNES (played emulated on Steam Deck)
    • End State: Gave Up
    • Date: 2022-08
    • Rating: 5*
    ,

  • How I Rate Games

    So, I love video games. I have loved them since I can remember and I’ve always had strong opinions of them. I am not the type of gamer that play one game for hundreds of hours, because I am kind of antsy. I tend to like tight, thoughtfully constructed story experiences. Just so you have some background, I think BioShock is the best game ever made. It’s lots of fun all the way through and has a fantastic story is told through gameplay. While video games are far and away my favorite past-time, I’m also highly critical of what games I play to completion because I want to be engaged instead of treading water.

    I plan on doing pretty brief reviews of games on here, and in case it needs referencing, here’s how I plan on rating them:

    • Rating is from 1 – 10
    • 5 – neutral. Didn’t love it and didn’t hate it.
    • < 5 – towards hating it
    • > 5 – towards loving it
    • I’ll still rate games I didn’t finish, but I’ll put an asterisk next to my rating.
    • This will be entirely based on how I feel about the game at the time I play it, not “for a game of its age”