You Are Confused

One attribute of mine that it seems few others possess is my obliviousness to what I'm supposed to do. It seems that many aren't accustomed to giving the explanations that I require. I imagine that I'm either particularly obsessive about doing everything correctly or I lack common sense. I think both factors play a role. The hilarious part is that when I try to do something without a detailed explanation, I manage to do it completely differently from how it should be done. That's another point. Someone may think, "Just do this," but there are really many factors that determine why something should be a certain way. Being unacquainted with these factors, I find it easy to stumble into one of the many incorrect methods. On the other hand, it's implied that others don't run into the same problems that I do. So you can consider me an obsessive space cadet. I'm very on task for a space cadet, though; I'm just easily disoriented.

Today I opened a bank account. Cool, right, it's like my money is going on all sorts of crazy adventures instead of cushioning my sleep. So, I looked up the interest rate online and guess what? It blows. However, I then looked up the rate of inflation, and guess what? It's negative. So, while it turns out that I am actually making some money on interest, I'd be making about the same amount if the money stayed in my mattress. Also about dealing with the bank, see the above paragraph. So many dumb questions I asked. "Just write my name here?" "Yes" "Sign it?" "Yes."

I didn't do much this memorial day weekend, even though I had Sunday and Monday off. There were a couple of cook outs and that was all. Oh yes, my dad's fiance was there. It's a long distance relationship. Anyway, she stayed at my dad's house, which is where I was, and was annoying as hell. It's one thing to be annoying, but it's a very different thing to be annoying while living in the same house as I am. She was loud, in the way, and pestered me to the point of harassment as well as made my dad much louder and annoying. Did I mention that she did all of this where I live? It's fine to be like that at some sort of social event, but it's awful when I want to relax and think.

Hopefully there aren't any hitches in my plans to move out. My plan is to do so this July if everything works out. I have no long term goals. I may have mentioned it before, but I'd like to get Dungeon Quest going. I've put some thought into it during the last few days, but I haven't made any real progress in the design. I'd like to be able to make money doing something creative indepently, such as making games, so Dungeon Quest is important. I don't expect to make money off of it, but it's an important test and stepping stone. That doesn't mean if I don't finish it that all is lost, but I still think it's significant. If nothing creative pans out, I might try going back to school, joining the army, or working for the state government. I don't like the idea of going to school because it's so expensive. Joining the army isn't a bad idea because I can get training for a job and also make some money, but it's a pretty big commitment. Working for the state is a good choice if I want to still pursue the creative stuff, but I'll probably have difficulty getting a job. I could get an Associate degree or enter the military and have a good shot at working for the state, though I'd probably be looking at other jobs as well if I did that. My current job is OK, though. I'm starting to get the hang of it a bit and I expect to make enough money. It just isn't something that I would like to do forever. I have bigger ambitions. I don't have huge ambitions from a monetary standpoint, but I'd like to do something noteworthy. By noteworthy I don't mean of historical note, but something that I can really get behind and be excited about. If I'm doing something that makes me happy and I'm making enough money then I'm completely satisfied. I find it hard to understand people who put lots of emphasis on money. A few people that I work with have other full time jobs. WTF? How do people even enjoy the money if all they do is work? The same goes for the manager, who's also the owner. He is always busy. Although a lot of that busy time involves chatting with people on the phone, he still spends crazy hours doing it. I would assume that he must like his job a lot if he's willing to commit so much of his life to it. I don't think that I would enjoy managing a pizza place that much. Personally, I refuse to make my job my life. It's a lot like an MMO. MMOs are addictive, considering all the carrots and competition, but they're largely pointless and unfun. So I don't play MMOs (anymore).

You Drive North. You Drive North. You Drive North.

So, my job is pretty rough. Of course it depends on what you consider rough. I like the people I'm around and the job could be more grueling. What I don't like, however, are tricky situations. There are about four things in particular that I hate. The first is not knowing what to do. Standing around on the clock or being told to do something without any details as to how to do it isn't cool. Second, not being able to understand people over the phone is uncomfortably awkward. I feel horrible when I have to say, "I'm sorry, what was that?" because I have difficulty understanding. Sometimes people have heavy accents, native or foreign, but sometimes I simply have a difficult time interpreting the garble of sounds into words. Third, also dealing with taking orders, I hate being asked something that I don't know. I know a lot more than when they left me on the phones alone on a Saturday evening my first day, but there are a lot of questions and situations that I don't know the answer to. Lastly, I hate finding addresses. Streets aren't bad, but the exact house or, even worse, apartment can be difficult to find, particularly at night. Isn't there a better way than having to call the person because I can't see any of the addresses?

Despite these difficulties, I refuse to cave. My indomitable will must carry me through all adversities. I also need money. One day I'll find a better way of making money, but this is a good job that's helping me overcome some of my largest problems. It's like I'm training myself to be a normal person. Hopefully I'll be able to work more comfortably soon.

You Delay the Inevitable

Alright, guys, so it looks like I've broken from my basement-dweller habits, at least for the time being. I've procured a job at a local pizza plant. I feel like a tamed animal being released back into the wild or a Martian attempting to infiltrate planet Earth's hierarchy to learn their tasty secret recipes. Needless to say, associating with 3D pigs and impatiently awaiting monetary compensation for said association is indubitably stressful. I hope to eventually adapt to their stench and uncanny portrayal of depth.

Who knows what the future will hold, but I'm hoping for cool shit. Also, I'm going to have to get back to work on Dungeon Quest soon.

Zzzzzz

I'm fucking tired. I've had a headache since yesterday. Today I've been getting more applications. I got a lot of them, so I'll return them tomorrow. I hate filling out applications. When I fill out an application I continually envision the employer glancing over it and then tossing it aside. I also struggle with various fields that I'm not certain how to answer.

So I'm tired and I have a headache. I'm not cut out for this. I don't think I'm cut out for much. I'm simply depressed now. I can't let myself get depressed. I have to think of Misaki. I don't have any strong feelings for the character, but she's symbolic for my goals. Misaki also reminds me that no one is going to show up at my doorstep to help me out--I have to do it myself.

Maybe I don't actually care. Maybe nothing is important to me. I feel numb and can't tell. Would I regret it if I gave up? No, I wouldn't regret it. I would like to believe that certain things would make me happy. I wouldn't mind forfeiting them even if I knew it for certain.

I doubt that society cares about me. What is my happiness to anyone else? I'm not an island; my success lies in the hands of others. How easily may I be ostracized? I don't think I'm asking for anything unreasonable. I want to support myself and pursue my goals. Those who I depend on seem satisfied to ignore me. Maybe this is simply misanthropic paranoia. I hope that it is.

You Stare into the Metaphoric Distance

Reading NHK led me to a desire for change. One of differences I noted between myself and Sato is that there are things that I want to do. One of the things that has led to my lifestyle is my nihilistic outlook. Nothing is important to me. I don't care about consequences and I don't care about loss. Sometimes I feel loss. Though even when I feel loss, I probably could have prevented losing whatever I lost had I cared. But this form of nihilism isn't particularly conscious. I may care a great deal for something consciously, but inwardly I can throw it away without blinking. So I relate with having no strong desires. On the other hand, there are things that I think would make me happier. This is important because I'm not happy.

Because I want to be happy, I'm committing myself to certain goals. The biggest goal for me is to get a job. Working doesn't seem particularly fun, but there are several reasons to pursue a job. Foremost is that I need money to be independent and pursue my other goals. Second, I think having a job will help my self-esteem and make me feel that I am a part of society. Finally, it should break some of my reclusive nature.

So I spent all of yesterday job hunting. Thankfully my brother-in-law helped me out, because I would have had little idea of what to do otherwise. I have been job hunting before, unsuccessfully, but I don't really know what places to look at and I find forms vague in some cases. So he gave me some pointers and helped me come up with a list of places and stayed while I called the first few. Pizza delivery guy seems to be what I'm mainly looking at, as that's what's hiring and it seems like a good job. I really hope that I can get an interview. If I can get an interview, I think, depending on the person who's hiring, I either have the job or I don't. It's not that I'm good at interviews or talking to people in general. I think I have a chance to seize the job because I'm very serious about getting one and I think I would be very good at it. As long as I don't completely screw up and I don't become petrified with fear, I think I'll be able to present myself very convincingly. So, if the person doesn't mind my personality and doesn't mind someone with no experience, I think I'll be able to get the job.

You Attend an Offline Suicide Meeting

I occasionally read manga and watch anime. I don't watch much anime because it isn't on Cartoon Network anymore and downloading it is a hassle, plus it's uncomfortable to watch on the computer. I also read manga some, but I'm not into it much because, frankly, most of it sucks. I think there are some cultural divides and stuff that separate me from mangaka. It could just be that Japanese doesn't translate well. I've once had that problem while trying to speak with people in a different language, however, to be frank once more, people who natively speak English often don't understand what the hell I'm trying to say.

I started reading the NHK manga today. I would have read the novel, since that's more up my alley (colorful expression, eh?) than comics, but I couldn't find it quickly on Google, so I went for the manga. The anime would have been too much of a hassle for the reasons I listed earlier. Having so many options can be a major obstacle, but my keen process of elimination skills came through in the end. So, about Welcome to the NHK, the protagonist is me if I were a character in a manga. It's sort of pathetic. On one hand, I've experienced a lot of the thoughts and feelings of Sato, but on the other hand they aren't exactly the same and my reactions are largely different.

Am I a hopeless loser? I don't know how the manga turns out. I do know that a Misaki isn't going to knock on my door and try to help me out. But, back to the point, am I a hopeless loser? Will I continue to fail? Maybe I'm like an alcoholic or a compulsive gambler or some other loser who continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. I don't want to believe that. I've always thought that I was different, but maybe I'm not. I'm not exactly like Sato. I'm a misanthrope, but I like to be around people. I don't trust them. I'm scared that I'll screw up, which I do very often. However, I still like being around people and feeling accepted. I'd like to say that I'm not a complete slave to my impulses and fears. My willpower varies. Sometimes I feel more confident and I can muster up the resolve fight through my emotions, but I often succumb to them. I don't know if I'll ever be able to fit into society or complete any of my goals. I don't know if I'll ever be happy. Maybe?

I'm now transitioning to anecdotes and stuff that relates to NHK! *six million dollar man sound effect*

Solicitors:
I always screw up while talking to them and expose myself as a very odd person. Once a guy was doing a promotion for a restaurant or something. He asked, "Do you like good steak and seafood?" Sensing that this was a trick question, I answered, "I don't know?" He gave a putoff "OK" and walked briskly away. I also once asked a guy repeatedly who was in the midst of a vague pitch, "What do you want?" After asking a few times I ended the conversation with, "It's late." It was 7 pm, though I was going to bed early at the time. Though not a solicitor, a reporter once asked me what I thought about a fund-raising thing for Katrina victims that I was a part of. I responded with something along the lines of, "I think it's really awesome and neat and great and wonderful and cool and terrific," etc. She turned around and walked away.

Lolita:
I had a quickly passing obsession with lolita after discovering 4chan. Inevitably the shock or whatever wears off and it's no longer as hot.

Eroge Game:
I once contemplated making one. I even started on a prototype. It would have been text-based, because I'm no artist, and featured bondage. Bondage was another one of my passing fetishes.

MMO Addiction:
I have the tendancy to get into games pretty hardcore. The first game that screwed around my life was Infantry Online. I still have fond memories of it, though it completely ruined me for a period of months. I was sad when it became pay to play, though that may have been for the best. I also went through a pretty classic MMO addiction with Priston Tale, one of the first free 3D MMORPGs. Don't ask why I would prefer grinding to sleep. There's something about the snazzy spell animations and the ping when you get a level. Also, it's better than Diablo, even Diablo over battlenet, because there are so many people! MMOs, you are wiley indeed.

That's all I can think of. I don't want this to be a continually updated list. I mean, this is the third time that I've edited this post already. I'm not doing it again (hopefully).

Server Is Full, Try Again Later

I've been busy. I have just loads of stuff going on. Loads and loads. Little is actually being done, though, because I have a very unsatisfactory method of rotating which thing I focus on. I am busy, however. Today I started working on a game. I haven't done any programming in a while. I initially planned to make a key logging program to help with my Street Fighter skillz. I then realized that I never want to touch directx if I can help it. Instead I came up with a game that may or may not suck. The concept is that you have three shields. Balls shoot out and hit the shields. Both balls and shields can be different colors. You can change the colors of the shields. Depending on the color of the ball and shield when they hit, you may get points. I have most of the prototype done, but I want to rewrite it to configure everything from a file. I'll probably do that before I test it, because it's currently a mess. The first version of a program is like a first draft--meant for the wastebasket.

What else am I doing? Other stuff that I don't think fits within the realm of this blog. The purpose of this blog is pretty vague, but it's mainly to help me focus and vent. I don't want it to be a daily account of my life, though it might contain such elements.

Oh yeah, I cut my hair. It was getting pretty annoying. I think it came out alright. My beard looks fairly neat, and my hair looks a bit weird but not bad.

In Soviet Russia is You

Fuck these titles. I never liked coming up with them, particularly because they suck. If I didn't try at all then I wouldn't mind, but I halfway tried because I didn't want them to be horrible, but for them to be bearable I would have had to put a pathetic amount of effort into them. I would prefer to simply be able to write without having to worry about a title.

Remember when I said I was going to try to find an RPG? I didn't find an RPG, but I did find another game. I came across 2dfighter.com. It's a matchmaking server for various fighter and beat 'em up games. Cool, I can play some sweet arcade games with people online, right? Unfortunately, I suck at them. I tried playing against the computer on Street Fighter III Third Strike, the most popular game, and I got an idea of how much work I'd have to do to even hope to improve by fighting other people. I'm trying to come up with a good training method. I've check online for various guides. I got a Dreamcast emulator because I think it's better for practicing than playing against the cpu on the arcade version. Hopefully I'll have a grasp of the game in a couple weeks. Playing with any consistency and utilizing difficult tactics and combos will take longer.

Sadly, I may slack off on Dungeon Quest. Not that I've been super active, but I may get nothing done while I'm in SF mode. Or I may be able to divide up my time since I can't play SF nonstop. You may or may not see new stuff.

You Are Galstaff Sorcerer of Light

OK, I worked out some stuff for Dungeon Quest that I'm happy with. I have no idea if it will stand up over time, but it's what I plan to go with.

The system I've been going with is that on leveling up a character gets three points. Two points can be put on attributes while the third can be used to get a specialization, a technique, or increase an attribute.

What I've completed is determining the specializations and their penalties. Specializations are like classes. They determine what techniques a character can learn. They also give penalties and bonuses. The penalties are important because they create practical limits. While many specialization combinations are feasible, apart from costing points, getting many specializations will severely cripple a character with penalties. Add that certain combinations of skills, penalties, and bonuses stack better than others, and the generally very open system becomes more restricted. I think this sort of limitation helps variety. I also think it promotes characterization and RP to a degree, even if it isn't social RP.

So here are my notes on the different specializations and their negatives.
warrior-vulnerable to magic
berserker-can't defend
knight-slow
swordsman-vulnerable to non-sword weapons
swashbuckler-reduced strength bonus
martial artist-can't use a shield
acrobat-light armor only
knave-vulnerable to holy
artificer-reduced magic effectiveness
ranger-vulnerable to fire
wizard-reduced accuracy
elementalist-reduced hp bonus
theurgist-can't attack unless attacked
sorcerer-weakened (less defense and strength) by charges
psionic-receives part of damage dealt

Next I'll be working on their bonuses and techniques. Techniques will be the hard part because, as you can see, there are many specializations. I also intend do have techniques that require a combination of specializations, probably two.

Oh yeah, I've made a couple of decisions. These aren't set either. There will be no spells that are castable outside of battles, spells won't require memorization or mana or anything like that, and a party is completely healed after a battle. If I did do those things, I'd have to implement items and that would cause far more trouble than it would add to the game.

Yet another feature that I came up with. After defeating a boss you may get a gem or something instead of a piece of equipment. This gem can be used to upgrade a piece of equipment from the tier below to current tier. I want there to be a wide variety of equipment to choose from, but I don't want to repeat the same thing in the next tier, just with better stats. I also want to limit the number of possible drops to reduce how many times a player has to run a dungeon to get a certain item. There are some negatives as well. I'll have to think about this one. Equipment will have to be done while I develop the monsters anyway to properly balance everything, so I won't be able to make any firm decisions yet.

You Hear Eerie Music

I've been pretty down. I was once thought to have dysthymia, and now that I've looked it up, it seems to accurately describe me. Sometimes I'm confident, active, optimistic, and highly resistant to pain. Other times I'm nervous, lethargic, moody, and sensitive. These qualities vary in degree. Lately I've been more down than usual. I've been busy feeling miserable, even too miserable for pr0n, so I have gotten little done with Dungeon Quest or even posting on this blog.

On a similar note, I'm a misanthrope. I had a big spiel that including a variety of topics based on misanthropy. It didn't make the final cut. Being a misanthrope is tough. Not everyone is cut out for this type of life. One must develop deep-rooted mistrust and enmity for people over a long period of time to become a bona fide misanthrope like I am. And once those embers of paranoia are kindled, you can't simply live your life normally. No, you must act on your beliefs and not only limit your association with others, but take it a step further with the following techniques.
1) Don't turn your back to anyone.
2) Give vague, terse responses to strangers.
3) Avoid people and act inconspicuously while others are around.
4) Obscure traces of your ordinary activities.

In other news about myself, I've been running. I do this about once a year, though with varying seriousness. This time I think I'm serious. I normally think I'm serious, though, or I wouldn't bother. Anyway, my goal is to be able to sprint for a mile. I'm not close, but my cardio has improved a lot during the last two weeks. Seriously though, dead sprint for 5,280 feet, I'm doing it. Oh yeah, I also have to be faster than everyone. Don't ask who everyone is or I'll realize that I don't have a very solid goal.

I need a new game to play. I was thinking about going back to Wyvern because I see they're updating stuff, but the updates won't affect gameplay so I know that it's a bad idea. Plus there are so few workable builds. I tried to come up with some, but they were all flawed. I even realized that my teleporting archer build was flawed because many areas don't allow teleporting. Teleporting archer could be a very workable PvE build, though not nearly the XP machine that is the super fragile, but awesome whipster halfling.

I'm very proud of my halfling whipster. I think it has better survivability than a comparable build in the conjurer branch of the ranger guild. The ranger guild, you see, is a guild that gives bonuses to the whip skill and death magic, which is the element the magic whip spell depends on for damage. When you join you can choose to be a whipsman, which gets a percentage bonus to hp and negatives to magic elements (besides death and air) and arts (besides conjuration), or a conjurer, which gets a percentage bonus to sp and negatives to just the arts. Elements affect spell effectiveness and arts affect how much sp a spell costs, if you're wondering. Anyway, a halfling conjurer seems ideal because halfling have more sp than hp, thus a larger total increase since the increase is proportional. Throw in no negatives to elements and a bonus to meditation and it must be a lock, right? Well, I think the hp bonus makes for a much more rugged character that can use mana shield potions instead of having to use the spell, which means more skill points. Also, no spells are needed, so I only get the one lore I need to learn magic whip and lots of death to make it more powerful. That allows me to use equipment that gives a chance of spell failure since I don't need to spam spells. This isn't a big advantage because armor is broken and the best equipment doesn't bungle spells. It does mean that I can use black dragon scale mail for better petrification and acid resistance than the comparable non-bungling armor as well as a skull shield for fear immunity. Then I have skill points left over from not using spells and being a halfling to train strength and find-weakness. I also have plenty of healing and meditation so I don't have to wait very long to regenerate my hp and sp back. This guy might not be able to kill a beholder without running, but I firmly believe that he can gain XP faster than any other build, even though I don't have the resolve to prove this. I've made some progress, but it would take several days of game time to get to the top of the scores in xp/second.

My other idea which I still think has some promise is the mage warrior. This guy has probably been concieved numerous times in different variations by different people. My variation uses swords, heal with a partial mana shield, and prismatic shield. Could this work? Probably not, but prismatic shield gives the potential to pump all four skill points that a halfling gets per level into damage. Some side affects are powerful resistance spells and the ability to use lots of handy spells with all the lore prismatic shield takes. It should also be more survivable than my whipster. The negative is that this build never plateaus. At no points can you pump points into strength and find-weakness. Oh yeah, it's also hard, like all magic using builds, to equip. I don't like having to worry about non-bungling gear, but its end-game stuff should be good. I also don't think prismatic shield would give as good returns on damage per skill point as magic whip. Magic whip is truly god of DPS, even though it was relatively nerfed by the influx of new equipment.

It's entertaining to speculate about builds for Wyvern, but I don't feel like playing it at all. So I need a new game. I'll work on finding one. I don't think I'll have any luck finding a good RPG. That's one of the reasons why I want to make one.

You Descend Down the Dank Channel

I have no idea why I set a date for posting. I questioned doing so at the time, but it's habit of mine. While saying I'll do something at a certain time in the future alleviates the pressure of whether I'll get around to doing it, it creates pressure to then do what I said. And when it comes to deadlines, I tend to spend more time worrying about the deadline than getting anything done.

The topic today is Dungeon Quest, my dungeon crawling, hack and slash RPG. I've only recently, that is today, decided that I needed to change up my plans for a major part of the game. I've done this several times already. My ideas are becoming more refined and focused, which I believe to be a very good thing.

Today for the first time I doubted whether my ideas for a game were good. This is very surprisingly. I normally second-guess myself continually. I admit to feeling frightened and embarrassed at my enthusiasm for what might turn out to be lame. However, I think this doubt is a bad thing. There are self-deprecating reasons I should give for not worrying. Those aren't good either. I think that I should trust myself and my ability. Even if my ideas don't sound great, I know that they are.

Here's the basic concept behind the game. It's based on a tier system. Tiers are determined by character level. After so many levels the character advances to the next tier. Each tier has its own set of dungeons and new equipment. There should be plenty of dungeons for each tier, some solo and others requiring a party of a specific size. Initially dungeons should be very difficult, but as the character gains levels and equipment they should become easier so the focus changes from just surviving to completing the dungeon quickly enough to get to the next tier without tedious grinding. I like the idea of facing different but equal challenges with a character that's at the same level of power as well as facing the same challenges again when the character is stronger. The tier system will also emphasize skill. At some point a player who uses a poor build and doesn't fight strategically will simply be unable to progress to the next tier.

The dungeons themselves will be simple. They won't have any puzzles or mazes or traps. They will have set encounters with semi-random monsters and branches to give the player some control over which monsters he'll fight. At the end there will be a boss with a treasure. The treasure will be equipment. Why not have puzzles and mazes and traps? They would be completely superfluous. My goal isn't to create a great puzzle adventure game, but a great strategical hack and slash game.

Fights will be turn-based similar to the Final Fantasy ATB battles (I probably should have said that earlier). Fights should be suitably long for balance purposes but also to create room for them to be completed more quickly. They shouldn't take hours or even half of an hour. One problem with multiplayer turn-based battles is that they pause when someone gets a turn. My idea is that the game shouldn't pause while a player selects an action and that the player should be able to select an action before it's his turn. A key aspect of fighting will be techniques. Techniques will require charges, gained by defending, or combo points, gained by basic attacks. So far battles seem like a modified version of the Colosseum, which I described in an earlier entry. The difference will be in the underlying formulas and mechanics, but more noticeably in the effects of techniques. I hope for techniques to have involved and unique effects that are different from most of the stuff that's been done in RPGs.

There'll also be PvP. I haven't put much thought into how I'll implement it, but this system should work great with PvP.

That's all that I feel confident to say for now. I'm keeping the details to myself because they will likely be changed at some point. Also, as I stated earlier, I'm completely revising a large part so I don't even have the details for it.

I know I didn't say much and what I did say probably sounds boring, but I'm very excited. I don't know when I'll get to any updates on Dungeon Quest (I have to come up with a better name). I'll try to update the blog regularly with something, though. (Damn, more obligations)

You Are Surrounded by Trees. A Dirt Road Runs East and West.

I came across a game called Facade (http://www.interactivestory.net/). It's described as an art game and is free to download, a bad portent when both are combined. The concept is interesting: the player is given the role of an auxiliary but potentially influential character in a drama. You type and move around from a first person perspective as the other two characters, a yuppie couple, duke it out. Facade does alright, particularly at portraying the ensuing drama, but it becomes easy to tell, even during the first play through (the game is short and has many endings), that the game is switching from one preset event to another. Also, the method of user interface, moving around and typing as the player would normally speak, is ambitious, and I don't think Facade does anything to overcome the obvious pitfalls of that method.

Most notable to the player is the text parser. The website is very misleading when it states that the "innovative text parser allows the system to avoid the 'I don’t understand' response all too common in text-adventure interactive fiction." It does just that fairly regularly if you don't say the right things. What to say becomes more apparent after playing through a few times, but Facade does a poor job of directing the player. I personally believe the text parser died many years ago for good reason. Even if natural language processing were feasible, the focus of a game is likely more limited than many reasonable player responses. Hence dialogue trees. Dialogue trees aren't ideal because they limit suspension of disbelief, promote meta gaming, and require less creativity from the player. However, they're much easier to implement, guide the player to scenarios within the scope of the game, and allow complex choices. Also, if the player is controling a defined character, they may allow dialogue that suits the character.

I don't know if it's good or bad, but typical branching as in Choose Your Own Adventure-style games is replaced by several possible events that may be triggered. Some events may come in a different orders or not at all. Despite this, progression through the game is surprisingly linear. I'm not against linearity, though. Overall, I think the system is neat.

There's my review. Facade was worth playing, though flawed. Even though Trip and Grace responded with confusion half of the time and in turn had me responding in confusion, I found the game atmospheric and novel. Dialogue and story were fine. Voice acting was good. Graphics were 3D, but looked hand drawn by an average drawer. My guess is that they were.

I'll try to give a rundown of Dungeon Quest on Monday. I've came up with a lot more stuff in the last couple days. Hopefully I can cement the basics soon and then work on the long process of designing the dungeons and monsters.

You Are Attacked by a Ohgosh the Goblin King

I've been thinking about a new game. It would be classified as a dungeon crawler. Combat and dungeons are normally less important to me in an RPG than playing my character and exploring the world. This game, which I will dub Dungeon Quest for now, is based on two games that I did like for their hack and slash approach. Well, the second one's was boring, but it did do some things right. Both are multiplayer online games, which I intend Dungeon Quest to be (I have a server program sitting around that I made for another game I lost interest in).

The first is the Colosseum mini game on the Balamb Garden chat server (http://psycrow.chatserve.com/frames.html). It features Final Fantasy-style battles between two teams. Players choose from a large selection of preset characters from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Xenogears. Combat is similar to the basic Final Fantasy ATB system, but also includes charges, similar to Chrono Cross and Xenogears. After a normal attack, a character gains a charge that can be used to perform a technique on another turn. Most characters have three techniques, the first taking one charge, the second two, and third three. The techniques have a variety of affects such as damaging one target, damaging multiple targets, healing, bufs, debufs, and statuses from FF and related games. Overall it was a fun and strategic game.

The second is Wyvern (http://www.cabochon.com/). Wyvern is a graphical MUD. I like two things about Wyvern. First, it provides lots of character customization. You choose a race for your character at the start, which determines your hit points, spell points, and innate abilities, such as flying for a pixie, skill with ranged weapons for an elf, and the ability to turn invisible for a halfling. Then the character gets three or four, depending on the race, skill points to spend each level. Skills include things like swords, which improves damage and accuracy, strength, which also improves damage and increases encumbrance limits, air magic, which makes air spells more effective or last longer, conjuration, which makes conjuration spells cost less spell points, and many others. The player also can't train a skill past the character's level to force some variation in skills. Lastly, guilds increase certain skills, decrease others, and normally have specific restrictions. For example, a paladin gets bonuses to strength, swords, life magic, and hp, negatives to magical elements besides life and magical arts besides incantation, and must keep a positive alignment. Overall, the game is fairly difficult and forces the player to carefully plan how a character is developed and setup. Unfortunately, the game has a lot of balance issues and incomplete features as its main programmer is busy with other stuff. The second thing that I like about Wyvern, which I think goes along with the first, is that it gives a sense of identity. Even though there isn't much backstory or world interraction, just a character's race and guild seem to point the character toward a certain personality with unique mannerisms and characteristics. Throw in which skills a player chooses and style of play and you have a righteous paladin who smiteth vile demons with his massive diamond sword while casting arcane abjurations against their evil magic. Or a wary halfling archer who finishes off weak opponents with his sword and teleports to safety when the situation gets out of hand. Or a fire and death mage who wreaks destruction on anything nearby . . . unless it's immune to fire and death magic. I attribute this to wide range of choices the player can make, which are relatable and superficial, but also dramatically affect gameplay.

So the idea is to create a game that combines fun and strategical turn-based battles with deep character customization that goes beyond numbers. I have a lot of ideas for realizing those goals as well improving certain certain common aspects of the genre and a lot of original mechanics and content. I'll describe these ideas later when I can say what's in and what's out with a bit more certainty.

You Are Standing Before a Small Brick Building

I'm Jonathan and I'm a pretty lousy guy. I have many failures to attribute to my general incompetence. This bothers me a lot. For some time I refused to believe that it had anything to do with my capabilities, choosing to instead blame my decisions or something that I could have easily changed. Part of this had to do with the general disbelief by those around me that I should fail at what they would consider trivial. Another part had to do with the general belief that I am an intelligent and capable person. It took a while, but after seeing the repeating patterns of my failures, despite my efforts to change them, I realized that these were real faults that I would be struggling with for a long time.

So I'm currently a basement-dweller. I have no job and few obligations. I also have a neckbeard. I decided to stop cutting my hair out of disgust for my pessimum lifestyle. All that leaves me plenty of time for my favorite pass-times.

I'm very interested in games. I'm not much of a gamer, but I enjoy exploring new games and learning their history. This goes back to my childhood. My first experience with video games were arcades. I pretended to play them and thought how cool they looked. Later I got a Super Nintendo and played and beat Super Mario World, Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Donkey Kong Country. I didn't get any new games until my parents bought me a Playstation and a bunch of games from a friend of my sister who needed money. The Playstation was way cool in my mind. Though the games were entertaining, I never felt compelled to master them. I would simply play them for a while, see all the cool things that I could do, and quit after coming to a boss that gave me a lot of problems. I believe RPGs were the only Playstation games that I beat. Final Fantasy VII was my first RPG since I played my dad's Pool of Radiance for DOS. I now see it as a flawed game, but I thought very highly of it at the time. Shortly after came Diablo. A friend of my dad coerced him to buy a computer and Diablo. We then began fighting eachother until two in the morning to use the computer. The internet brought a new dimension to an otherwise dull game. Instead of a monotonous dungeon crawl, we were systematically clearing levels and chatting with a party of real people. That led me to the world of online games. I explored many different types of games, from telnet to browser to 2D to 3D. I became involved with communities and eventually resigned to hanging around forums. When World of Warcraft came out I had already been addicted to MMOs, so I passed it up. I've now lost contact with everyone and am not very involved in online gaming. The point, though, is that I've always been a pretty casual gamer who was more interested in the implications of a game than playing through it.

Now I want to make games. I guess I've always been interested in making games. I've always not been very successful as well. I'm a decent programmer and fully capable of realizing my plans. The trick is coming up with a concept that I like for more than a week.