Not Quite Dead

NoodleKnight pushed me to write another blog entry, so here I am, I guess.

As the title indicates, I’m not quite dead yet, and, surprisingly neither is Nekohime. It’s just in continual development hell. ^^; I just do some personal programming for it every now and then.

For the most part, the coding hasn’t been much of a challenge in actual programming, though design is a bit different. Mainly, balancing simple code that might have inherent shortcomings versus complex code that is hard to work out. My current problem involves synchronization of sprite frames and movement based on time. While what I have pretty much works out fine, the fact that I know that it’s technically not completely synchronized grates on my conscious. I originally avoided some of the complications with a startAt() method, so I’m possibly looking at getFrameAt() and getLocationAt() to solve the problem. Of course, the trade-off for synchronization is the lag due to the processing; instead of one being off 10 units of time with the off by 5, they’ll both be off by 10 units of time. … Not quite an improvement I’d hope for…

I’ll probably just do what I’ve been doing for now (5/10 lag instead of 10/10 lag), as the design is modular enough that I can improve that bit of code or even tweak the interface or implementation fairly painlessly.

Lately, I’ve been getting some new ideas in my head, too. First being the adventures of Eldeen, and the second being related to me currently watching Slayers NEXT. (The Slayers series, by the way, is something I really should have watched a long time ago.)

Too bad they’re both still a bit too fuzzy to work out. Maybe with some more time.

RK wishes kiryuu=rekka and arai would come back sometime soon, as it’s kinda’ painful to get into a lot of stuff they recommend only for them to not show up again…

Spark: v0.0.5.1

Certifications, Gripes, Updates, and Then Some

Slightly old news, but last Saturday, I finally completed and passed my A+ and Network+ certification exams. Whee!! Finally, all that studying paid off! Honestly, though, I’m glad I passed them. Too much of my life is trudging away, endlessly studying or doing things without any real end in sight. No sense of real accomplishment, no marker to justify my work, no encouragement or acknowledgement. Just a continual so-called “need” to work and work.

Lessee… continuing my Japanese study, but I might try to add another, more advanced class that’s more suited for my level tomorrow. More work involved, but I feel the need to actually learn stuff, not review.

Project Updates
Project Nekohime seems to be trudging through things, though some of the members have me worried. One in particular seems to be… hmm… having an authoritative identity crisis? It’d be nice if they communicated more, instead of emoing and acting immature. What I won’t stand for, though, is attempting to pass themselves off as skilled in a certain area that they know nothing about. There development is a lot more complicated than they realize, and I hope that I won’t have to come to head with that person. They’ve pushed before… and I don’t feel like needlessly relenting because of some stupid personal opinions.

Anyways, working on finishing Common Skills, publishing it, then drafting Servant classes. Once that is done, we can create a generalized Character class. And to finally be able to code things! In the meantime, the Art Center was created, and I’m really, really hoping I can finish the Java Applet for character creation. If things work out well, the Applet would be able to allow the user to easily create (and balance) a character’s stats, and possibly generate accurate information for programmers to start creating the static user objects.

The Tsukihime Translation Project is coming to a close, of which I have mixed feelings about. First, proofreading still needs to be done, whether certain people admit to it or not. Second, I honestly wish I could be doing more, but, as evident in the lack of posts I’ve had recently, my time has been spirited away by other things.

I recently discussed things concerning Project T in the #beastslair channel. I felt it was kinda’ nice to be able to exchange our thoughts about certain private things we were all working on, giving me some fresh perspective on aspects of it. One of them made a comment that was probably just a statement of fact, but I ended up taking it as a compliment. More development on that is happening… and I’m getting closer to actually creating excerpted material, as well as prepare for Project C.

I guess I should sorta’ partially declassify Project World Egg. I haven’t worked on it just recently, though I have been doing more work on it as a whole. Nasu is… complicated. But fun. The only thing that gets me is the design of the universe. I might leave it for later, though I hope the ramifications of doing so don’t come back to haunt me later.

Ehh… time flies when blogging… >_>

Crunch Time

Seems like a bunch of projects and other things in my life are hitting critical points. Time to rant away…

• A+ and Network+ Certification programs coming to an end in a little more than a week. I get to take tests afterwards. >_>
• The BL Game Project (semi-renamed, unofficially, to Project Nekohime) is hitting a point where things the battle code might be put into production. Hopefully, I can get Raf, Noodle, and JSeabolt to join in, and CB if he’s still around. >_>
• Planning on joining a role-playing game. Though I really don’t have too much time to be doing stuff like this. >_>
• The Tsukihime Translation Project has been in normal playtesting phase, which takes a lot of time to go through, and the deadline is fast approaching. >_>
• Classes start up in the beginning of September. I need to get my Japanese up to speed again. >_>
• I made a slight promise to have Project Neco-Arc would be up within a month. Well, that month has now transformed into a little more than a week. >_>
• Project W has been trying to be restarted for a while. Sort of waiting on me. >_>

Worldcrafting

One of the things that interest me a lot about programming is worldcrafting. The fellow over at TYPE-MOON, Kinoko Nasu, has held my interest for a long time with his universe based on the power of concept, differences between 魔法 and 魔術, and elaborate backstories. His entire system is complex beyond most people can dream of, and (for the most part) it seems to work.

In any case, one of the little projects I work on is a doujin RPG game loosely based off the Beast’s Lair boards that I frequent. Well, frequented, since I’ve had little time to head over there and browse as of late. Anyways, I’ve become somewhat responsible for creating the general battle mechanics for the game, which I largely based off of classic console RPGs and the Nasuverse itself. Of course, I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into until it was too late.

Though, tiring as it is, it’s actually interesting to dissect how life works and try to emulate it. Mainly, for me at least, it gives me a better sense of appreciation about the laws of order in this world. Especially when trying to program in something like a Reality Marble. Oh god.

I’ve come up with a few theories of how to tackle this, but, with worldcrafting, I always like to do two things: create maintenable code and apply a philosophy to it all, which most of the time involves emulating real-world laws and paradigms. So, with something complicated as a Reality Marble, which can change anything, it becomes sorta’ difficult dissecting things like processes and customs and rituals and smacking someone upside the head.

Hopefully, someday, I can survive this project and actually attempt to create an actual Nasuverse in code. A long, long shot, but who knows. If and when I do, I’ll dedicate it to EvoSpace for ultimately getting me into this entire mess, and to Arai for showing me the horrificly splendid details of it all.