Inner Workings

First First.

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:58:15 +0100

I have really really gruesome nightmares so I keep waking up about 4/5am and not going back to sleep so I’m waiting for Morrisons to open to go grab some Red Bull.

Yesterday I got my first First grade at University, for an essay I wrote. Whoever marked it said that my use of images and diagrams made my essay feel paced like a comic and I’m like seriously it’s an essay not a God damned Shakespearean epic mark me on the content not the narrative peak in Act 2. He did read it all though, even wrote that he enjoyed reading it, and that I had an interesting writing style. I handed in 10 pages so it was nice they didn’t stop half way. I still get the odd favourite every like 6 months for a thing I wrote when I was 16, but that’s all my writing ‘credentials’. Now I just need to figure out which lecturer it was and remove just one kneecap. Probably wasn’t Bal or Shane, I’m pretty cool with them. Although that may change depending on how Bal takes that copy of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters I gave him. I like Bal, I told him the degree was worthless and he told me I was going to be great. It was kind of like the ‘Seize The Day’ Community moments.

I got really into Magic The Gathering, like REALLY into it. Then Kristyna did, she’s played like 20+ hours of Planeswalkers (like 9 hours straight once) and she’s got about 300 cards now. We got a booster box thing of like 36 boosters yesterday, pulled some rares worth decent cash. I don’t know how many cards I have, but I’ve filled two Twinings tins and most of them are tournament legal until the sets update in like July, got about 1000 cards on MTGO too. Kind of want to get into it competitively, kind of miss playing competitive Chess quite a lot, I got good enough it wasn’t challenging at the level I was playing and kind of fell out of playing. We played a round of 3 games yesterday, I just played a standard white black duel deck, Kristyna put up a decent fight in the last round but I am the current household Magic champion at 3 wins to 0. I’m trying to get good enough I at least beat a regular at Friday Night Magic.

Silent Hill 2 HD PC, since Konami manage to fuck up a console HD...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:33:00 +0000

Silent Hill 2 HD PC, since Konami manage to fuck up a console HD port. Thank you PC Community and Hex editors for making it playable and lovely in 1080. I’m using James as character research.

ALL HAIL LORD BRITISH. Thank you GOG. I haven’t played...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 13:21:00 +0000

ALL HAIL LORD BRITISH.

Thank you GOG. I haven’t played this since I was like 5. One of the best RPGs ever. Also finally got Planescape Torment, it’s been like a decade since I played that.

The Soft Cell Institute of Education

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:45:32 +0000

My University is asking students to submit new names for it.

Both members of Soft Cell studied at Leeds Met. Soft Cell were undoubtedly one of the greatest English synthpop bands, pioneers of the genre. Their cover of ‘Tainted Love’ reached UK no. 1 and ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’ is one of the best debut albums by any British band. As our most notable alumni I think it’s time they are honoured.

I have to be quiet because Kristyna is napping. I’m not...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:25:19 +0000

I have to be quiet because Kristyna is napping. I’m not sure if that’s possible. Today and tomorrow are my audio work days. I recorded some bass lines earlier, because I’m all about the funk. I’m trying to get my vocoder to sound like Genghis Tron’s Laser Bitch.

So I wrecked my sleeping pattern to wait for this. Now I should...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:50:33 +0000

So I wrecked my sleeping pattern to wait for this. Now I should probably start my audio work. All my characters will sound like robots.

MBV. It’s beautiful. The inner cover is even nicer.

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:54:15 +0000

MBV. It’s beautiful. The inner cover is even nicer.

I’m in Introversion Software’s next game, Prison...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:37:00 +0000

I’m in Introversion Software’s next game, Prison Architect. I’m putting myself in solitary the moment I’m transferred.

TO MANCHESTER.

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:22:19 +0000

I’m going to Manchester to see My Bloody Valentine, it will be the best gig ever. It’s one of like 4 or 5 shows they’re playing and they’re all sold out but I managed to get 2 tickets for £90. I’m going with my ex girlfriend, I don’t think anyone else would go with me and it’s not awkward we’re still ‘together’ but I broke up with her. I wanted to pack a suitcase and just get on a train to get out of here. I don’t think I’ll be free without screwing up my education/life just yet.

Last night I drank a beer and played with my guitar, I got this new pedal ex display for about £30 less than retail. It’s the A Forest / The Police sound in a box. I got a dictaphone for recording things in my house too. I’m going to record my voice then layer it a few times but I’ll kind of phase each layer in and out, then I’ll GLaDOS myself.

I also found and photographed this in Leeds. This photo is probably making it’s way around tumblr already. One of my more ‘tumblr famous’ / ‘tumblr bothered’ friends uploaded it. Tumblr is really for the most part just people posting other peoples photographs or pictures, that’s cool but it’s not really my thing. I saw a building sized Raiden out of the corner of my eye and dragged Kristyna down a road to marvel at it. Having played Rising I can confirm it is amazing.

Tumblr privacy options are weird / non-existent without a password. I did manage to password protect...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:10:00 +0000

Tumblr privacy options are weird / non-existent without a password. I did manage to password protect my second in some happy accident, there will be no Yog-Sothothery. It’s not safe here.

Don’t dig, you’ll only find skeletons. With questionable abilities comes absolute truth, with truth comes disappointment.

I can hear people shouting outside somewhere in the distance and it’s freaking me out.

I left my fiancée like a month ago. I think I’m okay with it, can’t really go into it here. I’m pretty ashamed, disgusted and disappointed. I should have left her 3 months into our relationship.

I went to a Programming lecture and these morons behind me wouldn’t shut up. At least the people in front of me not paying attention had the decency to be quiet and just play with their iPods. I recorded the lecture on my dictaphone but the recording was essentially ruined by chatter.

The good news is that my sister is pregnant, so I’m going to be an Uncle. She’s pro life, I can respect that. I did however offer to buy the cot, I have no idea how to go about that so I’m going to just loiter around Mothercare until someone comes up and asks me if I’m lost / on a register.

I made like a Pacman / Snake clone in GM, I drew some awful sprites for it too. Only took about an...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:21:26 +0000

I made like a Pacman / Snake clone in GM, I drew some awful sprites for it too. Only took about an hour. There’s this thing on at University where people are making racing games, I was going to make a race to the top platformer outside of the contest and then maybe just show it to my Game Design tutor. It would probably help me make the case for using GM. I’m not really interested in the feedback some random guy is giving, it was some guy from Ubisoft Reflections, I suppose they made Driver. Now it’s some other guy. The design spec they gave was awful.

Now I kind of just want to play La Mulana, it’s basically Castlevania meets Indiana Jones, and it’s Dark Souls difficult. I’ve played it about 6 hours, my save says about 40 minutes.

I passed everything apart from the animations I didn’t submit, I even beat Kristyna by 1 mark overall on the visual side of things, just scraped a 44% overall on that so I don’t have to do it again. I found an amazing C# text book in the Oxfam book shop too so programming programming programming.

My sister is pregnant, I helped her move out of the family home into an apartment with her boyfriend. I’ve said I will buy the cot for the baby, so I get to go baby shopping with Kristyna so she can feel awkward. I don’t know what I’m looking for.

I went to a FIFA / Motorstorm / UFC tournament with my friends and Kristyna. Kristyna did very well and I have this small shadow of pride that my girlfriend doesn’t totally suck at all videogames, she’s like Dark Souls hardcore.

Christmas has been nice. We’ve played videogames mostly. I’m about to start cooking our...

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 17:10:19 +0000

Christmas has been nice. We’ve played videogames mostly. I’m about to start cooking our lunch / late tea since someone got up at midday and ate Stollen for breakfast.

I got some seriously nice things from Kristyna’s parents, including some I <3 Prague socks, a fancy box of tea with gloves in it, Czech/English copies of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and some Edgar Allan Poe collection. I basically just said ‘I like Kafka’ to Kristyna and her parents so this Christmas I ended up with a Franz Kafka shirt, and an awesome book on Kafka and Prague. It’s quite handy that her family live in the city with the Kafka museum. My Mother got Kristyna this nice jewelry box and some other like perfume things. We ended up with like 3 calendars, I’m going to keep the Prague one in my room, Kristyna will probably claim the kitten one for her room. My Mother got me a book called Understanding Comics I wanted, it’s pretty much noted as essential reading for game design, a lot can be applied from comics. We don’t really have a reading list for University, I’m probably one of the few actually studying game design.

I got a Coffee Cake for dessert, and I’m going to cook all the Yorkshire Puddings because it’s been far too long and I can totally eat 12. I haven’t had one since probably last Christmas.

Well being back in Cramlington has been okay. Being away from Kristyna is a little tense, I have no...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:14:25 +0000

Well being back in Cramlington has been okay. Being away from Kristyna is a little tense, I have no mouth etcetera. She is out drinking with her friends right now as far as I know. Well that’s her problem. I’ll be back in Leeds this time tomorrow, I think I may be a little ill again but I’m probably just stressed and exhausted. I sat awake all last night because Fuck You anxiety. I had a nice little smoke and catch up though, even though it was freezing. I walked around like a corpse most of the day. I got some new jeans, but I couldn’t try them on in store because I’m a guy, it was pretty funny. I got my sister this leather jacket she wanted. I’ve managed to end up with more stuff then I came with so carrying it will be fun. My family got Kristyna some nice things so now I need something even nicer. I saw my 7 week old cousin today too, he’s very small. My mother asked me if I’m planning on having a baby, or rather Kristyna have a baby. Not right now. I’ve always had this really vivid ideal of a perfect regular family I kind of liked, I can’t quite live the dream but it’s probably as close as I’ll get without large amounts of psychedelics.

So like this evening I’ll be getting off the bus in Cramlington. I have pretty much no room in...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:52:10 +0000

So like this evening I’ll be getting off the bus in Cramlington. I have pretty much no room in my bag because of presents, I’m essentially taking a quarter and some rips, my tablet and some spare clothes. It’s not like I’ll have time to work anyway. I’m only there until Wednesday lunch time, I should be alright. I pretty much plan on wandering around all Tuesday, might head to the Grandmother’s, might see my Uncle’s new baby to confirm it is indeed a baby.

I just want it to be Friday already.

Christmas shopping is exhausting. I got myself Dazed and Confused on blu-ray and a book on Czech...

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:23:36 +0000

Christmas shopping is exhausting. I got myself Dazed and Confused on blu-ray and a book on Czech grammar. I got Kristyna tons of things, and my little brother some more things. I got my Mother the ‘Ted’ movie, it’s pretty funny. Probably just going to get my sister some cigarettes and chocolate. My back is a bit sore from the weight of my bag all day, I walked home because I can never remember what number bus to get until it passes me pretty much as I’m home. Going to sit and relax for a little while with some bubblegum rips and some chai, then it’s to Morrisons to grab a few small things before I leave for Cramlington tomorrow afternoon.

I dropped Kristyna off at the airport before and it was awful, totally love that girl. I haven’t been in an airport since I was like 8, Leeds airport is very small. I expected armed guards and everything.

I’ve sort of been programming all night. Deadline soon. I’m kind of enjoying it,...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:21:35 +0000

I’ve sort of been programming all night. Deadline soon. I’m kind of enjoying it, haven’t even attempted the other work yet. I think I have a few days to get all that in though. So like 10 drawings and some models. Might be possible. I need to stop starting my work like the day before it’s due.

As a reward for my programming progress and Kristyna’s asset work we’re going to the café for breakfast. Kind of want an omelette and some toast.

It was mine and Kristyna’s anniversary like 2 days ago. It was the first anniversary...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:37:16 +0000

It was mine and Kristyna’s anniversary like 2 days ago. It was the first anniversary I’ve had, for me it essentially felt like I was high fiving myself for not fucking up completely or becoming so passive it really doesn’t matter. Am I in a prison cell or a nice garden? I got her a book on Game of Thrones, she got me the Sandman collection. I like Sandman, it was very nice. I stayed up all night to register and get an appointment with a Doctor. I was essentially dying, now not so much, I hope. I called NHS Direct and they were going to send an ambulance but I didn’t want to make a fuss, I just wanted to confirm I either was or wasn’t in a bad way. I’ve been given antibiotics. If I go back in 2 weeks with my evaluations I’ll hopefully be prescribed something nice to help stop the screaming.

I sort of comfort myself with the idea that something will wipe out our species, and give some other more worthy creature a chance. I welcome our nuclear annihilation and salute our Cockroach successors. I’ve probably watched too much Jeremy Kyle and gotten depressed at just how low we’ve sunk as a species.

First game on gungame/arms race whatever. I ended up with a...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:42:56 +0000

First game on gungame/arms race whatever. I ended up with a pretty awesome kd. The last 5 kills were just me playing Assassins Creed on some treehouse level. It’s happening again.

Finally saw Batman. It was pretty good, nothing spectacular. Did they ruin Bane and Catwoman?...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Finally saw Batman. It was pretty good, nothing spectacular. Did they ruin Bane and Catwoman? Probably. I do like how there’s a shot basically taken from Knightfall. That was one of the few ‘Oh neat’ moments I had with the movie. After all the hype, I expected it to be a lot better. Kristyna also preempted that I would love the movie and ordered me the blu-ray collection a while ago and I can’t think of a polite way to say don’t bother. Plus they’re releasing another Ultimate Edition trilogy collection in January, they’re only pushing the standard ones out before Christmas so you can buy two copies.

There’s always this focus on scope, things are getting bigger and shinier, but there’s all that wasted space. The next GTA has been hyped a lot recently. I can’t avoid it. Rockstar need to hire someone who can write, Rockstar’s writing is consistently awful and making me ferry around some dick for an hour before I get to do what I want is really bad design. Whilst Max Payne 3 was just a series of corridors and scripted enemies at least that game knew that and delivered it consistently. Stop making the same stupid design mistakes over and over, it’s obvious I’m just walking a semi-linear path from A-B. that’s not gameplay it’s an interactive loading screen. Remember why you were fun in the first place and stop forcing players to do something arbitrary to further the ‘narrative’. Put in a fireplace simulator.

Transparent Coffee skins are pretty weird. French vanilla is awesome. I also didn’t realize Suda51’s...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Transparent Coffee skins are pretty weird. French vanilla is awesome. I also didn’t realize Suda51’s No More Heroes came to PS3 so I’ve grabbed that. Suda51 is awesome, Killer 7 was amazing. Lollipop Chainsaw is apparently also hilarious, but it’s a marmite game with some pretty awkward design flaws I’m sort of looking forward to play. No More Heroes is a game about how awful gamers are I suppose.

Auntie Pixelante wrote a book/manifesto/critical essay on game design I’ve picked up, it’s called ‘Rise of the Videogame Zinesters’. Looking forward to that.

ZBrush crashed and lost my evening work. So I’ve given up, it’s FUCKING WEREWOLF ASSO time. May get a game of MTG in.