i am officially finished writing for the winter holidays (and i'm doing it a week early, so i'll be an extra week editing). i'm heading home tomorrow evening, have this afternoon and tomorrow to clean the place and pack.
i can't wait to go home and see everyone again. penelope_stone will be around for a good long time too, so i'll get to hang out with her. woo. we're heading to kerry for the week after christmas. beaches. sand. cold and wet (ok, that's not so good). an open fire.
i finished editing for this year on a really good chapter too. i think i'm really evil that inflicting pain on my main character makes me happy. i just made poor zachery cry and i walked away from the chapter thinking: that was good. well - it's not good because he's crying, it's good because i think i wrote the emotion in the scene well. i can't wait to have other people read this, but i can't share it with anyone because it would ruin the rest of the story. i hope when people read it that it comes across as a "no, they can't do that, stop the story, it can't happen this way" sort of tragedy moment.
i finished borderlands for the second time last night, with a different character (lilith) - so now i have played it 2.5 times. i'd love to finish it a third time with mordecai, but i'll save him for playing whatever dlcs that come out with lordkilljoy. i have more xbox achievements from this game than any other. i kinda feel like playing brick and ronald up to fifth level just so i can get the achievements for them too. i'd love to get every achievement but it's not possible with a silver account (boooo).
i don't really have much else to say. i havn't updated in ages, but things have been quiet.
17 December 2009
09 December 2009
half-life2 and mirror's edge
i have no energy at all today. and its so dark - as dark as it usually is by 4:10, not 3:10.
just a quick post really - i started playing half-life2 on the pc last night (i had started it on the xbox and found it way too hard - i think i can only play sniper on xbox because it still takes me about 10 times longer to aim at things). and i must say: this game is amazing. or, the start of this game is amazing. i played for about 2 hours last night and in that 2 hours the pace never slowed. you are thrown into the action after about 5 minutes and from then on you are running from guys, heading blindly into a city that you have no idea about, taking corners seemingly at random (i say seemingly because the level design guys really had their heads on right - it feels like there are dozens of turnings and byways that you are missing, but you are on the right path all the time). it makes me think of that bit in the matrix after neo fights the agent and then takes off running - not knowing where he's going just relying on tank's directions. it has that same feel of "don't stop and think, just keep going, keep alive."
i was playing mirror's edge last night too. now that is a game that got the level design totally wrong. in this game, more than any other, you should get the feeling that i got from half-life2, but the level cues are so obscure that half the time you have to stop and look around and get totally frustrated because you don't know where to go next. the game is about free-running and should have the most amazing flow ever, you should never have to stop, never get stuck. the new prince of persia comes to mind as what mirror's edge should have been more like - in that game it is always clear where you can jump to next, you never stop running and leaping and climbing.
i got to the last chapter of mirror's edge and stopped because i just didn't care enough to have to stop-start my way though what i guessed was going to be the worst designed level yet, with no clear path and multiple dead-ends.
right - going to go now.
just a quick post really - i started playing half-life2 on the pc last night (i had started it on the xbox and found it way too hard - i think i can only play sniper on xbox because it still takes me about 10 times longer to aim at things). and i must say: this game is amazing. or, the start of this game is amazing. i played for about 2 hours last night and in that 2 hours the pace never slowed. you are thrown into the action after about 5 minutes and from then on you are running from guys, heading blindly into a city that you have no idea about, taking corners seemingly at random (i say seemingly because the level design guys really had their heads on right - it feels like there are dozens of turnings and byways that you are missing, but you are on the right path all the time). it makes me think of that bit in the matrix after neo fights the agent and then takes off running - not knowing where he's going just relying on tank's directions. it has that same feel of "don't stop and think, just keep going, keep alive."
i was playing mirror's edge last night too. now that is a game that got the level design totally wrong. in this game, more than any other, you should get the feeling that i got from half-life2, but the level cues are so obscure that half the time you have to stop and look around and get totally frustrated because you don't know where to go next. the game is about free-running and should have the most amazing flow ever, you should never have to stop, never get stuck. the new prince of persia comes to mind as what mirror's edge should have been more like - in that game it is always clear where you can jump to next, you never stop running and leaping and climbing.
i got to the last chapter of mirror's edge and stopped because i just didn't care enough to have to stop-start my way though what i guessed was going to be the worst designed level yet, with no clear path and multiple dead-ends.
right - going to go now.
05 December 2009
dream of destruction
i had a very strange and intricate dream last night. it all took place in one city (possibly on an island, but maybe a peninsula). it was right by the sea with a nice beach and possibly palm trees.
at the start of the dream the city got attacked by aliens. they came down in huge ships, all light and colour, exploding everything, creating chaos. people ran everywhere, totally panicked and a lot of people were killed.
the middle section involved the city going on fire. i was in a hotel or something and we all had to get out. and this old man was somehow important (he was telling me about the alien attacks?). there were loads of people in the hotel - all in a sort of foyer just waiting - possibly refugees from the earlier attack? we may have gotten out. but i seem to recall something about the roof? or air conditioning extractor things or something?
and then i woke up in cork (i'm not in cork this weekend) and was telling mammy about how i had decided to come down at the last minute (by somehow beaming there instantly?). i wanted to see penelope_stone but she was asleep. i think the old man came back into it here - i had to escort him home or something.
and then i was back in the city, only this time it was over-run by evil military forces. they wore white (so that you could pick them out easily). i was fighting with a bunch of resistance people, getting farther and farther into the military base - running from troops, but into others. and then i met someone from the city (who looked like colin farrell or maybe brad pitt as his character from fight club). i knew him (sort of) and i hated him because he was a traitor. he was ordering a few troops around and i walked up to him.
for some reason i raised my arm (maybe to hit him) and a little red dot flew past it - lightly tipping it. he looked at me and rised his arm, showing me a little X on his wrist, right where the red fly-insect-thing had just bitten me.
"do you know what that was?" he said.
and i just stood there, in shock, not really wanting to know because it was a little fly that killed you within a few hours. i stumbled away - none of the troops would attack me any more. i had a little time to act, so i tried to find their main weak point, but everything was falling apart and i was stumbling along (and exaggerating it a bit to make sure no army-guys tried to kill me) and then i got to some stairs and just lay down with people walking by me as if i didn't exist.
and then i woke up. i really didn't want to wake up - i wanted to know if i managed to get up again and destroy the place. because i wasn't near death - i was mostly faking it. and the dude who had the scar was fine even thought he'd been bitten too.
yea - i think borderlands inspired that dream. lordkilljoy and i finished it last night. got to level 36 and the last bad guy was a little bit easy to kill, but ah well. i still want to get to level 50, though. does the game know itself to start you all over again, or do you have to go to some particular place. we still have the zombie island of dr. ned to go, though.
i don't really have anything else to say. i might head into town, because i want to buy stuff for people. i hate shopping in dublin though, because i only know where all the department stores are.
at the start of the dream the city got attacked by aliens. they came down in huge ships, all light and colour, exploding everything, creating chaos. people ran everywhere, totally panicked and a lot of people were killed.
the middle section involved the city going on fire. i was in a hotel or something and we all had to get out. and this old man was somehow important (he was telling me about the alien attacks?). there were loads of people in the hotel - all in a sort of foyer just waiting - possibly refugees from the earlier attack? we may have gotten out. but i seem to recall something about the roof? or air conditioning extractor things or something?
and then i woke up in cork (i'm not in cork this weekend) and was telling mammy about how i had decided to come down at the last minute (by somehow beaming there instantly?). i wanted to see penelope_stone but she was asleep. i think the old man came back into it here - i had to escort him home or something.
and then i was back in the city, only this time it was over-run by evil military forces. they wore white (so that you could pick them out easily). i was fighting with a bunch of resistance people, getting farther and farther into the military base - running from troops, but into others. and then i met someone from the city (who looked like colin farrell or maybe brad pitt as his character from fight club). i knew him (sort of) and i hated him because he was a traitor. he was ordering a few troops around and i walked up to him.
for some reason i raised my arm (maybe to hit him) and a little red dot flew past it - lightly tipping it. he looked at me and rised his arm, showing me a little X on his wrist, right where the red fly-insect-thing had just bitten me.
"do you know what that was?" he said.
and i just stood there, in shock, not really wanting to know because it was a little fly that killed you within a few hours. i stumbled away - none of the troops would attack me any more. i had a little time to act, so i tried to find their main weak point, but everything was falling apart and i was stumbling along (and exaggerating it a bit to make sure no army-guys tried to kill me) and then i got to some stairs and just lay down with people walking by me as if i didn't exist.
and then i woke up. i really didn't want to wake up - i wanted to know if i managed to get up again and destroy the place. because i wasn't near death - i was mostly faking it. and the dude who had the scar was fine even thought he'd been bitten too.
yea - i think borderlands inspired that dream. lordkilljoy and i finished it last night. got to level 36 and the last bad guy was a little bit easy to kill, but ah well. i still want to get to level 50, though. does the game know itself to start you all over again, or do you have to go to some particular place. we still have the zombie island of dr. ned to go, though.
i don't really have anything else to say. i might head into town, because i want to buy stuff for people. i hate shopping in dublin though, because i only know where all the department stores are.
04 December 2009
indecision
i just had a moment of indecision whether to put on lip balm, or not to put on lip balm. before that i couldn't decide what music to listen to, and before that it was breakfast: porridge or krispies. i went with krispies because it was easier. but the milk was cold.
i'm on to chapter 9, the glorious chapter 9 where i bring poor, poor zachery right to the edge of the abyss, dangle him there for a good long while and then let him back up. there is a lot of introspection in chapter 9.
i can't think of anything else to say.
i'm on to chapter 9, the glorious chapter 9 where i bring poor, poor zachery right to the edge of the abyss, dangle him there for a good long while and then let him back up. there is a lot of introspection in chapter 9.
i can't think of anything else to say.
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