Such A Perfect Save 0 comments

Hello all, sorry for another large delay in posting - if it makes you feel any better I have tried writing something at random points throughout the weeks, but I've hit several thousand invisible walls and, inevitably, drowned in a metaphorical word bank. Now there's an image.

Anyway, I reckoned it'd be better to do this post now to sway me from doing it over the weekend, as there are essays to be a'doin (well, only the one), and I actually haven't fully read The Crucible (what I'm doing the essay on) or really decided on a question yet. There's a creative writing option for it that I might do, but it might fall into a thousand pieces due to the fact that I can't really mimic the style of a play I haven't actually read properly yet. Wish me luck.

Another reason why I haven't posted anything of late is because of another surge of ideas for the Black Sky game (and the story itself, but I'm gonna refrain from saying anything because every time I say 'I got my writing mojo back!', it packs its bags and buggers off), and I've had to replace a certain few scripts (Sorry, I have to interrupt this paragraph 'cause my dad just walked in steaming - here's a wee sample of conversation we've just had - Dad: "I've got a burger Mark!" Me: "How did you get a burger?" Dad: "Ah dunno!" - nuff said), namely the battle system. This was primarily due to the sucky compatibility with every other script on the planet, but I'm waiting for the YEZ Battle System Melodies to come out, considering they might be more compatible with all the other scripts I'm using. I've replaced Tankentai with a simpler side view system for the time being, and I finished another couple of maps/decided on some new plot twists with the aid of my fantastic Kim Bulmer. Also, I've replaced the RO sprites I was using with FFI & FFII ones, after playing said games, and wanting mine to have a classic battle feel to it. Though it's a given when Melodies is released with all its animated battler capabilities, that 'classic feel' may be extinguished rather quickly...

Really though, one of the main reasons for not posting has been the beginning of another FF marathon, though this one more in depth than the last few I've had. I'm starting off with FFVII, and I'm already 43 odd hours into it. What I'm aiming to do though is create a 'perfect save' for each Final Fantasy, starting with VII, then going all the way up to XII, then back to I up to VI. Which, I do realise is gonna take me years, but I already have a headstart on X 'cause I started it a while back on the expert sphere grid, and I have absolutely no intention of starting the horrors of that all over again. Anyway, the 'perfect save' needs to have absolutely everything done on it, every item, every quest, every side quest, every boss, everything. It won't be too difficult on the earlier ones, though when it gets to X and the horrifying rare game and rare drops in XII, it's gonna be a nightmare. Progress on VII so far though - I've got Cloud, Cid and Barrett to Lvl99, 8 sets of Master Magic materias for every character, a copy of all the other materias and every colour of chocobo. All that's really left to do is get Master Summon/Master Command materias for the entire party, level up everyone else and get their final limit breaks (I've already got Omnislash/Highwind/Catastrophe learned, and all the other final limit breaks in the inventory), maximise everybody's stats to 255, and beat Ruby and Emerald. I've already got all the ultimate weapons for everyone and done every other side quest...so I've got all that left to do. Granted, this is just filling up the wait for FFXIII and a new PS3, but it's quite enjoyable...anyway, enough boasting/babbling. Speak to you all after the weekend!

Next week, see a human man eat an elephant...whole!
xxx

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Now playing: The 88 - How Good It Can Be
via FoxyTunes

Screenies! (01) 2 comments

Just cause I can't sleep, I figured I'd do something I keep meaning to do, which is upload some screenshots of Black Sky (the game I'm making based on the epic novel I've been writing for a millenium) for you all to peruse. Here's the first batch.




That's the main menu. Just a note, I'm using PHLiM2's Menu Status Mod to create that look. I'll show you the other sub menus and give some details on the Class Change/Skill Learning side of things at some point as well. Note that (if you can read it) there's support for KGC's Day and Night system, which I added in myself.



There's the (extremely overrated and overused, I know) battle system. I'm using the Tankentai SBS, without the ATB and a host of YERD battle scripts. Compatibility is one major issue here.




Those screenshots are three areas from the map 'Szeriah Praire', which is by far my most favourite map I've done so far. I'm not sure what makes it so good, it's just so atmospheric (as much as it can be, anyway) with the fog and tints. Plus, I have 'Promise (Reprise)' from Silent Hill as the BGM, which fits pretty well. In case you don't know or weren't aware, I'm using RPG Maker VX for all of this, not the best game maker in the planet, but it suits me fine. Hope you like the look of these and that they haven't crashed your browser!

Next week, Jesus rides a unicycle!
xxx

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Now playing: The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You
via FoxyTunes

Dreaming 0 comments

I just had one of the strangest dreams in the world (actually, I had two, I done that annoying 'waking up in the middle of one then failing asleep to a completely new one' thing), which prompted me to write this post that I've been dancing about for a while - dreaming.

The reason I've been dancing around it is that it's a pretty cliched topic, but the onset of the new philosophy module I've taken made me reconsider it a wee bit, and also the new writing project I'm thinking about doing (more on that in a bit) relies heavy on dreams and that pretty abstract part of our minds, so I thought it'd be a pretty good time to start it. This post will probably be a bit weird because one, I'm absolutely shattered (I just woke up!) and two, it will probably contain a load of philosophical, stupid and pointless questions within it, and not actually make any kind of solid argument/point. But hey, that's philosophy isn't it?

Anyway, I thought I'd start by actually telling you one of the dreams I had last night. It involved me and Dr. House. So it started off here - I was walking with him around the area near the Rosebank in Falkirk (I actually didn't realise that until now), and then he suddenly disappeared. I looked round and he was standing at the very top of a hill, that was way way way too steep to actually exist in real life. And he beckoned me to get up it. So I spent quite a while trying to climb the hill, during which several old men walked past me with ease. I eventually got to the top of the hill, where I meet House again, and we continue. We then walked past the church in which I used to go to BBs in (which is pretty impossible considering that's in Larbert) and all the old BB people are there, Mr. Speed, Gary? (I think that's his name) and all the other leaders and such. So I stop to say hello, and Mr. Speed looks up at me with both his eyes facing out in opposite directions and starts wailing at me that 'I left him'. He's also got a black eye. At this point, all the other BBs start shouting and going a bit crazy, till I eventually leave. Me and House keep walking around, when we end up at a house (this is going to get confusing, so I'm going to replace house with home), which apparently belongs to House's ex-wife. Now I'm pretty sure that his ex-wife was Stacey (can't actually remember if they were married), and this woman was nothing like Stacey. So we both badgered her on for ages to try and get back with House, and then she left her home. We started rummaging about in her home, until she suddenly came back in a helicopter, which landed in her garden. It smashed her back window on her home. We ran round the corner and hid behind a few bins, but her sister (?) came round and told us she knew where she was. House's ex-wife then came round and we pestered her to get back with him again for a while until she said no again and asked us to leave. House thanked me for the help and I exclaimed 'we should go pester Cuddy and Lucas now'. Whilst walking back we ended up walking across a motorway, then a roundabout. At the roundabout we met a black guy who was wearing a white glove (he wasn't MJ), who exclaimed to us in a very high pitch voice that someone had stolen his car as he was taking his driving test - then I woke up.

Now all that does seem pretty unbelievable, but I made sure to note it all down pretty much right when I woke up. The thing that's weird is that this only lasts for like, 5 - 10 minutes in real life, doesn't it? We could be off having crazy, epic journeys akin to Frodo or Aragorn (never used that 'akin' word before, if it's wrong tell me!) just in our sleep. So what are these dreams? Do they mean anything? There are literally hundreds of 'dream interpretation' websites, most of them relying on cliches and extremely drawn out reasons for certain things we dream about. But do they actually mean anything? Is it just our brain's way of showing us a film made up from (what seems like) fragmented memories and experiences? Not that I've ever met Hugh Laurie or have been married and tried to get an ex-wife back, but you know what I mean. I mean, the ex-wife and House not talking could relate to a load of things in my life - same with the BBs - but everything can be a bit too abstract to actually refer back to our lives at all. Like all the small things that dreams show you - for instance, the physical details of Mr. Speed, the black guy's story - and, come to think of it, the people that actually take part in your dreams. Cause now, thinking about it, that might not have been House. Sure, it looked like him, but I'm not even sure it was now. And when I was typing that out, several memories of that dream flashed back into my mind that I had left out, but they were way too difficult to actually pinpoint and explain. But the question I'm really pushing at is if they actually mean anything? What they are? What's the point? Are we all nothing but a huge machine, and our creator has a really bad habit of changing screen savers? Or are they just random thoughts, musings, fluctuations and remnants of memories coming back to us in our sleep and fusing together to create a sort of Frankenstein-memory that seems to make very little sense? I'm aware there is a scientific explanation for dreaming (the one that relates to REM and stuff, I can't be bothered getting into it here), but, I'm more interested in the abstract here. And, for fear of my head blowing up in confusion, I'm gonna stop there.

Now I hope you're all still with me after that tense changing/philosophically wrong/structurally unsound rant. I still have to mention about the new writing project which, I'm sure has got you all excited. Most people know I've been writing Black Sky for about one hundred and sixty years, but I'm actually thinking of taking a break from the writing aspect of it and focusing more on the game-making (for those of you who don't know, I'm making a game based on the story of Black Sky), and possibly starting something new. I actually mentioned it before, but the idea's changed somewhat, it'll be loosely based on a section of my life, but is now going to be far far far more abstract. Think Vanilla Sky mixed with Donnie Darko abstract. And, dreams are linked quite heavily to the supposed plot here, which prompted this slightly odd post. Which, also, brings this up. Now my memory is extremely bad, and remembering any sort of dream later in the day without first noting it down is pretty unrealistic, so I'm asking for all you guy's help as well (let's see if this can generate more replies than the not so successful '12 Days of Christmas). If any of you have a memorable dream that you wish to share, please comment this post/recurring posts with them! It would be extremely helpful for me. That being said, I'm not asking you to relive personal dreams/thoughts here, but if you have a kind of dream that was anything like the one I've just had, then let me know.

Next week, flying cats, astronauts dancing and forty carrots!
xxx

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Now playing: Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound Of Silence
via FoxyTunes