I put in <b> and <A> tags, if that helps. Who should I talk to about getting it approved and put up? Can anyone think of anything more to add?
NBT
So I wrote the National Benchmark Test at the Universiteit van Pretoria yesterday. It's two tests, actually - a basic English/mental maths/graph-reading ("Academic Quantitative Literacy" or some such) test, and a more in-depth general mathematics test. Both multiple choice, and both pretty doable - the questions just needed a bit of contemplation.
Took forever, though. I was ready by 6, drove to Pretoria in about an hour, and then did all the co-ordination and actual test-writing between 7 and 4. Good news is, I finished my prelim exams on Friday, so now that those and the NBT are behind me, I've got two weeks to relax a bit before my final term of highschool.
Other stuff
- I've been spending a lot of time messing around in Inform 7 recently, not really out of a burning desire to make interactive fiction, but out of a programmer's sense of fascination at the novel syntax and structure of the program's natural language code. It's really interesting to look at natural language's coding-language strengths.
code
now all open doors are closed.
code
A colour is a kind of value. The colours are red, green and blue. Every thing has a colour.
It's really intriguing stuff. Plus, the code is so much more readable than stuff with
"{ } == +++ || ! whatever();"s
sprinkled everywhere.
- Seeing as I'm on holiday now, maybe I'll actually finish a game and release it. Just have to set my mind to it, I guess. Maybe an artsy platformer, or the proper release of Diver... =)
- How are you guys and female guys doing?
F1ak3r
PS: Just noticed my new mystery solver badge. What mystery did I solve?
I am not a web programmer. I have no knowledge of PHP or any of those other things you guys are using to reanimate 64Digits. Hence, I have not asked for access to the code.
However, I am a writer. And I do want to contribute to the site's improvement. So here's a new FAQ (do what you will with it):
Q: What does everything on the homepage do?
A: What it should. Most of the time. The recent blog list with the avatars that takes up much of the screen shows all most the recent "fronted" (we'll get to that in a minute) blogs. Similarly, the recent games showcase shows off six of the site's most recently accepted games
The activity feed, on the other hand, works on comments and forum posts. It shows what games, examples, blogs, and forum posts were most recently commented on (not in all cases, though - but more on that later). It also shows you whether you've read something's most recent comments/posts or not, by making the entry bold if you haven't, and putting it in standard text if you have.
Q: What does "on the front page"/"fronted" mean?
A: This versatile statement can apply to games, examples and even blogs - a game or example is on the front page when its preview appears in one of the six "Recent Submission" boxes, and a blog is on the front page when it's listed in the recent blog list in the middle of the screen. You can use "fronted" as an adjective to describe these types of blogs, but don't apply it to games. No-one does that.
Bear in mind that if you want your fronted blog to stay fronted (and unedited), you need to abide by some rules.
Q: What rules are there regarding fronted blogs?
A:
1. Don't swear in the title, or in the first sentence or so. This also goes for unfronted blogs that appear on the activity feed. We don't want swearwords on our homepage, thank you.
2. Make it long enough. The official rule is "fronted blogs must be at least 300 words", but mods tend to be okay with your blog being on the frontpage if it has a decent amount of "content". Sadly, "content" isn't really objectively measurable - you'll have to use your discretion.
3. Only post one fronted blog a day.
4. Remember, these rules are subject to change at the staff's whim. Life's more exciting that way.
Q: What's the dropdown box on the blog entry page for?
A: It allows you to decide whether or not you'd like your blog entry to appear on the front page (and therefore on the activity feed), just on the activity feed, or on neither of the two.
While a non-fronted blog is not as likely to be seen as a fronted one, it is exempt from the rules that govern fronted blogs, so you may want to consider not fronting hourly tweets.
Q: What is the checkbox under the comment box for?
A: Pretty self-explantory - check the box if you don't want the activity feed notified of your comment.
The box is checked by default when commenting on blogs/games older than 2 weeks. This is to prevent necroposting, so don't uncheck it without a very good reason.
Q: Tell me about custom hitcounters. Why isn't mine working?
It used to be that special counters were a special privilege, but these days anyone's hitcounter text can be changed in Preferences.
The tag "[HITS]" needs to be in your hitcounter text, to show the site where you want the actual number. For example:
If you don't put the "[HITS]" tag in your counter, your hits won't be displayed there. Which might be what you want, in which case, feel free to leave it out.
Q: What do the badges do?
A: They sit on your page, and if you hover your cursor over one, you can discover its name and what it's for.
Badges are given out for a lot of different things.
There are the automated statistics badges - things like number of hits, number of games submitted, number of friends, old bean (given to users who've been here for three years or more) etc...
There are the badges given out by specific people - Arcalyth's Seal of Awesomeness, Ace02's cool banner badge, etc... Obviously, getting one of these is dependent on whether or not the giver is online much, and more dependent on whether or not the giver likes you.
There are also the game badges (for achievements in ColumnsX and Twisterghost's LOLOMGWTFBBQ series) but it's not currently possible to get one of those. Anyone who has one has had it for a very long time.
If you absolutely abhor your badges, there's a checkbox in Preferences that allows you to stop them from being displayed.
Q: What languages can I write my submissions in?
A: We used to accept only "Game Maker"-made submissions, so you'll find that our archive is largely made up of GM games and examples. However, we've recently lifted that restriction, and are in the process of building a more varied collection of programs.
For games: Anything you care to make them in, so long as they're easy to download and play.
For examples: A good number of different languages:
Game Maker (versions 5-8)
Unity
C/C++
C#
Java
Python
Like everything, this is subject to change at the staff's discretion.
Q: I submitted a game/example but it's not on the site! What gives?
A: If your game/example submission hasn't gone through, it's probably because of one of these reasons:
1. It's a Game Maker 6 EXE and won't work on newer versions of Windows. Please convert all GM6 submission with the Vista convertor available here before submitting them. The game mods are not going to do it for you.
2. It wasn't up to standard. All site submissions are tested for quality by our game moderators, ensuring our archives don't become bloated with garbage no-one wants to download.
("Up to standard", in this context, is as dependent on your submission's objective quality as it is on the personal opinions and moods of the game mods. Some things are bad in an entertaining way - remember that before complaining about any submissions we have accepted.)
3. No game mods have got around to playing it yet. Check your queue.
4. The title contained swearing. Blog title swearing rules also apply to game titles.
Q: Your site layout is a rip-off of some other site!
A: That's not really important to us. We like to consider the blog system as a more relaxed alternative to regular forums - and hey, you don't hear pre-built forum sites getting chewed out for being ripoffs of other pre-built forum sites.
Q: Can I be a mod/admin/person with access to the site code?
A: The laws which govern who gets what privileges and responsibilities are based on how active the site is, how active the staff is, and how trustworthy the staff judges potential new staff to be. Basically, don't ask, and you might get. If we need you.
People with access to the site code are a slightly different story, but don't expect to be granted access the day you join.
Q: What are the "[whatever]" tags in front of blogs for?
A: Time for a history lesson. Long ago, the site we all know and love had a slightly different format. There was no activity feed, and the recent blogs and news lists had their places swapped. Seeing as a recent blog's only presence on the front page was its title, some people used these tags to let others know whose blogs they were about to read:
For example:
[Ciri] Title goes here
could've been a blog by a user named "Ciribot".
The site's redesign has made this titling convention obsolete, but you may see it pop up again occasionally.
Q: Such-and-such a feature doesn't work/is different! Why?
A: 64Digits will always be a work-in-progress. There are always bugs to fix or more features to implement. Also, many of our users use/have used the site's creation as a way of learning more about web programming, so mistakes can be made. Be patient, either it'll be sorted out soon, or it'll become an essential part of your 64Digits experience.
Q: Are there really that many guests?
A: Yup. The counter used to show "1 guest" almost constantly, then someone fixed it, and we found out the surprising truth. If you're a guest and you're reading this, would you consider joining? The site's much nicer if you're a member.
Q: So is this site actually gonna stay up for a few months?
A: We'd like to think so, yes. We've had some very lengthy downtimes (Q1 2009 comes to mind), but now we've got reliable hosting, downtimes should be the exception rather than the rule.
If you do come here one day and find it down, see it as an opportunity to go outside. Sunlight makes you happy.
<BBCode lists go here - I didn't rewrite them because why?>
---
I think that covers everything, but please check, and feel free to add stuff where necessary.
So I decided to change my font and text size. Fixed width fonts are good for programming, but if you’re gonna be reading a lot of prose, variable width are fonts preferable. I would’ve probably changed it a long time ago, but I never really see my page in its intended font – Opera Mini doesn’t support nonsense like that.
I also changed my text colour and banner, but there’s no in-depth explanation about that, just that I decided that if I was going to change my page, I may as well change everything at once.
I’m in the middle of Matric preliminary exams right now, so this isn’t going to be a very long blog – I’ve got Maths, Accounting and Business Studies this week, and I don’t want to lose any marks as a result of inadequate preparation, because I’m perfectly capable of doing well in all three. It’s terrible when your exam marks suffer because you didn’t refresh your memory on stuff you did (well) earlier on in the year.
And, in fact, earlier on in previous years. Our Science exams (of which I’ve done Physics) contain work from Grade 11, and even some from Grade 10, which is pretty lame. I hate having to dig out ancient books that I hoped I’d never have to look at again, and should’ve burnt a long time ago.
So anyway, I’ve done AP Maths, Afrikaans, Maths 3, English 1, and Physics so far. Respectively, they were too long, too short, just right, pretty simple, and on the good side of okay. So I’ve had an alright run so far. The only real issue was the first paper, which was, as I said, too long. No-one who wrote it got past page 8 of 12. It really should’ve been a five hour paper or something.
On a more positive note, I have exactly 107 days, 23 hours and 44 minutes left of my school career, according to a handy-dandy countdown app I coded with GM using datetime functions and frac(). Pretty excellent, methinks.
I played Digital: A Love Story during the week. It’s got one of Jabberwock’s songs in the soundtrack, which was cool. I quite liked the story, and the gameplay was pretty intriguing. I can’t really say much more without ruining it, so I won’t.
That’s about all I can think of to talk about right now, so yeah. I’ll probably make my next blog longer.
F1ak3r
EDIT: Oh hey, I'm an old bean now! Just noticed my new badge.
I registered the account "F1ak3r" on this website on 15 July 20070 (exactly three years ago) without any anticipation of what filling in that set of fields would really mean for me, and, I suppose, for some of you.Cool, I thought. Another website to put the games I eventually plan to release on.
0 - Incidentally, this makes me exactly one year behind Rez. Neat.
Ancient History
The F1ak3r of the time was only just beginning his Internet experience. In March of that same year, I'd made a GMail account for myself for the express purpose of registering on YYG so I could swap my GM6 registration key for a GM7 one. A little while later, I made accounts on the GMC and GMG, two sites I'd previously spent a good amount of time lurking around as "Guest", and immediately set out to lurk around as "F1ak3r" instead.
I'd been using GM since about 2005, and I'd been into gaming since 2003, but my first online appearance was heavily delayed thanks to the horrible slow-and-expensiveness of the family's 56k modem, my mother's lack of trust in my judgment - mainly thanks to sensational stories about stupid kids and teenagers getting into online dating and being raped and murdered or something, and, I suppose, my own disinterest. For me the Internet was whatever interesting diversions I could find stored on the plethora of CDs and diskettes lying around the house. Hell, before I got into GM I spent my time making a text game with AGT - a casual game development tool made in the late 80s!
My first taste of always-on Internet connectivity came sometime in 2006, when I finally made the browser on my LG C11001 to work. I stayed up all night talking to my friends on MXit (a cellphone IM program), looking up stuff on Wikipedia and reading threads on the GMC.
Regarding that last bit, I don't know how I enjoyed reading that drivel. My favourite forum in those days was "Game Design", but whenever I go back to it these days I can't find any hint of the fascinating threads I used to read all day. Either the standard of content's gone down, or my standards have gone up - a bit of both, I'd say.
--
1 - My first cellphone, gifted to me the previous Christmas. It broke years ago, but I've still got it in one of my desk drawers.
64Digits
I lurked for the first few months, staying in the shadows, commenting sparsely, and writing only the occasional blog - none of which seemed to attract very much attention, probably due to a combination of newbie and tl;dr2. Looking back on them now, I was quite a twit - feel free to page back to my earliest blogs, if you feel you can bare the pretension and tortured "humour" of my earliest writing style3 - but hey, everyone has to start somewhere. That isn't to say that I'm totally perfect - I've still got a long way to go - but I feel I've certainly improved.
So anyway, I stuck around because I knew this site was special. Sure, I'm not an old bean, and sure, I wasn't around for what many of our most senior members remember as the Golden Age - I have no memories of V1, the RPG, or Flashchat - but I've been around for some pretty great times.
Remember when GearGOD hacked the site? Remember when marbs became a mod and we had those three gamedev competitions? Remember Poly's music competition? Remember the Great Downtime of '09 (both periods), and how KaBob fixed the site almost singlehandedly? Remember the 64DCG (it's been a year since then)? Remember the Ciribot user icons, and the table-saturated V3 that required your credit card number as the answer to your personal question? Remember the love blogs, the hate blogs, and all those other AWESOME fads? Remember DeathAndGrim, and that jumbo guy and his pal someoneorother? Remember SnowMoons (XD)?
This site has and has always had a great sense of humour, and a greater sense of community. Stick around long enough, and you get to know some awesome people - speaking of which, I miss PY and serpy - and get to be part of an awesome community.
I guess we've stagnated a bit in the past few years though. I remember we used to get tonnes more "Hi I'm new" blogs - although, then again, we're seeing a resurgence in those since KaBob's awesome layout change, and to be fair, most newbies would either never post again, or be deemed... unsuitable. Come to think of it, RC, Ronnica, Toast and parisa are the only current site regulars I can think of offhand who joined after I did - but maybe I'm a little fuzzy regarding exactly who joined when, and I guess I haven't been as active this past year as I used to be.
Regardless, this is without question the best Internet community I've ever joined ever, and the one I've felt the most a part of, and the most at home in.
--
2 - Seriously, my first blog might just be the longest first blog on the site, at 1565 words.
3 - Also keep in mind that this is entry #141
Me, Myself and I
Now for the most self-absorbed part of the blog, insomuch as blogs in general are in any way not completely self-absorbed to begin with.
141 blog entries. That's quite a high number, and is made even more so when you consider that every single one of those blogs - bar that recent one with the photo - was frontpage length, with the longest one being 4823 words (#127 - IF, Mainly), and the shortest one - an exceptionally short one, by the way - being a mere 100 words4 (#8 - ColumnsX is addictive).
I'd find out the total word count, but I couldn't be bother to go throu- ah, what the hell, the curiosity is burning me up.
Excluding the words in this entry, my 64Digits blog has a grand total wordcount of 102 285 over 140 entries.
That's about 731 words/entry. Obviously, this word count does not include the numerous short stories I linked to, or that 1 blog I deleted - a response to something one really oughtn't respond to (I'm eternally grateful to eagly for the piece of life advice that led me to deleting that thing).
Hey, anyone remember that? Luftwaffe and adolf and BLITZKRIEG. Nazi-themed attacks on my character, which, while unnecessary and rather mean-spirited, weren't completely unfounded (I guess).
You see, back then I had a childish crush on a girl I barely knew - something I referred to quite vaguely in some of my blogs5. The problem came when I asked her out and she friend-zoned me - and then I kept on trying, subtly. If I'm qualified to give any relationship advice, it's this: "Never do that. If you fail, move on. No means no."
Obsession is a dangerous thing. Eventually it stops being about the thing you're obsessed with, and you become obsessed with the act of being obsessed. It becomes self-sustaining, and you feel as if your one true purpose is to fuel your obsession. Once you're there, the only thing that can end your obsession is when the whole business completely blows up in your face
So anyway, things eventually blew up in my face, as they are wont to do in these situations. I realised some things about some people - including myself - and I was cured of my obsession - it hurt somewhat, but it was bloody well worth the pain.
'Course, it helps that y'all responded to luftwaffe in typical 64D fashion. I love you guys.
</emo>
Never again.
--
On a less lame note - tying into what I was saying earlier about writing - I really feel that 64Digits has helped me become a better writer. Write 102 285 words, and you're bound to improve at least a bit. It also got me into writing fiction - remember Mr Fortunate?
In related news, one of my stories (Safety Measure) got into the school magazine [yearbook, I guess], which I'm pretty proud of, seeing as they never put my stuff in the school magazine. I'm especially proud that it takes up an entire page (everyone else just gets half a page, hehe). =)
4 - Okay, so that technically wasn't frontpage worthy, but it wasn't tagged.
5 - I've never been the "attention-seeking emo blogger" type.
Miscellaneous
I got a new BlackBerry the other day. The 8520 Curve (I think; can never remember the number). Guess it's about time I upgraded from my 8800 - I had that phone for two and a half years. It was a damn good phone, and I'd still be using it if my Dad hadn't been kind enough to surprise me with my new phone.
Anyway, this phone has a camera, unlike my old phone, so I'll probably be taking more photos and videos in the future. If you've got me on Facebook, you've already seen the first wave of those.
--
The World Cup is over, which is pretty sad. I went back to school on the 13th, and the whole exciting atmosphere that was around during the World Cup has been completely quelled. I feel sorry for all the shops and hawkers who've still got flags and other Cup paraphernalia lying around - that stuff's not going to move anymore.
Y'know, it's the weirdest feeling to have waited for something for ~6 years and been subjected to enormous amounts of hype, have it happen, have it end, and then realize that it's over, and that there isn't really anything else like it to look forward to.
--
Finally, I'd just like to say "Thank you, everyone, for making 64Digits what it is." Here's to the future!
A few years (years!) ago, ESA told me that my blogs are (or were?) kinda like newsletters, what with the headings and all. Newsletters about my life. Probably not the greatest protection against stalkers. =P
Anyway, thought I'd do one of those again, with all (well, most) of the old sections, and even the [ h2 ] tags that only I ever use (not to mention posting it on a Sunday!). Probably footnotes too, seeing as I love footnotes1.
1 - They're great, okay!
GameDev (Diver)
So Diver is really close to completion, and has been for a long time now, but I just have to spend a few more days testing, balancing and polishing it. Maybe adding one or two more features too. It's far from perfect, but I need to release it, get some feedback, and use that to make another game, and make it better.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it here, but I was working on a boss battle with an octopus for the game. NOT ANYMORE. I thought about it a bit, and ended up deciding that I didn't like what it did to the game, and didn't think it was really cohesive with the rest of the game. If I hadn't wasted any time and effort trying to make that damn thing work, the game probably would've been out by now!
Oh well.
--
And maybe I'll release a demo of that interactive fiction I've been working on sometime, if any of you are interested in that.
--
Life
So I'm on holiday until July 13, thanks to the world cup. I don't usually get a holiday around this time of year, and I must say, it's rather nice - this month and next are the coldest of the year, and not having to wake up early for school makes that cold a little more bearable.
Also, we usually have school from the start of May all the way through the end of July, and the last few weeks are exams. Obviously, that sucks. A three month term that'll have you fatigued by the time you get to the (SUPER IMPORTANT) exams? No thanks.
I've sent my university application forms in. I'm applying for Business Science (majoring in Computer Science) (1st choice) and Computer Science (2nd choice) at a few different places. I'm sure university will be an improvement on school in a lot of ways, and it'll be nice to get out of the house.
--
Skating
I finally jumped the salchow the Wednesday before last. It's slightly under-rotated, and my leg positions in the air aren't ideal, but it's recognizable as a salchow. =)
My upright spins are coming along nicely - they're more centered, last longer, and don't involve as much toepick-catching as they used to. With any luck I'll be able to try a sitspin soon. That'll be awesome.
Try as I might, I can't get that bloody spread-eagle thing right (skating sideways with a 180 degree angle between your feet). I can get my feet on an oblique angle in my shoes, and I've even been able to get the 180 degree thing in my skates while stationary, but I can't switch to it while moving.
On the upside, I've managed to do this cool stop where you stick your heels into the ice, and I even did a moonwalk by hooking the bottom pick of my toepick into the ice on one foot, and then the other.
--
Yesterday, I got paid for my time teaching the adult class at the skating academy. I didn't get a lot of money, but considering I'd've taught for free, it was quite nice. It's also the first pay-envelope I've ever received, so that's an achievement unlocked IRL.
Unfortunately, the academy's now in recess for the holidays, and will only start again on the 31st of July. It's unfortunate because I really enjoy teaching there. Seeing some poor unco-ordinated person stumble onto the ice in the first week, working with them patiently, and then realizing how much they've improved in the last week, and how you've helped them to do that is an amazing experience.
--
Music
Listening to David Gray right now. He's an excellent artist; I recommend you check out his stuff if you haven't already (he did that song "Babylon", if that rings a bell).
--
Gaming
After numerous reinstalls - and numerous years - I finished BioShock. I pushed through that dreadful awful horrible second-last area (the "Proving Grounds") and defeated the boss. I saved the Little Sisters, by the way. The end cinematic was quite heartwarming. =)
I've considered replaying it and harvesting the Little Sisters instead, but I don't know that I can bring myself to do that. As Yahtzee said, BioShock's central "moral choice" isn't complex (ie, it's Mother Teresa vs baby-eating). There's a bit of ambiguity about the whole business near the beginning of the game, but after the game's Wham Episode2, you know exactly what's right and what's wrong, and it's exactly what you'd have expected.
Complaints aside, it really was a wonderful, original, atmospheric game, and that's exactly why I'm not playing the sequel3.
2 - Friends don't link friends to TVTropes.
3 - To be brutally honest, though, the multiplayer DOES sound intriguing.
--
I bought The Sims 3 the other day, mainly out of love for the series - The Sims was one of the first games I ever played, and I own it, its sequel, and all-but-one of the expansions in both cases.
My thoughts: it was fun for the first few days, and being able to do everything and go everywhere without sitting through loading screens was a wonderful experience, but something's missing.
The sims have become smarter and less needy. Going to the bathroom - and in fact, needs in general - has/have become less of an issue, and become almost a non-issue after a few weeks of game time (once you've acquired Steel Bladder, Dirt Defiant and Hardly Hungry). That is good in the sense that you can concentrate on doing the more enjoyable stuff (earning money, making friends, etc...), but bad in the sense that it makes the game kinda easy.
You can now set how long you want your sims' lifespans to be, from Short (29 days) to Epic (906 days). On discovering this, I immediately jacked it up to Epic, so that I could combine the best of The Sims (playing with adult sims for ages and ages and making them do tonnes of different things) and The Sims 2 (having your sims age).
The problem here is that I really don't think the game adjusts anything else when you set lifespan, because one of my sims managed to max out 7 skills (most of them without reading any books or attending any classes) within two months - while supporting her lifestyle with crazy amounts of money from paintings and even being able to buy the grocery store and the bookshop. Hell, I didn't even mean for the sim to max out handiness and cooking, but by just eating a few times a day and fixing the occasional breakdown she managed to get to about level 6 in both (opputunities and wishes helped the last four levels happen).
Also, the microtransactions suck. For some reason, the game gives me errors when I try to download purchased items - it still deducts the cost of those items from my points, though. No way am I wasting real money on that sinkhole. I'm prepared to buy expansions and get 100-200 new things, but I don't want to have to buy every little thing seperately. Apart from being more expensive, it's too much effort to go through all those different catalogues of things and deciding if I really, really want something or not before buying it.
What else, what else... oh yeah, I hate how it holds my hand when I start a new game, and it's irritating that I have to move a family in before I can click "Edit Town" and go build a house, should the architectural mood strike me.
All in all, it's fun for a while, and it's made some great strides, but I just can't see myself putting as much time into it as I put into either of the previous games.
--
On the indie side of things, I'm going to recommend two excellent games for you to try out - games I've been enjoying recently (find them at TIGSource).
Dubloon - From banov, the creator of Assassin Blue and Wolf, comes a pirate-themed RPG that's exactly the kind of game we all thought Wolf was going to be before we discovered it was actually a very short avant-garde experience with a moral about violence. Anyway, it's a cool game and you should try it out.
Desktop Dungeons - A "ten-minute roguelike" by Rodain Joubert, a fellow countryman of mine and a guy who knows some stuff about game design. Warning: horribly addictive if you like games that make you think strategically.
I'd also check out the graphical remake of The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy if I were you, and you like adventure games. You can actually use the Guide in that game - a very necessary experience for all of us.
--
That's about it for this blog, I guess. Final thought: I'm holding thumbs for South Africa to play respectably against France on Tuesday, but it's not going to be easy without Khune in the goals.
