I've decided that Carl Sagan is my hero. If I were able to go back in time and meet anyone in the world, that person would be Carl Sagan. Just a few days ago on December 20th it was the 11th anniversary of his death. The world lost an important person on that day, someone who spread the word of science like very few others have.
The largest reason for this was his creation and writing (with his wife Ann Druyan and Steven Soter) of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which is said to have been viewed by over 600 million people worldwide. I'm currently in the process of watching it again, and I'm up to part 4. Anybody who reads this needs to go to their local library, check it out, and watch it. Cosmos is nothing short of astounding, mind-expanding, and inspiring.
Sagan has also written many books, which I've decided to start reading. I'm going to start with The Demon-Haunted World, a book about science, skepticism, and how to make both a part of your life. Since really becoming a skeptic I'd say I need a manual for how to do it, and Carl Sagan is probably the best person to get that instruction from.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
The Witcher
So, the last week was pretty great. It was my birthday! I picked up a game for myself called The Witcher, which I picked up largely because of a review on Gamers with Jobs. Other places I looked also seemed to say that the game is amazing.
And, after having played for a couple hours, I have to say that they are correct. The game is incredible. There is so much to The Witcher that I can't even fathom all of it yet. I've been very surprised by it on more than one occasion, from the visuals to the music to playing a drinking game against some big dude in an inn (I won! After playing, all the graphics were blurry and my character stumbled around everywhere - awesome!).
After I get a few more hours in, I'll post again about it. I could still be in that new game dazzle faze, so we'll see what happens after I really get going into the story. So far my only complaint, which I share with most people, is that there are a lot of times where you have to wait for parts of the level to load.
As I sit in this cafe, it is snowing outside. Again. I went outside this morning, and just stepping through the snow is a major task. It's almost up to my knees! This is the most snow I've seen on the ground at one time in years, and I gotta say that I'm liking it. The last few winters have been pretty pointless - little snow, incredibly cold temperatures, etc. At least this year we're off to a great start. It looks like this is going to be a REAL winter!
Oh, I have to mention Portal again. I managed to finish it, and I'll say that it's one of the best games I've ever played. It is 4-5 hours of pure greatness. If you play video games at all in any way, spend the $20 at SteamPowered and download it!
Time to load up The Witcher!
And, after having played for a couple hours, I have to say that they are correct. The game is incredible. There is so much to The Witcher that I can't even fathom all of it yet. I've been very surprised by it on more than one occasion, from the visuals to the music to playing a drinking game against some big dude in an inn (I won! After playing, all the graphics were blurry and my character stumbled around everywhere - awesome!).
After I get a few more hours in, I'll post again about it. I could still be in that new game dazzle faze, so we'll see what happens after I really get going into the story. So far my only complaint, which I share with most people, is that there are a lot of times where you have to wait for parts of the level to load.
As I sit in this cafe, it is snowing outside. Again. I went outside this morning, and just stepping through the snow is a major task. It's almost up to my knees! This is the most snow I've seen on the ground at one time in years, and I gotta say that I'm liking it. The last few winters have been pretty pointless - little snow, incredibly cold temperatures, etc. At least this year we're off to a great start. It looks like this is going to be a REAL winter!
Oh, I have to mention Portal again. I managed to finish it, and I'll say that it's one of the best games I've ever played. It is 4-5 hours of pure greatness. If you play video games at all in any way, spend the $20 at SteamPowered and download it!
Time to load up The Witcher!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Long time no post
Wow, I haven't posted since August! I've nearly forgotten about my little blog. I'm sure by now nobody is reading this any more. Oh well. I can still post stuff, if anything, for myself. Maybe I'll post things to remember or something like that.
I'm having fun with Blender.
I just listened to an audio book called The Ultimate Gift. It was really good, though not very realistic. It was more of a guide for life in the form of a novel, so what it set out to do, it did well. Live Every Day to its Fullest. Indeed.
I'm still going through BioShock, and it's still an amazing game. It is really something to model my own game after, in terms of storytelling, excitement, mystery, and fun. Mine will be a bit of a different focus, and it'll be better of course.
Got a chance to try out Portal today, and it is true what people have been saying. It is GREAT. I've only played about 20 minutes of it, and I'm already hooked. It is probably the most innovative puzzle game I've ever played.
Until next time... Promising myself it won't be over three months of nothing again.
I'm having fun with Blender.
I just listened to an audio book called The Ultimate Gift. It was really good, though not very realistic. It was more of a guide for life in the form of a novel, so what it set out to do, it did well. Live Every Day to its Fullest. Indeed.
I'm still going through BioShock, and it's still an amazing game. It is really something to model my own game after, in terms of storytelling, excitement, mystery, and fun. Mine will be a bit of a different focus, and it'll be better of course.
Got a chance to try out Portal today, and it is true what people have been saying. It is GREAT. I've only played about 20 minutes of it, and I'm already hooked. It is probably the most innovative puzzle game I've ever played.
Until next time... Promising myself it won't be over three months of nothing again.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Video Interview
Here is a video interview of Ton from Blender at Siggraph this year. I've been looking for this video because I'm in it! At about 5:50 you can see me walking past on the right side of the screen. In an older post (Day 3 of Siggraph) I have a picture of the interview with the camera pointed at the two guys. Ton talks about open movie projects, and even an open game they are working on called Apricot.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Constructigasm
Here is a video of a Lego construction line that builds Lego cars! It's only a matter of time before the Lego robot construction line starts building bigger and better Lego robots. Next, the world!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Siggraph 2007 Day 5
And, finally, here are pictures from the final day of Siggraph! What a conference!
This one is just to give you an idea of what all the Educator's Program sessions looked like. They had these multi-colored lights set up with two big tables in the middle for the speaker to present from. This particular guy was great - he was funny and spoke very well about virtual worlds in the classroom. He actually was somewhat against Second Life, which I surprised to hear (doesn't think it will last).
This is a quick shot of the special session involving the three big jury selections from the Electronic Theater and Animation Festival. The best part is that two of the guys were college students when they started their animation projects. They both ended up staying later than graduation to finish them!
A shot showing the entrance to the beautiful Sail Pavilion.
Here's an example of one of the posters. I've done a poster presentation before, but it was nowhere near this involved! This one was particularly interesting because the person who did it was showing his new method for displaying liquids in real-time, complete with object collisions. I might end up using something like this in my game, and that's why I took a picture of it!
Me, complete with my big hair!
A couple good shots of a San Diego trolley for my son!
This one and the next few are shots of downtown San Diego, as I walked to a sushi restaurant.
This restaurant had tables inside wooden structures that looked like they would be right at home hanging from a tree!
The picture says it all for this restaurant!
This is in the sushi restaurant where I met Mystic Violet and Al from Gamers with Jobs. We had some very delicious sushi and talked about video games... a great way to end my trip!
And that's it for the pictures! I'll surely post more about the trip as I find more info online. I know for sure there's a video interview of Ton from Blender that I actually walk through, so I'll link to that.
This one is just to give you an idea of what all the Educator's Program sessions looked like. They had these multi-colored lights set up with two big tables in the middle for the speaker to present from. This particular guy was great - he was funny and spoke very well about virtual worlds in the classroom. He actually was somewhat against Second Life, which I surprised to hear (doesn't think it will last).
This is a quick shot of the special session involving the three big jury selections from the Electronic Theater and Animation Festival. The best part is that two of the guys were college students when they started their animation projects. They both ended up staying later than graduation to finish them!
A shot showing the entrance to the beautiful Sail Pavilion.
Here's an example of one of the posters. I've done a poster presentation before, but it was nowhere near this involved! This one was particularly interesting because the person who did it was showing his new method for displaying liquids in real-time, complete with object collisions. I might end up using something like this in my game, and that's why I took a picture of it!
Me, complete with my big hair!
A couple good shots of a San Diego trolley for my son!
This one and the next few are shots of downtown San Diego, as I walked to a sushi restaurant.
This restaurant had tables inside wooden structures that looked like they would be right at home hanging from a tree!
The picture says it all for this restaurant!
This is in the sushi restaurant where I met Mystic Violet and Al from Gamers with Jobs. We had some very delicious sushi and talked about video games... a great way to end my trip!And that's it for the pictures! I'll surely post more about the trip as I find more info online. I know for sure there's a video interview of Ton from Blender that I actually walk through, so I'll link to that.
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