Friday, December 31, 2010

Goals/Plans for 2011!




The last day of the year 2010! So I thought this would be a fitting last post to finish off the year.

Lots of accomplishments were made this year, and lots of things happened.

For the most part, I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to, and making a defined plan for the next year will hopefully be a motivator to keep things going for the better! (If that makes any sense.)

University Progress:

I want to learn more about the Unity3D engine to develop the Shadow Kid project further. I also want to grasp the Unreal engine and play with that to possibly join the Mythic MMORPG team project going on at Cal State San Bernardino.

Traditional Coursework Goals:

-Finish Physics Sequence. (I, II, III)
-Take Computer Architecture and/or Game Programming.
-Take Combinatorics.
-Take Computer Graphics.
-Finish General Education Courses.

I'll also become a Senior (again) this upcoming year. So I am looking forward to that. Perhaps I'll graduate on time, I'm hoping classes are in my favor for that. We'll see.

Game Projects:

I'm planning on releasing Dojo Adventure on a bunch of different websites. It still has problems that need fixing. I just noticed that Paramedic doesn't get Heal 4 at the level it's programmed to. So I need to go back and find out what's going on and fix some of these stupid mistakes before I submit it for review.

I also need to get Shadow Kid copyrighted this next year. I doubt it will be finished in 2011 though. Maybe 2012. Likely 2013. Two years and one day away!


BETA Cinema:


-Get Kickstarter set up to receive revenue for advertising/skit viewing.

-Many, many, more skits to come!

-Try and get a better camera or miscellaneous to not depend on others if they cannot make meetings.

Hopefully "If Jon Ruled the World" will be finished by February at the latest. We've been working on the movie for about a month now, and things are coming together. However, it's very... surreal! But writing/filming it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Final Fantasy XIV:

Naoki Yoshida is aiming to make a big announcement for the game on the 1st, so I'm excited to see what he has in store to make Eorzea an enjoyable place to be.

He recently did an interview on 4Gamer.

I also plan on leading Viva Eorzea Linkshell and start up a company for the linkshell when that goes into full force in early 2011. I'm sticking with the LS big time, I'm happy that we are one of the largest (if not the largest) linkshells on Figaro, and Ricocant/Nekovivie/Bellock along with myself are in it for the long haul to dominate the scene and be the premier LS of Figaro.

Life:

I'm hoping to become much more outgoing and social. I feel that I've become more outgoing this year than last, and it's more of a "keep it up" kind of thing. I'm hoping to get to know a lot of people in this upcoming year and get out of the social block that I've set myself up until a couple of years ago.

It would also help if I was more trusting of people, but I doubt that will ever change!



Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Untapped Potential.




"What!? Another Final Fantasy XIV post?"


Yeah, another Final Fantasy XIV post.

Anyhow, I've been running around The Black Shroud and Coerthas this week in an attempt to knock out the rest of the camps I need.



(Marlboro's are as scary as they look in the opening CG)

In doing so, I keep finding all kinds of secret locations that are either unused and/or haven't been implemented yet which makes me kind of sad. Kind of sad that they left all this kind of interesting stuff in order to rush out a launch.

(Fire Dragons. >_< ) In any case, I've ran into all kinds of secret caves, closed off caves. Unused buildings (for Hamlet Defense battles in the future?)
Some of the sights in the game are simply stunning though, and they gave a lot of detail to some of the areas people don't visit all too often.


I've also gotten a new WS for Gladiator that I've kind of fallen in love with. Luminous Spire!





As for the Linkshell, we're living and thriving. (Over 110 total members with about 30-50 active total on a daily basis.) I've met a lot of 'friends of friends' that I didn't know play the game. (Lots of 'small world' moments, if you will) and despite the large group, we're starting to get our core niche of members.

One thing I really need to find out is the cap on linkshell members, before I recruit too many for my own good. I want to make sure to have at least 20-30 spots open for Ps3 players when the game starts service for them. I have lots of FFXI and real life friends coming for that release.

I'm very optimistic about the future of Final Fantasy XIV.


PS: I also recommend this movie. He shows off a cave which might be an outlet for an expansion area in the future! I've died seven times trying to get the camp he's going to below and still haven't gotten it. He is one very lucky adventurer.





Obligatory death pic.


Monday, December 27, 2010

Personal Highlights of 2010.


January:

-Started Winter Quarter.

March:

-Completed Calculus II with a C+, World History with a B-, and Critical Thinking in Mathematical Concepts with a B+. Data Structures ended up with a C- so had to retake. (See: June)

-Start on JANG Programming Language.


June:

-Received a B in Programming Languages, A- in Data Structures, C in Business Communication, and B+ in Philosophy of Religion.

-Begin taking Sociology and Literature, getting a B+ and B- respectively.

-First FFSEntertainment Meeting is held with JD, Jabari, Grover, Jon, and Neil being at the inaugural meeting.

July:

-Attended first anime convention! AX2010 with Neil, Shadoe, and Jon. I drove back and forth from Highland to Los Angeles for four days straight! 'Twas fun.

-Viva Eorzea Linkshell is formed on Facebook to get the best and greatest for Final Fantasy XIV's launch. I am leader of the linkshell, and Ricocant Tribal was picked by me to become co-leader of the linkshell.

August:

-Started taking Biology for the second half of summer quarter.

-Change degree plans to go for both a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Video Game Development.


September:


-Finished summer courses with just under a 3.0 GPA. (B- Average) Earned a B- in Biology.

-Made it into third year of college.

-Final Fantasy XIV is released and Viva Eorzea Linkshell is formed in-game on the Figaro Server. XIV starts to shatter people's expectations, and in not a good way. It goes on to receive mediocre and terrible reviews for a rushed and incomplete launch.

October:

-Formed BETACinema because of unfortunate circumstances arising from the former FFSEntertainment.

-First BETACinema meeting is held with Grover, Jon, Alyssa, Shadoe, Ryan, Fuego, Johan, Jessica, and Chris being the inaugural members.

-Completed Dojo Adventure.

-Development for Shadow Kid begins.

-Players leave Final Fantasy XIV en masse, I take a break from the game, and populations take a severe dip. Viva Eorzea almost collapses and Square-Enix starts getting the hint that there's a problem with the game.

-Went up an age number.

November:

-Kingdom Broken Hearts is released as the first skit for BETACinema.

-Due to a deletion of my layout and HTML, I moved from my old blog to new blog.

-Stopped using MySpace.

-I start my "Relationship Thesis".

-Viva Eorzea Linkshell begins a re-birth and Ricocant and I start doing mass recruitment to revive the linkshell. Updates to the game make the UI much more playable.

December:

-Received an A in Video Game Design, an A in Fitness for Life, a B- in Calculus III, a B+ in Digital Logic, and a C+ in File Systems.

-Showed an alpha version of "Shadow Kid".

-A multitude of BETACinema skits were released from both Season 0 and Season 1.
* Control Freak
* Pizza Time
* Chocolate Pizza
*If Jon Ruled the World Trailer #1
*If Jon Ruled the World Trailer #2

-An update to Dojo Adventure was released that contains a mass amount of changes to the game to make things easier.

-Final Fantasy XIV starts to change and make a turn around for the better. UI continues to be updated, rank requirements are lowered.

-Viva Eorzea Linkshell reaches and exceeds 100 members. Some older members who have quit start to come back to the game. Population starts a turn-around.

-After seven years and two months, I retire from Final Fantasy XI.

-Finished Calculus Sequence

-Learned to text message people!

-Obtained 3.1 GPA

Traditional Look Back:

I should have been more active with activities and what not the first four months. In comparison to when I joined FFSEntertainment and formed BETACinema, I didn't really do much outside of school.

On a good note, I was able to meet a lot of cool, interesting people, and was able to break out of my reclusive behavior, even if it's still not all that often! Next year I'm going to continue the trend to not be as reclusive, shy, and awkward. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Favorite YouTube Poops of 2010! Also: Most underrated YouTube video of 2010.





Note: YouTube videos may take a few seconds to load.
The site itself seems to be a bit laggy today.

YouTube Poops are about as hilariously random as one can get, I love the obscure humor all of these YouTube artists are able to accomplish just by doctoring together various clips. So, as 2010 is coming to a close, and today being a holiday and all, I'd like to post my favorite YouTube Poops and YTPMVs (YouTube Poop Music Videos) that I've found this year (2010).

I. YouTube Poops

Revenge of the Mad Madman*
(Spider-Man 2)
*The title of the BETA skit "Pizza Time" came from this movie.





The Real 3DS (Nintendo 3DS)




Kevin Loses Control of Marcus
(PSP Inferiority)
"Oh, no reason. Except you gave me the UGLY!"




Microsoft's Embarrassing E3 2010 Press Conference (E3 2010)
"Now we can listen to Justin Bieber..."





Scorpion's Ultimate Threesome Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
"Animality!"






Mama Luigi left the stove on (Super Mario Cartoon)
"HEEEEEEEEEEEELP"





Sonic's the name, speed's his game!? (Sonic)
"It's 3AM!"





Hank Hill Is A Dick (King of the Hill)
"Like f*cking a carborator."






Cock Jokes: (Hollywood Squares, Billy Joel, Various)
"You fool!!!"







II. YTPMVs

YTPMV: Putting the Soul back into Gingers (CopperCab)
"Gingers have have souls."






YTPMV: I think I'll eat it now! (Spongebob)
"RECTANGLES!"





YTPMV: The Land before CAN CAN! (The Land Before Time)






Most underrated video of 2010: The Brawl Team by Matt Vargas





Thursday, December 23, 2010

The future of BETA.





Yesterday, Shadoe was able to get two of our older sketches from FFS Entertainment and upload them to our new YouTube profile. Chocolate Pizza and its sequel, Pizza Time.









There were some hiccups in the video, but as we improve, we get a little better each skit that we do. Given that these two videos were very early in our group, we didn't understand the importance of multiple shoots.

However, I don't think we're getting the right audience by advertising on Facebook since the skits and their related ideas aren't mainstream enough for it. A lot of people seem to miss the inside jokes and/or fail to find them funny. That or they just plain don't care, which seems to be a big problem with Facebook in my opinion when trying to make yourself known.

IN ANY CASE.

So I'm wanting to try Kickstarter in order to advertise our group and try and advertise more to an audience that would appreciate our material. From there, I want to advertise to get our videos more views on YouTube. With that, Ad-Sharing can be enabled in order to start receiving much-needed revenue to make more skits. I'm hoping that we as a group can make this some kind of fun part-time gig, actually. With that being said, I'm doing research on how exactly Kickstarter works and I want to have a really good example of a movie to show that we're worth supporting. Although I'm considering our skit "Control Freak", I think we would have a better shot with "If Jon Ruled the World". However, from what I understand, we need to do some re-shoots in order to produce a version we can be satisfied with.

Maybe it's a long shot, but I want to hope that we attain at least 10,000 total video views on our account by this time next year, and I want that to be a goal that is definitely achievable! If this blog can get 10,000 views in a year and two months, I'm sure our YouTube account can.

Here's hoping to being optimistic. We're planning on having a meeting later today on the direction of "If Jon Ruled the World", and I'm hoping this is our best skit yet, even if the release has to be postponed into January to get it to where we want it.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Video Game Progress (For Winter Break)

These blog entries suit my posting style much more than a simple status update or tweet would.

Current Video Games working on completing:

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (DS) (Just Completed)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii) (Currently Playing)
Chrono Cross (PS1) (Currently Playing)
Final Fantasy XIV (PC) (Currently Playing)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA)
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS)
Vagrant Story (PS1)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)
Final Fantasy II (PS1)
Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
Final Fantasy XIII (XB360)
Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
Yoshi's Island DS (DS)


Now that I've completed "Curse of the Sinistrals", I'm now going to be working on "Chrono Cross" and "Donkey Kong Country Returns". I'm almost done with the latter and I'm about 3/4 of the way through Disc 1 on the former.

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals:

This game did a good job of representing the Lufia II game for the SNES, but re-built to be an action RPG.

I finally got around to beating this game, it is a remake of the prequel of the first RPG I've ever completed. It tops my list of "saddest" video game endings ever. Makes the ending of Final Fantasy X look happy in comparison, that's how sad it is.

I mean, listen to the ending song.





Donkey Kong Country Returns
:





This game is not easy, by any means. It takes all of the Donkey Kong Country games Rare worked on in the Super Nintendo iterations in the 90's and multiplied the difficulty by ten... thousand. It's even harder when playing with a second person because you lose two lives if you fall. (That's why my death counter is so freaking high.) It's fun though, don't get me wrong. Bad game design is when you blame the game for why you don't play it. (See: Final Fantasy XIV). A good game is one where you fail and it's challenging, but it makes it so it's clearly the player's fault.

The game balances it with lots of save spots, once you learn the ropes of the level, you pass the save spot and the mayhem starts all over again!

I plan on doing more of a specialized rant on this game after I complete it in the near future, but this is easily one of my favorite games on the Wii.

Chrono Cross:





Really good game, I think it takes the cake for one of my favorite PS1 RPGs. It was suggested to me by my friend Stucky (who then thought I wouldn't be able to find a good copy of the game), but I was fortunate enough to find one at a decent price at one of my game hunts.

I'm currently at the part where something happens to Serge and you end up controlling a new person. (I can't go that far without spoiling important details, but if you've played the game, you would know what I'm talking about.)

I adore the music of this game, Yasunori Mitsuda did a grand job with the composition of this game and it really exceeds those of the compositions of RPGs you see in today's time. (Here's looking at you Final Fantasy XIII)

Final Fantasy XIV:





This game is currently in the "getting very improved" stage. Though I consider some of the reviews to be considerably harsh on the game, it was deserved and I couldn't find anything to disagree with, other than the low score.

However, I'm still having lots of fun. The game itself went through another massive update, a shift in the development team (with people from FFIX, FFX, and FFXI heading the project), and today it is introducing the search function for shopping to make things loads easier. I posted in my last blog entry about Viva Eorzea progress, and we've now hit 90 members!

I'm working on levelling a Paladin-like character (Gladiator) and mage combination (Conjurer) so I can be a good balance for my linkshell where needed. I'm looking forward to the additional content Square-Enix has to give us in the coming months. Some people would call me crazy for being patient and accepting of all of this, but hey. I was planning on buying the game anyway, and I'm not paying any monthly fees. Square can take as much time as they want, I kind of wish other players weren't as impatient, but that's their prerogative.


_


I'm hoping to get the overall list cut down by a considerable amount by the end of this Winter break, so I won't have as many games piling up to complete for the next quarter. I'm hoping to get a Nintendo 3DS and Pokemon Black or White in the coming months so I wouldn't want a stack of games I haven't had a chance to go through. I'm glad I have this break to do them, school really does suck the life out of me. (Ironic, given the field I want to go into.)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Winter Break Projects

I've been very busy during the time I have "off". Actually, it doesn't feel that I've had much of a break yet. I've been so busy with being involved with these projects (shown below), all of which I have had some kind of administrative input in.

Overview:

Completed Projects so far:


Control Freak (BETA Skit)
Dojo Adventure December Version

In Progress:

Viva Eorzea Linkshell Development
Revenue for BETA
Shadow Kid Development Project
If Jon Ruled the World (BETA Skit)
Chocolate Pizza Re-Release (BETA Skit)



__________________________________

Control Freak:


This is our newest BETA skit that was in development hell for about two months due to a change in editors. At first, we had someone editing, but then real life hit, and he was unable to do it. So we changed it to someone else, but then he was assigned to another editing project, and that would have been overkill. So Shadoe and I were able to finish editing it together yesterday. I think the movie turned out to be very well edited! (There are some minor flaws in there, but if you're reading this, well I'll let you figure it out.)




__________________________________



Dojo Adventure December 2010 Version:




I worked on some updates and overhauls to the game to make it much more playable. Unfortunately, no one has played or downloaded it yet, but to be fair, I haven't had time to really advertise it yet. I really should. I probably will, later this week.

Changes for the new version can be seen here.

The game itself can be downloaded here.

__________________________________

Viva Eorzea Linkshell Development:




We're growing to be one of the largest linkshells on Figaro server in Final Fantasy XIV. No joke. Ricocant Tribal and I have been going on a recruitment rampage in order originally to save the linkshell, but not only have we made our mark on Figaro, we're now currently at 82 people and going for a goal to break 100 in the very near future.




I owe a lot of the "rebirth" of the linkshell to two very important factors. One is Ricocant Tribal, he got the majority of new people while I've been getting people through /tells from people who have seen us on Facebook or various internet sites. The other is the comeback of the game itself, it's really been improved to the point where I am actually enjoying my time on the game and with the other people. Now they need to introduce some more content, and I'll be content with the game enough to start paying a monthly fee. (Obviously, some others would disagree, but that's their prerogative.)

You can see our linkshell on Facebook!

You can see our entire linkshell roster on Final Fantasy XIV's official site: The Lodestone. (Updated in real time.)

__________________________________

Revenue for BETA:

Starting next week, I'm going to be trying some other websites in order to start getting revenue for the BETACinema group. I think if we got a little advertising on YouTube, we would be able to boost our views for our movies and skits to enable Revenue Sharing from Google.

I'm going to be applying for Kickstarter and some other websites in order to get initial funding to support the advertisements and hopefully we can get the money to work for our group instead of our group working for the money. It would be self-sufficient enough to cover the costumes and gas and production at first and in time would become a pretty good part-time gig for all the members involved if they choose to help out and stick with it.

You can check out our BETA movies and skits here. Please subscribe!


Also...







__________________________________

Shadow Kid Development Project:



I'm currently learning the Unity 3D engine to do a re-make and do Shadow Kid the way I actually envisioned the game to be, rather than using the prototype I presented for my Final. I have to learn the engine thoroughly this break to get a handle on what I want to do, so I'll have more information about that in a future blog post.

You can see the final I presented on Shadow Kid for the class here.


__________________________________

If Jon Ruled the World:


I'm not quite sure the progress that's being made on this BETA skit, I'm not really involved with the editing, but I did write the majority of it, while BETA members had some input with some funny running gags that take place within the movie. From what I understand though, we may need to re-meet as a group in the future and re-shoot some scenes. I posted a trailer/teaser a week ago, it will be finished sometime soon. (I hope.)






__________________________________


Chocolate Pizza Re-Release:


I'm working on a re-release to one of our older (more funny) impromptu skits involving Jabari with a Pizza, that will (should be?) posted on Tuesday on the BETACinema YouTube.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Dojo Adventure December Version is up! / December Version Changes





Changes for December 2010 Version:

-AP now recovers at a faster rate outside of battle. (More dependent on MLS value of the area. Higher MLS value = quicker AP regeneration.)



-The geography of certain areas have been modified.



-The AP cost of various spells have been changed. (Old Value -> New Value)

First Aid: 10 -> 5
Heal 2: 32 -> 16
Heal 3: 72 -> 55
Heal 4: 128 -> 92
Recover 2: 74 -> 55
Recover 3: 114 -> 92
Reverse 2: 25 -> 60
Poispur 2: 40 -> 38
MagSafe 2: 60 -> 50
Negate 1: 45 -> 35
Negate 2: 95 -> 80
Divine 1: 80 -> 36
Divine 2: 160 -> 55
Divine 3: 72 -> 84
Divinity 2: 95 -> 84
Safe 2: 40 -> 36
Paralypur 1: 12 -> 8
Paralypur 2: 48 -> 32

-The strength and HP of monsters in the final dungeon areas has been decreased.

-The encounter rate has been halved in these areas.



-The EXP and Coins obtained from these monsters have been increased.

-New areas have been added.

-New treasure boxes have been added.

-Equipping daggers on an Assassin now makes it easier to run away from random encounters.

-Weapons now have increased stat modifiers proportionate to the class it is used with.

-New weapons and graphic icons have been added.



-A new ultimate weapon has been added.*

*Added via a new quest that involves deactivating special ancient clusters around the world.

-The ability "First Aid" now restores HP to the caster as well as remove status ailments.

-The final boss has an updated, more comprehensive move-set.

-The player will no longer get "Game Over" if the mercenaries disband while the main character is incapacitated. The main character will be revived and left with 1 HP.

Dojo Adventure December Version can be downloaded here.

Dojo Adventure Class Abilities

Back to Dojo Adventure December 2010 Version Download.

Key:
Front - Front line class. Gets priority from monsters and in most cases takes hits before all others.

Middle - Middle priority, will usually get attacked after front line classes but before the rear.

Rear - In most cases, gets attacked last.


Swordsman:
(Front)

LV 3 - Rally
LV 8 - Blueblade Slash
LV 13 - Aqua Buster
LV 18 - Heal 1
LV 25 - Spiral Blade
LV 28 - Heal 2
LV 32 - One Hit Wonder
LV 35 - Focus
LV 38 - Heal 3
LV 50 - Cleave
LV 70 - Revive 1
LV 85 - Quadraslash
LV 90 - Final Cross-Slash (Final Ability)

Assassin: (Rear)

LV 5 - Fire 1
LV 6 - Rally
LV 7 - Slow 1
LV 8 - Aim
LV 10 - Ice 1
LV 12 - Flame 1
LV 17 - Water 1
LV 20 - Paralyze 1
LV 22 - Wind 1
LV 23 - Blizzard 1
LV 24 - Mute 1
LV 25 - Stealth (Battle)
LV 27 - Confuse 1
LV 30 - Poison 1
LV 31 - Sleep 1
LV 35 - Sacrifice
LV 40 - Quick Strike
LV 43 - Paralyze 2
LV 45 - Slow 2
LV 47 - Mute 2
LV 49 - Poison 2
LV 50 - Fire 2
LV 53 - Confuse 2
LV 55 - Ice 2
LV 60 - Water 2
LV 62 - Sleep 2
LV 65 - Wind 2
LV 70 - Flame 2
LV 75 - Blizzard 2
LV 80 - Flood 2
LV 85 - Tornado 2
LV 88 - Death 1
LV 90 - Octoslash (Final Ability)

Blackbelt: (Middle)

LV 2 - Crit Hit
LV 5 - Iron Fist
LV 10 - Chi Flow
LV 15 - Chi Explosion
LV 18 - Fists of Anger
LV 25 - Tiger Stance
LV 30 - Tranquility
LV 35 - Claw Strike
LV 45 - Rage
LV 50 - Meditate
LV 55 - Dragon Stance
LV 65 - Flame Claw
LV 70 - Ice Claw
LV 90 - Final Knockout (Final Ability)


Paramedic: (Front)

LV 2 - Heal 1
LV 3- Quick 1
LV 4 - Paralypur 1
LV 5 - Sleepur 1
LV 6 - Poispur 1
LV 7 - Sharp 1
LV 8 - Safe 1
LV 9 - Revive 1
LV 10 - First Aid
LV 11 - Mute 1
LV 12 - Recover 1
LV 13 - Paralypur 2
LV 14 - Age 1
LV 16 - Heal 2
LV 17 - Sleep 1
LV 18 - Divine 1
LV 19 - Reverse 1
LV 20 - Safe 2
LV 21 - Paralyze 1
LV 22 - Recover 2
LV 23 - Divinity 1
LV 25 - Negate 1
LV 26 - Quick 2
LV 27 - Sharp 2
LV 28 - Divine 2
LV 30 - Age 2
LV 32 - Heal 3
LV 33 - Divinity 2
LV 36 - Paralyze 2
LV 37 - Sleep 2
LV 38 - Divine 3
LV 39 - Mute 2
LV 40 - Recover 3
LV 40 - Paralypur 2
LV 42 - Sleepur 2
LV 44 - Poispur 2
LV 46 - Reverse 2
LV 50 - Revive 2
LV 65 - Negate 2
LV 80 - Revive 3
LV 90 - Rejuvenation (Final Ability)

Elementalist: (Rear)

LV 2 - Fire 1
LV 3 - Bolt 1
LV 4 - Ice 1
LV 5 - Earth 1
LV 6 - Water 1
LV 7 - Poison 1
LV 8 - Wind 1
LV 9 - Fire 2
LV 9 - Flame 1
LV 10 - Confuse 1
LV 12 - Ice 2
LV 12 - Blizzard 1
LV 13 - Bolt 2
LV 13 - Lightning 1
LV 14 - Wind 2
LV 14 - Tornado 1
LV 15 - Water 2
LV 15 - Flood 1
LV 16 - Slow 1
LV 18 - Dark 1
LV 19 - Earth 2
LV 19 - Quake 1
LV 21 - Fire 3
LV 21 - Flame 2
LV 23 - Ice 3
LV 23 - Blizzard 2
LV 24 - Bolt 3
LV 24 - Lightning 2
LV 25 - Earth 3
LV 25 - Quake 2
LV 26 - Water 3
LV 26 - Flood 2
LV 27 - Wind 3
LV 27 - Tornado 2
LV 30 - Dark 2
LV 35 - Nightmare 1
LV 45 - Dark 3
LV 50 - Nightmare 2
LV 65 - Fire 4
LV 68 - Flame 3
LV 70 - Ice 4
LV 73 - Blizzard 3
LV 75 - Bolt 4
LV 78 - Lightning 3
LV 80 - Wind 4
LV 83 - Tornado 3
LV 85 - Earth 4
LV 87 - Quake 3
LV 88 - Water 4
LV 89 - Flood 3
LV 90 - Elemental Wheel (Final Ability)

Hunter: (Rear)

LV 5 - Aim
LV 10 - Stun Shot
LV 15 - Poison Shot
LV 20 - Mute Shot
LV 25 - Paralyze Shot
LV 30 - Blazing Shot
LV 35 - Frozen Shot
LV 50 - Triple Shot
LV 65 - Crescent Force
LV 75 - Quadruple Shot
LV 90 - Disease Shot (Final Ability)

Tamer: (Middle - For Player Only)

LV 2 - Snake Bite
LV 3 - Entice
LV 5 - Scorpion Sting
LV 15 - Eagle Claw
LV 20 - Imp Claw
LV 25 - Bird Swoop
Lv 30 - Ravage
LV 35 - Ram
LV 40 - Regeneration
LV 45 - Dust Storm
LV 47 - Tidal Storm
LV 49 - Ice Rain
LV 50 - Charm
LV 51 - Fire Breath
LV 53 - Thunder Strike
LV 55 - Repurification
LV 65 - Healing Wind
LV 70 - Fire Skean
LV 75 - Bolt Skean
LV 80 - Ice Skean
LV 90 - Reaper (Final Ability)

Magician: (Rear - For Mercenaries Only)

LV 5 - Fire 1
Lv 6 - Earth 1
LV 7 - Ice 1
LV 8 - Wind 1
LV 9 - Bolt 1
LV 10 - Heal 1
LV 11 - Water 1
LV 15 - Fire 2
LV 16 - Earth 2
LV 17 - Ice 2
LV 18 - Wind 2
LV 19 - Bolt 2
LV 20 - Poispur 1
LV 21 - Water 2
LV 22 - Sleepur 1
LV 24 - Safe 1
LV 25 - Heal 2
LV 26 - MagSafe 1
LV 28 - Paralypur 1
LV 30 - Mute 1
LV 32 - Sleep 1
LV 34 - Paralyze 1
LV 35 - Heal 3
LV 36 - Slow 1
LV 38 - Sharp 1
LV 45 - Fire 3
LV 46 - Earth 3
LV 47 - Ice 3
LV 48 - Wind 3
LV 49 - Bolt 3
LV 51 - Water 3

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Degree Progress! (Updated Winter 2011 Quarter)

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I woke up to see not only did I pass all of my classes for the quarter, but I did much better than I thought I would have! Maybe I grade myself too harshly for some of the stuff that I do, but in my opinion, it's way better to be safe than sorry.

I also received a lot of help in Digital Logic from my lab partners (I don't think they'd want to be named here), so I owe a lot of my understanding about the course to them. I felt way behind when I didn't even know the rudimentary concepts of binary at the start of the course so for the first half, I felt like I was always playing catch-up.

I met a lot of interesting people in my Game Design course. I know video games are my calling, as really, that's the only thing I can go on about for hours. If you want to get to know me or break my silence, start talking about games I like and I can definitely go on tangents. I knew video game design was my calling ever since elementary school, but moreso since middle school when I saw it was actually feasible to get a job as one instead of simply just a dream.

As always, I like to point out my progress towards my degree(s) that I'm going for every quarter. It's a great motivator (for me) to have a visual representation of how close I am to finishing. But given that a lot of courses are offered only once a year, I'm trying on focusing on getting my traditional BS Computer Science degree first, and then concentrate on a BA in Video Game Development. But some classes overlap (Algorithm Analysis, Compilers, and System Analysis), so I may not get my desired second degree for up to two years after. Ugh!

Winter 2011 Courses:
Software Engineering (CSE 455)
Machine Organization (CSE 313)
General Physics (PHYS221)
Introduction to Geology (GEOL101)

X - Denotes that the class has been successfully completed.
O - Indicates the classes I'm taking in Winter 2011 quarter.

Computer Science BS Progress:

BA - Video Game Development Progress:


Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Why did you add a y at the end of CSE431 on the bottom graph?". Well, you tell me why that class would be hard to explain that "Anal" stands for Analysis to an average person looking at the graph.

Also, I'm going for two degrees because the first one is more recognized as it's accredited by ABET , and it would be satisfactory to get a job in the government or related institution like that (if I wanted to). The second degree is actually the one I want to go for in a career, but a BA isn't taken as seriously, so I want to make sure I have a decent buffer, and say I have a degree in both disciplines to make me more valuable in getting a starting job. (At least I would hope to be more valuable.)

Monday, December 13, 2010

Upcoming changes/additions to Dojo Adventure (December 2010 Version)

The October Version of Dojo Adventure can be downloaded here.

I received some suggestions that the October Version of the game was much too difficult in the end-game areas. Regular monsters can wipe the party, random battles are too frequent, and it is difficult to progress through the final dungeon.

For this reason, I'm planning to release a new December 2010 version of the game later this week with some changes and additions:


Changes to existing content:





-The encounter rate in the Naise Tundra, the Naise Caverns, and the final dungeon will be halved.

-The HP and strength of enemies in these areas will also be reduced.




-The final boss will have an altered move-set that does overall less damage to the player and mercenaries. However, it will now possess the ability to use Instant-Death single target spells near death.



-The Magic Localization System value of Naise Tundra and Naise Caverns will be changed from <1> to <2>.

-The "save journal" in the bottom floor of the final dungeon will only cost 50 magic shards to use instead of 200.

-The amount of fake chests in Zaya Caverns - B15 will be reduced.

-The mercenary class "Magician" will have an expanded spell list.

-The color of the wanted species "Jasmine Jonny" will be changed from the color light blue to jasmine.


Addition of new content:


-Several new areas will be added in each continent that emphasize having monsters of mid-level to ease the gap between EXP for low level content and end-game story content.

-New special monsters will be added that give EXP bonuses and special weapons.

-There will be a new super-weapon added into the game that all classes will be able to use. It will require completion of a quest that involves some lengthy exploring through the world (including the new areas mentioned above.)

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Final Fantasy XI Retirement (October 2003-December 2010)


After 782 days, 3 hours and 58 minutes of my character's existence (total play time), I'm retiring from Vana'diel!

There are lots of contributing factors to my leave, but the ones that stand out the most are the lack of story content to complete, and the new direction the game is going.

Not that Final Fantasy XI has a lack of storyline mind you, but in the last seven years I've completed everything that I could storyline wise.

-Led a successful social linkshell with 125+ people for four years.

-Led an independent Einherjar linkshell that almost got to Odin primarily of pickup people. One of the pioneer open linkshells to do Einherjar on Titan server and do the wings successfully.

-Being one of the first people to see Al'Taieu when it was released in 2005.

-Rank 10 Windurst
-Rank 10 San d'Oria
-Rank 10 Bastok
-Rise of the Zilart Beaten
-Chains of Promathia Beaten
-Treasures of Aht Urhgan Beaten
-Wings of the Goddess Beaten
-A Crystalline Prophecy Beaten
-A Moogle Kupo d'Etat Beaten
-A Shantotto Ascension Beaten
-Serpent General Quests beaten
-Was max Campaign rank for a time.
-Captain Wildcat Badge
-All Avatars beaten
-Level 82 Paladin and Level 75 Blue Mage.

I've done all of that in the course of the last seven years!

Character History:


-Started on Garuda Server (a fairly new server at the time)

-Picked Warrior as a starting job. (Gave me an Onion Sword, so I used a Sword instead of an Axe.)

-I was level 13 for two months because I spent so much time exploring. I had never seen a world in Final Fantasy that was so large.

-Around this time, I kept dying, which made me think that I needed Cure to do anything. So I told myself I would become a Warrior / Red Mage. (I kid you not.)

-At level 21 (that's right, 21) I got my support job and became a Warrior 21/Red Mage 10. Around this time, I think I started to get a bad reputation on the Garuda Server.

-When I was level 33, Chains of Promathia came out, I still felt like a newb, so I don't think I would ever get Promyvions done. I was still a WAR/RDM, but I was high enough to unlock Paladin. But I didn't feel like "starting" over, so I still levelled WAR/RDM. Around this time, my linkshell merged with another to form "RebelsOfPromathia".

-At level 46 WAR/23 RDM, a person I was partying with (albeit an asshole) had a good point. I needed to change my subjob, by this point, I wasn't really contributing much to parties. People considered me to be a joke within the server and I wasn't really taken seriously. So I levelled Paladin to 23 and became a Warrior/Paladin. I knew that in time, I was going to eventually be a Paladin main, but I wanted Warrior to Level 50 so I could do the first limit break quest.

-I got Warrior to 51 and Paladin to 25 around New Years of 2005. I finished Limit Break quest and retired Warrior after that. I started levelling Paladin (which was VERY easy because of the gimped way I levelled Warrior, all my skills (including sword and shield were capped)). I got Paladin to 51 within three weeks after taking two years to get Warrior to 51 with a gimped subjob. I really never played Warrior again after that, I kinda just let people forget I even had it past 37. In time people forgot about me and my WAR/RDM reputation. The server had someone famous come later called Anna who was a WHM/THF, that really stole the show. Even though I had a bad combination of jobs, I was still a good tank and a good person. Anna was rude, had a bad combination of jobs, and was a sucky healer, so I kind of faded into obscurity.

-Anyway, now that I had Paladin to level 50, I thought it was a good time to start beating Promyvions and catching up on CoP. It took about two weeks of dedication of getting a group together, but we did it. I got past the Promys, and it took another 6 months ish to get past Phomiuna Aqueducts and Riverne-Site A01. Around this time (I want to say June 2005), I met the people in my first static: Fox and Noelle. We staticed past A01 and up until Diabolos. I then beat Ouryu with a group that took about five hours to form (hardly anyone was up at CoP at this point). After that, I saw Fox/Noelle sneaking past the next mission with a new static, so I talked to the leader and got into that static. We used this static to eventually get to the end of CoP in November of 2005. By this time, because of my dedication to the static, my real life was really starting to suffer at this point. (See: Snippet at the bottom) Side note: The static was comprised of people in StealthVertigo which was the HNMLS that eventually became SapereAude, in which a lot of its members got banned for cheating about 4-5 years later.

-In November 2005, I completed CoP with the static and chose a Sattva Ring. For the longest period, people would check me and ask me where I got it. Some people who remembered me being a WAR/RDM thought I cheated/leeched to get past CoP based off my poor job choices a year before. Anyway, I think that static saved my reputation, because completing CoP so early helped me become a better player.

In any case, I started to join Limbus at the time (being one of the first, again, to do so) and I got a Gallant Body+1. (I should have chosen the feet, but I didn't know any better). The body was badass for what it was, and I wore that pretty much until the level cap increase of 2010.



-When I was on mission CoP 8-3, I was introduced to what would be my longtime adventuring partner for three years: Sorasha. We would static together for almost all of Treasures of Aht Urhgan and half of Wings of the Goddess where personal reasons caused her to switch servers. I helped her level Black Mage (and through a lot of the storyline I had gotten through) and we pretty much became a really good duo. I'd tank and do hardly any damage, and she would throw out the big nukes. Call it a FFXI iteration of a Steiner/Vivi combination if you will. It was a blast! (Pun intended). I think a combination of her leaving in February of 2009 and Chamber breaking up in August 2009 were contributing factors to me not playing as much since then.


-We also hunted down Lord of Onzozo with the linkshell around this time. We didn't get a drop though.

-In the months between beating Chains of Promathia being completed in November of 2005 and Treasures of Aht Urhgan's release in Spring of 2006, I took some time to go back and complete Rise of the Zilart with some of my LS mates (Landis, Aremuss, ... I can't remember the rest). I had my members get drunk in order to not give a damn about whether they lived or died and lost EXP. Kind of selfish, really, but it put me into the tanking mode, and I could throw them at the Ark Angels repeatedly until they died. I didn't do it the Divine Might way, we did it the 6 person vs 1 way. (It was quite a challenge for it's time. I did eventually beat Divine might, but not for years later). We then fought Ealdnarche for Zilart final, even though that took two tries.

I also helped various LS members get to Sky and to an extent a decent way through the CoP missions.









When Treasures of Aht Urhgan came out in 2006, that was the first giant change to how Final Fantasy XI worked. It was a whole new continent that opened up to the east. People in dozens flocked over by paying 500,000 gil (like I did), or waiting a day and then taking the ship over. In any case, I thought the new continent and storyline was going to be amazing! They introduced Blue Mages (from older games) and a lot of the FF summons we know and love. Odin and Alexander, both of which were heavily intertwined within the storyline. It was a fresh new perspective on the world, and I consider this to be my favorite time within XI.

I don't have any pictures of me initially going through some of the beginning missions in 2006, but I'll post the ones I redid with my LS afterward that came out at that time.



Around June of 2007, I began to really get fed up of Garuda Server. All of my linkshells were starting to fall apart, I had a distaste in my mouth with player mentality and the elitesm of its players. (Fox and Noelle stole a Valor Cape from me in our Dynamis LS and ended up stopped playing from the LS). My real life friend was on Titan server, so I convinced Sorasha to come with me to Titan as soon as server transferring became available.






It was then when we joined the Dynamis LS: TheGreatBelowII. Though they were kind of suspicious at first because we transferred servers out of nowhere, but Chster got her and I in because he's cool like that! I ended up getting a Valor Cape from the LS about a year later.




We beat Alexander and Treasures of Aht Urhgan in the second half of 2007.

Then Wings of the Goddess came out in November of 2007, I wasn't there on launch day since copies couldn't come to the Friday after Thanksgiving. Sorasha and I duoed up until Mission 15 when we had a huge argument that caused us to part ways where she went to another server.



Around this time, I also met a new friend, Laoiyah, and we teamed up to get Captain Wildcat Badge together, us two pretty much led the party and the strategies and that was one of the most fun times I've ever had in FFXI. Doing Assaults no one else cared to do. He ended up quitting sometime later, but I was very lucky to find him on Facebook and we keep in touch on there. Who knows, he may even join on Final Fantasy XIV!







I kind of just wandered here and there with missions until I formed a Wings of the Goddess static with Anza, Arngrim, and Ayrihl. The static eventually expanded to include Pfeffernuse, Lukeprime, and Darkpheonix (after the latter transferred over from Garuda!). We stuck together to beat Wings of the Goddess on December 10, 2010.

And now I have nothing else to complete. I've beaten everything to beat in FFXI. The stuff I've mentioned is only a nutshell of my accomplishments. This doesn't include the time I beat all the add-ons, my venture into Abyssea, the people I've met in every linkshell I've led and been in. VivaChocobo, WereStillWithYellow, TeamSuicide, etc... There are so many people to acknowledge.

Anza, Pfeffernuse, Ayrihl, Arngrim, Darkpheonix, Laoiyah, Takko, Sorasha, Alorra, Krys, Fayn, Aremuss, Landis, Ois, Whitesand, Stucky, Ironmonk, Renatus, Myloko, Chster, Warslaya, Armanta, Gauis, Kalipigeon, Ssjvegeta, Hazen, Zello, Lukeprime, Trega, Dayala, Rayanna, Xnera, Valdrake, ... (if I forget anyone, feel free to call me out on it)




Reflection:

Back in 2003, I was really looking forward to playing Final Fantasy XI as I've enjoyed the FF series a lot. However, like many other of my friends, they were all put off by the monthly fee and/or couldn't afford it.

At that time, online gaming wasn't very mainstream, either. By October 2003, the only online game I had played was Age of Mythology, and even that still has a very basic online functionality for a game. World of Warcraft wasn't released yet, either. (Came out in 2004.) So MMOs in general were this stereotypical nerdy cliche thing (even more so than now). The only main ones that were out at the time of Final Fantasy XI's release were Everquest (still surprisingly going strong) and Lineage, and I can't think of any others, but all of these MMOs were created with a pre-World of Warcraft construct. By this I mean, extremely large EXP to level up, hard monsters, forced grouping, lack of instancing, open world monsters, lack of raids, et cetera.

However, Final Fantasy XI has graphics that still exceed those of World of Warcraft's, and has a storyline on-par (or even exceeds?) some of the other Final Fantasy off-line titles. A clear story that can still be told for an MMORPG outside of little NPC quests was unprecedented.

Final Fantasy XI is (probably will be the only) game that emphasizes player interaction to such an extent where the people you adventure with, you see them more as just a face on the other side of a computer. You actually get to know people personally just from the adventures in the game, and develop friendships that extend from outside of the game. I know various people who have hooked up from playing XI together, I've seen people even have children and get married with/to others they've met through the game.

Unfortunately, I don't think there will ever be another game like Final Fantasy XI. No other game that heavily relies on knocking out content with a group of friends and/or party members that one gets to know so well. It really does feel like a single player RPG where you actually get to know the people you adventure with, I will probably never see that kind of cooperation between people in any future online MMO. Not in Final Fantasy XIV, not in World of Warcraft, not in any MMO. And that's what makes XI so unique and why I loved playing it for so long.


MMO Addiction Tangent:

I started playing FFXI around the same time I got bullied in school, so as I started getting more into the game, I started shutting out the crappy feelings I was having towards my real life. I was seriously happy playing the game. However, my real life had to pay for it as I began neglecting everything that I disliked in order to play the game, I eventually got distanced from a lot of my friends and became a recluse for about a five year period.

I started regularly scheduling my life around the game, and that (in turn) became very unhealthy. It's not something I'd ever do again. Obviously, I've gotten over this period, but I'd like to point out that while I used the game as my escape from what I hated about my real life at the time, never use the game as a full substitute, it becomes an unhealthy addiction.

I've learned to find a balance between my schoolwork, my personal life, and my gaming - I'm now really happy with where I am in life because I do so, but I wouldn't suggest to anyone to play games to replace bad feelings, it should be used to supplement good feelings or just cheer someone up. But all in all, the message with S-E rings true, and I guess their message applied to me. Never use the game to replace your family, friends, school, and work. I seriously laughed when I first saw it when logging on, but for five out of the seven years, I became the "person" they were talking about.


What am I doing next?:

I'm going to be focusing more on me playing Final Fantasy XIV (albeit in my spare time, this time) and leading a linkshell I formed with some friends in July of 2010 called Viva Eorzea Linkshell. I want to play through the game with a fresh perspective and I'm looking forward to what Square-Enix has in store for us players. I'm hoping to see some of my old FFXI friends to come and visit me on Figaro Server from time to time. :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Shadow Kid Prototype Download / Indie Game Maker.




My teammate Jonathan and I demonstrated Shadow Kid today. While the prototype wasn't all that great, everyone seemed to really like the concept of me using Indie Game Maker. Both of the professors involved with game development at the school and the lead designer of Vector Force were impressed with my idea as well as the maker so I decided to post a link to that. (Above.)

Notes:

It's 60 dollars to use the license.

License enables use of all of Enterbrain's materials.

Program is fairly complicated to use, but easy enough for beginners in programming to understand if they just want to use the graphical aspects of the program to create a basic game.

The powerpoint I presented today to the class can be downloaded here.

The final (in documentation form) as well as the game prototype I used for my 440 final can all be downloaded here. (Controls: X to jump/confirm, arrow keys to move.)

It was a great quarter (in terms of this class, at least), and I'm looking forward to taking Game Programming in the Spring!