Well I'm back, and I'm pleased to say I passed my exams with flying colors! So I've got some time off this Summer to work on various projects, the first being a new art piece which I hope to have done this weekend.



...Also, I've decided I should probably keep track of games I want/need that flew past me while I was busy... It's a heck of a thing to finally look at everything when E3 pops up and I'm just buried under a wave of... want.

So. Here's the list.

1. Golden Sun DS
2. A Boy and his Blob Wii
3. Legendary Starfy DS
4. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle Wii
5. Punch-Out!! Wii
6. Metroid: Other M Wii
7. Mario Kart Wii
8. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks DS
9. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box DS
10. Sin and Punishment 2 Wii
11. New Super Mario Bros. Wii Wii.... Mais Oui!
12. A Little King's Story Wii
13. Scribblenauts DS

...Let's see, if I assume roughly 40$ per game, that puts it at around... 520 dollars... Gah... and I should probably get a DSi at some point... @_@

That Wii Heart Monitor...

Every time I see a new piece of equipment my brain immediately thinks GAME and that was no exception. I instantly envisioned a new installation of Eternal Darkness where the game actually monitors you to see how frightened you are, and if you're not frightened enough in the game's opinion, it cranks it up until you have a coronary. Or a Cornet.

But regardless, I've gotten what I've wanted while I've been away... a rebirth of Punch Out, a sequel to Golden Sun, more Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and Layton, and even a few third party titles like Boy and his Blob, Scribblenauts and A Little King's Story that piqued my interest...

So how's everyone else's semester going?

For those unaware, I'm plowing through PhD work at the moment, so just think, "well at least it's not THAT bad..."

So yes, one big honkin' programming project and a take-home final, and then I'm free to watch what I like, program what I want, finish whatever art projects I have...

...

A side note, about Take Home Tests, Exams, Quizzes, etc.

DO NOT REQUEST THEM. THEY ARE NOT GOOD THINGS. I know a lot of students think they're easy, but a Take-Home Exam/Test is a good excuse for the Professor to come up with an Exam/Test that's twice as long and three times as hard as usual.

Also don't think you can 'do it in a group' to save time, clever Professors will make each exam different so you can't perform this duplicitous attempt...

Anyway, take-home tests BAD.

So, next weekend, ACTUAL work! Yey!

Man... after a week of illness and crushing schoolwork, Nintendo swings me off into sweet bliss my holding a rag soaked in dreams over my mouth and nose until I pass off into sweet, sweet dreams.

So there's Punch-Out Wii, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and the SD Card Channel that takes care of those pesky memory issues (thanks for reminding me that Kirby 64 and Super Metroid were sitting on my SD card just waiting to be remembered!)

But forget all of that. Toss it aside. IGNORE IT.

PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE DIABOLICAL BOX.

The second Professor Layton game is, according to Akihiro Hino (Level 5's director) is midway through localization processes, and they hope to have it in America this year.

ABOUT BLOODY TIME.

Er, ignore the raving outbursts, I'm indeed delighted. Just today I was replaying Professor Layton and the Curious Village, stretching my brain before an exam that read quite a bit like Layton's puzzles.

Normally I don't get too upset about localization. Like the Stafy series (although that's also finally coming to America!) but in the case of Professor Layton, they gave us the first game which was sensational, then kind of ignored us as they went about WITH THREE MORE GAMES AND A MOVIE.

Yes, a movie. Professor Layton: The First Movie. Then there's Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel, and Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute. Apparently there are two more Layton games in the work right now, and through all of this we still just had the one Professor Layton game...

So Little Mac, Stafy, and Professor Layton are all dusting themselves off, Toon Link's hopping aboard a choo-choo (did no one else who saw the trailer notice the player controlled Phantom Knight character?), and the Wii's got more storage abilities now...

I think, in response, I shall devote this weekend towards finishing a huge sketch I've been working on for the past three months....

And with the flu! Yeah!

Spring Break afforded me a little time... most of which saw me out of my mind with congestion from the flu. It's nice how things work out, isn't it?

But despite only having a little time, I completed the Classic Mode Menu! Once again, those are screenshots of the program itself up and running in the Preview file.

While I was awake and relatively aware I spent my time plotting out more and more of the complex logical relationships in the game. For example, the Music Menu which is already done took about two full pages of notes just to make sure I hadn't left anything out... albeit I'm betting someone's going to find a bug the moment I release everything...

But yes, I am still working on Fisticuffs! It shall not vanish into that sweet inky datapot that lurks in the back of my PC, no!



...also, friends of mine recently showed me both Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Postal. I never thought I'd say this, but Uwe Boll was right, his movie was better than Lucas's.

...it's a good thing nothing else in that warehouse was magnetic, huh?

So now that my time is gradually trickling back into my own personal end of the pool I've been able to put more time into programming, designing, going over my logical set-ups and such, and so on and so on.

The immediately pratical upshot of all of this is that one I actually sit down and start hardcore programming it won't take very long and I'll have already considered most of the problems that I'll be encountering, and my code will already be in a row of nice, neat little interacting capsules that I can switch on and off while I test.


Anyway, onto the newest bit I've gotten down, the levels. I didn't just want to do simplistic flat levels with different images, so I set about trying to simulate chaotic SSB style levels with spawning objects and animations. Things from little touches to big touches, and so on.

So each level is made up of first and foremost a data based background of solid objects, platforms, edges you can grab onto, etc.

On top of that is a layer of image holders where it arranges several images, some set to move in the background independently, some wiggling about in the foreground, some being the midground. On top of those, I've got it set so you can set little animations here and there, so you don't have to load the same big image 20 times over just to animate a small patch of grass blowing in the wind.

Levels themselves will have snippets of the same code that enemy A.I. will, in that the can randomly decide things, and spawn automatas that will interfere with gameplay. For example, the Advance War Battlefield stage will have little troops wandering around in the level that will occasionally shoot at each other and you if you're in the path.

This doesn't mean that every automata will be some amazing little self sufficient program that is gunning for you. Some of them might simply be visual aspects, like creatures running through the background, leaves blowing by in the foreground, etc.

The levels themselves will have the data logic set-ups as A.I., as I mentioned before, meaning they will be able to pull a few subtle tricks as well. For example, let's say you wanted to pull a Mushroomy Kingdom kind of level where half the time players would wind up on one level, half the time they'd get another level. Entirely possible with a little snippet of code in the load code of the level.

Amusingly, you can even pull off scrolling stages if you have the stage set to spawn obstacle type automata that spawn on the left, move along the stage to the right, then vanish, and repeat after a set amount of time.

You can also use the code for simplistic tricks. For example, one of the things I'm working on at the moment is Joy Mech Fight's Stadium. Typically there's a cheesy little LCD looking big-screen in the back (I'm working to mimic the original game on this one) which typically has little black and white cheerleaders cheering you on. But every so often when you load it it won't be cheerleaders, but little ostriches dancing.

Simple, yes, but I like to think that the system I'm throwing together can acomodate people who want subtlety, and the people who want big flashy storms of shrapnel and lawn shrubs.

So here's the wrap up for this update.

You could, if you wanted, simply take a big clean sheet of paper, grab some crayons and doodle out a level, and scan it into the computer. Heck, you could toss up a big level in microsoft paint. Then open up the custom editor, throw down a few obstacles and platforms, and nicely place your image over it, save it, and there you go. Custom level.

You could also spend hours programming special little tricks and automatas that would happen randomly from time to time, so you could simulate some giant mech fight in which Stafy, Little Mac, and Tom Nook are running from giant monster robots while fighting one another and dodging magic fireballs made of zombies.

I've got a lot of programming to do.