As you see, well I think I progressed a bit since those orange screenshots. :) By the way, Math is one of my friends I don't see often enough for my taste. Hehe, I still didn't ask his permission to use his face to put on my wrestler, I hope he won't mind too much. :) I'm rather eager to see this little guy move around and puch everything in our custom opengl engine!! =D As soon as I fix the problem with the face normals that causes the texture to show inside-out, as if my model was hollow. Rather weird. Anyway. I think I bored ya enough with 3ds.
Besides, I went to antoher medieval banquet about a month ago, I'd say. It was pretty entertaining. I say that 'cause the last one we went to sucked pretty much. No dancing, no drinking, no hitting bad (false) irish with a stick... No nothing. Well I've gitta say it was organized at the last minute too. But anyway, the last one I attended was great. The ambiance was much better, and we had so much wine we got back with a full bottle. Heh, better safe than sorry. Well, again, 'gotta say there were only three of us, Obbie, Vince and myself. Oh, also I gotta say that it isn't your usual medieval banquet, but rather a viking clan's one, complete with Norse food, customs and beliefs. Several tales were told during the night, songs were sung, irish jig was danced (but learned first, eh, which was as fun as it was interesting) and elven minstrels entertained us with their harp and ther bagpipes. Vvvvvvvvery sweet, lemme say. All in all it was a very agreeable experience, especially compared to the last banquet. If you like middle-age, it's a great experience to live, the total immersion and all, and I'm pretty sure there must be some group of anachronic freaks in your area. Just search the net!
Alright, time for the next matter. I started messing around with Morrowind's editor and started a small plugin. It's pretty cool. I easily added triggers, dialogue, landmasses, npcs and buildings to the existing Vvardenfell continent to create what'll be a sweet lil' quest. Well, relatively easily, that is. Anyway, if you own the game and still haven't tried out the editor, you're missing half the point of the game, I tell ya. Really, it looks rather overwhelming when you first dive in, but everything makes sense as soon as get used to the general layout of things in Morrowind. I also thought it was too complicated, but hey, if I got something up and working pretty fast, anyone can! Still haven't finished the original game yet though. Once I started sniffing the 'net for plugins I strayed from the main path to try everything out, and I still ain't finished!! :D I really gotta get back to that game, it's really is an amazing rpg. Not many of that quality and content come out for the PC these days.
I finished Return to Castle Wolfenstion last week. The last few levels are absurdly difficult. The kind that have paratroopers (the toughest human enemy) ambushing you at every fuckin' corner... *starts gnawing keyboard, but stops after chocking on the right 'alt' key* THe end boss is a real joke though. The model is excellent though, but it just isn't challenging enough. Nothing very impressive, really. Now, if I could get that stupid crapass game's multiplayer working I'd kick some asses online, but until then...
Hey, I got hold on some great new games too, especially UT 2003 and Warcraft3. UT, as you probably read elsewhere on a more credible gaming website, is simply gorgeous. Not only did they pump up the graphics to an unequaled level, but the new ragdoll animation system is utterly jaw-dropping. You just don't get tired of getting your arse fried just to watch yourself get blown away by that rocket. Every death is different, and every part of the body realistically reacts to collisions with the environment or other parts. A revolution in game animation. A feat of utter genius. Simply put, a must-see. I brought my comp at a friend's place for a day and we had a blast palying bombing run all day!... Briefly put, that gametype plays like a football/basketball hybrid with guns. BIG guns. *grins*
Warcraft III is pretty cool too, but, like many friends of mine, I didn't finish the single player campaigns and probably never will unless I've got nothing else to do of my ass. The multiplayer is a blast. Being able to share unit control and resources with your allies is a great plus to strategies and, generally speaking, cooperative RTS gaming. The hero system brings a refreshing hint of RPG in an aging line of clones. It allows a palyer to control up to three heroes that rise in levels, gain unique abilities (depending on race and class) and who can use items gathered from killing neutral units. Some can also be bought from neutral buildings. The last can also be used to recruit mercenaries in your army, which allows to quickly build up forces. All that allows for new strategies... that totallyget useless once you throw a few computers in. Man those suckers are tough!! The problem is that there's so much to do at the same time now that you just can't compete with an algorithm that can do everything at the same time. Add to that the fact that that flashy graphics (though crisp and beautiful) make applying rushed decisions in the chaos of battle an act requiring godly skill. As an example, my gf and I were unable to stand against a single damn AI, even though we've been playing Starcraft everyday for months! Very frusrtating. And, because of my router, Battle.net is unaccessible until I find a way to configure the last to allow communication with the server. Woot.
So, after stumbling on a site featuring remixes of classic videogames, Overclocked Remix, I got crazy about a great game I had been playing many years ago with a good friend of mine who suddenly disappeared from the map... CASTLEVANIA 2!!! Muwahha, haha, ha-ha-ha. Great stuff. Cool music. A bit simplistic, but very entertaining. A real classic. Damn, the music's so good, I've started playing several tunes on the guitar. I still ain't very good at them, but it's getting to something. Yet, today I'm realizing those guys, the programmers of that time, had to deal with very limited resources. They didn't have 2 GHz processors with 512 megs of high performance rdram. I realize my courses in digital electronics really are useful. Those make you look at videogames and computers with a whole new dimension in mind. Those things are very complicated and getting them to work together the way you want 'em to is a feat of... no, not genius, but, but... alright, genius. There's nothing magical in that metal box that's on or in your desk. Everything is logical. Everything has its job to do, and everything has to work together to create something that makes sense. Anyway...
Oh, I've got a new hobby, PC cooling and customizing. Alright, I don't have enough time to really get into it, but there's so much to do with that little box, and tackling the heat dissipated by the components (mainly the CPU) to overclock 'em and keep 'em running is a real treat. Just have a look at Overclockers.com and read some testimonials. Those guys are crazy! Creative freaks, but crazy nonetheless. I believe the funniest stories must be in the water-cooling section. Heee-heheh... Speaking of water-cooling, I'll get into that too as soon as I get the time. That probably means not before the end of the term, during christmas break.
Alright, I think that's all for this year. :) All that shit to say that I'm glad to be back. And it feels good. And Castlevania rocks. :) 'later punks!
