Just because...

... there is hope on the horizon doesn't mean it stopped raining. I'm still getting hassled and being punished for being alive. The first time my phone rang today my case was reopened about just about everything. Example: did you know that if I want to use kitchen equipment (like a stovetop, frying pan, saucier) I must clean it afterwords? No big deal, right? Well, that rule's only for me. Anyone else may use any items and not clean them at all. Meaning if I want to use them, I have to clean them before I use them and clean them after. So don't feel bad if I turn my ringer off and am completely unable to talk on weekends. It's because people are home who hate me. Easy enough to understand, yes?

My first paycheck would end up being middle of January. A taste of the good life again, except more good. I hope. I don't like changing a lot so I hope this is a job I can enjoy and get used to for many years. I did put 5+ years in Baptist Hosptial putting myself through school. I'm what they call "a lifer," I guess.

Anyway, I'm feeling really creative today. I've got things in my head for some Stepmania stuff and I've already trimmed a song to under 2 minutes so I could play it on In the Groove 2. Gotta make some steps. I've got a new YTMND in mind and I've already got my initial sound and .gif. The picture's gonna need some work to look cool but it's doable. I've got a neat picture I'm working on involving a laptop, I'm just trying to figure out the best ways to attack it. I've got an idea but I just need to DO it. I'm done with my second inventory load from storage and I need to make another run to exchange. PLUS I want to put in my hours for school: the sooner it's done the sooner I get certified and can command a larger salary.

One thing I'm putting off for a few is my game. I keep coming up with more and varied ideas for game play and I think I've changed the genre of game like 4 times already. :P
My custom engine's terrain system "works", except it doesn't currently support a whole lot of anything. I just need to take the existing code and wrap it in different ways so I could make it modular. Once modular I can add features easily. As it is now, it doesn't even support models or skins, but I'm chalking that up to being unwilling (right now) to sit down and learn Lightwave since I've convinced myself that Maya sucks. I'm sure it doesn't suck, it's just that I think more mathematically and Maya is more engineered to artists and organic modeling and things like that. Is Lightwave the answer? I dunno, um, maybe?

Now, about the current game image. I'm thinking of a cross between Zelda (Link to the Past, of course) and Final Fantasy Tactics. I've got sketches of characters and moves and weapons. Nevermind that I'm not an artist and my sketches could be misinterpreted for a six-pack of beer and a contact lens milling machine trying to fuck a paper shredder. But as long as it makes sense to me that's ok. I've got a vision of the game play and bosses and items. Story? Uh, lol, I dunno. I'm sure I could whip something up if I wanted to. I want to avoid marrying a story to a design since the design ends up changing so often. I think it's my desire to make an end-all be-all game. I know in my head that an independent game won't break that kind of goal, I just go with my heart. Or stomach, I forget which.

So I'm just casually looking around online and I notice this old news article regarding the idea in the head for Dead or Alive 5. Tomonobu Itagaki says he has a vision of the game's opening sequence... which is fine except, um, that's a movie, not a game. What's the game like? How is it going to be better?

The problem with new Japanese game superstars like Itagaki and Hideo Kojima is that they have grandiose visions of cinema and story and graphics that it almost seems like the gameplay itself comes second.

I mean, here in America we raked John Romero over the coals because of Daikitana. I wonder if game players here and abroad will finally wake up to that sort of shit. The game should come first. That's why I've always liked the idea behind the Final Fantasy series. Story? Bah. None of the games are related to each other other than the reuse of a few names. But they keep reinventing the RPG wheel. They sic one section of the team on graphics and animation and just trust that the guys redoing the battle engine will make the best use of what they produce. There's no Final Fantasy "superstar." It's a product of a team and while there ARE team leaders, there's nobody there with an ego that's willing to put it ahead of the game itself.

Humble is good.