Okay, I redesigned the page, as you've probably noticed. No more flash logo on every single page. I thought it needed some sort of permanent logo though, so I created the little doodad on the left over the buttons.

I added sound and music to Episode 1 of Gordon. I should probably be working on the next part, but I wanted to make this one even better. It's pretty much complete now. I put up links to both the sound and no sound versions, in case you have a slow computer like me, and can't handle the new version as well. My computer just barely managed to run it decently. That'll probably be a consideration for what sound and music I add when making future episodes...

posted at 9:54 PM

I threw together a Gordon page. Just click the button over on the left to get there. Or if you're too lazy, just click here.

I was thinking of a minor site redesign, cause I don't like having the flash logo running constantly, especially while people are trying to watch other flash stuff on the site. So I might remove the top frame completely, and just put the banner on the opening page or something. I dunno yet.
posted at 3:37 PM

I hope everybody had a great Christmas. Mine turned out better than expected. I may soon be watching tv again on a set that doesn't smear the whole picture. Woo!

Only downside to yesterday was my lack of internet access. I couldn't get online at all. It kept saying "Busy", but if you actually listen to the line, it wasn't a standard busy signal. There was just something wrong with the isp I imagine, with nobody there on Christmas to fix it. Normally I wouldn't have cared, but I wanted to upload episode 1 of Gordon. I'll make a page just for him eventually. But for now, you can get to the comic from here.

I decided it might be a good idea if I went ahead and downloaded the drivers I need for my Voodoo3, just in case I can't get on when it gets here. That would suck a lot of ass if I got a new part and couldn't even use it, due to lack of drivers!

My younger brother got a Dreamcast for Christmas, so he let me have the Playstation back, since he'll be too spoiled by the much prettier graphics to want to play this thing again. I thought I'd get into Metal Gear Solid again. Kind of ruins the whole game though once you've beat MGS2, since you learn a few things you'd never imagine, which influence everything. And how much does it suck, that you can't actually sneak using the analog stick in the original?! I had totally forgotten.

I also dug out Super Mario RPG for SNES, and decided to try and beat it too. I got to Bowser a long time ago, but wasn't a high enough level to beat him or something, so I was gonna have to start over.

The good thing about making web comics based on video games, is that you have to mess around with emulators to actually get the sprites. I've played Yoshi's Island a lot lately. Even though all the sprites I need for Gordon come from Super Mario World. hehe. It's actually not as simple as you'd think to get the sprites. Sure, getting simple shots is as easy as pressing the screen capture button. But it's another story when you're trying to grab frames of a particular animation. Holding the slow motion key, making Mario move, and pressing the capture button, all at the same time, can prove to be problematic. Sometimes it takes several tries to get the frames I need.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Hopefully I'll have a Gordon section up soon. I might even get around to making that page for MBR too. If you're lucky. ;)
posted at 1:15 PM

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little present, of something to come...

posted at 1:36 AM

I actually worked on Electris some earlier. Shocking eh? The Ogg Vorbis support seems to be working fine now. I fixed a crash I had on exit, and easily added in the volume change from when you go from title screen to the game. All I need to do is add a little bit of code here and there to make the music stop when you tab away from it and such. Not really hard work. Just takes a little digging to find all the necessary spots. I'll throw those bits in tonight or tomorrow, and possibly put a beta version up for everyone to try, to make sure it's all working right. Oh... and I should probably include the proper audio track, instead of Britney's "Cinderella", which I never changed from when I was testing it. ;)

Christmas cards cost too much. All the funny ones are $2 and up. By the time you get enough of those for people, you've spent enough for an entire present. The dollar rack of cards was picked clean. I guess I might have to use some cheapo non-funny ones, and make up for it by writing witty comments on the inside. That's what happens I guess when you wait till a week from Christmas!

Ohh and the best news... I finally ordered myself a Voodoo3 offa Ebay. Woo! I've used a Voodoo2 for a little while now. Anyone familiar with the older Voodoo line knows that they aren't exactly video cards... just 3d accelerators. Sure, they look pretty, and run well, but you still need a normal video card to display Windows itself, and for most other 2d stuff that won't let you select which card to use. The Voodoo 1 and 2 also don't let you run things in a window. This really sucks when it comes to stuff like 3d modeling, where it's not really feasable to use a single full-screen editing window. And nor do they let you, which leaves you to use software-based rendering. The Voodoo3 however, is a full-fledged video card, meaning 3d acceleration in a window and all that lovely stuff. So now I'll be able to make 3d models much easier. I might also try my hand at creating stages for Half-Life, now that the level editor won't run like crap.

My old Matrox Millenium II, which I use for primary video right now, has about had it. I've mentioned it before... but there's a clothespin clamping down two super thin pieces of wire I had to tape down to fix a deep scratch on the back of the card.. and I had to jam a pencil underneath it against the bottom of the computer case, to bend the card up pretty far.. all to stop these multi-colored lines from streaking across the screen. It was scratched initially when I got it off Ebay, but I was able to fix it at the time, and it worked for several months before I had to bring in the clothespins and pencils. It's been a really nice card, despite the defect. I'd recommend one to anyone who's looking for a cheap 2d card that handles decent resolutions with 32-bit color. It even has 3d, though don't count on anything over DirectX 7 to work on it. Even a lot of DX7 games won't work, due to lack of features.

Anyway, I'm anxious to get the Voodoo3, though it'll probably be after Christmas before I'll ever get it. I'm thinking that after it gets here, I may take my Christmas money and buy me an ATI TV Wonder VE, since my TV is about to die on me. They're about half as much as a full tv. Plus I'd be able to play console systems through my monitor. The only downsides to the thing is that the VE model will only record video in AVI from what I've read.. and worse yet, it only has mono output. I'd most likely have a vcr hooked through the input, with the vcr sound through the home theater, so that's not a big deal when it comes to watching movies and such. But if I wanted to just use the tuner built into the card, I'd be stuck with yucky mono sound. But hey, that's all my normal tv right now has, so it's not really much difference.

That's enough blabbin for now. Don't forget to zip your jacket.. it's cold out there!
posted at 12:23 AM

I didn't realize how long it was since I last posted. Lemme think what happened in all that time.

I borrowed the PS2 from my brother. I finally had a chance to sit down and play Metal Gear Solid 2. And beat it. ^_^ It's one of my favorite games, just like the last one was after I beat it originally. This one had kind of a weird story at the end... but there will be a sequal, so at least we'll find out more about the madness. I also played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, until I got to a mission that was pissin me off every time, so I cheated to get through it, until I got to the next one, which was equally frustrating, so I just quit. By that time, the fun of driving around town and running into stuff had lost it's charm, so I didn't mind giving the PS2 back after about a week.

I've had some story ideas, and was meaning to type some of'em out, but by the time I could get to the computer to do it, I wasn't in the mood to write. Same goes for Electris. I woke up yesterday morning, thinking I'm going to work on it some, and make the web page for MBR, but I fell asleep while watchin my tape of Screen Savers, and when I woke up, I wasn't in the mood to do it. So blah. I'll do it all sooner or later. (Like I haven't said that before. hehe)

Anyway, not a whole lot of interesting stuff to blab about. Just 13 days till Christmas!

posted at 4:36 PM