Another Monday, another day to report my progress on my BYOND project.
Well, in short, very little progress was made. The least ever since starting my classes. Between school and Champions Online, I haven't really made time for it. Given that the first (and easiest) of my Spanish tests came back with a 76% grade, it's looking like I'll need to make less time for Champions Online, more time for school. Time will tell whether I decide to make even less time for Champions Online for my BYOND project, though my rampant alt-a-holicism suggests the time I need to give that game a break is coming up sooner rather than later.
I did, at least, get a chance to show off my BYOND project to one of my classes because I had an assignment of demonstrating, via picture, transition taking place. Because one of my major focuses was an online world where transition does take place, a collage of screen shots was very topical.
A bit of incubation can be a good thing for a project, and upon briefly prodding it a bit last week, I did come across a good realization: I need to really get to know these factions I'm making.
I've reached a point where I can demonstrate some different parts of them: The native "worker" whose function is mostly involving around making and moving nutrition and converting land into native growth. The Terran "nanoprobe" which acts as a central hub for distributing resources to "construction drones" that actually build things. These were added off the cuff - I figured I'd just add some ideas into the game.
Now, I'm at the point where it's time to start adding something a bit more significant - like combat units - and I realize I haven't the faintest idea what would be appropriate. Do Terrans fight with tanks? What kind of things should the aliens be able to morph into? Why are the Terrans bothering to build bases in such a clearly hostile area?
If you have a mental frame of reference on something, you can automatically associate some things that go well with it. A fantasy RPG party might have a warrior, thief, wizard, cleric. We know the kinds of tools and means each of these four classes use. Because what I'm developing is so new, there is no frame of reference.
Once again, I'm re-inventing the wheel. I need to stay out of Dream Maker a bit and come up with some good associations for these different factions so I can understand just what I'm adding to the game and how it all works together.
Being tired all the time is a common affliction of mine, too. I really hate to admit it, since it's so central to how I like to spend my time, but it's largely my sedentary lifestyle I have to blame. When I actually exercise, I definitely notice a difference. Not always immediately, but it's there.
Last week was the worst. I was actually pretty damn depressed around Tuesday. Then I figured it out: since classes had started, I never made time for the treadmill. I had been doing nothing but sitting around for 2-3 weeks (partly because my weekend time was occupied with a highly-anticipated game release). I took 45 minutes on Saturday, and feel a little better now. I should probably take 30-60 minutes every day, but that's really incompatible with my lifestyle, and it's hard to do when I'm only home for about 3 hours a weekday. With Dinner immediately upon arriving home (a major factor, since I need to digest for 2-3 hours or abdominal cramps kill my ability to exercise.) | |
I find myself lifting weights every night. It doesn't give me a burning sweat or wake me up, but it kills time while at the same time producing upper arm strength.
Due to constant, never ceasing and belligerent rain fall, I haven't been able to ride for a couple of months now. The two times I attempted, I got home and collapsed on my drive way, struggling to breathe. I'm now drastically more out of shape than I was when I started this whole exercise thing. Bastard weather. | |
Nearly collapsing from exercise is not so good. If you feel absolutely miserable from what you're putting yourself through to exercise, you're not going to want to do it again, and the gains may not be worth the pain. Definitely want to pace one's self more.
Of course, what you're saying here is that you were desperate to get out of the nasty weather. Me, given my reclusive nature, I prefer to exercise indoors. | |
Oh, I only go at night when there's absolutely no one around. I too prefer to stay out of the publics eye if I can manage it.
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I get really interested in a project, work my ass off on it day 1, day 2, I make a few glances, day 3... I'm not bored with the project, just...
I typically only seem to make things in DM that only take a day to write, a day to clean and a day to bug test and fix up. After that, unless it's dire, I tend to not pay attention to the project.
I blame fatigue mostly, as lately I'm just tired all the time. I don't know if it's from over sleep, under sleep or an underlying health condition, but it's painfully annoying to be tired all the time.