Page: News.News201804091121PM - Last Modified : Tue, 10 Apr 18 - 869 Visits

Normally, I am the kind of person who likes to think ahead and be prepared to some of the possibilities. But in the recent years, I tried not to think more than 3 months ahead, because things keep changing so fast, that all my planning get entirely screwed up. I wanted to write this post a few weeks ago but was too busy to do so. I even dress up a list of items to talk about for this news post.

Wizardry Legacy: Yes I released the game on git lab and adapted the code. It's not perfect, installation does not work, I'll have to try again later. I also started to work on the editor and refactored a few things and then it felt between 2 chairs. Not sure if I'll have the time to work on it this summer, since I have another class to follow. I want to do all the editor feature before designing an adventure.

School: That is another thing to worry about. I avoided just in time the possibility to meet with the person who destroyed my career as a computer technician. It forced me to cancel my 2nd course (long story). It's somehow a good thing, because I was overloaded anyway. So now I am taking a summer course to catch up. Normally it's too hot in the summer, but in the recent years, July seems colder than august and september. So I'll give it a try. If everything goes according to plan, that never hold more than 3 months, I should finish my certificate somewhere in 2019.

Wounds: As you know, I am still wounded and have not received the diagnosis yet, but I am at least seeing a physiotherapist (which consume some of my time). The medication does not help because it stun my mind. I am also not very well seated at home so it's much harder to work on the computer. This is why I try to focus on school and work. Yes I am cheating by writing this.

Anti-Object Oriented Programming: Now that my mind is stunned, I have realized that I find it much harder to do Object Oriented Programming(OOP) than procedural programming. I first thought it was my lack of experience, but discovered that creating object models requires a lot of memory to remember objects, their behaviors and their interactions. So I am now seeking alternative ways to program without OOP. Therefore, I am writing a document listing guidelines to follow. The core idea is to separate data from code. Not sure where I will post this document as I don't have a programming web site yet.

Moving websites: Speaking of websites, I'll have to move them on another server. We are not sure where we will host them. I would prefer a Canadian server with console access. Not sure if I will still join in with m friend or simply go alone. I also have a library project at my job that would require a server. So if I could use this server for personal and work, that could be good. It's getting the console access that is hard, it's most of the time given only in professional packages which are more expensive.

Art and Web Site: I wanted to make a web site about artwork that I made, but it has been put on hold with everything that is going on. I also bought Art Rage for mobile device and started to paint a few things. It looks interesting so far, but I need more practice. I seems to lack of confidence to paint. But with practice, it should get better. My 3DS with Art Academy is defective, so I cannot finish my lessons.

Collection Cleanup: Lets talk a bit more about board games, I started to clean up my collection of board games. I want to reduce it's size by up to 50%. I got rid of many dummy games and empty boxes. I reboxed a few games, and tried to "craft paper"-ise the new box covers. I tried to replace clamsheel boxes with 2 part box. Might even buy chocolate boxes just to do the switch. Still, there are bigger games to get rid of and A few old games that I am sentimentally attached to it, but that I know I will never play. It's hard to judge what to get rid of, especially when you are not playing them.

Mahjong Rummy: I was not sure to keep my copy of Mahjong since the scoring mechanism is too complex to remember. So I got the idea of playing rummy with Mahjong tiles. I made some test and written the rules, they are available here. If you get a chance to play, give me some feedback. I did not have time to heavily playtest this.

Master of Magic Card Game: I am not much into board game design, but if there is only 1 game I would like to see the day is this one. I think I have a core working mechanism. I made the game 2 players to increase the possible depth that could be made with so few pieces. I got some inspiration from Microcosm and San Juan. Thinking to make some kind of tableau building game. I just like the idea of combining 2 deck of 9 cards (race + wizard) for each player so that each game is played differently. I started to make a prototype, but it also fell between 2 chairs.

Pixel Board: Still on hold, thinking of using the Anti-OOP to make it easier to develop. I am planning to work on it this summer, but cannot guaranty anything. For now I just want to focus on making text based games. I also thought that text based User Interface could be encoded to be easily exported as GUI. Text is much more easier to handle than individual widgets, I'll see if I could make a universal data stream displayable anywhere. Anyway, the goal is to program a simple system to be able to design and test new games rapidly. I still like the idea of making artificial intelligence for board games I have.

Ok, so that is all I have in my mind right now. Trying to solve one problem at a time and focusing on priorities. Still hoping for things to get better.

Thank you for reading