Post by Doan the Nado on Sept 30, 2008 23:06:32 GMT -5
Okay, here's the deal. I don't have classes for the next three months. I also didn't have classes for the last month and a half and guess how much I accomplished in that time.
No takers? Nothing of note. I did nothing. That is really sad to me, and I'm quite disappointed in myself. I mean, I had some fun, I had some relaxation time, and I got to unwind a little, but I'm ready to get back to work on something useful. My only problem is motivation.
For that reason, I'm going to announce my plans to an audience in hopes that it gives me some incentive to stick to them. Admittedly, doing this didn't really help with my RPGM2 creation, but that didn't have a lot going for it. As soon as I started taking programming courses (and experienced the frustrations of game distribution and collaborative work), the limitations of RPGM2 seemed quite glaring. But I'm getting away from my initial point.
My Programming Goals
1. All-new doanthenado.com
Create an all-new site at doanthenado.com. TheFinalRune suggested some time ago: "Doanthenado - a site for game lovers, mathmaticians, chemists, programmers, artists, thinkers, and geeks of all ages." and that is what I intend to model it on. I expect that the RPG Maker information here will eventually be migrated over, and this site will be subsumed by that one. This is quite a project and will take me some time, so don't look for any big changes too soon.
2. A better RPG (or any game for that matter) Maker
This is a long-term goal, and one that I don't expect to complete any time soon, but it's one that I want to keep foremost in my mind. There are too many creative individuals out there with great ideas who are only lacking the proper tools. This would be a completely free, open source program. It should be multi-platform, supporting Windows, Macs, and POSIX systems (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc.).
Initial versions would certainly tie in with other open source tools (the GIMP, Blender, etc.) for graphics creation, and custom sounds would be easily imported. In fact, early versions would rely on custom graphics and sounds, since I am not the best artist.
Again, this is a long-term goal, so don't expect anything in a month or two, but it is something that I want to start thinking about, researching, designing, and working on right now.
3. A baseball simulation website (see CSFBL)
I have played CSFBL for some time now, but it has some major limitations. It was written near the turn of the millennium and is showing its age, but it is still a very fun game. This project falls between #1 and #2 in terms of difficulty (much closer to #1). My hopes for my baseball site would be to attract some of the frustrated users from CSFBL as well as baseball and sports simulation fans in general. This would be a free, ad-supported, web-based game, with premium options for paying members. Hopefully this site could generate enough revenue to cover hosting costs for many of my online endeavors.
Initial versions of this site are likely to simply be an interface on top of CSFBL, giving you more flexible, powerful ways to set your lineups automatically and to communicate with other players in your league. Later on, the game engine itself would be written (along with implementing the payment model), and the website would be its own standalone game.
4. Start some blogs
One important point of #1 is to build the software in such a way that it can also be easily used to host a blog. In other words, the front-facing blog posts would actually be created by making message board posts. Replies to the blog would simply be replies on the message board.
I already have a pretty neat idea for my blog title:
I hope that doesn't sound too presumptuous, and also that it's apparent that it's a play on the phrase, "Nice guys finish last." I've already bought the domain names tryingnottofinishlast.com and talesofaniceguy.com. As for the banner, I put it together myself (as is probably apparent). I used a picture that I took with my camera phone while driving down the highway, overlaid the text in the GIMP, used liquid rescaling (thanks to the gimp-lqr-plugin) to remove some of the excess space around the lines of text, and there it is. I did it mostly as a way to learn how to use the GIMP, but it's a decent banner until I come up with something better.
I plan to use talesofaniceguy.com as my personal blog. Not quite a diary, but basically my ruminations on various topics (and actually, sometimes a diary as well). I may also create an additional talesofa___guy.com as a more technically-oriented blog which covers programming, electronics, and other Internet- and software-related topics. Come to think of it, perhaps TryingNotToFinishLast could become an entire blogging platform not unlike blogspot.com where people who sympathize with the idea of "trying not to finish last" could have their own blogs.
Wow, now I'm really getting excited. Remember how I said that this would work by using the message board software created in #1? Now think about how you have your own game forum here. With the structure I have in mind, that's automatically a blog if you wish to use it like that. (Note to self: open message board idea where members choose which "forums" they see)
Well, I think that's enough programming goals for now. I think this post was a good idea, because just putting down my thoughs has started the gears turning and given me some interesting ideas, and it has made me want to get started right away.
As an additional footnote to myself:
My Personal Goals
1. Get healthy!
Eat right, exercise, and sleep reasonably regularly. Lose 20-30 pounds (enough that I perceive myself as "hot" )
2. Waste less than an hour online per day (eventually to be decreased to 30 minutes)
This is actually harder than you might think for me. I can easily spend 20 minutes a day managing my aforementioned baseball team, another 10-60 minutes here (depending on the number of posts that have been made), another 30-120 minutes at a link aggregating site that I peruse (called "Hacker News"), another 10-30 minutes managing e-mail, and so on. I often "waste" 4-6 hours a day online. That is terrible, and is a huge part of what makes it feel like I have no time. Just solving this problem helps with the exercising and sleeping regularly items from above.
3. Play the guitar for at least 30 minutes per day
I have been in the process of learning the guitar for well over a year now, and I have not made much progress simply because I haven't dedicated myself to daily practice. Again, with the time saved from not being online as much, I will have plenty of time to do this.
4. Spend several hours programming per day
In order to accomplish my programming goals, this is a must.
5. Take some time daily for quiet reflection
Instead of always having headphones or the TV on, take some quiet time to let my mind wander where it will. I do not plan on setting any specific length of time on this except to continue doing it until I get antsy (start thinking about what I should be doing or worrying about stuff instead of doing "productive thinking" -- philosophizing, problem-solving, etc.).
Well, that's about enough. Time to get to work! (err.... rather, to sleep)
No takers? Nothing of note. I did nothing. That is really sad to me, and I'm quite disappointed in myself. I mean, I had some fun, I had some relaxation time, and I got to unwind a little, but I'm ready to get back to work on something useful. My only problem is motivation.
For that reason, I'm going to announce my plans to an audience in hopes that it gives me some incentive to stick to them. Admittedly, doing this didn't really help with my RPGM2 creation, but that didn't have a lot going for it. As soon as I started taking programming courses (and experienced the frustrations of game distribution and collaborative work), the limitations of RPGM2 seemed quite glaring. But I'm getting away from my initial point.
My Programming Goals
1. All-new doanthenado.com
Create an all-new site at doanthenado.com. TheFinalRune suggested some time ago: "Doanthenado - a site for game lovers, mathmaticians, chemists, programmers, artists, thinkers, and geeks of all ages." and that is what I intend to model it on. I expect that the RPG Maker information here will eventually be migrated over, and this site will be subsumed by that one. This is quite a project and will take me some time, so don't look for any big changes too soon.
2. A better RPG (or any game for that matter) Maker
This is a long-term goal, and one that I don't expect to complete any time soon, but it's one that I want to keep foremost in my mind. There are too many creative individuals out there with great ideas who are only lacking the proper tools. This would be a completely free, open source program. It should be multi-platform, supporting Windows, Macs, and POSIX systems (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc.).
Initial versions would certainly tie in with other open source tools (the GIMP, Blender, etc.) for graphics creation, and custom sounds would be easily imported. In fact, early versions would rely on custom graphics and sounds, since I am not the best artist.
Again, this is a long-term goal, so don't expect anything in a month or two, but it is something that I want to start thinking about, researching, designing, and working on right now.
3. A baseball simulation website (see CSFBL)
I have played CSFBL for some time now, but it has some major limitations. It was written near the turn of the millennium and is showing its age, but it is still a very fun game. This project falls between #1 and #2 in terms of difficulty (much closer to #1). My hopes for my baseball site would be to attract some of the frustrated users from CSFBL as well as baseball and sports simulation fans in general. This would be a free, ad-supported, web-based game, with premium options for paying members. Hopefully this site could generate enough revenue to cover hosting costs for many of my online endeavors.
Initial versions of this site are likely to simply be an interface on top of CSFBL, giving you more flexible, powerful ways to set your lineups automatically and to communicate with other players in your league. Later on, the game engine itself would be written (along with implementing the payment model), and the website would be its own standalone game.
4. Start some blogs
One important point of #1 is to build the software in such a way that it can also be easily used to host a blog. In other words, the front-facing blog posts would actually be created by making message board posts. Replies to the blog would simply be replies on the message board.
I already have a pretty neat idea for my blog title:
I hope that doesn't sound too presumptuous, and also that it's apparent that it's a play on the phrase, "Nice guys finish last." I've already bought the domain names tryingnottofinishlast.com and talesofaniceguy.com. As for the banner, I put it together myself (as is probably apparent). I used a picture that I took with my camera phone while driving down the highway, overlaid the text in the GIMP, used liquid rescaling (thanks to the gimp-lqr-plugin) to remove some of the excess space around the lines of text, and there it is. I did it mostly as a way to learn how to use the GIMP, but it's a decent banner until I come up with something better.
I plan to use talesofaniceguy.com as my personal blog. Not quite a diary, but basically my ruminations on various topics (and actually, sometimes a diary as well). I may also create an additional talesofa___guy.com as a more technically-oriented blog which covers programming, electronics, and other Internet- and software-related topics. Come to think of it, perhaps TryingNotToFinishLast could become an entire blogging platform not unlike blogspot.com where people who sympathize with the idea of "trying not to finish last" could have their own blogs.
Wow, now I'm really getting excited. Remember how I said that this would work by using the message board software created in #1? Now think about how you have your own game forum here. With the structure I have in mind, that's automatically a blog if you wish to use it like that. (Note to self: open message board idea where members choose which "forums" they see)
Well, I think that's enough programming goals for now. I think this post was a good idea, because just putting down my thoughs has started the gears turning and given me some interesting ideas, and it has made me want to get started right away.
As an additional footnote to myself:
My Personal Goals
1. Get healthy!
Eat right, exercise, and sleep reasonably regularly. Lose 20-30 pounds (enough that I perceive myself as "hot" )
2. Waste less than an hour online per day (eventually to be decreased to 30 minutes)
This is actually harder than you might think for me. I can easily spend 20 minutes a day managing my aforementioned baseball team, another 10-60 minutes here (depending on the number of posts that have been made), another 30-120 minutes at a link aggregating site that I peruse (called "Hacker News"), another 10-30 minutes managing e-mail, and so on. I often "waste" 4-6 hours a day online. That is terrible, and is a huge part of what makes it feel like I have no time. Just solving this problem helps with the exercising and sleeping regularly items from above.
3. Play the guitar for at least 30 minutes per day
I have been in the process of learning the guitar for well over a year now, and I have not made much progress simply because I haven't dedicated myself to daily practice. Again, with the time saved from not being online as much, I will have plenty of time to do this.
4. Spend several hours programming per day
In order to accomplish my programming goals, this is a must.
5. Take some time daily for quiet reflection
Instead of always having headphones or the TV on, take some quiet time to let my mind wander where it will. I do not plan on setting any specific length of time on this except to continue doing it until I get antsy (start thinking about what I should be doing or worrying about stuff instead of doing "productive thinking" -- philosophizing, problem-solving, etc.).
Well, that's about enough. Time to get to work! (err.... rather, to sleep)