The Drawing Board

Tidying up

2008-08-28T01:54:00.005+08:00

Expect changes in appearance and (frequency of posting) in this blog soon.

p.s. I know, I know. I'm in fact, the laziest blogger in the world

Returning to blogging

2008-05-27T17:30:00.002+08:00

Quote. I'm not dead yet. I'll be back :D Unquote.

...

One word. Wow.

How long has it been? Nearly TWO years. Just WOW. This must be the biggest comeback in blogging history (NOT). Since my last entry, there have been many things that have happened. Some on the finer side of things. A few tumultuous ones. Most things hasn't actually changed at all.

I'm still as zany as ever, maintaining a lot of aspects that are uniquely me. However, there are a few things about me that changed over the course of my blogging inactivity. Prior to this entry, I was still a book totting-pencil twirling-exam crunching student. Fast forward two years, and I'm now on course of starting yet another new chapter in my life. I admit I'm a bit afraid of taking the next step, close to terrified actually.

As I'm making my way up the steps, certain uncertainties tend to play out. What am I gonna do? Where will I go? What do I do next after I got the answer to both the above questions?

I have a lot of things to talk about. Hehe, a lot of things have happened over the past two years, and I'm really looking forward to sharing them. But I'm gonna stop right here before I start writing a long story about that. Till then :D

Merry Xmas

2006-12-24T14:37:00.000+08:00

Did you know the hardest part about christmas is actually deciding what gifts you want to buy for your loved ones? Took me nearly three days of shopping to get what I wanted (and a burnt hole in my pocket). Nevertheless, I really hope they like my gifts. It's all about the giving anyways, right? That's what christmas is all about anyways. Then there's the huge amount of cleaning that needs to be done. After that, there's the, well. . .

As far as my post goes, the title says it. Merry Christmas to all.

For people who play MMOs

2006-12-12T20:01:00.000+08:00

Yes, this is dedicated to all the people who play MMOs, namely . . (bah, I won't bother myself to list down all of them, there's just too many of them. So here). Here, I think, is a comic which defines the true reality of MMOs today.

Read it here

(I will write a more on this entry later, got no time right now)

Wow. . .

2006-11-16T17:35:00.000+08:00

136.25.54

Ignore the figure above. It's just a random number I want to use later to gauge my memory power (write it at the top of the post, then try to remember and type it down at the bottom, without cheating). I have been having this memory loss problem since last month. I also seem to be suffering from conventration loss. Surprisingly, these symptoms actually point to, er, what you call that disorder again, ah, ADD (short form for Attention Deficit Disorder). The fact that ADD's uncurable makes me twitch. I can't help it though. The other day I accidentally left my handphone at the exam hall. Fortunately, my coursemates picked it up and even took the trouble to deliver it back to me (thanks guys :)). Another incident involves me walking back and forth several times from the foyer to the exam hall, just because of a silly chain of events that led me to travel back and forth several times (read my lips, forgetfulness, absent-minded, stupidity). Just in case I lost you there, here's an insight: Went to take my ruler, forgot my pencil. Went to take my pencil, forgot to take my exam slip. Where this could have just taken ONE trip, my absent-mindedness led me through several harrowing trips. And there's the countless of other small incidents, but I won't mention them here. I think managing to live through the embarrassment should suffice.

My mind's always wandering where it isn't supposed to be wandering. When I'm supposed to be with my books, I'm with my computer instead, typing line after line of JASS (a computer programming code for Warcraft III) code of god-knows-what-it-will-do-only-to-delete-it-later. I can't seem to study. Haven't the motivation and mood. Even when I know the finals are so close, I still keep hammering away at my keyboard everytime I lose a race at NFS:Carbon (no more now, as I have already beat the demigoddamn boss! *shows middle finger salute to Darius*). I don't know how and I don't know why. I seem to be forgetting something everyonce in a while. Well, let's see. 1, 3, 6. . .

. . .

It's my ip address, in case you haven't noticed. Okay, if you want yours, just go to Start->Run->type cmd->type ipconfig. There. Your very own personalised, er, numeric value.

On to the topic by the way, "wow" really sums it. I'm truly impressed with Blogger now. Now, I can have some fun with the template customization. In cae you don't know what I'm talking about, Blogger already added the option to automate the process of adding links and customizing your template to your blog, a welcome addition and relief, as many things have to be done manually before (looking through the code, trial and error, awkwardly-looking blog after you made a mistake, you name it) before.

Okay, I think I should stop now, so now, err. . .

135.32.65

Edit: Dang

My labor of love (continued. . )

2006-11-14T18:14:00.000+08:00

Now, I know why *most* (at the time of writing, it was supposed to be *some*, but then changed it knowing the fact that *some* wouldn't make much of an impact. So, I changed it to *most*) people hate business studies. I've just experienced it first-hand today. God. The facts you have to memorize. The formulaes (*most* of them involve formulating the result to one little demigoddamn variable). Bah. Bah. Demigoddamn it. Now my marks for business studies is gonna look like it's been through a tough day with its pants down.

More bad news. A virus just wiped my harddrive clean! Even my preciousss data (photos, lecture notes, mp3s and my final project! All lost!) was lost! The nerve! Stupid virus! And to think I wanted to post a few photos (yup, just a few showing my hands and the back of my head. Face and actual figure not included :P) of mine here, now I can't!

Back on topic (noticed I ran a little too far off topic), (ahem)

Aston Martin DB9: My ex-labor of love (for always making me lose races in NFS: Carbon). Cheap tier 2 car, better off in the maws of the demolisher.

Lamborghini Murcielago: My new labor of love :P For a hefty price too.

I really think that's it for now. I really need to contemplate what has been done today :( (and kick some more ass in NFS: Carbon!)

Today. . .

2006-11-12T19:16:00.000+08:00

I turn 22.

This can't be dead. . .

2006-11-04T14:22:00.000+08:00

"The Oracle once told me, that I would write a blog, and it was also foretold that the blog will never die. So, you see, this blog can't be dead. It can't be. Because this is THE blog that I'm writing." (quoted from The Matrix, slightly modified for personal tastes)

Late, late re-entry. I'm coming home to blogging after a long hiatus. After a long and prolonged (deliberate, I have this to say) period of time, I was finally able to shake off the oh-I-can't-write-a-blog-I-have-no-idea-what-to-write jitters. To be frank, I'm a bit frustrated, because this is my third pre-entry today. I squashed the other two, because of lack of content. So, I really hope this entry works because I'm really tired of writing the same things over and over again. I'm really tired of this no-I-can't-publish-this-it's-not-perfect. Out with all of the bullshit, away with the impeccable syntax and grammar, I'm finally going to write and FINISH this entry. If I don't, then you won't be able to see this. Whether it's perfect or not, I'm gonna publish this!

I think I've penned down just enough for today. I'm seriously out of ideas, and out of time.

p.s. Feel free to read a comic of mine, a parody based of the movie, The Mummy Returns (watch it, great movie) here

Is this. . dead?

2006-09-01T13:18:00.000+08:00

It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this blog is dead. Well, if all rocket scientists were so dead on with their figures, then why are there rocket failures?

The thing is, this blog has been playing dead for quite a while. Truth is, I have been looking forward to resuscitating it time and time again but alas, my hands were shackled the entire time. At some point, I was even considering about pulling the plug and letting it go for good.
What can I say? Is this what passes for over-ambition in this blog? Not entirely. Laziness, absolutely. Ambition started it. Laziness ended it.

So, how is it going to be? Is this blog going to be resurrected, or is it stay dead? Time will tell.

Neverwind RPG Update #7

2006-03-25T14:44:00.000+08:00

So, this is update #7? Yes, I know. I have not updated in a long, long time (okay, maybe I exaggerated too much). I am going to make things short.

#1 In case you wondered why I have not updated in a while, it is because I was busy making spells. Many would assume that if I was away that long, that means I have made a lot of spells by now. Yes, if you assumed that, then you are correct. To date, I have made a total of 60+ spells and I am still not finished. This many spells has lead to long loading times (somewhere between 7 to 13 seconds). Planning to make at least 200+ spells (guess how long the loading time would be by then?). I hope to finish it all, then widgetize all of it in the hopes of reducing loading time.

#2 At the same time, I was also working on the skills system. A system which will govern a lot of things in the game. In total, there are ten skills already in the game (8 major skills and 2 minor skills). I am planning to add more in the future.

Clockwise from top left: Blunt, Blade, Mysticism, Alteration, Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Illusion

Something funny

2006-03-16T10:54:00.000+08:00

Look what I found while I was hanging around in Battle.net.

Now, get this: What is up with our broadband service lately? Some hiccups in the servers? Some employees sleeping on the job? Who knows? Hell, it has been ruining my DoTA games. . a LOT. Imagine lagging out from 3 out of 5 games I play. In the end, I just got tired of the whole thing, and stopped (well, at least until they fix the problems).

Neverwind RPG Update #6

2006-03-09T13:27:00.000+08:00

I simply love blogging down these updates. They never get old. Or do they? I know, I know. . it has been quite a while since my last entry. Was working on the map during my absence. Just so you know, a lot of new features have been added for the past few days, some of which had me really excited. So excited that I cannot wait to show them to you.

#1 I just finished triggering the inventory system for the map a few days ago. It's pretty neat, as it can store up as many items you want (say, 60 items. . a minimal figure which I chose, as I want to minimise lag). But really, the skies are the limit. The system is really flexible that it can be changed to store unlimited amounts of items You can set the variable to, say 100, and you get to store 600 items.

#2 Just finished terraining Port Nimoar's branch of the Fighters Guild. Some screenies. .

Inside the Fighters Guild. Just using the opportunity to use the Pandaren Thief

Inside the Fighters Guild. Okay, those two really look alike. Freaky.

#3 Moving on, months earlier I was planning on making a speechcraft system. It was tricky, but I managed to do it in record time. A few screenies. .

For interaction with NPCs, the speechcraft system takes this to whole new levels. Based on an NPCs disposition (read this, trust) towards you, it will govern how the NPC reacts to your presence. Asking the NPC questions which integral to your quests will be a breeze if you get his or her trust high enough. Get it too low and he won't even speak, trade stuff or give training. See the screenie above? Now this guy doesn't like me very much (depicted by his trust of only 19/100). Okay, so we bring up the speechcraft menu and select a few actions that may convince him. Let's try admiring him.

Oops, that didn't work (partly because my speechcraft level is far too low). Let's try bribing him now.

Eeps, that didn't work either.

Several dozen tries and hundreds of gold later, success!

#4 Some future plans include: Alchemy system, more terraining

Neverwind RPG Update #5

2006-03-04T04:22:00.000+08:00

More screenies. . . again. This time these shots are from Harrowdale, a forest just west of Nimoar's Hold.

Update:

And I believe some might be interested in some shots during the day.

#1 At the moment, nearly all my trigger work are being recoded. This is essential because although my triggers do not produce lag ingame, they are messy and unorganized. This makes it hard for me to update or add anything new. Recoding includes optimisation of some trigger lines, truncation of underused game variables, and several updates to the game cache.

#2 Harrowdale's terrain is about 25% completed. I cannot say when I will finish, as it took me two days to do this. Maybe in the next week or so.

#3 Currently coding an extended inventory from scratch to carry more items from map to map.

More updates soon.

DoTA Guide: Playing The Tinker

2006-02-27T15:17:00.000+08:00

For those who do not know yet, DoTA stands for Defense Of The Ancients (currently version 6.28). Before you read down, I suggest you get an insight on what this hero is all about here
Got it? Good. Now on to the details.

Pros
Great hero killer (in early game -> with Laser+Heat Seeking Missile Spam)
Effective pusher (in mid game -> with March Of The Machines)
Cons
Overall useless (in late game)

I know some might be discouraged and all, but do not gloom. I have got the perfect solution for all those who love this hero. After seeing a few replays and tinkering with the hero a bit, I finally came up with an effective build. . one which encompasses all things good in a DoTA game (pushing, hero killing, you name it).

Items you should get for this build
Boots Of Travel
Manta Style

What you should do
Okay, first things first. Your skill build should be exactly below.

March Of The Machines
Heat Seeking Missile
March Of The Machines
Heat Seeking Missile
March Of The Machines
Rearm
March Of The Machines
Heat Seeking Missile
Laser/Attribute Bonus
Heat Seeking Missile
*after this, it is up to you but make sure you max out Rearm.

Okay, now. . start off by buying Boots Of Speed. That is the only thing you will need at the start. To get gold from creep, cast March Of The Machines to max out your gold income. So far, its chances of getting a creepkill is high. Save money to buy the recipe for Boots Of Travel (and maybe a Robe Of Magi or two). By then, you should have Rearm. Okay, you got Boots Of Travel so now you would be able to travel from point to point in the map without much hassle. Make sure your mana reserves are large enough to accomodate the following casts.

Boots Of Travel (2 casts x 75 mana each)
Rearm (1 cast x 150/250/350 mana each)
March Of The Machines (1 or 2 casts x 145/160/175/190 mana each)

Okay, once you get those things in check, pick any empty lane. Teleport there, get some creep kills by attacking and casting March of the Machines at the same time. Rearm, cast March Of The Machines again if possible. Teleport back to the fountain. Once at the fountain, cast Rearm again and all your ability cooldowns will be reset. get your health and mana restored and find another empty lane. Rinse, wash and repeat. Do this several times, and you would find that you have amassed a lot of gold. Get enough gold for Manta Style. Once you get it, then things are going to get much more fun. Do the same thing again, this time use Manta Style. Your images will be a great boon to your creepkilling efforts. Teleport. Use Manta Style. Cast March Of The Machines. Attack. Rearm. Teleport. If your mana reserves are high enough, you can do this two or more times per repeat. Do this over and over again and that should earn you a lot of gold to buy some really good items. I would recommend the following items.

Radiance
Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse
Eye Of Skaadi
Burize do-Kyanon
*the rest is up to you

With those items, you can push and kill heroes with great ease. Your images (casted from Manta Style) are a great help, especially in hero killing. If you find yourself in a tight spot, simply Rearm then use Manta Style again to renew your images. Run away a distance, then teleport out of there. If you do your things right, you are virtually unkillable. Do this and you will own. Trust me, it works.

Neverwind RPG Update #4

2006-02-24T04:38:00.000+08:00

Screenies of the new race and class selection menu.

There is something about. .

2006-02-16T02:38:00.000+08:00

In case you are wondering, I am talking about Full House (some Korean drama). I just cannot shake it off. There seemed to be something really wrong with the ending. Oh yes, it was so LAME. Yes, it was. . it really was. Let me explain.

[Spoilers]
Somewhere nearing the end, Young Jae (the leading male in the show, portrayed by Rain) will be expressing his oh-so-touchy feelings to Ji Eun (the leading female in the show, portrayed by Song Hye Gyo). Here was how it went (Young Jae for YJ and Ji Eun for JE).

YJ: Ji Eun. .
JE: [glances at YJ]
YJ: [silence]
JE: [glances at YJ]
YJ: [silence]
JE: [glances at YJ]
YJ: [mutters something, then takes a breather]
JE: [still glancing at YJ]
YJ: [silence]

Yada yada yada. . this was why it was so LAME. It went on and on and on. I was so exasperated to an extent that I nearly went mad. Until. .

YJ: Ji Eun. .
JE: [glances at YJ]
After moments of silence, he finally says it.
YJ: Sarang hae. . (in Korean, it means I love you)
JE: [glances at YJ in disbelief, or at least I thought she was]
YJ: Do sarang hae. . [then mutters some grandiloquent mumbo jumbo]
JE: [glances at YJ, tears starting to swell in her eyes]
JE: [gives a soft peck (in the lips)]

Then I was like: WTF, that was it? I mean, that was not even close to kissing. It was more of a brief peck. I wasted 16 hours and this? LAME. I kept watching. Looks like I was wrong.

[They start embracing each other and kissed. END.]

I would say it is FINISHED (the pun intended). The ending is ruined. I mean, WTF? It was better if they stopped there (with the peck). Why continue? I would rather if they did not have it at all. Seriously, the whole kissing thing. . it was so fake. So unconvincing.

Overall, the drama itself was not that bad. The start was okay, the middle was good and the last couple of episodes. . draggy. The show did make me laugh at times (yes, it was funny. . at times). The ending, a happy one (and that is what everybody wanted). In the end, the fake kissing and the draggy episodes ruined it (for me, of course).

Neverwind RPG Update #3

2006-02-12T18:25:00.000+08:00

Right now, I am at a stage where I will be breaking the game a LOT. I am thinking of updating the interaction system with more advanced options (the choice to speechcraft, more questions added, maybe adding a few tweaks to the quest bar). The spell system is on the verge of revamp (turns out the spell system was a little clunky and disorganised and to top that up, it cannot support spells with the same base order ids). The terrain work is going smoothly. I omitted my previous works for a much cleaner (and less clunky) terrain. Since I now only have small maps to work on, my work time has been reduced to by 400%. Custom spell work has been halted indefinitely due to a major bug in the editor (which I am striving to solve in the weeks ahead). If I ever find a work around for the bug, I will be opting for simpler spells.

Finally, more screeniesss. . .

Some random babbling. .

2006-02-11T04:50:00.000+08:00

I like her (Song Hye Gyo, photo inset). So you might say: What? Is that all? Is that what I have got to say about her? Hey, this remark came from a person who had his share of skepticism. Yes, yes. . used to give really bad remarks about her, always inadvertently saying she cannot be that beautiful (basing on the fact that no girl is consistently beautiful throughout). To an extent that I betted with some friend (who is one big fan of her). Making my story short: Betted, watched, lost bet.

Known about her after watching Full House (some Korean drama). The shocking truth is. . I hate dramas (yes, especially Korean). Never liked them (maybe because their plots were so boring and stereotypical). So why am I watching one right now? All I can say that, this is an exception. Hey, do not get me wrong. What can I say? After a few episodes in, I found myself addicted to it. Okay, okay, back to her. So, I went to find some nice photos of her (okay please do not start, I am not a stalker, neither am I a sex maniac, just an admirer).

First shot: This is an actual shot from Full House itself. Love that smile, looks absolutely gorgeous (even with her hair tied in a bun, safe to say not many girls have this sort of quality).
Second shot: I nearly melted after seeing this shot. No words to describe. Keyword HOT.

The photos courtesy of err. . . (I am not really sure)

Have you watched Lord Of War yet? No? It is highly recommended that you do. It is one of the better movies I have seen so far. A true masterpiece. Okay, some might think that I am just overexaggerating, but it is true. The story is just so brilliant (I would give it a 11 out of 10, seriously). From start to finish, this movie is a thrill to watch. Everything in the movie is executed so perfectly that it makes me want to watch it a second time. And to think that this was also one of those movies which I criticised inadvertently. Now that I mentioned it, I suddenly felt ashamed of myself.

Overall, a very good movie. A must see.

Overdoing is bad. . .

2006-02-05T06:20:00.000+08:00

You get the picture. Yes, overdoing is really, really bad. Take me for example. At one time, I thought: The more doodads placed, the better the terrain will be. Guess what? I was wrong. Placing a LOT of doodads simply had no effect (the positive kind) whatsoever on my terrain. It did not make my terrain any better, except making it much worse. Put it simply, overdoodad-ing ruined my map (not the whole map, only particular ones fortunately). It looked so cheesy after a couple of (really, really long) glances. Plus, overdoodad-ing wasted a LOT of my time (where it could be put to better use elsewhere). In the end? I reterrained it (OMG, again?). Yes, again. This time, I learnt a valuable lesson. I would not say reterrain, rather, I created a whole new one (on a new map, this time much smaller than the previous). Here are the results. Surprisingly, it took me no more than three hours (due to its simplicity). Better yet, it looked great.

For WT this week

2006-02-04T10:00:00.000+08:00

They wanted all terrainers to do a prison. Tried it, did it in about forty minutes or so. At the end, I thought to myself: Did I screw up? Did I? After a few glances, I thought it was rather okay-ish, but I was not really satisfied with the terrain I did. A bit too dark and gloomy, I think (but aren't prisons supposed to be dark and gloomy?).

Neverwind RPG Update #2

2006-01-27T22:18:00.000+08:00

Just thought I release some screenies. Some shots from the reterrained Nimoar's Hold.

A quick babble [I have no time]

2006-01-26T21:49:00.000+08:00

Let me make this quick. . the library is going to close soon. Been waiting eagerly to put some ink down here. I am so relieved that the week is finally coming to a close. What can I say? An utter nightmare, I tell you! This week in particular was so saturated with tests, that I nearly went insane before the end of the day. Let me sum it up for you: Had two tests in a day (well, it was not that bad since I had three tests in a single day before). I got flamed and blacklisted by some lecturer, partially because I left her lecture early the other day because I had to attend a test just after the lecture. Hey, I did not do anything wrong. Seriously, I did not know why she took it personally. Ah, forget about it. Going to have one more test tomorrow before the holidays set in.

Wait [gasp]. . Guess what? No WT for this week. I gave it the pass as this week was just far too hectic for me to terrain. Plus, I did not have the mood to do so, as I had zero inspiration to terrain.

[I will add more later, the library is closing]

Neverwind RPG Updates

2006-01-21T22:15:00.000+08:00

Here I will update a few things on the progress of the Neverwind RPG.

#1 The terraining is going rather well, being able to reterrain most of Nimoar's Hold and Port Nimoar (I was not really satisfied with the earlier terrain work). Terraining work of Valewood (a forest just west of Nimoar's Hold) is still underway as we speak. Shattered Shores and Khartag Point are still in its infancy stages and have not being laid out in plan yet.

#2 I recently found that my previous trigger work have been rather messy and worst of all, it leaks. I will stop trigger work in the meanwhile to scan for memory leaks, thus cleaning them all up. Hopefully, this will be a reminder for me to be more careful when triggering.

#3 The game cache for the campaign has been vastly improved to carry more in-game information from map to map. This means quests are now compatible with all maps, meaning you can delay quests or bring them forward from map to map. The spell system has also been improved greatly, allowing more spells to be learned per hero.

#4 On the first release (which will be due in months), it will only feature the following areas: Nimoar's Hold, Valewood and Shattered Shores. The henchman system and the alignment system will not be in the first release.

I think that is about it. Stay tuned for more updates.

For the next WT. . .

2006-01-17T10:20:00.000+08:00

Still pondering whether or not I want to enter Weekly Terraining® for this week. Got lectures to attend (seriously, my schedule is crammed with lectures. . . not a surprise if you are taking 18 credits in a single semester).

I find this WT this week to be really tempting (this week, the theme is Druids Grove). . especially because I have quite a good hand at the Ashenvale (do not ask me what is an Ashenvale tileset if you are not into World Editor. . you will never understand) tileset. I really want to make my entry special, but my curfews are limiting the amount of time I can really spend on it. Hell, I would have spent hours on it. . . but wait, no, I cannot. . . I have tests (three in total, possible four) coming up. How am I going to allot time for my tests and WT?

[An optimistic approach of the situation] Yes, yes. Yes I can, I can do the WT. I will spend time on the WT (at least until the weekends). In the weekends, there will be two (lecture-less) days. . that way I can study up till the wee hours of the morning. Yes, yes. . of course.

[An pessimistic approach of the situation] No, no. I cannot. Screw WT. I can do it next week. Muahaha. . . (or) No way, screw books! WT is more important. . . It is only the first test, right? muahahaha. . . .

. . .

Okay. . I have been so lethargic today. . .

Update: I do not know how I found time to make an entry (maybe because I skipped MSN . . LOL), but I did it. The screenies are below.

Now. . on to my studies :D

My To-Do List

2006-01-11T19:48:00.000+08:00

For my map project:
1. Get my map transition code fixed and optimised. . (I think I may have broken it :( )
2. Make more custom spells
3. Think out (really hard) of (gothic or medieval, others do not count) names of places
4. Think out some really cool items to put in
5. Get more custom doodads (my map is severely lacking in it)
6. Optimise triggers and clean up unwanted variables

For the next Weekly Terraining®:
1. Get more inspiration (I lack a LOT of it)
2. Get World Editor warmed up
3. Anticipate what will be the next theme (LOL. . )