I am SIDETRACK!

You’re forgetting, Lindsay, that as a psychiatrist, I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world’s first “analrapist”.

Administrator — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:42:58 +0000

My 360 has been showing signs of giving up the ghost when on at least a dozen occasions it would just freeze mid game. I tried numerous solutions to fix the problem but none of them seemed to work.

I’ve tried…

# a different power supply.
# with hard drive.
# without hard drive.
# with someone elses hard drive.
# with a 360 game.
# with a Downloaded game.

But none of these changed the situation. I really did think I would have to give Microsoft a ring and see what they said. In a last ditch attempt to getting my poorly 360 working I searched the internet to see if anyone else had found some magical solution. One website suggested that if the power supply was plugged into a power strip or splitter then that could be the root of the problem. I didn’t hold out much luck but that seems (I say “seems” now) to have fixed the problem. I’ve just been playing Dead Rising successfully for well over three and a half hours.

I’ll post again later as to the condition of my machine but hopefully this has sorted the problem.

Nah, it is now officially dead… damn!

Just so you know, there is only a 50% chance I’d eat you…

Administrator — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:39:33 +0000

Saw this on some random website and thought it was too amusing not to give it a go.

50%

In other news, George A Romero’s Diary of the Dead came out in UK cinemas today. I’ve always been a fan of the zombie genre and rate the original Dawn of the Dead as one of my favourite films. Hence a trip to the cinema is definitely in order.

Work on Firework Frenzy continues… I hope to have the prototype at a fairly decent state by the end of the week. There is only a few basic features left to add to the gameplay and it should be complete.

When Will I See You Again!

Administrator — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:39:16 +0000

Football Manager 2008 should come with health warnings. Government warnings exactly like the ones you get on cigarette packaging. Personally a game which sucks your life away with every passing minute should be banned, just for the sake of all mankind. I can’t stop playing it. Help me.

Right time to play Football Manager, arghhh when will this stop.

“Let’s hug it out”

Administrator — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:12:17 +0000

It’s been a while since my last update and so I thought it was about time for another one. During my last update I was aiming to convert Wario Ball to XNA as a learning experience. That was a success in part to the XNA Creators Club tutorials which pointed me in the right direction. Now that Wario Ball is officially out of the way, I have started work on Kyo-Hitsu for XNA.

In other news, I am once again heading out on a plane to Cyprus for a nice and hopefully relaxing two week holiday. Saw this the other day and it made me laugh, it can be used in any occasion which needs a dramatic effect, click below.

I’ll update with pictures from my holiday when I get back (obviously)

Bye for now!

No, I describe the accused as a git.

Administrator — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:12:48 +0000

I lied, utterly and completely without remorse for my actions. Nothing I every write in these posts come to fruition and I know I’ve said time and again that this would change but to no avail. Times have changed…hopefully.

Kyo Hitsu has moved across completely to XNA from OpenGL. No point continuing on the OpenGL version when it’s just going to be converted to XNA in the end. I decided, eventually to convert Wario Ball to XNA as a learning process which shouldn’t take too long. I’m planning on finishing this little project in a week… Yes, seven days, no excuses. This should at least get me use to programming with XNA and give me the basic so that I can move across to the main project of converting Kyo Hitsu. Speaking of Kyo Hitsu, I’ve posted some screenshots of the OpenGL version so you can at least see that I did make some progress. The three screen shots show the WIP Tank and Spider Boss.

That’s your lot for now so, enjoy?

Rather hoped I’d get through the whole show, go back to work at Pratt and Sons, keep wicket for the Croydon Gentlemen, marry Doris. Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says: “Bugger”.

Administrator — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:23:05 +0000

I’m still here and I’m still writing these blog entries, which is more than I can say for some people I know. So what has happened since the last entry? Well to some up, nothing much interesting which I can show you. Work continues on Kyo Hitsu, the space fighter old school arcade style shooter game. I’ve set a date which I’d like the project to be finished by but this does depend on a number of factors mostly involving me getting the work done. Once the project is complete, work will immediately begin converting it to XNA which hopefully shouldn’t take too long.

Hey, you created me. I didn’t create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!

Administrator — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:22:38 +0000

I’ve been very slow when it comes to updating this website and showing you the things I’m working on. Work continues on Kyu Hitsu, the name for our rather cool space shooter.

I spent the last week working on particle effects so that everything looks pretty. I’ve even included some screenshots for you lucky people. As you can see the particles all look nice and pretty. This is my first real attempt at a particles system and it’s worked out nicely. I did attempt a particle system a few years ago for a University project but this version need to be very flexible to create a vast array of differently styled particle effects. You can see this difference when comparing the second and third screenshot.

Loads of work still left to be done but the project is coming together quickly and should be done in the next month (he says). That’s your lot for the time being; by the time I write my next post the project could be over and done with.

Title Not Included

Administrator — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:30:24 +0000

Right, having not updated in about a month and a half I thought it was about time I actually wrote something on this bloody page. Well as you all know, (this isn’t news) the New Year has been and gone. America was ok and it was nice to have a family holiday but it’s now down to work seeing as Christmas is all over for another year.

I’ve taken over on Ego Shooter whilst Ging finishes works on the Hidden. This means that Project Zombie has been put on temporary hold. That is not to say the project has been cancelled, it’s temporarily paused whilst I get Ego-shooter out of the way. Then it’ll hopefully go into full over drive. Getting Ego-shooter out of the way means sitting down and planning out where the project is? And what else needs doing to it? Then actually doing those things.

I will attempt to continue updating this site on a regularly basis but if I’m slightly slow, that is because I am in fact, slightly slow.

Hey! It’s not a good night unless you get a traffic cone! It’s the police woman’s helmet and the suspenders I don’t understand!

Administrator — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:03:10 +0000

It’s a Saturday afternoon and I’m in the office working (well currently writing this blog but trust my I was just working), what’s happening to me? Things are moving along at pace, that pace is slow, but at least I’m moving in the right direction. I’ve currently halted work on Project Zombies (formally know at just, Zombies) to work on it’s design document. I thought it might be better to fully know the direction in which I’m taking this project before continuing any further with its development. Hopefully once the design document has been completed I’ll have a clear picture of where I’m taking the project and what is required from me instead of blindly winging it. Another short one for now, Bye.

There’s a nasty splinter on that ladder, sir. A bloke could hurt himself on that.

Administrator — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 10:54:02 +0000

We have officially moved into Sparkhouse as of yesterday afternoon. We carried base units and monitors across campus to our new home and today we are all feeling the pain. Monitors aren’t light and are definitely *NOT* easy to carry but all is well and good as we now have a place of work. Today will be spent formatting and getting the machines ready for action.

The University demonstrator job was pushed back by a week due to timetabling issues but I now have my work hours.

Monday 9-11
Wednesday 10-3
Friday 9-11

This means loads of lovely early starts for me but I’m not complaining (not in the slightest) and I’m actually looking forward to it. My time will however, be split four ways, GAME, University, Sparkhouse and me time. The help desk job does allow me to work on my own stuff as long as nobody needs help, so I might be able to get stuff done then. This was another quick update, bye.