Fractal Art

Since this box is starting to settle down, I was in the mood to change the 'tranquility' background that's standard for XP to something a little more .. widescreen.

After a quick visit to Facelift, I had a number of images to choose from, but seeing some fractals poking their heads up made me remember the old fractint days. Fractint is looking a bit long in the tooth now, but at least Ultra Fractal is keeping the light burning bright for artistic interperetation of fractals. There's some awesome galleries popping up over the net with UltraFractal images, like DeviantArt and Paul DeCelle's work.

Paul's pic of eternity (pictured here) wins my desktop for now ...

Machinima + flash = WIN!

Microsoft have put out a great new promo site for their developer productivity tools using some great vids from the machinima crew. I'd really like to see those vids on TV, and the production quality looks like it' there, so that might be where it's intended (Although I'm guessing that their intended audience may not watch that much TV anyway).

InfinityLabs

Stefan Grouter is completing a PhD down at RMIT working on procedural 3D models for virtual worlds. Looks interesting, and a possible liason partner in the future if this temporal ROAM stuff ever gets underway. After months of procrastination I've finished the proposal, only to find that Ron is snowed under and unable to take on further students. Looks like there's some interesting oportunities afield though.

Tell it like it is (was) ...

Had a dig around some old GDC articles on Stefan's site. A couple of Gamasutra links later and I'm reading some awesome stuff from the Grassroots Gamemaster about the way game design is; and how it used to be:

You know the difference between a vocation and a profession? One is done for the love of it; the other for money. That made by the other may be damn good, but no matter how good it looks, no matter how expertly executed, no matter how many external criteria are met, to the person with a beating heart and insight there is something dull, something dead in it. The former may have pennies (if that) for a budget, may result in 8-bit pixels or pencil sketches instead of elaborate 3D graphics, but there is something far more alive in it than everything a multi-million dollar mediocrity could ever hope to deliver.

A grassroots gamemaster designs games because he loves them. He doesn’t need the fancy technology because the reward comes from the look in the eyes of the players; the excitement in their voices. (If he can use his talent and experience to make good electronic games, so much the better – but that is not a primary motivator.) He plays them with his friends – in the same place, the same room – as a way to spin an adventure in the here and now; a spontaneous unplanned adventure that emerges out of the dialogue, the relationship, of the creator to the players. The game, indeed, serves as a catalyst to foster a larger relationship – one that goes beyond the mere confine of games. His passion for what he does is infectious. He just needs some room and a little time to weave this magic, and his friends are sure to join. He is a poet. He
hasn’t forgotten what makes the best things tick.

Amen to that. Where's the essence? Where's the Quan !!@!

AngBand anyone ?

No Regrets

After a long weekend of youth activities, I also volunteered for the testimony at the youth service. Even though I've done "No Regrets" a couple of times, it still keeps coming out differently. I'm pretty sure I've used 3 different verses to tie it in too, so I'd better document some of this:

No Regrets
"Don't regret the decisions you make": Dad, circa 1987
- Accept your decision as the best one that could be made at that time
- close off opportunities
- Studying

- Double edged
- choose wisely
- be prepared

- God knows everything
- Psalms 139:1-6

- Loving father

Osmosis Land

I was asked to do the devotion for last Monday's School Council meeting, so I'd decided to redo Earthsuit's Osmosis Land sermon from a couple of years ago. I forgot to bring the shirt though! Billy was after the song for one of his kids, so after googling it up it looks like it's on Rhapsody.


Pretty powerful lyrics to dig into:

Every night and every single day
The sun will rise, the moon it will fade
And in our web idols were spun
Caught up in oblivion

So we come with the song, come with the sword
Come with the image of the Son
Come with the song, come with the sword
What we behold we become

Living in osmosis land
Living in osmosis land
Come on and bring up, bring the swing
Everybody get up
Bring up, bring the swing, let my God erupt
In this land of Osmosis
Come on and bring up, bring the swing
Everybody get up
Bring up, bring the swing,
let my God erupt
In this land of Osmosis

The main thrust of it ties into one of my favourite verses:

Romans 12:2 (The Message)
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

WCG announces games for 2007

WCG posted up the official list of games for 2007. Looks like there's a fair few new games with 12(!) in total including 2 team games.

Seems a bit top-heavy with 4 RTS games, and no single person FPS ? I do like the inclusion of Gears of War as the 2nd team-based game as it has a lot to offer that is different to CS. Tony Hawk has also been a long-time hardcore game with little recognition, so it's another good pick. The competition format is still being decided for Tony Hawk & various other new entries, so I'm not sure how it's going to play in a one-on-one competitive format.

There's also the Promo video for Seattle up on the site too.

WoW TCG

A great intro to WoW trading card game

Thought controller

VR has always been a step or 2 away from becoming a reality, but at least this looks like sidestepping the interfacing problem. It still sounds like the latency issue is there, but maybe it's not as noticable if it's perceived as an extension.

Chronic Logic - Kingdom Elemental

Thought I'd kept an eye on Kingdom Elemental's progress, but looks like it was released at the start of the year.

Demo for home