Don't Panic!

Which is of course the phrase appearing on the cover of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (the guide, not the novel). And now it's the tag-line for the big movie coming out in May. Apparently it's been around for some time, but we were just at Andrew's house and he showed us around the website.

(By the way Andrew's house was fun. Except for the part about Lleighton Hewitt losing the tennis. What the hell was that all about?)

Anyway it looks very cool, despite Zaphod Beeblebrox having just one head :( and hopefully will do to The Guide what Peter Jackson's epics did for The Lord of the Rings.

I've actually only recently picked up the book (series) but it really is fascinating. A very intellectual yet always unbelievably funny look at science fiction. Douglas Adams had a great mind, and it's sad we had to lose him.

Heres the website, where you can view the trailer and... err thats about it at this stage. But it looks very cool.

Anyway on another note, tomorrow the question will be answered... will the incessant call for us to "get down to the Melbourne Exhibition Building" for the "bargain of your life" be over forever?
Backstory for anyone who hasn't turned on a Melbourne TV in the past... err, over a month.
I have no idea why this happens, but for some reason, every year around christmas truckloads and truckloads of clothing, rugs, and various other items arrive at the Melbourne Exhibition Building. I'm talking "10, 000 rugs"... and then they try to sell them by putting on ads where an extremely excitable voice (I'm talkin, more so than me here) quickly runs over the situation and all the items you can buy, giving us daily updates.
When they don't exactly sell as fast as they expect, the voice-overs get more and more desperate, taking more and more off the price. "Forget below cost. Forget 70%. Forget 90%. Stock will be given away. As much as you can cash and carry." So this stock is simply being gotten rid of at a ridiculous price. But this year, it just seems to have gone on and on for much much longer.

I do recall an ad saying "New Years Day, we have to get out of here. We will be getting rid of the lot in one day! Get down here..." etc. It is now January 30. (Well, now it's January 31). This ad has been evolving over the past months and we've been watching with interest. It seems its finally come to an end. In the past few days, the date of midnight Jan 30 has been set. "It's dump time" sings the still excitable voice. "We're getting kicked out, is moving in tomorrow. We will be giving away 5000 rugs, best offer." Sounds quite ridiculous. But when you've gotta go, you gotta go, right?

Will this be the end? Have the dreaded bras, briefs, boxers and intimate apparel finally disappeared from our screens forever? If they did, I just missed the bargain of a lifetime.

"I tend not to read or watch Science Fiction, particularly not comedy Science Fiction. The point is that if it's less good than what I do, there's no point in reading it, if it's better than what I do it makes me depressed. If it's like something I'm intending to write I have to twist myself into knots trying to avoid it and if it's like something I have written I feel ripped off. Simpler to read something else."
- Douglas Adams

It's the best thing forum

OK now that I've officially done a lame pun in my blog heading I can get down to the actual point of it...
W00tage... I have a forum to call my own for my Summit Interactive website.

I previously had a pretty crappy anonymous-post forum, but my redirection host cjb.net have gotten around to installing phpBB 2 on their servers, so now I have a full kickass piece of work. I get registered users, multiple forums, moderators, announcements and stickies, avatars... basically everything you'd ever want from a forum. Hopefully this means I'll get some people discussing my games... I'd really like that!

Please, if you've ever played one of my games, follow this link:
SUMMIT INTERACTIVE FORUMS
Create an account and then post a new topic or reply to one! Be bold! The place is open for discussion. Also there are 2 polls in the Rul'Shath section to vote for.

If you haven't played one of my games, do so! DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.

</plug>

OK I'm also quite happy because I've just finished writing a piece of music. I've been working on it for a month, and its 3 minutes long (twice as long as any other piece I've ever written). I really like how it turned out, but unfortunately, since its the title piece to my secret special game I can't reveal what it is, or release the song until I'm ready to show off the game. Oh well, gimme 12 months.

No I can't wait. OK here goes... it's a futuristic fantasy/action hybrid where space trolls (not the Tolkien kind, more the doll kind with huge fluoro hair) from the planet Trompton invade Earth. You are Johnny Armeck, the one man who, with his party of merry men, have to travel to Trompton to put an end to the troll menace through a combination of puzzle-solving, action, and fashion-sense. I'm developing the game in Haskell, (but writing the fast code in Visual Basic) and it's using a special effect that makes 2D graphics look 3D, as seen in Duke Nukem 3D.

Stay tuned for more BS.

And on a completely unrelated topic, heres a Simpsons quote:

"Get out! You are banned from this museum! You, and your children, and your children's children!

For three months."
- Springfield Museum Curator

White Pyjamas (with purple polka dots)

Although I'd like to be able to say that every night when the sun goes down, I put them on and dance around in white pyjamas with purple polka dots, alas I cannot. I can say that I am the owner of Franciscus Henri's 1990 album, "White Pyjamas", on VINYL (how cool is that) (except for the fact that I can't play it given my record player is broken).

I suppose I should explain. In my recent post Miscellaneous Wafflings, I mentioned that Tim knew Franciscus Henri (and managed to misspell his first name) and did his website.

For the uninitiated (I'm saying that a lot), FH is a children's entertainer, who was apparently very big in my time (around 1990) and apparently is still popular.

Well tonight on MSN we were all talking about it again so I decided to go and dig up my vinyl and have a look at the lyrics, just for old times sake. And given that I ended up typing some of them out, I'm going to post them here (as a comment, since they're too big to go here). Enjoy!

Anyway, this guy seems like such a nice man. Tim will have to introduce us some time :P
Here is his website, which Tim did:
Hello Mister Whiskers
Click this link, or the pic above for a scan I did of the cover of my album.

"Here come the naughty monkey who say
'I think I try one'
'I think I try one'
'I think I try one'
Here come the naughty monkey who say
'I think I try one'
And took a coconut away."
- Franciscus Henri, "Five Coconuts"
(See comment)

More Myst V

Myst V!!! Yaay

Well before I start, (or, technically, after I start, because you wouldn't be able to read this if I hadn't started yet), Tim's website AND (the all important) domain name are back in the air! Congratulations Tim. Finally none of the links on my blog are broken!
To quote the man himself:

"Well, fancy that - my server died. For over a month. That kinda sucked..."

And here it is:
www.gfxmonk.com
Keep up the good gfx. (Wow, he's a really talented artist!)

Well today we had the official announcement!
Warning: Have eyeballs ready to pop out, article contains a SCREENSHOT!!!
Its official: This is the last Myst game. Also, Cyan *is* working on Something Else™ AFTER this! What could it be?
Chris Brandkamp, VP of Cyan Worlds "declined to give more details about the new project, other than to say it should not be called a game."
Source: Spokesman Review, article here.

Actually I'll post that screenshot HERE!

Click for a larger (1600x1200!) version.

We're very excited about this. Firstly, the graphics are gorgeous! Did I mention this is a REALTIME 3D game? (It uses the Uru engine)... but look, the grass is individually modeled, and the environment is beautifully detailed. The great shame in the inevitable move from pre-rendered to realtime is that the new realtime game won't look as good. (And honestly, it can't look as good as Myst IV), but this is still pretty bloody good!
Secondly, in case you didn't notice, that huge dagger is straight out of RIVEN! Not unexpected, given a few objects fell out of Riven, through the fissure and into the Cleft in Uru. (At the end of Riven that same dagger fell into the fissure). So already we see the plot coming together. Also if you look carefully on the rock to the right, you see a drawing of the fissure, the linkin hut on Riven, and two people: Possibly Catherine and Atrus.

Anyway, I've put together a new Myst V page on my Myst fansite EMS' Relto with everything I know, and I've also been adding to the Myst V article on Wikipedia. Thats all I know, now go away!

Woot!

Guybrush Threepwood: "I like mist. Mist is pretty."
The Flying Welshman: "Sure, mist is pretty, but EGAD is it dull!"
- Making fun of another adventure game in The Curse of Monkey Island

An ending to be written

MYST V: END OF AGES

Yeah!

How do you like THAT?

What an incredible thing to have announced, just 3 months after the release of Myst IV: Revelation, we've got this one, coming in "Fall 2005" (ie. Spring for the southern hemisphere).

!!!!!

We've had ups and downs over the past 14 months, with the release of Uru, the demise of Uru Live, the release of Uru's two expansions, and finally the release of Myst IV last October. Now this! What an incredible ride.

We've been waiting for this "Something Else(TM)" game from Cyan, and now I guess this is it. The official announcement is here:
Myst Worlds
Looks like it IS from Cyan (and Ubisoft) so its most likely to be Something Else(TM).

But it seems theres a much more detailed announcement on the German page, which gives away a lot more of the in-game and out-of-game story. Here is a translation:
Myst Obsession

So it seems that indeed, this is the last Myst game. Not necessarily the last game in the D'ni universe. Looks like its going out with a bang, though. "End of Ages". Wow! As with the announcement of every Myst game since Myst III, there is one word on every fan's lips (followed by a large question mark): "RELEESHAHN". I'm betting its here!

For the uninitiated, Releeshahn is the "perfect Age" created by Atrus as a new home for the D'ni after he and his wife Catherine searched the Ages for survivors. The Releeshahn book itself was the subject of Myst III: Exile, but the Age itself has never even been glimpsed. The word has not come up in Uru or Myst IV: Revelation, and its been one of the most closely guarded secrets - we think, because Cyan were saving it up for the End of Ages.

I've already posted to:
Eat_My_Shortz' Relto (My Myst site)
and
Myst Wikipedia Entry (yay I love this Wikipedia thing)

So I guess the old saying, that we in the Myst universe have so often clung to, "The ending has not yet been written," could finally be proven wrong. But its going to be one hellava ride!

"And now I am at rest, understanding that in books, and Ages, and life, the ending can never truly be written."
- Atrus

Miscellaneous Wafflings

Mmmm.... waffles.

Well first of all this blogpost is overriding the previous one which was way cooler so READ IT!!! Anyway a lot has happened since last non-anatomy-related blog so here it is (by the way this blogpost has more links than any other! Get your middle-mouse button ready Firefoxers!)

Secondly, Toria found a great blog post about what they are looking for when they hire programmers. It's by one of the guys at Cyan, Brice Tebbs. Here it is. If you wanna be a programmer read it.
I am happy with this because I figure I have full-on attitude and by the look of it talent too (in that I can "feel" the code, ya know, like Neo does :D). I guess experience will come in more time.

Now lets see, I had a whole lot of stuff and I will probably forget some. Ooh Tim's website is BACK online (its been offline the whole time I've had this blog!) so thanks to our friend Ed who's hosting it, its now back up but the DNS hasn't quite updated or something. Anyway watch this space over the next 24 hours:
www.gfxmonk.com

Now, I just found this on another blog. "The nerd test" - how nerdy are you? I got a score of 83% which is not bad I guess. The reason its not higher is because there's a lot of science questions like the periodic table, etc, and I'm not a sciencey guy at all. Click the link below to see how nerdy you are.



Today a lot of the uni guys (8 of us) went out to Studley Park for some boating etc, and it was a great catchup. I had a great time with all the guys and we got some good random convos going, and the word "ARROWED!" was said an awful lot, as was "Hoopla" (or as he would spell it "Houpla") by Tim, and we also had a bizarre bit of our hike where all eight of us decided to skip. Also it was made known that Tim knew Fransicus Henri (one of our childhood music idols!) and in fact did his website (careful its loud). Wow!

Ooh Neighbours is returning tomorrow. We had a bit of a chat about it... of course its the follow-up to that dramatic episode a month ago. I heard a few spoilers, sounds just awful! Well I'd better watch and see.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel now - Jeremy came over yesterday and we played the Warcraft 3 tournament. 3 wins up front, then 2 losses. Then we couldn't get in any more so we played AT - 1 win, then 6 losses straight. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Seriously, we are usually better than this! And we were just getting good too, the 3 wins we started with capped off a 7-game winning streak. So it wasnt good to follow up with a 6-game losing streak. Well, we will be good again. Its such a great game, is Warcraft 3.

I need sleep. Then more Anatomy. :D

"When will you Australians learn? In America we stopped using corporal punishment, and things have never been better! The streets are safe, old people strut confidently through the darkest alleys, and the weak and nerdy are admired for their computer-programming abilities. So, like us, let your children run wild and free, because, as the old saying goes, 'Let your children run wild and free.'"
- Homer Simpson

Btw, post your nerd scores in the comments, I'd love to see what you guys get!

Anatomy flexes its muscle

Ok this is it. I've been working on this 3D character system called "Anatomy" for an extraordinarily long time now, and I've finally got some actual graphics in it!!! This is all so very exciting.

Basically, this program is just a test, it will not be used in the final Anatomy at all, but its confirmation that I'm doing the right thing here. Its been developed over the past 2 weeks amidst a whole lot of blood, sweat, tears, and mathematical transformation algorithms. (Actually the first three were just a metaphor, but I was close to tears!). In the image above, you see it in action, a skinning/skeletal animation system featuring two bones deforming vertices in space. If you can tell what its supposed to look like its doing its job, for now.

Note the way the bones bulge nicely and smoothly in the centre instead of (as in the original design) looking like 2 cylinders with latex over them. So this is very exciting. The test itself is written in C#, uses Managed Direct3D 9.0c and contains over 1800 lines of code! I'm planning to release a "cleaned up" version of the source code along with a tutorial if I get time, because I've been through an awful lot of mathematical analysis and backtracking that I wouldn't wish upon anyone!

(Psst. here are the 2 secrets:
1. V' = sum(V * Mx * Wx)
2. Pushout distance from joint = rest distance from joint

Professor Frink: "Well, it should be obvious to even the most dim-witted individual who holds an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology, that Homer Simpson has stumbled into... the third dimension!"
Lisa: "Sorry?"
Frink: "Here we see an ordinary square..."
Chief Wiggum: "Whoa, whoa, slow down, egghead."
Frink: "...but suppose we extend the square beyond the two dimensions of our universe, along the hypothetical Z axis, there."
(everyone gasps)
Frink: "This forms a three-dimensional object known as a 'cube', or a 'Frinkahedron' in honor of its discoverer."