Quick Update

Due to the death of my grandfather last week (June 26th) and the subsequent funeral I've not really posted much. I am sorry for that.

I have a few topics I'd like to start posting about in the near future. One is programming. I was going to do a small series on 8-bit, game related, BASIC programming, specifically for the Commodore 64, but I ran into some problems with the emulator (WinVice) and the fact that it messed up my line numbers when I tried to do a very basic program. I guess my current paradigm of programming is a little different than the spaghetti method I used to use in the 80s. I may still do that once I get my real C64 out of storage and setup somewhere.

Another project I am looking at is learning Python. I've dabbled with it a little bit so I was thinking of developing a series of easy to implement games starting with a simple text adventure. This was how I used to learn new flavors of BASIC back in the 1980s. I figured with a few text base games under my belt I could move onto PyGames and then, eventually, Panda3D.



There are some other programming game development things I'd like to go through too like ANSI C game development and, even, Pascal game development but some of that will have to wait. I think 8-bit BASIC and Python are a good start right now. I need to keep it simple.

I would love to do some play through in the flavor of CRPG Addict, the RPG Consoler and others but I've got to find a niche to fill or it is simply rehashing ground these guys have already covered. We'll see what I can dig up.

Finally, I'd also like to start exploring my inner filmmaker. After all it's one of the two things I've loved since I've been a teenager. Video games and low budget movies. I say low budget movies as they tend to have an essence that seem to be missing in movies since the 80s and early 90s. I don't know what it is but like music now days films tend to by over produced and very homogenized. It's hard to put your finger on it.

So, I think I might do some movie reviews. Nothing too intense though. I'd also like to start a series on cheap visual effects. Seems like everybody goes to their computer, whips out their 3D program and tries to make cool visual effects. Back in the 80s when I used to dink around with Super 8mm film if you wanted a visual effect then you were messing around with homemade beam splitters and building models out of kit bashed  WWII tanks and airplanes along with cardboard, Styrofoam and more. The effects may not have been the best but they had a certain charm that today's 3D novices can't quite achieve. A landscape looks cool when it's built of Styrofoam and fake trees with a ton of love and attention to detail than some of the sparse 3D ones that come out of some 3D programs. Also, spending an afternoon building a miniature feels a lot more satisfying than trying to build one in 3D.