burning kitchen
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
It seems like only yesterday that World of Burgertime was a mere glimmer in my eye. It's been such a whirlwind that I apparently forgot to announce the release of "The Burning Kitchen" expansion. So, for the dozen or so people who don't play WoBT, here's a screenshot of what you're missing:
trigonometric plasma field generator
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Okay, it's really just another Javascript toy that I built. Take a look.
Labels: design, javascript
world of burgertime
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
I had this idea for a classic videogame-themed MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game, for those of you that are Karen) called World of Burgertime. Naturally, it takes the best of the current hot trends in MMORPGs and mashes them together with nostalgic 8-bit bliss like so much boiled potatoes. What you get is a retro, colorful world that hearkens back to the hey-day of quarter-activated amusements... The early 80's.
A typical conversation between players might go something like this:
LettisSuks9: "What's your WoBT character?"
FallingPatty: "Level 39 egg. You?"
LettisSuks9: "I'm a level 60 pickle slice. Almost have a complete set of epic condiments."
FallingPatty: "Cool. What pieces you missing?"
LettisSuks9: "Just Mayo. We're fighting Chef tonight, so hopefully he'll drop it. Last time, we wiped right at the very end... his pepper AOE spell's a bitch. Stunned our main hotdogs, then took out the rest of us with sliced tomatoes and sesame seed buns."
flickr bandwagon
Friday, January 19, 2007
Couldn't help myself. I really didn't find the little Flash Flickr widget everyone uses very attractive... so here's alpha build 1 of mine.
in recognition of "big chill 2007"
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
I hereby turn my site blue again. But a lighter, cooler shade this time. With easter egg dye... to commemorate the half-inch-thick layer of ice that encased my Honda Civic the past couple of days.
elite: pretty much the best game ever
Friday, January 12, 2007
The classic game Elite has been enjoying a bit of a renaissance in my home lately. I’ve been giving the PS3 a break since (quickly) beating (the average) first person shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man, to enjoy some good retro-gaming (plus, I’m not about to fork over sixty bucks on another game that’s just ‘meh’… get on the stick with those true next gen titles, Sony).
Anyway, I’m fortunate enough to have a full copy of Elite for the 8-bit Apple //c — box, docs, and all. Having only superficially explored this game as a teenager, I never really appreciated the size of its virtual universe or the depth of its gameplay. It is truly Grand Theft Auto: Space in shear size and open-endedness.
Elite spans 8 galaxies, has 250 planets per galaxy (that’s 2000 planets!), and fits on one side of a 5.25-inch disk. That just blows my mind. Plus, the gameplay is astonishingly well-balanced. I’ve found myself consistently challenged and have graduated from one goal or strategy to the next in a very organic way.
At any point in the game, I may pursue the path of a trader, smuggler, bounty hunter, or pirate, or some combination thereof, and must deal with the challenges that each path presents. While these aren’t new roles in the space-faring genre, Elite implements them with incredible fluidity, particularly for an 8-bit game. You’ll find yourself shifting gears based on a number of factors like ship capability, storage capacity, money, and desire to achieve the ultimate space pilot status of ‘elite,’ naturally.
So, basically, this old game still holds its own and I highly recommend you dust off an old copy and give it another go for old time’s sake… back when games made up for hardware limitations by actually being fun and unique.
Labels: apple ii, elite, gaming, ps3, resistance
blogger moved my cheese
If you happen to subscribe to my feed and are wondering why the hell it's not updating in your reader/aggregator/mail software, please update the URL you're using for my atom feed to this. I've updated the link in the sidebar as well.
Sorry for the inconvenience. You missed out on two whole posts, including this meta post.
Labels: atom, blogger, feed, meta
austin lockdown
Monday, January 08, 2007
Well, if the mysterious (possible gas leak) death of 63 birds downtown doesn't get me blogging, I don't know what will.
The drive to work this morning was rather uneventful, that is, until I encountered the barricade while heading east on 5th Street at Colorado, one block away from Congress Avenue, where I work. Whacky bicycle parade? Gay pride march? So I cut way over and took a right down Colorado all the way to Cesar Chavez where I hung a left. I crossed Congress Avenue, catching only a glimpse of the quiet, blockaded road leading up to the capitol building. By then, I had turned on the radio and was searching in vain for any news on what was happening.
I continued east on Cesar Chavez and took a left at Trinity and made my way north to my regular surface lot at 7th. I didn't encounter any heavy traffic and I still hadn't heard anything on the radio, so I figured it must be a parade, but I called home anyway.
"There's something going on downtown. They've shut down Congress. Have you heard anything?"
"Really? No."
"Yeah. It must be a parade or something. You might want to check the TV to see what's up."
"Okay."
"I'm walking towards work and I'll let you know what I find out. I'll come home if it's anything life-threatening."
"Haha. Okay."
I huffed it west on 8th Street as I normally do, but this time I was greeted by another barricade at Brazos. There was a motorcycle cop keeping an eye on a police line. This was the first time I realized that all pedestrian as well as vehicle access to Congress had been restricted.
I called one of my colleagues, Bryan, who told me of the dead birds and of speculation that there might be a gas leak. He said that e-mails were circulating about company employees working from home. I said thanks, turned around, and headed back to the car.
That's when I noticed the zombies...
Labels: austin, birds, humor, zombies