How's you?
Well after doing a whole load of article writing (although in fairness I am actually behind my quota by 2 articles for the past week or so) and reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Oh yeah!! That's my pot(ter) addiction dealt with) seems I haven't had a lot of time to write on this blog as of late. Not to fear, I will return to more regular writing as soon as I've got my head around a few things. The thing is that writing an article for Kebeol.net isn't just writing the article itself its also about the layout and picture finding and stuff because the pictures are for me, half the article. This generally means that its a longer process than it could be. What's more all the HTML coding is done by hand. Sure I've written up HTML templates for my image insertion tables but they still have no less than 4 variables to be filled in, along with the time it takes (albeit a short one) to reformat the images I use to a size better suited to the article. I really ought to work out a way to script all of that stuff but since I haven't used Applescript in a long time it might take a while for me to do this.
Still I enjoy the writing and looking at the finished article, what's more our Hits are still steadily climbing as are our visit totals. That said I've been under slightly more pressure now that Conrad and I (although primarily myself because he hasn't got time to write more than 2-3 articles a week) have been doing all the reporting/posting for Kebeol because of Kev and Beth's new timetables. Therefore I've had to ensure the writing has been of a sufficient quality to merit people's continued interest, so far it has been (people must really like reading about Alchevien Struggle because that's all we've got on there more or less :D).
Oh I suppose I better fill you in on that too. Alchevien Struggle is the CCG Conrad and I have been working on for a few weeks now, its moving along speedily and would be even faster but for the fact that I accidentally took home the notes which Conrad normally uses to determine cost and stuff (all the balancing issues are mostly his department) and haven't met up with him since Saturday. Most of the development of the Mage cards was done online but nearly all of the creatures were done face to face on saturday which helped speed the process up (we have only another 9 more to do of one mana type) and then its onto Equipment and Spell cards.
I've been the chief layout designer for the moment although I won't pretend the cards are looking anything more than shadows of what they will do when they are finished. Still, all the layout work and physical card design has been my department so far with Conrad giving the OK to my designs and offering tips and information.
We're looking to bring on Tom Goodacre and Lee Wood onto the design team. Both are friends out of the group I used to go to the club with and both are great guys and avid gamers. I have other friends who play Magic but this doesn't really make them gamers as they tend to be more Magic orientated. We feel both will add something to the mix to spice things up.
I have to say I'm rather pleased with myself so far, many of the card mechanics and abilities have been of my own design (with the obvious exception of Conrad's Single Handed effort on the Confederation of Free States Mages to mirror my own with the Veltorian College Magi Mages) and years of gaming and creating games have left me with a brain full of useless ability making information :) A lot of my work is visible in the creatures. Power and stats tend to be allocated by Conrad and I tend to weigh in on the abiltlies front with his help obviously.
All in all its a fun venture and its been going well. What's more its not entirely without a commercial element because some time in the hazy future we might actively go and solicit publishers for it (naturally after a lot of work and other sets), however as I said that's a very far off possibility. In the meantime Conrad and I are just enjoying the fun which creating this game brings. In fact he's probably online as I type this but I can't go online until my Father calls from Hong Kong (don't want to tie up the phone-line for that).
Insects
A couple of nights ago I made the fatal error of forgetting to close my window at night. I had spent the day with it open because, lets face it, guys smell. We can't help it and it doesn't matter how many showers we might take, the cumulative effect of us staying in rooms for prolonged periods of time is ultimately a bad smell. Therefore by motherly edict my window whilst I'm at home remains open during the day. I like it, it gives me a nice breeze from the river and I can hear people chatting as they amble by my window remarking on how lovely their friend's dog is looking, plus I've always had a bit of a connection to water and love having it next to my dwelling as I had in Sandy Acres which was about 300 Meters from a river, Gold Coast which was right on the sea front and this place which is on the banks of a river which as I look outside is shifting by at low tide.
Anyhow I was online and had neglected to shut my window whilst nightfall had come and my lights in my room were still on. I looked up to my horror to realize my ceiling was blanketed in a mass of really itsy bitsy flying insects. What followed was a massacre as I armed myself with a folder and laid waste to their legions. The whole debacle lasted about half an hour with me occasionally mentioning to people on MSN that I was going straight to the Hague after this undoubted warcrime. The final score was something like Me: 483 Insects: 0. I Roxx Nature :)
In fact so substantial was my kiling spree that I was later able to swat and scrape up a sizeable spider with only 2 ply of Kitchen towel. Naturally the "Swatting" took place by hoisting my mother's immensely heavy handbag to a decent heigh and letting it fall, Wiley Coyote style onto the little bastard who had stood perfectly still the in hope I would just walk past him. Nevertheless I feel my brave efforts in scooping him instead of just leaving it till the morning were commendable.
Anyhow the moral of this story is that Air-Con is a right not a privilege. Learn it Britain! :D
Later
John
Posted by John Swaine at June 24, 2003 01:46 PM