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Final Year. Whee.

October 12, 2009

So here I am, back for my final year studying Computer Games Programming at Teesside University (not University of Teesside), and I’m glad that the summer’s over so I can get back into the swing of things. And although the work should be a lot harder this year, seeing as it’s quite independent, I’m looking forward to the modules I’ve chosen. I’ll be working with the GP2X systems (and maybe the PSP), learning a little Java and networking, AI, and some physics if I keep tagging along to the lectures. My independent projects for this year consist of a 2D adventure game, looking at LOD using DirectX, and on the side, I wanna try and code the card game Fluxx into a DS homebrew application – I think trying to implement all the rules would be pretty fun logic coding.

I’m looking forward to this year because I’m part of Anicom’s committee along with Bob and Morti. And it’s not just about the animu (although I’ve been running around frantically trying to get the show selection sorted the past two weeks) – It’s about making sure the first-years have fun, be social, and make friends. Most people are usually on games courses, meaning that sometimes they can’t be the most social people… so we try and help them along by introducing them to people with similar interests. And the more involved they get with the society, the greater the chance they’ll make more friends – yes, that means you, the fresher reading this. Join in and stuff. You won’t regret it.

The first few weeks of Anicom have gone surprisingly better than last year’s… well, disaster. We drew in plenty of people at during the stall, filled OL7 on the night, and ran a great games day on the Friday. Phil provided a great chiptune night in the second week, and the second session was just as popular as the first. So… yeah. Things are going very well, and I hope it stays this way.

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Can’t Be Bothered…

August 22, 2009

…to think of a witty title for this post, that is. I never can.

So I’m now settled back in the ‘boro, everything’s found it’s own place in the new house, and nearly all of the utility bills are sorted out – 02 still haven’t activated the internet service, but that should be done by Monday, fingers crossed. The major issue was sorting out the pre-paid gas meter, which hadn’t been used for a year and had over £200 of debt on it. I must give a thanks to Kexgill for what they’ve done with the house, which was a complete trash when we viewed it a few months ago. New flooring, furniture, mattresses, wall coverings, the lot… I’d have to say that the house is better than the Python one I had last year, actually. We also managed to get a cheap TV for the living room off eBay, currently hooked up to a PS2 and two metal dance mats, which should be amusing as I flail around like a retard.

I’ve been playing Burnout Paradise on the evenings to keep me entertained, and it’s a pretty good game. It’s quite addictive as well, seeing as I played it for 6+ hours yesterday and ended up with a headache. Once you have the later racing cars, it’s like “HOLYFUCKINGSHITTHISISFUCKINGFASTAAAAAHHHH *crash*”, which is hilarious when you’re shouting at the screen. It does get a bit repetitive after a while, and the fact that all the events keep resetting until I get the final license is bullshit, but I don’t really mind doing them again. It’s fun, and that what games should be, right?

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Getting Old…

August 17, 2009

First off, the new design for my portfolio website went up a while back. Click the picture below to go check it out, and let me know what you think of it. All my code and stuff still needs to be cleaned up and sorted over the next few weeks, mind.

http://www.nearlyphil.co.uk/

My birthday was a few days ago, and I did spend most of it packing my stuff, and unpacking it all in my new house. Especially when that house won’t have internet for another week or two… but I can survive. It’ll give me a chance to watch some shows that have bee piling up, play games on my ‘to play’ list, and maybe even do some work before the new term starts. I do feel a bit naked without Facebook, MSN and Twitter, though ._.

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100%’d

July 18, 2009

So I finally got around to 100%ing Grand Theft Auto 4 on the Xbox 360, and like I said last time, I highly enjoyed it. From a technical point of view, the engine is fantastic, and it’s making me want to look into open-world technology for my degree’s final year project (Something to do with loading, memory usage, level-of-detail, etc?). I’d certainly enjoy it, but it’d all depending on whether I can do something like this. I’d best learn Direct3D soon, so I’ve got a big advantage off the bat.

Well, I’m not completely 100%, to be honest… just the single-player mode. I still have the multiplayer achievements to get when I buy a Live Gold account, and I’ll probably purchase The Lost and Damned at some point as well when I’m bored.

Other stuff? Went to see Spinnerette last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The place was full of skinheads expecting Brody Dalle to start playing Distillers-style music, and boy, did they look pissed when they first song was over.Oh, and I complete the new Monkey Island episode as well, which was fantastic. Here’s hoping it gets even better.

And because of the release of the new Harry Potter movie, my search results for Tonks are going through the roof. Damnit!

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Passed!

July 13, 2009

In case you cared, I managed to pass my second year of university. Wooh. An average of around 74%, which is actually higher than my first year, so I’m pretty proud of that. I still have no idea what I’m going to do for my three choose-your-own-project modules I’m starting in September, but I’ve still got a month or two to think about that yet.

As a nice treat, I bought myself an Xbox 360 – I thought that I might as well buy a current-gen console before the new gen comes around the corner. Probably won’t be long now. After leeching off my housemate’s console for a year, it’s nice to have my own. Got around 12 games and a bunch of Live Arcade titles, so it should keep me busy for a while… I’m aiming for 10,000G score so I can be an achievement whore.  Shouldn’t be too hard, but I’m not going to play games like Avatar and King Kong – I’m going to achieve my achievements with skill, damnit! And those 1000G from Harry Potter were because I actually wanted to play the game, okay?

Oh, and my portfolio website should be done soon. Maybe. Just tidying up a few things in the XHTML, and rewriting all the text to go onto it. Keep your eyes peeled.