I have this image I can't seem to shake. When I've spent a couple of shifts writing code and thoroughly overcaffienated myself, I feel like there is a little motor whizzing inside my skull. It's got a high-pitched whine like a fan motor. If I put a propellor hat on my head, probably a tiny little axle would rise up, connect to the hat, and start twirling the blades. When that motor is on, my brain tends to gravitate towards solving problems, analyzing information, and driving my wife nuts with a relentlessly nerdy sense of humor. All it takes to make Brittany brace for the worst is me to say "
What if..."
and then pause with an amused smirk on my face. She knows I'm about to say something dorky like, "
there was a restaurant that was only for robots?"
Fortunately, I can turn that damn motor off before it ends up hurting somebody. It just takes a little willpower to get to a calmer state. Perhaps you could call it "
using the right side of the brain"
--I don't know. But once I get there, the world is suddenly flipped around so that I see it differently. I'll meander and explore instead of staying focused on immediate goals. I'll empathize with people and have better conversations. When I walk into a room, I'll take a good look around to see who and what is there. I won't feel angry, fearful, or anxious. It's definitely a nice state to be in.
I went to a festival in the Nevada desert called Burning Man. I camped there for a week and didn't turn the motor on once. The closest I got was walking by a campsite that was devoted to playing board games. I could have sat down under a shady awning and played a pleasant game of chess, but I was having too good of a time letting that part of my brain rest. So I kept walking down the dusty road doing nothing much more complex than admiring the sights--cars decorated to look like dinosaurs, mid-afternoon raves, a fully functioning Thunderdome recreation, and all manner of unexpected delights.
Then I returned to Seattle and started a new job writing telematics applications, which meant I needed to turn the motor back on. Bleh. Stupid, noisy, hunk of junk. Well, I guess I shouldn't take it for granted.
I'm Not Even Going to Apologize
I should apologize for being late on about seven or twenty different things, but no--I'm just discarding that guilt. I'm not going to spare another moment for those nasty little pangs of fear and heartbreak. I'm working now as fast as I can to catch up. The same results will happen whether I feel bad about being late or not, so why not just skip that crippling sense of despair?
Yeah! Best idea I had today.
Burning Man Must Continue
In a flurry of self-indulgence, I have declared the Burning Man festival shall carry on despite the total evacuation of Black Rock Mesa in Nevada. Again, I am unrepentant for my seeming irresponsibility in bringing this contest to you so late in the month. Turn your motor off, and come to the Virtual Burning Man, which is constructed electronically and mentally. You can create your own campsite at Virtual Burning Man by announcing a list of items to bring before the weekend is over. You're also welcome to visit the growing collection of virtual campsites that are popping up.
contest details
By the way, this isn't really a contest. I am calling it our "
Official Experience"
for September. If it were a contest, then you would need to worry about how to win, and that would mean turning your motor on.
Mike Rimer is Upset at Me
Or at least he should be, as well as everyone else working on
DROD: The City Beneath. The project is bottlenecked on art and story. Who is handling art and story? That would be me. Thankfully, people like Gerry Jo Jellestad, William Frank, Eytan Zweig, and Neil Frederick are taking matters into their own hands and getting work done without me.
This would be a perfect place for me to feel guilty. It really would. But I have already committed to not doing that. Without a shred of defensiveness or self-loathing, I will repeat what I've said in the past: I'll be joining the effort as soon as I'm able. Also, I'm proud of the team and how they keep plugging along. I know that I'm not the greatest contributor to the project, and even if I disappeared, TCB would still get done by sheer bloody force of will from the Caravellians.
Larry Murk, Jacob Grinfeld, and CaravelNet Subscribers, Too
I guiltlessly acknowledge that Larry Murk, Jacob Grinfeld, and hundreds more people are fully justified in being upset with me for not giving them the Summer 2006 Smitemaster's Selection by now. I didn't even wince when I typed "
Summer"
, even though I'm completely aware it is well into Fall now. If my impervious attitude of good-natured defiance seems distasteful, let me remind you that I am spending as much time as I can to get this issue out and it will happen. Also, it's gonna be good! There will be a song in it that gives valuable smitemasterly advice.
You know how hard it is to keep myself from curling into a fetal ball and just wallowing in guilt? I have to congratulate myself on this heroic self-control of mine.
We Love silver
Some trivia about silver:
* His name should never, ever be capitalized. Please just don't do it.
* You may take his name in vain, if you like, i.e. "
Hi Ho silver, Away!"
That won't bother him.
* He will try very hard to pay for your dinner if you go out to eat with him. Maybe even if you don't go out to eat with him, he'll try to pay for your dinner.
* To say that he enjoys Avernum or DROD is an understatement of the severest magnitude.
* It is a sad thing to see that his website is down.
* As a forum participant he is quite knowledgable and helpful. He has sponged himself full of the vast trivia of DROD and its community, and he really knows quite a lot about it all. It is rare to find these encyclopedic personalities like silver, eytanz, and agaricus5.
So silver gets a "
Don't Ask"
award. I'm just going to dump a bunch of mod points on silver. Like 712 mod points. No, 711 mod points--gotta show some restraint. Also, he can choose one song from
Journey to Rooted Hold other than the theme chant ("
Within These Halls..."
) to be released under a Creative Commons license. So instead of reserving all rights to that song, we will relicense it so that people can use it in other projects, remix it, play it from their website, or other things.
I briefly considered asking Schik to write something into the forum that would always lower-case silver's name when people accidentally typed the offending "
S"
. But then I remembered the lesson of Clockwork Orange: without free will, there is no morality.
I think I promised that two "
Don't Ask"
awards would be handed out to make up for an earlier month when we went lacking.
Agaricus5 Come Back!
I am really starting to miss this particular mushroom-loving prodigy. Wesley, when are you coming back? I figured you're busy with school or something. Can I bribe you to come back with a "
Don't Ask"
award? No, no, that probably won't do it, but I know what will: the TCB release, of course. Yeah, that will bring the lost son home.
But all persuasive techniques aside, Wesley really does deserve a "
Don't Ask"
award. Lacking Agaricus5's encyclopedic brain, I'm not the best-suited to recount his DRODly accomplishments, but they are legion. Here are some highlights:
* Maintaining the
Cultured Eighth topic, a meticulous compilation of supporting information for the fictional world upon which DROD is based.
* Beta-testing numerous holds and always going out of his way to give thorough and objective feedback. He has taken this role so seriously, I can only think of three or four other people who have tried as hard as him to help hold authors.
* Beta-testing
DROD: Architects' Edition and
DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold.
* Participating in (let me count) ...seventeen contests!
* Constructing
Bavato's Dungeon, which was one of the early full-length, unofficial holds, and often-cited example of extreme difficulty.
* Writing his
personal reasons for disliking anime, which I always think of as one of the classic forum posts.
I have enjoyed having Wesley on the forum, and I hope he'll be able to return in the future. For his "
Don't Ask"
prize, I offer to buy him a meal next time I'm in the UK.
Topic Picks for September
I'm going to tell you about the best topics on the forum that I know about. There probably are even better ones than these that I missed, but don't be greedy--these are still really good!
A Real TCB Leak
Ah, but there's no URL below. Am I just teasing you? No, no, come back later and there will be a link.
Smite, Smite Revolution
How to get your groove on and kill those beasties in style.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12095
And also, if you can believe it...
...a DROD dancing contest!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12110
Help a DRODder Out
Hikari's friend wants to know what hold to play next.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12014
How Long Has He Been Under?
Beethro's been beneath a long time. But how long, exactly?
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=11672
Snakes! Post-game party
63 players, 18,000 views, and hundreds of hours lost staring at a maze of twisty, snaking passages. You can see the final messy result now.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=11482
The Deadlies III!
The people choose which holds they like best. It's an annual tradition!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=11846
Slayer Killing Hold, DROD Learning Zone, Prince of Puzzles, A Small Diversion, Channel One Suite, Mucho Bukin and the Underground Secret, Missione italiana, Castle of mirrors 1, Beethro's Mission: Spiders, Tar Ballroom, The Underground Civilisation, Spider Well
These are all the new holds (level collections) that have been released since the last newsletter. Lots of variety here in terms of size, difficulty, theme, and epistemology.
Grey World Mod
Would you like the walls and floor of DROD to be completely grey? UrAvgAzn is gonna hook you up!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12049
Or Perhaps Green, Pink, and Purple
Chaco only makes mods for AE. This is one of them!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12027
Scoreanoia
When someone has beaten one of your high scores, you want to retaliate quickly. So use Dolan42's tracking utility!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=11910
Sick of Wii Hype Yet?
I am actually glad that people talk about Wii on the Caravel Forum, where we can do it safely and intelligently.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=11973
Strawberry Clock Shoots Your Avatar
...and misses. If you want to get aggressive with that little representative box under your name, this would be the place to do it.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12107
Bad Idea Parade
Society conditions us to celebrate and award good ideas. Rebel!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=12034
Carry on in good style!
-Erik
____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
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[Last edited by mrimer at 05-18-2008 05:41 AM]
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