I've been playing around with RPG Maker

Before I begin, if you're going to come here to tell me that it's not a REAL game engine etc etc, you can just leave now. Because I don't care, and I'm not interested. I'm just having a bit of fun.

As the title suggests, recently I've been playing around with RPG Maker VX Ace. I've always been a very visual learner, so this program has been perfect for me. The program provides the graphics too, which is even better.

I started off by making a very simple map.

An NPC came next. She may, or may not be, Taylor Swift. Initially, all she did was wander around saying "I'm Taylor Swift". Kinda boring.

Then, I added a house. This took a little bit longer to make, but I think it looks quite cute.

Using the "quick event" function, I added a treasure chest. It felt a bit cheaty at first, but then I realised it gives you all the code (RPG Maker uses Ruby, I believe). So I started taking that and applying it to other events, like barrels.

Baby steps...

Adding treasure chests gave me items, so it was time to make a simple fetch quest. Taylor Swift needs a potion! (In retrospect, I should've said it was to mend her broken heart... ah well.)

It started off with her simply taking the item from me if I had it in my inventory and giving me some gold, but then I added in a Yes/No option. It's starting to look like a real game!

Next came adding a conditional branch. There's a chest in there, but some lady is blocking it. I need to complete the quest for Taylor first. Seems fair enough. Just need to find that potion.

Long story short, here's a quick video of what I've made so far! (Apologies for crappy quality etc, I'm still trying to figure out which capture software I like best)


Basically, I'm having fun with this program! I have some fun ideas for other games I want to create with it, and I'll probably keep adding to this one and see what it turns into. Hopefully I'll be able to show off something cool I've made in Python soon, too.

On falling back in love with Nintendo

A few months ago, a late-night grocery run in Tesco resulted in us coming home with a Wii U. We bought the bundle with Mario Kart 8, and an extra Wii U Pro controller. It was kind of impulsive, but I've certainly had no regrets.

My love for Nintendo probably started with the GameBoy. I didn't own one, but my best friend did. I borrowed hers as often as I could. I mostly played Pokemon, but I don't think I was particularly good at it. It didn't matter, though. I was hooked.

One Christmas, Santa brought me a GameBoy Advance and Warioland 4. I still have such vivid memories of playing that game, and it brings a smile to my face.

My collection of games (and Pokemon) grew. I was basically never looking up from the screen. Of course this only became more intense once the DS came out.

Long story short, I eventually fell out of love with Nintendo. I was busy with school, games were getting way too expensive, and to be honest, I was pretty bored of Mario. It just wasn't doing it for me any more.

For a while, I was so sceptical of Nintendo in general. Their determination to do things their own way had clearly not been working, and I didn't want to buy a whole new console just to play the games from the franchises I love. I turned to Xbox and PC, and I thought that would be it. Until the late-night trip to Tesco.

Okay, so I've been making it sound as if I turned up at Tesco and went "FUCK IT", but really, I'd been thinking about the Wii U for a long time. Nintendo's display at E3 2014 REALLY impressed me. The announcements from Nintendo stuck with me the most. So many of the displays left me thinking "I need to play that game!" In particular, Captain Toad and Yoshis Wooly World, but obviously not forgetting that open-world Zelda announcement, and Smash Bros! And Amiibo! There was just so much that piqued my interest.

So buying a Wii U just felt like a good choice. How else would I play all those games?

The Mario Kart 8 bundle is basically fantastic. And the fact that Nintendo have hopped on the DLC bandwagon? I'm all for it! I love having new tracks come out every few months.

For someone who's never really been able to sink many hours into fighting games, I've had so much fun with Super Smash Bros. Although I will say that the Amiibos level up a BIT too fast. It didn't really feel like AI that was learning, to be honest. It just felt like a really tough CPU. But hey, they're still cute and fun and something new to play with!

Obviously I can't forget to mention the game pad. I loved having a map of the course on the controller while racing on the TV. It's also great if you want to play Captain Toad (which is amazing) while your boyfriend is using the TV to play Xbox (or if your bedroom is conveniently placed above your living room- that game pad is coming to bed with you). It feels like somewhere between a GameBoy and an iPad.

Nintendo get a lot of stick for putting out a lot of remakes, but they're more than some new textures. For example, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are just outstanding. I got a 3DSXL with Ruby for Christmas, and I didn't put it down for about 2 weeks. It made me nostalgic about the original, but it didn't feel like the same game. It's so much better.

3DSXL with decal and case from Etsy (Can you spot Logan's toes?)

As well as all the new content, Nintendo have been keeping the classics alive with the Virtual Console. I bought Earthbound, which never had a European release the first time round, so that was great. I also bought the original Legend Of Zelda for my 3DS. It's been a joy.

Logan, pls.

Nintendo also made me realise that it's okay to enjoy "lame" games. All the boys in school who said you didn't really like games unless it was a shooter were clearly idiots. It's okay to play games the way YOU want to play them, and Nintendo are the best at embracing that.

What I'm trying to say is that Nintendo have really been doing things right recently, and I hope it stays this way. Let's just say that there's far more games that I'm currently excited for on 3DS and Wii U than I am for Xbox One.

Goodbye 2014

2014 started in the best way. I had just left my job as a waitress, meaning I had my weekends back. New year's eve was a fairly lacklustre night on Ashton Lane, but it was new year's day that was really special. We had pub food, lots of beer, and mini musical sessions in the pubs we stopped in. Impromptu ceilidh dancing even started while we were playing. It was fantastic.

February brought my 21st birthday. I wasn't expecting much; I just wanted to have a few drinks with some pals. As I was getting ready, I opened my front door to find that 2 of my best friends had travelled half way up the country to surprise me. It was the first time I've ever cried with happiness. I was elated. I truly do have the best friends ever, and I hate that I don't get to see them enough.

A few days later, my boyfriend and I travelled to Iceland. He bought me the tickets for the birthday. The trip included whale watching, the Blue Lagoon, and best of all, aurora hunting. Probably the best holiday I've ever been on.

All photos by me :) (and Doug)

One of my final astronomy projects involved making a magnetometer to detect geomagnetic activity. Without a doubt, it was the most fun I had during my 3 years at uni. Not only did I enjoy the topic, but it felt like the work was actually worth while. This lead me to writing for The GIST, and realising that I quite enjoyed coding.

It was around this time that I realised that it was possible for me to pursue a career in video games; something which always seemed like a dream before. I'm not sure what actually made it click, but I decided to start making that dream a reality.

I still worked hard on my physics course, but I knew that it was no longer for me. I started to focus my free time on other ventures, such as teaching myself some basic coding, and creating this blog to record my progress (amongst other things).

Things started to look bad around May, when a job offer went sour, but I always have back-up plans. Sort of.

I would have probably been a lot worse off if I hadn't decided to adopt Logan form the SPCA.

He completely brightened my life, and kept me company during my month-and-a-bit of unemployment.

After sending my CV around, I found a video game company looking for QA testers. I sent off my CV, and got a reply within 10 minutes, asking me to go for an interview. The company was based in Edinburgh. Not the most ideal for someone happily living in Glasgow, but it's not really that far, so I went.

A few days later, I got the call telling me I got the job, and I started in July.

This is it. My foot is in the door. I have a job at a game company.

Since then, the year has FLOWN by. I mean seriously, how have I been working here for 6 months?

It has been a GREAT 6 months, and the job also allowed me to relax. I've always been the type of person to over-work myself, and stress myself out, but having a job meant I could chill out a bit. (I'm still not completely over the fact that my free time really is FREE. I don't have to worry about exams or report or lab work.)

I realised that I don't need to rush myself to put out games. I only just graduated, I'm allowed to have some time to chill. I don't need to stress that I haven't published anything yet; I don't need to rush myself. I'm still just 21.

So, I caught up on games I missed while I was at uni, all while picking up fantastic experience at work. I helped the lead designer work on the matchmaking systems for the game, and I've been playing around in different game engines in my spare time (when I'm not too exhausted after work).

Oh, and I bought a car. That was good, too.

The work can stress me out (as I haven't completely forgotten my old ways), and the days are long, but as I said, my foot is in the door. This is all going to be worth it.

Aside from playing games, I've been getting back into painting and drawing, as these are all things that will help me make games.

Unfortunately, I've neglected this blog a bit. Partially due to being busy, and partially due to being worried that no one even cares what I write.

I'm going to start thinking less things like "but will people like this?" and more like "I want to write about this". So that might mean I share my thoughts on a game I played, or I might post pictures of my crappy (but starting to impove!) art. You don't have to read it, don't worry.

All in all, 2015 has a lot to live up to if it wants to match 2014, but I can't wait to see what's in store for me :)

EDIT: oh, and Christmas was good too. I wasn't working, so, yay.

Do you remember your first kill?

I posed the question to my colleagues a few days* ago; "What was the first game to allow you to kill another human?". I've been thinking about it a lot since then.

The question came to me as we were playing a shooter. We were so casually talking about killing, dying, and even suicide. What were the first reactions to games that involved "murder"? Were people shocked? Or were they emotionally detached because they didn't look "real"?

For me, I think the first game I played where I could kill fellow humans was the first Grand Theft Auto. I was 7 or 8 years old, and I had a great time. One of my strongest childhood memories is looking at my TV after going on a GTA killing spree and seeing "You have been arrested for Murder One." It was awesome. I don't think I even completed any missions. I just ran around with a machine gun.

Infinity Ward's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) sparked significant controversy from one of the very first levels in the game. The optional level, No Russian, had the player shooting down civilians in a Russian airport. This blog is not about COD, but you can read about it more here and here if you so wish :)

Leading on from that, so many "street crime" games (which I use as a general term for games such as GTA and Saints Row) allow the player to kill endless civilians. The police may come after you, but it's only a game, right?

Taken from Saints Row 2. Can I get this as a gif?

This blog post is to encourage you to think about your early gaming experiences. What games did you play? How did you feel when you played them? Did the word "murder" even cross your mind?

I'm still trying to track down the very first game that had killable humans. I'm not talking knock outs, or a character disappearing. I mean VISIBLE BLOOD, at least.

If you have any ideas, please tweet me or leave a commment :)


*at this point, it's more like weeks since I spoke to my colleagues. I've been putting off writing this for a while, mostly due to being busy.

Mini(ish?) Review: Child Of Light

First of all: wow. This game is fantastic. I wanted to share with everyone WHY I enjoyed it so much, so here we are. I'll try to keep this as short and spoiler-free as possible :)

Child of Light is an RPG "arcade" game (I'm not sure what else to call a game that doesn't have the £50 price tag, but isn't just DLC?) by Ubisoft Montréal. It maybe took me about 10 hours to complete, but would take longer if you wanted to explore absolutely everything. I played it on Xbox 360, so I spent a little while trying to get all the achievements (I succeeded).

This game is GORGEOUS. I loved looking at it. The backgrounds, the characters, the animation, the dialogue images (cutscenes?), EVERYTHING. I could've spent forever moving Aurora around just to see her hair flow.

Dat hair physics.

The sound of this game is also spectacular. In particular, the song I've embedded below filled me with JOY every time I heard it. I'm listening to it as I write this, in fact. It makes me want to skip FLY through a field, but also fight dragons at the same time.

The game's combat system is very interesting, and difficult to explain unless you've tried it. It is turn-based, but there is also timing involved. I, personally, have not seen anything like it in any other game. It constantly kept me on my toes, and I didn't tire of it. The names of the monsters are never shown, and you never see their HP either. I would've liked to have seen their names, at least. I'm sure there's people who worked on the game who put a lot of thought into the names, and it would've been nice to see.

I would definitely play this game again (I love that there is a New Game + option) and I have been recommending it to everyone I see. If you enjoy RPGs, play it! If you don't, still give it a go! It's was a joy to experience and I had so much fun. If you're new to video games, I'd say this is a great place to start out, too. I played it on easy, so there's no judgement here.

Child Of Light Website

Child Of Light Official Tumblr

Did you like this review? Have you played Child Of Light? Leave me a comment or talk to me on Twitter!

A few updates

First of all, I've finished uni!
I'm still okay with my decision to graduate early. Uni was very stressful for me, and I don't feel like it was the most effective way for me to learn. Physics is quite a practical subject, and we spent more time in labs than we did in lectures, but only 20% of the grade is from laboratory work, the rest is from exams. I don't feel that another year would have actually helped me in any way, especially when I'm so keen to get into game development.

I've started teaching myself Python (using my Raspberry Pi)!
This is more difficult than I thought it would be. I've been using online resources, including Dive Into Python, which has been useful, but it's just very difficult to concentrate on coding, when I'm also in the middle of job hunting (ugh)

I adopted a kitten!
Ahhhhhhhh! Okay, I'm aware this isn't tech-related, but anyone who knows me knows that I am a full-on cat lady. I've been living away from home for 3 years now, and I decided that I wanted a little pal. It's been the best decision I've made in a long time! After all the shitty stuff that's happened, having this bundle of energy come into my life has been perfect. I think if I didn't have my kitten to distract me from the real world, I would not be doing so great right now. (If you want to adopt a cat or kitten, I got this guy from the SPCA. They were so lovely and helpful, I just wish I could give all the cats a home...)

For any cat lovers reading, here's some pictures of my new baby, Logan.

Sooo I think that's all the important stuff covered. If anyone has any advice on teaching myself coding/game development, please let me know!

WildStar beta fun: Part 2

NOTE: This is most certainly written from a noob's point of view. Try not to get too ragey about what you're reading.

Okay, so I've been playing some more WildStar! I did the first few intro quests, and I'm having lots of fun! It's just been tutorial stuff; combat etc. I helped some guy save his pregnant wife, and now people like me. I dunno. It's all very overwhelming

My character is on the "Scientist" path, which means it wants to learn and discover etc. One of the quests I did involved having a "scanbot" follow me around and scan relics...? You can also level up your path, which unlocks rewards. It was quite confusing, but I like how there's different quests depending on if you're an Exile or the Dominion, and what path you're on. I'm sure it will make more sense as I go on.

Aboard The Gambler's Ruin: The Exiles' arkship

I haven't seen much of my Esper class much yet, apart from in the first few combat situations (but the combat is so confusing that I don't know what's going on anyway.) I think it's something to do with telekinetic powers? A magical looking bird thing appeared during battle, so there's that. I've kinda just been pressing buttons.

The controls have been annoying the hell out of me. This is probably mostly due to the fact I'm playing on a 3 year old laptop, but still. I've fallen off of so many ledges.

(1 day later...)
After some fiddling, I started to get the hang of everything and had MUCH more fun. I completed some more quests, and made my way to Nexus!

Leaving for Nexus

Nexus is a lush green planet, but after landing, your character discovers that "the planet is angry", or something along those lines. Either way, there were plants trying to kill me. I got to fight some more powerful enemies, and I even died for the first time while playing! (I think I've got the hang of combat now, too.)

This is the part of the game where the story really opens up, and I can't wait to keep playing. For now, I'm trying to resist, as I'm in the middle of exam season...

Nexus

Long story short, WildStar is fantastic. I love games set in space, so combined with the RPG mechanics, I've been having so much fun. I will definitely play more of this game once it is fully released, and I'm looking forward to see how it performs once I build myself a badass gaming PC.

The beta for WildStar closes at 7pm GMT tonight and the full release is June 3rd, 2014.

Do you have suggestions for more games I should play? Or perhaps you'd like to see more alpha/beta game "reviews"? Let me know :)