Silence Of The Terminals

on the Great Games Experiment

2006-11-30T16:57:00.000+11:00

SOTT Update!

2006-07-09T11:56:00.000+10:00

New Health Vile effect is more suiting.

After doing some work with SOTT, using full source code of the Torque Game Engine. I have a few things that I can port back to this MOD version.

New Features:

new Health Vile Particle Effect (they spin around the outside of the vile giving a nicer effect)

new Team Scoreboard, now you can see who is on your team.

Menu fixes

Gatlin is no longer Energy and Ammo based - more powerful and useful

Unfortunately things I couldn't port over:

Show same team player names above head at all times

AI practise mode

Advanced Arrays for scripts (if anyone has had a go at scripting would have noticed a lack of dynamic arrays)

To combat this some advanced AI scripting has been put in but, its not really great at the moment so its there but needs to be activated.

So to activate AI bots:
get the console by pressing: '~' tild key
type in as excatly shown without quotes "$AIPlayer::TeamCount = x;"
'x' is the number of Bots per side, I recommend no more then 2. If you want more try putting it on another computer to host and handle the bots.

At the moment only "Stronghold" and "Frozen Hell" have the mission capability for AI. (just copy the "paths" in the missions and move them to the correct places you want bots to spawn at)

Download at the normal location or here SOTT 0.1.9.9

Anyway back to TSE for me, Enjoy!

P.S. It should be able to Run on Linux and Mac Systems, and download the other binarys required from: GarageGames demos section

Broken Laptop Blog

2006-05-29T22:21:00.000+10:00

Getting some revenge for selling a broken laptop...

http://www.amirtofangsazan.blogspot.com

Sam and Max Lives!

2006-05-18T23:52:00.000+10:00

Well after talking about Sam and Max...
At this years E3 there was a video on the very two :-).

Check out the video and website at:
http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/

"Telltale Games is working with Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell to create an ongoing series of episodic Sam & Max games. We've partnered with GameTap to distribute the first season of games and share in the general revelry. (Dan Connors also got a nice t-shirt out of the deal!) Season 1 will debut this fall at GameTap and on Telltale's site with short, punchy episodes released in rapid succession, each telling a self-contained story, all the while feeding into a grander season-wide arc."

It seems that episodic computer games are the big thing at the moment! With "Bones" being one of the first by the same people (TellTale) . Also the FPS's "Sin" and "Half-Life episodes"

Shame its not Freelance Police but I'm still happy :-).

The website it self is very ncie, with a fun make your own comic :-). I was no good but others are much better:
http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/comics/5145108

Enjoy!

Save Sam & Max!

2006-04-30T11:21:00.000+10:00

Sam and max's second game(Sam & Max Freelance Police) was cancelled about 2 years ago now. They we're a funny couple, a rabbit and a dog fighting crime in a wacky fun world. It was one of the very popular adventure games of the time, along with Monkey Island and Indiana Jones (all LucasGames).

It seemed to of been cancelled to make way for even more Star Wars games. Also because they also stuffed up Monkey island 4 - lack of there attention to the games story. So they now only make what they know they can and only they can do, Star Wars... you'll notice on there website that they have a huge amount of games but only one isn't star wars... All others are in the classics section (most not even there), which because of these games they became noticeable(more then just games of their films...) in the beginning...

So what can you do? (Stop buying Star Wars games (there awful new films too) and...) See www.savesamandmax.com

They are no longer called "LucasGames" but are just "LucasArts".

Easter Egg Blunderbuss on Easter land!

2006-04-17T15:14:00.000+10:00

SOTT 0.1.8.1 Released

Now Easter land features its own new weapon to
fling easter egg goodness around the world...

Thanks to everyone who tried this map and suggested something other then the normal weapons, so here! :-)

Its a replacement on this level for the submachinegun so its key number '2'. The only other weapon that remains on this map is the starting pistol and later hyper-pistol.

The new blunderbuss gives this map a better feel, its still easter monday so not so late to add to it :-). Only thing it lacks is a good pop sound and egg crack sounds ;-). And maybe a fancy egg skin (texture) on the blunderbuss. But I think though things can be left up to others who may havea better idea than me.

Download here SOTT 0.1.8.1

Enjoy!

Happy Easter - SOTT Special Edition

2006-04-15T22:27:00.000+10:00

A nice treat above is "Easter land" a small new map
shows its not all doom and gloom... :-)

I decided to quickly make an Easter special map for SOTT with nice rolling hils and easter egss as far as the eye can see.

With easter eggs falling from the sky and many large ones embedded in the green hills its a treat. Along with a happy sun its a welcome sight to anyones day.

It can be downloaded here at the normal location SOTT 0.1.8.0 plus Easter Pack

Enjoy and I hope everyone has a nice easter!

SOTT 0.1.8.0

2006-03-26T15:26:00.000+11:00

Silence Of The Terminals 0.1.8.0 release

New map "Thunderlands" with random lighning and heavy rainfall.
Also showing the Blue teams interface.

Well after a lot of interface and general tweaking we're here a long with a few surprizes.

The new map "Thunderlands" shown above is very small which not only looks nice but should be a challenge. Also allowing smaller games.

The interface now has colour coded elements so you can easily tell which side is which, the current weapon is displayed at the bottom element, so its easier to learn what is what.

Players will now be able to see the name of other players, just aim at the other player and around the crosshair will show the name of the player. (its only a small area). I wanted to have colour coded and "always show team names" but this is limited by this only being a mod of the TGE demo (no use of the C++ source).

Frozen Hell now has a light snowfall adding to its colour contrast.
This also shows the Red teams interface.

Another new addition is that zoom comes with its own scope for the sniper rifle and assault rifle. And different amount of Zoom on a per weapon basis. Also the Sniper Rifle now shows its own Engery bar while zoomed, making it easier to know when its charged.

Zooming is also now performed by holding down the right mouse button like most other games.

Example, Sniper rifle has a larger zoom then the pistol.

Showing the new sniper rifles scope. This is taken on the new map "Thunderlands"
note the heavy rain and misty view.

Future ideas:

New Mines weapon (code is partly there already)

New Player Score Board (partly there also)

Screenshot of map on games browser

Music adder, add your own music to be played (has to be .ogg and/or .wav though)

Java based editor for questions, so people can easily had questions to the game and then spread them throughout the class etc. (may even just be downloaded through the game on joining the server - should check)

Make labs and realistic computer lab buildings, like the TAFE etc. (With QuArk etc)

And general improvements throughout...

But my time is quite limited now days.

SOTT 0.1.8.0 can be downloaded here as usual

Hope everyone enjoys this new version.

Adults and Games

2006-03-25T20:52:00.000+11:00

Here is an interesting article I found:

http://www.canmag.com/news/4/22/3400

"The fact that adults are racking up more gaming hours than teens is startling, but there are several associated findings that shed light on this"

58% of homes with consoles consider it their primary game platform
25% of adults used handhelds in the last 6 months
64% of adults play alone
55% of adults play online
5x more teens are playing mmogs than adults especially women
77% of teens used handhelds in the last 6 months
78% of teen males play online games
58% of teen females play online games

NOTE: I hate consoles...

Interface designing

2006-03-14T16:32:00.000+11:00

Well I've being a lot of development with interface related things. A few things to show the side of the player. And now the player can change sides! :-) (with out crashing).

Also now new crosshairs for some weapons, a scope look and feel for both the sniper rifle and assault rifle. Also differnet levels of zoom for weapons.

I'd like to hear some suggestions about the design of the interface which anyone may be like to see.

SOTT 0.1.7.2 release

2006-02-21T21:18:00.000+11:00

This version seperates questions by there difficulty, this is done by the players current score.

So players starting the game will get only questions of difficulty level 1 and when they increase in score by kills or captured data discs. They will get difficulty level 1 and 2 questions. So higher difficulty questions are unlocked and this goes on to a 4th level.

But not at any means does it have to stop there it can really go to any level if so wished by someone making questions.

As mentioned before, I have added player adjusts to speed depending on the current weapon in use. Looking for any comments regarding this? This is done by giving weapons a amount of weight which adds to the player.

Also some more lower-level difficulty questions have been added and look much the same as ones which are already there. So take a good look, no more "oh this question... b" :-)

Download via the usual link SOTT 0.1.7.2
Enjoy!

News

2006-02-19T16:50:00.000+11:00

Well I've just being working on maps and added some code that makes the use of the more powerful and larger weapons slow down the players movements. This allows better team work as people using lighter weapons have less power but can get the Disc back easier then someone hulking around a Gatlin.

S.O.T.T 0.1.7.0 released

2006-02-05T19:24:00.000+11:00

Silence of the Terminals 0.1.7.0

Lone Life - the new map for this version, has more need for team work then ever. Needs maybe the least amount of players.

Remember "duck and cover"...

Apart from the new Map, the "health viles" as mentioned before are in this version.

There is also a counter to show how many people are on which side so far, I'm still working on a new in-game list of players and there side/score and other information like there question section type.

This version was to have "rocket jumping" but it was crashing the game 15% of the time (during multiplayer games) so we haven't got it anymore :-(, which the new map was being designed for as it has objects which are in places which make it able for you to rocket jump over lava and in to towers. But most of that has being changed so its not needed anymore. Maybe one day... (if anyone wants to see this section of the code its in radiusDamage.cs and all weapon .cs files and search for "//add impulse" uncomment this line)

I hope everyone enjoys this version. I won't have a server up for this version as I have to use the laptop and my downloading this month is well over limit so far (got 11 more days too...).

Download Now! via the normal link, SOTT 0.1.7.0 in a .zip at 24MB.

Enjoy!

Delayed...

2006-01-31T13:40:00.000+11:00

Well some maybe thinking that I don't know what "Few" means...

My main computer has a few problems (MB/CPU) so I've only got my laptop. So things aren't that great, I've got all the data current.

I was working on a few other things like that makes players to be pushed away from the hit. But it crashes 15% of the time.

So I'll finish the map and update the download soon. :-)

SOTT Developments

2006-01-22T21:26:00.000+11:00

Health Viles have being added to SOTT, removal of the old health packs. These work as soon as you touch them like in most FPS games. There are quite a lot placed around the place and I think gives it something to fill up the areas.

Things I'm thinking of looking in to:
Damage booster (like Quad Damage, Double Damage etc)
Mega Health (200 Health)

Any other ideas?

I'm looking to release this version in a few days along with a new map (and some other little things).

Current Development

2006-01-11T21:04:00.000+11:00

Current development with SOTT is basiclly nil, don't feel there is anything to fix or do till some more feedback maybe in the next few months.

Apart from SOTT I have brought the new TSE(Torque Shader Engine) as an early adopter, which really looks great! The water is fantasic. What one expects of 3D games coming out.

What is TSE?
Torque Shader Engine, is the TGE engine with a new pipe-line in the graphics department, with what are called "Shaders" basiclly they allow programmers to transform images on models easily. For example make the image spin, or to fade and re-appear. It's also about programmable GPU's(Graphical Processing Unit), so we programmers can get closer to the card and to be able to really deal with images/3D points. Shaders make it easy for artists to make there low ploygon models look like there higher version ones. Or to make a character glow, magical aura.

Will SOTT be moved over to TSE? Well it could somewhat easily be now but it would have a few holes, and the systems that its running on as a majority don't have the processing power to do so(Requires at least a DirectX 9.0 Video Card).

If interested in TGE or TSE check out www.garagegames.com

nVidia's Quad SLI

2006-01-11T13:05:00.000+11:00

What is SLI?
Was originally a technology developed by 3DFX, who was a Video Card company, one which makes there own chipsets (Voodoo series - which was the best at the time). They developed this technology SLI (Scan-Line Interleave) which allows people to put two Video Cards (Voodoo) in to there system and the cards would work together.

One card would have the top part of the screen and the other the bottom. This as you can understand would speed things up a lot in intensive Graphics programs, from CAD to the most intensive of all, 3D Games.

nVidia brought 3DFX after there cards where too costly for normal users and nVidia’s line was fast enough for nearly everyone.

Having brought 3DFX they got SLI, but for a long time didn’t use it. Only in the last couple of years with the development of “PCI Express 16x” which is (twice as “fast” as AGP 8x).

SLI now stands for “Scalable Link Interface” under nVidia. The new system uses two cards as before (6600 GT, 6800x, 7800x series) but now works out where to give which card what data, unlike before by splitting it in to two halves you get one most likely doing very little work for the top half(sometimes just sky) or the other way around in cases. So now it works out how to give both an equal load (most likely by 3D objects/models).

Quad SLI?
Just like nVidia’s SLI but with four cards! 7800 cards are costing each at around $750-1000.

SLI doesn’t double speed nVidia’s SLI gets about 40% (max) faster then just one card, so what would 4 cards do?

Silence of the Terminals goes up in very long versioning system!

2005-12-09T20:23:00.000+11:00

Sott 0.1.6.0 is now out and you can download from the usual link to the right :-)
or download the current Sott version here.

This verison is the first to have a clients choice of question lists and the server's able to force the type of questions used.

Many updates to weapons, mainly graphical.

The new weapon is the Gatlin (A Gatling gun) this weapon requires both energy and ammo. While very powerful it doesn't sustain longer enough fire to dominate and should only be used for protecting areas at close range as it'll cut down easily. But at long range a submachinegun would even be better for the job!

Questions may now also be in a True/False format.

Question lists included:
C++ (rather small)
Chemistry (huge!)
Java (rather small)
HTML and CSS
Media
PHP (rather small)
SQL (rather small)

I'll put a server up on my laptop over the next few days, if anyone is looking for a game. (Just query the Master Server)

Sott news

2005-12-06T21:06:00.000+11:00

Well today I finished adding in the server-side enforcing of questions. Which will now be going into testing.

Thanks to Jean-Claude Bradley We now have a heap of Chemistry questions. These are True/False questions. because of this we now have a option of putting in questions of this manner the terminal for these questions has a true and a false button. And may have a 256x256 image.

I also added some Java, C++, PHP, SQL and all of the media questions. Of of which are on the sott wikispace.

I've being working on a new weapon also to complete the arsenal ('1'-'9') (what about '0'! any ideas?) Well you'll have to wait until I bring out the next release which should be in a few days now.

Get your questions in now!

2005-12-03T14:28:00.000+11:00

Silence of the Terminals; now is being tested with the new feature that allows you to pick your question list, weather it be HTML/CSS, C++, Media, Networking, anything it's up to you to help me to add questions.

If you know a lot about Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Languages, anything? Then add your own page for questions or add to questions already on the list:
Silence of the Terminals WikiSpace silenceoftheterminals.wikispaces.com

“But my questions need images” No problem there, a question can have an image which is 200x150 and in .png format (or .jpeg but you’ll loose quality).

So get them up there so I can add it to the game :-). I want to see people from all fields of learning to be working together.

NOTE: Please make sure that you put what the answer is so I know. Thanks!

Silence of the Terminals action at TAFE

2005-12-01T16:43:00.000+11:00

Leigh Blackall took photos of some of us at action!

Check the photos out on Flickr

Today is my last day at TAFE but I'll continue with development.

Planned Development:

Selection of questions
Server-side enforce questions
Add hovercrafts (only in small numbers during play)
Add health around the place (Quake/Unreal style)
Scope HUD, Zoom up (4X, 8X, 16X 20X zoom levels etc)
Add things like Double Damage and Quad Damage
Add more sounds
In-side levels (levels which are only in-side buildings Quake or Unreal like)

Any other ideas to add further development, or want to make anything, graphics, code, sound, music, levels, anything is welcome.

Sott 0.1.4.5 out!!!

2005-11-30T22:14:00.000+11:00

Silence of the Terminals 0.1.4.5

Using the new TGE demo 1.4 Engine this release is a new graphic treat :-)... also:
New Mortar weapon (gernade launcher - select with key '8' and stand back!)
Weapon is dropped after death
Disc's are dropped after death(save it or steal it!)
Weapons no longer need to be reloaded on pick up

Download by using the link to get the current Sott version on the right sidebar (under Silence of the Terminals).

Enjoy!

Any problems please contact me(here) because I most likely don't know about it! Thanks!

FireFox 1.5

2005-11-30T12:04:00.000+11:00

Finally FireFox 1.5 is out!!!

Get it at Mozilla/firefox

Changes over to 1.4 engine progress

2005-11-25T14:20:00.000+11:00

So far looks ok...
It seems it doesn't like me using "Arial Bold" in the Markup Language for the text in Terminals so I'm also using <color:00000> for the highlighted areas in text, which maybe better!

I have to set it back to <color:00FF00> after that of cause also.

I have updated the missions so they all look ok with the new lighting model.

A Dead Winter awaits you...

TGE 1.4 demo includes Synapse Gaming Lighting Pack!

2005-11-25T11:18:00.000+11:00

The reason why the lighting is so different is because it includes the Synapse Gaming Lighting Pack!

So there are many great things we can do now! Like make lakes of lava have a glow effect added to them, it'll look great and more lava-ery! :-)

The player models can have better lighting on them etc etc it's great! I'm excited! d:-D, and as I remember performance loss by using this is not much, I think it in fact fixed up some routes so it's faster with standard lighting.

But it looks like GG.com didn't compile it for Interior Transparent Elements, which is a shame we could of had great glass walls dividing the computer labs etc. But we can still do it in more dodgy ways. :-P

Read more about the pack which is now in the demo .exe

I'm just getting the engine CVS to see if its included in my license now! :-) I hope so....

Well I don't have it :-( I may just have to buy it after I play with it now! :-)

Sott updates (engine update)

2005-11-24T20:39:00.000+11:00

Well I was looking at adding a weapon and ammo drop to when the player dies, but a bug is in the code (C++) so I couldn't use the demo for it. So I was thinking maybe I could just use my Licence for it so we can get it fixed... but by luck GarageGames.com has just released the new demo's using the 1.4 version of the Engine!

So far only for Win and Mac, but I'm sure Linux will be on its way! (it's even in the readme...)

The new Engine updates a huge amount, new graphic effects:

Lighting seems to be redone
Real-time shadows on shapes (weapon, ammo and other items)
The UI (buttons etc)

Problems I've found with it:

Some odd problems with the Scripting like player name and server name is not re-entered when restarting game.
More sound problems (revirted back to old 1.3 OpenAL32.dll seems better)
Lighting everywhere is too bright for current maps
Bold (highlighting) in Terminal no longer is working (maybe Markup mistake) Main problem!

With these problems I do feel keen to update the game to have these new features and so some other thigns are fixed but it maybe a while or never we'll have to see.

Until then the last 1.3 TGE release which has:

No editing or flying in Multiplayer mode (anti-cheating I suppose and also a safe guard anyway)
Clear terminal screen on respawn questions.
Tech tree changes so you can see better now, which team has what

Over all seems a good release no problems that I know of:
Download 0.1.0.7 of Silence of the Terminals here

Sott/TGE WorkShop on Monday!

2005-11-24T10:33:00.000+11:00

For anyone interested in adding content and working with the Torque game Engine and to see how easy you can create and work with this engine, I'll have a bit of a "workshop" of how you can do all these things.

So far planned content:
Torque Game Engine Workshop

Things to do with engine:
Creating Grenade Launcher model (MilkShape 3D)
Adding the code for the Grenade Launcher (Scripting)
Adding to game world the Grenade Launcher and ammo
Adding interiors
Creating a Terrian bitmap (Photoshop)
Adding the new Terrian

Any other suggestions?

Sott update

2005-11-24T09:21:00.000+11:00

I've made a small update to the missions.

And thats all I can remember doing.

Code of Ethics

2005-11-22T14:08:00.001+11:00

Code of Ethics

I will strive to endeavour to provide products and services which match the operational and financial needs of my clients and employers.
I will always make myself aware of relevant standards, and act accordingly.
I will respect, and seek when necessary, the professional opinions of colleagues in their areas of competence.
I must endeavour to preserve the confidentiality of the information of others.
I must advise my clients and employers when I believe a proposed project is not in their best interest.
I must not knowingly engage in, or be associated with, dishonest or fraudulent practices.

Edward Nicholas Smith Tuesday, 22 November 2005

This is my Code of Ethics, which is what I feel strongly about and adhere to.

The inital document I used was from the ACS And the document is
ACS_CodeofEthicsAndCasesFinal.pdf

Seven deadly sins of Web Design

2005-11-21T14:51:00.000+11:00

I was looking at news articles about Web Design came across this one:

The seven deadly sins of web design

"In a recent survey by Hostway, 70% of respondents said that they would be unlikely to purchase from a website that annoyed them. In fact, they said they probably would never even go back to that site."

Sott "Beta 0.1" release

2005-11-18T21:49:00.000+11:00

Well I've uploaded the new files for the newest verson dubbed "Beta 0.1" it has a lot of additions and improvements/fixes:
Blue team can win now! (silly bug)
Sound issues with repeating music overlaps on walk fixed (according to my system)
Added sounds to the capturing, tech levels and terminal access
Flamer as mentioned
Tech Tree
Team Scores on HUD
Added Server Name change on "StartServer" Screen
Changed Aler's Peaks map to now have gaps in the bridges

And thats about it I think, Enjoy!

Download Sott Beta 0.1 23MB .zip file

Please comment here on any bugs or the like.

Tech Tree and Flamer

2005-11-18T15:33:00.000+11:00

Lite my fire!

Today I've added two things so far, one is a Tech "Tree"(I like to say tree but it's just a line really), and a new weapon called "Flamer".

The Tech "Tree", looks quite simple, but was in fact the hardest thing I've had to do. Because it has to update on all players computers, weather your blue or red. Because it shows bth so you can see where your team stands when it comes to technology. Also I hope this will make people more aware of it.

It is always shown but the techs that you don't have a lighter (greyed out) and when a team gets that level it pops up looking nicer :-).

The Flamer, is a real showoff. I don't know how it performs but it looks to do quite a good job. Take a look at it in action and the Tech "Tree" in the top right hand corner.

I'll add a team score display later today aswell.

As a reminder the tech levels that the icons stand for are:
1 - HyperPistol (replaces Pistol)
2 - Increased Energy
3 - Increased Health
4 - Increased Damage output on all weapons.

Sott update

2005-11-17T19:18:00.000+11:00

A small update but we'll see what it'll bring!

Terminals Hack Interface now supports images as well as text, so you can have the question which refers to an image. So far I've decided to make the image 200x150 and in .png format.

So now you can design questions which can have an image, go here to add your question to sott.

Here is an image of an image in the terminal:

download the newest silence of the terminals here (also now on the links sidebar)

I'm now thinking about adding the support of that people can pick which type of questions they want, so its not server dependant but client. As to say the client picks to get questions about C++, and someone else inthe server could get Java or HTML/CSS questions. Or is this unfair?

sott 2005-11-17 PLUS World Cup here we come!!!

2005-11-17T00:17:00.000+11:00

New Sott up, which finally has Joe's great music in it! :-) Still need to change some of the datablocks relating to it, but we'll see. And other updates, see if you can find them!?

Oh and two new maps, one is huge and works, one doesn't(isn't complete)... If someone could update it, that would be great!

Sott 2005-11-17.zip

Enjoy!

//--------------------------------
World Cup here we come!!! Well done Australia! (Puts away German Football Jersey for the year)

How to create a P3P Policy

2005-11-14T15:14:00.000+11:00

P3P is a compact privacy policy, which is grabbed by the browser. And It'll affect the policy in IE etc I believe, need more information about it really.

Get this editor from IBM:
IBM P3PEditior

A link about how someone else used them and a lot of links from there.
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/webmastr/privhttp.htm

Accessiblity legal case and legal terms for websites

2005-11-14T14:58:00.000+11:00

The SOCOG legal suit:
http://www.contenu.nu/socog.html

An interesting quote and part that I liked was as follows:

Type-in URLs

The HREOC sided with Maguire that typing in sport-specific URLs did not constitute favourable (“equal”) treatment. As Maguire plainly put it, “that is not the way that people use Web pages.” The Commission agreed: “[T]he proposed alternative is both unorthodox and cumbersome and need not be resorted to by a sighted person.”

It must also be pointed out that the URLs in question are tongue-twisters. As examples, five sports have very long URLs differing by exactly one character. Can you guess what sport relates to each URL below?

www.olympics.com/eng/sports/CS/home.html
www.olympics.com/eng/sports/CF/home.html
www.olympics.com/eng/sports/CM/home.html
www.olympics.com/eng/sports/CR/home.html
www.olympics.com/eng/sports/CT/home.html

In order, the URLs relate to canoe/kayak slalom, canoe/kayak sprint, mountain biking, road cycling, and track cycling. You can’t assume some kind of acronym system at work: “Canoe/kayak slalom” and “canoe/kayak sprint” share the acronym CKS, but the URLs use CS and CF.

SOCOG, in all seriousness, advanced the manual typing-in of mile-long, hard-to-remember, confusable URLs as an accessibility measure.

The accessiblity laws for websites was the best I could find

Sott update/download

2005-11-13T22:10:00.000+11:00

Now with the following changes:
More questions
Backpack and disc models are attached to player model when they grab a disc
Tech levels as mentoned
Rocket Launcher
HyperPistol
Copy of map with lava lake and snow textures
Hacker interface
Team score decides which team won in the EndGameGUI
Hacker bug old answer remains - fixed

And many other things that I can't think of.

Download here(Windows get others from garagegames etc):
Sott 2005-11-13

Fin!

Sott Tech Levels

2005-11-11T12:30:00.000+11:00

Tech Levels:
Everytime you capture a Holographic disc (HVD) you get one extra tech-level, which go towards major tech-levels which will effect your team.

Tech related changes are only to those tech advancements, these items and changes are only to the teams which get to the techlevels.

Tech Level
0 Major Tech Level 1 Standard Pistol on startup
1
2
3 Major Tech Level 2 HyperPistol on startup

?After this normal weapons will change? More engery? and maybe a jetpack after a while?

Does anyone have comments for/agasint or idea to Major Tech Levels?

I have tech levels make it more imortant to hack! the more you have hacking and getting back the better your weapons etc are so you can win!

It also makes hackers more important over great killers.

Sott update!

2005-11-10T21:25:00.000+11:00

Talk about regular updates!

Silence of the Terminals is firing along, don't miss out!

download here:
Silence of the Terminals 2005-11-10.zip 16MB

Now it has team kill, more questions and better question design with relation to Server and Client. Thanks to Michael :-).

Next to work on is the option to pick Question catagory (category :-P - Torque Engine joke...)

If you want to add questions please go to:
http://silenceoftheterminals.wikispaces.com

It can be for HTML/CSS (XHTML), SQL, JavaScript, PHP, Java or C++

Project Management

2005-11-10T11:20:00.000+11:00

We needed to MSProject up a project and all I could come up with was Silence of the Terminals.

Here is my Gantt Chart(at 81 Tasks its too big to be fully expanded):
"A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product,
service, or result." Kathy Schwalbe

The typical Project management Lifecycle:
Init
Planning
Execution
Testing
Closing

lifecycle Reference

My project follows this standard line pretty much, except my init and planning are together.

The Triple Constraint:
Time
Cost
Scope

The Quadruple Constraint:
Time
Cost
Scope
Quality

Apart from this there is:
Risk

The Triple Constraint is made up of the most important management factors.

Examples:
If I want to finish sooner, I would have to increase the Cost (Resources) or decrease the Quality.

An increase in Cost, means I can increase the Quality of the final product.

An increase in Scope would reduce my Quality. Or increase Time and Cost.

Every factor depends on each other, this is a key point. You can never change something without an effect to the other elements. This is why project mangers have to monitor everything to keep the project on track and to stay away from a degrading situation.

Project management reference
book: Kathy Schwalbe Information Technology Project Management, Fourth Edition
check her website

(the book is quite good, except if you have to read it everyday again and again!)

Silence of the Terminals Beta 0.1

2005-11-09T22:41:00.000+11:00

sott 2005-11-09.zip

This has the hacking and teams as mentioned and I decided to add the assault rifle after-all.

Give it a go, add to it, make suggestions, send me updates, have fun!

(The way of the questions in the hacking is dodgey at best we need seperate files, like xml based etc, but we're limited to scripting any ideas?)

I must say I know the number of errors but it still takes me a while to work it out :-). Because I made them all of the same bit of code... I just hope there aren't any more errors then what I put down, the code is all very simple HTML. No XHTML or CSS yet.

Key changes:
1 = Pistol
2 = Submachinegun
3 = Assault Rifle
4 = Riotgun
5 = Sniper Rifle

There is team damage, friendly fire etc... blue team is white/blue and red is the standard skin on the model, which has a redish look.

Also I made the standard res 1280x1024x32, simply because it's what I was using and forgot.

Enjoy!

Silence of the Terminals - first Terminal hacking!

2005-11-09T16:58:00.000+11:00

Well today I've added a simple Terminal Hacking System to the current mission, also teams and a capturing system has been made.

Yes questions do start off pretty hard!

So far there is only one question at the moment, a list of them needs to be made.

Ok so how is it done?
Client runs in to the trigger (area around the terminal) the server knows this and sends them a question and tells them to stick up a dialog box, the client answers and the server tests if there correct if there correct this get the Disc item which they can capture back at there base.

The player then gets 50points for the team (wow!) but so far team score just doesn't count, so...
I add it to that player also so they can look high and mighty! :-)

It's a little awkward really... Could be better, The Client and Server streams of Data are different so I can't Stay with just one channel at one put it comes back out of the blue somewhat, without any connection to the fact that this client was sent a question (maybe a risk in terms of security).

I also added an Assault Rifle, but I hate the model so much its not in the map so far... we'll see.

Joe's additions to the sniper rifle have been added.

I made the Pistol a bit less over the place with relation to Spread, so it'll be more useable.

I'll post the updated files later tonight.

Woodfire

2005-11-08T14:46:00.000+11:00

Today to spoke about file sizes, bits,bytes etc. And about compresssion when using for different medias like the internet, print, e-mails etc.

Above is the image we worked on.

So you've made an update to sott?

2005-11-08T11:56:00.000+11:00

Just e-mail me the files :-)

How to make content?
Models (weapons, ammo etc) you create using:
www.milkshape3d.com a easy to use modelling tool but only 30 day trail or $30
www.blender3d.com Great program full of everything you could need can be hard, but its free!

Buildings you use:
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~quark/ a great free program

and code? well your fav editor will do, I use Tribal IDE myself, but nothing fancy with that.

Sott update

2005-11-07T23:58:00.000+11:00

sott 2005-11-07.zip

Updates:
Two new Energy based weapons:
Pistol,
Sniper Rifle,

Sun water reflection (spectuclar),
Sounds,
and GUI

enjoy!

Sott game design idea

2005-11-07T14:47:00.000+11:00

Yes its a MSPaint job! :-).

The idea, two teams and team areas as default ruling zones.

With 3 computer rooms to hack in to on both sides: (steal each others technology?)
Easy: 1 point tech
Medium: 2 points tech
Hard: 3 points tech

Then you have to take the hologram disk back to your base bay to capture it and get your points!

Tech points could release better weapon options? or modifcations to the existing ones (too much to plan for now though!)

Or at the moment you just win when you hit 10 points?

Silence of the Terminals! An education FPS (well a base...)

2005-11-06T21:03:00.000+11:00

Well I had quite a few hours over the weekend, more but I wasted most...

But I started to work on the education game, at the moment its just a Multiplayer FPS, with two weapons, a Submachinegun(A thompson model I did for a friend) and a Riotgun (an old gernade launcher from Arrakis, the riotgun is an Auto-Shotgun that looks like a MM1 Gernade launcher or a Chingun).

Also added ammo and magazine display, a new crosshair, no player names over head, bump-mapped detail texture for the terrain(don't know why GG.com don't use it?), magazines and reloading only automatic there but ok and added spread to the weapons firing so everything isn't so pinpoint!

I also mucked about with a door, but I could place it very well in the current buildings so I gave up.

I put it up for download in .zip format Download sott.zip 13.2MB (was 9.46MB when it was a .rar!)

Why Sott? well I just named it "Silence of the Terminals" yes I'm scared too! *spooky stuff*
As a temp name all I could think of, well first it was "Silence of the Consoles" but I thought people may confuse it with Consoles like a PlayStation etc.

So give it a go, and if you could tell me what you think we can do to make this a thriller of an education game! - because there is no hacking or cracking in it yet!

Requirements:
CPU: 400MHz and up
Video: TNT2 and up (OpenGL 1.2/DirectX 7)
RAM: 64MB
NET: 56k modem, ISDN recomended

OS: Win 95 and up, Linux and Mac (get your native file from www.garagegames.com download the Torque Game Engine Demo)

Controls are by default(can change in options):
W - forward
S - backward
A - sidestep left
D - sidestep right
Space - Jump
E - Zoom
R - Zoom x
mouse 1 - Fire
1 - Submachinegun
2 - Riotgun
t - Gobal chat
h - Apply health pack

By default its set at 640x480x32, I recommend you put this up in the options.

Any problems comments just e-mail or post here :-)

Now I'm off to install Solaris 10 :-D

P.S. You can check if there are any Sott servers up here:
gnometech.com gglist Silence of the Terminals

Learning Game Dev with the Torque Game Engine

2005-11-03T13:39:00.000+11:00

Well I've been thinking about doing this, but others are rather busy(I just love to start something new! Strike Swiftly, Vietnam: Special Ops, Arrakis and The Last Kingdom never had much application of use outside of myself (Strike Swiftly been the most used by what 4-6 people)) so...

I'm thinking a FPS, because it's easier then a RPG etc and more popular at large... but it hasn't got its female market as closely as an RPG or the like would so, what can be done to mix in some elements to make it as fun for both genders.

Glore, blood etc is something of a debate also. Myself I like to run around and to blow up to gibs as much as I can.

But does this turn the female market around from titles such as Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament? This also has to be a feature to the Torque game engine (an extra projectile is created and sent to the floor which then leaves a decal and splaters with some sprites Or it could be done like the how the demo has the crossbow explosion have extra models falling away from the first hit, these could stay on the ground and thus create the gib look).

After I got some LED HeadLights from Steve (His a very generous person! a bit too really I feel guilty been given things) But they would look very cool on a player because they have multiple LEDs in them and give a hexagon look and a bluish light. Maybe the computer room which you get in to hack the code, could be pitch black so you need LED headlights! Shame its more of a Shader(Hardware GPU Programming, Vertex, Pixel and Fragment Shaders e.g. Bump-mapping, Heat-Haze) effect required but may still look very good as maybe a Volume or spotlight (Which would be a "fxLight" entity).

It can't be too childish etc as there are "mature" students etc some aren't some may not be keen about computer games? The age group is about 17-47 as the main market for computer games. So the speed of the game can't be too hard to have fun. And can't be too hard to be good at.

We want to grab the people and keep them!

I was talking to Joe about weapons/firearms he likes Sniper Rifles and a submachinegun as backup, so large areas of landscape to use and cover... So the Torque Engine is well suited. But large areas require more players.

Also that suggests Classes gameplay... maybe... again that focuses for large player design.

Classes, maybe hard, as all need to focus on learning so all need the skill of "hacking" that sort of thing is usually for a single class. Like an Agent.

Player models, well I'm no artist but I think the first Torque model would suit better (not the Orc in current ones).

Weapon models I can do plus simple skinning and animation, simple no hands (Has to be the player model anyway). Sounds are fine I got a whole collection of them!

Need more input from the players... as that means that they are in more control and thus then you have input which is real and then they are keen to fix it myself also, so its an open minds project and then we get real learning for how to do things outside the normal, from graphics to scripting to modelling to landscaping to level design to sounds to user interfaces, positioning and design.

As you can see there are a huge amount of things that need to be thought about. But at least we can start to design things like the player and weapons and the levels. Get it to a stage where everyone can see something and then enter the 3d world. Gathers thought!

I thought we could have something to add scripting types and the like so it could be changed for people who are learning C or even UML (By having images and text as the question dialog boxes)!

Safari passes Acid2!

2005-11-03T09:01:00.000+11:00

Safari has become the first browser to pass the Acid2 test. Acid2 is a CSS/HTML test suite put out by the Web Standards Project (WASP).

The patched Safari is not yet avaliable for public consumption. It is unknown when the patches will appear in a public version of Safari.

Acid 2 web test

The Lisa - 1984, was the first commercially successful product to use a GUI
The GUI it self back in 1984

Safari is a Web Browser for the Apple Macintosh.

Digital game based learning in TAFE

2005-11-01T13:46:00.000+11:00

Leigh rocks!! what a great idea to hold PC LAN parties at TAFE. I know about 10 people or more who would come straight out! Penny knows 6, Joe knows another 10. These are people who wouldn't normally think to come to TAFE.

Here then lies and opportunity for the IT Faculties in TAFE to host LAN parties open to the public, not as a business, but as a social event for learning. TAFE have the resources to do such a thing, and if done regularly, could become an excellent way of capturing students by offering recognition for competencies demonstrated at the events. Not only would it be a way of accrediting people’s skills in LAN setup, but would likely be a way to facilitate informal learning communities around the events.

Right on!

Adding Penny, Joe's and my ideas to this must do event:

Start with PC LAN Parties
Get a local business to sponsor the game licenses (or use older games/open source)
Start modding games based on my games for learning idea last week
Put posters up for it
Surround sound set up
Games that interest both genders
Pizza
Balancing skill groups
Regional playoffs
Business research

So, we the students, think this is a good idea, but more importantly we'd like to help set it up.

Good links.

Edufrag blog
Edufrag wiki

Colour Blind test the three types (main types?)

2005-11-01T10:40:00.000+11:00

Here is a handy website for testing your wqebsite if it is useable for colourblind people. One of the more common accessiblity issues faced by the world.

http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php

There is also a single image tester.

Google Sitemaps Generator

2005-10-29T18:09:00.000+10:00

This ia great little Java app for generatoring Google sitemaps, and its free how can you go wrong!?

I noticed it after Michael got some spam for a program that you have to PAY for! silly people trying to make money...

Free Sitemap Generator

Give it a go! :-)

Web Law FAQ

2005-10-27T13:21:00.000+10:00

This is an interesting read with regard to copyright of URLs linking to other peoples websites, using there IMG links. HREF Frames etc etc.

Very interesting website

Web Law FAQ

Mc Rorie One Man Live!

2005-10-26T21:54:00.000+10:00

This man is amazing he has two keyboards, bass and rythum.

Drum senors on his feet and four on his chest and many more!

He has his own music as well as covers loads of bands, his great! A genius, to be able to do so much at one time!

here is his website:
Mc Rorie

Which is crap... it's all images and tables, so no standard text so he won't be found by search engines easily. I'd say he is linked quite a lot though. he has got a lot of QuickTime videos though which are great to see him in action! looks weird funny, amazing what ever its great. lol

Learning Game Idea

2005-10-25T14:26:00.000+10:00

Michael, Joe and myself have been suggesting of the idea of a game developed to help people to learn.

I like the idea of using the Torque Engine over the Quake 3 Engine as the Torque engine is a lot better for exanding I feel and there are no legal problems with me using it. Even with Q3's GPL status now. Also I have used it a lot. But engine doesn't really matter... Q3 is nicer for animations.

Possible engines:
Cube (and it's bigger brother dubbed "Cube 2")
Pros: GPL, uses Quake 2 model format
Cons: only in C and C++ focus on a lot of OpenGL and SDL

Quake 3
Pros: GPL, 1000's of tools and models, C-script
Cons: requires to be complied in to qvm's and if using GPL won't be able to use Quake 3 game content and scripts

Torque (Tribes 2)
Pros: Lots of tools, ready scripts for simple game formats, FPS/Racing Large comunity of code and resources, can sell, master server access, C-script
Cons: C++ code access needs to be brought $100US, harder animation files (for player models anyway)

My idea so far as follows:
Multi-player FPS Web-Code challenger

Challenge round:
Find the number of errors in this html, css, javascript, php script/markup. Fastest person to finish and to win gets to start with a better weapon.

(A little icon next to there name also)

Each round is 15mins.

Weapons:
Pistol
Shotgun
Assault Rifle
Sniper Rifle
Gernade Launcher
Rocket Launcher

Game Type:
Capture the code (Capture games need more people though - so maybe a deathmatch also)

TASK: Capture a CD with important Code on it, you need to hack in to the computer room and then grab the disc and take it to your computer room.

Hacking will be done with prompt to check the code for number of errors like before. But maybe this code for hacking maybe only Javascript and PHP.

*Why only number of errors and not to fix the code, to fix the code would require that we make a debugger tool for the different types of scripting and mark-up languages that may not be that good of an idea, but may be a future thing to work on.

Animation in CSS and Stu's website

2005-10-25T12:03:00.000+10:00

Pure CSS Animation

Rather nice tut, but a lot of work for an animation.

cssplay - Stu's website
Is a great site with a lot of tutus for lists and basiclly everything you may need. Great site!

:-)

Wolfenstein and Rammstein new album!

2005-10-25T09:52:00.000+10:00

New Wolfenstein game has been announced! check out idsoftware

*Wolfenstein was first a game on the mac and commerdore 64 it was a top down platform adventure game, idSoftware then made it in to Wolfenstein 3D a great use of there 2.5D game engine, has made FPS what we know as of today

First true 3D game engine was Quake in 1995.*

Adrian Carmack is sueing idSoftware due to idSoftware wanting to sell to Activision rights to game titles and company. Not sure where that is heading so far. etc etc...

Rammstein to release there new album soon have released samples of 6 songs from the album on the internet at there website Rammstein sure to be a hit!

Things I want to do...

2005-10-24T12:16:00.001+10:00

Below is a list of things that I want to do. Check it out!

43things.com edward

Things I want to do...

2005-10-24T12:16:00.000+10:00

Things I want to do

start your own list!

It's a good idea to set out waht you want to do, you can think it forever but to put it down can make it more final and set in time. A promise to one self.

Portfolio prototype

2005-10-20T21:56:00.000+10:00

My portfolio website prototype

I put it up early today so I thought I'd place it here.

Tell me what you think of it so far.

King Kamali and new federation!

2005-10-19T16:27:00.000+10:00

This is what King Kamali said:
“A new organisation is being formed. They’ve contacted 15 IFBB professionals to compete in 2006 in the Tokyo Dome. Seven-hundred thousand dollar first prize, $500,000 second prize.”

In a follow-up phone call with Kamali, he reiterated that he believes the organisation is legitimate and that it is not looking to go into direct competition with the IFBB. Rather, it claims it will promote a megashow aimed at turning pro bodybuilders into celebrities in Japan.

The amount of money will generate a lot of interest! I just hope the Japs don't do anything odd to it all... There mad!

WEB 2.0 the non-violent revolution

2005-10-17T11:05:00.000+10:00

What is it:

Web 2.0 is a movement towards more application like webs pages.
Its a movement for everyone and anyone to be able to write and not only read to the internet, with all of the blogs and places like IMDB and Wiki
And there is also the part of Web 2.0 which is about a movement for non-Copyright material. As all content is copyright no matter if it has the symbol or not. So Creative Commons has began to prop up, this means people can put the (CC) symbol on there site or content and it becomes free to reuse under other laws apart from the (C) Laws, and can be freely used or other terms choosen by the author. It's abit like GPL.

No heads get the chop in this revolution, dissapointing or not its a friendly revolt!

Cannabinoids Induce Brain Cell Growth?

2005-10-17T10:21:00.000+10:00

High doses of cannabinoids have induced new brain cell growth in the hippocampus

This is an amazing find, that a much stronger (100x) version of the drug delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol creates new brain cell growth, this has amazing implementations.

I think this could be used for more then what they have mentioned, as such I feel that Parkinson's disease could benefit for this development. Or at least the synthetic heroin Parkinson subjects. Who also received the other brain treatment to create new receptors. Which I feel is unfair to the normal Parkinson sufferers around the world.

Here we have something that will stop and improve Parkinson in subjects yet is only available to the heroin users who received Parkinson over night!

Seems very unfair.

SS and SIS websites! + ASIO

2005-10-17T10:02:00.000+10:00

The SS (Security Service) or more commonly known as the unoffical title of MI5 has a website:
www.mi5.gov.uk

*Though I don't think they would like to be called the SS*

And so does the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) also called an unoffical title of the MI6 has opened a website:
www.mi6.gov.uk

It's interesting that the websites are the unoffical service names.

There great looking wesbites, with details about them, the myths and facts and current news. Even more interesting is the careers with the Secret Services.

I think the websites are modelled after the hit british tv series "Spooks". Which is about MI5 officers in the field.

We have a wesbite also for ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) which has a website which isn't as flashy.
www.asio.gov.au

It also has the details for employment with the service.

Mr. Olympia 2005 winner...

2005-10-16T15:04:00.000+10:00

Well the winner of this years Mr. Olympia is in, a sad one... Ronnie Coleman took his 8th title. He looked much the same as usual. Sounded dumber then usual though, a woman called out "You can't talk!" at the end.

Jay Cutler was upset, looking much better then last year and way better then Ronnie Coleman, the likes of him competing next year is looking sadfuly doubtful.

Lee Priest pulled out before hand complaining about the unfair sponsorship, of the fact that the companies make millions out of there face and they make nothing.

Jay Cutler and Lee Priest may become the driving force behind a movement agaisnt the polictics of the IFBB.

The Arnold Classic seems to the be the only fair contest now days.

I haven't heard much of the new federation for a while now which was to have much grander prizes.

It'll be sad to see the Mr. Olympia die off as it has become something quite big, but even the new orders to down point for signs of GH and Steriods doesn't seem to be really taken in to account.

IFBB Pro Mr. Olympia 2005 today! well kinda...

2005-10-15T13:05:00.000+10:00

Todays the day that we hopefully will see Ronnie off!

Shame it's the wrong half of the world. I think it'll be at about 11:45pm tonight. So the results will be in at about 01:30am tomorrow morn.

Competitors List:

Melvin Anthony Jr.
Gustavo Badell
Darrem Charles
Ronnie Coleman
Chris Cormier
Jay Cutler
Kris Dim
Alexander Fedorov
Johnnie Jackson
Victor Martinez
Mustafa Mohammad
Craig Richardson
Ronnie Rockel
Markus Ruhl
Gunter Schlierkamp
Michael Sheridan
Quincy Taylor
Branch Warren

Note: no Lee Priest (Australian) and no Dexter Jackson who came 4th last year!

My prediction:
1st Jay Cutler
2nd Ronnie Coleman
3th Gunter Schlierkamp
4rd Chris Cormier
5th Darrem Charles

I really think Jay Cutler can do it this year, he has gotten so close in the past with in just 1 point in difference.

Interesting to see with this new challenge round some of the judge will be past winners:
Franco Columbu (2 time winner) - he likes no big bellies and proportional.
Frank Zane (3 time winner) - he is all about proportion, symmetry, muscularity then size
Dorrian Yates (6 time winner) - he is a big feller so it's size with good seperation and no fat and water.

With that I think Franco and Frank would vote down Ronnie, and Dorrian would be for.

Mr. Olympia 2005

2005-10-14T11:45:00.000+10:00

Well it's not long now at all.

I have for a long time thought the problem with the system is that for as long as a winner of the show continues to compete they will continue to win, no matter how they look.

Because if you win you are the best in the world, so how can anyone who has been crowned as the best ever be beaten?

I would really like to see Jay Cutler win or anyone but Ronnie Coleman win but as we get closer I feel that it's going to be very hard to knock off a so called "best of the world" Ronnie, no matter how awful he turns up looking.

So far only to my knowledge has only one Mr. O lost in the comp, and this was the great Frank Zane (maybe the best classic look so far) he lost to Arnold when he made his come back in 1980, but he was already a Mr. O, so the "Best of the world" was beaten by an older "Best of the World". Frank Zane protested the next two years about the contest and so did Mike Mentzer. When Frank Zane returned in 1983 he was beaten again, but this was by a first time Mr. O - Samir "The Lion" Bannout.

So there is some hope, as Frank Zane was badly injuried before the 1980 contest and that may show that the best does win?

Though it does seem odd at times.

Frank Zane (Mr. O 1977-1979) was one of three people to ever beat Arnold, the others been Sergio Oliva (Mr. O 1967-1969) and ...

I have never found the other person who has ever beaten Arnold. Most likely it was before he became great. Maybe before 1966. Does anybody know?

IBM is going to contribute Software Development Blueprints to Open Source

2005-10-13T09:28:00.000+10:00

rational (IBM) to contribute a subset of the IBM Rational Unified Process (RUP)

This is great to hear I like to hear about things turning open source, because it benefits all.

I don't in fact like to use Rational I found it rather bad to use, felt like a very old appliation in the way it handles things.

I like to use Posiedon for UML by gentleware. But Rational Rose is the standard.

Eclipse will benefit from this, which is an IBM open-source IDE built using JAVA, and can be used as an IDE for basiclly any language.

Franco Columbu's website

2005-10-12T21:01:00.000+10:00

Franco Columbu

Franco and Arnold Schwarzenegger on the set of "Conan"

I resently went to Franco Columbu's website, his a great bodybuilder of the 60's Arnold's best friend.

He has won:
1968 NABBA Mr. Universe (Most Muscular)
1969 IFBB Mr. Europe (Medium)
1969 IFBB Mr. Universe (Short)
1969 NABBA Mr. Universe (Short)
1969 NABBA Mr. Universe (Most Muscular)
1970 IFBB Mr. Europe
1970 AAU Mr. World (Pro Short)
1970 IFBB Mr. Universe
1971 IFBB Mr. World
1974 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Short)
1975 IFBB Mr. Olympia (Short)
1976 IFBB Mr. Olympia
1981 IFBB Mr. Olympia

He was 5' 5" (165cm)
weighting 83kg

Known for his very musclar look and thick waist line. Also for been the strongest bodybuilder ever.

World Records in Powerlifting:
• Bench Press 520 lbs. (236kg)
• Squat 655 lbs. (297kg)
• Deadlift 750 lbs. (340kg)

*Ronnie Coleman has "meant" to have beaten some of these but he has proven it*

http://www.columbu.com/

Anyway back to my main subject I found his website rather different, a nice option of your *strength* of bandwidth and then if your "strong" you get a flash based version, which is really quite fancy and with its own desktop feel to it. Only problem is that it's not very good in FireFox it seems to not be centered.

I like the way that the flash version is just an improvement of the html version so there is no loss of data for the html only people. Also the loading isn't slow and everything is loaded by it self so you load what you want.

Today his a Doctor of Chiropractic, film actor and film producer.

He has acted in many films with Arnold:
Stay Hungry
Conan the Barbarian
The Terminator (the future terminator)
The Running Man

And:
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) (body building coach)

End of Days (stunts)
Eraser (stunts)

Arnold, Franco and Stallone

d:-D ads! d:-D

2005-10-12T19:18:00.000+10:00

Yes I have had ads now for a while, great to see all the clicks d:-) thank you.

At the moment I have over two items in my four item block of google ads... odd d:-(.

But there so easy to set up with blogspot its great, I can't wait till I get $10USD for the end of the month, so please click on anything that interests you! d:-D.

PANORAMA

2005-10-11T15:50:00.000+10:00

PANORAMA

This is at the front end of the college:

Me, me, me, me in the class room:

Standard photographic:
A wild duck

4 days to go! Ron The Untouchable will be broken?

2005-10-11T11:10:00.000+10:00

This is the 40th anniversary, to think 40 years ago the first man to become Mr. Olympia was Larry Scott. No one then could have known how important this contest would be come!

SEO and Google Says

2005-10-10T14:30:00.000+10:00

SEO - Search Engine Optimization. Is to improve how high up your site is in the search engines.

Google-Says full article

Domain names:
"Google Says: [0099] Certain signals may be used to distinguish between illegitimate and legitimate domains. For example, domains can be renewed up to a period of 10 years. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith."

Hosting Files:
"Google Says: [0100] Also, or alternatively, the domain name server (DNS) record for a domain may be monitored to predict whether a domain is legitimate. The DNS record contains details of who registered the domain, administrative and technical addresses, and the addresses of name servers (i.e., servers that resolve the domain name into an IP address). By analyzing this data over time for a domain, illegitimate domains may be identified."

Images are checked for text nor javascript but:
"Google Says: Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate."

No link schemes:
"Google Says: Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links."

Only 8 days to the Mr. O!

2005-10-10T12:06:00.000+10:00

Yes I'm excitted, it's one of those events that most of the world doesn't know of or care about. Which is a shame, some of this could be to the horrible disjointed abs... Like that of Ronnie Coleman!

I was looking at the past winners and I think that Lee Haney was the last true great Mr. O so far. With a classic look, and this is why he won 8 times!

Ronnie Coleman will be going for his 8th win this year round.

I truly hope this won't happen and that Jay Cutler will score better. I feel that it maybe down to the posing routine. Which Ronnie in the past has scored rather high on. I feel this generally not much to do with it all, as it comes down to who has the best effects rather then the best posing!

At which posing is still in the dog house. The women and the past Mr. O's have been much better. Ed corney shows us how, you thought the younger would follow instead they stuffed it all up!

Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

2005-10-10T11:52:00.000+10:00

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

This is one story that is really quite odd...

How to the dolphins fire? Do they "say" something and the single is picked up and then the dart is fired. But what if there are multiple dolphins? they'll fire all over the place! Does any body know more about the dolphins firing capabilities?!

How do the Yanks know when dolphins have fired and hit a "terrorist"? won't they just sink?

And what if the Dolphins see Yanky DET, SEALs or engineers, in the water? Was this design thoughout?

These dolphins maybe the end of us all... And bring to us doom by our own hand... could be interesting but most likely not.

Reminds me somewhat of Star Wars, not the film.

Space education

2005-10-10T11:43:00.000+10:00

Here is a nice site which aims to educate people in the world of Space, from the phyics to the engines that repel them in to outer space.

http://www.spacenow.ca

Looks like it would be a great place to start.

Blog... mmm I've hit a point where I wonder if there is any point in me voicing my opinion to news around the world. Surely we should have our own views to things and the best way is with articles which are opinion less and only factual.

Quake 4

2005-10-05T17:04:00.000+10:00

Quake 4 is the hit Australia on the 18th of October:
From Activision:
QUAKE 4 PC TO HIT STORE SHELVES IN MID-OCTOBER

Sydney, Australia – October 5, 2005 – id Software™, Raven Software and Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) have confirmed Earth’s invasion of Stroggos with the announcement that QUAKE 4™ PC has entered manufacturing and will begin shipping to retail stores nationwide on Wednesday, October 19. The long awaited sequel to QUAKE II®, QUAKE 4 enlists gamers in the role of Matthew Kane, a member of the Earth Defense Force’s legendary Rhino Squad, to penetrate deep into the heart of the Strogg war machine and engage in a series of heroic missions to destroy the barbaric alien race.

“On October 19, QUAKE is dialing it up to 4.0 on the Richter Scale with this new chapter in Earth’s war against the Strogg,” said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. “Fusing an epic war-story driven single player campaign, and fast-paced QUAKE III Arena® inspired multiplayer, QUAKE 4 delivers a gaming experience fans will be raving about for years.”

Developed by Raven Software and executive produced by id Software, QUAKE 4 begins only moments after the events of QUAKE II, with the Earth’s fleet launching a massive offensive to the planet Stroggos. As Matthew Kane, an elite member of Rhino Squad, gamers invade the alien stronghold, fighting alone, along side other Marines, and in mechanized walkers and hover tanks as they encounter the Strogg and their disturbing amalgamations of man and machine. Built on id Software’s revolutionary DOOM 3® technology, QUAKE 4 also features fast-paced multiplayer competition modeled after the speed style and feel of QUAKE III Arena.

For more information, fans can visit www.quake4game.com. QUAKE 4 has been rated “MA 15+” by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

Although its not completely created by iD Software. Raven Software is a great company and has made a lot of great games like that of the Soldier of Fortune series. Like iD software they have a long past of FPS games, having many old hit games like that of Hexen and Heretic.

iD Software and Raven Software have many times worked together on games such as Hexen 2.

Raven Software have for a long time now used iD Software Engines, and have always made great advancements. So there is no doubt that it'll be a great release.

I'd like to see Raven Software to start work on a new Soldier of Fortune. Or to start another new work.

Vist Raven Software

2005 Mr. Olympia - October 15th

2005-09-27T20:05:00.000+10:00

I forgot it was October next month, so close to Mr. O.

I hope Jay Cutler will win or Chris Cormier, Dexter Jackson and of cause our very own Lee Priest. Wouldn't that be great an Australian Mr. Olympian.

Ronnie Coleman is a disgrace to the comp. I hope the new orders from Joe Weider to mark down people for having disjointed abs(GH Bellies, Big-Bellies etc), fake claves and other disgusting things will put Ronnie out of the top 5.

The Mr. Olympia for 2005 will be at Las Vegas. I hope it'll be in Australia again (1980) or at least something more interesting then America like it has been for the last few years.

"Jay Cutler" copyright www.jaycutler.com etc etc... anyway good photography!

New Brew - Porter

2005-09-26T12:37:00.000+10:00

With the coming to holidays, I decided to start a new Brew. Last time it was Ginger Beer which was OK, oddly had a larger then expected content of Alcohol.

So this time I wanted to try something a bit different. I came by chance across Porter, which comes from the 1700 and is a mix of old Ale, modern Ale and a mild Ale. The first to be engineered for the public's taste. Its a dark ruby colour.

Its going so far a lot better then the last batch of ginger beer. The air lock is very active. Although temp is a bit low at 18C (Should be about 19-26C!). I should have looked at the weather forecast. Well at least believed in it...

A few more days till I can bottle, then 2 weeks in bottles before drinking.

Moon bases and mars travel are NASA's new plans starting in 2018!

2005-09-22T11:06:00.000+10:00

This article was an interesting read about NASA's plans to go back to the moon in 2018 and stay there! and then venture out from there to Mars.

http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/2005/09/nasa_moon_missi.html

I could and so could of the rest of the world of made up this idea ages ago... According to the ideas back in the 50s and 60s I thought we should be all living on Mars also by now?

And what happened to our damn hover cars!? Better by 2015 (Back to the future II)!

Development by NASA, ok but its damn crap (last few attempts to go anywhere...) they seem to of gone back in tech really lately. And there just going to mix together there old landing pods and shuttle together to make this hunk of junk get to the moon and stay there.

I'm more interested in when anyone can use this crap to go places.

The X Prize is much more excitting for the world at large and the Russian Federation(only need $250,000US?).

I wonder if NASA will have those oxygen farms like in Aliens? :-P

I think I'll be dead when this kicks off in MMCXC!

TAFE...

2005-09-22T10:37:00.000+10:00

Grrr... TAFE blocked our uploaded images to Blogs!

Will have to use URL links now and steal others bandwidth, great...

What will be next!?

CSS Optimization

2005-09-22T10:31:00.000+10:00

CSS Optimiser

Quite a nice little web app. Gets rid of repetitions in the CSS file and removes white space! :-)

I would use it just before you upload to final it. I wouldn't work with its output as it won't have your formatting. If your strict about your format of code like me :-).

Every little increase in speed is worth its weight in gold! I think it's going to be my new friend :-).

KMFDM Hau Ruck - Zemfira - WebCity

2005-09-21T22:59:00.000+10:00

Well I got my Hau Ruck CD on Monday took 7 days to get here from Yankyland.

The music contains a lot more female vocal then usual. This is ok, except in the ones where it feels it’s the main theme, and doesn’t have there “Ultra Heavy Beat” feel.

My favourites are:

Free Your Hate

Hau Ruck

Every Day’s A Good Day (To Die)

Feed Our Fame

Ready to Blow

Auf Wiederseh’n

Zemfira’s Вендетта (Vendetta) is the other album I’m playing at the moment. In fact you can get this off her website in mp3 format from www.zemfira.ru Music section (Ayano)… the CD is 137RUB ($6.20AUD).

I found www.webcity.com.au they look to have some pretty good deals(web hosting). 81.95 ($5.95 monthly + $9.95 setup fee) for a year with PHP, MySQL (1), CGI etc… 100MB space and 10GB trans.

Opera, free!

2005-09-20T19:41:00.000+10:00

This great browser gets better, now its free of ad's and fees. Opera has always been seen as the fastest browser around.

It fired off this Tab world we have now days.

Here is the press release:
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2005/09/20/

Its good to see this happening it'll push IE off the map and improve FireFox thought competition.

I recommend that everyone gives this browser a good, at least install it. Its FREE!

So far I find that Opera and FireFox are the best to display web pages in compared to IE.

I wouldn't be surprized if Microsoft's comment about that they will win the web sparked there own death!

SCG reference

2005-09-18T22:04:00.000+10:00

http://www.w3schools.com/svg/svg_reference.asp

All you need to know.

How to use SVG

2005-09-18T21:32:00.000+10:00

It has a feel like most rendering focused languages or API's.

All SVG is within a

ah sorry bloody blog doesn't like different texts and now its all white in the editer and can't see a thing.

I think it all pretty much makes sense, just need to be able to view it.


Here is the best resource I could find on SVG:
W3Schools SVG HOME

Couldn't find much else that I thought was very useful.

Java Desktop System in Indo

2005-09-18T14:26:00.000+10:00

I just got a "java.io.IOException: EOF" which is end of file, sounds famillia :-P!

So here is what I wrote, just the simple version:
Indonesia adopts JDS as a national desktop
Sun is great www.sun.com
Look in to LookingGlass the true 3d environment not like Vista's onyl rendering if they still will have a 3D rendering desktop at anything!

grrr blog error

2005-09-18T14:23:00.000+10:00

I just got a "java.io.IOException: EOF" which is end of file, sounds famillia :-P!

So here is what I wrote, just the simple version:
Indonesia adopts JDS on Linux as a national desktop
Sun is great www.sun.com
Look in to LookingGlass the true 3d environment not like Vista's onyl rendering if they still will have a 3D rendering desktop at anything!

Indonesia adopts JDS as a national desktop

2005-09-18T14:03:00.000+10:00

This is good news for Sun :-), the JDS is the Java Desktop System, its Sun's standard users Linux. It has many great apps in it as standard and a nice interface.

Sun also has the very popluar Solaris Linux Distro. Which is mainly for servers.

Get the JDS/Solaris at SUN

Article about the adoption of the JDS

The name of the Java Desktop System is a little confussing because its not Java, like many thought at first it was a native Java OS (Which many would of liked) but it most likely gets the Java name from it having so many Java written programs which gives it a huge array of instant usablity.

Sun is a gret company, they are developing LookingGlass a Java3D (a 3D scenegraph like DirectX) which brings your desktop to a true 3D world, not just rendering but able to interact with appliactions ina 3D way, so they can be double sided, or fold up in to a book case fashion.

Windows Vista will have 3D rendering for its desktop (Unless they removed that also?) But this will only make it look smoother and slower. No imagination has been put in to it like that of LookGlass which is at the moment mainly on Linux based systems.

Javascript Slide show - gallery

2005-09-13T21:03:00.000+10:00

This is a very nice slide-show done with javascript, very high quality animation.

Shows that you don't need Flash! :-)

http://slayeroffice.com/code/slide_show/

3D Game Development Out-Sourcing to India

2005-09-10T22:45:00.000+10:00

India is really coming out with all side cannons firing.

Programming has been going over for a while now, cheap... As expected.

Today I found an e-mail in my inbox, from a company from India. I often get ones from a Company in the UK about if I want to publish my games to the Russian audience. But this one was about if I wanted to Out-Source the 3D modelling aspect of Game Dev to them.

I get these e-mails because they find my details at Garage Games. A great start for any one with C++ knowledge and wants a real engine to develop with.

I am rather shocked at this really. I don't like all this out-sourcing. I'm not a company just a hobbyist, so it is a rather good idea for me cheap and effective (I guess? it could be really shotty). I just don't like the idea that stacks of artist jobs will go to India and thus kick out our local 3D modellers.

With this said, I don't really have a reason as to why it’s wrong to Out-Source the work. But it just seems wrong to leave your fellow workers aside for an out-sourced work.

I don't see the larger companies using this(id Software, Atari, Remedy etc), as they won't have complete control over what happens with the works (mesh, skins, animations...). But smaller companies that produce 1000s of cheap games made in no-programming required environments like Virtools (mainly for console games) I'm sure they use it a lot.

And that makes me come to another thing, how can they let Virtools exist! Sure it’s a fantastic piece of software, congrats for the great job, but don’t use it! Some poor people get handed that for Game Development courses that they pay $1000's for.

3D Artists maybe wearing T-Shirts much like this soon also.

(T-shirt image from www.theregister.co.uk you can also buy a mug there)

Internet Addiction Test

2005-09-06T20:11:00.000+10:00

Ok now nerds its time to find out if you really have a problem:
internet addiction test

I got 42:
"You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Which is good to hear, I have to say that I am better now days, or is it because I have ADSL?

But I must say that I felt this test didn't really test me and my usage. I don't really have that great of control over my usage I went mad about out having it during some down time... That must be the worst experience to date, all we had was the 56K modem...

Stray Cat Strut

2005-09-06T16:47:00.000+10:00

This is an image which is a mix of two images. With a motion blur effect.

Photographic adventures

2005-09-06T16:17:00.000+10:00

Beginning Photography Tip #7: Look at the Light

2005-09-06T13:33:00.000+10:00

The light brings the image to life I feel, it can give the image a completely different feel.

http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/tips/7.asp

4G prototypes reach blistering speeds

2005-09-05T09:49:00.000+10:00

A cell phone internet system capable of 100Mbits/s on the move and 1GBits/s static.

How long till we can use it, and will Australia get it, seeing that we're only getting in to ADSL2/+ now! Our ADSL wasn't even at full speeds, when will we catch up to the rest of the world? if we can!

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7943

The mistake of Australia becoming the world leaders in "Rain making" over Computers, is becoming even more of a worse choice... We don't even use the bloody rain making tech! - well only in Tasmainia.

Dinosaurs and the link to birds greater then thought?

2005-09-05T09:31:00.000+10:00

The link of dinosaurs and feathers had to be made and couldn't be for a long time, fake fossils where "found" but turned out ot be a couple of animals put together in China. But then... these fake fossils, was in fact made up of a real dinoasaur with feathers!

And this article below is pointing towards that dinosaurs had a lot more fathered versions then we thought:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1764136,00.html

Its a shame the article isn't very techincal and seems to focus on the current Doc's made by the BBC and the film Jurassic Park which will now be incorrect.

I must say that dinosaurs with feathers is a great find and all. But I was ok with that, this news of the larger dinosaurs with feathers is a bit of a downer, who can take a giant coloured bird serious? I suppose, "Chicken Park" was more correct?

Web designers website search AU&NZ

2005-09-01T14:10:00.000+10:00

Find a web designer in Australia or New Zealand, has web page of the week. Looks like it maybe useful to join if you plan on entering the career.

Or to just see your competitors! :^)

www.webdesigners.net.au

John Carmack's Blog

2005-08-30T21:28:00.000+10:00

John Carmack the co-owner, technical director of id software has always had a "Finger" Service that you could use to see what he and other id software team members where up to. But early this year John Carmack started a blog.

As with the Finger its never updated as often as some would like but its always very long posts and can be a interesting input towards the real technology that they can and can't use due to lack of support or issues. Eirther way very interesting to anyone who happens to enjoy programming, rendering and games or Aerospace, physics and rocket engines...

This is because he is also the team leader of Armadillo Aerospace. Expect to see John Carmack throttling a rocket engine with a joystick... Thrustmaster?

Armadillo Aerospace is a team involved with the "X Prize" (www.xprizefoundation.com). Which is all about making Space travel a relealistic part of life:
"On October 4th, 2004, the X PRIZE captured world headlines when Mojave Aerospace led by Burt Rutan and Paul Allen built and flew the world’s first private spacecraft to the edge of space to win the $10 million ANSARI X PRIZE."

You can see John Carmack's his blog here: http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/johnc/Recent%20Updates

KMFDM Hau Ruck Preview

2005-08-30T21:15:00.000+10:00

KMFDM's new CD "Hau Ruck" which is ready for Preorder at the moment at: KMFDM(Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid)

There are three preview tracks:
Free Your Hate
Hau Ruck
Mini Mini Mini

http://www.kmfdm.net/hauruckpreviews.php