June 13th, 2009
I needed to upgrade my compile tools as my current level was breaking the stock id ones. I converted Bengt Jardrup’s tools so that they compile and run on OSX. If you’re interested, you can grab the binaries and the source code here:
http://wantonhubris.com/BJPToolsOSX/
His site along with his documentation is HERE.
The BSP compiler requires full paths to the WAD files at the moment so that’s something to know before trying to use it. Other than that, these should work as they do on Windows.
Oh, and these ones support multithreading. A little extra I like to throw in for my OSX homies. 
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June 6th, 2009
I added LMP previewing to my PAK editor this morning and came across this sell screen buried in ID0.PAK. I’ve never seen this before. Looks somewhat placeholder, yeah?
Quake Sell Screen
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June 4th, 2009
Serial
Basically, it’s a hitch hiking horror story but it’s cool in that 2 horror authors got together and experimented. They each wrote a chapter on their own that defines their character and motives (and some gruesome killing), which they kept private from each other. They co-wrote the 3rd chapter, 100 words at a time, without knowing what the other guys character was about – they responded to what the other had written next. The serial killer characters were strangers to each other and were thrown together in the same car. The end result is really good, IMO.
Tags: Story Review
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June 4th, 2009
Dead Sea
I read this book on the recommendation of some zombie lovers I know. The key words to getting me to try this one were : “zombie” and “whale”. Unfortunately the zombie whale only took up about 5 sentences of the book. Fortunately the rest of the book was pretty good.
The way the author writes zombies is fairly gruesome and he spares no effort in describing the horrific states in which we find most of the walking dead. Keene clearly loves zombies and it shows.
I found the choice of protagonist to be particularly interesting. A gay, black man. I haven’t seen that very often and it made for some situations and exchanges that you don’t normally see in horror books. At any rate, I really liked the main character and that was a large part of what drove me to finish the book.
Keene is an author who likes to explore the zombie situation in interesting ways. He focuses on questions like, “What would happen if animals could become zombies?”. I found that really refreshing and it made for some great description and scenery.
Oh zombie whale, I can only hope you get more ink devoted to you next time.
Tags: Book Review
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May 31st, 2009
Life on a Rock
I wasn’t sure if this book was fiction or not when I started reading it but it eventually became clear that it was, indeed, non-fiction. Some of the stuff that happens initially is somewhat shocking and graphic and it had me starting to think that maybe I was witnessing plot points that would be returned to later in the book but I was pleasantly surprised to find that that was not the case.
The book takes place on a Bahamian island called Highborne Cay (interesting side note: “cay” is pronounced “key” in the Bahamas). A couple from the mainland answers an ad in the paper to manage a resort on the island and are shocked when they actually get the job! From there the book chronicles their life on the island and the challenges they faced day to day. It’s enjoyable to read about the friends they make and everything that happens, good and bad, on the island.
I admit some bias in reviewing this book as I bought it in anticipation of Sandra and I taking a trip to the Bahamas. I read it on the plane on the way down, on the plane on the way home, and finished it up here in North Carolina. It was great to read about things and then actually see them. For example, early in the book the author talks about the Mailboat that comes around once a month or so and delivers supplies. As Sandra and I were heading out for a snorkeling trip we passed a big boat with yellow letters on the side: “Mailboat”. It was a nice moment to have that connection with the book and it really made me want to get back to it and continue reading.
With or without a corresponding trip to the islands, I would recommend this book as it’s written well and contains a lot of great imagery and details about life on the island to keep you interested. As a bonus, the stories change often enough that if you find the current anecdote a little slow you know that it’ll be changing to something else in a page or two.
Recommended!
Tags: Book Review
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May 29th, 2009
Do you play Quake? Of course you do. Then you need this program:
Quake Injector
It’s absolutely fantastic! It’s written in Java which might give you a few initial giggles trying to get it to run but once you do, it’s like magic! All of the maps over at Quaddicted show up in an easy to use list. You click a map you want to play and Quake Injector does the rest, including downloading required mods that the map might need.
I played a bunch of old school stuff this morning and it was totally seamless. Works on Windows and Mac and, well, I guess anything that can run Java.
Grab it, it kicks ass!
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May 20th, 2009
I’m reaching the tipping point with this level. The point where you decide one way or the other whether it’s going to get done or not. The point where you do a gut check and decide if you really feel like seeing it through to completion.
I’m feeling good about it at the moment. We’ll just have to get over this middle hill.
One thing I find that is really helping in regards to maintaining my interest in working on the level is leaving many areas unfinished. This gives me the ability to open the level and start moving the camera around, looking for something that strikes my fancy- “Should I detail out that broken wall? That door way needs fleshing out but, then again, that hallway needs to be connected somehow. Screw it, this secret area needs better lighting.”
In the past I would generally finish each area before progressing. This new method seems to be working much better.
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May 17th, 2009
This is a quick look at the level I’m currently working on. It’s going to feature specific combat arenas and is set in a temple environment. This is shaping up to be the largest level I’ve ever done so hopefully nothing will break down and force me to make compromises.
You can tell by the spectacular view of the outside void that this level is very “work in progress” at the moment. It’s coming along though. I’m up to 2,177 brushes now.
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May 15th, 2009
I’m adding a new feature into LevelEd for the next release called “layers”. Layers allow you to group entities/brushes together into meaningful groups so you can quickly select or hide them all at once. What’s really interesting is the concept of “Smart Layers” which will automatically include all entities/brushes that meet specific criteria. Here’s a shot of the very early, unfinished layer inspector:
All that is currently supported is a set of LevelEd provided smart layers (smart layers have the purple folder icon beside them). In this case, this is a default set of smart layers that filter off of the entity class name. So, for example, if I toggle off the layer titled “trigger” then all of the trigger entities in the level will hide themselves.
Eventually I want to allow the user to create their own smart layers with basic filtering statements like “all lights with a brightness > 200″ and “all entities with a targetname of ‘blargh’” and things like that.
Of course, aside from smart layers there will be basic layers as well which you will be able to freely add and remove entities from as you see fit.
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May 14th, 2009
The level marches forward. I’ve been doing something to this level pretty much every day. I want to get at least a few new brushes in every day because that means at the end of each week, progress has been made. I’m finding that this strategy is working pretty well for me so I’m going to continue onwards.
I just hit 2,000 brushes and considered that a blog worthy milestone. And there’s still a ways to go. Oof!
What’s interesting about this level is that I’m forcing myself to be productive partially via sabotage. I’m concentrating on the play areas and the walls/floors while ignoring roofs. This means that the level hasn’t successfully VIS’d since I started working on it. When it’s done, I’ll finish up the ceilings and get it sealed but until then I think the lack of a successful VIS is allowing me to be a little more creative because I’m not constantly concerned with r_speeds and who can see what from where. However, having typed that I now realize that Quake is going to break itself soon from too many clipnodes or something and I will be forced to seal it early. Bah! I will carry on until that happens at least.
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