UPDATE: Charlotte Gyseman has moved to a New Blog

It's pretty much the same as this one, except I've added all the posts from my other blogs into it and will be writing there from now on. If you want to keep following me, you may want to subscribe to my new current blog [ it's free... ] for easier access to new posts and info as and when they're posted. See you there!

Making a Race Car Game in Unity3D

I've started work on a racing game to get myself to learn Blender, GIMP, and brush up on Unity3D. Here's the proposal document I wrote to myself:

Fancy looking document to help Developer Me persuade Publisher Me...

So far I've been following the Unity Car Tutorial for an "arcade-style race car set-up" and have gotten through section 1. I took it for a test drive and it definitely needs some tweaking, which is where the second section comes into it.

I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to make my own car after going through only this, so I'll have to have a look around to figure out what all different parts of the Car Game Object are meant to be.

EDIT: I found an even better tutorial for making a really basic car from scratch.

Glossy Buttons

I've been doing a spot of 2D texture work for a friend's game.

I've never done glossy before! It's quite exciting.

My scientific study of responses to Facebook and it's changes: 21st Sept 2011.

Introduction
Here's my highly scientific review of the response to the latest changes that seemed to have occurred on the social site I love to be nosy on. It's short and sweet, factual, and I'd like to think fairly accurate in terms of the constructive criticism it presents. Written in true this-is-what-I-remember-of-science-class-experiment-write-ups-in-school fashion.

Method
It took me some time to find out some of these things [I searched for the term "facebook" in my friends posts to find out how many were talking about the most recent changes and it only brought up two posts - LIES! - one of which was in a language I kind of can't be bothered to Google-translate...]. I have also included the status update I'll post with a link to this blog post in the count.

Results

Number of statuses found today referencing recent changes: At least 20. 
>:( - Number of those consisting of definite complaints: 15. That's 75%.
 :? - Number of those that might be complaints hidden in dumbfoundedness: 3. 15%
:) - Number of those consisting of an "I can deal with this" attitude: 1. Bless you, Kozlik the Easygoing. 5%
:D - Number of those praising the changes: 1. But I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic...
["I personally like the new Facebook page, but then again I like unnecessary, complicated, pointless things."]. 5%

Evaluation
I haven't got figures for the comments posted on those statuses. There were a fair few of them, many complaints, but I'm not concerned about being highly thorough about those replies.

Conclusion
So, with 75% of statuses about the changes on my feed being definite complaints*, and only 5% praising the changes - sarcastically at that - I think it's safe to say:

WTF FB. WTF.

*While typing up this informative report, another person posted a status complaining at Facebook for "fucking changing my Facebook!", bring the total up to 16 out of 21 posts being definite complaints; or 76.1905%. There was also a complaint about all the complaints, but it included no praise for FB so was ignored by the study.

JustClick Psychometric Test

After automatically registering with JustClick when registering for something for Graduation day, I checked out the psychometric test on there. I was actually kind of surprised at what it came up with out of my input. Here's what it said:

DESCRIPTIVE WORDS
Dependable, compliant, deliberate, careful, amiable, systematic, persistent, precise, good listener, accurate, kind, perfectionist, logical, hesitant, reserved, mild, reflective, suspicious, self-conscious, accommodating, non-demanding, probing and serious.


GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
- A perfectionist who strives to avoid error.
- Dislikes unrealistic deadlines and being pressurised to release work before she is satisfied it is correct.
- Works in a thorough and systematic manner in order to reach the perfect solution.
- Prepared to follow systems, rules and procedures.
- Needs time to adjust to change.
- Wants to tie up the loose ends and see an assignment through to conclusion.
- Logical even in adverse situations.
- Non-aggressive; dislikes trouble, conflict and hassle.


Motivators
Charlotte Gyseman is motivated by a happy home life, constant appreciation and security of situation. Maintaining the status quo is also important, as are reassurances and standard operating procedures. She dislikes sudden or abrupt changes and should be given sincere appreciation for a job well done.


Should Charlotte Gyseman have a boss, then ideally that person will be democratic in approach and recognise the need for security within the working environment. The requirements of the job should be clearly defined, understood and preferably given in writing.


Values Charlotte Gyseman brings to the Organisation
Charlotte Gyseman will be recognised and valued for her natural ability to perform consistently and predictably. This will be particularly noticeable when working in specialist or administrative roles and where she is called upon to maintain exacting standards of performance, both personally and for those with whom she works closely. What will also be apparent will be her special ability to stabilise excitable people, demonstrate loyalty and develop unique skills.

Not sure what percentage of the time this would be an accurate description of me, but it feels fairly accurate...

New Project: Chav City

A short while ago I asked my housemates to give me a game brief to work on. Here are some of the current details:

Chav City [working title] is a turn-based strategy game inspired by the Harry Brown film and a turn-based strategy game that I unfortunately don't remember the name of right now [should have written it down...].
There are three teams to choose from; the Chavs, the OAPs, and the Police, and there are three kinds of unit; Melee, Ranged, and Heavy.
Each team has a base [Council Estates, Retirement Home and Police Station], and the aim of the game is to take over an opponents base.

I'm pretty sure it would be easier to just make it as a board game, but the point of the project for me is just to see what it takes to make one of these kinds of games digitally.

~

I've learned a tiny bit of Blender by watching the videos here: http://www.blendercookie.com/getting-started-with-blender/ It feels a bit odd learning something from the start again, but it will be good once I know how to use Blender as well as Maya.

I've also just discovered that there is a new version of Unity3D or something, it's been that long since I opened the program last. Not sure yet what has changed, so I will have to find out in a bit.

Back in the World of the Wide Web.

Internet man was round yesterday to give us internet access at our house.

Now that I'm not a student [I am a student, I'm still studying, but I don't think studying independantly of any organisations like Universities or schools of my own accord using the Internet and any other sources available to me counts as being a Student in the Gov's eyes, for Some Reason[?] ], I possibly won't be having my free licence to use Maya anymore. So, today I'm downloading Blender again to re-learn it so I can make stuff.

OH! And I forgot to mention, I seem to have gotten me a 2:1 for the past three years of work. Nicely done :)