Another week, and we're getting close to the final presentation.
There's a couple of groups that can move forward and begin with their final presentation of their product and I'm actually giddy with excitement! Not just for the two groups, but for the whole class!
So I'll just keep it short and continue to the updates:
Selling Game
Nothing new on the presentation here, so no new pictures - sorry guys :P
Many adjustment to the rules and they undergo a very serious testing session this week with a bunch of expert gamers. These tester were brought in to try to come up with a strategy to broke their system.
Let's just say it's a kind of a success and they will have a new adjustment to their system next week.
Island Escape
Major new add on to the game!
Now every player have their own player board to keep track of their status and belongings. A couple of adjustment and new cards in the event deck. A few changes in the map
just a couple more step to the finished work!
Trick or Treat Game
This week we see a major changed on the board movement. The map became this Harvest-Moon-esque town.
The player have to run around, with a dice roll to visit each house to get their candies.
After testing, we found that this game, played with 6 player and will dice roll, doesn't involve a whole lot of player's decision (which is crucial in a game - otherwise it's just something running on it's own) and it took very very long to finish.
This group get a lot of feedback not just from me but from other players and lecturers in the class, I think they might end up changing the rule AND the map at the same time.
Thief Game
The thief game also get some changes to its system. For instance, instead of the player knows who is the thief at the start of the game, the thief identity is hidden and the player other player have to move and guess the other player's behavior to determine the real Thief.
The system is in place, there's a little bit of adjustment to be done, but everything move to the right direction.
And oh, it's completely different to "Scotland Yard" now :D
Looking for Love Game
This 'looking for love' game although sounds interesting in concept, turns out to have a major problem.
The game, as in its state now, is boring to play after 2 maps, not to mention trying to finish all 5 maps. Most of the problem came to:
- Dice Roll movement
- a lot of space to cover in just one map (a player can reach the top of the map in 'just' 5 turns if the roll a 6 one after another, playing in two player might sounds okay, but after 3 players (or more?) it became a disaster in time :P
- no difference between the city; most of the city are the same with nothing to differentiate them with. Instead of feeling like the player visiting a new location each time, it feels like playing 5 same maps
Some changes in their systems and paces are needed here, so after a few discussion, and after suggestion, they seemed to have a new system ready to be used and now it's up to them to expand on those suggestions and ideas.
Like I said above, I can't wait to see the end result :)
Due to a combination of busyness/laziness/sickness, I didn't update the class progress last week. My bad. So here I am, just minutes away from taking off to class, updating my blog :P
(God, this connection is so slow when you need them the most :( )
Selling Game
Nothing new to report here, just minor adjustment to the cards and rules
Island Escape
Map already being made, although still on the rough side, more adjustment to the rule
Trick or Treat Game
This one is not available for review last week. This game is about Trick or Treating, where the player have to visit the houses in order to gain candies (as victory points), the will need various costumes and a lot of events will happens to them in each turn.
A lot to modify in this game, the game and its presentation is still very rough, imo
Thief Game
This one is a detective game. The players have to work together to catch the thief player. While the thief player give out a couple of hints in where he go and by what, the other player have to figure out where the thief actually is and trap them.
Pretty good and playable, but the bad things is, this is close to "Scotland Yard" but just in different skin. Lot will have to be reworked to make it dissimilar.
Looking for Love Game
Now this is a very interesting concept and a (planned) presentation. This one about three girls pursuing their love, who happen to be the same guy (lol).
They pursue them across the world and in whole different cities. They planned this to mix it with pop up book presentation, only time will tell how will that go :)
Most people who's close to me would know by know, the most unexpected development in my life.
I became a university lecture, teaching Game Development Class.
Me.
Lecturer.
For most people who know me,
personally,
for a long time, that's probably the biggest joke in life :D
SO, never mind about that.
The point is, my class is about game development and it's divided into two semester. Well, it was planned that the class consist of IT students and design students, for some reason unknown to me, the class wasn't offered to the IT students.
SO to compensate, me and Erik, a fellow lecture, bent on teaching how to design a workable gameplay mechanic.
Without IT students
The result? We asked them to create a board game. Since, That way, we though, it would enable them to create a game without an IT students, and learn about gameplay design at the same time.
So, up to this month, 11th week not counting mid-term, after few weeks of theory and practice, they created a nice, playable and a very good Prototype.
Most of them, at least.
Selling Game
The first game we tested today, was a game about selling stuff to customer, the customer ask for certain things, and it's the job of the player to provide it to them to score points.
The Media is card game, there's still a lot to improve, for instance, a score board for easier tracking, but so far it's playable to finish.
The 2nd game tested was a game about escaping Island. A bunch of of kids stranded in a Island, and they have to escape. Actually, the means of escape is already there, but they have to pay.
So the kids have to treasure hunt across the islands, gathering coins while checking how much food they have, to get to the leaving ship.
It probably have the best reaction fo the two, with the students shouting "Huurahs" every time a harvest card event get revealed.
In their adventure the kids will get to find sunken ship, meet pirates ship, moneky island (not the game, in literal sense).
So if the groups in my class happen to read this, there's a keyword to describe what will happen
look it up.
Ever since I saw the first preview of this product, I always knew I'm going to get it, especially the ravage one. Now after a long wait, we get to see the actual product photo and its packaging.
Truthfully? I think it's a rip off for a 2Gb Thumb Drive, really.
But the cool factor negates all logic (in my brain, at least). A thumb drive that transform to Ravage! Imagine that!
Pretty big for a thumb drive, isn't it?
The Packaging.
The back of the box shows the other in the line, which is USB Drive Ravage, Optical mouse Grimlock, and USB Hub Blaster. They said you could put a cassetron inside blaster.
Now THAT's tempting
I wonder if he comes with this clear stand?
Simple transformation, but cool nonetheless
The memory encase in it's head, you just have to flip it out to reveal the usb connector
Ravage & Tigatron together
Today, just before I went to lunch.. I got a big surprise waiting for me
There's a package waiting for me.
At first I didn't notice anything strange... I got a lot of package lately... mainly the games and or toys I've ordered a couple of months a go.. So I just opened without thinking... and inside there were....
Two Karen Kong CDs!!!
Is no secret that I'm looking for that album quite frantically, even asked a friend of mine from Singapore to look for it to no avail... and now... I got it!!!
Her newest single 'Akan' turns out pretty good. I saw her demo video and reserve judgement until I hear the final piece... which doesn't disappoint.
So again... if you reading this Karen, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! and I wish you luck to all your endavour..
A past few days, I've been wondering...
each time I felt something or under a certain situation where a music is playing in the background. That music, represent what I'm feeling/ the situation I'm in, about 70% of the time. It's like in the movies, where you see the character on screen having a distraught and a matching music is playing? It's the same thing!!
It scared me for abit. LIke just now, when I suddenly miss a certain someone so much, suddenly the radio that I left on is playing The Moffats - Miss You Like Crazy.
I know it's cheesy (and I'm NOT a moffats fan) but that music really really represent what I really feels...
aah... life is so strange.....
Yesterday was a bit of a disappointing day. Even though I did have
fun in the end, but it's practically ruin my weekends' plan!!! and it
all because of HIS mistake!!!!
YEAH YOU!!! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!! (lol)
I'm okay now... really :D
The thing is, I had plan to go to Ancol together with some friends of
mine during the weekends but there were some complications, and long
story short, they all went there yesterday leaving me with my
incredibly-sucky-job-since-all-the-others-went-without-me :(
We did get together later that night and ACTUALLY have fun, two of
them two be exact.
First one is stuffing our poor empty stomach with Seafood (shells,
crabs, fried fish, and barbecued fish, you know, the standard fare)
Second one is singing to the top of our lungs. God, it's been so long
since I did that. Lol
We all ended up drain all our energy for the day. I hit the sack
almost immediately when I got home, I'm pretty sure the others did
the same thing. There's should be some photo made during the singing
but I haven't stea... ahum, obtain it just yet.
I hope I can go to a karaoke together like this again sometime in the
near future and with some particular person too
In the mean time, I should figure out what I can actually do on the
weekends...
Later that night, we have our dinner at Fish & Co, also at Taman
Aggrek Mall. It’s a restaurant that specializes in Seafood. We
ordered some food, shared some laugh, and share the food together: D.
One thing about the taste though. I think seafood is always taste
batter somewhere else small rather than in some big mall. Seriously.
I love the French fries though, but the seafood itself? Only So-so
but it’s fun when you ordered the platter for two (which basically
meant for 4 person) and ate it at the same time.
The platter for F...two!
Guys, I know there's a cute girl in the picture, but can we please focus on the food now? Thank You! :D
The causalities of 'war' :D wait, I think I took the prawn after this photo was taken
I don't think I ever talk about Reed previously.
Reed is a cafe. A chocolate cafe to be exact at the Taman Anggrek
Mall in Jakarta. Where the cakes, the drinks, everything, is
chocolate oriented. I went there last Sunday to meet a friend and
discuss a project together (and also check out some cute chicks, the
place is abundant with them during the weekend: D)
So anyway, who knows I ended up back there the day after? You see, I
have some friends coming over from Surabaya to Jakarta because they
wanted to look at some clothes material to buy. I decided to
introduce them to a friend who's basically major on the subject :)).
So, long story short, I'm back at Reed's
I ordered a Strawberry Chocolate Banana Smoothie, quite the opposite
of the 'Midnight' that I ordered the last time (which is basically a
hot dark chocolate - yummy). It's sweet, and cold, and not for those
people who distaste sweet drinks.
drinking the strawberry thing
what my friend ordered. It's called 'Dawn' it's basically a hot white chocolate. Haven't tasted it though. Maybe I should, eh? :D
So I decided to cut my hair off yesterday. And to follow a certain
someone's advice, I decided to not spend too much this time on my hair.
Big Bad Idea
The thing is, I never know what hair look good on this deformed head.
I tend to leave it to the expert to do their job and find something
that actually looks good on it.
So here comes this hairdresser that goes by the name of A, tell me “I
think you should get something a long the line of what your friend
just had” (I was with a friend that day). So that’s 45k down the
drain, with a result that I hated, a style that I want to get rid off
so immediately.
I guess I much prefer that 80k that I spend 4 months ago to cut my
hair Japanese style. Love the guy! But now, I’ll just have to wait
for another month or two before I throw my money to this head of mine.
I forgot to attach this photo to the previous posting, enjoy it (got
to buy that bread again if I get the chance :D)
Mom comes for a visit last weekend, actually? She just wanted to shop
here; it was dad who has an IODI (Ikatan Olah raga Dansa Indonesia) -
a national dance organization here in Indonesia.
So we go around Jakarta, mom, my bro, his fiancee, and me. From
morning till night, the second day we decided to sleep over my aunt
house (where my mother is staying).
There's one thing you should know about her house, it's basically
empty!! I mean the whole family is always busy doing stuff, so the
house is empty for the most of the day. So all of us just help
ourselves, and buy breakfast for ourselves the following day.
We went to Sogo supermarket, and guess what we found: a 3 foot
Turkish Bread!! It was so big, I imagine the four of us could bite
from all 4 edges without ever touching each other: D. The bread
itself is delicious, and it only cost like 18k here.
GOD! It seems like forever since the last time I make an entry, and
there's already so many things happening to me... Well, not major
ones, minor, but oh do I wish for a major change happen to my life
nowadays.
Ok where was I?
I still work in this damned stressful company, still working my @$$
off for something I Supposedly enjoy. I can't elaborate anything on
that due to professional reasons, but in short, a lot of people here
feel that they're under appreciated, that's all I can say... for now.
Couple of weeks a go, there was a Toy Fair held in Jakarta, and, even-
though I spent only a little of my money there, I ended up with a lot
more than I deserve!!
While I was there, won not one but two zoids model kits, and a star-
wars Lego (the one with the land speeder and the cantina) ^_^. I was
so happy that day but I ended up sick at home, hehehhehe.
There are certain times when I hated the way people think. I know
it's an opinion, and it's theirs, but still...
I recently I come onto news that both disappointing and heart
breaking, and all because of the stupidest reasons too.
I mean, what compels a person, to do something that he/she might
regrets, but do it anyway because it was "natural for them to do so"?
Is life so short that people will rush into such an important decision?
I went back to Surabaya last weekend. There are things that I have to do, among them was going to the dentist (not my mom btw), go to the bank to get my overdue ATM cards, and last but not the least, attend some wedding Party as an uninvited guess as a favor for a certain someone. Not that I mind though, there's quite a number of guys from the Uni that I haven't seen for a while :)
Yep, It was Sunny's wedding last Sunday (for those who doesn't know her, you read her name right :) though the party was okay (the event organizer suck, IMO) going there qas quite a bitch. Really, there like, wedding party ALL OVER TOWN!!! I know not so many people want to have a wedding party during fasting month but all in one day? Geez!
Lastly, I hope that 'certain someone' appreciate what I just did :) Here's a couple of photos I took during the party
On the side note, Nintendo finally shows us their latest controller for the next-gen!!! Yay!!! It was a very intriguing device, I mean, at first when I looked at the thing, i Was like WTF??? but after doing some reading, and look at the teaser video, I can't wait untul I can get a hold on one!!
Here are some in depth details of the Revolution Controller!
3D Pointing. Sensors understand up, down, left, right, forward and backward.
Tilt Sensitive. Controller can be rotated or rolled from side-to-side.
Buttons Included. Has a trigger on its backside, face buttons, and a D-Pad.
Multifunctional. Has an expansion port which can be used with different types of controller peripherals. Analog stick with two trigger buttons planned for left hand.
Wireless. Totally wire-free. Currently there are no details on the max distance, source or power, or otherwise.
Rumble Built-in. Included as a standard in all the controllers.
You guys can check some more image here
So finally, 3 weeks a go, my Bro got engaged. It's due time I guess and probably to everyone surprises (especially those who knew him at high school) lol.
So we went to Cirebon that day, a very tiring 3 hours trip with the train. When we arrived. Lanny (my Bro fiancee) meet us at the station and took us to lunch nearby to taste the local food :D
We stayed at this remote resort hotels on a hill some where. It got a 'water massage spa' that I get to try later in the evening. You can check the photo album for it :)
Anyway, the engagement itself is nothing special really (how should this thing go anyway? I don't have a clue). Bunch of laugh, and talk, plan of marriage date, almost everybody from her family was there. Me, I got my bro (obviously), my parents, and two of my dad's sister. Later we went to dinner with her family. There were some mixed up in the restaurant, and all the family got separated due to space.
Just check the photo album guys.
I accompany Bing-Bing to her EsMod competition final on Sunday and to everyone surprise, she won! I mean, it's not that her design was bad or anythig, it's just that the other contestants have excellent design too! As evident in the recently uploaded photoalbum here. As her friend, I'm extremely proud of her :) You Go girl! She got a 4 days round trip to Paris and a year of scholarship in EsMod (it's a fashion design school in Jakarta) she can opt not to take it though. But if she's serious in this subject, I think it's wise for her to take it, right?
So anyway, after the competition, I left her and continue playing World of Warcraft, and this is an actual conversation happen in the Game:
[Ishkar]: You're a cute Gnome
[Naraa] (Me): Thanks
[Ishkar]: So are you really a girl?
[Naraa]: Hmm, take a guess
[Ishkar: It's kinda difficult since there's so many male player play the game using a female avatar
[Naraa]: True, but you can tell from the way they speak to you
- Partying up, then fighting monster-
- moments later -
[Ishkar]: So, are you cute in RL (Real life)?
[Naraa]: Well, everybody think themselves cute :)
- More fights with monster -
[Ishkar]: Do you have a man already?
[Naraa]: wtf??
[Naraa]: Dude! I'm a guy!
[Ishkar]: lol
Come on!!! Do I really talk like a girl?? Please folks, players and people online can be really naive sometimes and this is prove to not believe anything you meet/saw/talk to on the 'net until you got a hard proof of it :D
I can't update my blog yesterday. Does this happen to everyone?
Anyway, on Monday night, I should have had a DnD Session with some friends of mine. But it happens that the DM (Dungeon Master, a VERY integral part of the session) decided that he's not in the mood to play. So I ended up wasting a couple of hours doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Not that it his fault, you see, he's been sick for the past week, so the 'ol Ball-Chain would've restrict him to play anyway.
The joy of married life eh?
He better gives us a few extra session this week or else!
Oh, I've Uploaded a couple of new pictures from the Bandung Road Trip. So check them out.
Now, Meteos, God! this game addictive! Even a friend of mind, who claimed that he hate puzzle game was playing this game withouth turning his DS off for 1.5 day ever since I uploaded the demo to his DS. A funny thing about the demo of this game. From the demo itself, they can spawn them to another DS which make an excellent marketing strategy if there's plenty of DS to go around, and I hope it will be.
Also, April fools day are coming. So what crazy news will we found around that time? Only time will tell
It was good friday day, and as planned, I went to Bandung.
So here I woke up at 5:30 as opposed to the planned 5:00, I was so freak out and I go to take my morning shower (GOD that was cold :P) as quickly as possible, took my well prepared backpack and literally ran to the train station to cue up for the 7:30 train (it took about 30 minutes from my place to the station).
When I arrived, at exatcly 6:15, there was this line on the yet open ticket booth, so I had to cue up till 7:00 (the time the booth open), during cueing, I met Shanti, well, people seems to know her as Moja, a RO player (maybe some of you know her) she went to Bandung as well, so we ended up cueing together.
at Exatcly 7:!5 and the tikecting booth open nad I'm at front, they're almost sold out, and I manage to get by with 3 tickets, for me, nita & annie, both of my friends from Surabaya who just came in the nick of time to go to Bandung together.
I wish I had a Camera with me at the time, as fate dictates, I forgot the damned Camera!!!! Luckily, I borrowed a smaller back up camera from my friends. but the Batteries ran out. Damn it!!!! When I got to Bandung, I spend the whole day without taking a single picture, not because I don't want to, but all the destination we go to don't sell the AAA batteries I needed! talk about bad luck.
We went to eat this Yamian noodle, it was quite good, although they have this weird menu that taste like they put too much soya sauce on it, far too sweet for my taste. After we all gather, we waited for Fenny to come and join us and then we went to Lembang, A place in Bandung famouse for its cafes and views (its located on the hills), we went to Kampung Daun first, it's a very nice place, a bit expensive, but nice place nonetheless, the guys were taking pictures except me, who can't.
Later that evening, I finally get some batteries for my camera, when I opened it, there was no sd card in it, (it turns out it have some internal memory in it), but when I checked, the internal memory was about full!! I immedietly contact my friends, who apprently forgot to backup all the pictures in it so I had to deal with only a couple of space left in it. Thankfully Nita have some space in its mmc card for her mobile. So I get to use them for the rest of the day.
The next day have nothing much to tell, we just spend our days driving around Bandung to buy some snacks, gifts, and food. Oh, and we get to visit this weird, not yet finished, mall, that have all landmark from around the world featured inside them.
The party was nice, simple, but nice, you'll see it in the photo album. Afterwards I get to catch a ride to Jakarta with a some of the gang to help Ping2 locate her destination for next week (She'll be visiting Jakarta along with her sister, and she never set foot in Jakarta before this, ever).
So enough for my rant now, I need to post the pictures :)
Test If this goes in, than it's the coolest feature this blog ever had! And do you know what it is? Mobile blog baby! With this i can update it anytime, anywhere! Anyway, my meteos came today. It's a puzzle game for NDS which cannot be explained with words because people need to play to understand.
