I Am...

Long time no see, huh? Well, technically, I can't possibly physically see my readers, although I could meet them after having finished a post. So, well... Ah, nevermind.

This time around, I'll try to keep it strictly to game-related stuff, since that's what this blog was mainly to be about. First, I'd like to mention a Spear of Destiny-modification called Absence. I was in the dev-team as tester, sort of, and graphics artist. I made a few sprites and sprite modifications for it. My friend from Germany, who goes under the web-alias Havoc was the project leader, and responsible for pretty much everything that made the mod to the interesting new experience that it is. If you're a fan of and know how to handle old DOS games, you should check the mod out. For the comfort of those interested, here's a link to the news section of the Wolfenstein 3D Dome; just click.

What else, well, I've been playing the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-series a lot lately, mainly Shadow of Chernobyl, which I recently finished, and of course the sequel/prequel, Clear Sky. They're both great and interesting games, and the freedom to explore a seemingly infinite landscape of anomaly and monster infested land makes up for every little nitpicky flaw the games have.
Expect reviews of both Absence and the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-games to end up here sometime, although I wouldn't count on them popping up in the near future.

Well, seems my mind is trying to tell me that there isn't much else to say/type for now, so I guess it'll be a relatively short post this time. One last thing though, as some audiences from Sweden might know, Idol has started. That's right, I watch that shit. I don't know if I should feel bad about it or not, but it's actually entertaining at times. There's two contestants, or should I say; artists, in particular that stand out slightly from the others, which I like. It's a bit more varied now with the new judges/jury, since they seem to have taken the whole concept of what an idol is with a wider view, and not just accepting potential pop idols. Overall, the show has had a refreshment for the better. I won't be calling in any votes, since it costs like a buck for every vote you call in, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for some of the more interesting ones.

That's about it, apologies for the lack of any interesting content whatsoever, save for mentioning Absence, of course. Download it. Now. Please?

/Marcus out.

Eight Melodies

Just dropping in to say that I've just recently spent a total of 220 american bucks for a complete copy of EarthBound for the Super Nintendo (of which 40 dollars' shipping.)

If you know the game and its high value among collectors and fans, you'll know it's not easy to find it in such a condition, with what I think is intact scratch n' sniffs.

But if you're not much into the game, maybe not at all, you'll be thinking I'm complete nuts for spending so much on a video game.

But ah, I say! It is one of the very best games I've ever played, it looks innocent enough for a youngster to play, but if you truly understand it, it plays with your mind in a manner I've never experienced a game doing to me, ever. With years of development on its neck, it shows as one of the most well-made games to date. Some über-programmers over at a fan-site were astonished by the way the Escargo Express delivery man managed to find a route around to the player when there was only just enough spaces to squeeze through the maze-like pattern around the player.

Call me a fan-boy, call me a nerd, call me fucking crazy, but I love this game.
But I'll have to live rather cheap the following weeks. A worthy sacrifice to have the golden snitch of console games sitting in your lap in a few weeks from now, waiting to be taken care of.

/Marcus out.

The Premier Post

Good evening, all ye descendants of monkeys like myself!
So, this if my first blogpost ever. Or well, not in all. I've been blogging a bit on other communities, but the main purpose of them weren't blogging, and it was not even a fart's distance to being serious.
Neither is this one, in a way. But I'll try and be serious about posting frequently. I'll not promise anything, though, that's happened in the past. Let me tell you about my game projects, and you'll understand.

The Grail of Eternal Life (http://www.tgoel.tk/) is what I consider to be my first serious project that actually saw the light of the day. Although it's not an original game, but a modification of the Wolfenstein 3D prequel/sequel called Spear of Destiny. It tells the story of gun-blazing, pride-of-the-country protagonist B.J. Blaszkowicz as he spreads lead to his way to rescue the captured Holy Grail from the clutches of the evil nazi's. The mod started as a little hobby-project, a mere map-pack for Spear of Destiny, but it turned into a fully-fledged near-total conversion pretty soon after.
Now, to the point. Development took its time. The release was planned for christmas, but then it was delayed til' new years. It eventually got released around the start of February. Now, that might not seem like much of a delay. Not in comparsion to a certain game that seems to take forever, I think you know which one I mean...

Around the same year, I started work on a Final Fantasy fan-game. The game's been polished and developed over almost two years, and the demo will be around to see the project's second birthday. That's right, the demo.
I worked completly alone on this, though. Until now, for a great guy named Bobby is composing unique musical pieces for the project as I type.
I also made a flash-based website for this project as a final assigment in one of the courses at my school, it can be seen at http://www.finalfantasyfangame.tk/.

Then, halfway through the development of the FF-demo came The Grail of Eternal Life 1.5. It was supposed to be a new map-pack for the original mod, but then grew into a complete remake of the mod, with only the story somewhat intact. Havoc, who previously helped me out with source-modding for the first release, agreed to do the math-intense programming parts again.
This remake has yet to see the light of the day, even though the custom executable with many new features over the original Spear of Destiny and over the original TGoEL is finished, and all graphics have been replaced to my satisfaction, I've been stuck at the mapping part for several months. It's killing me that I can't do anything that I feel is good enough for this, but I refuse to give it up since it's so close to being done.
It will be released one day, though I'd not expect it to be before fall this year, since it's been delayed several times already.

Talking about delays, I've been typing this blogpost for some hours now, going back and forth between playing Chrono Trigger to typing to looking at some vids on Newgrounds. I'm like that, I can't do one thing at a time, and it bugs the living fuck out of me sometimes.

Ah, but enough ranting about my imaginary disorders. I think I'm having my fifth cup of coffe for today now. The week-ends mainly consist of gaming and coffee, but it doesn't bother me. So my future disgraceful descendants might get damaged from all the caffeine I'm constantly pouring down my throat, who cares. Considering that the possibilities of humanity's end increases with two figures every year or so, it feels like wasted effort to raise a kid that's going to die from an asteroid crash whilst the oceans eats up all that used to be steady ground.

I'm a negative fucker, so sue me. I am happy and all optimistic at times too, not too often though. It's not healthy.

My coffee's getting a bit cold, better pour it down before it starts tasting like distilled man chowder. Urgh.

Until next time!
/Marcus out