Vlog: Birthday, A Letter, VDP, and Harlem Shake

A Year In Review: 2012

A bit late... but here are highlights of 2012

January
I discover BlimeyCow.

February
I go to my last Valentine's Banquet

March
Probably the biggest highlight of my year: The Spring Celtic Ball! It came right after my birthday. :)

April
Trip to the Philippines.

May
High School Graduation at the A Beka Academy, Pensacola, Florida.

June
High School Graduation at the High Street Christian Academy, Columbus, Ohio. (Yes, I had two)

July
Youth Conference at Hammond, Indiana.

August
Trip to Chicago.

September
Trip to NC, SC, and GA.

October
The Valiant Defender's Party October Elections.

November
I got a job at Verizon FiOS. And I got a cane from my sister Victoria for the gift exchange. :D

December
The Winter Festive Ball!

I can't wait for what 2013 will bring. God has blessed me so.  :)

Gentleman X Collection

I feel like a sir. I don't think I'm missing any major items from my collection.

What I currently have:

Fedora, Bowtie,Suit

Top Hat, Monocle

Sunglasses, Cane

Tie

Overcoat

What I need:
Bowler Hat
European-style Military Officer Uniform
Vest
Those frilly dress shirts to match the vest

Relationship Ramblings, Or, Why Sam Doesn't Have A Girlfriend

Another rare post about *cough* girls. Or, actually, relationships. Or something. No, just random ramblings without construction about the fact of relationships or lack thereof.

Everyone I know seems to ask me if I have a girlfriend, or if I'm courting. My grandma, cousins, family, relatives, strangers, friends from church and college, authority figures, teachers, pastors, random people....

I keep telling them, No, not yet, me? I have to... earn money, finish college, stuff like that. That I'm very, very picky. That I only want one girlfriend, and that she'll be my future wife someday. That I want to be patient and be very careful.

And that's all true. They're not really excuses, or at least bad ones. But what I don't tell many people is that I think I know who she is.

But I don't tell them. Because I feel like I fail in everything I plan concerning these things. Always waiting and waiting for weeks to build up courage. Always failing to ask in time for a date to the banquet. Always resigning whenever the one you ask tells you that, in a deflating tone of voice, why she can't go out with you. Always feeling too dejected to try again in the foreseeable future.

(That's why I look forward to the bi-annual dancing balls where the Scottish music plays around here in Ohio every spring and winter. At least there, no lady will reject any gentleman who asks her for just a single dance. And all dance as friends, not any more than such. There is no dating or any such romantic matter. Just merely fun and laughs. But I digress.)

Some people have caught on a little bit on who she would be. Or maybe, they already know for sure who she will be, as if God reveals it to them, not to me. I think He does, though. Either that, or there's a huge conspiracy going on. Them peoples making little snide, seemingly harmless jokes here and there, and I just smile and shrug it off.

It's probably my fault. Making little art game in dedication to a certain, specific mademoiselle was not the most subtle thing I could have done for Valentine's Day. I don't regret doing that, though.

People are smarter than you think. They observe you. They know more.

I think she even knows. Maybe. Or maybe she actually dislikes me a lot. Or thinks me amusing. I never really asked. Sometimes I want to know. Sometimes I don't want to know.

It's been a long time since we were together for any reason. We used to go to school. And to youth group activities. And nowadays, I only see her at church, rarely. I think we naturally avoid each other. I can probably count only a handful of times where we both were in proximity of less than one feet from each other. And most of those times were more or less forced. It made me hesitant and uncomfortable and yet strangely hopeful.

You probably can tell she occupies my thoughts a lot. Trust me, I tried forgetting. And erasing my memory. And finding another to take her place in my heart. To no avail. And that's one reason I know it's her.

Even then....

What am I supposed to do, though? Every opportunity I ever had has disappeared and it doesn't seem like any will come. I'm just quiet now. Waiting. Dreaming. Watching. Hoping. Praying. Looking out my window to see a winter wonderland.

I've just accepted the fact that if we were indeed meant for each other, that God will bring us together one day.

I love her. I trust Him.

Postmortem: Nativity

A celebration of the true meaning of Christmas.

Nativity: http://gamejolt.com/games/other/nativity/10880/

I was tired of all the games for Christmas that promoted the ultra-commercialistic Santa Claus Kringle. Where are the media that celebrated the true meaning of Christmas? (I realize the previous sentence may be oxymoronic in nature.) And so Nativity was born, no pun intended. It is actually a continuation and a finishing of the game I started last year or so.

Gameplay:
Not really much gameplay. It's supposed to tell a story on why it was necessary for Jesus to come to Earth, and thus the journey of Nativity is punctuated by flashbacks in the past and "flashforwards" in the future, making it a huge sequence. It's more of an interactive story, and so, only the characters may be controlled by the Arrow Keys or A and D to move the characters. It's probably the first game that I drew out the landscape for platforming instead of using blocks.

Graphics:
The graphics are a mix of colored and black and white silhouettes. I added in light effects for the angels and for the star of Bethlehem. Small objects are colored to distinguish them, as with the fruit and the gifts of the wise men.

Sound:
We Three Kings of Orient Are is the piece that plays once throughout the game. I aim to replace it, since it doesn't seem to fit in some instances. I was thinking of using a thunder effect for the flashback, but only the music is the only sound that plays in-game currently.

Merry Christmas!

InDev: Saphruby Mockup

I am in the process of making this for Experimental Gameplay: November and December TEMPERATURE. Not going to post much, but use your imagination. I hope I can use Stencyl or Construct for the final, if not, back to good ole' Game Maker.

The mechanic obviously has the player pressing the keyboard.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NaNoWriMo: Ciprus

November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month! I started writing a novel called Ciprus: A Tale of Revolution. It is a chronicle of an immortal, lesser noble trying to incite a political revolution to benefit the masses. I am at about three thousand words as I write this post.

Here is an excerpt:
There is one sure way to become immortal in this world. The test of Pillars. Only the aristocrats of Ulden know and keep this secret. It is but a legend to the serfs. Sometimes, the one of the nobles would tell their most favorite servant of the tale and his adventure in gaining an everlasting life to erect such a pillar, granting the servant entry to the aristocracy. But most of the time, only the Ulden children are taught, and the masses kept in ignorance.

In the darkest of the ancient ages, when the Empress Supreme was not Empress yet, she climbed a mountain and erected a pillar with magics unknown and lost to history. Granted, those before her erected such pillars. But it was only by her that others would come and build upon her pillar. She broke tradition-she passed this knowledge down to her children, the uninitiated. It was supposed to be a quest one would discover for oneself. But knowledge cannot be held in an iron cage.

And thus she became Empress for her wisdom was great. Her children created a kingdom on Ciprus, the kingdom of Ulden. It stood above the ashes of the immortal Ascein, the previous and mythical kingdom, brought down to its knees by an eternal winter.

The Empress cried tears for her people the Ascein, and thus took on winter as her guardian, though it was the destroyer of old. She was not the only Ascein one who has survived, but she was the only one able to rebuild, along with Kailymur, the Modux of that age. Then entered a Golden Age of Ciprus under her fair rule. It came about by giving people choice and knowledge of the Pillars. Many pilgrimages went in year after year.

The novel is set in a fantasy world, but elves and other mainstays of it are nowhere to be seen. Magic seems more or less granted. Political revolutions are almost unheard of in this setting. I plan to focus on intrigue instead of violence.

If you are interested in writing for NaNoWriMo, sign up in this website!: http://www.nanowrimo.org