Friday, October 19, 2007

Potentially Good News for ProSonic

Someone has offered to take on my four tasks (network code, scripting language, sprite editor, and PZF editor) for pay. I'm in the process of negotiating a price with him. He seems quite interested in taking on the tasks. It may cost me more than $200 in total, but I'm hoping to try and work out a deal that will put less strain on my pockets if at all possible.

My hope is to invest this money to have this guy do these things, and hopefully others in the community will see better reason to invest in my project. This is a big risk I'm taking, because there's the chance that I may spend more money than I actually get back (meaning if I sell packages of the engine for a fee, I might not be able to sell enough to cover my costs).

Networking and scripting are two major milestones that should spark renewed interest in ProSonic, and I will personally take on the task of scripting the player object. Once this is done, a demo will be released to the public. That's right, I will actually release a demo where you can control a character. I'm aiming to have this completed by the end of this year or very beginning of next year. That is a time when I will likely have plenty of free time and won't mind devoting a portion of my time to ProSonic.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Superhero Video

I did a video on YouTube about my disappointment with Captain America and how I would make a great superhero! Check it out:

Captain America?... Is That You??

I am not happy with Captain America's new look. I don't mind change, but they made him look silly in my opinion. He looks like he is wearing two completely different suits that clash together. Something doesn't seem right with him having a gun, but I'm at least willing to give that a chance. The suit is the main thing that makes me disappointed. Who knows, perhaps it will grow on me over time, but right now I am left wondering what Marvel Comics was thinking.



(Source)

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Thinking About Writing a Book

I would really like to get some feedback on this. This has been on my mind for a while and it would really mean a lot to me if people told me what their thoughts were on it.

I am thinking about writing a book on the dangers of the internet. I have felt for a long time that too few parents really grasp what goes on on the internet. Internet gangs such as 4chan and 7chan, and to a lesser extent Sonic-CulT, present huge dangers on the internet with people going out their way to destory anyone they dislike. Certainly there are members who only intend to have fun, but there are people who are extremely dangerous that go to these sites as well. I'm certainly not declaring war on anyone here, but I do have the urge to get my thoughts out. I am concerned for young children who find their way on the internet and discover these sites. I think parents need to be better informed on these kinds of things because I really feel they're out of the loop of what goes on for the most part.

I don't know if I'd have the patience to write a book or not to be honest, but I see a need to educate as many parents as possible. Certainly I've seen a lot of internet activity over the years, so I feel I'm more than qualified to do the educating.

Current Strategy for ProSonic

ProSonic legal ties will be severed by outsourcing the the very functions that ties it to copyrighted materials. The engine will use scripting and other external data to control the engine's behavior, thus allowing Sonic games to be replicated without the functionality actually being in the engine code. This way, the engine can be "similar" without actually directly copying anything. This has been my thinking for a long time, but I never really explained it before and felt it was important to explain it now. Obviously, the name has to be changed, and it will down the road.

I lost the one volunteer I had because he didn't have the time, so I'm trying game programming forums to see if anyone is willing to take up my goals and make them their own. This is the best chance I have of finding help. I know I'm not going to get the help I am seeking in the Sonic community -- I've known it for a long time. Some people have a hard time understanding that most people like to work for their own interests, so you either have to give them something they want to do themselves, or something they can get paid to do. In either case, the interest factor isn't high enough in the community, and I know the reasons for that.

As for anyone questioning my marketing approach, the time will come when I put a lot of drive and force behind this project again, but I'm keeping things a low key right now, and I am confident that's the best thing I can do. People want to see something in action besides a camera demo, and that's fine, but it is in my best interest strategically to hold off on putting anything more out there for the time being.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

David Letterman and Paris Hilton

I am not the typical person to get excited over celebrities being bashed and such. I think celebrities are just like regular people too and generally deserve slightly better treatment than they get as far as the media is concerned. Sometimes I also feel we treat celebrities too good, and that can be bad as well.

I have to say though that I really do not care for Paris Hilton at all. I sympothize for some celebrities who run into trouble (believe it or not, Britney Spears is one of them, and I don't even like her), but not her. She's a spoiled little brat who is used to getting everything her way. Those kinds of people weren't disciplined the way they should have when they were younger, and so now they prance around like the whole world owes them somehow.

Recently on The Late Show with David Letterman, Paris went on and had to sit as Dave poked fun at the whole situation with her being in jail and such. Some people didn't find it appropriate, but I for one did. As I said she's a spoiled brat, and so I think that what Dave did was completely warrented. He made fun of the situation and made her feel bad, but he did it without being mean and instead made people laugh about it. I think Dave did exactly what he should have. People like her need to be made to think about their actions. It's especially bad because she's a role model for younger girls, so an example needed to be made out of Paris.

You can watch the exchange between David Letterman and Paris Hilton below:

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Man Steals 123 Parking Meters

A man from Massachusetts stole 123 parking meters over the course of one year. Police found the meters in 38-year-old Thomas Gannon's apartment. Aparently he wanted the money in the meters. My question is why would anyone want to take something like that?! It's not very efficient beings they collect very little money anyway. I can think of better thinks to steal than a bunch of parking meters!

(Source)

Monday, October 01, 2007

The Critic

By this point in my life, I'm used to jelousy. Sometimes no matter what you do or how hard to try to please people, some of them will still find something to complain about. I usually ignore these things, but apparently I have a hater that continues to visit my blog and check the status of my ProSonic project. Here's what my friendly hater has to say:

This is utterly ridiculous. If you have not produced anything real in over 3 years and you now need to hire a programmer then ... WHAT exactly have you done? Play on youtube like a child and show a video that proves nothing, its a simple scroll system for sonic levels. You have only fooled underage sonic fans and morons.

I do not expect anything from you and you should definitely not expect profits from this failed project. At this rate you should work for Microsoft so you can make failed and delayed software and promises to people you will never keep. Great work! Waiting on this project is a waste of time!


Of course this is hilarious. Let's see, how old is ProSonic again? Programming began on December 15, 2005 (not even 2 years old yet). Apparently he can't do math.

He's also upset that he doesn't have the knowledge or skills to pull off that scrolling system. He can't come up with anything better to say, so he just sits there and criticizes me for doing something he can't do.

Also I've never claimed I wanted profits, only that the posibility is there. The only reason I am looking for donations in the future is so I don't have to work on the engine myself. I'm not about to let my priorities get mixed up again. Money makes the world go around, like it or not. I can't guarentee this engine will make me any kind of profit -- it may prove to be a big waste of my time. It's something I like though. This will be the very last project I ever do in the Sonic community, so for my own personal pride, I'd like to make it a good one.

This person also said I couldn't program and was using someone else's code a little while back. Yet I've written several programs that are still available on the internet today. I even helped out a friend StephenUK by writing him a little quick-and-dirty application to help him progress faster on his own project. On top of that, I've let a select few people see the ProSonic engine code (just ask Cyan Helkaraxe, a well respected individual in the Sonic community and someone I consider a friend).

The point of this is to prove that critics are who they are because they can't build anything. They try, but they always fail at it. So they take their frustration out on others like me who actually can build, and do so far beyond their reach I might add. He's just another hater who can't do anything special except criticize (if you can even call that special). The whole time I'm smiling!