It will be a later post that goes into a thing that my brother's wife does. When I told her I'd give her section of the internet a shout-out here, she asked if I could wait about a week. Seems she's getting something set up and wants attention directed to that... So onto stuff.
Grackles
I've made another feathered friend at work. This one is a younger male who has seen me give out food. Last week, he was standing next to a tree as I was walking by. I noticed him there, so I stopped to toss him something. As I brought out the small bag that I keep the food in, to my surprise, he started approaching. I had seen this particular bird once before, he has a nifty white stripe straight down his chest, which is one of the ways I've been using to identify him. The other way is easier though, like most of the birds at work that I recognize from a day to day basis, he has a unique personality that I'm able to see.
One thing he does differently is grabbing food midair that I toss to him, most others will shy away momentarily. He'll come very close, and each day, he seems to test just how close he can come to me. At first, I was a bit worried that he might be doing this with everyone, but it turns out he flies away when other people get close, usually retreating to a tree. He hasn't taken food directly from my hand, but he comes closer every day. Today, he followed me around a bit. While he won't let me come TOO close, he's never flown away like most birds.
Villains
Back when making DT2 and writing up DT3's story, I knew right away what/who the villain would be. The short roadblock I ran into was what sort of role I wanted him to play. Such as whether he needed to be active with a constant presence or staying within the shadows and manipulating from there till the final showdown, like how Ganondorf is in the Zelda series. When thinking about what his motives were and the methods he'd use to achieve his goals, it was becoming increasingly clear to me that he'd need an active role. However, he takes a passive role for quite a large portion of the game, about 2/5 of it actually, so I suppose he changes throughout, at least in how I use him in the game.
DT2 Update
I've been sitting on a rather large update for DT2 since its last patch. It's almost 2.0 type worthy I'd say. I don't want to release it yet though, there's a few things I need to make sure I didn't break, which won't take long. However I'm very close to finishing up a large milestone for DT3, so once that's done, I'll go and check DT2 for errors once more. The update fixes a lot of issues that people have had, which overall, has made the game a bit easier to beat. Which I prefer for DT2. Most of the difficulty, I wanted to come from trying to 100% it. The final level did change a little, but it still has 99% of its original difficulty intact. Sector 5, Room 2 got most of the change. (Not that last part, I love that last part.) :P Damage has been reduced for most enemies as well.
The milestone is finishing up all the content for Chapter 8, which somehow ended up having almost as much gameplay time as Gate 3. To me, it has the best levels in the game so far, the first Fortress stage easily being the best of them.
7 comments:
Kind of neat how you're getting that bird comfortable with you. I can just imagine it standing on your shoulder or something while you work.
Can't wait for the DT2 update. Ever since SAGE and the Sonic Hacking Contest started up (Fangames and Sonic the Hedgehog hacking. Awesome stuff, you should check it out when you have the time), I've been taking a break from playing it. I'll get back to it once the update's released.
By the way, calling it now: You're using Hexor for the villain, aren't you? The way he was beaten in the first game seemed way too easy, and I kind of want to see the character come back somehow. I liked him, and how he interacted with Jerry/Jeremy.
That would be interesting if the bird did that, but I'm doubting it. Plus I don't think my managers would like that very much. ALTHOUGH, the one with the stick up his ass is no longer around.
I'll have to take a look at SAGE sometime, it doesn't sound familiar at all.
As for the villain, I haven't been responding to any guesses, for obvious reasons. :P I haven't even told the testers, but story related stuff is never revealed to them until it's in the tester builds.
Oh yeah, you said a while ago that your boss or somebody originally wanted the birds gotten rid of. Did they change their mind and accept the birds being there, or are they still trying to find a way to get rid of them? By the way, I don't recall if you said in an earlier post or not, but what kind of place do you work at, anyways?
Also, about SAGE, I'd have to recommend downloading "Sonic: Before the Sequel". If you don't mind emulators, I'd recommend "Sonic Eraser" from the Hacking Contest, or the two mods for Sonic Generations, if you have that game for PC.
I currently work the equivalent of retail sadly. Was doing contract work for quite awhile before this with various employers I won't list.
I mostly work outside, so the birds are all over. The managers have no choice of whether or not the birds are there. A few weeks back, 4 birds got into the store, so that's what caused all the ruckus back then. It simply took them forever to catch them and put them back outside. They can try their countermeasures on the birds all they want, but the only thing keeping these birds outside is their lack of interest to go inside. I see them pass through these various devices all the time. Grackles are smart, and like crows, will stop to figure something out. Most stay away from the automatic doors at the front of the building, but there's one that's figured out that when she wants to get in, all she has to do is perch above it and wait for a biped to open it for her. I'm not sure if the managers have found out yet that she comes and goes as she pleases.
I'm not sure how long I'll have this job, I just don't like to be without work. Going from contract to contract is fine and all, but very volatile. If I don't have something set up by the time the current one ends, I could be without work for who knows how long. So for now, this will do. It's stable and gives me plenty of time to find something else that will actually last more than a few months.
Since this is retail, the work is very mentally unsatisfying, so I have various ways of keeping myself 'entertained'. I have the benefit of working outside a good portion of the day, so the grackles out there are a big part of that. When I'm inside, my mind is wandering through methods to code something or level designs for later.
I think DT2 has a lot of potential if it wasn't so short and incomplete-feeling. I wish you would go back and fill in the gaps with more levels and bridging content.
Oh and it would be awesome if you buffed Soothing Springs in DT1 =)
Soothing Spring could definitely use a boost. Its duration will be lengthened by almost double.
For DT2, I'm not sure I want to go back and add more levels to it. I can still see some things I could do with its mechanics, or just more content that's fun to play with how it works.
By bridging content, do you explaining what's bringing them from level to level?
DT2 feels like you selected a sample out of a more complete game. That's why it seems to be random and lack organization.
I mean that the game just goes from one distinct level to another in a Mario Bros. style. It feels like more of a list of levels than a game. Essentially, the game feels like "Distorted Travesty: VR Missions", if you get the drift.
I liked DT3's idea of having "chapters", where each chapter goes a step in story development. Having that for each world in DT2 would be good. Perhaps "cutscene spots" between the levels along the way? That may help the flow between levels and unify the game more.
I might be able to think it up in detail if you like the idea.
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