Chat Thread: Tokyo Drift

Balladeer wrote:

Ah yes, I know my sister had that in maths and I had it in my degree in places.  ('This step is trivial.' )  Anyway, once you've become a master of php you can make the forum software brilliant!

I have basically finished designing the adventure now, besides - gulp - testing it. And the input 'device', and the guidebook, and actually writing her birthday card...

Haha, WEEDLES EVERYWHERE!

I think the other problem I have is that they expect you to use their forum or google how syntaxes work at times where I don't think you should have to. They justify this as, in real life programmers have to work everything out for themselves and search the internet for syntax guides so this is good practice. But I'm a complete novice. Save that sort of thing for a time when I'm doing a project, not during an introduction to a concept that also secretly requires an understanding of a syntax we have not covered yet.

Buskalilly wrote:

Google maps told me it would be about a 6 hour walk. It lied.

I've had this problem so many times. I always forget that walking speed to Google is actually serious power-walking... and that's on flat terrain let alone the rolling hills I imagine you were walking over.

No, that's just bad teaching. Maybe for a couple of the advanced-level homework tasks you could say, 'you might want to Google/forum how to widget a wadget', but early days (and quite a few of the later days to be honest!) you should be given all the material you need.

Moment of truth: the game is finished. In theory. Now to test it.

Buskalilly wrote:

I had another of my misadventures. I saw on google maps a "Tree that looks like a godzilla" on a mountain. Well, I had to go check it out, didn't I?

Chuffing hell. Did you stay awake all night? Incidentally I quite easily beat Google's walking speed - over a maximum of an hour on flat terrain.

Balladeer wrote:

Chuffing hell.  Did you stay awake all night?

nah, between 1 and 5 I did sleep a little, but it was only in restless 20 minute naps, I could never quite sleep sleep.

Quote :

Incidentally I quite easily beat Google's walking speed - over a maximum of an hour on flat terrain.

Same, which I guess is what it's designed for. As an idea of "how quickly will I get from this shop to this spot for lunch" it works just fine, as a tool for walking insane distances for hiking in picturesque terrain, it assumes a much pacier pace than is enjoyable.

Sorry to change the topic to a much worse one.

One of my closest friends committed suicide yesterday. She's not dead yet by technicality, but has done herself irreversible brain damage due to lack of oxygen, and apparently it's only a matter of time before they 'switch her off'. It's not a complete surprise: she is (was) aggressively bipolar, and had tried it before and 'didn't feel any relief that she'd survived'. It's still not great. (Also: she was being sectioned at the time. I'm not sure how she got out to do it, but I'm pretty damn unimpressed with the no doubt underfunded overworked hospital staff right now.)

The last words we exchanged were her saying if we (self and another close friend) wanted any ACNH DIYs. Obviously we didn't appreciate what this might mean at the time. Anyway, I've spent the last hour wrestling with ACNH's terraforming setup, creating a little island with a gravestone on and some shrubs (she was named after a flower but that one isn't in the game ). Now that it's done I can't make up my mind whether it's aggressively twee or deeply disrespectful or what.

I haven't cried yet. Couple of moments where it was threatened. Hasn't come out. Wish it would. I've got the afternoon off work and I've just played ACNH and got on with making my girlfriend's game as normal. I know that different people feel grief in different ways, but I feel like I should feel... sadder.


Not sure why I'm burdening y'all with this, but thanks for reading anyway. I would request a little leeway if I'm a bit snappy in the next few weeks.

Fuck. Sorry to hear that man.

The only thing I'll say is; how you feel is how you feel. Don't judge your emotions by anyone else's, and don't feel guilty if you feel any more or less sad than you "should" at any time.

I absolutely agree with Buska - there's no 'right' way to feel and moods can and will fluctuate a lot. It's a lot to process. Hopefully coming her gives you a distraction and/or a place to vent when you need to. Make sure you have and utilise who you need to as support.

I third what the two lads above have said. I appreciate this is a doubly-awful situation, but from personal experience I can say that you shouldn't worry about having to act a certain way to prove you feel how you feel. I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you all gents. It still seems not to have hit me and while I appreciate what y'all are saying, when I'm talking to our mutual friend who was there when they 'switched her off' who is completely broken up about it, my inability to say anything other than 'I'm vaguely sad' is... well it's a thing.


Part of that may be that I spent the last two days finishing, and then showing off, Ladyquest XXX! (I'm aware of the mood whiplash in this post but I've been working on this for months and, despite other sad circumstances, I can't help being overjoyed by its completion.) This is neither a dating/sexing sim nor contains explicit content, but is/was named after The Lady's 30th. I spent Saturday running into more bugs than in that Paper Mario-like game, to the point where I was thoroughly sick of the sight of my beautiful offering by the time I went to bed and decided that if The Lady needed a world map, she could draw her own sodding map.

Then Sunday afternoon came and she played it and really enjoyed it, and there were many sighs of relief from yours truly. It crashed three times (the third because of my hastily implemented fix for the second) and I'd have liked to add some more details and functionality, but otherwise she liked the gifts and she liked the writing and she was impressed by the scope and she's flattered that I took the time. It took her two hours-ish to finish, and might have lasted longer had I not been there offering clues. Apparently it is the second-best birthday present she's ever had. The first was a kitten. I can't hope to compete.

So, to bring this back around to the sad part of the post: Saturday was spent working hard on LQXXX, Sunday was spent showing off LQXXX, and maybe now my emotions will finally have space to breathe.

Balladeer wrote:

The first was a kitten.  I can't hope to compete.

You should have a kitten accompanying the player throughout the journey, you fool!

Onto your serious note though - the offer is always open if you need someone to talk to, Balla.

I know, Jay, and I am forever grateful.

And d'oh! The obvious solution!

Some good news for me. I got my (still zero-hours) contract extended until late March with the University, and I've been given free reign to do some video editing - which is going straight onto my CV. It's maternity cover though so they shouldn't really be able to get rid of me. By the end of it, hopefully things will be better and I'll be able to do some programming, video editing, on top of knowing all our systems inside out so they might even keep me. Worst case scenario, I've added a lot of skills to my portfolio.

We also got our offer accepted on a two bedroom flat, so we're moving out of the humble ground floor, car-park adjacent, single bed in 2 weeks. Has been difficult at times given the global situation and our space being so small. We'll be on the top floor (3rd floor) so we can have a load of natural light without inviting the world to gawk at us.

Well done boss! All of the stars aligning. Top floor's great too, no threat of people stamping/sexing on your roof. Do you want to do video editing fully professionally down the line?

Buying or Renting? As I recently been talking to mortgage broker and sort been improved for a mortgage (a piece a paper I can show a estate agent) but got to sort out my passport as I need some ID.

I don't know when I'll buy as my Dad is ill at the moment and has gotten me down on how he's talking about it all, that I don't want to leave as I'm worried he may do something silly.

Still in the pyramid scheme that is renting, I do have some savings but my partner doesn't and to be honest I don't know what's going to happen in the future so renting is a better fit at the moment.

We've both got one of those first time buyer schemes, although the pandemic has meant we've  put bugger all into it. I'd probably start putting money into that if I was serious about buying somewhere, a sizeable entry into that and we'll get a fair discount on wherever we go.

The other thing is, I'm picky. I want to be in walking distance of wherever I need to go, doubly so during a pandemic. I can afford to rent a nice place within that criteria at the moment, but I can't really buy anywhere nice. I don't want to swap out the rent for a massive mortgage either. Besides, my partner finishes her PhD within the next academic year so once that has finished we'll have an idea about what sort of income we can expect together.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad and hope he gets better soon. It's been quite easy for me to get appointments where I live, hopefully it's the same where you are.

@balla

I wouldn't mind doing video editing as a job. It beats looking at emails and answering phones. I feel like it's also something I can pick up a lot easier than programming because it's just all about having a good old play with some software and I can see the effects of what I'm doing.

Yeah if you can buy together you'll be set, as I tick a lot of boxes but just my one wage not getting a very big mortgage and not around here in my budget.

I'll have to move to Scotland next to Jay.

My dad actually went to the hospital today and is looking up but been a bit of a worry these past 4 months and still could be a while longer depending when he can get in for what he needs. Still even though he's been more cheerful, has been a strain listening to someone talk like he has.

Sorry to read Mas. When you say 'talk like he has', is it a mental thing, a physical thing, or both? Hope he's genuinely on the up.

I'm going to have to give up the 'walking to work' criterion when I next move I think. It's great, but it means living in central-ish London where prices are horrible, and I'd like to move somewhere I can get a cat and walk through grass and not have loud kids on the roof.

The Lady's just properly moving into the current place though, so we'll get her settled first.

He would say because of the pain he's in but my Uncle & Aunt and Grandparents all think it's mental but when you talk to him about it don't get very far.

You devil Balla walking through grass, next it be a corn field.

May-be I'll do that as well.

That's even naughtier than killing countless of the nation's most vulnerable people through cuts and tearing families apart for xenophobic reasons apparently.

Sorry about being AWOL for a few weeks there, folks. 2020 has been playing haywire with my mental health and I keep having bouts of feeling like utter shite and feeling worthless and yeah, this year can fuck off now.

But I'm getting back to a better place for now, hence the Tonypang job I've done today.

Yep definitely a shitter of a year of the highest standard but hopefully we can all come out of it with a better outlook on things. Good to see you back posting my dude.

Hopefully the last few months will have something to cheer about. Good to have you back Mr. Moyles - I trust you know that nobody around these parts thinks you're worthless or ever has.

JayMoyles wrote:

hence the Tonypang job I've done today.

That's a deep cut! Where is he now, I wonder.

Hope you are on the up, Jay (coming from someone who loves going AWOL from the forum for undisclosed amounts of time). Lockdown has brought me back here a lot more than I've been here for a long time, so maybe it's time for us to switch and I'll leave for a while?

Hope you feel better soon Mr Moyles. It's a tough business this environment.