Random Idea # 239014006

If you know me at all, then you know that I tend to get some random ideas for stories/games/etc that I rarely act on. Today's idea: a first-person-action-adventure game! XD There's no title yet, but I've worked out a few of the basics: our hero is a police detective in an unnamed American city in the year 2189. This is a sorta post-apocalyptic future... there was a big nuclear war, but that was at the start of the 22nd century (over 70 years earlier). The Detective (I still don't have a name for him...) is assigned to investigate what is initially assumed to be a tragic case of murder-suicide: a man murders his family and then himself. Digging a little deeper though, the Detective finds that this was no murder at all, and that the man has links to the government and a mysterious experimental drug...

Gameplay will be very freeform and open-ended. The player is given a city to wander around in and interact with, sorta like a first person GTA. Only less gratuitously violent (cars can't be jacked, combat is Rainbow Six-level lethal thus discouraging shooting sprees). As the Detective, your job is to interview witnesses, collect clues, report your findings to your Lieutenant and the DA, and ultimately crack the case. Since this is a freeform game, though, you're also given the opportunity to simply wander, or go through side quests (work other, less complicated, cases for example). Rather than straight conversation, all dialogue will be branching, meaning you'll always have three or more ways to respond to any single comment. This means conversations can go in various directions (just like in real life), possibly leading you completely off track from what you're trying to learn from the individual. In the spirit of the free nature of the game, there will be multiple endings based on your success in completing the main quest and your standing with other characters by the end of the game. Also, I want to avoid using cut scenes... I like the method Half Life used with having all major events have during gameplay, rather than stopping the game to show it.

Now, if I were to actually make this, how would I do it? More likely than not, I'd use the Game Maker program, since I've used it before and its fairly easy. Because of this, I'd aim for graphics and gameplay mechanics similar to those found in Duke Nukem 3D. I know for a fact that Game Maker can do Wolfenstein 3D and Doom type graphics, but unlike those I know that Duke Nukem can produce city environments and more modern style gameplay, so this is more of a hit or miss thing. I HOPE it can produce Duke Nukem mechanics as well... but, ah well. As I said at the beginning of this post, this is yet another random idea that I know I'll probably never act on, just like the million and one other videogame ideas I've had.

Or maybe this'll be the one. *shrug* We'll find out.

Well, I failed a test today. I haven't gotten the score back yet, but I can just feel it, you know? I feel as if I've been entirely unprepared for this semester and that I'm probably not going to do all that well. I might fail a couple classes (which is BAD, since I only have FOUR). It sucks, but ah well.

I'm not here to talk about that, though. Instead, I'm going to talk about... DIGIMON! XD

Yeah, it drives some people a little crazy, but I'm a Digimon fan. What can I say? Like Godzilla, I just love it. The most recent season, Digimon Savers, just ended in Japan and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm happy to see that we were given a proper send off. In past seasons -- this is probably a problem for any story actually -- the final episode tends to leave much to be desired. Season 2 didn't end the final battle until 3/4 of the way through the episode, leaving us with a truly horrible "25 Years Later" epilogue. It was bad end to a bad finale. Season 3 also ended the final battle late, then proceeded to rush through the characters saying goodbye to the Digimon and the very short epilogue that really only serves to tell us that "everything went back to normal". I can't really vouch for Season 4, since I didn't watch it, but the track record wasn't too good. I'm happy, though, because Season 5 took the Season 1 route: end the battle early in the episode and spend the rest wrapping up the story. I really liked it. ^_^

On a different note, I've finally gotten around to rewriting my notecards for Flight 62 and come up with a writing schedule: 2 cards per day until the 31 and I should be done, with a final wordcount around 58,000 words.

Wish me luck! =P

Sickness and TMNT

This week turned out more eventful than I initially suspected it would.

Wednesday, I became DREADFULLY ill. I mean, my hands were paralyzed, my face/hands/chest/stomach/feet were numb with pain, I was vomitting and had diarrea... it was bad. Even though I felt WAY better on Thursday, I was still woozy enough to just take the whole day off. I'm feeling fine now, no hint of the disease left, but DAMN did that suck.

Yesterday I drove back to New Rochelle to shoot a few more scenes of the movie. We shot the wedding scene, which I was worried about when I first read it but turned out just fine. I got to kiss my lovely co-star Casey -- many times! XD Afterwards, I went to see the new Ninja Turtles movie, which (despite what apparently every reviewer thinks) was an awesome movie that you should be rushing to go see RIGHT NOW.

And today? I slept until 1 P.M., then went to the mall for a couple of hours. After that I came back home and watched an episode of Digimon Savers. Yup, today's a very eventful day. ^^()

*SIGH*

Did you ever get the feeling you were just wasting a lot of your life sitting around staring into space? Or that there's something far FAR more important you should be doing right now? I get that feeling a lot, even moreso since I transfered to William Paterson. I feel as if I should be doing something more important with my time than sitting on the computer, reading the same websites over and over. Maybe I spoiled myself when I lived in New York... you know, getting an actual life as opposed to immersing myself in the Internet during high school. Now I'm thrust back into the life I had before Iona, and I just can't stand it. I feel as if I should just get OUT and go SOMEWHERE... unfortunately, I have nowhere to actually go. It's beyond frustrating. And, of course, the rest of my life starts to gang up on me and then I feel the urge to just get in my car and drive until I'm so far away I won't have to think about it all. I can't do that, of course, but that doesn't stop me from entertaining the idea.

I think today is representative of my life's semi-problems. I woke up early to do homework, which I proceeded not to do. I went to class. I came home, ate lunch, and watched TV. I went on the computer around 2 PM, and I've been here ever since. I've managed to waste an entire day on NOTHING. Nothing accomplished. Nothing even attempted. Times like these I feel like a total loser and just want to scream. If today was unique, that'd be one thing. Unfortunately, this is a normal day for me. Yesterday was the same (although, I did go to the DnC taping last night). Tomorrow I'm supposed to be working, but I'm toying with not going just so I can catch up with all the work I missed, but I know if I do that I won't get anything done. Thursday will be the same, just with an afternoon class added. Ditto for Friday, although THIS Friday I'm going to New Rochelle again.

My life SUCKS. I've created a bland, empty, almost meaningless little niche for myself. Maybe it's just my memories playing with my head (since I remember having this same complaint there too), but I remember Iona being a much more fulfilling part of my life than what I'm presently doing. I miss Iona, and I kinda regret leaving now. Had I known that my life would be reduced to this, I would've said "Screw my education, I'm staying here!".

I'd go out now, but the only place to go is the mall, and I have no money. I'd be there for the sake of being there, alone. I could probably go by Darrell or Matt, but... yet another example of the idiocy of this, I want to leave but can't bring myself to actually go to the places I have to go. Am I going insane or something? If I am, why am I allowing myself to reveal this on the internet? O_O

So, here I am, bored out of my mind, broke, and unwilling to go to those places where I might find some satisfaction. Wonderful. God, I need to get a new life.

School Again

Yep, Spring Break is over and its time for school again. Seriously, where did the time go? How did I manage to have my ENTIRE spring break and not have a single day off? Usually, I have at least a few days of "lounging around the house" tossed in there. Not this year! Ah well, I can relax now until the Divide and Conquer taping tonight. In the meantime, I've started having that urge to do SOMETHING again. While I have a few things that urgently need that energy (my novel, my schoolwork), instead my mind seems drawn to an on-and-off idea I've had: starting a webcomic. I've had the basic storyline for a while now, years at least, and last summer I even went so far as to make some character designs (in a style that doesn't scream "4th Grade!", yet is still easy for me to handle). Will I actually do it this time? Stay tuned for more info.

Wasn't this supposed to be about the party yesterday?

Yesterday was fun! We had a big party, everybody came over and we had lasagna and Latona's stuff and pierogis. We had a snowball fight too! It was great. ^_^

I had a chance to show off Loggothor and I'm not a Cop again. It reminded me how much I enjoy making movies. The writing, directing, editing, etc... I'm enjoying working on Till Death with Ed and Rob, but I can't wait until I start something new myself. It isn't like it would be a lot of work to start something. Let's see, on the backburner I have:

A Night in Durakov - Script Complete
Abandoned Dream - Script Partially Complete
Avatar II (tentative title) - Treatment partially complete

Plus, I also have ideas in various degrees of progress for Doravon, Atlanta Incident, and Wolfbeast. Also complete is the first episode of Alert Alert, although that is hardly an original work (and if I ever claimed it was, I'm sure Mega Raptor would have a SLIGHT problem with that ^_^() ).

It's amazing how many projects I have sitting on the backburner. Short stories, scripts, novel ideas... hell, my main novel project is technically on the backburner! Flight 62 can be completed so quickly its almost painful to think about, yet I still do nothing. I think the problem here is the same reason I never completed any of my other big works: I thought to much about it. I managed not to think so much about the rest of the book, but the ending I had worked out in detail before I even got an quarter of the way through. Now I'm at the ending, and a part of me doesn't want to do it out of fear of screwing it up. Which is stupid because this is a rough draft. The point IS to screw it up! That way I can fix it and make it better in Draft 2! ARGH.

Ah well. I'll get it soon. I'll also work on finishing some of my other stories and scripts too. Before that, though, I have to worry about school. School is being... well, annoying. I have work due, I know it, but I don't know what. I need to talk to my advisor about classes in the summer and next semester. I need to call the career counselling center and make an appointment. I need to check the Yahoo! group for Divide and Conquer and see what's happening there. I don't want to do so much work! Gah. It's enough for me to just say screw it and go back to bed. But, of course, I can't DO that. I have to take what's in front of me and get it done. All of it. No matter how long or arduous that'll be for me.

Ah well. I have another family get-together later today. I forget whether it's at Cousin Judy's house or Genie and Ralph's house, but either way I get cake. Whee for cake! XD

Snowy Adventures in the City

Yesterday, a big wintry storm hit and the entire northeast was buried in snow and ice. What did I do? Go into the city, of course! XD I have relatives from California visiting this week and they really wanted to go into New York, so I decided to tag along with them. I mean, I don't go into the City all too often and they were going to go places I'd never really been to, so why not?

We took a train from my house to Penn Station (with a stopover in Secaucus), and then the subway down to Ground Zero. Now, to some people, seeing Ground Zero is some kind of powerful emotional moment. For me... it was just a really big construction site. That's it. I honestly don't see the appeal of going to Ground Zero for people who weren't directly affected by what happened. The entire time we were there, I kept thinking to myself, "When did Ground Zero become a tourist attraction?" After about 15 or 20 minutes, the relatives were satisfied and we moved on.

Oh yeah, I should probably explain who these relatives are. They're cousins of my dad's, from my grandfather's side, who pretty much all live in and around Los Angeles. Bruce, I'm told, is a lawyer and has won some major multi-million dollar lawsuits, although I haven't asked him about it. Brian works for Disney and Brad is an artist. I'm not sure what Genie does, but I'm sure Aunt Irene (who didn't go with us into the city) is retired. The last person who came was cousin Judy, who lives here in NJ (over in Clifton, I think).

After Ground Zero, we took the subway back up to Columbus Circle and from there walked along Central Park until we got to some restaurant called Tavern on the Green. The place was fancy... like, SERIOUSLY fancy. If I hadn't been with Bruce & co., I would never have been able to afford this place. The food (Caesar salad and Rigatoni) was great, and I got to eat for free because everybody else paid for Judy and I's lunch! After that, we took a limo (!) to the Museum of Modern Art, where I got to wander around and look at various paintings and sculptures. The only people I specifically remember seeing their work are Picasso and Van Gogh. In fact, I saw Van Gogh's actual "Starry Night" painting! The place was neat and I wouldn't mind going back to take a closer look.

After that, we took the train back to NJ.

I had a great time... well, except for the freezing rain making it nearly impossible to see. >_< Otherwise, I had a great time!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go outside and attempt to clear the snow and ice from the driveway before my ENTIRE FAMILY shows up for today's get-together.

Wow! I actually made a blog!

I can't believe it! After years of mulling, talking, more mulling, and generally being lazy, I FINALLY made a blog! I'm excited! Woot! ^_^

I suppose some introductions are in order, wide nameless masses of the Internet. My name is Paul Cwiakala, I'm 20, and a student at William Paterson University in New Jersey. I enjoy writing, anime, and computer games. And yes, ladies, I am single. ^_~

*Is whalloped by a mackeral*

Yeah... I'm not exactly successful in the ladies department. By "not exactly" I mean "Not". Sigh. Ah well, if I'm anything, it's patient. And patience with one's self is important... right? ^^() While on the topic of dating, I think I'll point out how annoying some of my co-workers can be about this. They all know I'm single. They all know I haven't had a serious girlfriend. Why, then, do they have this constant obsession with my non-existent love life? It doesn't make any sense to me. One asks me every day if I've found a girlfriend. Another keeps giving me dating tips (which can be summarized as: "Get into her pants as fast as possible"). A third pretends that I'm lying and that I'm having sex every time he isn't looking in my direction.

Sigh.

Ah well, at least I'm getting paid. And it's the simplest job in the world! No real effort is ever necessary, I make my own hours, and the pay is fairly decent (well... its at the NJ minimum wage now that we've raised it). I can live with some annoyances for a little while.

And there it is: my very first post in my very first blog! =D I'm excited! I wonder how long I can keep this up?