I'm lucky I have time to breathe!

So, I started up classes this last Monday.



As denoted by my poorly drawn diagrams above, I'm taking the classes that are circled.

CSE 313 - Machine Organization (4 units)
CSE 455 - Software Engineering (4 units)
PHYS221 - General Physics I (5 units)
GEOL101 - Introduction to Geology (5 units)

= 18 units

And this is the first quarter I've had where every single class gets a lab section.

Despite this, I'm holding up quite well, I've given myself Wednesday mornings and Fridays off to chill and relax or catch up on homework, so I'm not completely overwhelmed. My professors are also laid back and understanding with said workload. It's part of the reason why I love this university so much.

I'm going to be meeting with some friends in the morning to discuss game design for an hour or so and then come home and get some shut eye. I'm really not that much of a morning person, and I love how most of my classes are situated in the afternoon or evening this term, when I'm actually wide awake. I'm hoping I can match or exceed my 3.1 GPA I got last quarter while keeping my sanity. But damn, that's going to be difficult.

_

Also, I want to thank anyone who's been lurking the last post and took the time to see "The More You Know". I really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to watch it and I appreciate my friends who didn't mind posting or sharing it!

_

I'll be returning to Final Fantasy XIV later today to start the next set of class quests and do the rank 30 storyline! I'm looking forward to it!

My two days away from Eorzea is hopefully enough to get a decent chunk of anima back so I can teleport to get said cutscenes!

Will report on possible findings or disappointments on this next blog post!

_


See also: Made an addendum to the personal relationship thesis.

January-February BETA Projects

Hello, blog! Goodbye, Winter Break!

We here at BETACinema have been very productive this past weekend!

We had our monthly collaborative meeting, appropriately titled the "Jolly January Jamboree" which we filmed at Crafton Hills College this past weekend. We filmed a new skit called "The More You Know" as a parody of the public service announcements NBC used to put up in the 90's.

You can see it here: (And it can also be watched on the banner at the top in future/other blog posts.)





Personally, I find this skit to be my favorite thus far, and I think everyone did a great job with ideas and contributions to the skit! It was fairly simple to edit, too!

We also have a short we filmed at last month's meeting, appropriately titled the "Drizzly December Damnation" where we interviewed an Austrailian Jon at a Baker's Drive-Thru.

You can see that here:





Future Skits:

Talking With Jon / Jasmine Jonny (Season 0) --- Approx Release Date: January 2011

If Jon Ruled the World --- Approx. Release Date: February 2011

Special February 14th Movie --- Approx. Release Date: Before Valentine's Day

Secret Agent Yachiru (Season 0) --- Approx. Release Date: Spring 2011

CSI: Traverse Town --- Approx. Release Date: Spring 2011

Final Fantasy XIII Music Video --- TBA

If Jon Ruled the World Trailers:










_

And since we have a good skit up, it's time to sign up on Kickstarter! Revenue!

Five Years!

Okay, five years and one day. (The anniversary came yesterday. I don't post on my off days.) But my first blog post ever was on 1/7/2006. Taken from a repost from my old Xanga blog.* My rant was three sentences long:

"Today we got our butt whooped by the Ark Angels! o.o They were tougher than I expected lmao! We decided to do a rematch next week, so meh next week it is!"

It's still hard for me to believe that five years passed so quickly (and that I wrote so badly). I don't look any different, I don't act any different, and I certainly don't feel any different. I'm not really sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

A lot of things happened though, but time feels like it passed in a blink of an eye. When I was younger (much younger), a year in itself felt like forever. And when I was in first grade, kindergarten felt like a forever ago, and so on.

Now, I'm almost a senior in college and I felt like I was in 8th grade yesterday. I think that's the real reason why I leave these entries so often, I want to keep mental tracks to make sure I'm actually progressing in life, because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. It's kind of saddening to find that time goes faster as you grow older, or it's just me. (I hope it's not just me.)

Five years from now it's going to be the year 2016, here's hoping things don't change too much between now and then. Well, I welcome good changes, but not bad changes. I don't like bad changes.

And five years from now I'll refer to this post and comment on how terrible this layout looks, because, heck, my layouts looked terrible then as compared to now. At least improvement is shown there!

Until 2016!


*

First Blog (January 7, 2006-August 2006 - Defunct/Destroyed)
Second Blog (August 2006-February 2008 - Overlap with MySpace Blog)
Third Blog (February 2007-November 2010 - Grover's Semi-Daily Rants)
Current Blog (November 2010-Present - Grover's Semi-Daily Rants)

New RPG Project!

The following screenshot (above) is a sample picture from the program RPG Maker VX, by Enterbrain. It's a newer program that was released within the last couple of years that allows beginners and programming veterans to produce a role-playing game. While its predecessor RPG Maker XP placed emphasis on making interconnecting areas, outdoor areas, and indoor areas, VX streamlines the process by allowing creation of a traditional RPG World Maps, and randomizing dungeons.

It also allows the use of Ruby Scripts for those who are knowledgeable with the Ruby programming language.

_

This brings me to this blog post. Those who know me or stalk this blog know that I have a project developed on the RPG Maker XP engine, Dojo Adventure. However, I don't have a game for its newer engine.

Well, I am putting together a team for a new project that will be developed for this engine. I don't want to shed any important details for the project in this post since I'm still writing a notebook full of ideas (and have been throughout the past three weeks). But I can state four main points about the upcoming project:

New Project Details:

1. This new project is going to take place in the same world/universe as Dojo Adventure, but the story and exploration will be in a different part of the world, so this allows introducing new characters and storyline unrelated to the first game project. The game will contain the same kind of atmosphere and technology as said game.

2. This new project will place more emphasis on storyline and character advancement as well as cutscenes. It will have more of an engaging story and protagonists that speak and interact with one another.

3. The game will recycle some of the abilities from my first game project, which means production of abilities and animations won't take as long.

4. I want to try new things with this project and take the best ideas from old school role-playing games that came out in my childhood and mix them with new circumstances and characters. An old-school experience with a non-cliche set of characters. When creating Dojo Adventure, I took a lot of my favorite games I liked at the time and mixed them together to create somewhat of a unique game that lacked personality but still contained depth. In this new project I want to have an original game that's, while not as in-depth as Dojo Adventure in terms of gameplay, remains to be an enjoyable game/story in its own right.

Looking for Team Members:

-Ruby programmers
-RGSS Scripters
-Logo Designer
-Composer
-Character Artists
-Sprite/Battle Artists
-Map Designers
-Dungeon Designers
-Storyline Writers
-Monster Artists
-Protagonist Artists
-Antagonist Artists
-Title Screen/Game Over Screen Designers


Personal Project Goals:

Although I'm officially taking a course in software engineering, I want to see how well I can manage an actual team using people remotely to work on this project. I developed Dojo Adventure with a 2004 mindset, I wasn't really considering releasing the game to an audience like I ended up doing anyway, I just wanted to see if I could do it.

Now I'm taking it a step further, I want to see if I can accomplish a whole new game project that starts almost from scratch and create a new game from that.

Inspirations for New RPG Project:

Lufia and the Fortress of Doom (SNES)
Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
Breath of Fire III (PSX)
The Legend of Dragoon (PSX)
Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
Chrono Cross (PSX)
Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS)

2011 Linkshell Address (Tentative Rough Draft)

Note that this address has yet to be voted on and needs a 3/4 passing from Leadership and Senior Officers to go into effect. Here is a proposal I plan on submitting to the other leaders.

2011 Linkshell Address:


2011 Viva Eorzea Administration:

Leader/Shellholder:
Grover Eyeveen

Co-Leader:
Ricocant Tribal

Senior LS Advisers/Officers:
Nekovivie Uhlrahzi
Bellock Uhlrahzi

Recruitment Officers:
Manny Fresh
Crevox Shadeseer
Sean Helios

Viva Eorzea Members:

Viva Eorzea Linkshell Member List (September 22, 2010-January 3, 2011)
Viva Eorzea Member List (January 3, 2011-Present)

Linkshell Website:

Viva Eorzea Linkshell/Company on GuildPortal
Viva Eorzea Linkshell/Company on Facebook

Shift of Linkshells:

Due to the original linkshell capping at 128 members, we were forced to rebuild on a totally new linkshell, simply called "Viva Eorzea" rather than "Viva Eorzea Linkshell". This was done to weed out the inactive* players that have quit the game, make room for new players that want to join, and to maintain enough room for PlayStation 3 players that join later this year when that version is released.

From the shift in linkshells, there was no change in leadership positions for active members. Any inactive recruitment officers have been demoted, and will return to regular members if they return in the future.

Viva Eorzea's Objective:

Viva Eorzea was developed in July of 2010 to make a fun linkshell for any and all members willing to play Final Fantasy XIV. It was gathered by a Facebook invite to many different people who came from many different backgrounds as means to play together at launch. We welcome those of all skill levels, job levels, crafts, what have you. We are all in this for the long haul while the game goes through this year of transformation, and hopefully we see this game bloom into something special and memorable!

New Recruitment Policy:

The linkshell expanded in September to include people of Figaro Server and has a policy of open recruitment. At first, we were willing to accept any and everyone as long as they follow simple online courtesy, but due to the uncovering of the unfortunate 128 member linkshell cap, we have a new policy of having members seek us out rather than seeking for prospective members. For this reason we will no longer shout for members, but still welcome new linkshell members, friends of current members, and those who find us from online websites such as ZAM, FFXIVCore, and the like are encouraged to join.

Prospective Recruiters:

If you are interested in becoming a recruitment officer, please talk to a leader, co-leader, or senior officer. You may be subject to an interview by leaders and/or officers, and if 3/4 agree, you will be promoted to a recruitment officer. Recruitment officers do not get any special rules except to welcome members upon request or free will. Please do not shout for recruits. (As per the new recruitment policy.)

Unless asked to by a leader, senior officer, or another member, recruiters will be held responsible for the people they invite into the linkshell. Excessive rudeness among new members is not tolerated. Excessive 'trolling' of new members is also not tolerated.

New Linkshell Policies:

*Subject to change depending on how Companies will be implemented in the future.

Unless it's a dire emergency*, suggestions for ways to improve a linkshell should be sent to a leader or senior officer. It will then be considered and if it passes by 3/4 of the leaders and senior officers, it will go into effect.

Dire Emergency - One of which takes immediate action.

Can include (but not limited to):
-Banning/Suspension of/Forced Removal of Linkshell Members*
-Moving to another linkshell (Immediate)

*Removal or banning of any current linkshell member means that a reason must be submitted in writing to the linkshell leadership the day the event took place.


Inactivity:

Viva Eorzea's definition of 'Inactive': Any linkshell member who has been inactive for two months or more is considered to be inactive. Inactive members may be removed from the roster unless a notice is given ahead of time. Inactive members who are removed from the linkshell are welcome to return to the linkshell at any time if they return given that the 128 member cap is not reached.

This rule may change in the future when better linkshell options are available for the game. This section may be revised in the future.

Rule Changes:

The Viva Eorzea Linkshell Leadership (Includes: Leader, Co-Leader, Senior Advisers) has and reserves the right to modify these rules at any given time, given that the changes pass with a 75% majority with leaders.

Naoki Yoshida

Note: If we get any more information or interviews regarding Naoki Yoshida, I will edit this post accordingly.

This picture (above) is a drawing of Naoki Yoshida. Last month, in a widely publicized shift by Square-Enix, this relatively unknown person was chosen/hired to replace Hiromichi Tanaka (now former producer) and Nobuaki Komoto (former director -> now lead game designer) as the new producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV.

(Although it's not explicitly stated, he is most likely now leading Square Enix Product Development Division [PDD] 3 as a result, as well.)

Last month, when he took over as producer and director, he released this statement:

I would like to take this opportunity to greet all of you—those currently playing FINAL FANTASY XIV, those who have taken a respite from playing, and those awaiting the PlayStation 3 release—and offer a brief word by way of an introduction.

No doubt there are very few, if any, among you who have ever heard the name Naoki Yoshida. To be sure, I have never been in the fore on any of the titles I have worked on in the past. I am, however, honored and privileged to work alongside many talented and inspiring colleagues, and with their support have enjoyed making games for a number of years. I am aware that a great many people will think the responsibility of leading FINAL FANTASY XIV is far too large a task for someone so unknown. After all, even my very best may seem no more than a drop in the bucket when considering the sheer scope of FINAL FANTASY XIV. But working together with me are the very talented and very capable development and management teams, whose dedication and motivation are unwavering. I would like to ask you to please put to rest uncertainties that you may have.

Now, more than ever, myself, the development team, and Square Enix as a whole, are committed to furthering our efforts to provide a quality service.

Everything we do will be for our players and customers.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer/Director, Naoki Yoshida

Naturally, this sparked curiosity within online forums. A lot of us gamers have never even heard of the guy. A lot of us were (and still are) worried about his direction/experience with producing a game. Sites such as ZAM even posted an editorial in an attempt to find out details about who he is.

According to the article, we only knew that he joined Square Enix in 2004, and worked on a Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road game series, which was a card game played on arcade machines.

A few days ago, 4Gamer.net had an interview with Yoshida on the future of the game. Here is a translation from Eorzeapedia:

4Gamer: Interview with Naoki Yoshida: Part 1
4Gamer: Interview with Naoki Yoshida: Part 2

I'll try and pinpoint the stuff I found notable:

He wants to have more of a transparent team that talks to the players often, as well as make things much easier to understand. He seems to invite player feedback rather than shrug it off or mad that we as players cannot understand their system.

(See: Tanaka Frustration Incident from August 2010)

He compares the relationship with a development team and its players like a close friendship. He goes on to state that there can't be broken promises this time around. They plan on regaining trust for their players.

There are some nitpicky details he does go into, but I can be sure of one thing from this interview. The man knows his MMOs. He's well aware of MMO industry standards that FFXIV has a notable lack of and is willing to be much more flexible with adding them for PC players. However, it comes to a cost because it set an outcry to the forums that PS3 players will get an unfair disadvantage.

I'm not sure how Yoshida plans to even the playing field for these platforms, but this is the most vocal I've ever seen a Final Fantasy development team, and I've been playing Final Fantasy XI and then XIV since October 2003. That in itself says a lot. We're coming a long way from the old development team that had their set vision and were unwilling to budge and/or even listen to players. Or even worse, send a Community Representative around once every few years to say a sentence and then disappear after a couple of weeks.

I'm happy these times are behind us.


Let me begin by wishing a happy new year to all players and fans of FINAL FANTASY XIV!

The last few weeks of 2010 were tumultuous times for us all, what with the announcement of the development team restructuring and multiple version updates. Still, I hope you are all enjoying your winter vacations and holidays, and had truly memorable Christmas and New Year's Eves and Days.

As part of the new direction promised, we here on the development and management teams have adopted four new keywords for FINAL FANTASY XIV: fun, live, reboot, and rebuild. Forgive our translators if these buzzwords seem a bit cryptic or cliché, but I am using these English words as-is in the Japanese, and insisted they use the same words for a global resonance.

To get things rolling right away, I am asking for your cooperation with our FINAL FANTASY XIV Player's Poll the First—a brief questionnaire being issued to give you the players another means by which to have your voices heard.

Well, I would be lying if I said I was writing only to wish you the best in the coming twelve moons. Truth be told, the realm is all aflutter just now—the air thick with anticipation and excitement. In fact, an ancient verse of prophecy was delivered to my person by a messenger from Eorzea not moments ago. But I've never been much of one for poems... Perhaps some of you will have more luck decoding it than I have.

(Link to the poem.)

Again, I wish all of you a happy new year, and ask that you all look forward to what we have in store for FINAL FANTASY XIV in 2011!

FINAL FANTASY XIV Producer/Director,
Naoki Yoshida

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Sorry, this is on my 'off' day for semi-daily ranting, but in any case. I hope you all have a spectacular year! Best wishes!

Also, I hope you like the new permanent change on the look of the blog! I like this vibrant blue scheme much more than the Watercolor one I used for November and December (before the temporary Holiday overlay).

I've also added YouTube movies to the header and an "About Me" to the footer!