BLProductions (by Bilsashikelbicqelgoogelmeigerbindenbaundhenschlauserbauserstrefen)

New Blog created!

2010-09-19T10:47:00.002+08:00

Here's the link to my new blog:
http://beelee93.wordpress.com

I'm no longer using this blog anymore. Too much dust man!

Net....

2010-01-24T21:58:00.002+08:00

Ever got mad at anyone? I think everyone faces that once in a while, when someone disagrees with you and just makes you feel like you should punch him right in the ass. But does that mean you should blurt it out in the net?

The internet has grew a lot since its invention. Now it has blogging services and social networking services. The net has became a good place to express ones feelings and thoughts. But with the freedom of expression comes with responsibility and limits.

Whenever you get mad, you are easily enticed to crap about it on the net, maybe on facebook or blogger, something like me. But would it be right to state the name of that fella who caused you grief and anger? That would be quite demoralizing, if you are in that poor guy's shoes. Sure, it may be fun to have your revenge on someone you hate so much, but even so, you should not go over the limits.

Demoralizing someone through the net is really a no-no. Imagine if you're the one being talked about badly on the net, how would you feel? I don't think you would be very happy, now that millions of people know that you are an asshole. Hmm...

I just came across a group in FB that's made for hating a specific teacher in my school. When I was invited to join it, I was furious, even if I don't really like the teacher myself. I was like "What the f*** is this?"

I immediately rejected the offer. No thank you.

Now, if you wanna express your hatred so much on the net, at least keep it anonymous. It's totally wrong to demoralize a person. There, I used "demoralize" for like 3 times in this post. Do you want somemore?

Come on people, be a little more mature. If you hate someone, just keep it to yourself. No one wants to know who you hate. If you're really desperate, you can express your feelings, but also at the same time, be considerate.

Mr Ball!

2010-01-23T21:03:00.003+08:00

Just one more secret battle and Mr Ball 2 will be ready. I'll bring back the secret battle from Mr Ball 1, but the boss won't have the same attacks (well, maybe a few, but not many).

I plan to implement the Critical Moment system that I used in Mr Ball Recreated (in 2D) exclusively for this secret battle, just to ease things a little. And the damages are gonna be pretty high, so Mr Ball should get prep-ed up before it (90+ damage anyone?)

Sadly, my new blog is down. Stupid modem is refusing to enable port forwarding for my server. Darn it!

Yesh! Finally! It's saved!

2010-01-16T18:16:00.002+08:00

Mr Ball 2 has saving capability! It's a totally new addition to the game. You can only save once after every battle. When you load the game later, all your status and attributes are loaded as well. (Though, I don't think this saving thing would be a BIG thing for Mr Ball 2, since you only need about 30 minutes to 1 hour just to finish the main battles, and 1 secret battle)

After running through the game at least once, it's actually possible to finish the last boss without a game over provided that you have the right upgrades.

I'll be planning one more secret battle for the game.

Updates!

2010-01-15T22:11:00.002+08:00

Ok, the 2nd week of school is finally over! And I have a new modem (thank God!). Consequently, my website is currently down as I have not port forwarded my server, so I'll post my updates here.

Mr Ball Recreated / Mr Ball in 2D:
It has its own cheat engine, ready to make Mr Ball more powerful than he can ever be without cheating! (God mode, anyone?)

In addition to that, there's a new game mode, called "Chaos Mode", which is way way harder than the Impossible mode, which is already very hard (I barely made it out alive without cheating!). But, this mode can only be activated through cheating.

The Chaos Mode mainly alters the part of the boss' AI which controls how rapidly it attacks. It sets the delay between attacks to about 0.1 - 0.2 second, so it can get quite messy. One bad thing about this mode is that it's not compatible with slow computers. Even on 2 GB of RAM and 512 MB of Video RAM, there's a noticeable lag in the game during Chaos Mode (there was once when it dropped to about 20 FPS)

Mr Ball 2:
The Final Boss battle is finally finished. And it incorporates one of the suggestions that my pal, David, told me. Not only that it looked awesome, it kinda made the level that much harder. So far, it's quite tough to win, relying solely on luck (did I mention Random Number Generator). I'm still tweaking the settings to lower the difficulty. C'mon, a game that's impossible to win should not even be played at all.

My plans after the release of Mr Ball 2 would be to learn electronics and how to program in DarkBASIC and C language. I have quite a lot of plans, but hopefully, I can get my straight As for mid terms and SPM.

A new website!

2009-12-20T22:47:00.001+08:00

I created my new website with JoomLa!

BLProductions

I'll slowly phase out from Blogger and use that website. Though, I must warn you, that website is only on when I'm on. I'm usually online most of the time, so don't worry...

AI

2009-12-19T19:40:00.009+08:00

Artificial Intelligence eh? I wonder have I ever disclosed the AI system of Mr Ball? It's not that advanced really, as compared to today's AI, which uses things like Neural Networks and stuff like that. Those are serious maths, but in Mr Ball's case, the AI system is basically a...

Random Number Generator

Not convinced that the whole game is governed by a random number generator? Well, here's the proof:

See the random(...) command there? That's the proof!

Well, I'm just using what's given to me in Game Maker to my advantage. But it's just a number generator, how significant is it?

Now, the whole AI system of the enemy is basically like this:
-choose a random attack
-executes that attack
-repeat

But then, if you were given a chance to look deeper into the source code, it's not that simple. It used to be only that simple, but as the AI system grew and matured for 4 years, it has many more additions.

The AI system is actually a big timer. Whenever the timer reaches its target, it executes a long list of codes, which is the "main code" for the boss character (the one that makes the boss attack).

When the battle begins, the boss character sets one of its properties, aprev, to -1. This property just means "previous attack". Each attack has its own id number.

Attacks that are very simple will not change the value of aprev. But for an attack that is made of chains of different motions and animations, that attack change the value of aprev to its id number.

Every boss has this part of code:
if(aprev>-1)
{
a=aprev;
}
else
{
a=floor(random(.... /*Number of attacks*/))
}

which basically means that when "aprev>-1", keep executing the same attack as the previous, otherwise, choose another random attack.

Chained Attacks (the ones like the Deperation Attacks, or attacks that require the boss to move to a specific place) are subdivided into many different parts, which are called "phases" in the system. So, everytime the "main code" is executed and a Chained Attack is chosen, the "main code" will execute once for every phase.

This may sound a bit confusing, but that's just the way how Mr Ball works.

This system, as I have said, it's about 4 years old. The longest "main code" that I have written so far stretches for 958 lines (around 17.8 KB, for about 30 different attacks, in Mr Ball 2D)

There is one bad flaw about this system though, it's very HARD to debug. Yea, whenever something goes wrong, sometimes, it's very difficult to look for the error.

Another bad thing about this system is that the timer for the "main code" must always be reset. If the timer were to stop, the main code will not execute and the boss will do nothing. Now, this may not be so bad in some cases, but most of the time, when the boss stops doing anything, the level becomes boring. This is usually one of the most annoying bugs in the game.

Well, that's all about the basics of the AI system of Mr Ball. Nothing much to it really, it's just a creation of my imagination. It may not be the best, but as long as it works, it's good enough for me. See you then!

Talk about cataclysm!

2009-12-15T13:23:00.003+08:00

I just updated Mr Ball 2. I just made a new "special" attack, but it's not for Mr Ball (boohoo!)

Yea, it took me a total of 5 hours to finish it (and that includes 1-2 hours of constant testing). It wasn't easy, but I managed it. This "special" attack uses a new system.

Usually, the "special" attacks that I have made before this are all controlled by a single "controller". The Controller does all the work like moving the camera and timing the special effects and the voices.

This time, I split the work to 4 different "sub-controllers", 1 for creating the glyphs (my proudest work! =D), 1 for moving the camera, 1 for creating the random laser beams and 1 as the "master", which basically starts the whole process.

So, all that increased the source code by about 1MB. gg.com!

Tales of vesperia FTW!

2009-12-08T23:57:00.002+08:00

Though it's in Japanese, it's still fun! I guess spending some time learning Katakana is worth it. I love to use spellcasters in Tales games, especially Rita Mordio. Gosh, when you start to spam her most powerful spells, you'll know what I mean.

I'm gonna try Grade Farming, so when my sis and I start a new game, we can get more bonus. Seriously loving the game!

Anyway, I just came back from a scouts camp, and it was fun, if not amazing! There were so many firsts for me during the camp, like walking on burning charcoal (yea, that's right, I walked on burning hot charcoal!!) and surviving in the wilderness. Though, I have a very BIG phobia of the jungle, not because of the creepy noises and the darkness, but it's because of the insects and spiders. Really, I don't like insects at all. I can practically scream like a girl when I even think of it. Leeches, well, not too bad, but they are a little freaky to me.

The best part of the camp was the campfire. We did one of the longest sketches in our campfire history. It's basically a long musical/sketch thing where we spontaneously insert a music/parody of a music randomly. The list of music is in mah friend's blog.

Hmm... 30 over music in a single sketch.

I came back all battered up and bruised, with cuts and slits all over my hands, all because of my carelessness while cutting the bamboo. Never knew bamboo was that, erm... sharp. To tell you the truth, I never really felt anything slicing my epidermis and through my dermis while I was cutting the bamboo. It was when I saw my hand bleeding, then I noticed something just opened a wound on my hands (wait, make that 11 wounds!)

So, through out the entire camp, I had to endure the sharp and intense pain from the cuts. It was worse when I dipped my hand into the river water and touched salt.

Did I mention how much fun chopping logs can give you? Though it may be tiring, but when you feel the satisfaction from breaking the log into two, the tired feeling seems to fade away. You feel all pumped up.

Too bad I do not have any photos as I did not bring my camera along. To summarise it, it was really awesome! Encountered 5 leeches, but only 2 of them managed to suck my blood.

The power to conquer demons, Fatal Circle!

2009-12-01T14:43:00.002+08:00

My Mr Ball 2 is still suspended as I do not have the mood to continue, but I won't give up on it. I still have 3 more levels to create before I can make the final build of the game. In the meantime, I'm trying to make an "extreme" version of Breakout. It won't be the normal, move platform, bounce ball, hit brick type of game. There'll be more and I'll probably incorporate stuff from my Mr Ball game (don't worry, there won't be Mr Ball).

Mr Ball 3 will be a very "highly unlikely" game to be made, as I do not have plans for it. But who knows? Anyway, if I were gonna make it, I'm gonna have to remake the Battle System as it's getting quite old (2-3 years old to be precise) and it's too sophisticated to the point that it's very hard to add new things into it.

Well, that's basically all about my progress in Mr Ball.

You may have noticed that I'm not that active in blogging anymore. Actually, I just have too little time these days and everytime I come back from school, I'll doze off.

I'm kinda overdue for another Math Twister post, where I make everyday math a little bit more complicated for no apparent reason. Well, I will be digging something up, so you Math freakos out there who can't live without numbers, hold yer horses.

So....

2009-11-25T09:41:00.003+08:00

Well, I know I haven't been blogging for quite sometime because of the holidays and all the EdBoard/Interact stuff. School life hasn't been any easier. At least right now I can relax a bit.

Recently I terkena Conjuntivitis, at least on my left eye. My right eye is partially infected, it hurts but it's not as red as my left eye. It's not very pleasant, but it's better than getting canker sores, or in other words, mouth ulcers. Yerr...

So, now that my eyes have almost recovered, I hope I can go for the Senior Camp later at 4th December. This would be my second time camping in a jungle (sorta). The first time was back in Standard 6.

Meanwhile, I shall ....

drink more coffee! (bet'cha didn't see that one coming!)

Hot headed Bee Lee

2009-11-05T22:07:00.002+08:00

Gah! What in the world!? Even if you're out of the committee already and your more so-called "senior" then us, that doesn't give you the rights to order my friend, and even me like that!

Come on, like you said, it's simple to do the task that you asked me to do. Why can't you do it? As least say like, "I'm sorry, but I can't do it", instead of "It's YOUR responsibility...". Don't try to think that since you're already out means that you don't have to do anything anymore. Don't even try to act all "professional" over me. What the f*** is that? And you call your self a (jawatan). Really? Do you even deserve to be called that?

I don't like the way you're treating the current (jawatan). Don't make me resort to physical means just to teach you what's respect and what's responsibility.

Clearly, you're just using the excuse of "Oh, Imma out of the committee, byes!" just to use the current committee. It's your task, so YOU do it. It was YOUR committee's issue, so YOU do it.

I always thought you were a person I can look up to, but apparently, I could not see through your skin. I have my own rights, and I'll fight for it.

I hope the person that I'm hating ACTUALLY read this, but I think that'll be highly unlikely.

Anyway, I'm just voicing out just how much I hate that person. Damn it! I feel like slapping him, oh wait, better yet, PUNCHING him, but then again, I have to control my anger. Physical attacks are really a no-no in public.

Seriously, some people just don't know what's responsibility and what's respect. This guy here, really no respect AT ALL. And he expects me to respect him. I ask, what for? If it's a war he wants, it's a war he shall get (yea, that's right, I got that from Narnia)

I can't reveal out who is that though, just to preserve his identity, omg, I don't even know why am I even doing that for him. Might as well let his name be known around the globe. Nah...

Anyway, to that most-hated person on my most-hated people list,
What President?

Gimme a break...

2009-11-02T21:14:00.002+08:00

Seriously man, people are spamming my mail with chain letters. Especially my Hotmail account. ...

Now my Gmail.

I need not tell you that this is just another one of those hoaxes. Don't get fooled so easily. MSN won't be closing down anytime soon, don't worry.

Internet is definitely a place of knowledge and abuse. Don't believe everything you see on the net.

It's not just mail, it's deception!

2009-10-19T22:10:00.003+08:00

Well, I wanna try to raise awareness among those who read my blog here on how dangerous the cyberworld can be.

As technologies become more and more advanced, with so many capabilities, exploiting them could mean a lot of ka-ching. A lot of people today just wanna get their hands on easy money by fooling other people.

Ever received this in your mail?

This "YouAreBlocked Team" claims that this is not a spam, well, yeah... right...

Remember to think twice before hitting that "Click Here". Sure, it may be fun if you could know who blocked you, but is it worth giving out your email account details to other people? Very dangerous...

Oh, and read this:

Dear,

How are you today? May this emergency appeal finds you well, I am sorry that I did not inform you about my travel to Africa

for a program. The program is taking place in three major Countries in Africa which includes Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

It has been a very sad and bad moment for me that the present condition i found myself is so intoxicated to explain.

I am stranded in Nigeria because I forgot my little bag and my ATM card in a Taxi where my money ,documents and other

valuable things were kept, I am so confused right now that I do not know what to do or where to go. I need your urgent help

and i want you to please loan me the sum of $2,000 USD to enable me sort-out myself and confirm my Basic Traveling Allowance

fees back home, but if you could not come up to the requested amount due to the short notice, kindly go ahead and send to me

any amount you can afford right now and email me the transfer details I will be so grateful to receive it. However, I will

return the money back to you as soon as I get back home I promise.
.....

Below is the information where to send me the western union.

Receiver's Name: (...............)
Address: 45 Methodist Church Avenue
City: Ikeja
State: Lagos
Zip Code:23401
Country: Nigeria
Test Question: Who is the receiver?
Answer: (...............)

After you have sent the money email me the western union transfer details such as:

MTCN (Money transfer control number)

Amount Needed: $2,000 USD I will check my email soonest to pick up the western union transfer details to enable me return

back home with the next available flight, I need the transfer # MTCN (money transfer control number) as soon as possible.

Thanks,
(...............)

Recently, my friend's email got "hijacked"... (Poor guy), and now, these idiots are using his email to spam other people (his contacts). I replaced parts of the email with "(...............)" to keep him anonymous, but anyway, the "(...............)" were actually my friend's name.

By studying the mail, there are a few "flaws". I doubt my friend has any relations or any connections with "45 Methodist Church Avenue". And Nigeria? He's currently having exams in Malaysia, and you tell me he's halfway around the globe? Really?

Anyway, here's a tip: Just delete spams. Don't read them. Leave them alone.

Oh, some spammers are smart. They disguise themselves as a large company staff, such as Microsoft or the email service provider and asks you to provide your account details for things that are "related to your account" and if you refuse to do so, they threaten to shut down your account.

Yea anyway, keep your account password to yourself. ;)

Lasers run wild!

2009-10-19T12:09:00.003+08:00

I just recently finished the 7th level in Mr Ball 2. I'm halfway through the game now, but there's still a lot to do. Anyway, I gotta say, after playing that level, it seems pretty tough.

As you can see, the level is set on a very tall platform, surrounded by 5 platforms rotating around it. But, that's not it.

See those rings around the battle area, they aren't just for decorations. They are for making your life harder!

It's recommended to have a very high defense points if anyone were to succeed in this level as the lasers are quite damaging for a weak Mr Ball. Oh, you can't stand still on the moving platform, you have to keep moving. This adds more to the challenge.

But why do you even need to stand on those moving platforms? Well, occasionally, a Power Orb will appear, which makes the enemy invulnerable. Thankfully, the Power Orbs are easy to destroy, and if your Attack Points are high enough, it only takes about 3-4 seconds to destroy it.

The recent addition to this level is that, once you deplete the enemy's HP enough, 5 Power Orbs will appear at once, and you're gonna have to destroy all of them. Quite a simple task, if you'd ask me.

Why lasers? Alright, this question is very hard to answer, but then I find lasers are quite fun to play with, and this level makes the boss in Level 5 (the one that uses Lasers) look like child's play.

Oh, and Mr Ball in 2D is out! The very first Beta version! Though, I don't plan to release it out here in my blog due to some "problems" ;)

Oh, aren't I supposed to be studying? Yea, actually, I should be studying, but to me, Mr Ball comes first! Ok, let's get started with Biology!

PS2 Dev

2009-10-09T19:02:00.003+08:00

I came across this cool SDK for PS2 games. But first, before I even get started, I need a good Emulator. I think PCSX2 is good, but then my computer doesn't really work well with all the fancy PS2 stuff.

I just need to find a way to get the emulator working for me, because I don't plan to burn all PS2 games into expensive DVDs just to test it on my sister's PS2. Besides, that's my sister's PS2!

I really want to develop a console game. It's like gg.com for me!

Atropine Sulphate

2009-10-07T16:39:00.003+08:00

I've learned my lesson the hard way... Never assume medicines do not have side effects.

I took my anti-diarrhoea drug this morning, just to end up really sick and nauseous during the exam. I think I did really badly in my BM test because it was very hard to think. Just thinking of the words make me wanna throw up. (Well, I did threw up in the toilet. Sigh... there goes my RM2.80 chicken rice)

Atropine Sulphate was the drug's name. It's really a nasty drug. Even doses as small as 0.025 mg (A grain of rice weighs around 20-30 mg, so you can imagine how small that dosage is!) can cause a major bad hair day. Now seriously, guys, if you are given this medication, be sure to take it when the time is right only, ie, when you're not driving, or taking an exam like me!

Sigh... I can't imagine how badly I screwed up for BM. But, I did manage to answer most of the questions. Oh, what the -toot-!

Play that BGM!

2009-10-06T15:09:00.002+08:00

Well, the next boss fight in my life will be in the School Dungeon, tomorrow. Hmm... Crap... So not looking forward to it!

And why does it have to happen on the same day as PMR? It's as if I'm retaking PMR, with more subjects. Gah, I can see that the teachers are taunting all of us Form 4's and saying things like:

"Muahahaha, pay for your transgressions, blah Form 4s!"

"Feel the wrath of exam papers!"

"I can't wait to see you in agony! Hahahaha!" *cue lighting*

"Hi! How are you class!?"~~, said the English teacher~~

Well, life is full of hurdles. It's not a straight and smooth track when you can just run blindly and not hit anything. I mean, come on, life is not that easy.

It's time to continue studying Sejarah. Sigh... screw Sejarah man...

OMG! Home made touch screen!

2009-09-26T16:22:00.003+08:00

I saw a video on youtube, which teaches you how to make a cheap DIY Multi touch screen. I can't remember the link, but you can try searching for MTmini on google/youtube.

It basically consists of a cardboard box, an acrylic/plastic sheet/glass, a webcam, some tape, computer, and good lighting (which sadly I do not have).

Yeah, so I tried building it. It's freaking simple, except for the part where I have to cut some acrylic sheet. I've never done it before, and neither did I ever use a scoring tool.

The small notepad is there just to prop up the cam a little. My webcam is just a little too stubborn. It just won't sit still!
Here you can see the acrylic sheet and the A4 paper. Yea, you need A4 paper.

Believe it or not, that is basically it. The surface that you're gonna touch is the paper.

Plug in the webcam, download the appropriate software that is written in the sidebar of the youtube video.

Here's a short demo:

Still, it's a little glitchy because of the lighting. You need a seriously even lighting here because having shadows of your entire hand on the surface can screw up the software because it works by looking at the shadows of your fingertips that are casted onto the paper. Yea, it'll just pick up any shadow and interpret that as your finger.

Damage invalid!

2009-09-23T17:13:00.004+08:00

Mr Ball 2D has a Shield! Another new feature in the Mr Ball series. Because it's so impossible to avoid all the enemy's attacks (making death so damn inevitable) in Mr Ball 2D, I made a shield for Mr Ball, and increased his max MP to 300. The shield should only be used at the right time. Spamming the shield by holding down the X-key just drains your MP. But when used at the right moment, ie, when being attacked, the shield can absorb the damage and turn it into extra MP! Yay!

Anyway, I just came back from Shan Min's house. We were having a sort of a game party. Haha, Heart Attack was really fun, though I had to sacrifice half of my deck of cards. :(

Progress...

2009-09-19T16:03:00.002+08:00

Mr Ball 2D is seriously growing fast. In just a month of development, it has grown to 2MB in size. I think one of the big contributors to the size is the sprites. And the AI code for the boss is incredible! If you copy and pasted it into Microsoft Word, it would stretch for 14 pages! OMG! I've never typed so much for a boss before (780+ lines of code, fuyoh!). The AI code is capable of executing 21 types of attacks currently. Don't worry, more attacks are coming up. Just got to be a little imaginative. Hehehehe!

Sad thing is, the game is a little glitchy. The game shuts down randomly while running, so it'll be a bummer when you successfully kicked so much of the boss' HP. I'm gonna keep testing the game to see if it's caused by a memory leak, since I'm loading quite a number of external resources.

Gutentag!

2009-09-18T09:52:00.004+08:00

Gosh! Exams are getting closer and closer. Seriously hate exams. Gah!! Anyway, here's a random screencap of Mr Ball 2D:

It's a bit dark right? It's the screen-darkening effect that I've always used in my Mr Ball to make things a little more dramatic. And and, things look smoother than before, in terms of graphics la, after I switched on the so-called Linear Interpolation thingie.

Anyway, Mr Ball 2D will be done by the end of October. In the meantime, I have to pick up a book and start studying! Why is it so hard to do so???

Okami

2009-09-13T14:26:00.002+08:00

I started playing a PS2 game, which I've never seen before! It's called Okami and the graphics are very unique. It has this watercolour feel. It kinda suits the main theme of the game which talks about Japanese folklore and things like that. You basically control a wolf, which is a god named Amaterasu. Like most of the games I've played, this is one of those save-the-world type of game.

Yea, the evil 8-headed demon thing called Orochi was released from its seal somehow when someone pulled the sacred sword, of which I have forgotten the name. Gah! And so, you know what comes next.

There are also battles, and you battle with your weapons that you've equipped and also, get ready for this, a paintbrush and a rice paper!

YEAP! That's right, you fight by drawing! Isn't that cool! Ok, the brush and paper are not only weapons of destruction, they can help you to traverse through dungeons and explore hidden places. This cool brush, called the Celestial Brush, has a total of 13 powers apparently, and each must be unlocked by completing the constellations in the sky when they appear (just put a dot on the sky using the paintbrush to form a star).

The powers are damn cool, you can make a sun/moon appear, thus changing the time of day. Then you have the Bloom power, where you can make withered plants look lively again. Somemore, there's my favourite, the Cherry Bomb, which can blow stuff apart, especially enemies! And the one of the most basic of all power, the Power Slash, which can slash almost anything (except really solid stuff!)

Stupid hummm

2009-08-27T16:19:00.003+08:00

I dunno why, but nowadays, when I record with my Microphone, it's producing a strange hum. I tried searching through the net and the only possible factor I can think of is electrical interference. Not that I'm 100% sure though. It could also be that I dropped my microphone until it gone all funky. Grr!1 There goes RM30!!!

Anyway, here's Mr Ball in 2D first and probably last special attack (because I'm not really a big fan of making Special Effects for these kind of attacks):

Until I get my mic fixed, there won't be any incantations... Bummer...

Demo

2009-08-19T16:27:00.004+08:00

Anyway, I'm proud to say that my Mr Ball in 2D is coming along well. A little too well, I suppose... I made the boss kinda hard to kill, because he keeps spamming the lasers! I can't even kill him with 5 lives! Ooh, I did a great job! Hahaha!

I doubt 512 MB of RAM can cope with the vast amount of objects, especially the lasers, but who knows, maybe 512MB is enough.

Do take note however that the mode shown in the video is Insane Mode, that means, the boss will go all out on the player and doesn't matter whether the player wins or loses.

The AI is fairly simple and this AI system has been used through my Mr Ball games, with a little addition la, of course. What the enemy will do is:

The enemy chooses an attack from a list of attacks after a few seconds.
The enemy executes that attack.

The way the boss chooses his attacks is quite random, which adds to the difficulty to predict the boss' next action. Though, there are some overrides in the AI system, where some attacks are executed on demand.

As you deplete the boss' HP, the boss will choose his attacks faster, giving less time for the player to recover after getting pummeled. Now, in the Normal mode, the boss won't really speed up that much, but in the Insane Mode, Woooowie!

Anyway, the Insane Boss will speed up so much, he'll take no longer than 0.1 second to choose an attack, so that's one attack after another after another!

Oh, good news! Most of the projectiles (spears, CDs, etc), can be repelled off by the water gun!

You can also see the "Critical Moment" in the video (when the screen becomes white-ish). That's the right time for the player to deal some significant damage to the enemy. All he needs to do is press [Space]. With this, the level should not take too long to complete (well, hopefully).

Anyway, currently, the boss has 11 types of attacks. Some are variations of others, but they all are for one thing only, to destroy Mr Ball!

Never give the enemy the advantage!

2009-08-18T15:33:00.003+08:00

Well, I didn't really obey that saying, so I gave Mr Ball's enemy some lasers!

I added some new features that never existed in any of my Mr Ball games, which is the so-called "Critical Moment". It's the moment when the enemy is going to execute an attack. Before the enemy sucessfully unleashes his attack, the player has to press [SPACE] to sort of like "counter" him, and cancels of his attack. Quite a good thing actually. I might implement this into my 3D Mr Ball game.

A number of visual effects were incorporated, such as the err... crappy zoom blur effect when the player successfully executed the Critical Moment.

Oh, and I also used the particle system in Game Maker. This is really the first time I am using it, and the results are stunning!

Ah! It's finally taking shape

2009-08-16T22:09:00.002+08:00

So, another 2 hours of tweaking and drawing, and I finally got a working boss fight:

It's not really done yet though. Originally, this boss has like 20 attacks. I'm planning to make more for this boss. I want to make this one of the hardest boss fights (I mean seriously HARD) in Mr Ball history!

The spears are greatly improved from the original. It is not able to move in all 360 degrees. Originally, it's only able to move in 8 directions. Hahaha!

That's weird...

2009-08-16T12:29:00.003+08:00

Well, anyway, in just 3-4 hours, I finally finished the foundation for the Mr Ball in 2D mini game:

The background's kinda dynamic, so it moves and and fades, creating a dark and gloomy environment. It works well with the music.

The heck?

2009-08-15T22:18:00.003+08:00

After looking through about DarkBASIC, I'm not quite happy with the collision detection for 2D. It's very insufficient for me. So, what I think is, I'll try to use DarkBASIC for 3D instead.

Anyway, I'll use back again my trusty old Game Maker. Sigh... How I wish I can master DarkBASIC... but you know what they say, it takes practice.

But, for 2D games, Game Maker 6.1 is seriously great.

The game is being recreated!

2009-08-13T14:21:00.002+08:00

The first ever game I made (well, not really MADE! But modified from another game), is sorta making a comeback. I'm planning to write it in DarbBASIC so that I can learn how to program in DarkBASIC. The language seems simple enough for me, so yea, I'm giving it a try. I don't wanna rely too much on Game Maker already.

All I'm gonna do is recreate the Secret Battle of BeeCatzArena game (mod of the original Catz game, which I do not own), but instead of the Cat as the main character, Mr Ball will be the main character. This game is actually what started the Mr Ball project, would you believe that?

Anyway, a preview of the BeeCatzArena I posted long time ago: http://blproductions93.blogspot.com/2008/07/ooh.html

Yea, so anyway, I can't wait to get started. Though, I'm still very very new to DarkBASIC.

Blast it to bits!

2009-08-12T17:39:00.002+08:00

Wow! I never knew Mr Ball could control a thermonuclear explosion!

A very simple attack, Mr Ball says some incantation, then the stage explodes! Had a few problem with the texturing, but in the end, it looks damn cool!

Rest in peace

2009-08-10T20:45:00.005+08:00

So, today, I received a terrible news that my teacher's spouse passed away. I won't disclose the name here. I really feel sorry for ..., but the only think I can do is wonder. I'm just curious as to how it happened, but some questions are best left unanswered, though, I'm still very eager to know the real truth behind the sudden passing. I plan to attend the funeral, just to pay my last respects. This just reminds me of my grandma. Death is something very unpredictable. But let's look at the bright side, without death, this whole world will be overcrowded, and everyone will be competing for food, resources and what not.

Impale 'em!

2009-08-06T20:37:00.004+08:00

And there you have it! Mr Ball's 5th Special Attack, the mock version of the "Ground Dasher" but I prefer calling it the "Raging Tremor"!

It's going to be the second special attack you can obtain. It does pack a punch in the ass, provided that the enemy is in the active site of the attack. Lol! Active site! Sorry, got caught up with bio there.

One big disadvantage is that it is kinda inaccurate. It's only very useful for slow moving enemies, It's possible to miss the enemies who are moving at moderate speeds entirely.

Here's a demo:

Wow, in just about 1.5 months, the source code of Mr Ball 2 grew by 3 MB. WTF? Anyway, I'm proud to see my Mr Ball growing!

Luminol!!!!

2009-08-05T21:59:00.002+08:00

To be honest, Luminol is my favourite chemical. Why? Because it can glow! (Provided that you mix the right chemicals la)
Awh,... don you just love that blue glow of Mr. Luminol??

If I can get hold of at least a few ml of Luminol, I'll be over the moon, no, over Mars! I seriously wanna try making my own glowy stick. Did I mention that I love chemistry?

Rock n Roll!

2009-08-02T13:08:00.004+08:00

I'm in the middle of making the sixth level for Mr Ball, well, here's a little screen cap:

Well, I think this is a better view of the stalagmites:

As you can see, it's the rock-using boss. Well, I really love the stalagmites. They are so damn freaking cool! I love it so much I made the boss spam stalagmites! Uh oh, not good...

Oh oh, and in this level, I assume the player buffed up Mr Ball's defense, because the rocks can be a little painful. I tried playing the level and I died like 3 times in less than a minute!

Yay!

2009-08-01T19:10:00.001+08:00

Yesh! Interact Installation is over! It's like one big burden's been lifted. Yeah!

It was really a success. All the committee members did their job, though most of them (including me) had procrastinated. In the end, everything came together like pieces of jigsaw puzzle.

Stress and more stress

2009-07-28T22:28:00.002+08:00

Not liking stress. I am hating it. What's the opposite of love? Hate! HATE! Stress is horrible!

Argh! I feel like punching someone in the face. Gah! I know, I have very bad stress management. Ok, I am seriously hating Form 4. Hate it! Gyah!!

GYAH!!!!

Alright, chill Bee Lee...

Hmm... well, I have to go to bed. It's already 10.30pm.

Ooh, that's so fake!

2009-07-23T18:59:00.002+08:00

This is actually not a very rare occasion. A lot of computer users are gullible enough to fall for pranks, well, sorta.

Now, yesterday, I was searching for something in google, and one of the links that I clicked on redirected me to a fake anti-virus website. The website is scripted to close down the internet browser and show a pop-up asking you to download a fake antivirus software. I fell for it once, that was a few years ago, I am so not gonna fall for it again. I did a research before on these kind of pop-ups, and the things you should do is:

1) Don't EVER respond to the pop-up (even clicking the corner "X" button). Just leave it alone. Some rogue anti-virus software pop-ups (especially those triggered by the Vundo Trojan horse) are scripted to download the fake anti-virus program even if you close the pop-up or click anything on the pop-up.
2) Cut your internet connection: Unplug the ethernet cable, telephone cable, off the modem, whatever, as long as the internet is down. This is just to prevent the pop-up from downloading the fake anti-virus software, if it plans to.
3) Now, close the pop-up. Clicking the "X" button should not do any harm, since the internet connection is down. Alternatively, you can always use the Ctrl+Alt+Delete method.

The most important thing of all is not to panic.

I could not record a video of it because strangely, the link disappeared. Hmm... well anyway, when a pop-up comes up from nowhere, you'll know what to do.

Is there something wrong?

2009-07-22T16:15:00.003+08:00

Though it's hard to bear my own depression, it's even harder to bear with another's anger and sorrow. Why? Well, it's mainly because I feel kinda helpless. All I can do is listen to his/her sufferings. Life is really harsh, and one of the teachers I know kinda mistreated my friend today. Not sure whether it's because she is forgetful, or just care more about school's magazine than the welfare and the emotions of others. But there's really nothing I can do. Sorry.

Anyway, I got blacklisted by my Maths Teacher, because I passed up my homework late, TWICE. I really need to earn back her trust. Hahahaha!

Strangely, I tried going to youareblocked(dot)com, and apparently, the domain expired two days ago. Phew!

Hmm... Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka dot Bikini. Hahaha. One of my favourite songs. It's just amusing.

80 cents, so awesome!

2009-07-21T17:31:00.003+08:00

Ok, let's compare some stuff:

The print on the far left is from Shannen (thx Shannen, I owe you man!), but then, there were errors, so I terpaksa edit it. So, because I don't wanna waste too much of Shannen's ink, I asked my dad to bring the document to a shop to print, and that shop is Fuji shop, the one that prints photos. Ironically, the print didn't really turn out right (as you can see on the far right). I was like WTF? A photoshop which can't print a simple document nicely? Really ah, horrible. And some more, that shop charged my dad RM4.00, and took like 3-4 hours to print. Yea right? Are you trying to con my dad, Mr I-Print-Photos-but-I-Suck? Goodness.

Finally, my dad took me to a normal, ordinary looking shop which specializes in photocopying. And you know what, they successfully printed it (you can see it in the middle of the two prints). It's as good as Shannen's, though a little bit darker, but it's alright. And it costs only like what? 80 CENTS? And it took me not more than a minute to get it done. I was like Photocopy Lady FTW! I am so not trusting that Fuji Shop anymore.

A very important announcement

2009-07-18T23:55:00.007+08:00

Don't go to youareanidiot(dot)org. Seriously, don't. DON'T. Must I rephrase that? I don't think so.

Ok, DON'T!

If you are not aware of this, you should continue reading...

Apparently, that website drops a javascript that disables some of your keys (F4, Ctrl, and Delete), stopping you from using that Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Alt+F4. Now, this malware is seriously a pain in the ass, so don't try to go there, unless you really want to. This trojan causes many many many popups to fly around your screen, and slowing down your comp significantly. I won't be responsible for any damages caused ok. And remember, I am using a VIRTUAL PC, therefore, all damages are limited within that virtual pc. Here's a video I recorded.

(Oh, if you see the Task Manager in the video, that Task Manager actually belongs to the host computer, my computer, not the virtual pc)

Upon further investigation on that popup-swarmed website, it actually activates the javascript it left in your Temporary Internet Files folder after you exit from the page (go back or close the IE). It then creates 6 IE windows showing the open.html page, which resides in the youareanidiot(dot)org website.

The open.html page has quite a similar HTML code as the youareanidiot(dot)org main page. When you try to close the open.html window, it runs the javascript, and creates another 6 windows!

Now, strangely, if you're using Windows XP Service Pack 2, you should be ok because the IE has a pop-up blocker. A pop-up blocker is enough to stop it from creating those annoying pop-ups. Still, I don't really guarantee that.

And guys, if you are sent an email recommending you to sign up in youareblocked(dot)com, it's really a phishing website. It will steal your hotmail/live account id and password. That's what I read la, at least, but I'll go test it out when I have the time. Wow, first time I had an adrenaline rush by playing with computer malwares!

Well, if you did type your password in that youareblocked website, which claims to tell you who blocked you in MSN, I suggest you go change your password.

Soon...

2009-07-17T22:46:00.003+08:00

Mr Ball 2 was suspended for a month and a half already, because of EdBoard and Interact Installation. After I've finished my EdBoard duty, I can continue Mr Ball 2 already!

Yeah!

Stressful life

2009-07-09T22:12:00.002+08:00

I have to admit, these few days had been one of the most stressful days in my life. I have to know how to organise my time man. The EdBoard thing is really eating up my homework time and my napping time. I'm exhausted and stressed up.

Oh, and today, the teachers had a meeting. ... Not really liking the outcome...
They made a new rule:
"No student will be allowed to exit the class during lesson, unless it's urgent"

This rule, plus with the staffroom thing is really getting to my last nerves. Sometimes I feel like ranting to the headmistress or the HEM. Then again, I'm just a student. What power do I have?

Why? Why at this time?

Should I continue? Or should I just pass my job to someone else and run away from the challenge like a coward? Sigh... I'm facing one of the worst dilemmas in my life.

Gargh!!

2009-07-08T17:20:00.002+08:00

I wonder why I even took up the offer to collect class photo order forms. Sheesh! You know how stressful is it? I had to stay back in school almost everyday!

Oh, you'll like this. Yesterday, one of the teacher's handbag got stolen, and so, the only way the school thought that can help to solve the teacher's-items-go-missing problem is to lock the staff room from the students! Yeah right... as if that will do any help? Because of that, I can't reach quite a number of teachers to collect the order forms. It's like WTH!!!?

I am so furious about it. Well, I do pity the teacher, but still, is locking the staff room from the students gonna do any help? If you want the problem to go away, might as well lock the whole school away since there are so many items to steal from the teachers all over the school. ... Ok, maybe I'm like "over reacting" and all, but this locking the staff room thing has really made my life that little bit harder.

Hmm... not to mention I got "halau-ed" out by the afternoon's discipline teacher from the staffroom just now. I don't blame her, she's just doing her job. Gosh, of all the things to lock??

Somemore, how can you prove that students are the ones responsible for the missing handbag?

Kick it into Gear!

2009-07-05T20:29:00.005+08:00

Hmm....

Kick it into Gear - Country bears
I've finally found this song after 4 years of searching! I've never really liked Country Bears, which is a Disney Movie about some bears. But I really liked this song, sang by Jennifer Paige. Strangely, I dunno why it was so hard to look for this song back then. It's kinda catchy.

Oh my GG.COM!

2009-06-29T16:33:00.002+08:00

What happened to BLProductions' layout?? Well, apparently Google Pages is moving, therefore, the files hosted there will disappear. So, to avoid any unpleasant background picture, I reverted back to the old layout. Kinda disappointing, actually. I need to find sometime to go look for a permanent webhost which can host files for me.

3D Studio Max! Whee!

2009-06-28T13:44:00.003+08:00

Finally, my wish came true! I got my 3D Studio Max! I can finally scrap that Blender3D! It looks easier to model in 3D Studio Max compared to Blender3D. The tutorials provided are quite detailed. Ahh...

Well, I tried modelling a chess piece, namely, the Pawn.

Well, I know, it looks weird, but that's a start! I pwn man! Hahahaha! I crack myself up!

Sports Day!

2009-06-26T18:37:00.002+08:00

Ahh! Today was quite a satisfying day! Good things happened! Scouts won 2nd place for marching! Did I mention scouts rock? Hahaha.

And and, Blue house won second place overall! Congrats to blue house!

Tomorrow, Saturday... gah! Replacement school. What the hell? Well, I shall be a good boy and attend the class. =D

Currently, I haven't continued Mr Ball 2. I'm a little busy with school stuff, especially Interact Club stuff. Installation Day is coming, so I have a lot of letters to type, as soon as Mr. Zol approves the Installation Day.

Is it the past?

2009-06-22T20:43:00.002+08:00

It may not be obvious, but what you are seeing is actually the past. What the? Who the? How the?

I know, it sounds incredibly weird. How can what we are currently seeing be the past, when it's clearly the present? Ok, I don't even understand what that means.

We all know that light travels around 300,000,000m/s in vacuum right? That is very fast, I mean, REALLY FAST! Anyway, when light travels through a non-opaque medium like air, it slows down. It's not very hard to understand why that happens.

Supposed that you are a light particle, a photon! Let's assume the empty LRT station be the vacuum of space. Don't you think it is easy to run around the station?

Now, imagine it is rush hour, and suddenly, the whole place is filled with smelly and fat people. Each person is like a molecule in the non-opaque matter which I mentioned above. I mean, there are so many people, it's so hard to move around, so you slow down. Likewise, light travels slower in a denser medium.

Well, anyway, back to the matter at hand. Why did I say that what ever you are currently looking at is the past? Like I said, light need to travel to your eye before you can actually see.

Assuming the distance between your eyes and the monitor of the screen is 30cm. Speed of light=300,000,000m/s. If you work it out using the Speed=Distance/Time formula, you'll find that time=1 nanosecond.

So, what you are seeing on the screen now happened 1 nanosecond ago! But 1 nanosecond is so tiny, you won't be able to notice it. Cool right?

Oh, this will be even cooler if you could see a delayed reflection of yourself on the mirror. Let's say you are standing in front of a mirror, then you move your arm. 1 second later, you'll notice that your image moves his arm. To actually see this delay, you'll have to be standing 300000km away from the mirror.

Light, isn't it cool?

WTF?

2009-06-19T13:41:00.002+08:00

Hmm... I never knew there was a 3D Game Engine made for Game Maker. If I only knew earlier, I wouldn't have depended on Game Maker's 3D engine, just because it sux! ...

Well, maybe Mr Ball 3 will be built using Ultimate3D engine for Game Maker. It's really good as it eliminates the z-buffer transparency problem, well, at least I think it does.

Hmm... I don think I will even call it Mr Ball 3 by then, probably some other name but it is still Mr Ball. I really wish that in the third installment, it will have a storyline.

I got sacked, and then rehired!

2009-06-17T21:00:00.002+08:00

I'm officially the Secretary of Interact Club of SMKTS. Ahh! I feel so proud saying that! lol! But, this is not a joking matter, as I can see a lot of stress and challenges ahead.

I hope I will be a great secretary, though, to do that, I have to kick my habit of procrastinating.

And I've been offered to join the 3D Games design competition with Gavin. Hmm... I must quickly start learning how to use C++. But I think Game Maker is still sufficient, but the graphics in Game Maker is quite limited.

Hmm... I only got like one month to finish my game. This could be hard. Sigh...

Run a line through

2009-06-15T15:06:00.014+08:00

I shall pick up where I left off in my previous post...

Right, in my previous post, it was about Billboarding, one of the techniques used in 3D Games. Professional games use this technique so well, it's very hard to tell whether they are using 3D models or just plane rectangles!

There are advantages. One very important advantage is that it reduces polygon count. If you burden the video card with too many things to draw on the screen, the game will lag. So, for very complicated objects, it's better to use billboard.

But when there are advantages, there should be disadvantages. Though you can draw a lot of details on a billboard, it's quite limited. What do I mean by this?

Imagine you want to draw a 3D object on a billboard. So you draw an image of a sphere as a texture for the billboard. As the billboard turns around to face your camera (your eye), it shouldn't be too much of a problem, since spheres are round however you see them.

But let's say you drew an image of a cube as a texture for the billboard. As the billboard turns around, the same image of the cube keep on facing towards you. It's as if the the cube is turning around to face you with the same... err... face! That'll look weird, unless you intended to do that.

Still billboards are very cool!

Hmm... let's get on with Axial Billboards (or Axis-aligned billboards). Axial Billboards can still turn around to face the camera, but they can only rotate around an arbitrary axis.

Assuming Z is up on the Cartesian coordinate system, if the billboard is aligned with the Z-axis, it's very simple to rotate it and face the camera. All you've got to do is get the horizontal direction from the billboard to the camera.

Using my previous diagram:
Point A is the position of the billboard object, B is the camera. All you've got to do is solve for angle y. Angle x is not needed.

Then draw a quad the same way as shown in the previous post, but this time, the transformations are as follows:
-Rotate around z-axis at "y" angle
-Translate to object's position

That is only for Billboards aligned with the Z-Axis.

For a billboard with an axis that is aligned with the x-y plane (horizontal axis), there are a few more steps in the calculations.

Oh my! WTF??

Chill, relax, sip some coffee. All will be revealed in a moment.

Line AC defines the axis for the billboard. So, r is the angle of point C from A.

Before I continue, I should tell you that because Line AC is parallel to the x-y plane,
Getting r could not be any more easier! Just a little trigonometry and...
Now, what about q? q is a little tricky. To solve it, we need to know the direction of B from A on the x-y plane. Then, subtract it from r.

So,
Since we have q, we can now solve for d.

Oh, we're almost there. We just need to solve for h before we can get angle p.

h is simply the difference of z value between A and B.
Now, using tan,

Finally, that horrible p!

Now, draw the quadrilateral:

Transform it as follows:
-Rotate it around x-axis at -p angle
-Rotate it around z-axis at r angle
-Translate it to its position.

Now, I may be wrong with the rotation around the x-axis. I get confused easily with the negative and positive angles, so if you find that I made a mistake, do tell me.

And that's that! But this only applies to axes that are aligned horizontally (parallel to the x-y plane, assuming z is up).

Gosh, such wonderful maths. Now, don't you think 3D games are cool? You better do!

Billboards are best used when the camera is not too close. Otherwise, its secrets will be revealed to the player. Well, it's not that bad, but it won't look too pretty.

Here, you can see the laser beam in Mr Ball 2:

It's an axial billboard!

Now over here, you can see how the beauty of billboards can be ruined:
The billboard passing over an object will reveal its "flatness", most of the time
Oh, and this one. Seeing the end of the billboard just kills the illusion, doesn't it?

Well, that's all! Lol!

Random post

2009-06-14T21:19:00.010+08:00

Well, I dunno what else to post, so I shall post some "numbers" again! Whee!

Seriously, if you hate maths, just don't look.

Remember a few posts ago, I talked about the so-called Axial Billboarding? It's a billboard aligned with an axis! Yay!

So far, I only manage to figure out how to orientate the billboard along an axis that is aligned to either the x-y plane or z-axis, assuming z is the "up" on the Cartesian Plane.

Before I continue on with Axial Billboarding, I should start with a normal billboard. A billboard is just a sprite that faces the camera wherever the camera goes.

Here, you can see the damage display (highlighted with blue circle). It's actually a billboard, because wherever I move the camera, it will face it.

So, how does the math go for this normal billboarding? Alright, we need to know 2 very important info, well, actually, 2 angles to be more precise.
Let's assume point A represents the position of the quadrilateral (usually a rectangle) that is going to be "billboard-ed".

Now, let's place the camera. Let's call the camera position, B.
Oh crap! So complicated! So many lines! Anyway, to put things in simpler terms,

Oh, I forgot to mention that line h and line d are perpendicular to each other. L is the distance from A to B.

Would you believe that from those 3 variables, we can solve for angles x and y, well, at least for x? Haha, here comes the magic of trigonometry (oh boy...)!

To solve for angle x, we can choose to use sin, cos or tan. It doesn't matter since we have all 3 sides of the triangle. But I would recommend using sin or cos because tan reaches infinity when the angle is equal to 90, 270, ...

Ok, let's use sin just because I had committed a lot of sins. Haha, get it? sine, sin! Lol! Ok, I shall stop.

So,

We got x! Now for y.

Angle y is basically the direction of B from A.

It's very simple to get y. See the "u"? u is the difference in x between A and B.

You can use the difference in y as well, but for that, you'll have to use sin instead of cos, which I'll be using.

Anyway,

We got x, and we got y!

With these 2 variables, we can finally turn the quad to face the camera. Now, it's very important to draw the quadrilateral with its centre as its origin to make it look good, unless, of course, you have your own reasons otherwise.

And, the quadrilateral should be facing the x-axis.

So, this will be how you'll draw your quadrilateral in a 3D game:

Next, you want to rotate it around the y-axis at x angle. Followed by a rotation around the z-axis at y angle. After all that, translate it to the object's position.

And that's all for the normal billboard. I won't go on with Axial Billboarding now because I'm just lazy to draw all the diagrams and blah. Maybe later.

Well, have a nice day!

PEG!

2009-06-12T23:19:00.002+08:00

Here's an advertisement I made for PEG Sweets! It's a non-existent product but it sure adds to the randomness of my group, PEG, punya physics video.

Hey! There's my ghost!

2009-06-08T22:25:00.004+08:00

Haha, I was playing around with Adobe Premiere Pro 2, and I got this:

There's goes my soul! I know, my pajamas looks weird. Well, as long as I'm comfortable in my own clothes, I'll be happy. Dang, I feel so bimbo-ish! Should stop moving my hand like that. Lol!

Hmm... I should probably get a better camera, and a Green Screen! Then I can start my own video making studio in my house! ....

Gosh, that's a lot of work... Well, a guy can dream, can't he?

Anyway, like my new background? Hmm... sharp crystals... Alright, maybe I've got to work on my 3D modeling skills.

A new hobby?

2009-06-08T11:37:00.002+08:00

Ever since the day I got introduced to the term "hacking", I never stop being curious on how viruses destroy their victim's computer. Though it may be a little annoying, it's actually quite fascinating. Not that I would like to learn how to kill my friend's computers, but that will be awesome. Ok ok, just joking!

There, I'm in the middle of installation of Windows XP in Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007. It's a free tool you can get from Microsoft. It basically emulates another PC within your PC, so whatever you do in there won't affect your PC. It's a neat tool! So, I'll be playing around with viruses in there and see what happens! I may learn a thing or two on how to get rid of those viruses.

Still, there are risks that the virus may somehow cross over to reality and kill my real computer. I must be very careful!

Z-Buffer....

2009-06-07T22:20:00.007+08:00

Ok, I'm finished with the 5th level!

It is just the same as my previous Mr Ball 2, the one which got stolen away by that idiotic thief. It's one tricky battle, but by the time you reach this level, I assume the player has beefed up Mr Ball a lot.

Anyway, from the video, I would like to highlight one horrible graphic problem which all game developers face, the z-buffer transparency problem. Well, I don't really care much about it, but for game developers who are developing high-class games, this is one serious matter as it can totally ruin the aesthetics of the game.

Anyway, here's a picture to show that z-buffer transparency issue:

If you look very closely, you can see that some part of the blue laser seems to "disappear". As you can see, it doesn't look very pretty, but because the lasers disappear quite fast, I don't really care whether you can see this graphic glitch. It's only for a brief moment anyway.

But why does that happen? Well, it all boils down to one of the 3D graphic things called the Z Buffer.

Now, Z Buffer is just something that helps to sort all the polygons in the 3d world, so that things that can be seen by the camera is rendered and parts of the other objects that are behind some other objects will not be rendered.

It's actually quite a useful tool. It just makes sure that parts of any object that hide behind another object will not be seen. Otherwise, everything will look funky.

But normal z-buffering does not take alpha transparency into account. Alpha transparency is just a fancy way of saying that an object is translucent or fully transparent.

This z-buffer transparency problem only arises depending on which order you draw the polygons. Here's a better example:

The red block is fully opaque, while the blue block is partially transparent. The textured block at the back is just to make things look clearer, sort of. Ok, from here, the drawing order is:
1) Textured Block
2) Red Block
3) Blue Block

But, in the following picture:

The drawing order is:
1) Textured Block
2) Blue Block
3) Red Block

In both cases, Z Buffer is on. In the second picture, you can see that part of the red block seems to have disappear, and there's only one simple cause for that - switching the drawing order.

If you're working with only opaque objects, this is not really an issue for you, but with the presence of partially transparent objects, this is just ugly, if you're aiming for super cool graphics, unless, of course, you wanted it like so.

What happened in the second picture is this:
-The Textured Block is drawn and it is written to the z-buffer
-The Blue block is drawn and it is written to the z-buffer. Nothing wrong yet, since it is drawn after the Textured Block. So, now, the Blue Block blends with the background according to it's alpha value.
-The red block is then drawn. The red block is behind the blue block. Now, here's the problem: because z-buffer will not allow the rendering of polygons that are behind another polygon, it "discards" part of the Red Block which is behind the Blue Block, and therefore, you can't see the Red Block behind the Blue Block, but you can only see the Red Block outside the Blue Block.

There are workarounds for this problem. Here's one of them:
First, draw all opaque objects. Then, draw all partially transparent objects from back to front.

Another workaround: Some might also consider turning off z-buffer while drawing partially transparent objects, but this poses another problem: Without the z-buffer depth sorting, objects that are drawn will hide everything beneath it, regardless of their distance from the camera. In other words, the visibility of the polygons depends on their draw order. Sometimes, this is okay. But usually, this is just annoying. To ensure proper drawing, you've got to work out your own depth sorting algorithm and sort all the polygons from back to front, then draw them in that order.

Well, that's all about the Z-Buffer Transparency problem. I have to go now. It's quite late already. hahahah

Out from school, still in school...

2009-06-06T20:48:00.002+08:00

Sigh... all those assignments... they just keep piling up! My teacher is probably taunting me now!

Anyway, I really hate migraines. I'm suffering right now. Not very comfortable. I'm not sure how I get migraines, but whenever I get one, I will feel like something is poking the blood vessel in my brain. Horrible. Now, I'm having nausea, well, a mild one lah, and a slight headache. According to Wikipedia, those are some of the symptoms of migraine. Either that or I didn't get enough sleep.

Hmm... I shall get on to programming the attacks for Mr Ball's 5th boss fight. I'm still trying to figure out the formula for Axial Billboarding. So far, I only manage to do Axial Billboarding when the axis is aligned with the X-Y plane or the Z axis (in my game, Z-axis is up). Well, I better get on with the calculations...

2009-05-31T22:37:00.003+08:00

And there it is! Divine Judgment! That took me 5 hours to finish. Gah!! Well, I really like the spiraling glyph of doom. This is seriously one powerful attack. 20000+ damage man! Hahahaha!

Hmm... got to work on the incantation though. I sound so fake! Must put more "emotion" into it!

Oh oh, my Mr Ball game is about 5.25MB now, if I were to turn it into an executable. It was about 3 to 4 MB a month ago. It's actually kinda big, and there's only like what, 4 levels only?? Hmm... all those code and sprites. Oh, 5.25 MB does not include the external resources, btw. Awh... I'm so proud seeing my Mr Ball growing up so fast!! Hahahaha!

Half way through!

2009-05-31T16:42:00.003+08:00

I'm about 50% finished with Mr Ball's most powerful attack, and I mean REALLY powerful. But power isn't something easy to get.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of the half-done Divine Judgment attack, one of the sealed artes (along with Indignation and Divine Laser), which I prefer to call. "Sealed" as in, you can't get it through the Upgrade Menu.

It is one hard thing to program and calibrate, considering how LARGE the thing is!

Divine Laser!

2009-05-30T15:00:00.004+08:00

"Oh shining light, here my call! Bring my enemies to their destined annihilation! Divine Laser!" -Mr Ball

Anyway, I finally finished Mr Ball's third Special Attack, Divine Laser! Yup, you've guessed it! It's a laser beam! A big one, to be precise!

Finally, after about 4 hours of drawing and programming, it's working like a charm. The damage inflicted by this attack isn't as high as the Indignation attack, but it still packs quite a punch! So, what do you think? Gosh, it was quite difficult to draw those glyphs, but I guess all my efforts paid off in the end. I shall start recording the incantation!

Anyway, here's a demo:

At the end of the video, you can see the half-done Upgrade Menu. Yeah, it's not really finished yet.

Talk about abuse of power...

2009-05-30T10:45:00.002+08:00

Some people... have no control over their power. Blah!

Well anyway, I have to say, some prefects in my school just don't know when and how to respect others. I mean, come on, if you don't show respect to the other students when you are tegur-ing, how do you expect them to respect you. I'm not gonna say the name(s), but anyway, you know who you are.

Prefects are supposed to be role models to the other students. But it seems that quite a number of prefects just don't know how to be polite. Come on, it's not very difficult to say the 6 letter word "Please". Some more, a lot of them like to raise their voices. Because of their "attitude", no one dares to tell them about their rude behaviour.

Prefects, that's why I hate some of you. You rude pieces of shit! Learn to use "please" and be more polite.

Yuriko Omega....

2009-05-21T20:18:00.003+08:00

Thanks to my pal Jeffrey, I finally got to play RA3 Uprising. It was fun. Too bad though, Yuriko's campaign only has 3 maps, but it really revealed a lot about her past. Kinda pity her leh.

According to what I know, she has this amazing psychic power, and you know lah, where there is something cool and powerful, people will try to exploit it right? That is exactly what's happening to her. Her powers are being researched and studied by Dr Shinji. But during this time, the research kind of like "dehumanised" her.

Well, in the end, Yuriko killed the doctor, freeing her "sister" Izumi. Damn it, all that effort of traversing through the complex was for nothing, when Izumi wages a battle with Yuriko because she felt threatened by Yuriko's power. She wants to be the most powerful psychic.

Ok, I think I have spoiled enough. My idea of what happened to Yuriko may be wrong, but hey, different people have different opinions.

Anyway, I've decided to give Maple Story a try. Yes yes, I know, I've been saying a lot about how I hate that game, but after seeing my cousin play it, the cute-ness of the mushrooms really erm... "seduced" me. LOLOLOL.

There goes my logo!

2009-05-18T23:13:00.002+08:00

OMG! I changed my logo!! Isn't that great?? Ok ok, it's a bit lame, but I've got to say, it's way better than the one before. Not trying to brag or anything, but then I'm just so proud of it. Computer graphic isn't really what I'm very pro at, but with the help of my trusty ol' pal, Paint.NET, it really makes the job of painting that logo so much easier. It's actually quite powerful, well, maybe not as powerful as Photoshop, but for an amateur like me, it's enough. Somemore, it's free of charge!

There goes milky way

2009-05-18T13:39:00.003+08:00

Ahh, if only our galaxy was really filled with milk, as the name suggests. Milk everywhere!

Well anyway, I read from internet that our galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy! OMG! But that'll be like billions of years later. Human would have probably been wiped out long before that happens.

If any human were to be lucky enough to witness this cosmic collision, he would be able to see one of the most spectacular light shows in the universe, though he will be cooked like no one's business because of all the radiation. It'll be painful, but awesome.

That's a youtube video about the collision.

Yea!

2009-05-16T16:57:00.003+08:00

Yesh! Boss no. 4 is done!

As you can see, it uses water jets that shoots out from the floor to kill the player. I know, those things look nothing like water, but that's the best I can think of. To compensate for it's lame appearance, I have implemented a very sophisticated motion planning algorithm for those water jets.

Well, actually, all it does is move around in a way so that it's very hard to predict where it's going. It changes direction once in a while, but ultimately, it'll aim for poor Mr Ball. This adds to the challenge.

But, but, it's kinda easy to avoid those water jets too, if you know where to go at the right moment.

This boss ah, took me 5 hours to finish up. Gosh. I feel like I'm wasting too much of my life... Nah, it's fun messing around with Mr Ball.

Oh, if you're a Kingdom Hearts fan, you should be able to recognise that BGM. It's the remix of 13th Struggle from KH 2. I kinda got it from Youtube, I can't remember who's the remix-er again, but what he (or is it a she? I can't really remember) does is damn cool.

Ideas...

2009-05-15T21:33:00.002+08:00

Well, I'm currently developing the 4th boss fight now. I really can't wait to start programming the last few boss fights which are going to be so epic! And also the secret boss fight, which will not be easy I guarantee. But before I can get there, I have to finish up as many "mini" bosses as possible.

I'm seriously fresh out of ideas for all those normal diamonds. So far I have Ice, Spears, Lightning, Water. I'm not considering to use rocks like in the first game because of the limitations I have with Game Maker. So no rocks. I'll probably recreate the hexagonal prisms that uses lasers and light attacks as can be seen in this post: Second video

That was the version of Mr Ball 2 before the stupid thief stole the laptop.

Spheres!

2009-05-14T14:41:00.004+08:00

Gutentag!

Ahh! Spheres are so beautiful. Even their equation is beautiful! x²+y²+z²-r²=0. It's that simple. Well anyway, I won't talk about maths here right now.

Whoa, the last few days of examination were OMG! I have to say, History test was the simplest among all of the subjects I have sat for so far. And in History, Zaman Arab Jahiliah was the simplest chapter among the 4 chapters I have learn't. Not that I like it very much though.

Add maths was very challenging. A lot of the questions were tough, but quite do-able. Then Chemistry test, which I have done this morning. It was ok. I guess all that cramming paid off. I'm actually quite confident with all my subjects right now.

Hopefully, I'll get an A for Malay. I don't care whether it's A1 or A2. Seeing an A is satisfying enough. I'm not pressurizing myself to get the highest. Hmm... tomorrow is BM paper 1, but now, paper 1 is no longer objective, at least for Malay and English. Hopefully, I'll get a nice question for the directed writing section of the paper.

Ok ok, 2 days ago, I played around with Blender3D and whipped out a very weird animation.

Too bad it's only 6 seconds, but I'm still quite proud of it.

It's time for me to head to bed for a little nap. Ciao!

Skewers of Death

2009-05-09T23:55:00.006+08:00

Well, I know I should be studying, but I just can't resist putting my ideas into my game. Strangely, a lot of my ideas come from mt bathroom, when I'm bathing. Odd...

Well, anyway, I thought, horizontal and vertical spears are cool, but how about multi-directional spears? Here's are some screencaps of this successful multi-direction spears, or what I would prefer to call, Spears v2.0. Lol!
Oooh, dang it, he barely miss getting impaled.

Oh dang it, stupid MSN blocking the way, but anyway, the spotlight's on Mr Ball.
And here, the diamond is trying to erm... poke Mr Ball.

Gosh, I'm seriously thanking trigonometry man. Without it, I'll have to stick with boring old Vertical/Horizontal Spears.

Fortunately though, all the spears can be easily avoided.

Now here's a demo:

I guess that's enough for the black diamond. If I add too many attacks for this diamond now, it'll be too hard for first-timers.

Mid terms in 2 days

2009-05-08T16:55:00.002+08:00

And so, the next boss fight in the game of life is arriving very soon. It's gonna be a toughie to get used to the method of answering. Because now it's more on subjective than objective. Say goodbye to objective questions. Anyway, objective and subjective questions have their own pros and cons, here are some of them:

Objective Questions:
Pros-

The answer is given, along with fake ones, all you need to do is pick one
It is very easy to "hentam", just close one eye, and eeni meeni minii mo
It is not very uncommon (but it's not very often either) to see that the answer is already given somewhere. Sometimes, if you don't know how to answer a question, go on to the next one. If you're lucky, you might come across a question that tells you the answer to that previous question.

Ok, here's an example:
Q12: Event A happened on which year?
A 1992
B 1993
C 1994
D 1995

...
Q25: Person A died during Event A in 1995. Why?
A Jumped down a building
B LOL
C ROFDL (rolled on floor died laughing)
D Because he died????

From there, you can see that the answer for Q12 is D. Most of the time, it's not that obvious. So you've got to be observant.

Cons-

Sometimes the answers are very close (sometimes, too close!). This can confuse the person who is answering the question.
Choices are very limited.
If you don't understand the words in the answer choices, oh, too bad.
Pick the wrong one, go dig your own grave. Ahahaha, just kidding.

Subjective Questions
Pros-

Usually, the questions does not limit your response. Therefore, you can actually write anything that's relevant enough to score (well, sometimes). As long as your answer looks good, meaningful and "professional", it should be okay.
Your hentam-ing skills can be utilised fully here as your choices aren't limited, unlike the objective questions. If you think you can't answer a question, just write something stupid, but relevant.

Cons-

Most of the time, these are open-ended questions, which are basically questions that require you to waste a few millilitres of ink. I classify this as one of the cons because, come on, you'll waste ink, and paper!
There are no choices for you unlike the objective questions, so you rely solely on your creative and logical thinking.
Some questions or marking schemes require you to follow a specific format, which is one of the leading causes for marks deduction.
This should be one of the "Super-Cons" of Subjective Questions: The 3 cursed words - "Pada pendapat anda" (In your opinion)

==================================
Now, here are some tips on how to HENTAM or TEMBAK like a professional marksman.

It's obvious that you should go for something logical. Use your common sense.
If you're answering an objective questions, look out for signs that enable you to cross out wrong choices:
- Read the answers. If 3 of the answers look strangely similar, cross all of them out and pick the odd one out. Usually, this works. (I said usually, not always)
- Look for clues from other questions that ask on the similar subject. It may help you to cross out irrelevant information.
If all else fail, go for either answer B or C (the middle choices). If I'm not mistaken, there some statistics that show that the either one of the middle answers happens to be the correct answer quite frequently. (Quite frequently doesn't necessarily mean always)
If the question you are answering is a subjective question, you still can look for clues from other similar questions.
Write something that sounds cool, professional and logical and not lame and horribly stupid. The main purpose of the subjective question is to test whether you understand what you have learnt. If you answer "professionally", the examiner will think that "Ahh, this kid here knows what he is trying to do" and blah blah blah. Sometimes, he may give you a tick. If not, just accept it.

Above all, take exams as normal lessons. If you get mistakes, just learn from them and don't repeat them. Somemore, common sense is actually a very powerful weapon. Use it wisely.

Good luck!

OMG!!

2009-05-05T18:07:00.002+08:00

Wow! C++ lessons are really paying off! I tried using the darkGDK thing, and this is what I got:

Ok ok, that weird monster thingie is provided along with the development kit. I didn't actually model it. Oh, it moves too. Just that the screen cap can't capture its movement. Unbelievable. I just type 4 lines of code and I got that wonderful thing moving. AHHHH!!

I'll probably use darkGDK and C++ as the base for my Mr Ball 3 next time. Yeah babeh!

A new language??

2009-05-04T23:57:00.002+08:00

Ok, it's not really a new programming language. I'm relearning C++, and I think I kinda get it now. Last time, I have tried learning, but it's just too complicated for me, but then yesterday, I downloaded Microsoft Visual C++ Express Edition 2008 (oh god, that's a mouthful), just to "rekindle" my dream to master C++, if that's possible. I will not let it defeat me again!

Ok ok, to tell you the truth, my eyes got attracted to this "DarkGDK" which is a game development kit, to make, well, you know, GAMES! And unfortunately, it's language is C++, so I'm trying my best to learn it, and I think my patience is paying off. Whee!

Anyway, it's time for bed already. It's like 12.00 am, waaaay passed my bedtime. I'm going to regret this....

Hmm... where should I go?

2009-05-02T12:12:00.002+08:00

Well, 2 days ago was sort of like "Look for your future" type of day in school. Representatives from many universities and colleges came over to school for some sort of an exhibition. Erm... I think it's safe to say they are promoting their university/college right?

Anyway, I found the one place I'm looking for, well, actually 2. I'm considering UCTI or The One Academy. But then, I checked out The One Academy, I didn't find anything related to game programming. Maybe I didn't search deep enough. And somemore, their brochure did say "Graphic Design (for game development)" or something. The One Academy is probably mostly for graphic design and the related subjects and not game development.

So, I'm sticking with UCTI, but I'm not 100% certain that I'll go there. Maybe there are cheaper universities or colleges? Well, anyway, I've got to work hard for it. BEE LEE! STOP PLAYING AROUND AND START STUDYING! But then it's just so hard.

Is it too early for me to plan my future now?

Nah, I don't think so. Well, I've finally decided. I'm gonna go for game development next time. Yea, that's right!

Revenge of the black diamond!

2009-05-01T16:45:00.003+08:00

Well, in the first Mr Ball, the Black diamond fought with Mr Ball twice. This Black diamond is seriously a persistent fellow. He will never give up until he destroys Mr Ball.

I'm too lazy to model and program the movements for the spears, so I'm giving the Black diamond the power of darkness! Well, sort of.

And and, I'm half way done with the Upgrade Menu. It's where the player can upgrade all the stats for Mr Ball using the accumulated Skill Points gained from battles. Hard battles give you more skill points than normal battles.

Well, here's a screencap:

This took me like an hour to draw, and another hour to program it. Still, the result is wonderful. Sadly, that whirly thingie you see there is not Mr Ball's.

Never thought skipping school would be a sad thing to do

2009-04-27T22:59:00.003+08:00

I always thought skipping school was one of the happiest thing I can ever wish for, but apparently, it doesn't seem that way. This morning I had a very bad stomach ache, probably because of my dinner last night or maybe because of my finger-biting habit. I will never know. All I know is the diarrhea I had this morning was #*!$@%&! It was disgusting.

I really wished I had went to school today. Because of my condition, I couldn't sit for the History test, which I studied so hard for.

Maybe for some of you out there, skipping school is a fun thing to do. Maybe I'm not used to it (and I hope I will never get use to it). I felt like I have missed so much today. I mean, sure, I would like to get the heck out of school to avoid all those pesky teachers (well, some at least) and homework. But then, I realised, school is a much better place compared to house. My house was a boring crap this morning, with only my computer to entertain me. Well, my dad also brought me out to eat breakfast.

Kids, love your school. School maybe a nightmare sometimes, but it may also be one of your happiest places on Earth while you're still studying. I mean, all your friends are there. But, I'm not trying to say parents aren't important, they are. Just that, while you're still studying, just appreciate the school that you are studying in, the school that your parents are paying to provide you good education.

Seriously, next time when I say, "Sigh, how I wish I never had to go to school...", I'll reconsider.

Uber cool lightning!

2009-04-24T23:27:00.003+08:00

I'm so proud of it, I can't keep my mouth shut. I successfully made "Indignation"!

Just a note, I have no intentions whatsoever to use a religious cross there, so to some of you out there, don't criticise me or anything. That weird looking cross in the video is just a piece of decoration and has no resemblance to any religious cross.

Anyway, that's my attempt to replicate Tales of the Abyss' Indignation hi-Ougi. Well, it may not be 100% alike, but at least I tried. And some more, I'm not a pro game developer, so that's actually quite a big achievement for a person like me.

And if you can't read the damage dealt by that hi-Ougi, it's 3209 (not including some extra damages). Yups, so far that's the most powerful hi-Ougi in Mr Ball's history.

Oh! This is worth it man! There's like 3 hours of effort in that thing!

Holy cow! Lightning!

2009-04-23T17:53:00.007+08:00

Right, there's the second boss for you. Gotta love the lightning, right? Oh oh, and a very clear demo of the counterattack, which is actually quite simple, around 2 minutes and 19 seconds from the start of the video. Now, to initiate the counter attack, just press E once on the keyboard during a critical hit. No longer you need to spam the [ENTER] key like what I said earlier.

Seriously, I terpaksa set the boss' health to only 600HP, 200HP lower than the ice diamond because this boss is incredibly tough. Sure, the lightning only cause around 2-4 damage (not including critical hits), but look at the amount of lightnings used!! I know, it's quite evil to place hard bosses somewhere near the start of the game, but you know me, I'm a very evil game developer. Muahahahaha!

I can assure you, the player will be rewarded after this battle.

In the first Mr Ball game, my lightning engine was very simple.

Along a straight line, define a few random points that lie outside the line.
Join them up with straight lines

A good example of this lightning-making technique can be seen below here:

The thing is, this kind of lightning will be too thin, and not very nice. But but, in my current Mr Ball game, I'm not creating the lightning dynamically at runtime, instead, I draw a few lightning sprites, then draw them during the game as billboards, what I have is a more realistic lightning, which I think, is a great improvement from Mr Ball 1.

Cool eh?
I seriously love the lightning. I mean, lightnings are so cool, but I have a phobia of lightning in real life though. But that doesn't stop me from admiring the beauty of lightning, one of Mother Nature's fearful forces.

Hmm... Mr Ball may be able to harness the power of lightning to his own advantage. Who knows?

No maze

2009-04-22T20:00:00.004+08:00

The maze system is taking too much time to be developed, lengthening the project time, something which I really do not want. Therefore, I'll take out the whole maze system and revert my Mr Ball back to the normal "run and shoot and run again" type of game, with some added twists lah, like upgrading Mr Ball's stats.

I need to finish Mr Ball as soon as possible, yea so, no maze lah. And some more, mazes will be quite boring since there isn't anything in there.

=====================
EDIT:

So far so great! Hahaha. Well, anyway, I added a new thing for Mr Ball. It's called Counter Attack! Yups, Mr Ball can now counter attack his enemies, but he can only counter critical hits. The best thing is, the bigger his attack points, the higher the counter attack damage. But then, it is only limited to 250 damage. Still, this is one very powerful ability if used at the right moment.

Before you can use it, you have to "buy" it with the accumulated skill points. Then, to activate it, when the screen flashes red during a critical hit, spam the [ENTER] key before it red effect fades away. If you manage to mash the [ENTER] key a few times before the red flash disappears, it'll initiate a counter attack, and the enemy will receive damage, unless of course the enemy decides to teleport away from his position at that moment, which I think won't happen too often. The downside though, is that your arm will get horribly tired, so watch out! And some more, you need a very fast reflex. Too slow, and your chance of getting a counter attack will be almost nil. Why? Well, the critical hit flash will just be on the screen for a split second only, so you've got to act quick to counter!

Circle, never ever underestimate it again

2009-04-18T09:21:00.010+08:00

If you have learnt about circles, you will know that the Greek letter π is quite important. But π is an irrational number (a number that can never be expressed as a fraction). So, what we use is just the approximation in our daily lives, ie, 3.142 or 22/7. But as you can see, if you really want the very precise value of π those approximations will not be suitable for you. Last night, I was wondering, how to get the precise value of π?

Now, I discovered one weird looking formula last night, which may not give you the precise value of π when you demanded it, but at least you'll know how to get the precise value of π. And some more, this formula requires a very large number.

And so, here it comes, some wonderful maths. If you hate maths, just skip this whole post.

Before I begin, I shall introduce to you one cool formula.

A = ns² tan θ / 4

where
A = Area of any regular polygon (a polygon with equal sides and equal internal angles)

n = number of sides
s = length of a side
θ = 90(n-2)/n

That formula will give you the area of any regular polygon, given the number of sides and the length of a side. Remember, it only works for regular polygons.

Right, remember the area formula for a circle? That's right,

A = πr²

Let's get the area of a unit circle (A circle with a radius of 1):

A = π x 1 x 1
A = π

So, from there, the area of a circle with radius of 1 is equal to π
This is crucial to find out the weird formula for π later.

==============================================
Next, we go on to the very important part of this post:

Now, area of circles, are usually just approximations, because we use the approximation of π to calculate the area. So, they are not equal to the real area of the circle. Here's a better way to understand it:

Given a number 3.5, and you rounded that number up to 4, 4 is just and approximation of 3.5, but 4≠3.5

Imagine a situation where we require the precise value. Yea, so we need something.

Let's begin with a circle, with a radius of 1 (unit circle)

We'll start by approximating the area of circle, then we'll work our way to the precise value of the area of the circle.

Let's place a cyclic polygon into the circle. A cyclic polygon is basically a polygon which, the vertices touch the circumference of the circle.

Here's a regular cyclic triangle:

To find its area, we need the length of its side.

Here, I introduce to you another formula:

s=2r cos θ

where
s=length of a side
r=radius of circle
θ=90(n-2)/n

This calculates the length of a side of a REGULAR cyclic polygon, given the radius of the circle, and the number of sides.

In this case, the length of a side of the cyclic triangle is

s=2(1) cos 30
s=1.732

So, area of the cyclic triangle is:
A=ns² tan θ / 4
A=3(1.732)² tan 30 / 4
A=1.299

Ok, keep that in mind, for now.

Next, let's use another cyclic quad, maybe this time, we'll use and octagon.

Using the same technique, you'll find that the area of a regular cyclic octagon in a unit circle is:

A=2.828

Okay, it's easy to observe that as the number of sides (n) gets bigger, the value obtained for the area of the cyclic polygon will get closer and closer to the area of the circle. If we assume that π=3.142, the area of cyclic triangle has a bigger difference from π (Area of a unit circle) compared to the area of the cyclic octagon.

So, from there, we can conclude that the higher the number of sides of the cyclic polygon, the closer it gets to the area of the circle.

If we keep going on and on, with bigger number of sides, you'll know that there's a limit.

n, A:
3, 1.299038106
10, 2.938926261
100, 3.139525976
1000, 3.141571983
10000, 3.141592447
100000, 3.141592652
1000000, 3.141592654
10000000, 3.141592653

As you can see, the value of A gets closer and closer towards π, but never really reach it, as the number of sides increases. Therefore, it's safe to say that there's a limit here. And we can write it out like so:

And so, we have the formula for finding the value of π. The precision of the value you get from there depends on how large your value of n is. It's best to use n=1000000. But the bigger it is the better. But to work, θ&ne90. So, when you count for θ, don't round 89.9999999999 to 90, because that can yield weird results in the end.

Now, I don't recommend you using this in your daily lives though. It's just not practical. And some more, I don't really that I'm the first to discover this weird formula. Others may also have discovered it also, long before I did, so yea.

Anastasia!

2009-04-17T18:24:00.001+08:00

I still remember I watched that movie with my sister. I always thought it was from Disney, but apparently, it's not from Disney.

One thing, I've got very addicted to Rasputin's song. I don't know why, villains' songs are very nice to listen to because it's dark and evil, unlike those happy songs.

Here it is, with the lyrics on screen. The good bit of the song starts at the 50th second. The starting is all instrumental only. It's damn nice.

Failed neural network implementation

2009-04-15T22:36:00.001+08:00

I guess I need a little more research on Neural Networks. It's very hard to understand for a noob like me. Gosh.

If it's not obvious already, if you look at the Error readings on the right, it's increasing exponentially! It's not suppose to increase that much in such short period of time! So, maybe I'm using neural networks the wrong way, or maybe my code is highly flawed. But at least I briefly know how does the neural network works already. I'm still a little confused with the maths though.

...

2009-04-14T17:28:00.002+08:00

Holy cow! Watching a debate is... enjoyable? Well, that was how I felt just now. More on that later.

Here's what I did today:

I went to MPBJ Library to help out with the State Level Malay Debate Competition ala Parliament Style.

All I did was direct some schools to the respective places. No biggie. And I also helped with the time keeping once. And that was the time I enjoyed the most, despite having such a boring job.

When the Timbalan Perdana Menteri talked, I was like OMG!!! She's really great at public speaking. She speaks with ... emotion... and elegance! When she talked, I was like, "Yes, this team will definitely win". Really, government won, and the best speaker was her, according to the judges. I really enjoyed her speech.

Well, the day wasn't as bad as I expected. There's one more day left. Tomorrow's the semi finals and the final round. Can't wait man! So "kan cheong"!!

Sigh... skipping school...

2009-04-13T21:13:00.003+08:00

For the next 2 days I won't be in school. Instead, I'll be at a public library, helping out with the state level debate competition. The best thing out of this, though, is that I'll get 5 points for Koko! Yeah!!

I'll be missing quite a lot of drama rehearsals leh, I mean for the BM interclass drama competition. I need to memorise my lines!!

Anyway, for Mr Ball, the Maze Editor is coming along great! Here's a screencap of it in action:

So far, the editor only supports floor plan editing. You can't add any objects yet. That's gonna be one hard thing to do. Well, let's see what I can do.

Omg, I can't believe it!

2009-04-09T21:41:00.003+08:00

Here's Don't Forget from Demi Lovato

I don't know why, but I'm a little touched by the song. It's just so beautiful. At first, I hated this song, because it's not the rock-ish Demi song that I used to listen, but after listening to it for a while, I got attached to it, and now, I'm stuck to it. I don't know why, something about this song just makes me feel sad, but at the same time, it relieves my stress. Maybe, it's meant to be that way.

Either way, I'm currently a big fan of Demi Lovato. Okok, I'm actually a fan of quite a lot of Disney stars. Hehehe.

Neural Networks, wth?

2009-04-06T23:10:00.002+08:00

I'm delving into the world of artificial neural networks, one of the main tools to create artificial intelligence. I dunno why, but I'm fascinated by the math behind it, even though it's very hard to understand and all. So far, after like 5 to 6 tutorials on the net, I can only briefly understand how does the neural network works, but I still don't know how am I supposed to use it. Hmm... hopefully, I can learn everything by the end of this week.

Oh, and I have just started planning for the map editor. It won't be easy, but I'll try.

Maze system finished!

2009-04-05T20:33:00.002+08:00

Ok, so now the First Person maze is finished
I don't know why, but I can get motion sickness from my maze. Maybe because I'm just to susceptible to it. So, right now, the player (who is the eyes and ears of Mr Ball) will be running around the dungeon and solving puzzles along the way. He won't be able to use his water gun in the maze for some reason, because of that, there won't be monsters, but there will be things that can hurt Mr Ball in the maze. And dying in the maze will be a straight game over, even if you have a lot of lives. Mr Ball can't really die yet in the maze.

Currently, I'm starting a "side" project. It's a Map Editor for the mazes, supposed to be fully customizable to incorporate whatever in the game that can be edited through the map editor.

Well, it'll take me a week to finish the map editor.

Whole day of fun and entertainment

2009-04-05T11:10:00.002+08:00

I had a party yesterday in my house. A "Left 4 Dead + Resident Evil 4 + Fatal Frame 3" party! Yea, I invited Hong Sheng, Gavin, Jeffrey Teh, Shan Min and Jun Ray to come to my house. Sadly, Gavin couldn't come.

Well, anyway, we all had fun, and ate pizza for tea! Haha. The Pizza Hut jingle is still stuck in my head. 1 3 hundred 8 8 2 5 2 5, pizza hut special delivery!

Later, I'm going to play Squash for the first time in my life, with Hon Son! Yeah! I have no idea to play it, but it's just hitting the ball to the wall and hoping it bounces to the correct place. Hmm.. can't wait!

Yeah, first boss finished!

2009-04-02T20:48:00.004+08:00

Here's a demo of the full boss fight!!

Actually, the first time I tested this boss fight, he was too powerful. I died like 3 times! Lol! Some more, my computer lagged. So, it means, the game drew too many stuff. I must cut down a bit on the number of ice spikes. I mean come on, 2 GB of RAM and it still lags? It won't look good for those with very little RAM.

Now, let's talk about school!

Today, I went for my first ever debate competition, well, it's an interclass competition for English Week. I never knew debating was so much fun! Even though 4BR, my class, lost to 4C by only like 20 points, it's actually the experience that counts. I have to admit, I went for debate just to look for fun. Hey, who says arguing can never be fun? I want some more man! So, I suggested to David and Hon Son so we can like create a group, where we can debate among ourselves. Whee!!

The makings of the...

2009-03-30T23:18:00.003+08:00

Well, I'm finally starting the first boss fight. Yeah! The camera movements are all ok! Now it's just the boss' attacks. ...

Well, here's a demo to show off the wonderful camera moving thingie and Mr Ball's first lame special attack:

So far so good. Hmm... after the first boss, I should get started with the maze system.

Well, it's getting late. Nights!

Ooh! Bee Lee's gonna argue!

2009-03-28T12:50:00.002+08:00

I'm been chosen to go for an interclass debate for English Week, along with Jon and Sivesh. Lol! Well, I know debating is fun, but it's only fun when it's not the serious serious type. The topic is "School Prefects should be chosen by their peers". Apparently, I've been told that our class will be the "government" or the ones proposing that topic. But just to be on the safe side, I will looking for points for both "government" and "opposition". Because right, usually, the contestants are told whether they are penyokong or pembangkang during the competition. Let's just hope I won't get stage fright and forget everything. Somemore, I suck at talking professionally. Hahaha.

OMG!

2009-03-24T21:56:00.003+08:00

I'm taking a rest from Mr Ball 2 currently. I can finally start making the real bosses. Sadly, Mr Ball's first super power, or what I would like to call it, his "Hi-Ougi", is freakishly lame.

But I still kinda love it. There's an hour of effort in that thing. Drawing it wasn't that easy though, but it was still quite tolerable. I'm glad I have Paint.NET to help me. If I use the old-fashioned Microsoft Paint, I won't be able to make it look smooth and translucent.

Mr Ball 2 Update again!

2009-03-22T19:18:00.003+08:00

Right, as of today, the battle system is around 90% finished. Just one last thing to do, and that is, Healing! Yeah, Mr Ball cannot heal yet.

I'm still using those dummy bosses to test out everything. Once I am finished with the battle system, I can finally start making the battles. Then I'll go on to making the maze system, which is a complete separate system from the battle system. This is just to keep things simple and organized.

The maze will just be a First Person Shooter, but without the "Shooter". Yeah, Mr Ball will just be running around the maze without his gun for some reason. But I'll try not to make the maze too boring.

Came back from Bentong

2009-03-22T16:20:00.003+08:00

Today, my family (excluding my dad) and I went back to Bentong, my mum's hometown. One thing I wanna point out is that kampung people are more friendlier compared to bandar people. I only noticed it today. I mean, you can see a lot of smiles everywhere. While in the city, a lot of people are like gloomy and stressed out and blah. Really, a lot of difference.

Well, the reason we went back to Bentong is to visit my grandma's grave. How I miss her, man. Her love, her cooking, her nagging and all. I mean, my house is freakishly quiet without her voice. Sure she may nag a lot, but hey, which elder doesn't nag? Sigh... I can still remember the time when I was pushing her wheelchair.

Well, after climbing up the hill and back down, we just strolled around the town. And also, we went to visit my uncle's soon-to-be house. It's quite large. A lot of space to play hide and seek. Lol!

All in all, it was a very tiring day. I mean, I woke up at 5.30 this morning so that we can reach there before 8.00am. Whoa, tomorrow school liao. I hope I have finished all my homework. I don't wanna get killed man. I wanna keep my "good boy" reputation. Hahaha.

Mr Ball 2 Update

2009-03-21T15:01:00.004+08:00

So far so good. Mr Ball can finally shoot, with the left mouse button. And he can also die by falling off the stage. Fortunately, that will not happen very often. Well, you may not know how evil I can be. Lol!

Awh, isn't he cute? Posing for the camera with a gun at his nose. Lol! Here's a secret, remember I talked about billboarding before? The water jet you see here is a billboard. It's actually 2D, not 3D. It just faces the camera all the time, hiding the illusion.

The foundation's almost finished. I just need to create the base for the enemies, model some diamonds, and add the ability to hurt Mr Ball and the enemies. Yeah, that's right, Mr Ball is actually invincible right now. Hahaha.

Right, I shall continue....

=============
2 hours later
=============

Yeah man!

You can see here the blue rings appearing. The black holes are the dummy bosses to test the targeting system. It'll find the closes target, and highlights it with a blue ring.

Here, the ring is in a "locked on" mode. No other rings will appear, and the camera is supposed to stay locked on to the target. But I haven't implement it yet. Still, it works. Hahaha.

=====
And then, another 1 hour
=====

Finally, the camera is finished. Well, almost. Maybe I might have missed out some details, but the camera can track a target already. Yeah, the targeting system is 100% finished. Yay! I'm so in schedule man!

I feel so proud, I wanna cry! Ok, ok, pull yourself together Bee Lee! It's not a game yet!

Billy The Cube

2009-03-20T23:14:00.004+08:00

Ignore that name, for now. Anyway, Mr Ball 2 is coming along great so far. I'm planning to model every piece of stuff that will be used in the game (excluding billboards) using Blender3D, my best buddy, for now. Yeah, so I won't be using the built-in primitives in Game Maker. This is because, if I model it from Blender, I have full control over the UV coordinates to position my textures. Yeah, anyway, I've just finished modeling very simple shapes.

Ok, don't ask me why I place a dead Mr Ball there. Hmm... the platform needs a little touching up, no? You can slightly see the blue lines at the right side of the platform. Right, now, I go on to coding the most basic physics engine, which consists of Gravity! Without it, Mr Ball can't jump and fall.

=====
1 hour later
=====

Ahh, finally, the gravity thing works like a charm!

Ooh? A flying ball? Lol! Well, Mr Ball can finally jump and move. The mouse look thing has also been implemented. But the camera code is still quite empty. There's no function that enables it to lock on to enemies. What enemies? I haven't even created a dummy enemy. Strangely, I find Mr Ball quite young over here, compared to the other Mr Balls I have made.

Oh, for now, Mr Ball can't die. Haha.

Holidays are short...

2009-03-20T09:53:00.002+08:00

Seriously man, time is flying too fast. If only I can whip up a way to manipulate the space-time continuum. Now, that will be cool. But then again, if anyone invents that kind of technology, some people will abuse it and cause problems to the world.

All I know is, gravity bends the fabric of space and time. So, if I can create artificial gravity, I can bend space time too! Ok, I'm really thinking the impossible now. But, I found this cool quote from the net, which is from Einstein: "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

The thing is, if I were to create artificial gravity, I need something with a big mass. Because all objects have their own gravity. It's just that their mass are so small, their gravitational pull is freakishly low. On the other hand, planets and stars are ridiculously huge, therefore, they have a large gravitational pull.

Ok Ok. it will never happen. I'm more interested in computer games development than twisting up the space and time. Hahaha.

Back from camp

2009-03-16T13:35:00.002+08:00

OMG! The camp was fun, in a way that I had the chance to torture everyone, but I felt bad about it though.

Well, I was one of the activity planners for the camp, but I terpaksa do all the planning with Shannen, the camp chief since the other activity planner didn't do much, or rather, didn't do anything at all.

But some of the activities could not be done because there wasn't any scouter who can help to oversee the activity. Poor planning in my part actually, and also, I procrastinated. Sorry Shannen.

All in all, the camp was tiring. Lack of sleep man! Came back home, napped all the way from 1.00pm - 5.30pm.

OMG! L4D is so freaking fun! I've never zombie slaying is that awesome. I feel like I'm Jake Ryan from Hannah Montana! lol! Too bad though, I suck. Whenever the Horde comes, I panic easily, and simply shoot everywhere, 360 degrees around me. Because of that, my accuracy is below 20%, hahaha.

First time got tagged

2009-03-09T22:13:00.002+08:00

1) The person who tagged you is:
Kai Leong

2) Your relationship with him/her is:
Erm... friend friend lah. And classmate. And scout-troopmate. Lol!

3) Your first impression of him/her is:
Err... I dunno. Maybe a little sick sometimes. But hey, most of the guys I know are sick.
Anyway, nice guy lah.

4) The most memorable moments with him:
Well, don really remember spending much time with him, but, I do remember last week, he got
"dared" to slap Reshmy. Lol! That was funny.

5) The most memorable thing he/she has said to you is:
erm... seriously, I don't remember. I have a slight amnesia.

6) If he/she becomes yr lover, you will:
OMG! No way man! But, let's assume that I will accept it...
I will probably buy him flowers!? Well, you know, like what normal lovers do on TV.

7) If he/she became yr lover, what should he/she improve at:
He's okay enough actually. Don't want him to change too much.

8) If he/she becomes yr enemy, what would you do:
1. Take a parang, chop of his head. Let him bleed!
2. Then, chop his body into millions of pieces
3. Dump everything into a highly-acidic bath
4. If body refuses to dissolve, dump into highly-alkaline bath.
5. If the body is still being stubborn, fry it and throw it to the dogs to eat.
6. If the dogs hate his body, then I got no choice but to fly to a volcano and
let Earth swallow up his body.

The End. Lol!
(Or is it? Hmm...)

9) If he/she becomes yr enemy, the reason will be:
Becoming my lover. Lol!

10) The most desired thing you want to do for him/her now is:
Find out about is personal life. Hey, I can be very nosy. Hahaha. Ok, just joking.
Well, maybe err... turn him into a coffee addict as well?

11) Your overall impression on him/her:
Very nice buddy. Has the properties of a very good pal.

12) The characteristic you love most about yourself:
Myself ah? Let's see... I'm quite patient, but my patience depends on my mood. So,
my patience factor is directly proportional to my happiness factor. Ok, that isn't very logical. But you get the idea.
Next thing I like about myself is probably my KIDDY-KIDDY and childish behaviour. I just don't want to be old so fast. One more thing is my ability to laugh at really strange moments. Well, you know what they say, laughter's the best medicine.

13) The characteristic you hate most about yourself:
My temper. Seriously, I hate it when I go all mad. But I can't help it. (I apologize to whoever I have shouted to for no apparent reasons other than my bad temper). And one more thing I hate about myself is procrastinating. Still, it's very hard to change my habit.

14) The most ideal person you want too be is:
someone who have more of the characteristics in Q12 and less of the characteristics in Q13.

15) For people that care and like you, say something to them:
You suck!!! Ok ok, Joking only. Lol!
You guys are the best! My life would never be like how it is today without the help of all my friends and family. Thanks for guiding me through the correct path in life.

16) Pass this quiz to 10 ppl who you want to know how they feel about you.

1.Yew Leung
2.Cheryl
3.Shannen
4.Li Ren
5.David ZRM
6.David Teow
7.Shiva
8.William
9.Seck Wei
10.Amanda

17) Who is 6 having a relationship with: (David Teow)
Like I will know that?

18) Is 9 a male or female: (Seck Wei)
What do you think? Ok ok, a male. ...I think... lol!

20) What is 2 studying at the moment: (Cheryl)
pure science

3.when was the last time you chat with 3?: (Shannen)
Today, during PLC Course in Wai Yew's house.

22) What kind of music does 8 like: (William)
Don't really know much of his taste. But what I do know is, he likes music that I don't have any interest in. Hahaha. Sorry William.

23) Does 1 have any siblings:(Yew Leung)
Yea, but I can't remember how many there are though.

24) Will you woo 3: (Shannen)
She'll probably murder me if I ever do that. Lol!

25) How about 7: (Shiva)
Ok, seriously, it's freaking wrong.

26) Is 4 single: (Li Ren)
Probably

27) What's the surname of 5: (David ZRM)
Hmm... is it Mosiun? Sorry David, if I got that wrong. I have no intention of insulting your name.

28) What's the hobby of 5: (David ZRM)
Add Maths rocks!!! Yeah!

29) Do 5 and 9 get along well: (David ZRM and Seck Wei)
Yeah.

30) Where is 2 studying at: (Cheryl)
behind me in class

31) Say something casual about your eyes:
my eyes are as beautiful as the melthing glaciers due to GLOBAL WARMING! Ok, sorry, can't think of any.

32) Have you tried developing feelings for 5: (David ZRM)
Not really. He's one of my closest friends (since I meet him quite often)

33) Where does 9 live?: (seck wei)
hmm... it is an island named after a Penang tree. What is that called again ah?

34) What colours does 4 like: (Li Ren)
Don't really know

35) Are 5 and 1 good friends: (David ZRM and Yew Leung)
Well, I guess you can say that.

36) Does 7 like 2: (Shiva and Cheryl)
Err... maybe as friends lah, but if you're talking about long term relationship, it won't go too well. But hey, I may be wrong.

37) How did u get to know 2: (Cheryl)
When she came to my class and then she sat behind me. First word I said to her is:

"HIIIII!!"

38) Does 1 have any pets: (Yew Leung)
His bike, lol!

39) Is 7 the sexiest person in the world: (Shiva)
I'm more sexier! Muahahaha! No hard feelings ya, Shiva!

For those who I have I have tagged, it's not compulsory for you to do yea. And if I have insulted anyone, I apologise.

Sigh... all good teachers got to leave...

2009-03-05T18:44:00.002+08:00

I really liked my temporary Chem teacher. I enjoyed her lessons. Too bad though, she's only teaching my class temporarily, because my original Chem teacher was ill. I'm not gonna say out the names to keep them anonymous.

Sigh... I mean, I pity my original Chem teacher and all, but then if I am going to pass my Mid Terms, and probably SPM, I'll need a good teacher. Yeah, anyway, she's back from hospital already. It's very hard to understand what is she trying to teach. Some more, she's not very good at controlling the class. Oh, Yew Leung, help her a bit lah.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive. I dunno. It's just sad seeing no one listening to her. All of them just go chitty-chatty bang bang while she's teaching. Don't they have any respect for her? I know it's not easy to fathom every word that she says, but at least show that you care lah! Sheesh!

I dunno why. I'm freaking angry at those who disrespect teachers. It's rude. I'm not trying to be a goodie-two-shoes here. Please, understand my feelings. They are trying their best to educate us, and what they get? A noisy bunch of annoying students. WTF is that?

It's not only the teachers that are having a hard time. Some people also need to study. Sigh... why? WHY! My class has one bad combination of students. But at least, it's not as bad as 4A.

Whenever my Civics teacher comes in, there's always a lot of noise. But it's somewhat tolerable, but not entirely. 4A, again, the worst. My Civics teacher, who is also theirs, can't really control the class as well. Because of that, a lot of people "exploited" that. There was once, a student in 4A (I'll resist the urge to state the name) shouted and screamed like there was no teacher there. God! The hell is wrong with them??? Come on lah, show some belas kasihan lah. Her vision's already impaired, and some more, you want to give her a heart attack?

Seriously, it's damn hard seeing others suffer. But, I can't really do anything about that. GRR!!

People, respect your teacher lah. No matter how horrible or how nice they are, they are still older than you. Didn't your parents teach you that?

Well, anyway, I'm gonna start programming Mr Ball now...

Roman Tam

2009-03-03T16:43:00.002+08:00

Or known as "Lo Man" in Cantonese, one of my Grandma's favourite artists. I've got to say, I've grown attached towards the theme song of the Cantonese show "Happy Ever After". One old show about food and cooking and emperor. Ok, nevermind, I forgotten a lot about the show already, but I used to like the show. This is for my Grandma:

My Cantonese is getting more and more rotten ever since my grandma left. It's a sad thing actually, since Cantonese is the first language, or more specifically, dialect that I have ever learnt. Sigh... I feel so noob now.