**It has been over a month since my last blog. A decision to take some time away from writing was made, and to be fair I’m not at all certain why. I just knew that I needed a break. After a bit of prompting from good friends I now make my return to you Faithful Reader. Somehow my cohorts had mistaken the scribbling on this page for entertaining reading. It is because of their stroking of my ego I am writing this now. To this I owe them my gratitude, they helped me to remember the reasons I enjoy writing.**
If you troubled yourself to read my last effort on this page, you might have (incorrectly) assumed the Author had been whiling away his time learning to program a new iPhone app. If you indeed believed this, your vote of confidence is appreciated. However, nothing could be further from the truth it pains me to say. Not only have I not begun developing the next hot iPhone app, the Team Fortress 2 mapping project I was involved in has been cancelled. Be not alarmed Faithful Reader. Do not mourn the loss. It needed to die. One of us should have caught it sooner, but it finally occurred to us we were designing a map for a game neither of us really played. If you were looking forward to the map, I apologize. It will be finished one day. It would be to your health if you didn’t hold your breath waiting.
With this turn of events, we are now free to pursue our Left 4 Dead campaign! Valve has not yet released the L4D SDK update with the tools needed to properly develop. Our hope is that the design phase will encompass much of our early project time giving plenty of time for the update to be unleashed. For now, we have a basic concept of what we want to accomplish. Our main goal is to design and create an enjoyable, original campaign in versus and cooperative play modes.
While on the subject of user-generated content, I’ve been following the development of a new campaign: Dead Before Dawn. In development since 2005, this was intended to be part of a now defunct mod project involving our friends the undead. The release of L4D killed the mod, but this level lives on. DBD is inspired by the 2004 movie remake of Dawn of the Dead. Great pains have been taken to recreate locales from the film, most notably The Crossroads Mall. My brother is a huge fan of zombie flicks, playing through this level with him will be a great pleasure indeed. There have been no updates or news about it since January, though I would wager it merely awaits the promised SDK update. Here are a couple of videos for your enjoyment. The first is an early fly-thru before the L4D conversion and the next is the latest trailer edited to include scenes from the movie.
It’s good to be back. Somehow in my literary hibernation I had forgotten how much of an outlet it can be to put pen to paper (yes, I really do hack these out on a notepad before typing anything) and allow my thoughts to take me where they will. If you notice any changes in my writing it is entirely due to outside influence: I have begun my annual read of Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings once more and have also been introduced to the works of Stephen King. If I can but emulate their talents in a small part I will consider it a major victory in my quest to become a competent writer. This marks the first time in months I am reading a book where the word ‘force’ is not capitalized. A man cannot live on Star Wars fiction alone I suppose, though I have managed to subsist on it far longer than most.
If you like what you read here, please let me know in the comments. Conversely, if you dislike my efforts or have a criticisms to offer I am always eager to know what you are thinking, Faithful Reader.
Until next time, may the Force be with you.
Vander out.
If you troubled yourself to read my last effort on this page, you might have (incorrectly) assumed the Author had been whiling away his time learning to program a new iPhone app. If you indeed believed this, your vote of confidence is appreciated. However, nothing could be further from the truth it pains me to say. Not only have I not begun developing the next hot iPhone app, the Team Fortress 2 mapping project I was involved in has been cancelled. Be not alarmed Faithful Reader. Do not mourn the loss. It needed to die. One of us should have caught it sooner, but it finally occurred to us we were designing a map for a game neither of us really played. If you were looking forward to the map, I apologize. It will be finished one day. It would be to your health if you didn’t hold your breath waiting.
With this turn of events, we are now free to pursue our Left 4 Dead campaign! Valve has not yet released the L4D SDK update with the tools needed to properly develop. Our hope is that the design phase will encompass much of our early project time giving plenty of time for the update to be unleashed. For now, we have a basic concept of what we want to accomplish. Our main goal is to design and create an enjoyable, original campaign in versus and cooperative play modes.
While on the subject of user-generated content, I’ve been following the development of a new campaign: Dead Before Dawn. In development since 2005, this was intended to be part of a now defunct mod project involving our friends the undead. The release of L4D killed the mod, but this level lives on. DBD is inspired by the 2004 movie remake of Dawn of the Dead. Great pains have been taken to recreate locales from the film, most notably The Crossroads Mall. My brother is a huge fan of zombie flicks, playing through this level with him will be a great pleasure indeed. There have been no updates or news about it since January, though I would wager it merely awaits the promised SDK update. Here are a couple of videos for your enjoyment. The first is an early fly-thru before the L4D conversion and the next is the latest trailer edited to include scenes from the movie.
It’s good to be back. Somehow in my literary hibernation I had forgotten how much of an outlet it can be to put pen to paper (yes, I really do hack these out on a notepad before typing anything) and allow my thoughts to take me where they will. If you notice any changes in my writing it is entirely due to outside influence: I have begun my annual read of Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings once more and have also been introduced to the works of Stephen King. If I can but emulate their talents in a small part I will consider it a major victory in my quest to become a competent writer. This marks the first time in months I am reading a book where the word ‘force’ is not capitalized. A man cannot live on Star Wars fiction alone I suppose, though I have managed to subsist on it far longer than most.
If you like what you read here, please let me know in the comments. Conversely, if you dislike my efforts or have a criticisms to offer I am always eager to know what you are thinking, Faithful Reader.
Until next time, may the Force be with you.
Vander out.
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