chalicier

We're incorporated, finally. Everybody say hello to Mutant Caterpillar Games Ltd!

We've moved into an office on the Science Park (notably smaller than the last one but still way too big for 3 people) and now we're getting on with prototyping while we wait for the bank to get around to giving us an account so we can transfer money in and get broadband set up.

The "we" in question consists of me, Cerys and Ian Gledhill (a former colleague of mine from Broadsword). We have a good strong concept for an XBLA game, which is something of a synergy of our 3 approaches (retro game mechanics from Ian, conceptual storyline from me, visual aesthetic from Cerys).

The plan is to try to find enough startup grant money to get this game developed without needing money from publishers. We'll still need a publisher - you can't get on XBLA without it - but they'll purely be acting as publishers, not as funding partners. That way we get a much bigger cut, and XBLA being what it is, it's a cut that will keep paying out for a long long while.

In related news - XNA is a piece of complete piss to work with.

We have a name, we have a plan, we have some starting capital (and access to a buttload of starting grants etc), and we have a game design. This thing is actually happening.

Cerys has finally realised what this is going to mean for our finances for the next few months and has shat a brick or two. I shat my bricks at the same time as I signed up to this idea, so I suspect I'm seeming a little overly calm to her...

Right. I have news, and I've decided this is how I'm going to distribute it, since I know a goodly number of my friends still read this (even given how rarely I update). But before that, I'm going to explain what's happened since Broadsword folded. Given that it's probably going to get a bit lengthy, I'm going to put it behind a series of cuts.


( Part 1: The Post-Sword Blues )

( Part 2: Numbing Inevitability )

( Part 3: The Future? )

I was heading in to work this morning (we got paid this afternoon, yippee!) and was just heading up the little path that leads from the University Campus to the Science Park. Behind me a bunch of primary school kids - about 50, the kind of group that sometimes heads into the Sports Cage for an activity morning or something - was turning a corner very slowly. It was a bright but a bit chilly day, and as usual I was wearing my boots and full-length black leather coat.

I emerged from under the trees into the sunlight, at which point a wasp decided to try to fly into my ear. I can only assume it thought it could stay there for the winter. Anyway, I responded like everyone else - ducked down, flailed my head and arms around and yelled at the top of my voice.

At which point one of the passing kids yelled "It's a vampire!"

Well, looks like I've salvaged something. I have an agreement in principle on the money for the 2 weeks work, and the money for this week has been delivered to the nigh-uncontactable harpy that's supposed to send it on to us.

Apparently I'm a bit poorly in the face.

FUCKING HELL. I just posted a huge long thing about Broadsword folding and then LJ's stupid fucking Rich Text thing killed it.

Short version - Broadsword has gone into liquidation, everyone's been made redundant, got about 3 weeks contract work for the liquidators and statutory redundancy pay to apply for, after that I've no idea what I'm going to do. Leaving Aber seems a horrible fate, but as a very wise man told me on MSN this afternoon, I'm talented, experienced, and 30 - I'm never going to be this employable again.

Ian - you need to contact the liquidators. Will get you the email tomorrow.

Short term plan is to go to Strom this weekend as planned and get very, very, very drunk.

OK. I've had enough.

I've spent the last couple of days responding to previously sane person after previously sane person repeat the same infuriating mantra: "It's just flu, it's nothing to worry about."

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS JUST FLU.

As a population we're for the most part resistant to most of the seasonal flu strains that run through the elderly every winter, culling out a few thousand here or there. And most of the time when people say they've had "the flu", they've not actually had influenza; just a nasty cold with a bit of a fever attached. Certainly the "24 hour bug" is not flu at all most of the time, it's just a respiratory infection of the kind that people get constantly. After all, our respiratory systems are giant, warm, wet breeding grounds for anything.

So why is swine flu at all worrying? Because it is [b]JULY[/b]. You know that term, "seasonal flu"? That's so called because it's at its most virulent during the winter, but also because it spreads much faster when everyone's cooped up inside sharing germs. This one? It's spreading like wildfire in the middle of flu's least favourite time of year. It's a different strain, one most of us aren't going to respond to with a bit of a sniffle; it's going to be about a week of feeling like death. Remember getting the flu as a kid? That's what it's going to be like.

The current wave is apparently abating. Now, it's arguable that the wave has been exaggerated by idiots thinking they have swine flu after getting a cold from the cold snap we just had. But quite likely it is receding. Is that the end?
No. That's not what flu epidemics do. They fade, then they come back. And then again. And then again. And each time they catch a different chunk of the population.

I swear if I see one more bloody stupid thing like the Eye this month: "Total deaths from Swine Flu:300 Annual deaths from normal flu: 2000" I'm going to scream. It's July. People don't die from the flu in July. For fuck's sake, what about this isn't obvious?

Of course, I know the answer. Skepticism is now fashionable. After all, it feels good saying They have got it wrong and your Common Sense knows better, right? No. Bullshit. This isn't bird flu (which was never actually proven to transmit between humans - swine flu jumped species in 3 days apparently), this isn't ebola (which was geographically contained due to its short incubation period).
YOU DO NOT KNOW BETTER THAN EPIDEMIOLOGISTS. YOUR "COMMON SENSE" DOES NOT TRUMP REALITY.
All that people are being asked to do is keep an eye on themselves and their families for signs of the disease, and to take some basic precautions to reduce exposure (use hankies to sneeze, wash your hands, don't share drinking vessels). What the fuck is wrong with that exactly? What?

I stand by what Ben Goldacre said. If next year rolls around and nothing much has happened - if swine flu goes damp squib - then I won't be "proven wrong", I'll be OVER THE BLOODY MOON, and I'll be lucky. Just like everyone else. Diseases aren't something to make comparative statements about. Diseases kill people. Your mother, your kids, your friends. They KILL PEOPLE. Stop being fucking smarmy twats and recognise that fact already.

So, I finally went to the dentist, who proceeded to torture me as only dentists know how.
Turns out that I have really bad gingivitis ("the worst I've seen in a long time") so even the scale and polish was an agonising, bloody affair. The anaethetic for my filling then failed to work, so I had it done without anaesthetic. It wasn't so bad compared to having my gums torn apart...

So now I have this thermonuclear mouthwash called Corsodyl which makes me want to puke, and Cerys says my mouth odour is better. Would have been nice if she'd mentioned the odour sooner...

I'm 30 this year.

Holy shit, I'm 30 this year.
30.

Last night we had huge trouble getting Bethan to go to sleep, so at my wits end 2 hours after bedtime I settled her in with Cerys' suggestion that I explain the Large Hadron Collider to her. Talking about the giant loop of particle death led on to the subject of the Big Bang and the beginning of the universe, and she drifted off to sleep with me explaining the origins of carbon and the beginnings of life. Bethan made my eyes bulge at one point, when I asked her "before there was anything, before anything existed yet, what was there?" and she thought about it and replied "Nothing."

So, fast forward to today, and I asked her "When we were talking last night, do you remember what started the universe?" and she responded by tapping her beaker against the side of the big bowl of popcorn she was eating. Thinking it an accident, I repeated the question... and she tapped her beaker against the bowl again, making a loud, resonant "DING!" I responded with "Does this mean you understand string theory?" and she grinned and looked away.

Next time someone tells you everyone is a believer until they get old, or everyone has a little magic until they get old, just remember this: Everyone intuitively understands complex concepts from the world of physics until they get too old and stupid to keep up. Probably around about the age of 5.

Having talked to Cerys about it, I now definitely can't make it to Strom. Spending even the train fare would be inadvisable, assuming work don't get their act together next week, which is a risk I can't afford to take.

I apologise to everyone I'm letting down with this.

On the plus side - 5 day weekend with Bethan!

1 day before the event, and I have £100 left of my overdraft, and no money about to come in.

My isn't this fun.

Wow. Remember the saying "No-one sues in LRP"?

Well, clearly someone does.

In the tabletop game Exalted, which I know a few readers are familiar with, there is a supernaturally addictive pastime called the Games Of Divinity, to which the entire higher pantheon of Creation is hopelessly addicted. I have come to the conclusion that said game consists simply of a series of laptops and a server running a forum.

Jupiter: lol pwned
Invictus, Bitches: I pwns all of you cos I'm in charge
Moon-ho: Hey let's talk about animals
Saturn: FUCK YOU CRAZY BITCH what is it that time of the month again?
Invictus: You all suck so hard

Here's how I feel about politics right now:

victory
instinct over intellect
victory
it erupts from deep inside
history
history is laughing at us
plotting its discovery
victory, victory
blame it on the victory

(Bad Religion, as usual)

I'm currently listening to the "Penny Arcade vs PvP" D&D podcasts (the old ones, not the new ones with Wil Wheaton) and it's actually making me want to play 4th Ed. Quite an achievement, no? I suspect 4th Ed is going to be a sort of "Constantine" thing for me - it's not actually D&D, but if I ignore the fact that it's called D&D and just enjoy it for what it is, it might be kinda good in its own way. Same as Constantine is an OK-ish supernatural thriller type film, and is quite enjoyable if you just pretend it has nothing to do with Hellblazer.

Guess what - I got my WoW account suspended!

Yeah, y'know, my account on a game I don't play any more, suspended for goldfarming or trading or something (it's a very broad accusation - "trading activities"). I've sent a snotty email back demanding to be told what the hell I'm supposed to have done. Not cos I want to play WoW again, just cos I'm not that fond of being accused of doing the thing that actually made me quit WoW in the first place.

It's kind of ironic, I got sent the Lich King trial email just the other day and was actually giving it some thought. Heh.
 

Yet more Aphelion braincheese.


( Aphelion Musings Pt 4 - Skills and Suchlike )

The starlings are back early this year. It's always a beautiful sight, even more so because they fly level with the studio windows. The sheer numbers are just mind-boggling.