#ad21xx

[huntermun]

I feel like today's episode of Extra Credits was just for me…

[huntermun]

Road to #AD21XX: Maverick Hunter Fighter

Once upon a time, I was a student at Wren High School in upstate South Carolina, and I owned a TI-86 Calculator.  It could download games just like it could download applications for doing math equations and such… not unlike what you can do in a much more advanced sense with modern day smart phones—holy shit, I am referencing back to an age before I had a cell phone… I am old—and it could be used for entertainment or homework.  Like most people should, I chose to use it for both.

I discovered that even though there were games running on the device that were as complex as Doom and Tetris, that it also had it’s own BASIC Language before I even knew what BASIC was.  TI-BASIC taught me the power of Goto and Labels, Variables and Output.  But the calculator couldn't do all the teaching, no.  I’m Huntermun, and I’ve got to learn things backwards apparently… stripping down something that already exists and discovering how it works.

Most applications’ code couldn’t be viewed… or, at least, none I had seen yet.  All these games, I would learn, were self contained… inside an executable file of sorts.  They were whole things that could run on the internal programming of the calculator, but they couldn’t actually be made on the calculator.  As a result, they were nebulous things to me, just like programs were on the computer, in that I knew someone had to make them, but I didn’t know how it would be done.

I wanted to know how.

And then I found this simple little game called “Hick Quest III”.  I don’t even remember all the details of this game, but it was a very simple fighting game of sorts.  Very much a “press button, attack badguy” sort of affair, with your name on screen to one side and your opponent’s name to the other not unlike Pokémon.  It was simple, but simple gave me hope.  Long before I would complete the game—in which I recall my blood turning into alcohol, and dying—I would go into the programs on my calculator and discover it was my first TI-BASIC game.

The key difference between the other applications I’d downloaded to my phone and this one was that I could actually open up game as code rather than simply seeing it sitting there all "yup, I'm a program".  Not only could I look around through all the code, I could read the code… because BASIC is super-basic, and it’s not hard to figure out “This Number is in X variable” and “This Goto tells the Code to skip to X Line”.  At least, it wasn't hard for me to figure that out…

But far more importantly than simply looking at how the code probably worked and how the calculator read it was the quick realization that I could edit it.  And with years of lost data experience behind me, I knew I needed to back the game up first, and I did.  After that, I start fiddling with things… all the things.

At first, I replaced the names of the baddies, and that was neat.  But shortly after that, I figured out how to add more… thereby doubling the number of enemies in the game by creating a second location.  I altered the title screen, and changed up how the information for you and the opponent was laid out.  I altered the opening plot and even added additional pages to it to set up the story.

And thus Maverick Hunter Fighter was born.

But was it?  I was making this game for myself and my friends on a calculator at school, so I wasn't at all worried about copyright issues because, if nothing else, I was a minor.  Suck it, Capcom!  But, seriously, I loved Mega Man X then and still do now and I'd already been creating FanFiction in its universe long before this game.  But the idea that I could make my own text-based Mega Man X game was crazy to me, and yet… here it sort of was.

Some of you are thinking about how you've done this same thing while others are thinking what I was thinking at this moment: you didn't really make a game… you gutted someone else's.  And that got to me only a little, because I was already beyond the start of MHF.  I'd learned.  I understood all the above, and even started using Output to draw graphics onto the screen.  Text-Based Graphics.  I even animated them, and I was so proud of myself… still am.

The original MHF didn't last long, and it would fit the model of a different Capcom game of the fighting-variety, Street Fighter.  Street Fighter, the first one, sucks, and that sort of became MHF.  And just like Street Fighter, nothing carried over when I opened up SimpleText on my Performa 6220CD and started writing a new MHF from scratch.  In a very short amount of time, the first version of that game came out and it was a hit.

And that's no joke.  Maverick Hunter Fighter II had an animated Title Screen; It had Save Files for multiple playthroughs; there were Weapon and Armour Upgrades; Heart Tanks to expand your health; multiple locations to visit and different modes of transportation to acquire in order to travel to them; there was a stat screen and character sheet; and I even animated "READY!" to appear on screen whenever you started a new fight.

Instead of version numbers, the game's title mutated as a purposeful spoof on Street Fighter.  Maverick Hunter Fighter II became II Turbo, II Hyper, III, Z, Zero, Alpha II Turbo, and any number of other permutations.  It was great!  And, best of all, it turned out the game also ran on the TI-85, a less powerful piece of hardware that was a lot more populous at Wren.  And it was here I learned two additional things about my game: it was fun, and it was bloated.

It being fun was great… people I didn't even know or know people who knew them were sitting in the cafeteria playing MHF when I came in.  I cannot express how amazing that feeling was.  But that feeling was quickly stunted by a revelation that I'd put too much into the game… not for the 86, but for the 85.  It was literally running out of space to hold the game and anything else.

This is how MHF taught me to code better.

You better believe there was a lot of junk code in the game.  Every villain having a slight alteration to the fighting system?  Check.  Their own stats, even if they were duplicate?  Check.  Multiple variables for each linear upgrade item?  Check.

Suddenly, my code was a mess again.  How could I not have seen it?  But I went after it with dedication, writing entire new swaths of code simpler so that more parts of the game could utilize the same variable and draws.  But even as I hacked out unnecessary parts, I still ended up hitting that wall that was the TI-85… and like any good game dev, I both wanted to keep my install base while also giving those with the bigger memory and more powerful 86 something more.

This is how MHF taught me to code for cross-generational gaming.

Look, it may be simple, but it is a vital skill to learn.  By keeping the items linear in the 85 Version, I could keep them in.  Meanwhile, on the 86 I added a shop and expanded it to allow for multi-linear gameplay.  Rather than always having a single weapon, you could swap out weapons.  There was an additional area of the game to move to and fight.  The 86 Version of the game was just a bigger experience, and each time I could shave off some little thing in the 85 version and put in a new feature, I would.

Way back in the late 1990's, this was a huge deal for me.  Not only did I know coding—simple coding still counts!—but I had learned it all on my own.  I felt really good about my product, and people at my school enjoyed it.  I had, maybe, twenty or more people actually walking around with it in their pocket, enjoying their experience… and I always made sure to make it so Save Files would be able to carry forward into the next release.

All in all, I was very happy with what I had done… but after I graduated and went on to my first college, I quickly learned that TI-BASIC might have been a good primer, but it wasn't very fitting for the types of games I wanted to make.  In time, I would hit my head against QBASIC and Visual Basic and C-Sharp and C++… and it wouldn't be until this time last year that I stumbled into something that would let me finally make a new and more expansive game than I'd ever made before.

But that's a story for a different day.  For now, please join me in sparing a moment to recall that it was today, last year, that the first version of #AD21XX was typed into.  While I had poked and prodded at the idea of Adaptation (20XX) before then, I had not really gotten my own hands to make my own code again until February 16, 2016.  Yes, I had tried.  All the above as well as Xcode had landed on my plate over the years, but nothing quite felt as much like home to me as TWINE and SugarCube 2.

Today I, if no one else, celebrates the One Year Anniversary of the first Code I wrote towards the game and series I hope will become Adaptation 21XX. 
See you in the Future, —Huntermun / Tyler N. Sewell

[huntermun]

This is the logo I have created for a game within my Adaptation universe called Necrotic Galaxy.  There’s a few inspirations here, including Metroid, Dead Space, and Galaga as some of you can clearly see.  Overall, I’m very happy with it.  No tracing.

Additionally, the video was automatically created in Procreate on an iPad Pro, and exported into 4k for those of you with displays that can handle such. This game series is very popular, at least by the time of 21XX when the main #AD21XX plot occurs. If you would like to comment on the final image itself, you can do so at my DeviantArt where I’ve uploaded just the PNG.

[huntermun]

#AD21XX: All in teh Names

Working on the new naming system for #AD21XX games.  Currently working with over 300 selectable names with the intention to add many more with time.  This is just for starters and will be the same across all games...

Right now I'm coding a system for how they'll display as I'm not hard-coding the list itself.  I want it to generate at game-start based on the currently updated list in code so that I can make smaller updates based upon tips I receive without having find that specific place in the alphabet and files and add that option later.

Feeling pretty good about this month's progress even after getting sick for all of last week.  When I've got something to show you guys, I'll provide screen shots up here.  Hopefully I'll have something by the end of the weekend but #AGDQ2017 is on right now and it's very distracting.

[huntermun]

#AD21XX: Même Mémoire

I am certain you've heard of "déjà vu"… the concept you're seeing or doing something that you've done once before.  An idea, a feeling… something inescapable that is trying to tell you this moment has already occurred.  You've already said these words or moved this way… even if you cannot recall where it ever happened before… even if it actually has never happened before.  That's déjà vu.

It comes from French, which you might have already guessed or known, and translated directly means "already seen".  Makes sense, right?  Well, I've got a related premise for you… It's called "même mémoire" which means "same memory" or, Americanized, "mememory" (pronounced: meme-mor-ree) because it's also related to meme's… little bits of culture or interaction passed on to others through non genetic means.

Genes and Memes… we rockin' Metal Gear Solid yet?  Good.

Mememory was a word originally coined, jointly, by corporations and the mirroids they created as a way to describe what in the original days was a much more common phenomena… a moment in which two or more mirroids were able to connect through the shared identical experience they'd been imbued with.

As perviously explained, mirroid brains initial configuration contains a number of base memories which are most often stored for language—including slang—as well as some human or animal interactions and basic bodily functions like walking or singing.  These memories can come from all animals, not just humans, and packaging them together can make a proper default template for any particular mirroid.

However, you may be able to jump ahead here and guess at some of the issues with this concept.  Namely, that it makes an individual non-unique.  The more reused, the more set, the more manufactured the origin of a mirroid's base memories, the harder it is for them to wrap their mind around being a functioning and fully formed individual.  Coupled with their recent history of mistreatment by human beings, it is not hard to believe that the more similar a mirroid is to another, the more likely they are to resent that similarity.

It can be difficult to impart this feeling to human beings for they cannot, under normal circumstances, experience a mememory.  Try it.  Try to imagine a shared event you've had with other people… say a yearly video game party.  You and your friends were there.  You all brought PC's or TV's and game consoles and you all played together.  "Isn't that the same memory?" you may be asking?  And, no, it is not.

On the most basic level, one of you was Player One while another Player Two.  One of you got up and went to the bathroom and missed another friend landing a sick 168 chain combo down Big Mountain in SSX3.  Whatever your experience was, even though you shared it with other people, they did not have the same exact memory as you did.  Their dislike of alcohol or your sneaking the last slice of pizza for yourself all made your own experience unique even though you all were a part of each other's memory.

But mirroids are instilled with other people's or other animal's memories to start with, because they are created fully grown.  And so that always means that, to start with, their memories have at least one other duplicate out there somewhere.  Furthermore, we're talking about production lines and corporations… and mass production has been in the human industrial mindset for centuries by the time 21XX rolls around.  This ends up boding ill for the first mirroids produced by someone other than Dr. Valentino, because corporations have long been problematic in one regard: people are people, and people are supposed to be unique… not cogs in a machine.

In hindsight, the mistake was quite obvious.  Dr. Valentino made the original six mirroids within the now accepted sexual spectrum… one male, one female, one heale, one shemale, and two herm.  Though, interestingly, the female mirroid was created as a transgender man, so while the group consisted of the now commonly accepted sexual configuration of mirroids, it was lacking in the female gender identity.

Taken a step further, the original six mirroids were also comprised of vastly body structures and sizes.  Vulgal was a Large sized wolf, while Xi was a Average sized humanoid more resembling an angel than a man.  With sizes ranging from Small to Large, and body types of biped and quadruped, each mirroid's shape, sexuality, gender identity, and dramatically different memory configurations made sure that each of the six were themselves unique to start with, but essentially guaranteed their opportunities to have unique and varied lives from each other.

And it is likely that Dr. Valentino's testing phases on her mirroids came across the concept of "Même Mémoire" as it would be unlikely to have been coincidentally avoided in the six mirroids the world discovered.  As the doctor's prior robot designs were all based upon wolves, the extra effort to make a smattering of different human-animal hybrid memories cannot be overlooked as exhausting and time consuming… work she likely spent years on just to make those six individuals.

The most egregious mememory culprits were companies during the various mirroid wars.  One company, focusing on building animal stock with human intelligence for instruction and direction, would have entire farm populations with identical histories.  Even without human intellect, this would have been confusing to the animals… because whose bone, whose owner, whose mate is this if not your own?  With more instinct comes more a fight to maintain what is yours and you, but when everyone around you is also you, who is it you're not supposed to fight for what is yours?

The famous WarTaurs of the third major conflict were themselves designed this way on purpose because it had been so time consuming to create just one with complete memories that fully functioned.  Initially, the hope was that by making fewer mirroids in this way that the problem could be avoided, but sadly that was not the case.  With few other WarTaurs to share experiences with, and the few that you could meet having your same experiences, WarTaurs—more than any other mirroid—were far more prone to suicide or Enlightenment procedures.

Essentially, their outward uniqueness forced their inner sameness to be a major note of stress and self-doubt.  It is also why so many of them found comfort in war… using their skills to build themselves a history of unique battle experiences.  Oppositely, other WarTaurs who were captured in war and modified against their wishes had traumatic POW experiences which, in an unfortunate twist, also made them unique compared to their same-run brothers and sisters.  And so, even though they may have been 'more damaged', they were also far less likely to end their lives due to mental anguish of not being unique.

As a result of the phenomena of "même mémoire", an interesting culture has become self-imposed by most mirroids.  Most mirroids go through a phase of being an "input junkie", often brought about by confirmation of a mememory experience, though not always.  In a desire to further differentiate themselves from one they interacted with, or even from their usual life experiences, they will seek out of force upon themselves unique experiences.  They will break their own comfort zone, confront a phobia, move to another city for a time, completely change their hairstyle or cloths, or any number of other sudden and dramatic changes to assure themselves that, going forward, they're having lives and experiences no one else has.

Mirroids, more than humans, have an understood cultural fear of being the same as someone else.  Moments such as arriving to a party wearing the same dress take on a whole other dynamic if the person wearing the counterpart thinks and act just like you do.  It's because of situations like these that, beyond their usual animal-like features, culturally make mirroids different than human beings even with their similarities.

See you in the Future, —Huntermun

P.S.: I'm not going back and altering these journals and so if you see conflicting information in a more recent entry, the more recent one is correct.  Xi, for example, is no longer a herm in the backstory as previously stated since the world is getting more fleshed out due to progress being made.

[huntermun]

Here are some of my original ideas for Menu System 4.0 to 4.3.  I figure you guys want to see some basic updates and so this is something I doodled back from Pre-Alpha 0015.  In truth, I was very happy with how this turned out and you can see my progress from earlier in my Pre-Alpha Photos folder.

Mainly what you see here is the start of the idea for the various states of the Interface in #AD21XX.  In this case, an interface set to “off” will not be visible to the Player in any way.  This includes options such as “Cheats” or the various Detailed Options if you are designing your character in Guided.  Those things will all be hidden.

Active is what it sounds like… white outline, in the default theme, to indicate it is the active tab being used.  That one’s straight forward.

More complex were the next two options of Unavailable and Inactive, and I’m glad I left these behind, looking back. Essentially, Unavailable were options which were visible but not useable, and Inactive were options which you could use but were not the currently active tab.  Old tech, but I thought it was pretty good for it’s time.

More variations of information, here shown in the selectable Character Creation types which still exist in the current Pre-Alpha (Pα) build.

Guided is what you choose if you want to gradually get into your character through the First Day of the game: the Tutorial.  Essentially, rather than just mostly reading through the opening, you’ll instead be presented with some options to which will be assumed you succeed and will build your Character Sheet in the background.

Detailed (called Unguided in the image) will allow you to select most all the options through Creation and the First Day will, instead, mold around your character rather than molding your character during it.  Picking Detailed will instead have the opening more tailored to your character.  You’ll even have the option to leave some thing unselected and have them be triggered like Guided if you can’t decided on them right then.

Premade will be a selection of already created characters who may or may not have specific differences tailored to them, including already chosen character transformation.  This is a place where Patrons and Tippers will be able to toss me money and have their own characters added into the game for pre-selection.

You may also note headings such as Sex & Gender, which I’ve renamed Sexuality in the current build of the Pα.  It is my intention that characters will be able to pick their biological sex and gender identity separately.  This will mostly alter text relating to noticing NPC’s more to the character’s interest.  And, it should be noted, either Sex or Gender is something that can be transformed throughout the course of the game.

You can also see in this image some of my early doodles for the last version of the Selector display… where big blocks of options appear in rows of two or three items each.  This idea persists even to this day, though I’ve rewritten the system from scratch now that I’m building the game for Desktop, and Mobile (Landscape & Portrait).

During the creation of Menu System 4.0, I toyed with the idea of Health Bars and such to put onto the SugarCube 2 UI-Bar to the left.  This is certainly an idea I’ll be keeping into Menu System 5.0, and I’m glad I didn’t really get into it in Pα0015.  It turns out, I can include the bars along the edge of the hidden UI-Bar and so that means that it will still be functional on Mobile which is a big focus of 0016.

What you can see here in this image is a lot to do with the actual form makeup of characters throughout the game.  You can see Bipedal and Quadrupedal characters are represented here as well as WarTaurs (Centaur-type characters) and Merpos (a cross between mermaids and nagah… serpentine/aquatic characters).  They each support up to six arms as well as wings as well as numerous other form-specific parts.

Also shown here are some of the preliminary ideas for things such as different types of bone material, muscles, and blood.  There will also be other kinds of skin, including a latex-type material which will allow characters to possible inflation and/or rubber/leather play.  Additionally, different kinds of bodily fluids will be supported in this system, but those are not as likely to make themselves into #AD21XX.  We’ll see about that as we go.

Lastly, on the lower right, you can also see some of the breed-specific designs such as those for Avian characters.  You’ll be able to select specific make-ups for eagles, sparrows, owls, and so-on in color and talon-types… things like that.  These different Series/Type combination will also be tied in the background to different in-game corporations leading to potential email offers and such to specific mirroid characters based on where and how they were produced.

[huntermun]

To Succeed Where I Have Failed...

In high school, in art class, I had a problem with making my art too complex. I was an artist, unlike nearly every other person in the class. I did art for fun, and they did art only within those walls...

Anyway, I look back over my recent—and by recent, I mean the last year or so—attempts to make a living by creating art... and I've come to realize I still have this problem with complexity. Either I try too hard and get nothing out of it—which is most of my effort for my life—or I end up aiming for something too large and never get there.

This has been going on forever, and I don't know what to do about it. While everyone was making trees or fruit or whatever out of clay, I was recreating my reploid character Hunter Vileson. When others were doing simple perspective drawings, I was doing a view up from a manhole cover towards a New York City skyline with Godzilla blocking out part of the frame.

Last year, about now, I started trying to make something of my own YouTube Channel and thought I was putting in some real production value... editing, and adding overlays, and doing transitions... more than your usual Let's Plays. Heck, I even came up with a concept for my own series called "Let's Tell" in which I was going to Storytell the story of certain games as a new take on what a Let's Play could be... still dishing out some Walkthrough stuff with screen overlays and the like.

The result of that ended up both not having the technology to do my work quickly—I've been without a computer for about two and a half years now—and having the one friend willing to go with me on that journey stop talking to me all together. Why? I don't know... but last year has been filled with friends going missing. He was one, an RP friend was another, and a friend who'd moved far north was a third.

I also had someone start hating me this year, and while that wasn't a new experience, it's a totally rare experience... and—unlike other times—I still see this person regularly... and now he just jokes in front our other, mutual friends, about how much he hates me...

But I digress. I revert. Back to the topic I was on...

Adaptation 21XX is my greatest, longest, most complicated work of art... and I have nothing to show for it yet. It's mostly code, not content, and so there's nothing to show off. I'm scared of it. Scared that it's going to be another project where my goal was more lofty than I could achieve... that spending almost a year working on it has been a waste of mine and other people's time and some sort of proof that I am, indeed, just as much a screw-up as other people think.

And the worst part is, these last two things were spot-on... they were right. I *could* do the YouTube Channel, and I still want to someday. I've got all the video and audio of my two complete Let's Play experience, and a script to finish my first Let's Tell as well. And #AD21XX? It's JavaScript plus HTML plus CSS. I got this. I know I can do it...

But if I can do it, why haven't I already? I started in February/March and, if I'm being honest, I took about two total months off in there overall... but, even so, it doesn't seem complex. It's easy to wrap my head around... and it does, at least to me, truly seem above and beyond what other artist in the same medium are attempting. I really believe in this thing... why can't I be more dedicated or work faster?

And it was really this past year I began to understand there's something deeply wrong with me. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's mental. I'm not exactly lazy... it's not like I don't feel like doing anything... it's that I feel like doing the thing, but I can't always muster the *doing*. Like, it could be AHD or something, I dunno... but whatever it is is something I need help with... I just don't know how to get help.

If I scale the game back, for example, what's that amount to? It won't be as awesome or as ground-breaking... it won't have the best chance to grab people's attention. But, I mean, what if that's all in my head anyway? How big an audience even is there for a Text-Based Action/Drama RPG? Am I just full of myself?

I've made art my whole life, but artist isn't what I am... my art is story. I'm a Storyteller... and what better medium for someone who doesn't have the money to eat for a fifth of his days than something that can be made in a Text Editor? But even if I do end up getting this Alpha out so people can start giving me real feedback, what if that amounts to nothing? What if I fail at this like I've failed at the rest of my life?

As an example, my DeviantArt Account has been open for 13 years now... and, in that time, I've gotten just over 25,000 views. That's pathetic. That's paltry. Is it that my art isn't good enough to get noticed? Maybe. But I think it's that I have no idea at all how to advertise myself. I have no clue—for my art, this game, or finding a good-paying job—how to get noticed. It's beyond me. I lack that ability.

And so what if I do make something awesome, but it never gets noticed? I mean, I shared a link to #AD21XX's Facebook page all over my various pages today and did anyone Like it to follow updates? Yeah. One person. I know I reached over 100 people just on my few pages, but... just one person Liked.

I have no idea if this is just me... if my newly recognized anxiety/depression is affecting me. When the only thing I feel I can count on is my mind... and it is clearly having issues... where do I go from here? I have amounted to nothing more than hopefully being a good friend and a good person, but if that's the case... what's with three friends vanishing? What's with someone hating me? How have I managed to fail even more in my 35th year than all the others?

I want to make this game... I want to make it as art and make money... but I guess maybe I have no idea how to do that. I really may not have any idea what I'm doing... I may not be making something fun. I hope I am. I think I am. I guess we'll see...

See you in the Future, —Huntermun

P.S.: Right here... I could have been working, coding, instead of typing the above.

P.P.S.: https://www.facebook.com/Adaptation21XX

[huntermun]

Here you can see the current Pre-Alpha 0015 of Adaptation 21XX running in Safari on an iPhone 6S running iOS 10.0.1.  Overall, I am very happy and surprised by the result.  I’ll have to rethink my Menu Systems further, so I’m happy to have caught this now... considering I am in the process of moving towards another version already.  Still, this is great!  I’ve confirmed AD21XX runs on smart phones!