25 juli 2012

Ramblings in London

woah! What happend to blogger? I was just about to drop by and mention the changes I've been through, but I see everything in life goes on and states change whether I notice or not. I'm in London. In fact, I've been here since September last year. I thought I had blogged about it but I've been so busy, and so oblivious. I've been studying my masters in games programming, and having lots of fun exploring London and making new friends. I think this year has brought a radical change to my life - and to my personality. I'm not going to make an extensive post about how it started and talk though some kind of timeline of this year - but I do want to mention a couple of things. London is great. It's really awesome. Or it could be that I view life in a totally different way, that life seems great in London now. Anyway, even I have noticed how quickly I've changed into someone else, someone better I think, and I've almost forgotten how I was before that anymore. That's fine for now, because I'm trying to focus on my future and where this will lead me. I'm almost done with my studies and have started looking for work. What I know? pfff... lots of stuff, things to be improved, things to be forgotten, things to be highlighted and focussed on. I'm more confident in C++ now, and I like OpenGL and am trying to get my head around GLSL 3. I did some physics coding in Box2D, but I think I'm going to stick with graphics coding for a while longer. Why? Because you use real maths in graphics engine, while in physics engines "you don't have to". It's been difficult to me to simplify algorithms and take shortcuts because I don't have to use the real stuff. I know I know, that's what games development is about. I'm not sure that's what I'm about when I want to push my limits. I still love game dev and I do gameplay code and AI and physics that's real withing the virtual worlds I create though! Enough ramblings! There's just so much going on in my head right now, and after so many formal letters written, and the switch to English entirely due to my location, I've forgotten a bit how I used to write as myself, and how I used to write about my life. Maybe it will come in a post or two. Or maybe it's now something of the past? Maybe I'm so different now I can't write a personal blog anymore...

16 aug. 2011

A new chapter in life

So. It's been a while since I posted anything and I've been through a lot of stuff that's just... *sigh* I don't know where to begin.
you know what? When it comes to my work with Army of One, check out my other blog. Although I haven't posted there since June or something, that's what the world knows about the project so far. This blog is about my personal life as well, and I'd like to write about things non-related to school this time.

So. During the year, my siblings started moving to Kuwait, one at a time. Then June came, and summer vacation began. I, my parents and my little sister packed as many things as possible and shipped them to Kuwait. The plan this time was to emigrate back to where we came from, and so we too left our home and took the plane to this odd country that we've missed for so long.

To me, this is the first time I'll really live in Kuwait. I left it when I was 4 years old, so I don't really have any memories from anything besides from mom's sister and her daughters, my cousins, and that thanks to all the pics we had saved throughout the years.

It's very different to live here compared to my life in Sweden. It's an odd place, and they have odd habits that sometimes make me just speechless. And those who just wouldn't follow vital rules like, you can't park in the road!! Or those probably unemloyed guys who drive around and look into every car they pass by, just to get a glimpse at - and hopefully get what? A smile from?? - any girl that would be sitting inside. What the hell?! In Sweden, I'm used to having my own privacy even inside the car, so this is something very new and strange to me, it should be humiliating for them, but I guess no one cares anymore.

On the other hand, we have things like late shopping which could go on til 11 o'clock - and now during Ramathan, malls stay open til 1 o'clock! It's amazing, you fast, eat, then why not go shopping at 8 or 9 o'clock? It's safe, all the families are out, in malls and on the beach, and in the parks... I usually never stay out late at night in Sweden, but here I constantly do that and it's no big deal. Is it because of the family atmosphere or maybe because I might feel more at ease/at home here?


So. The plan is to aim for a new chapter in our lives and "restart" living in Kuwait. So many things have changed, my parents say, yet it's the Kuwait they've always known. And now it's my turn to get to know it, and adapt my life to it. "How?" I've asked myself many times. I don't know, I really don't know, some things are just too crazy, but that could be said about life in Sweden as well. So what I'll do, is to follow the flow for a while, I'll give this life a proper chance, and see the outcome.

After the vacation I have several plans, one actually involves getting back to Europe - this time in London, so I might have to wait with the living-in-Kuwait issue. But so far, nothing's decided, it's Ramathan as said, and I'm enjoying the vacation here, leaving all decisions til after this holy month. For now, I'm all excited about getting started with Android app (game) dev, playing video games and making up for almost a year of no "quality time" with my family.

Ramathan Kareem

23 feb. 2011

A pleasant day

And just like that, I woke up feeling pleased by what I've accomplished and how far I've come in my life.
Yesterday my teacher told me to relax, I'm studying too much - lol yes, that's what teachers say to their students nowadays - and that I should take a day off to do something else. And there are two main things I've always loved doing: drawing and playing the piano. I've tried taking up my drawing, but I've realized that the piano, actually keyboard, is more giving and brings me peace, so I turned around to give it yet another chance in my grey life. Since I just watched the final episode of Kimi ni Todoke, a not so great anime, I simply Youtube'd a tutorial of its opening theme, one of the worse openings I've heard. Yet I stood infront of my keyboard and aped the female hands as they went right and left over a beautifully sounding piano.

Now I can play the entire opening with achords etc, yet still with a lot of flaws, but it's ok, with a little more practise I should be enjoying the song with no major problems.

This is pure joy to me. I picked a song I didn't even like, but the thrill in deconstructing it into notes, simple key presses, and then create amazing flows that follows a rhythm, a mood, and kind of create a predictable storyline, is never-ending. It's... pleasing. I have no words that describe the harmony I feel in deconstructing songs and reconstructing them again - in a way that I feel attached to! Like it was my turn to tell that story. It's amazing. I guess this is why I love being a programmer as well, I love construction.
I surely should play more piano.

In a few days I plan to learn another song, most probably it's going to be an anime song. Ages ago I began learning the popular Vampire Knights opening, but it's really advanced, so I wonder if I should postpone it and take something light and easy to remember. Oh well, I'll get back to this when time comes.


As for Army of One, the game project I'm currently developing - did I say that I'm going to publish it in the game portal Aluna Games? :D Head over to the Army of One Forums in Aluna Games if you haven't been there yet =)

The development is going well, today I managed to boost the speed of the "wurm" to over 400km/h, just crazy stuff! The slip ratio is much better too, it doesn't slide like before so more control to the people!
The vehicle flips are inevitable (especially when you fly off a cliff with 400km/h), but it's not a problem but a feature, as I'm dealing with fairly realistic physics here, and here's an example of how to use it - with atleast 150km/h, drive into a tunnel and up on it's walls, keep accelerating and you've made a flip with the entire vehicle! =) It already looks nice, and with sound effects it should be sweeeet!

Yeah... that's me enjoying work. I consider writing about the newly released Marvel vs Capcom 3, which I ofcourse had to buy already, as I got in love with it at a game expo in November. My 10 year old sister is beating the pride out of me, so I need to be better already! Until then - take care!

/Kweiko

2 feb. 2011

Having a cool dad

Yesterday
Me: *coming in to the living room* hey dad, how about playing video games a little?
Dad: ehh... ok, put on that fighting game that your sister was playing earlier...
Me: which one, this? This? Then which console, PS3? 360? How did the joystick look like when she played? You don't know..? Ok do you want to try out BlazBlue?
Dad: No I wan't men and women fighting.
Me: but these are men and women.
Dad: ...
Me: ok, let's try on Tekken (5) on PS2. *change console and start game, choose beginner mode and Lei Wulong, give the joystick to dad*
Dad: *BUTTON SMASH BUTTON SMASH BUTTON SMASH* I won!! Round 2! *BUTTON SMASH BUTTON SMASH BUTTON SMASH* I won again!!

Later on during night
Me: *entering the living, seeing my dad button smashing again* how's it going? :D
Dad: ooh that girl (Capoeira Christie) is really strong, I have to watch out! *beats her* like that! Now she learns to stop moving like a snake!
Mom: You're hitting those buttons too hard, I can't even sleep! :(
Dad: Ok I'll shut it down, just because I love you!

Today
Mom: I'm off to the doctor, goodbye!
Dad: Ok, goodbye! *waits for mom to exit and close the door* Yes!! Kweiko, put on that game while I run to the toilet!

14 jan. 2011

Inspiration chock

Lately, I've been spammed by artists for a concept artist position I announced a couple of days ago. Which is lovely, because I've been looking for one for a month and time is slipping away - almost time for next deadline!

Luckily I found a couple of great artists to help me out, and going from no concept artist to four concept artists is a big win, even though not all of them are professional or are working for free. With so little time to next deadline, I need all boost I can get. Question is how fast they can work? Remains to see!

All this talk about concept art made me hungry for drawing again - and inspired! I've been looking through maybe 40 different art galleries on fantasy and sci-fi and animanga drawings, some where astonishing, others where breathtaking. And there were those that weren't much of a hype. Nevertheless, they all inspired me to start sketching again, as I had put down the pen for quite some time now. Not that I didn't want to sketch, but partly because there where no time, and partly because I had this awful period of no inspiration whatsoever. As soon as I tried to draw a line, that line was horrible and had nothing at all to do with what I tried to accomplish.

Maybe something happend during my birthday - right, I turned 22 on Jan 8th *yay* and am leaving more of those freaky teenager hormons behind like never before! Seriously -.-' No big party or a birthday cake, just me, my sister and my friend spending the night i turned 22 with watching a cozy movie. Or that was the plan. The movie, Twilight Eclipse, caused both my friend and my sister to scream and shout and take sides like it was a football game, and there we sat rifftraxing the whole thing. Anyway, that could have had some impact on my inspiration!

And since my brother forgot about my online project and didn't pay for the webhotel where all my work is, the website is down at the moment. Ofcourse I've fixed this, but it will take a day for it to get reactivated. And that gave me time to start sketching! ^^ (turning bad energy into positive energy, check!)
Typically, I've started with manga again, and that's the way I want it. What I was surprised by, was that I tried drawing a masculine character, with some success!! Not even when I used to draw, did I manage to draw a masculine face, so I really feel the inspiration flushing my brain *wooh!*

With three, rough character sketches, I feel I've started to remember what I learnt during a character design course I took last year. And all those books and websites I've visited, and the tutorials I've followed... My hand has begun to have some connection with the pencil I'm holding (a BIC pen with 0.07mm lead, my favorite weapon). Honestly, I feel in heaven.

This year, 2011, is a promising year. Leaving 2010 has been such a relief, and now, not only do I think I'm ready for a job, but also that I think I'm more satisfied with myself, I code but don't have to stop drawing because of that. And I'm also building up my skills to become more administrative and a great leader.
Yes, I've discovered that I really enjoy managing projects, to put up a stable and exciting plan and to have everything planned out - I feel safe building the road before walking on it! And somewhere inbetween I also manage to act as a designer, writing my GDD, thinking properly about what's important, what to highlight, what to take on later, where in the process I am and what next step should be. It's a funny thing that if anyone had asked me about these things six months ago, I'd have looked totally dumb and wouldn't have anything to say about it. As a matter of fact - been there, done that. I wonder what my teacher thinks of my progress now... :P

More roles to take on? Well I finally bought a system camera, a Nikon, and shocked my parents with the total price - Happy new year mom and dad! - and now I'm so pleased by the control I have over the settings! I can finally take some experimental photos and have fun with capturing moments. And take awesome pictures ofcourse!
What more to come? I've been thinking of an iPhone lately... I'm not much of a cell phone person, I use whatever works to call with, but with an iPhone, I can try out that "Game Dev Story" game I've been longing for to try out, and have more games than Snake 2 and Sudoku to enjoy during buss drives. Hmmmm....

31 dec. 2010

Reviewing 2010

Finally. Another year.
So much have happend and I've been thrown on and off stuff to deal with. This year has really been a tough year, really torned me out, and I won't miss it.
Despite that, I remember my post January 1st 2010. It was chaotic and I was in panic. I was afraid not to be good enough for anything, I didn't know what to do after the graduation, and I had communication issues with my family haha. Let's review that.

First, the graduation, I nearly didn't get to graduate! I and my partner had problems with finding a subject and it was impossible to write about stuff as we had so much to do with another course and we weren't good at communicating with each other. Then I was on my own the last month, and failing would have a huge negative impact on me, I panicked. Three weeks before the final deadline, I talk to my tutor and I notice he's given up on me, although not completely, he knows I'm a hard worker, but with three weeks and almost nothing done... But I tried. I sat day in and day out and researched, read, wrote, organized... I slept at 5 o'clock and woke up by 7 or 8. Tough times, but I managed to write a thesis - and I'm proud to say I got a B (in Sweden we don't have B+ or B- etc) - two points from full points because obviously I didn't meet the previews deadlines. Oh well, it turned out really great, thank God.

Even the other course, my project work with 5 others, was a mere catastrophy, due to lack of passion and skills. I hard a hell of a hard time managing the development the last two months, and as the term ended I was so tired I could cry. But I also managed to get a B on it. Hard work pays.

As for the rest of my list from last year's promises blog post:
¤ MORE PROGRAMMING -> Check!! I feel confident enough to work with other, and to work independently. As a project manager I've a better grasp at how the process goes and how to use methods to manage that.

¤ Less stress! - well, I've been through a lot of personal things so I never fullfilled this one :( But thinking about it, I do think that I've more peace in my mind now as I've... well, leveled up in some way! I just hope next years don't bring as bad news as this year did.

¤ More drawing - yah! Although not at the moment, but I've taken a character design course which taught me LOTS of tips and to draw bodies.

¤ Organize time better - forget about that. Don't even bother to discuss is. Just.. don't.

¤ Play more games - Check! A bit better now as I've graduated. Although I'm still not an avid gamer (do I need to be one to become a highly skilled programmer/game developer?), I buy plenty of games, even old PS2 titles (while cursing the stores for not sharing my money with the developers since the games are too old).

The most difficult task I thought was:
¤ Be nicer to my family - Success! Well, it's a long way to go but we really are relaxed with each other now. I think after all we've been through, like when mom hada stroke and stayed abroad for three months, I and my dad had to face each other and like... talk! I mean really talk, like there was nobody else to talk to (there wasn't). And so our conversations began to be more relaxed and he actually tells me he loves me now :P man, we really had issues before... As for the rest of my family, we become closer, but my sister who's 18 yrs old, she been behaving alienish and it feels like nobody knows her anymore. I hope 2011 will bring some nice changes on that as well.


And now, here I am, I have a bachelor's degree in computer and system sciences, I'm much better at programming and project management, I'm studying international game produciton on an advanced level by managing a game project with 4 others located in Sweden, USA and Great Britain. I've organized everything myself and am working independently.
My promises this year are to finish this project on May/June and have a nice, polished game on my portfolio. Another promise would be to build a proper prortfolio - for this I'll need to gather my old work and make it downloadable or something. Oh and... hahaha, a friend made me promise to start looking for love xD

Well, this year's challenges, although harsh, have been a huge level up for me, and I'm not afraid anymore - I'll enjoy life and step proudly into 2011.

Happy New Year, everyone!
/Kweiko

28 nov. 2010

New website

After reading a lot about wordpress here and wordpress there, I thought I might as well start promoting myself a bit more (lol better late than never) and make an account there, blogspot was awesome, but currently only WordPress has a plugin to show content from Unity (the game engine I'm currently working with). I don't think I relly need any plugin to show the content, but it would make the process much faster and easier, so I went to wordpress.com and made an account!

I took my time choosing theme and organizing everything, but then I realized - I can't install plugins! Then followed a short time of research which resulted in the facts that I'm on the wrong site! It should be wordpress.ORG not .com, and that the .com site was for blogging, just like blogger.com (but I have to admit, I like blogger more, especially the stats that show where the readers are located!) while wordpress.org is a CMS (Content Management System) that's downloaded to a server to manage your site - and this one could be used with plugins. Oh! Luckily, I allready have my own space on my brother's server, I just thought it was too demanding to manage it, I've tried. Not that I don't have the knowledge, but I have no time, although I know how to code in xhtml and css, all I want to do really is to blog about my progress in game dev and show my work.
So wordpress.org it is!

It really felt differently, now I can manage my site much easier and effectily. But I had to search for hours for a good stats-plugin that shows where readers are located. I've found one now so I'm really happy :)
It still needs more stuff to get done, more content to come and fill the site soon, and I still need to figure out how to change domain name to the one I bought two months ago, www.kweiko.com, but meanwhile here's the current link: http://kweiko.abbascenter.com

Hope you like it!
/Kweiko