Day 31 - It's over? Really?

ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ ends...

It is officially the final day of my challenge. I can't really say that I succeeded, but then I can't really say that I failed, either. Whatever I did, it was a huge improvement. Of course, now that it's over, there's only one thing left to do.. Start all over again! I have a new challenge. Starting tomorrow, I am beginning what I shall call...

GENERAL HEALTHYNESS BETTER GETTING CHALLENGE THING™

[pause for dramatic effect]

...or just WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE™ for short
So, basically, I need to lose weight, and it isn't going to happen unless I build up the proper habits. The resources are there, and I've got the motivation for it (at least for now I do), so it's now or never, basically. There is a gym (free entry for students) LITERALLY across the street from me. I can see it through the window, mocking me, challenging me. Coincidentally I walked in there for the first time today. Not for the WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE™, but for my Healthy Life Skills class, which was meeting there instead of the usual building. It is a really nice place.

Tomorrow I will go there first thing in the morning, get my height and my weight, and use that as a base to create my first goals for.

I've said it. I've written it down. Can't back down now! Nuh uh. Although, I haven't exactly posted it yet.. That backspace button looks awfully lonely..

NO! It's done. Moving on.

Go on Youtube

As you may have noticed, I removed the Youtube video from the last post. This is because, after posting said video on a Go forum, their response was a bit more like "What? You idiot he was just moving the stone to the correct location because it was placed slightly askew of the intended intersection! [list of evidence] Go play on a real board for once in your life RAWRGH!". So I took it down, posted a pseudo-apology, and tried to suppress the bad thoughts by slaughtering velociraptors with a jeep for half an hour. (warning: game contains violent themes such as velociraptor murder with off-road vehicles)

Anyways, here is your video for today. Go ball! What is go ball you ask? Really (&#@!ing confusing, that's what.

Go Comic(s)

Ever wondered what would happen if you combined lolcats and Go? THIS.
Beautiful, I know. While we're on the subject, here are some other Go themed webcomics that I recommend:

Almost Sente - Strange green anteater type things play Go. Jokes ensue. Can be very funny.

Empty Triangle - Really good art coupled with awesome humor makes this comic highly enjoyable. Although updates can sometimes be sparse, if you only check out one of these comics, make it this one.

And that's all I can really recommend. There are others out there, but I think they are terrible.

Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about this blog, and what it is, and what I'd like it to be. It's gone through a couple style changes so to speak over the course of the month. One thing I'd like to change is, think that I need to add a bit more personality to my posts. There's a balance that you have to think about when you are writing a blog about yourself that you also want others to enjoy. How much personal stuff do I include? How much do I leave out? I'm sure it is something that will just kind of develop over time, as I get more and more enveloped in the blog.

One thing that kind of makes me wonder is this Go blog by a kid my age named Solomon Choe. He has made seven posts, accrued 23 comments, and has 44 votes in his poll. I have had 31 posts, and have accrued a grand total of 1 comment (not counting comments by close friends, of course, in which case it would be more like 4) It could just be the fact that he is about 4d. A very respectable rank, and I am a lowly 11kyu on KGS (Note: KGS ranks are significantly lower than their American Go Association rank counterparts)

Regardless, I am trying to think of ways to make my blog a bit more interesting, so expect me to be trying new things.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 30 - Rengo and Tesuji

The Magic of Rengo

Today I tried a game of Rengo for the first time. For those unaware, Rengo is team Go, where two players (four total) take turns placing the stones for each side. It was nerve wracking to say the least. I learned that a magical thing happens when I play Rengo. Suddenly, and without warning, my reading skills drop about 15 ranks. I missed the opportunity to capture a large group of stones that were in atari, and then later, when me and my team member successfully "killed" an even larger group of stones, I missed a group of our OWN stones that were in atari, allowing the other team to save their once dead group, and ending the game once and for all. I felt pretty bad throughout, but once it was over it eventually sank in that it was just for fun and nobody was really annoyed at me. Maybe I will try it again someday. For now I'll stick to normal Go.

Tesuji Arrives

The 4th book I ordered from Kiseido arrived today. Tesuji, by James Davies. It is a problem book, but more oriented towards teaching the concepts of the problems rather then compiling a large list of them, just like the other book I ordered from Kiseido, Life and Death, which is also by James Davies. I did not have much time to read it, so a more in depth appraisal will have to wait until tomorrow.

Go on Youtube

Sorry, I removed today's video. I guess I jumped the gun a little and assumed too much in my accusation of cheating. Welp, mistakes happen, and we can only move on and hope not to be as stupid in the future.

The Blog Bug

Posting on my blog every night has been incredibly enjoyable. Now my girlfriend, whom I will refer to as Nusumenai, who has been watching me write every post from the very start has been bitten by the bug and started her own. If you enjoy j-pop, anime, video games, or are at all interested by learning the Japanese language, then check it out. She already said in her first post that she will make a new post every night. (I will make sure she sticks to this promise. Muahaha.) Check it out here.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 29 - Too Early For Nostalgia

Day 29 already? The month seemed to glide by. It's not long before the ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ comes to an end. I didn't really meet my goals exactly, or stick to the intense daily regime that I had hoped for, but, I feel I learned a lot regardless, but why am I talking about this now? I guess I'm just feeling a little saddened, like I'm saying goodbye to a good friend. We'll save good-byes for later. For now let's just enjoy the rest of the challenge to the best of my abilities.

Still Waiting On Kiseido...

If you've read my previous posts, then you have heard of the problems I have been having with the go books I ordered from Kiseido.com. If not, a quick recap: I ordered 4 books from Kiseido on the 1st of this month. After about a week or so, I recieved 3 books. 2 were books that I ordered, and the 3rd book was mistakenly sent to me. And what about the other 2 I ordered? 1 would not be shipped until February due to stock shortages, which is completely understandable, the 2nd just wasn't there at all. I sent them an e-mail, and received a very quick reply that basically said they would send me the correct books along with a return envelope to send back the wrong one.

So I wait until the 24th when the package finally arrives. What I find inside is not the 2 books that I was missing, but the 2 books that I already have! I rechecked my e-mail to see if I was clear in what books I needed. (I was very clear) I sent them an e-mail immediately. Now it has been 5 days and no reply, whereas the reply to the first e-mail took only a single day. So, I wait, double copies of half the books I ordered on my desk. Tomorrow I will call them directly.

Go and Youtube

If you don't know what Youtube is, then, hi! Welcome to the internet, I hope you like your stay! Somewhat elitist humor aside: I browsed the beast that is Youtube today. This is something I do when I couldn't possibly have ANYTHING else to do. (Yeah, right.) I decided to see if i could find any decent Go videos. I found a handful that were interesting in some way or another, that I haven't seen posted anywhere else yet. The videos range from "cool", to "holy crap did that really happen?". Yes even the game of Go has it's "Youtube moments". (That is a terrible phrase I apologize.) To keep this post short I will only share one for now, but I will continue to show another one of my discoveries in every post for awhile.

To start us off, here is a video I would put in the "cool" category. Two old men playing Go in the park. I don't know what it is exactly about this video that makes me smile. Perhaps it's the extremely relaxed nature of the game. How the man on the right is constantly digging through and rattling his stones, or how the two men have removed their shoes before stepping onto the mat.



The Answers

Here are the answers to yesterdays problems:


Here I believe the answer is 'a'. To properly use a wall of outside influence like this, one must find his opponent's thin spots, and invade. The wall then becomes the perfect aid for the ensuing fight. At least, this is what I got from the chapter of Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go about using outward influence correctly. If anyone out there knows any better, please PLEASE speak up.


This is a slightly easier problem. First one must connect with 1, or else white will capture the S6 group by playing in the same spot, thus gaining 2 eyes. 2 and 3 are miai.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 28 - Improvement?

Problem with Guo Juan's Audio Lessons (and impressions)

Today I was unable to purchase KGS Plus, since my phone bill for the moment has lessened my budget significantly. What I did do was check out one the free audio lectures from Guo Juan's Go School. (note: only a small portion of Guo's audio lectures are free, the rest costing about $1.50 USD each to view for a month, for more details see this post.) I had a small amount of difficulty getting it to work, and found a problem that I felt I should warn people about: Some anti-virus software prevents the java client needed to play the lectures from starting. The simple solution is to just turn off your anti-virus for the duration of your listen. So, if you've tried listening to the free lectures only to be turned away by a blank screen, try again, but this time be sure to turn off your anti-virus!

Once I did get it to work, starting up the simple in browser java application yielded a very nice surprise! Expecting a simple audio player where you just sit back and listen, I was confronted with a go board looking exactly like the board from the KGS client, and as the commentary rolled, the board updated to follow the lecture. This makes the $1.50 price tag even more of a nice deal.

As for the lecture itself, I viewed this review of a professional game between OuYang ShaoYou and Csaba Mero. Guo Juan's commentary was very easy to understand and incredibly informative. This is actually the first time I've ever experienced this kind of a review of a professional game, so it was an extra treat for me. The game took on a whole new light, and it became very exciting to see the outcome.

Improvement

As for me, I feel that my previous anxieties about the opening and about my skill in general have begun to dissipate a little. I tried the advice from two posts ago again, taking my time in the opening, and found myself asking (and answering) vital questions about where to play next. In the single game I played today (Mondays are a busy time for me) I felt that my opening was a vast improvement from the previous games I have had.

On top of that, I was able to use some of the advice from Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go (by Toshiro Kageyama, 7d) in order to successfully use my outward influence to attack one of white's stones and secure a large amount of territory.


Where should black play in order to best utilize his outward influence on the top side?
Answer will be posted tomorrow.

ON TOP of that, I was able to (almost) successfully kill an invading group of white stones. I played it perfectly up to the final moments, and then botched it up in a totally thoughtless move.
I didn't feel too bad about it, though, because the fight was extremely exciting, and the resulting life and death problem I think was very interesting:


White just played the marked stone. Where should black play next?
Answer will be posted tomorrow.

I actually took the time to advertise this blog a little bit on GoDiscussions.com, so maybe somebody will actually try to answer these.

Tomorrow I intend to try more lectures from Guo Juan's Go School, and further my study of Life and Death problems.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 27 - Study

Dilemma

Today I tested out the advice from yesterday, spending extra time thinking about my first 50 moves. The main thing this accomplished was to show me how little I really know about openings. Many times I was left with very little ideas as to where I should play. I know where I could play but I have no idea of which constitutes a better choice or what the outcomes might be.

Take this diagram from one of my games today, for instance:



Should white play A? Or maybe B? C? D? E?F? Is the approach at B too close? Too high? These are the questions that I can never seem to answer by myself. Here is a diagram from later in the game when I reached another dilemma:


I've messed up greatly in letting black construct a large moyo in the top side and middle of the board with M11, P11, and P14. Now I am stuck with the question of how to invade? My mind doesn't even know where to begin. I played the game to the end, even when things looked bleak. I ended up making a lucky capture at a weak spot in one of black's walls and managed to at least close the lead a little but, giving black a victory of 7.5 moku.

I submitted the sgf file to The Go Teaching Ladder, a free to use service that allows you to submit sgf files which will then be reviewed by higher level players and returned to you. That should be back in about a week.

Study, Study, Study

Any good art takes time and dedication. That is why I have decided to take a further step in my advancement as a Go player. I spent the last few hours scoping out potential sources for Go lessons/lectures, and while the choice at the moment for me is fairly obvious, I have compiled a few here to share with you.

First up, the most affordable of the three, is Guo Juan's Go School. Guo Juan is ranked 5p (professional). For 1 euro (about $1.50) you are able to listen to one lecture of your choice (by Guo Juan herself or some other various players) as many times as you want for one month. This is affordable with the exception being that in order to experience a larger handful of lectures, the price can add up. This option I might consider as an extra supplement.

Secondly comes Cristian Pop's Internet Go School. Cristian Pop is ranked 7d. For 30 euro, or roughly $40, you can buy a single 2 hour lesson with Cristian himself. For 35 euro, or about $50, you can attend one month of group lessons (one per week), with similarly ranked group members, and homework. Downsides to this include high price and having to cater to a specific schedule.

Lastly, and my personal choice of the three, is KGS Plus. KGS Plus is a service for the Kiseido Go Server in which, for $15 per three months, you can attend weekly lectures and participate in monthly tournaments. The lectures are presented in voice and in text (through the KGS client software) by numerous highly ranked players and professionals. This is the best choice for me, as not only can you download the lectures after the actual lecture date, leaving you free to enjoy them on your own time, (Although you lack the ability to participate) but it is also the most bang for your buck.

Certainly these are not the only options available to you, and I will probably share more in a later post. Tomorrow I will purchase 3 months of KGS, and possibly 1 or 2 lectures from Guo Juan's Go School. Perhaps something on the opening, as that seems to be my current area of focus right now.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 26 - New Ideas, New Arenas

Mental Preparedness

I find that I do a lot better if I play after reading a chapter or two from The Fundamentals of Go. It gets my mind functioning in the right mode for playing. Something I have had a lot of trouble with is mentally preparing for matches. If I am not ready to put my all into the game, then I rarely get far. Repeating old habits and making the same mistakes, never learning.

I sent an e-mail to ChiyoDad(8k) awhile ago. He replied and suggested that I check out GoDiscussions.com. The (as far as I know) primary Go discussion board for English speakers. I have been lurking around reading the posts, and found one discussion about how people get into the correct mental state for Go.

One suggestion that especially stood out to me was one by somebody named Juwanji(link goes to his blog). His suggestion was that for every game you play, take your time on the first 50 moves, thinking out each stone. This hit just the right key for me for a lot of reasons. For one, I have been noticing lately the utter lack of care I put into my own openings. I just do what comes naturally and never put much thought into it. The opening is by far the worst part of my game, yet by many is considered the most important. The other reason that this advice, I feel, can help me, is that too often I have rushed headlong into a game, messed up greatly in the opening, and then suffered because of it, thus causing me a lot of grief which in turn causes me to play even worse which at last causes me to lose interest in playing, telling myself that the timing of my mood just wasn't right. This is wrong in many different ways.

I believe trying this will help me improve immensely, as I will actually start to learn some things about the opening and hopefully even be able to prep myself better for playing.

CyberOro

I tried an interesting new Go client today, called CyberOro. Unlike KGS, most of its players are either Japanese or Korean, and as a result, is a much more challenging arena. I set my starting rank to 20 kyu, thinking that would be a suitable downgrade. I was wrong, as I quickly found myself losing greatly to 21 kyu players. I played two games, resigning both, and then, to my complete surprise, got a game invitation from a Japanese 4d! I was intimidated, to say the least, but I accepted regardless. I only had 4 handicapped stones, but I did my best, and about halfway through he said I was doing alright. He did not know English, but used CyberOro's built in chat phrase feature to give me basic messages.

Of course by the end he completely destroyed any hopes for territory I had left. that is not to say that I did not have fun or did not learn anything. It was a very fun experience and I felt honored to just be given the time by such a high rank player.

I will give CyberOro more attention in the next few days, and see how I like it.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 25 - Change-up

We all have our high points and our low point. For this blog in particular I feel we are at a low point. When updating on a daily basis, it becomes difficult to think of new things to talk about. In many instances I have failed, just posting about my progress in the ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™, using it as a failsafe so I always have SOMETHING to write down. So what happens after? Do I continue to post every single day, or do I tone it down to once or twice a week, using the extra time to think of good material?

I have a two main goals with this blog:
1) Use it as a progress tracker and motivator for projects and aspirations.
2) Make it interesting for readers to the point that they want to come back.

Despite the poor posts in between the short stretches of good posts. I would like to post everyday, and I must, for the duration of the month. So here is my plan. I will focus entirely on Go for the next 6 days. Since Go players are, I believe, my only viable audience, this will create some material to keep people here. Secondly, Go is something that, to truly improve at, one must put a great great deal of effort in and form strict routines, constantly covering new material and reviewing old.

So for the next six days I will not worry about my game at all. When I say don't worry I mean I won't make it a priority. Maybe something to do if I have done my Go study and am feeling up to it.

From tomorrow on I will only focus on what is interesting to write about.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 24 - Rawr

Yesterday, I finally received a package from Kiseido. Eager to learn about openings I ripped open the package. The book inside was.. not a book but two books. The two books I already have!

I now have two copies each of Life and Death, and The Fundamentals of Go. I sent them another e-mail to which they have not replied yet. Hay, maybe they'll feel sorry and let me keep the books, then I could do something cool with them.. contest anyone? That will get me some kind of audience for sure.

Regardless, I studied a chapter of The Fundamentals of Go today. It is a very interesting book, and the lessons in it are invaluable. It really is easy to forget/skip over the fundamentals.I highly recommend this book to anybody past the early beginner stage.

Really not much else to say for today. Sorry I haven't been keeping up the pace lately. I promise tomorrow will be different.

Day 23 - Quick

No time to really write a post because it's late and I have class in the morning and I'm trying to get this dumb village girl sketch to work!

A quick summary of my day:

Went on KGS to see my rank changed to 11 kyu overnight! It didn't feel nearly as earned, but I guess it does have some meaning to it. We'll see how long I can keep it. Not for long probably since I lost both the games I played today by resignation. I just couldn't get in that right mode of thought and was losing stones left and right, so I opted to stop and work on drawings instead. One might argue that the only way to learn is to lose, but I couldn't even get into the mode of thought to do that much. Perhaps I will review the games tomorrow and see what I could have done better.

Another thing I did was finish the line art for Edgar's battle sprite, as can be seen here:



I then proceeded to struggle with the sketch for the Village Girl (a.k.a. The Survivor) I wanted to get it looking good enough to post, and maybe I will, but for now I am going ahead and posting to meet my deadline.

Sorry for not having much to share today, but tomorrow will be better.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 22 - Movin' on up

Almost There...

Today I did not play as much Go as I had hoped, but what games I did play were enlightening. (I got a little caught up in my Zombie game, trying to code in an ammo system by myself having just learned the basics of the coding language in RPG Maker.)

It's amazing how seemingly tiny bits of advice I've gotten from opponents the last two days has helped my game. I have started to branch away from my own style of playing and into a new one entirely, as a whole new concept of strategy has begun to form in my head. Perhaps it was a collective gathering of ideas over time, and it was just the few bits of advice that made it all click? Either way, I've become very much enamored with the concept of giving and taking. Giving your opponent what he wants while also taking from somewhere else. Instead of playing with my usual, highly defensive tactics I have been experimenting with new ideas.

Another bit of advice that has helped me immensely is a small word I received on the proper use of playing a stone on the 4-4 (hoshi, or star) point versus the 3-4 point (komoku). At first I just used them blindly. I had a highly vague idea of their differences but other than that I had no clue. The main things I learned were that the star point is for faster movement, and the kumoku is for a slower, more territorial movement. I learned that while the kumoku can enclose the corner in just one extra move, the star point take a little more. Since then I have been playing one type of corner placement in each of my corners, and then noting their overall effect on the game thereafter. After testing out the advice just once it's effects were immediately obvious. It was like an great void opened in my mind and I saw the opening in a whole new way. More on this tomorrow.

With this and my new style of give and take, I have been a force to be reckoned with. My losses began turning into wins. I couldn't help but take a glance at my rank chart.



Small note: The reason I have progressed so quickly during the first half of November is because that was my first time playing Go after a 3 month hiatus. That quick burst in rank was me getting back up to speed. Before I took my break I was about 15kyu, so it would seem that I gained a rank during my time not playing! Not entirely sure how that happened. Maybe the 3 months of not playing broke some of my nasty habits, and in recovering I took more careful, thoughtful steps in what I learned?

Anyways, the main thing I am trying to point out is.. I am almost 11 kyu! This is the first time I think I've been excited about a rank change. I guess that makes me kind of a nerd huh. (Haha of course I am a nerd.) The next few days will be a fun and exciting challenge as I try my best to improve my game and keep my wins flowing steadily. Perhaps I can reach my month wide goal of reaching 10 kyu after all? Only time shall tell.

The Survivor

I sketched out the second main character of my game today. She has no name as of yet, so I will just call her "The Survivor" for now. She is the lone survivor after a horrible plague destroys her secluded farm town. Having a curious immunity to the virus, she alone takes care of the last dying villagers, including her own mother. It is a dark and especially chilly night when her bed stricken mother finally gives in to disease, then, as if in some horrible twist of fate, her dead mother becomes the first of the village to rise again. As her dead mother lashes out at her, jaws gnashing, The Survivor escapes to the nearby church, a fearsomely large scythe taken from the tool shed as her weapon.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 21 - Life, Death, Zombies

Today was a success. Not only did I play 4 games of Go, but I spent the rest of the day working on art for my game. I can honestly say this is one of the first times a vision of mine is coming to life. I am seeing new skills in myself that I did not see before in the creation of art and of storytelling. I guess all my years of constantly trying but just falling short of making actual progress has left some mark on me after all.

In one of my Go matches I was lucky enough to pair up with a very talkative fellow who reviewed the game with me afterwards. He gave me advice and told me why I lost, etc. We also looked at possible threats that were left untampered with and found a lot of things that we both missed. (HUGE holes in defenses that, if penetrated properly would have turned the entire game around.)

During this game, there arose an interesting life or death problem. My opponent did not see the threat, but because of my study from Life and Death by James Davies, I knew exactly what to do. After the game we went back and took a look at the area in question and I taught him a few things about eye space, and we looked at other possible outcomes if he had responded at the proper time. Here I present to you two Life & Death problems. One from my side (white to kill), and one from his side (black to live). The first one is what actually occured in game, and the second one is a hypothetical that we worked through in review.

(Left) White to Kill, (Right) Black to Live

I will post the answers tomorrow, hidden, although nobody reads the blog yet. (Sigh. I will stick my head out of the hole soon. I'd just like some actual content first.)

The Doctor, Edgar

As I said, I spent almost the rest of my day working on art for my game, and went off on a spiel about how my visions are actually coming to exist for once. Well, here is what I meant: The game I have been working on stars a doctor that stumbles his way into a full on zombie infestation. What began as an emergency call from a faraway village to deal with a sudden plague of disease, quickly ends up with the doctor stumbling headlong into a full on zombie infestation.

That's the premise, now for the art.

The game will include an RPG battle system, with emphasis on avoidance and survival. Basically, more realism over supremely powerful war machine characters that you'd typically find in your average RPG. With this comes the need for realistic character sprites. Since the battle screen is a separately designed entity from the rest of the game, this is where I will take the most artistic liberty and make the game my own.

A little background information: RPG Maker XP comes prepackaged with already made graphics. You have the option to make your own, but for my purposes I would much rather work intensely in one or two areas, and leave the rest to the prepackaged stuff. Certainly as I go along I can make more and more changes to the default graphics, but for now they are broad enough for my needs.

So, as I was saying. Realistic character sprites. In other words, a lot of work, but with a really nice outcome. What happened was I tried it, and the results were surprising! I found out today that I am capable of a lot more than I once thought.



Here you see the initial sketch, and then the (WIP) pixel art. The right pant leg needs some help but other than that, I am proud of my work. (This is not something that happens too often.) I had some help in the form of criticism from a good artist, and good friend, Blurrpi. She helped me get the proportions correct, which, surprisingly, did not take very much. (Made the legs longer.)

Today has made me excited for tomorrow, and I hope to continue headstrong in all my pursuits. If my progress of today is any indication, I will be creating great things in no time.

Until then
-BuddytheRat

Day 20 - Time

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Day 19 - RPG

Zombies Ate My Go Books

Okay, I admit. I didn't study Go today, or draw, or clean even. I got sucked into a little program called RPG Maker XP. Me and RPG Maker go far back. It was the first game creation tool I ever tried to make use of. Of course, I never actually produced anything out of it, but I did learn a lot about coding and storytelling and commitment. (i.e. if you can't really and truly commit yourself to a project then you will never finish it)

So, I recently started messing with RPG Maker XP again, and all the ideas came flooding back. I couldn't help but take a stab at it and I became quickly obsessed.

One thing that I hold to be the best and funnest part of games/game design are the cinematics. The storytelling and the feeling you get during those truly tense moments. (Okay, I think that's enough bold text for one post.) Back when I was making my first games, I would spend literally hours listening to hundreds of midi files just to find the song that fit the mood of the moment I was trying to create perfectly. (Okay so italics aren't much better but I am really passionate right now okay?)

So, I started a new project. At first I was just watching my girlfriend mess around with the program by herself. (She was the one that started trying it first, and then slowly but surely the bug bit me and I dove back in myself.) Of course, I wasn't making a real game. (Woah, bold and italicized! Can I really get away with that?) I was just going to mess around a little and make a dumb little RPG quest in like 20 minutes. Of course, I then spent the next couple hours fleshing out every last detail of the first 60 seconds of the INTRO to what I will for now just call my awesome dramatic zombie game.

The first scene of my game. A desolate town plagued by disease. One healthy person remains , a girl with a strange immunity to the virus, to take care of the remaining villagers.

I would say that, since I did spend my time in creative pursuits, I can excuse myself for todays small slip-up. As for the rest of my day, I am going to see how much more RPG Maker I can cram in before I get tired of it, and then, maybe then, (really I just did that one to be funny) I'll play Go and/or draw.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 18 - Weekend

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Day 17 - Walkin'

Walkin' towards my goals one step at a time.



This, of course, is an animation I created shortly after reading the "Walks" section of The Animator's Survival Kit. I spent a good couple hours on it.

And that's really it for today. Far too busy to do anything else. Instead of drawing I opted to clean the dorm room a bit, as it was in dire need. Slowly over the years I have come to realize that even a little bit of a messy environment absolutely KILLS any productivity that I might have had in me. So it's been a goal of mine this month to always keep a clean room/work area.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 16 - Stress

Learning To Cope

With college comes stress, and with stress comes an overwhelming desire to curl up into a ball and hide in the corner, hoping and waiting for the world to become safe again. Of course, all we can do is cope, and do better next time.

Organization has never been my strong suit, so stress tends to hit me hard during the semester as I constantly rebound from careless mistakes and forgotten assignments. At least, that was the story last semester. I coped just enough to scrape by. This semester I have to minimize stress. I have to remove the source of my problems and thus not have to stress about them in the first place. I need to stay organized, write down important dates, prioritize my concerns, and for the love of god, DO THE WORK.

Today was an especially stressful day, as I had to deal with a funds problem that I caused because I have been up to this point too inept to properly keep track of my bank account. I had to take some money out of my college savings to ameliorate the damage.

The weeks to come will hold even more stressful days, and I will do my best to cope.

Tablets Are Fun

For Christmas I bought my girlfriend a tablet from Genius. At about 50 dollars it is an amazing deal. It is both responsive and accurate, and has already proven itself to be worth well more than the 50 dollar price tag lets on. Because of this, I have begun doing sketches on the computer, so that I may post them on my blog once again. Here I have two sketches from lastnightsparty (BE AWARE: Link contains some nudity) and one.. um.. yeah.

Click to see reference image.
(BE AWARE: Reference image site contains some nudity if you venture past pages I have linked)

Note: My good friend Travis helped a little with this one.

Go Frustrations

I did successfully study go with no music for an hour. The problems in my life and death book have gotten difficult very fast. Since I am forcing myself to figure out the problems in my head, it has become blatantly obvious that my reading skills are incredibly poor. Creating all those imaginary stones in your mind and keeping them in the right place takes an incredible amount of concentration. There would have been no way I would have made it through this book with music blaring in the background. My inability to solve the problems on the 4th chapter of the book frustrated me, so I tried playing a few games. I resigned both very early in the game. My frustration bred more frustration and I plummeted.

It was not a good study session, but I am not shaken. I will take this as a lesson. When I find myself frustrated again, I will take a step back, breath in deeply, and solve the problem slowly and surely. Frustration just makes you do worse. You think less, you act overconfidently and overplay dramatically, you exaggerate the odds that are against you and forget how to act accordingly. It is a bad pit to fall into, but determination and solid foundation can get out back out of it again.

Tomorrow's study session will be better.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 15 - Animation

The book I ordered, The Animator's Survival Kit, arrived today, and I spent a large portion of my time reading it. It's already incredibly good, and I think I will learn a lot with it. One thing that the book stresses a lot (as it should) is that to be a good animator, one must first be good at drawing accurately and realistically from life. It is a piece of advice that applies not only to animating, but to drawing in general. You must learn to draw things as they are before you can begin to distort them into what you would like them to be.

There was an incredible quote in the book that ties this idea together beautifully.

Epitaph of an Unfortunate Artist:
He found a formula for drawing comic rabbits:
This formula for drawing comic rabbits paid,
so in the end he could not change the tragic habits
this forumla for drawing comic rabbits made.
-Robert Graves

I was drawn to drawing by Japanese animation and the anime style, and so a lot of my early drawing experience solely consists of learning and copying this style. It is a very simplified style, designed to be quick and easy to animate, and it is a horrible burden I have put on myself. The habits I picked up still haunt me today, and I am still unable to draw from the imagination in anything but a horribly exaggerated way, with large eyes, wild, spiky, low detail hair, and simple features. The habits were made worse through the constant sketching I did in high school, drawing face after face after face all from the imagination, basing everything off of what I felt looked good. It depresses me to see that a large majority of young artists (and even some my age) spend all their time drawing exclusively in this style. It just takes the right words from the right person to make the fact click that you can't draw ANY style (well) if you can't draw accurately from life.

Quiet Time

I tried hitting the Go books again today, but I found myself constantly distracted by the beeping of MSN windows. This has been happening often, actually. I find myself too distracted too actually concentrate on what I am reading, but have not even thought about it until today. So from now on I will set aside about an hour each day to intensive Go study. I will read the books, work through the problems, do the exercises, and CONCENTRATE. That's the most important thing. Funnily enough, The Animator's Survival Guide had a humorous but enlightening lesson about listening to music while working. It's advice was rather simple: Don't do it. I think I took a bit of this to heart, since I almost never play Go without music playing. I never really considered how much clearer my thoughts would be if I devoted my concentration solely to the game.

So the goal is set. Tomorrow and hour of Go study/playing with NO distractions whatsoever. We'll see how it goes.

No indie game of the day today. I think I will take a break from that for awhile as I try to bring some more interesting features to this blog.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day .. 14? - Whoops

Okay, okay, I messed up. Day 14 was not the productivity filled, action packed day I thought it'd be. On top of that.. I.. kind of forgot to post.

Okay here's what happened. The night before, I just could not sleep, so, instead of missing my classes I just opted to stay up the whole day. (which, by the way, never seems to pan out the way I'd like it to) I made it pretty far, 4:30 PM, but then, nausea. My guess is the nasty cafeteria food is to blame. I cannot remember eating there once without feeling some kind of nastiness later.

So that's my excuse. The tiredness and nausea teamed up on me and knocked me out cold.

The day is now Tuesday, and it is one of my fullest days as far as classes go, but, with all this extra time I will have this morning, I will do my best to fill in the horrible blank that is Monday.

For now, here is your Indie Game of the (yester)Day:

The Underside



The Underside is a game in the making by Arthur Brown, a.k.a Mr. Podunkian. Taking direct inspiration from Cave Story, The Underside will boast the same kind of incredibly fun exploration platformer gameplay. What The Underside will have that differentiates itself from Cave Story is still largely unknown. What is known is a profoundly entertaining sense of humor, (every joke in the demo received a hardy chuckle from me) and, judging by the preview videos, the level design and fun platforming elements look to rival that of Cave Story.

Download the demo here.

Day 13 - College

Spring Semester is finally starting. The break went by in the blink of an eye. Well, it was nice while it lasted. Now it will be even harder to stick to this blog. Or, maybe the more focused schedule of my week will help me calm down and concentrate? My classes aren't too difficult and my schedule is cushy. Tuesdays and Thursdays might be a problem, but I'll try to keep it interesting.

Today was not a day for the ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ unfortunately. Mostly just moving onto campus. (okay maybe some extra long napping here and there) I forgot my sketchpad at home, so no drawing tonight, either, even though I am feeling up to it again finally.

Today's game comes from Japanese indie game developer Daisuke Amaya, also known as Pixel.

Cave Story




Cave Story is a Metroid-esque exploratory platformer that could very well take the title of King of Indie Games. Unlike Knytt, Cave Story has, like the title would suggest, a story. The plot is highly enjoyable, with loveable characters that make your goals as protagonist seem all the more important. As far as indie games go, it is top of the food chain, with extreme polish and an extensive amount of gameplay, all created by a single person, and released as a free to download game. Cave Story is a testament to the spirit of the indie game developer, and is a large inspiration for me and many others. (as you will see in my next indie game showcase)

Download Here

ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™

My friend who has been watching my progress has thoughtfully pointed out that I have been falling behind with my ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™, and he's right. So, tomorrow I will make it a goal to jump back on the horse. I have no excuses anymore. It's time to push this thing into overdrive and really explore my possibilities. So, expect a lengthy post tomorrow as I both try to fill my days with productivity and improvement, but also to fill each post with interesting stuff.

Some ideas that I can think of right away are, daily Go Problems, a section on inspiring art, and maybe perhaps some in depth reviews of my Go books.

Thanks Travis for kicking my butt in the right direction.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 12 - Indie

Today was a special day. Last night I did not sleep, and today I stayed awake as long as possible. (with a short nap to help me the rest of the way) This is a little ritual I do when I need to straighten out my sleep schedule in a jiffy. It is a pain in the ass, and it destroys my productivity, but it works, and that's what is important, since spring semester is right around the corner. (next week, actually)

So instead of the usual business, I'm going to start a new daily ritual, and share some inspiration with you. A small glimpse of the indie game creation scene. Each day I will introduce a new game and give you a short descriptive paragraph to whet your appetite. Today we'll start with Swedish developer Nicklas Nygren's Knytt.

Knytt



Knytt is an exploration platformer game made by Nicklas Nygren, or Nifflas. With peaceful ambiance and beautiful landscapes, Knytt is unique in that there is very little in the way of what can kill you. The task is simple, explore the landspace and collect the pieces of the crash landed space ship that brought you there, so that you may return home to family and friends. The sound design in Knytt is a wonderful mix of ambient background noise and beautifully appropriate music, only kicking in when you reach a new "area", and then slowly fading away until there is nothing but the bubbling of a stream or the chirping of the birds to keep you company. From beginning to end, Knytt is a work of art that keeps you captivated with deserted castles, watery caves, spooky ghost filled forests, and more.

Download Here

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 11 - Bleep Bloop

Multimedia Fusion 2 arrived today, and I've already begun the learning process by beginning work on a simple little game called "Poke!" Details to come at a later date.

Another thing I did today was actually meet a promise that I made in a previous post! Astounding! I created a short little tune which will be the title screen music for the game I am creating. I have uploaded it for your listening pleasure.

Right Click Save As

It's called a chiptune, and was created using a free program called famitracker, which emulates the NES sound chip. The term "chiptunes" encompasses an entire sub-genre of music that is reminiscent of old video game music. If you are interested in hearing more I highly recommend 8bitcollective, a community website dedicated to the creation and sharing of chiptunes. All are free to download and listen to.

No Go or Drawing today, but that's just because I'm putting my focus on this for awhile.

So, until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 10 - The Smallest Step

Sometimes it's the smallest steps that are the hardest. Once you've breached that threshold, continuing just comes naturally. Just starting can be the only thing keeping you from your goals. That's why today, I cleaned my room. I setup my keyboard, ready to have at the music making, only to find that I'd lost the keyboard driver software for my computer. So I cleaned, and I cleaned, and I cleaned all day. It wasn't until one hour before this post that I finally found it. The object of my obsession! At last! .. but now I'm pooped. Well, at least now I can START. I didn't let simple obstacles turn me away. Tomorrow, expect some music.

My Go books from Kiseido came today, but they got my order wrong. The one book I was looking most forward to (because it gave me something immediately applicable to try out in my games) was replaced with something entirely different. Instead of Opening Theory Made Easy (by Otake Hideo), I got The Direction of Play (by Takeo Kajiwara). I sent them an e-mail asking for directions to sort the problem out, so we'll see how this pans out. The books I got that I DID order, however, are marvelous, and I also spent a nice deal of time reading the first couple pages of them. I can already tell that they will help me immensely in improving my skill at Go. One book that I forgot to mention in my first post about Go books is Life and Death, (by James Davies) which, just like Tesuji (by the same guy) is a Go problems book, with each chapter dealing with specific types of problems, with instruction to aid with the problems and to help you understand the concepts behind each one.

As for Drawing? Well, I didn't draw! For the first time all month, I didn't draw. But that is okay, I think. I will recover in leaps and bounds. Another step I took today, a small one, but the most important step of all. I purchased Multimedia Fusion 2(MMF2), and The Animator's Survival Kit for a hefty $160.00. The Animator's Survival Kit is a highly regarded book for anyone interested in learning to animate. (something I have wanted/needed to learn for a long long time) MMF2 is a game development program targeted towards those that can't see themselves getting into the coding aspect of game creation, while still being full featured and well capable of producing games of extreme polish and diversity. It has been a purchase I have wanted to make for a very long time, but have been unwilling to do for price and fear reasons. Why spend so much money on something that you will procrastinate into obscurity?

The ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ has given me drive. Confidence. I have begun taking my first steps. Of course, much larger, more difficult steps lie ahead of me. But without the simple act of starting, these steps would forever tower over me, impossible to surpass.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 9 - Distractions pt. 2

So much for progress! Today was, in almost direct opposition to yesterday, a failure. I completely forgot about my proposed goal of making a song until two hours until post time. Trying to hook up my keyboard so I could start working away didn't work because the cord is missing somewhere in the wild of my house. As for drawing, I did draw, but not very much. For some reason today I just didn't feel as up to it. I forced myself to eek out about five rushed, sloppy faces.

Part of it, I believe, was a lack of inspiration. Yesterday ended with me full of ideas and hopeful for the next day. Of course, waking up I lacked the energy of the previous night. Inspiration comes and goes. It's up to me to do something with it.

Of course, a much larger part of it was the multitude of distractions at my disposal. (largest of all was my allowing them to become distractions in the first place!) So, here is my interesting goal for tomorrow: To not play a single video game for the entirety of the day, and to witness the results. It will be hard, but I will turn my boredom into productivity, suddenly blossoming into energy and creativity like never before. At least, that's the plan.

Speaking of distractions. I made an interesting discovery today while playing the beast of the distractions, Ragnarok Online. An entire dungeon made of giant, flying Go boards in the sky! I couldn't believe my eyes. Well, maybe I could, since the game was made by Koreans. It was a beautiful sight, until I noticed something very, very wrong.

Click for full res image.

Can you see what is wrong with this image?

I'll leave it to you to figure out what is wrong with the screen shot above. I guess this Go heaven just wasn't to be. Well at least they tried.

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 8 - Progress

I have noticed an interesting change today. I felt myself eager to do the tasks at hand. I felt the urge to continue even though I'd met a full days quota. I found myself taking my time on each of the faces I drew, working for I would say a solid hour and a half to draw about 6 faces. All of which I am pretty impressed with. Although, I learned a harsh lesson today with regards to drawing at an angle. I had the pad flat on my desk for my last face, and the 2d image projected up at me from a skewed angle. Of course, when I finished, and finally held my pad up to the monitor to compare, it was horribly skewed like those sidewalk chalk drawings that are made to look 3 dimensional when viewed from the proper direction.

I played three games of Go, two of which devolved fairly quickly into board spanning fights. I won both by resignation. I think the life and death problems have helped immensely as I have been alot more confident in secluding and gouging out the eyes of attacking groups of stones.

Another thing I did today was play a bit of piano. I've already regained some steam just from sitting down to plunk some keys every now and then as I travel past the large piano downstairs. I think I will make a goal of trying to make a real quick song tomorrow. The kind of music I like to create is a little different from what one might expect, but, I am out of time, so you'll have to just find out tomorrow what it is!

Until then, peace out!
-BuddytheRat

Day 7 - Failure

So, I didn't quite meet my intended goals. Having stayed up extra extra late I slept away most of my day. Mostly due to a little distraction called Ragnarok Online. I drew one page of faces, which is about 5 faces. Did not even touch my keyboard, but I promise I will tomorrow. I've even got some songs that I would like to start learning. My bike, unfortunately, will have to wait until the next time I work. Being reliant on someone else for transportation certainly hampers ones ability to get out of the house.

As for Go, I got kind of lucky and my auto match game on KGS ended up against a fellow named Jatotek(12k) I've had about 4 or 5 games with him in the past, and they have all been for the most part exciting. He is always willing to have friendly chat during and after the game, and this time around, he went ahead and reviewed the game a little, which helped me with my goal for today of having the game reviewed by a stronger player.

The main reason I like KGS over any other internet Go client is the sense of community. The client has very nicely setup chat rooms, private messaging, buddy lists, and an amazing teaching and game reviewing tool build right into each game. And the community does these features a favor by being incredibly friendly and helpful. So, if this blog has in any way enticed you to pick of the game yourself, then I highly recommend the Kiseido Go Server.

But before you get too excited, you might want to consider learning how to play first. The hands down best website to get your Go feet wet is The Interactive Way To Go. This will not only teach you the basic rules, but also give you a head start with basic strategy, all in a nicely made "do-it-yourself" fashion, with java applets testing your knowledge at every step.

So, until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 6 - More Distractions

Today I did the usual business. Studied tsumego and drew a page of faces. Distractions are abundant when really I should be doing more.

Yesterday I purchased yet another way to distract myself.

So, for tomorrow, here's the plan. 3 pages of the sketchbook, play Go and have the game reviewed by a stronger player (along with the usual life & death problems), clean off the keyboard and get back into the swing of playing piano, and retrieve my bike from campus.

And how about some month wide goals? Let's make a goal of about 10kyu rank on the Kiseido Go Server. As for Drawing, no goal, just need to improve. As for some of the other tasks that I talked about in the very first post: One complete game by the end of the month. That includes music and graphics made by myself.

Camera is still on holiday, but I will think of ways to get my drawings up soon. I have an old digital camera to try out but the cord is missing and I've had some problems with the lens not working.

So, until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 5 - Wabi-sabi

What is Wabi-sabi? Very simply, Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic and world view upon which beauty stems from imperfection, incompleteness and impermanence. It has origins in Buddhism, and falls very much in tune with Buddhist philosophy. Wabi-sabi can be seen in many forms of Japanese art and architecture, and can even be witnessed in the modest simplicity of the Go board. One side is purposefully longer, thus creating a rectangle, as opposed to a perfect square. This has the added effect of causing the stones to "fight" for space on the board, much like the players are fighting for territory.

I chose "Wabi-sabi" as the title for this blog because, while we may improve ourselves and reach for higher goals, perfection will never be in our reach. Time will run short and our lives will end. The earth will degrade into an empty lifeless rock. Entropy will forever increase and even the universe itself will come to a halt. Nothing lasts forever, nothing is perfect, and it is only by acknowledging the beauty in this simple and inevitable fact, that one can be truly at peace with himself and the world around him.

As for today, no pictures of what I drew because the camera has taken a short vacation. For Go, I have not played any games today because lack of sleep means lack of concentration, but, I did study 5 tsumego problems. My Go books cannot arrive soon enough! Tomorrow I intend to retrieve my bike from my college campus (it's been abandoned there over break) and then I can start riding in the mornings.

Untill next time,
-BuddytheRat

Day 4 - Need more time.

I had intended to write up a special post today, all about the title of this blog, "Wabi-sabi", but there arose a problem. When I want to write something well, I write very slowly, far too slowly to meet my 12:00 deadline for today. This brings even further necessity to maintaining a normal sleep schedule. Tomorrow I have work at 11 AM, so that will be the jump to get me started. So, expect that special post for tomorrow. For today it will be the same.

I did a little extra today. A small step towards the quota I intend to meet for each day. For Drawing I did two pages. One of faces, and another I did a small still life image. For Go I played two games (won one, then lost my concentration and dive bombed in the second) and studied about 6 tsumego problems.

Here are a select few of the drawings:

Click to see reference image.
(BE AWARE: Reference image site contains some nudity if you venture past pages I have linked)

Until tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat

Day 3 - ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ could be more challenging...

Today proceeded just like any other day. Drew a page of faces, played a few games of Go. I think it's time I took this a step further, before I put the ONE MONTH CHALLENGE™ to shame. The next logical step to take is to get some fresh air, sunshine, and good old exercise. If I can brave the cold then I'll start making morning (yes MORNING) bike rides. If not then I can bust out the treadmill, which has the nice bonus of being able to read or watch television, but then again there's nothing quite like a peaceful ride through the neighborhood.

As for my Drawing and Go progress, I think it's time I stepped that up, as well.

For Drawing:

• 3 sketchbook pages a day. 1 page of faces, 1 small still life, and we'll leave the third page as a wild card.

For Go (These suggestions taken from this helpful guide written by David Mechner):

• Have 2 games reviewed by a stronger player each week.
• Completely solve at least 5 tsumego problems a day.
• Seriously study and incorporate into games 1 joseki per week.
• Once I get my books, 5 tesuji problems a day, and..
• Daily study of either Opening Theory Made Easy (by Otake Hideo) or Lessons in The Fundamentals of Go (by Toshiro Kageyama)

Quite a list there, but it shouldn't be too hard. I just have to pull my self away from the video games a little more and wake up a little earlier.

So! Drawings for today:

Click to see reference image.
(BE AWARE: Reference image site contains some nudity if you venture past pages I have linked)

These look a lot better when you don't have a reference image to compare them too...

Until next time,
-BuddytheRat

Day 2 - The Burden of the Night Owl

It's barely right to consider these days, when really it's only the first half of them. I've been strictly making these posts before midnight, even though my days go on well into the night, and onward yet into the morning. Yesterday for instance I finally went to sleep at around 8:00 AM. Definitely not a good habit to maintain, yet for the last 5 years it has been a prominent aspect of, well, being me.

Of course, when times call for it, I can break out of my night owl tendencies, with only a few slip-ups here and there. But, for the sake of properly date stamped posts (one for each day) I will stick to my post before 12 regime. Anything I do after 12 will be saved for the next day's post.

Today I played another game of Go. The player was a single rank above me, and it was an even match. I lost by about 60 moku. This is why I believe my rank of 13 kyu on KGS (Internet Go server) is a bit inaccurate, yet not matter how many games I seem to lose, I have not been dropping in rank at all.

I have been taking it easy on the Go front until my Go books arrive. The problems with my bank account should be settled soon and I can redo my order.

As for drawing, I filled in another page today. About 5 sketches of faces taken from a website called Last Nights Party. (BE AWARE: Link contains some nudity) This time, though, I have photos! They aren't the best quality since I had to photograph them as opposed to scanning them, but that's okay.

Here I have one drawing from yesterday and two from today:

Click to see reference image.
(BE AWARE: Reference image site contains some nudity if you venture past pages I have linked)

Yes, I added in the monocle. I mean, how could you imagine this guy without one?

This one not my best effort, but that's why I am making this blog now isn't it?

Criticism is welcome and encouraged, so if there are any artists that may stumble upon this post then have at it.

Expect more full featured updates in the future.

Until then,
-BuddytheRat

Day 1 - A Slow Start

Already I have begun digging my own grave. I started today not by drawing, playing Go, or getting on the old treadmill, but instead by purchasing three new games from steam. Of course, I did eventually get around to doing SOMETHING for the challenge. I filled in a sketchbook page with faces drawn from reference images, and played a single game of Go.

Of course, I had some nice ideas to flesh this post out. I was going to talk about the Go study material I ordered, but a problem came up with my checking account and I have not received them yet. I tried scanning in the drawings I did to add to this post but both available scanners have given me the cold shoulder. So I remain with.. not a lot to say, really.

As for the books I ordered, I picked three books from ChiyoDad's helpful buying guide. Two pure strategy and technique books, and one book of go problems for me to work on my reading skills with. They are:

• Opening Theory Made Easy (by Otake Hideo)
• Tesuji (by James Davies)
• Lessons in The Fundamentals of Go (by Toshiro Kageyama)

Hopefully they will come soon so I can really start progressing. At the moment I am sort of at a stand still.

So, untill tomorrow,
-BuddytheRat