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
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