Smashing Blocks

So time for another update.

The second semster of classes are coming to a close on Wednesday. Today in about 2 hours is my Calculus final and tommorow will be my Programming 1 final. I found out yesterday I need a 33 on my programming final to pass the class (so I'm not too worried).

The new semester is exciting. PGR 2 (go guess what that means) supposedly takes ramps up really fast in difficulty and is considered the ultimate weed-out course. I am more then sure that I will be learning new stuff in that class along with truly being challenged. Linear Algebra is also coming up and I am extremly excited about it. I've already been studying vector operations for almost a year and the unlimited use I've found in them is getting me so excited to take a whole course on the subject.

As far as personal work goes, I haven't been sticking to my basics drilling as much as I would've liked. I got pulled back into the Seperating Axis Theorem and a deep yearning to truly understand it. This made me go back and revisit the "spider-man" demo I had created. I started a new project that would approach all my code in a new that allowed for more advanced collision detection and be easier to plug new features into. With my previous code, I implemented "managers" a little to quickly. Keeping away from the mangers for now allows me to keep testing and improving the individual elements before sorting them into a big manager that I would have to refactor every 2 minutes. Small steps. If I have learned anything, it is all about small steps.

On that note: I intend on putting a new demo up but I want to add some more functionality to it before releasing it to ze public.

The class I have been with is about to hit a splitting point. A few of us are getting left to repeat PRG1 again but this is not a "bad" thing. As a friend in my class put it, we are here to meet people but ultimately you are here for yourself. This is so true. If you need to repeat a class to get the material, you should. Who cares in the end that you are not with that starting group. In two years, you need to be qualified to get a job and that has got to be number one on your list. While I will be sad to see some of my friends go a month behind and ultimately lose connection with them, I remind myself of the greater goal of being here. On the other hand there are few guys that will be going on with me that I look forward to getting better at this craft with.

What else have I been up to? Well I've taken some time to play a few different games:

Company of Heroes - so far, freakin awesome
Bully - awesome start and mid but weak end game
Okami - awesome. just awesome.

I also recently got the Fallout series collection ( think I mentioned that already) and completely forgot how freaking hard Fallout 2 is. I really can't reccomend it to beginners since Fallout 1 holds your hand so much more on the way out the door.

On the home front, Laura and I are doing well though being apart is still difficult. We've had several talks on how to handle it and it really boils down to just having faith that we can get through this. In the end, this way will work out better for us and the family we intend to have.

Till next time people....oh ps: SEE STRANGER THEN FICTION.