What you've done today - There will be no dawn for Men

[melkathi]

I have been pondering using that story to try and learn to make a point and click adventure...

 

And if I may say so myself. The book is absolute genius. Except for that issue at the end, the issue with the beginning, and those three problematic segments in the middle

Edited July 16, 2021 by melkathi

[melkathi]

Also, @Gorth is a moderator. If you never hear of me again, I got banned for literary crimes against humanity. Goodbye cruel forum.

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

I have been pondering using that story to try and learn to make a point and click adventure...

 

And if I may say so myself. The book is absolute genius. Except for that issue at the end, the issue with the beginning, and those three problematic segments in the middle

Melk I meant to say this about 8 months ago when I realized you have published\ebooked  a book, " well done for writing and finishing a book " 

I admire anyone in any part of their life who can get this done, how long did it take you to complete ?

[BruceVC]

2 hours ago, melkathi said:

Also, @Gorth is a moderator. If you never hear of me again, I got banned for literary crimes against humanity. Goodbye cruel forum.

And we all know how draconian and sensitive the Obsidian moderators are on this forum....I actually am expecting criminal charges to be laid against you by Gothfuscious 

[melkathi]

It was the third one. Also the utter failure, as I suck at marketing. The original two were published the traditional way with a publisher, in physical form. They didn't do great, but they ended up in book stores and I made three digits in royalties, when other unknown authors pay money to even get printed.

This one, in English, on the other hand relied solely on me, and I am incapable of self promoting. The release also triggered a long bout of depression, so I gave up on it.

Next attempt will be a graphic novel. After that I will revisit this story to either do as a point and click adventure or a graphic novel.

I don't have the money to found an animation studio and turn my stories into netflix series...

 

Edit:

With me "how long" is hard to tell. My design process always infuriated my professors at university since it is completely introverted. I can sit on a sofa for months without any progress, then write 40K words in two weeks because: "OK, I worked it out."

Edited July 16, 2021 by melkathi

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, melkathi said:

It was the third one. Also the utter failure, as I suck at marketing. The original two were published the traditional way with a publisher, in physical form. They didn't do great, but they ended up in book stores and I made three digits in royalties, when other unknown authors pay money to even get printed.

This one, in English, on the other hand relied solely on me, and I am incapable of self promoting. The release also triggered a long bout of depression, so I gave up on it.

Next attempt will be a graphic novel. After that I will revisit this story to either do as a point and click adventure or a graphic novel.

I don't have the money to found an animation studio and turn my stories into netflix series...

I dont know much about the  global appetite for books but I know what I enjoy and what people like me, we do have spending power and buy books regularly, would enjoy. A graphic novel is always  a good idea but the market is dominated by many players but a point and click adventure sounds like an excellent idea

Would you intended audience  for this point and click idea be children under 14 or so ? I think their is market for that group that is relatively untouched but to honest I dont know much about children's point and click ? It can be educational as well and positioned truly as a " clever way to get children to read more " 

Its something,  once you develop the most effective implementation  model, that  can be used throughout Africa and particularly SA. It would be positioned as a tool " to encourage  children to read more " and something that would gain good support because we have about 10-15 % of children who get to grade 12 and are still unemployable 

And the reasons for this are almost the same, these unfortunate kids went to certain township and public sector schools that failed to deliver a decent education to these kids but the kids are pushed through the grades without having to pass so the pass rate looks good....its a small number of kids but its real

And the lack of reading skills is due to a lack of effective reading resources at some of the public sector schools. So you can see  how the entire idea of kids wanting to read is always an important objective in SA and we invest in products and ideas, like point and click products,  that we believe will improve the standard of our education 

[melkathi]

I met some teachers from Soweto many years ago at a learning conference and watched their presentations on the problems faced in education in townships. I will not pretend I remember anything from that presentation.

[BruceVC]

9 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I met some teachers from Soweto many years ago at a learning conference and watched their presentations on the problems faced in education in townships. I will not pretend I remember anything from that presentation.

Absolutely and we have had success stories in township schools by a proven, working model. The sustainability and effectiveness  of our township schools works when you have a good, working relationship between parents and teachers and basically the school board needs parents to support them and of course the resources, allocated yearly from government in a budget, mustn't be squandered but in this case that is not the main issue 

So your typical township school would love the idea of a point and click book as I mentioned 

 

[Amentep]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

And we all know how draconian and sensitive the Obsidian moderators are on this forum....

[Malcador]

My coworkers are really technically minded, even conversations are run with a handshake protocol.  One guy messages me with "Hi...", I wait for the question or purpose, nothing.  2 hours later "Hi....", so I say "Hey" and then he says the question. 

Weirdos.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, Malcador said:

My coworkers are really technically minded, even conversations are run with a handshake protocol.  One guy messages me with "Hi...", I wait for the question or purpose, nothing.  2 hours later "Hi....", so I say "Hey" and then he says the question. 

Weirdos.

It's the RULE!

[Malcador]

2 minutes ago, Sarex said:

It's the RULE!

[LadyCrimson]

1 wasa cracker = 5 net carbs (total carbs minus dietary fiber carbs)
broccoli/spinach mixture w/every meal = maybe 3 net carbs each meal
some kind of not-low-fat beef = 0 net carbs
2-3 tablespoons plain 5% fat greek yogurt (heaped on that cracker) = maybe avg. 2 net carbs

Total net carbs: 10 +/- carbs x 2 = 20 per day

*Keto's supposed general net carb aim - 30-50.

...carbs in an average "large" choc. chip cookie - 8.5-9
...does this mean I can have a cookie? 

 

*Note: I'm not currently trying to be severe Keto's, just trying some things out, we'll see

[WDeranged]

On 7/13/2021 at 8:10 AM, Azdeus said:

What happened?

A radiator clip had corroded and I lost all my coolant somewhere along the M6 and cooked the engine.  It's not the first disaster with my old car (Desmond) but it looks like the last.

To be honest this last few months has been shot through with bad times.  I'm like some kind of disastrous Swiss cheese.  After a weekend of particularly heavy drinking a hangover turned into a minor medical emergency.  Turns out I passed a kidney stone and have six more lurking inside me 

[Bartimaeus]

10 hours ago, Malcador said:

My coworkers are really technically minded, even conversations are run with a handshake protocol.  One guy messages me with "Hi...", I wait for the question or purpose, nothing.  2 hours later "Hi....", so I say "Hey" and then he says the question. 

Weirdos.

I've made it a rule to never directly reply to "hey"s or "are you there"s. If they do it multiple times, what I'll do is see it, not reply and instead wait a bit, and then find something else to message them about that completely ignores it. Lead by example, maybe they'll learn someday. Yes, I am unfortunately very passive aggressive about people who somehow have gone through decades of life without ever learning how to communicate in an even remotely effective manner. Ironically, they're usually the extroverted type, so you'd think they would know better...and sometimes I wonder if that actually has something to do with it.

[BruceVC]

12 hours ago, Malcador said:

My coworkers are really technically minded, even conversations are run with a handshake protocol.  One guy messages me with "Hi...", I wait for the question or purpose, nothing.  2 hours later "Hi....", so I say "Hey" and then he says the question. 

Weirdos.

I am glad you have observed the interesting and mundane ways that human beings interact, I find it fascinating

In SA we have a normal way of greeting people where everyone generally says " Morning\Hi.. how are you? " 

But they dont actually want to know " how are you " .....its just part of  the greeting  etiquette. Because  often its complete strangers you greet, meaning its people who you recognize their faces but dont know anything about them. I generally work in large companies and their would be thousands of people you dont know personally but you walk past them or get in the same lift

So what I use to do occasionally , outside the pandemic, is when someone who  automatically responded with a " how are you " I would pretend it was a legitimate question and start telling them all my problems but exaggerate things in a negative way as if they were a real friend 

And it really is hilarious when you see how complete strangers responded because they asked me a question but they didnt want to know about my "problems " . And I use to always start the joke by saying " Im so glad you asking because things are terrible " 

[Azdeus]

5 hours ago, WDeranged said:

A radiator clip had corroded and I lost all my coolant somewhere along the M6 and cooked the engine.  It's not the first disaster with my old car (Desmond) but it looks like the last.

To be honest this last few months has been shot through with bad times.  I'm like some kind of disastrous Swiss cheese.  After a weekend of particularly heavy drinking a hangover turned into a minor medical emergency.  Turns out I passed a kidney stone and have six more lurking inside me 

Bloody hell, my sympathies, kidney stones are something I'm massively worried about.

Oof, yeah, that sucks, I've had that happen with my car aswell, I had a headgasket leak but didn't notice it until I had stopped at a supermarket on my way home from work. I went in and bought a couple of things, and when I came out to start the engine it turned over for a quarter second or something and just jammed. Hydrolock. Popped the hood, the expansion tank was completely empty. I refilled it and went home and had my father come by the next day to help check, the tank was empty again... I cooked the engine and warped the engine head, so I had to get it milled, thankfully the engine block is cast iron so it had given basically zero ****s.

 

[WDeranged]

56 minutes ago, Azdeus said:

Bloody hell, my sympathies, kidney stones are something I'm massively worried about.

Oof, yeah, that sucks, I've had that happen with my car aswell, I had a headgasket leak but didn't notice it until I had stopped at a supermarket on my way home from work. I went in and bought a couple of things, and when I came out to start the engine it turned over for a quarter second or something and just jammed. Hydrolock. Popped the hood, the expansion tank was completely empty. I refilled it and went home and had my father come by the next day to help check, the tank was empty again... I cooked the engine and warped the engine head, so I had to get it milled, thankfully the engine block is cast iron so it had given basically zero ****s.

 

 

At least the next time I have a week's worth of agony I'll know what's causing it.

Old Desmond was long overdue for a replacement but I've gotten sentimental about him.  I thought he had one last adventure in him but it wasn't to be.

[Azdeus]

14 minutes ago, WDeranged said:

 

At least the next time I have a week's worth of agony I'll know what's causing it.

Old Desmond was long overdue for a replacement but I've gotten sentimental about him.  I thought he had one last adventure in him but it wasn't to be.

I'm way too attached to my car, I don't have a name for her, but I've spent a total of atleast 4000€ on repairs.. And 4000€ on upgrades. So far, there's more to do, soo much more!

[majestic]

The apocalypse is coming and going outside, and has done so for the past week. It alternates between being awfully hot (even for summer) and torrential rainfalls that come, last for a minute or two, and then disappear again.

Should they at some point start lasting any longer we'll have the same issues that parts of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have right now.

 

[Azdeus]

This monday is off to a wonderfully monday start, and I'm butting heads with other people who tell me the usual obvious stuff so that it seems they are doing work. -.-

[LadyCrimson]

I guess they really wanted you to watch their movie. I wonder how "successful" they consider it to have been vs.typical meter of box office.

Also, I think local grocery prices seem to be going up again. Not that I buy "super economy" style, mind. But fresh produce, (any) meat/fish etc.  Doesn't help I can't buy/eat lots o' rice, potatoes, pasta, ofc. Another 15 years monthly grocery (food+other household grocery) is probably gonna be outta sight.  

[Gorth]

On 7/17/2021 at 2:43 PM, BruceVC said:

In SA we have a normal way of greeting people where everyone generally says " Morning\Hi.. how are you? " 

But they dont actually want to know " how are you " .....its just part of  the greeting  etiquette. Because  often its complete strangers you greet, meaning its people who you recognize their faces but dont know anything about them. I generally work in large companies and their would be thousands of people you dont know personally but you walk past them or get in the same lift

That reminds me of my first ever interview with a recruiting agent in London (almost 20 years ago), when I started looking for work outside Denmark

 

I get this phone call showing a lot of weird digits on the called id, so I know it's from abroad. Pick up the phone and the guy on the other end introduces himself and... asks my how are you doing? Luckily I somehow managed to suppress my first, immediate impulse (telling him it's none of his ****ing business, we don't really know each other *that* well!!!) and stay polite. I did think he was getting all personal and intimate here, without me knowing him at all, like intruding on my privacy sphere without an invite here. Yes, Danes can be like that sometimes if not exposed to the outside world

[BruceVC]

5 hours ago, Gorth said:

That reminds me of my first ever interview with a recruiting agent in London (almost 20 years ago), when I started looking for work outside Denmark

 

I get this phone call showing a lot of weird digits on the called id, so I know it's from abroad. Pick up the phone and the guy on the other end introduces himself and... asks my how are you doing? Luckily I somehow managed to suppress my first, immediate impulse (telling him it's none of his ****ing business, we don't really know each other *that* well!!!) and stay polite. I did think he was getting all personal and intimate here, without me knowing him at all, like intruding on my privacy sphere without an invite here. Yes, Danes can be like that sometimes if not exposed to the outside world

 Great story and its an example of my point about the English nature of saying " how are you " 

But I always assumed it was more a South African cultural thing. Because I have noticed in London, Im not sure of the broader UK,  specifically people  dont do it and in fact you dont even greet people on the streets of London  generally unless you personally know them

But your initial response to that phone call is appropriate in the sense a complete stranger shouldnt be asking you those things because they dont know you ..I have noticed this is in  the EU generally 

So now imagine how funny  my real SA example  is when people who are strangers say to me " how are you  " and I start offloading my exaggerated problems in the line of the canteen .....and they always use to listen because they are force to because they did ask me. But I notice how surprised and generally uncomfortable they become from their facial expressions ....but they still keep quite and listen 

Anyway I only do it for about 1 minute before telling them I am a joking or I just stop....Im not a malicious person Gorthfuscious 

[Azdeus]

8 hours ago, Gorth said:

That reminds me of my first ever interview with a recruiting agent in London (almost 20 years ago), when I started looking for work outside Denmark

 

I get this phone call showing a lot of weird digits on the called id, so I know it's from abroad. Pick up the phone and the guy on the other end introduces himself and... asks my how are you doing? Luckily I somehow managed to suppress my first, immediate impulse (telling him it's none of his ****ing business, we don't really know each other *that* well!!!) and stay polite. I did think he was getting all personal and intimate here, without me knowing him at all, like intruding on my privacy sphere without an invite here. Yes, Danes can be like that sometimes if not exposed to the outside world

I just punish people that are foolish enough to ask how I feel. I tell them exactly how I'm doing, though they keep asking me all the time anyway