Mun Tech: A Retrospective Look at Failed Ideas

Ah yes, one of my first rovers I've ever built. Arguably a rolling slab, this little guy didn't do much other than go forwards and backwards- and explode. One of the hardest aspects to roving on the Mun is simply the low gravity. I can only imagine how it must be on any of the inner planets or even Minmus. Regardless, roving on the Mun brings about its own set of challenges, such as gravity and gaining way too much momentum. There's a few solutions I've found, such as stabilizing your craft using Monopropellant or using the docking system rather than the rocket system to drive your rover. But really the Devs just need a dedicated roving system.

 This is one of those ideas that honestly pisses me off that it doesn't work as well as you'd like. Land based, Mun landing lights. I'm not looking for the impossible, just some high intensity lighting that will glow from a couple kilometers off. Okay, maybe that's asking a bit much.

 To be fair, this is still among the best Mun Rover I've ever made. The center of gravity was low, the craft was wide and flat- it was nearly perfect. Nearly. The biggest fault in this design came in the shape of the science probes you'll see jutting from the center mass of the rover. They were intended to decouple from the center of the craft, tossing itself into the field even as the rover moved. The problem was, they'd often get caught under the wheels as the Rover whizzed over the Mun surface at 70 meters per second. Which resulted in big explosions and nasty results.

But this craft will always have a special place in my heart, even if it can't be produced anymore. As with many of the updates, things change and in this case- building wheels on top of other wheels isn't possible anymore. Which is sad news, as the multiple wheels are what made this rover work so well on the Mun.

Kerbal Space Program: The Great Mun Race

I have no idea how this vessel even came to fly. Before the days of fairings, optimized rockets, or even atmosphere mods I was flying by the skin of my teeth with little, to no guidance. I hadn't a clue what I was doing as many of these pictures will make very apparent.

A friend of mine named Jordan turned me on to Kerbal Space Program and quickly our conquest for space pitted us against each other to achieve a landing on the Mun. A monumental task considering neither of us knew how to even exit the atmosphere back then. Jordan would be the first to exit the atmosphere but I wasn't far behind him, though I recall him giving me a few pointers. I wasn't anymore clever then your average space enthusiast and I recall not understanding how going straight up somehow didn't equal making orbit.

Though Jordan may have been the first to reach space, heck he may have been the first to reach the Mun. But I was gaining pace and already had developed a completely untested lander. I was proceeding exactly in Kerbal Space Program style- and I would come to pay for that soon enough.

It's tough when you first start off in Kerbal because you don't have a good sense of how much fuel you'll need for any particular launch. This would come to be the biggest problem I would face. Landing the craft on the Mun wasn't good enough- the winner would have to get back home too. My first attempt ended in scattered parts across the Mun.

My second, third and forth attempts didn't get me much further. While I was gaining critical knowledge which eventually led to stranding my kerbals on the surface of the Mun, I wasn't much closer to actually bringing anyone home.

While it may have taken a number of tries. Eventually, I started to figure it out and with that knowledge came even more experimentation and more advancements in deployment on the surface of the Mun. Winning the Mun race was a big deal and as time has gone on, I've really come to believe that if you can land on the Mun- you can go anywhere within Kerbal Space Program. The only thing you need is a little bit of determination and a proper amount of fuel.

I decided to write this article today to encourage every young Kerbal Space Program astronaut to not give up. The biggest challenges may lie ahead of you, but that's not to say they're not conquerable.

KSP Log: 002 Airbreaks Make Rentry Simple

Having trouble during re-entry? So did I until I found this awesome method to avoid most disastrous entries. The story goes like this, atmospheric drag was implemented and like most players I suddenly found my craft slamming into brick walls- those once easy sub orbitals that I passed off like grains of salt suddenly became heaping mounds of trouble. Nothing was safe- including my Kerbals.

As I experimented with ways to increase my drag during re-entry I got the slick idea to use Airbreak's to slow my decent. I mean, they have the word 'break' in them so I figured it couldn't be all bad. I applied multiple airbreak units to my craft and right clicked on the units to turn off their atmospheric controls. Meaning, they wouldn't work when maneuvering and would only deploy when I turned on the breaks manually.

The use of the airbreaks have worked wonderfully and when properly applied have proven the difference between life and death. While other considerings have to be made, such as proper use of parachutes and heat shields, the airbreaks form a vital first step top drop airspeed and prepare your craft for decent. Typically I won't drop into an atmosphere if I'm moving more than 3000 meters per second, but that's not to say I haven't skirted the higher limits of that limitation. In this picture to the left you'll notice I've used the deployable airbreaks on a probe. Not to toot my own horn, but this craft was a real work of art. Using the thrusters and airbreaks to slow its decent into Eve's atmosphere before jettisoning the mentioned components. Falling slower the parachutes were deployed and provided for a soft landing on Eve's surface. The heat shield was larger than necessary, but that was largely on purpose to protect the components behind the shield. I couldn't be too careful on Eve- prior landings have taught me how thick the atmosphere is, so I worried I might burn up if I wasn't careful.

 Today's final example of airbreaks were used to deorbit a small space station. You'll note in the rear there being a craft slightly larger than the closer craft. Both utilize airbreaks to slow their decent, but really none of this would have been possible if the airbreaks weren't there to slow the crafts during decent. In order to salvage both craft it meant docking in the shape of a 'T' and burning fuel de-orbit. That was the simple part, slowing the lop-sided craft was the hard part. But once again, with the aid of airbreaks it proved useful enough to slow decent, launch the parachutes and detach the craft. Both craft landed safely and most important- were recovered for a full refund on parts.

KSP Log: 001 - Bill Goes Skydiving

I've been using Facebook less and less, but I really love sharing my experiences on Kerbal Space Program. So today I decided I would start logging my adventures through space on my very own blog. Previously, I've reviewed games and my own life experiences and to an extent- I may still. But perhaps this aspect will really take off and what I have to share will really help other players in their own space faring adventures across the Kerbal System. While I'm still not entirely settled on what kind of information I'll be sharing beyond personal Kerbal stories. I would certainly like to see this become a resource for other players who'd like to master what can seemingly be the impossible. Looking back, I know I was scrambling across the web looking for any information I could find on docking, orbiting or any other (now) basic maneuvers that at the time seemed to be frustratingly difficult.

Today however, I'm going to keep it simple. You'll note from the picture above that Bill wasn't doing so good for himself as he fell through the Kerbin atmosphere (ProTip: I use a couple of mods, in this case an atmosphere mod that really adds to the visual experience.) So here's the story, I have a craft that I'm trying to return home from Minmus but the problem is, I ran out of fuel to slow my craft down and unfortunately I was coming in at a really steep slope. Which means my craft didn't have the necessary time to slow down, nor did it matter as the craft didn't have a heat shield. After a few moments of flight the entire craft started to rip itself apart before exploding into shrapnel in the sky! Luckily, I quick-saved (F5) prior to entering the atmosphere. This gave me a few tries to get it right, but no matter what I tried, I just couldn't cause enough friction to slow down my craft quickly enough. The re-entry heat can be a real pain sometimes.

So in my final try I decided all was lost. I sent out via transmission all the science data I had collected and hunkered down. The craft thrashed and flipped but held together just enough for Bill to exit the craft. Even while the craft was sheering apart from the heat, Bill was protected from the bulk of the heat. The cockpit exploded, but again Bill was saved from the worst of it. The flaming craft finally slowed, the fire reseeded and Bill was left in free fall with a pile of metal around him. There wasn't much choice, he was going to have to jump solo.

This created a bit of a situation, as Kerbals don't come stock with parachutes. But I knew there was a slim chance he may still survive. I was only a few thousand meters over the ocean at this point, so I ignited my jetpack and vectored myself against the looming ocean. It wasn't a slow decent, but I burned off enough speed to still slam hard into the ocean. To my surprise and perhaps the Kerbal Gods themselves Bill survived. The mission may have been a failure, but that's not to say everything was lost. Bill would return to fly another day- and hopefully with better equipment.

SEO, Marketing and Just a Little Fairy Dust

These past couple of weeks have been a nail biting adventure. The tension is real, the stress is palpable, and the nerves are beyond fried. Welcome to Marketing. Though really marketing doesn't seem incredibly difficult, not from a creative standpoint. Marketing is difficult from an endurance standpoint. There are plenty of articles and links to really high quality resources. Such as Moz, whom I've become incredibly friendly with their help articles.

Frankly, there's just a lot to do. There's an overwhelming number of facets and angles marketing has to be attacked from and tended to. From social to analytical it drives a very wide path down an even wider road. A little over a week ago a colleague and myself started on the journey to repair the marketing damage that had been done to Lettering on the Cheap. I've worked in Video for a few years, so I had a sense of what needed to be done from the outside looking in, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into before I looked under the hood. While LOTC is a great company and I would encourage anyone to purchase from them for any of the Vinyl Lettering or Graphic needs, from a marketing standpoint LOTC lacks a lot of optimization and because of that- it has fallen behind the pack.

This is where Tyler and I come in. A week later we are up to our neck with tweaks and changes and an avalanche of new Link Prospects we are making headway. Hopefully with this new surge of work we'll start to see real results, wish us luck!

Kerbal Space Program V1 REVIEW!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I have been to play the official Version 1.0 of KSP. Having sank over 800 hours into Kerbal since I started in .18 it's been one hell of a journey to where KSP stands today. So was the anticipation worth it? Was the hype train worth the wait? In a couple words: Hell Yeah.

Right off the bat there's some really fantastic big changes to KSP. First and foremost an proper atmospheric drag model has been implemented into the game. You'll notice it as soon as you launch your first rocket. But to really feel the effects, you only need to wander into your space plane hanger and construct a winged vessel. There are a number of things about the atmosphere that create a more compelling experience. For one, parachutes finally seem to work in a realistic way. While I was cruising around at 300m/s in an early space plane (that admittedly was more plane than space.) I found myself taking off using nothing but the forces of air pressure under my wings and slowing due to drag after launching parachutes will gliding to a stop. It's subtle, but the changes make for a brand new set of experiences to play with. Space planes in general have been boosted with various new parts including landing gear, winglets and air intakes.

But the new areo model is really only half the recipe. The new implementation of heat has been a serious game changer. Previously your craft would harmlessly catch on fire as it re-entered the atmosphere or broke supersonic speeds. But no more. Now heat- or friction has turned beautiful spires of fire into horrifying moments of nail biting experiences. As I discovered dozens of times (and I mean dozens) friction really turns on you in multiple ways. It's not simply a matter of entering the atmosphere as perhaps the classic 'movie-esque' belief goes. Friction is a relation to how your craft moves within a dense atmosphere- it's like swimming. This all relates back to the parts your craft are built from. Sometimes you can get away with making your ship more aerodynamic, so it slips through the atmosphere like a knife or other times you can use a heat shield. Each situation has its pro's and con's and even then things don't always go as planned. For instance, I've used a heat shield on a top heavy vessel, but without SAS it spun and flipped me upside down- rendering the shield useless and ultimately turned my ship into a fireball.

But it's not all big changes that make a difference. The 'advance to next day' button outside your space center is a welcomed addition, making it far easier to launch during the day. Other elements like additional parts, engines and connectors have helped bridge the gaps the previous versions fell short on.

The biggest and perhaps most profound element to KSP is mining. However, I haven't advanced far enough in the game to properly review it yet. I will gladly offer a second Review as I've advanced further in the game. However, after the first few hours in KSP, I'm a solid believer.

8/10 - Can't wait to see what they do next.

The Cirlce is Nearly Complete

It's really wonderful to see things coming together so smoothly. Enjoy it while I can I say- as harder times are sure to come. It's been a few days since I've been able to update anyone, much less work on our project due to a busy weekend with family. But, there have been some very exciting updates. Chief among them, the first draft of our revised script has been finished and the Gallimimus model is nearing texture completion. Another critical step in it's development.

When I tasked myself to work on the script as I've mentioned previously, I knew there were a number of criteria that had to be met, for production reasons and so forth. I spent about a week just letting the thoughts rumble in the back of my mind as I pressed on with other issues. To be fair, I really wasn't looking forward to writing a first draft. It was a daunting task: take everything we've written before, capture the spirit of it, remove the fluff, polish the good parts and implement as much as we could into a compact spot. It just wasn't something I was looking forward to, but having a bit of time to let the ideas marinate did me some good. Best yet, it let the good ideas stand on their own and the bad ones fade to the background. I found I could focus on what was important when all the ideas of our previous script weren't jumping out at me at once saying 'well what about me?' So finally, I gathered my courage and dived in- and it didn't take longer then about five hours. Not too shabby for a days work. Next I'll be sending the draft to my other colleagues for them to review and I'll be setting up an appointment with 'James', a previous writer I've worked with to smooth out any details. Honestly, I don't foresee the script taking too many revisions, perhaps changes in verbage or slight actions sequence changes. But nothing dramatic- which is good news.

Having such a concrete script from the get-go also means organizing the film in a much more productive way. Storyboarding is an easy one to spot, but there's other advantages. Like the complementary use of B-Roll. For those who don't know, B-Roll is typically used in advertising. In a feature film for instance there's often a 'Secondary Film Unit' which goes around and shoots all the filler stuff- like rolling landscapes, the big master shots of a city, or other details that the main shoot isn't focused on. It's a time saving move for the production. Well, Ranger Corps don't have a second unit to go out and film with, and going to locations like Hawaii to film would certainly cost us a lot more than the roughly $500 we have to make this film. So that puts us in a pickle it would seem. But that's where B-Roll comes in. B-Roll is essentially the same thing, but more often than not it's filmed by someone else, so there's no control over what is being shot- but because there's so much footage you usually can make good use of some of it. You just have to be creative.

In the case of Ranger Corps, filming in Hawaii was out of the question. We're filming in Florida, so we do have some varying levels of passable jungle- but where we're lacking B-Roll can sometimes be used to fill the gap. Knowing this beforehand and designing the script with this in mind, has meant I can produce an animated storyboard, complemented with B-Roll, and temporary audio to create the film in pre-production before ever having to set foot outside. It's a big step forward for us, as it shows us a glimpse of what we're shooting and has huge implications from a storytelling point of view. As it stands currently, about half the film has been constructed this way and I imagine after tonight the latter half will also be constructed.


Last but not least, the Gallimimus model is nearing the end of it's texture stage of production. It's been nice to work on an organic model again, as it's been a while since I've animated anything, much less an organic. But truthfully, I over did it. The model really doesn't need to be as fancy as I made it for the screen time it'll in. But hey, it was nice to get things moving again. Next comes rigging, in which I place a bone structure in the creature to give it degrees of movement, then the run cycles begin, then animating the sequence, then rendering, compositing... and finally it'll be done. But the big thing is just finishing the textures.

Cheating Textures

I'm not sure words can really express how excited I am to be finished with modeling. Not to say I wasn't having fun, but now that the modeling is finished it brings about new challenges to breath life into this character. It's funny how simple things like skin folds or wrinkles can make so much difference, but it says something about who we are. When we see an older gentleman with harsh lines across his forehead and deep creases stemming around his cheeks, we see someone who loves to laugh and has marked his body with his tales of joy and love throughout his life. It's a sublte but visual sign of the person before us and in many ways this is true regardless of if you're human or even a dinosaur. The little details speak volumes about us.

As you can see from the photo above, I didn't get too far with the texturing last night. In fact the majority of the night was setting up for this process. To texture a 3D model like a dinosaur, is a lot like drawing on an Orange. It's way easier if the skin were to be removed and flattened out. Now, assuming you cut the skin in such a way that it would be easily wrapped around the fruit again, you'd be in a pretty good position to create some really stunning artwork when the peel is flattened out. This is essentially what was required of our Gallimimus. Her skin was unwrapped and flattened. The pieces that belonged together were re-stitched together and after hours of work, she lied out flattened before me. It was a very important step, because next I began to hand draw the detail back onto the dinosaur.

Which is pretty close to where I left off last night. While she does have a basic color attached to her right now, that's not really my focus. There's this certain truth to Animation in which states 'Never do more than required'. It seems lazy, but there's an honest truth in that. The audiences will never know what you didn't do if you plan ahead to know what they'll be looking for. Adding texture follows much of this same thought process. When I modeled the dinosaur I knew I wouldn't be forced to create an over zealous amount of detail because for one: the animal would be in motion, and a lot of detail would be lost in the blur, and two: the animal wouldn't be in any extreme closeup position.

There's two aspects to the texture which are really important. The first is called a Bump Map. Which works to create the illusion of thin creases in the skin, much like the ones you'll find on your own hands. These are low intensity creases. The next step is using a Displacement Map. This is unique in that it actually displaces the mesh itself and will react properly with lighting. You can see this most notibably at the moment if you look around the arms of the Galli. But the combination of the two tactics creates a pretty well done skin texture.

The downfall in all of this of course, is simply the fact that it has to be hand created. While there might be an automated process for it I'll find in the future. At the moment I can take credit for every wrinkle you see before you.

More to come!

Muscles Groups

Quick update today, last night I worked pretty hard to define the Gallimimus' muscle groups even further and smooth out some of the rough areas across the body. From about the shoulders back I'm pretty happy, even the feet have come a long ways since the beginning. The fingers still need a bit of work, they're a bit too sharp and fearsome in my opinion. The shoulder blade needs to be refined too to make for smoother animation when they're curled up into a 'traveling position'.

The head has brought about a new set of problems. I took a crack at it last night, but wasn't too satisfied with the results I was getting. I'll probably start from scratch again today and see what I can do. The skull is a very odd shape, namely around the eyes. It's a very angular shape that softens into deep wells for the eyes and chubby cheeks. I decided against designing the mouth to open, the animals simply won't be seen long enough to bother putting in that level of detail.

Galli- Galli- Gallimimus!

It's nice to see progress being made on the Ranger Corps front. Last night I got the change to flesh out the body and feet on our Gallimimus Model. This might just be the first herbivore model I've ever made and there's some unique challenges in that alone. Rather than teeth and a certain about of 'snear' Gallimimus are all about speed and raw power. Which has meant a lot of emphasis on muscle groups and giving the Gallimimus the right look that conveys speed. There's a silver lining however when it comes to this model and it's simply the fact that you won't see the animal resting in place but running in a group. This is beneficial because I won't have to put an extreme amount of detail into the model, considering it'll be blurred anyways. Which means a faster turn around for production. What you're looking at now is a good first past, but the final model will likely have twice the level of detail when complete. The feet still need additional work, they have this odd shape in which the toes are thin, the heel is thick and the lower leg bone bulges- finding the right ratio is a bit of trial by error. Tonight, I'll begin work on the hands and head too- which will have come with their own set of challenges. The fingers won't be difficult and again aren't required to be animated too heavily, the head on the other hand will be defined a fair amount. Not that it'll be seen in any high resolution, but I tend to think people's eyes gravitate to the head of most creatures. So I'd like to see it moderately fleshed out.

Other interesting aspects of the Gallimimus I've learned along the way are in response to its growth patterns. The young often has shorter snouts and grew in length with age. This has lead to me to consider creating a secondary model, tweaked to be a sub-adult. It would be a minor variation, but perhaps needed variety for the film.

On the scripting front, not a whole lot of progress has been made. I've been putting a bit of thought into the storyline, but I haven't taken the time to sit down and flesh it out. The problem really comes down to the main antagonist. With so little time for this story (I'm thinking under 5 minutes) that puts a lot of pressure to focus on only one main antagonist, rather than two- which was the original story design (like a one-two punch). But who knows, I have a clever approach to involving two antagonists, but it's really a question of logistics. Not to mention this means double the work.

At the moment, the idea stands that a Ranger has arrived on scene to a truck crash. He realizes the truck operators are dead and the animal cages have been torn open in the chaos that ensued. The problem is what was on board- creatures that were on their way to be euthanized. Predatory creatures with teeth like serrated knives and deadly saliva filled with a slew of incapacitating toxins. Finding and killing them is the Island's top priority. The problem is the Rangers are already deeply involved in a security threat. The island has just received it's first Tyrannosaurus Rex and she's scheduled to wake up soon. It's up to our hero, with limited chopper support to hunt down the creatures before they can escape the area. But even with the advances of 1992 military grade technology, is he the hunter or hunted?

The other issue is physical manpower. I'd like to produce this was as few of people as possible. Two or three would be ideal and I have people in mind- but the problem is again, logistics. More people, more problems. I'd also like to keep the speaking parts to a minimum, but again this becomes an issue with ideas of never before seen dinosaurs or abstract concepts. How do we explain to the audience its mouth is full of toxins if we don't say it? Showing it opens up a new set of problems. In these cases I often look back to Metal Gear Solid, where as an audience member we met Solid Snake, a fielded agent who still had a million questions about the complexity of the the 'Metal Gear' world around him, much like the players. We might be able to field a similar solution here too- perhaps the Rangers in the chopper are experienced, senior members and our hero is still a bit of a rookie. But they provide invaluable radio support and logistics from the air.

That's about all the film notes for today however- hopefully I'll have a much more rendered out picture by tomorrow!

UNITE the Jurassic Crew!

I've spoken to the main resources behind the Ranger Corps production and everyone is back on board. We've decided to shrink the size of the production and instead focus all our effort in a much more intense easily manageable piece of pie. Better to not bite off more than we can chew. I've promised to start work on the script, an early first draft drawn from the previous versions of Ranger Corps. It's a little sad to see all that work we did fleshing out characters get trimmed and cut, but in the end it's really the direction we have to go.

I've already made a decent amount of progress. The 'intro' of the film has essentially been edited together and only a few special effects are left in the way of finishing it off. The speed of which this has been accomplished can be attributed to a few 'advertiser' tricks up my sleeve, namely b-roll. But using this footage has increased production value, by showing aspects I would never be able to film myself (like areal shots over Hawaii). Thankfully, with a lot of animated models previously being created, this means production time is going to be a lot faster in general. This does however provide us with a certain challenge. The script is being condensed and much of the 3D models I've created can and will be utilized. But in a sense it's almost like building this film around a checklist. Does it include 'this, this and this'? Good. That's not necessarily bad and if anything opens up doors to new animation possibilities- without the concern of over burdening myself.

The rest of the crew is on standby until I can produce the first draft of the script. I'm excited and terrified all at once, as every scene and word spoken has to directly feed into the story and move it along in a very direct manor- time is our limiting factor this go around.

In my last post, I spoke about consumerism and how much of a role it takes in Jurassic Park. It was an aspect we previously had in prior versions of the script, but perhaps until now it wasn't fully understood. I'm really excited to see where this line of thought will lead us down the road. In particular, I'd like to offer audiences a certain twisted humor, or dark irony in how this plays out in reality. 'When shit hits the fan- save the park, in the most economic form possible.'

Jurassic Comeback

I can't tell if I like this beer, or I'm just drinking it because it's beer. Regardless, this post isn't about the simply amazing looking Jurassic World, in which I'm super over excited for. It's nice to see after years of waiting- and being fearful beyond words that Universal would ruin the franchise for good (if JP3 hadn't already done that...) that they were finally breathing new life into the series.

No, this post is about a personal project of mine that I started well over a year ago. It was called Ranger Corps: Jurassic Park. It was an indie film and had a lot of heart. The number of hours are beyond measure that a group of us spilled brainstorming, writing and designing this film. It was a real genuine act of love and it was unfortunate that life got in the way. A lot of personal drama got in the way of production, namely people moving, women, work and a slew of other time obsorbing issues. Try as we did, it just never panned out.

Truth is, I've felt terrible about putting the film on hold. Though I feared it may have been lost forever a few times, I always believed we would come back to it eventually. But perhaps it's for the best things did get torn apart. Because it gave me time to reflect and look upon the concept with fresh eyes.

At Ranger Corp's core, the film was to depict a Jurassic Park under construction, about 2 years prior to the film Jurassic Park. We really wanted to show how amazing this park was going to be, even if it meant just sliding in 'master shots' of in-construction park attractions, facilities or beautiful landscapes. The idea was to celebrate this beautiful world that was being protected by a group of extraordinary Rangers.

But things have changed. I've changed. In the year that's passed I moved on from working at Starbucks and took a job as a Video Production producer. It's been a great opportunity and I love what I do. However, it's shown me the other side of Video. While the average film maker is worried about telling a message or making an emotional point- Video Advertising isn't. Well, not in the same way anyways. I've done a lot of promotional work and advertising. Even just creating Product Example videos are highly analyzed and orchestrated productions. Scripting just the right message with the right visuals, to give the product just the right value that will send the viewer to that purchase page.

So recently when I started about picking up this project again, it got me to thinking about all the things I've seen since I started this project and it got me to thinking about how much consumerism is really the selling point behind Jurassic Park. The novel and even the film make no point to hide this fact, the entire idea is wrapped around the 'theme park' model! But there's a certain beauty that escapes all from all this and lets us forget that Jurassic Park is a money making machine- or that's the intention anyways.

I usually brainstorm and script the hell out of anything I'm working on. Logistically it's the smart way of going about things- but this time I had something very particular in mind. I wanted to sell the same smoke and mirrors act to the audience. I wanted to shovel it into their watering mouths... and then wrench it all away. I want the audience to feel the warmth of the embracing blanket of majesty and discovery- to only jarringly have it stripped away to a much more raw reality.

To achieve this I decided to use some of the same resources I would use if this was any other product I was trying to sell. There were the 'money shots' of dinosaurs, and the filler B-Roll that supplements the message that's being sold. Add in a touch of music that conjures feelings of the classic 'Jurassic Park' magic and you're well on your way to achieving JP Nirvana.

The project is a ways from completion, the hard part is ahead of us. But with a little luck I can bring the crew together and finally make something of this project once and for all.

Star Wars Rebels meets The Force Unleashed?

If you're avoiding spoilers, turn back now. However, if you've managed to watch the entire first season of Star Wars: Rebels come with me to bask in it's twist and turns. To really appreciate SW:R you have to rewind the clocks to the days of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In my opinion Dave Filoni can be credited to reviving the SW prequels as actually entertaining. While many have expressed their opinions over the movies, there's really no denying that Filoni took a shamble of storytelling and made sense of it all. Of course he had help, but Filoni pioneered The Clone Wars in a way that mended broken Star Wars fans and brought them back to the prequel table. I was one of them.

Then the day came- Disney took over and suddenly the expanded universe was shattered, it was like as if a thousand voices screamed out at once... Needless to say I was pretty nervous, but I was happy to hear that The Clone Wars series along with the films would be be canon moving forward. While many of the story arcs remained unfinished, such as Asajj Ventress, Darth Maul, Ahsoka Tano and numerous others. We're now starting to see a ray of sunshine in what many fans considered a disservice by canceling the show. There's already reports of novels being written that will close the arcs on characters such as Asajj Ventress and season one of Star Wars: Rebels started a new arc for one very important character: Ahsoka.

As fans of The Clone Wars will tell you, Ahsoka started as the young, whiny kid nobody wanted following Anakin around. But as time went by and her character developed into a young woman fans started to grow fond of her character. In a sense, she complemented Anakin. She grounded him like most kids ground and mature normal people here on Earth. Suddenly Anakin had someone to take care of, to show what was right and wrong- and why. Things weren't always easy and Anakin learned a lot about himself along the way. But their relationship came to a sudden end when Ahsoka, disillusioned by the politics of the Jedi Order, left to follow her own path. It was a heavy blow to Anakin, but honestly I don't think anyone could blame her for leaving. Doing so however, saved her from the Jedi Purge and Order 66.


By the finale of Rebels (14 years later for those who are counting), we learn that Ahsoka is back and a member of the still fragile Rebellion. What position and if people even know she's a former Jedi is unclear. But we know that the spark has been lit. It's important to note that Bail Organa was there too and seemingly in a leader position. This is important, as Bail previously in the old canon- was a founding member of The Rebellion. It's also rather interesting to see that they decided to bring back Ahsoka at all, rather than simply finish her storyline in a novel or comic. Not to say that any of those sources have less merit, but simply because Rebels has a much larger audience at the end of the day. Bringing her back was certainly not an oversight, it's a very calculated move.

What's even more exciting is to see Darth Vader's arrival on the scene. With the Inquisitors exit from the show (or at least we're led to believe), it means bringing Darth Vader into a much more prominent role for the show and much grander scope to the Rebellion movement. Truthfully, I don't see the Inquisitor returning. While it's possible he may return as a supporting character of some sort, perhaps rebuilt like Darth Maul- his death marked a transition in the show. The Ghost Crew wasn't a real rebellion force, nor was the Inquisitor a real Sith. But the finale changed all that- suddenly what wasn't, now is. Which brings me to the future of the series.

We're moving into pretty touchy old canon territory. The formation of the Rebellion has already been covered through numerous sources, most prominently in The Force Unleashed. While many fans disdain the overpowered abilities of the central character: Starkiller- I still loved the narrative. While an overpowered character such as Starkiller does seem a bit much for today's new narrative, that doesn't mean there couldn't be a restructured telling of the old canon and this is why I think we're about to.

For those who don't know, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Promised to rule the galaxy with Vader once they overthrew the Emperor, things went terribly wrong and Vader was forced to turn on Starkiller, using him as bait to bring the enemies of the Emperor together to be exterminated.

First, there's this rumor that has emerged, in which actor Sam Witwer (Starkiller) is interested in playing a role in season two. The article points to him voicing the Emperor. A good choice, considering his experience voicing the Emperor in The Force Unleashed, but I think it's a little odd he's been overlooked as reprising his role as Starkiller. There's really two reasons beyond the rumor that could make sense. For one, the return of Ahsoka is too good of an opportunity for her to reunite with Anakin- now as Darth Vader. As his former apprentice, this just begs for a very uneasy confrontation between the two. Something I'm sure the writers will drag out for a while.

More importantly, Starkiller was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. It's important to note that this notion of a secret apprentice was created before Ahsoka's character was ever conceived. But from a story telling perspective, it would make for a really amazing narrative to see Darth Vader, now evil- with a new apprentice, one in which he tortures physically and mentally as a dark reflection of his relationship between Anakin and Ahsoka.

The best reason to bring back Starkiller is because the writers killed off his character at the end of The Force Unleashed. While his character returned for the sequel, I'd be just as satisfied if they left that story to 'legends'. But it means no loose ends to worry about down the road.

So is any of this possible? Discuss in the comments!

[Early] Democracy 3 Review

It should be noted that I'm pretty piss poor at this game at the moment. There's a lot of moving parts and that leaves me questioning how to aptly play this game in order to get ahead. There's one big thing I've already noticed: making big changes means big public outcry. Even if what you're doing is for the best, the public either doesn't see the big picture or just isn't looking for true change. In many ways this mimics real life politics and almost makes me feel bad for the politicians. Almost. I've only played D3 for a couple hours last night and bought it on a whim for it's low price point and because it's sat on my Steam Wishlist for a long time collecting dust. It's a pretty straightforward game with a lot of complicated information, you defiantly have to think here and plan before you execute an order.

The biggest problem I've faced with D3 is how overwhelming it feels. Your nation starts with so many problems, it can feel like a bit much just getting started. The easiest thing I've found is to simply focus on one problem and see what small changes you can make to improve it, without a lot of major changes.

However, that hasn't stopped different groups from assassinating me for various reasons. I've had Conservative Patriots to Liberal Immigrants shoot me. But hey- can't make everyone happy. Having recently been watching House of Cards, one of the first things I toyed with was Frank's plan to empty welfare and deposit all the extra funds into state employee positions. Unfortunately, that too backfired as many of the state positions required a firm education or simply took time to see growth in that area.

One of the more annoying features of the game- which might actually have a good reason for being this way (although I haven't found it clearly) is the bubbles on the main screen. While the bubbles themselves are fine, however hectic they may be. The problem is they change position nearly every turn, which makes returning to that bubble confusing. Especially for new players who aren't aware of which bubble represents which function. The other issue is providing me with the right information- when I need it. When I decide to drop spending on something- lets say Military Funding, I really wish it provided me with automatic calculations on how much I'm saving, how my debt per turn will change and other graphical hard data. In a way, it almost seems like public opinion matters more than the actual hard numbers. Which might be the point all long. As long as the nation is happy it doesn't matter that Blacks are being put behind bars, the Religious Right is teaching Creationism and we're Nuking Korea.

The game is pretty intriguing and I'm happy I picked it up- it just seems to have a steep learning curve even with various tutorials. More updates soon- hopefully I get the swing of things shortly.

Plague Inc: Evolved Review

Plague Inc. has been one of those games that have been on my Steam Wishlist for a while now. There's really no reason I haven't bought it until now, other than to say I'm just a tad cheap. But with my paycheck and Tax Return clearing I figured I could drop the $14.99 that it was asking. To put it simply, I'm not disappointed in my investment. I do however, feel that they could and should do more to expand the game. It's important to note that this is a Early Access game and I understand that many game elements may change or be enhanced in the future. But as of now 3/2/15, this is my review.

The Good:

Plague Inc. is a seemingly daunting task at first and doesn't provide you with a lot of info to get yourself started. But things really aren't as hard as they first seem. Your first objective is typically to infect as many people as you possibly can. But there's plenty of room to experiment here, which can be fun and challenging in its own right. The interface is pretty easy to figure out and you'll be on your way to global destruction in no time.

The game is fairly fun, it's simple- but it's fun. You spend the majority of your time clicking popups which provide you with additional 'Bonus DNA' to modify your Plague with. The biggest challenge it seems is to create a contagious plague that isn't very lethal- at least not at first. Once you've spread to all corners of the Earth it's time to ramp up the lethality and start raining chaos upon the planet. This isn't always easy, and different plague's require different tactics in the short term.

It's tough to find other things I like about this game. It's very simple at its core- which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The Bad:

The problem Plague Inc. faces, is how repetitive the game becomes. The major gameplay feature you'll notice is how much clicking your doing to recover additional 'Bonus DNA', while this feature isn't bad in itself. It calls back to the game's predecessor as a Mobile Game App. In the future, I'd like to see some creative variety in obtaining additional DNA. The other issue with gameplay is a pretty key factor to the game, in playing the game close to 8 Hours last night I found myself falling back to the same strategy over and over again. Infect with a low risk plague- then ramp of the lethality at the last minute to cause a massive kill off. Once you've got the swing of this tactic- the game starts to fade and the AI becoming glaringly obvious. This could be solved however, with different objectives or extended gameplay. Perhaps in the future we'll see scenarios where you've been contracted to kill off one countries population, while protecting another- or other such complicated scenarios which would produce much more intuitive strategy.

The next issue I ran into was the additional content the game provides the player. While it appears at first beneficial to know more about the country you're infecting- in reality the majority of this information is repetitive or can simply be thrown out as useless. Worse yet, many of the buttons you are able to click don't provide any tool tips, which makes early gamers feel rather lost- I know I did. In addition, the game also allows the player to zoom in and while this may be for a future feature that involves a much more in depth look. At the moment this serves no purpose and if anything- hinders the player from spotting the Bonus DNA popups.

Summary:

In the end, despite these flaws I'm assuming there's a plan moving forward to solve these problems. According to the Plague Inc. Wiki, the developer has gone over nearly half a million gamer responses to his game, in order to improve gameplay overtime. So I'll be looking forward to see where he takes this game in the future. Final score,

6.5

The Gentle Weekend

This weekend has been one of those dream like weekends that can only be accomplished by not having children and the proper application of ignoring responsibilities. Yesterday was dominated by nearly an 8 hour House of Cards marathon which left me shocked and yearning for more as the final episode of Season 3 ended.

I was overall fairly happy with the third season, however I felt it very jarring to see Francis struggling to keep things together. Unlike previous seasons, it felt like things were constantly unraveling and just barely being held together by clinging bloody fingers. That's not to say the season wasn't good- but I left the season feeling unaccomplished. While season 2 left Francis taking control and achieving his dream, Season 3 was more of the struggle to keep what he had earned. So the ending wasn't nearly as grand as the previous season, but led to what should be a very interesting Season 4.

Today however, I decided to actually get up and take care of a few things. Which ultimately led to me to Starbucks where I met up with numerous friends and old coworkers. I was really happy to speak with Ronnie, who I spent close to two hours talking about the grandness of the universe, politics and sci-fi movies. It was really encouraging to talk to someone else who understood the largeness of it all and yearned to know more, like myself.

There's been a lot coming up, in regards to game updates and movies. I'll be writing more in depth reviews soon. So keep an eye out for those-

DLC /Rant

I love the Total War franchise. But I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate the DLC for it. It's not the DLC itself, while I'm sure the majority of it is solid content. But it really annoys the piss out of me when I'm paying an additional $2 for a 'Blood & Gore' pack, when in reality this should have been included in the game. This isn't even a new feature by any extent- as Shogun 2 provided it as DLC (and possibly Empire?). I'm not even against DLC in terms of extending the gameplay- such as Gameplay Campaigns. But when it's frivolous money hording that's another story.

Take The Sims 4 for instance. Here's a game franchise in which has been gutted and strung up for the player to purchase as a full game. But to many gamer's surprise, what they got was nothing short of 'core gameplay' without any of the bells and whistles the franchise had become known for. Admittedly I haven't played it due to the reviews. But in investigating Sims 4, I was shocked to discover the developers left out such things as dishwashers, the toddler stage of growth, or even swimming pools- and their excused for why they choose to simply aren't that great. I fear we are moving into a poorly motivated system where gamers are being exploited for their pockets and love of the entertainment. The problem that I foresee is this becoming far worse before it gets any better. With any luck, the community as a whole will respond in force.

/Rant

Open World to Open Thought - Future of Gaming?

I figured I ought to show off my character if I'm going to bitch so much about his experience. So, introducing Yogota; Jedi Guardian and all around asshole. I like to think he's seen some heavy shit in his upbringing, hence all the facial scars- possibly a run-in with street gangs on whatever backwater planet he comes from. The addition of the mechanical eye only is meant to supplement this notion and in my own way, it's a small nod to Metal Gear Solid's- Big Boss, a hero turned villain. Much in the same way I see my own character turning to the dark side given enough time. While you can't see it here, Yogota is bald as well. Though to be fair I saw some killer chops and mohawk combo I've been digging for a while now- perhaps next go around I'll play as an Imperial Agent with some serious Irish influences haha. There's a certain character from Prometheus I've really wanted to emulate... maybe when I grow up one day I'll be that cool.

I've been reminded more than anything from this game, how much I love choice. But how difficult it can be to offer the player true freedom of expression. For example, the game offers three responses to choose from  with numerous points in which I can respond throughout the conversation. The problem is, three responses often aren't enough- or worse yet, my characters possible reactions don't fit within my personal reactions as a player. While the characters response may be simply 'I don't have time for this.' in reality my thinking may often be much more complicated and rational. That's hard to emulate in a game- and in a world with strict light side/dark side values, this would probably prove impossible. Though that's not to say I couldn't think of a few creative ways to judge a person's light/dark balance.
But all this talk of 'free will' in gaming got me to thinking, and the truth is free will doesn't mean the same thing in gaming as it does in real life. There are always limitations, whether it be the edge of the map, or context of the story. But in this case when we're talking about conversations, they're ideas- and ideas don't need to be visually displayed to be real. They're as real as you thinking them into existence (or typing them in this case). There's a positive- and negative side to this however.

This line of thought lead me to wonder if the next evolution in open world gaming, was an open thought AI. Much like how CleverBot adapts to your conversation and draws upon a database of information to fill in the gaps of conversation with various elements that make CleverBot feel real. I imagine open world games, or MMOs like The Old Republic would benefit from a system where you can stand toe to toe with a NPC and argue your point. Better yet, what if the NPC could avoid giving your a quest based on your responses? It would offer the player an even deeper level of emersion into the world.
Now, an obvious catch would be how difficult it would be to craft a response to the player. Text to text conversations are simple. But in today's world where the NPCs are expected to speak to the character directly using Voice Actors- it would be difficult, if not feasibly impossible to hire hundreds of Voice Actors and record the number of responses required for a full AI system across an open world game such as this. But, who knows- the future leads to a lot of surprises.

But if I could dream a bit: I would be really encouraged to play any game where part of the drama isn't just the action of gunfire and chaos- but the human element. Where people aren't nearly as predictable and your character is forced to deal with not just the situations, but the NPCs emotional state, intelligence level and even factors such as racism, sexism, or personal beliefs.

From Galactic Space to Roman Empire

I've had a busy past few days and my weekend was plesently consumed with my girlfriend and the one day Florida provided us with upper 70s weather. It was a tantalizing cruel taste of the summer we all long for. That goes double for me- who rides a motorcycle 99% of the year.

But my bud gave me a call yesterday and we talked a bit about the new Total War game, Attila that recently launched. Now, I'm usually not the type of gamer that will buy a recently released game- because I'm cheap, but in the case of PC games, due to the all to often buggy problems that are attached I usually wait even longer. In the case of Total War, who's previous title Rome II was a hot mess for months before they supplied enough patches to almost build a new game: that hasn't inspired me to run out and buy Attila. In fact, I'm not even sure I'm going to buy it at this point.

Perhaps I've had my head in the sand, but I didn't even know about Attila until it launched. Which is strange because I'm a pretty big fan of the Total War franchise. So perhaps they didn't PR the shit out of this title, or maybe I really did just miss everything. Either way, from what my bud has explained to me: it seems like a giant apology for Rome II. The era is roughly the same as Rome II and much of the features missing from Rome II have been added in Attila. Best yet, the game seems to be launching rather smoothly from what I hear. So perhaps I'll purchase it eventually, but either way I booted up Rome II recently to give it another go.

My biggest complaint (as I bought the game long after the patches were applied) was how long Rome II was. In my previous campaign, I played as Greece who at the time was occupying Egypt- after dozens of hours of campaigning I had taken most of North Africa and parts of the Middle East. A decent feat in Rome II, but Europe was still immense and terrifying frankly. This go around I did things a little differently and decided to begin as a humble British tribe and as of last night conquered all opposing British tribes- uniting the British Isles under my rule. Problem is where to go from here! Europe is a big place and landing on the shoreline means a massive invasion force in order to take a city and begin my conquest. 200 BC is a long ways off from the 1940s.

So lets switch things up a bit and run back to Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've run into a problem and it's called Alderaan. The 'perfect' utopia of a planet that's split in Civil War. The problem lies in a conflict of interests, where various ruling families are fighting over control of the planets Monarchy. Because nothing says peace, love and equality like a monarchy. Really, what grinds my gears about Alderaan is how upper class most of the characters you encounter are. In my time I spent living in Fort Lauderdale, I recall a similar experience that aggravated the shit out of me. Which is part of why I'm a little sensitive to being bossed around like a simpleton to these rich bastards. Needless to say, I see the value in a Pro-Republic family taking control of the Monarchy, but at the same time I hate everyone I've had to work with on the planet. I doubt the devs planned on encoring the wrath of their players through character experiences, but I feel very strongly behind the decisions I make on this planet.

While nobody has outright said it, I also find it a little suspicious that there is no lower class- even the middle class looks pretty rich. I've seen a few farms or estates- but even they seem to  be doing pretty well for themselves and seem to be more a novelty than actual farming. For all we know they're growing grapes for wine. Which really makes me wonder about this planets economy. There hasn't been an empire on Earth that hasn't been built on the lower class. So when I see these towering buildings and grand gates, all I can think is 'cool, so where is the slave labor?' That being said however, it's curious to note this planet has native inhabitants, a very organic bug like creature that the Alderaan people regard as lesser beings and leave you to exterminate throughout your time there. A rather rash thing to do in my mind, considering the creatures: Killik are part of a hive mind and show enough intelligence to use blaster rifles and other crafted tools. Showing that they aren't just mindless beasts, but together a rather intelligent and powerful force. But the important distinction is this: Alderaan views the Killik as different and like any society that is different and unwilling to conform to society's rules, they are hunted down and exterminated.

Yet once again, as a Jedi I've been tasked to save the people from these creatures by going on various slaughter-fests. While I know what I'm doing is wrong, this is yet again another example of how I see my character falling to the dark side. The Killik have certainly been motivated to swarm and kill the people of Alderaan and honestly I could see this happening even without Imperial influences (which at the moment I'm not sure are even involved.). From what I've read about the Species the majority of their kind left the system some time ago and those who remain often lay dormant underground. Those who do awaken are a mixture of territorial and docile. So does that mean I should be exterminating these creatures? Going as far as to destroy their eggs and plant mines to catch them off guard? It should be no ones surprise that my character would choose to murder an opponent when the opportunity arrives then let them live, when so much of the characters experiences are shaped to enjoy bloodshed and encourages the death and murder of not just the enemy soldiers, but the young and defenseless as well. Worse yet, I feel it says something that the Jedi as a whole haven't stepped up to question the Killik's motives or to even recognize them as a society that deserves its equal respect in a Civil War between monarchies. All this being said however, it does remind me of why I enjoy this time period. The Jedi have a very particular set of rules in mind when it comes to right and wrong. The universe is a very black and white place, but people like me are showing up and asking 'why?' and bending the rules despite the ruling council. You can argue that Reven and I have a lot in common in this sense.

But who knows, maybe we're the outsiders because we see the Universe as a unified being, rather than simply warring factions. In my opinion, to be a true Jedi is to renounce all bloodshed, anger and conflict and pursue a life of knowledge and wisdom. You can pretend you're all that shit while you're lopping off heads and arms- but we both know you're lying. Nobody walks into battle with the emotion of serenity and peace unless you plan on walking out of that battle emotionally scarred with the eyes of the fallen forever burned into your mind. And after a thousand have fallen as with my character, what is death anymore- and are you its instrument?

The Sith, Inquisitors & Force Awakens

As of today, there's been a number of bread crumbs being left by Disney/Lucas in regards to the direction of the Star Wars Saga. But recent news has spurred my imagination and who knows- I might be on to something. Follow me along for this magical ride...

The first clue was the Episode 7 trailer itself. It's hard to miss the declaration that the force itself has 'Awakened.' Despite the jokes and memes, I don't believe this title is as black and white as it appears- and rather then suggesting the force has somehow become stagnant, I believe this is to say there are new kids on the block- new players in this galactic saga. This could be an obvious nod to the new characters that are intended to move the franchise forward after the Original trilogy characters pass off the torch- and possibly to the idea of a formation of a new Jedi Order by Luke Skywalker. But I believe the line 'Light and Dark' from the trailer also insinuates an introduction to something new from the dark side of the spectrum- something we also haven't seen before in the saga. (This is of course assuming the New Jedi Order is a drastic departure from the Yoda order.)

The second clue comes from this article- the devs of the Old Republic Game explained that Lucas' story group gave a glimmer of hope for Old Republic fans that the game may be canon- or perhaps one day it could be, by stating that because of it's unique time period set 3,000 years prior to the movie saga- it doesn't interfere with the timeline. In a world where all Expanded Universe content has been deemed 'Legends' until brought into the fold, like bits of content that has infiltrated the animated series Star Wars: Rebels- this makes news of Old Republic content possibly canon rather interesting.

Speaking of Star Wars: Rebels, it's been noted before that content from the series may make an apperance later in the film saga. While it's wild speculation from me, the introduction of the Inquisitor as such a central character of the Rebel series only fuels my larger theory. For those who don't know, the Inquisitor's are essentially force sensitive Dark Sided agents of the Empire who's sole job is to hunt down and exterminate the remaining Jedi. But it also serves another purpose- the Inquisitors are pretty much the only dark sided characters that quite possibly are still around by Episode 7 to cause problems.

Now, why The Old Republic canon possibility is important is because of the content. The Old Republic era's main antagonist is the Sith Empire. To put this in perspective, imagine an entire culture and society that centers around force sensitive individuals that clamor for power against one another. It's like a really evil version of Ancient Rome, where the upper class is held up by a massively submissive and subjected slave driven lower class. Complete with families struggling for control over each other. Problem is, as far as I know- the Old Republic era never really clarifies what happens to the Sith. The expanded universe suggests they were all wiped out and only their teachings remained. But that's all 'legends' at this point.

So this is where it all comes together and I'm freely speculating at this point. We catch up with Luke and the gang 30 years after Return of the Jedi, the Empire must be hurting a bit at this point as their two most prominent Dark Sided leaders are dead (The Emperor and Darth Vader). Imperial Leadership is made up of regular folks at this point, but the the Inquisitors still exist and see Luke Skywalker forming a New Jedi Order. The Inquisitors may not have a lot of pull, but they are quick to realize the threat that is involved in the return of the Jedi. In their desperation, they turn to something they don't fully understand and awaken a force long thought to be dead. The Ancient Sith. Who knows, maybe the Emperor knew of the Sith- but even he didn't want to poke that wasp nest. Considering there's little info on where the Sith vanished to- and this is serious speculation: But imagine how cool it would be to see the awakening of a single Sith Lord, who ventures deep into the wild unexplored regions of space to re-establish contact with surviving Sith Colonies. In the Old Republic era, the Republic knew the Sith existed in the unexplored region of the galaxy, but how vast or where exactly the Sith lived remained a mystery. So it's not outside the realm of possibility.

The reason I find this so engaging is because it means wrapping up the saga in a very poetic way. 30 years after Return of the Jedi I can imagine uneasy lines drawn in a galaxy still divided between the Rebel Alliance and Imperial forces. Suddenly a powerful 3rd party shows up and betrays the Imperials and thrusts the galaxy in all out war. The Rebels and Imperials are forced to align together and set apart their differences to end the threat of the Sith once and for all. It would also make for a final end to the Light side / Dark side fighting if Luke's Jedi order and the Inquisitor Sith teachings could find a middle ground where there's this understanding that taking things to either extreme only bloodies the galaxy in their differences of opinion. In order to 'end' Star Wars- there has to be a unification of the force and both sides need to become one. I'd also love to see them become a reclusive monk like order, but maybe that's asking a lot. It would be an order of Batman's basically- only showing up in times of extreme need.

So there it is, my speculation for the Saga. It's vague, but it's supported by a lot of possible scenarios. Leave your thoughts in the comments!

From Mars with Love

I had the good fortune to speak to someone today about the prospect of colonizing Mars. It was an eye opener to realize not everyone is as passionate about space science as myself- or even knowledgeable about the basic workings of the world around us. Worse yet, he's moderately Christian and from what he mentioned- a creationist at that. But it was a fairly engaging conversation and I've been working pretty hard for the past couple weeks to keep my snarky pissed off comments to myself when it comes to Religion or Science. You can't change the hearts of the people by acting like an asshole- even if it's what half of these people deserve. Here in the South- the ignorance runs deep like Georgia clay tsk tsk.

So here I am explaining how the Mars One project has selected 100 people from the thousands of applicants who want to voyage on a one way trip to Mars- when this guy asks the fateful question 'why should we colonize Mars?' I really thought this was a simple question and answer scenario, but he really was having trouble wrapping his head around why humanity should ever leave Earth to colonize- anywhere.

I really don't want to get into all the reasons why Mars is a great opportunity because what I really found interesting is his inability to understand the logic behind what I was saying. It's really my problem with religion- and you see it all the time around here. He's a good sport at least and we engaged in pretty in depth conversation about biology and physical limitations of humans. But you could tell there was a lot he simply didn't agree with. Such as the fundamental understanding of the age of our planet- our solar system, or even how biology evolves to adapt over time.

That's a pretty big issue in itself. This guy isn't dumb- he's probably sharper then I am truth be told. Which is all the more reason it baffles me when I see him- and others like him- close the box around themselves. The age of the Earth for instance. This hasn't been a fact that's been disputed in years- we've found the physical evidence and tested it using proven methods. Methods that have been determined to work by not just our nation, or members of Western Faiths. These are methods that have been determined to work globally- and together as a global society we've tested the same experiments repeatably to conclude: Earth is at least 3.5 Billion Years Old. Perhaps tomorrow that age will change with new evidence- but as of today this known fact fits very well into the model of the solar system, that is supported by thousands of other facts that have proven themselves against opposing theories.

Point is, to tense up during a conversation because you choose to believe the world is 2,500 years old is ridiculous. How can anybody of any religion- insist so many conflicting facts are wrong, then call up their buds on their iphone's which utilizes or works in tandem with so many facts they just called bogus? There's a great irony in religious folk that they just don't see. The world around them has changed and in my opinion it's the beginning of the end for religion.

Technology will be the end of the religion- or force it to change into something none of us can predict. Who would have thought that the Pope would have made all of the world shattering statements he did over the course of 2014? And what will come of religions everywhere when we finally find life on another planet, asteroid or comet? The point is, religion is being forced to adapt to a ever changing and expanding world. The church's of the world are being forced to plug as many holes as they can on a sinking ship. The avalanche of science and reason is quickly sweeping over them- and this doesn't become more apparent than when we look at Church statistics across the US, where we find church attendance plummeting across the board. Perhaps to no surprise, we're also seeing an increase in two opposing directions. Atheism and Evangelicalism.

But it's the fatty middle of Religion that is taking the biggest hits. While many Americans are still willing to call themselves spiritual, the curtain is slowly dropping as the lie is fading on their own lips. The problem is how explosively expansive the world has become to billions of people across the planet, such as with the introduction of high speed internet. This article in fact, makes an amazing case to that exact point.

So where does this leave our Mar's colony conversation? I'm not sure he really understood why it was important for us to go to Mars. It didn't matter that it meant a second chance for humanity, or an extension of our reach across the Solar System- or even just the technology we'll invent from invitations we'll only find on the Red Planet. Truth be told- it seemed a lot like a conversation someone might have made when talking to Columbus prior to his voyage to the West Indies. There's plenty of reasons not to go boldly into the unknown- and history has taught us how hard colonization can be even on our own planet. But when we look ahead and see how America, Australia or the hundreds of other colonies have fared over the years we see there's hope of a larger positive impact.

Peace is a Lie: Fuck the Jedi

Guess I'm writing another SWTOR blog after all. I've only been playing 4 days now and I'm still pretty early in the game for my Jedi Knight. The problem I've been facing has been plaguing me since the beginning. Are the Jedi really for peace and are they really in the right? This is about to get nerdy- so hold onto your butts.

The Old Republic game is set during one of my favorite periods in Star Wars lore. Set some 3,600 years before the film, the Jedi are a different kind of organization at this point and the ethical line becomes blurry as many blame the Jedi and Sith for many atrocities across the galaxy when the eventual invasion of the Sith Empire burns across the galaxy. But it's important to remember how the Jedi got here and for that- we have to rewind the clocks to the years leading up the war.

Prior to the war, two Jedi- Reven and Malik become aware of the looming insurgence of the Sith Empire. A fact that was denied and ignored by the Jedi as a whole. This marked the first step towards what would become the core fundamental conflict in the Jedi Civil War. Growing increasingly concerned, Reven and Malik urged numerous Jedi to their cause and dived deep into the unknown to seek out and destroy the Sith presence. Unfortunately they found the Sith Empire- but were consumed by it and returned unknowingly as agents of the Sith.

When Reven and Malik returned they attempted to use their accumulated power to overtake the Republic and produce a force strong enough to combat the true Sith. While many can argue that while distorted by the dark side- the intent to save the Republic from itself was still pure at heart. Unfortunately, many in the political realm believed Revin and Malik were the Sith Empire they had warned about and disregarded any further belief in the Sith after the conflict ended.

At a time when the Jedi were still licking their own wounds, the true Sith Empire emerged and wrought devastation upon the galaxy. Which is pretty much where The Old Republic games begins. During a lull in the war, both sides temporarily form a peace treaty. But it's only a pause before the looming storm. It's a really interesting dynamic for the Jedi, they're weaker then ever before and searching out new recruits as quickly as they can train them. But the fundamental question that spurred the The Jedi Civil War is still there. That war- at its core was a question of ethics. Was it ethical to break the law to save a life? How far should someone go when no one listens? The game casts the player in many of the same situations and so far- I'm loosing the light side fight.

As I've mentioned previously, I'm playing as a Jedi Knight and truthfully I understand how Revin fell into that darkness. While my character remains a 'Gray Jedi' cast neither in light or darkness. Many of the decisions that thrust my character towards the dark side are merely because I'm willing to make the difficult decisions. Is it worth sacrificing the lives of a the few for the many? Absolutely. Is it fair- no. I wouldn't argue that it is. But the game itself takes the perspective of the Jedi council of this day and age. Short term victories over the Sith are more important than thinking about the long term future of the galaxy. I would tend to disagree- like Revin the future of the galaxy is at stake, hypothetical trillions upon trillions of people are at risk and while it may not be the popular answer- the lives of a few matter little.

I've never beaten this game and in previous attempts I know only a little more storyline than where I'm currently at. But this is the first time I've jotted down my thoughts on the ethics of this game's message. It will be a lot more interesting of a play for that reason alone.

Return to the Republic

It's been easily over a year since I've sat down to let The Old Republic absorb hours of my life. Needless to say there's been a lot of updates and expansions to SWTOR since I've last played it. Truthfully, I enjoyed the game previously- but the game was out of wack. There were elements that were still being tweaked and changed and ultimately I became discouraged and stopped prescribing.

Now, I love Star Wars- but what I've always loved most is the Old Republic era, set thousands of years prior to the iconic movies, it tells the story of galactic conquest in a much more uncivilized era. You can think of the Old Republic like the height of Ancient Rome. It's big and impressive, with classic enemies like Hannibal and the Roman Emperors. But it's no modern Rome by any extent. That's basically the Old Republic in a nutshell. It's Star Wars- just historically different and the writers and creators have produced a wonderfully fleshed out universe for this era.

After Star Wars was bought by Disney and much of the canon vanished overnight, it seemed like the final nail in the coffin for the Old Republic era. Which made me pretty sad to see it wouldn't be included. Fast forward to today and I recently read this article. The summary being that Disney hasn't said yes- or no. In reality, The Old Republic is no threat to the Disney franchise because it's chronologically so far away from the film saga, which has left SWTOR in a very gray murky area.

“Let me answer it the way they answered it to us,” he said. “Because we asked when this first came up, we were like, ‘What does this mean for us?’ And they were like, ‘Guys, this doesn’t change anything. You tell great Star Wars stories set in this time frame; you continue to do that, and we’ll continue to support you.’

So there you have it. But the article got me thinking back to playing SWTOR and truthfully I had missed playing the game, even if it did have a few shortcomings. So last night I powered up my computer and dropped the $15 for a month subscription and gave it a whirl. A lots changed since I last played and while my biggest fear was that the community might have become very gimmicky in an attempt to keep users attached to the game, in reality that doesn't seem to be the case. There are a few cosmetic additions to the game, such as strongholds you can purchase- which at the moment as far as I can tell are just normal homes you can choose to decorate. But it's all pretty optional.

I'm not sure how much I'll write about SWTOR in the future. It may fizzle on me yet, but for now it's been a refreshing game to return to. For those curious, I've been playing as a Jedi Guardian- but I've turned off the light/dark side indications and let my own personal opinions control the fate of the character. No surprise, but I'm already leaning dark side. The damn Jedi just don't have the stomach to do what's necessary. They'd rather see a clearly evil and twisted man live (to eventually escape or cause further chaos) then end the cycle and stomp out the Sith. It's the whole reason the Sith keep emerging from the shadows! It's ironic that the Jedi are so against killing as it is anyways- there code speaks of peace and only action in a defensive manor, but then send me on missions to root out attacking tribal forces or slaughter entire underworld mob organizations. Sure- you can argue the bad guys attacked first- but after enough blood is on your hands. It just seems like you're trying to justify your blood lust? If you're going to offer me a mission to protect the people- don't make my side mission to kill 20 additional bad guys. Worse yet, don't get pissy when I come to finish my objective and I decide to finish things rather then show restraint and let the bad guys go. Anyways- as usual I'm walking a thin line with the Jedi.