Blabberbox:Random blog-like posts from pftq.Share on Twitter

Programming

January 14th, 2007 | Posted by pftq in Random Stuff | #
        My first shot at anything even close to programming started with Age of Empires III in Random Map Scripting of November 2005.   I didn't try any other languages until around summer of 2006, when, out of boredom from being one-handed due to a broken right wrist, I taught myself web design and programming (including coding this website from scratch).   Since then, I've learned much more programming and continue to do so.

        What do I use to program? No fancy programs here (you otherwise aren't writing your own code and technically NOT programming!)... I only use Notepad2; it is basically the Notepad included on all Windows computer, with highlighting to make code easier to read.   Very nice when you are editing files with over 5000 lines of code :p Many thanks to Elpea and Matei for recommending it to me.

Currently I'm fluent in:

  • Age of Empires III
    • Random Map Scripting (XS)
      • (XS) Random Map Scripting, 2005-2006
      • XS Trigger Injection, 2006
      • XS Knowledge Base Querying, January 2007
  • ...
[More]
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Google Fight

January 11th, 2007 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Here’s a funny site I just came across.   Basically it lets you enter two search phrases to compare and a little animation plays as if the two are duking it out.   The winner is the search phrase that gets the most hits on Google.   Also a nice way to see what site is more popular :P

        Example: Llama VS Potato

        Nooooooooo! The potato won! :O

     …[More]

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Some Random Story

January 7th, 2007 | Posted by pftq in Stories | #
         This is a true story...

         So there was a short lil' guy named Bob and this tiny little  kit-cat named Tom.   Tom was hungry one day and Bob didn't have any  water.   Tom begged for food, but Bob said  no so the tiny cat scratched him.   Bob tried to call for help, but accidentally swallowed his hat.

         A huge ugly dog named Jack came along, but his real name was Bob.   Bob tried to feed the dog to Tom the lil' cat, but Jackbob tried to scare the cat.   Bob then became angry and Tom got  angry too.   Tom didn't know why he was angry  so he started chasing Bob around, but Bob was angry that Tom was angry because he was angry, so he started chasing Jackbob the dog.

    ...[More]
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The Agenda...

January 6th, 2007 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Bah.. two days left of break - so much to do :(

Quick list:

- Update Fort Wars (patch due any time + Aztec sucks, need to announce ladder etc)

- Castle…[More]

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Back and Happy New Year!

January 1st, 2007 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Woot! Made it home in one piece! :D

Happy New Year all!

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Coffee

December 28th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #
         Just bored here while the rest of the family is napping after the long drive.   My sister next to me was trying to drink a cup of coffee but spat it back out after the first sip.   Then she goes again to try and drink it, only to spit it back out not much later.

         I don't know why she bothers.   Coffee is  so disgusting.   It's this brown, murky substance that, had it been anywhere else besides a cup that said "Drink", no one would consider drinking.   It doesn't taste or smell good, and it certainly doesn't look appealing.   People try to deny this, but notice that people who drink it often have it mixed heavily with sugar or cream -  to hide the fact that it's so nasty.

         Some people claim that they need the coffee to wake up; they need the caffeine.   So wait, let me get this straight.   They drink the coffee for the...[More]
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Off for the Winter...

December 27th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Winter break now obviously - can’t stay home the whole two weeks. :-/   I’m going to be off again - will probably be back Tuesday or Wednesday next week.   I have no clue where I’m going - just another random road trip.   Hopefully not as boring as the last.

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Fort Wars Ladder

December 24th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        It turns out Elpea’s old ladder for Fort Wars has ALWAYS worked.   We were working on an XML version for NOTHING. :( All we needed was to add &sFlags=0 to the address we were using. Argh!

        Now splitting it so that we have an expansion and non-expansion version… Would be perfect to release on Christmas XD

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House with Christmas Lights

December 22nd, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Hello all - merry christmas!

Here’s just something you have to have seen at least once, if you haven’t already.   I found it about a year ago - still very cool.

House Lights Synced with Music

Someone synced…[More]

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Jelly Pickle

December 8th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Something random I found.   Props if you can figure this out. :o

Jelly Pickle

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Three Drives

December 6th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Stuck in My Head | #
Three Drives by Man With No Name
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Figured Out XML Parsing!

December 5th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Woot! Finally figured out how to parse XML with PHP.   Hopefully the Fort Wars ranking system (power rating/cuetech/whatever) will be up pretty soon! Big thanks to Elpea for helping me out here - and letting me bug him to death and figure this out. :p

        For starters, I’ve set up an easier to read version of Ensemble Studios played games feeds: Game List

        Dynamic too! Just change the number in the URL.

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Interview

December 3rd, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Random Stuff | #
        Got an interview a while ago by Riot at AOE3Files. Was a lot longer than I thought it would be.   Basically they were interviewing me for designing for Age of Empires III.

Here it is for those interested: AOE3Files Interviews pftq

        Never had an interview before...
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Complaints on Fort Wars

November 26th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        I’ve read and received various complaints on the recently released Fort Wars map.   Some complaints are valid but many of them really hold no weight at all.   These are some that I have seen or received.

In this version, computer players don’t select their spawn and get units.

        First off, Fort Wars is a multiplayer map.     Fort Wars has never been meant for playing against computer players.   Even if they could spawn units, they would not be upgrading, buying, or using awards.   Play online please.   Is it not much more fun with human players in any case?

The store…[More]

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New Avatar-Image

November 13th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

Just created this a few minutes ago.   Not sure just what it’s supposed to be.   I meant to make it for the guestbook background but it doesn’t really fit at the moment.   Still it looks pretty cool.

What you guys think?

Random Avatar-Image

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More Space For Site!

November 2nd, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        I just found out today that my host has upgraded the service from a previous 20 GB webspace with 300 GB bandwidth… to 200 GB webspace and 2 TB (2000 GB) bandwidth! :O Best part is I don’t have to upgrade my plan or anything - it’s already done.   I’m definitely not hitting that limit any time soon. :p I’m still only using one GB of webspace.

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AOE3: Tech IDs Collected

October 30th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Elpea has finished finding all the tech ids.   I’ve also found some pretty interesting new techs as well.   Maps are coming! :D

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AOE3: The Warchiefs

October 21st, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Okay I’ve just gotten the game today, and it looks somewhat promising.   A few noticable problems come up pretty quick though.   Quicksearch at the moment doesn’t work well - every game goes out of sync.   Another problem is somehow most custom maps have gone crazy so that’s going to take some looking into.   I’ll have to try playing again later.

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Internet Explorer 7

October 20th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Got a message/button on my Yahoo Toolbar that now says “Get IE7 now!” So I went and got it.   The install took nearly half an hour to complete on my 3.2 GHz P4 and 2GB RAM PC :-/.   Well it must be worth it if it took that long to install.

        I opened it up, and it went pretty smooth.   The whole layout has changed and my Home page set to Yahoo and News. <_< Next thing I notice is that it still says “Get IE7 now!” Well I got it now go away! >_< Also it looks like the designers went for too high a resolution.   The text appears very faded and stretched on 1024×768 but looks nice and sharp on higher resolutions - BUT THEN IT’S TOO SMALL! :(

        Another thing is the Zoom.   It’s somewhat pointless in my opinion.   Ctrl+Scroll now changes the zoom instead of text size.   What it does is basically collapse the entire page and force it into a smaller/large box.   This ruins the page’s layout and doesn’t necessarily scale right at all….[More]

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AOE3 Racer

October 15th, 2006 | Posted by pftq in Blabberbox | #

        Just came up with the awesome idea today for a map in Age of Empires III.   One less noted feature of the game is the fact that units slow down when being attacked.   It might be interesting therefore to have a racing game between players.   The strat would be to attack the enemy in order to slow them down, but risk stopping in order to attack, supposing you are using a ranged unit.   There would be walls along the path to allow opponents to catch up as you are attempting to bust through it.   Simultaneously, there would be bonus units you can kill (and waste time on) that would grant you XP.   Reaching certain levels of XP shall upgrade your unit.

        My idea is that you would start at a melee unit, go to a ranged unit, then to an area-damage melee unit, and finally an area-damage ranged unit.

        Of course all units would have the same speed.

     …[More]

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