GG: Solace

Greetings and Salutations,

To explain the absence of posts recently, I refer you to the image below:

Essentially, where the story is now I know how to get the characters where they are going, I know where the characters are going, I know when the characters are going, I know why the characters are going, I even know  what will happen next, I just don't know how to make it interesting to you up to the next interesting bit. Hence the Writer's Block. So instead of boring you all with a continued wait until the end of this Writer's Block Siege, I will start a different topic.

As you all might have heard, my degree, my current job, and my planned career course is in video game design as such, I play a lot of games. I mean, a lot of games. And since I'm in college and don't have a whole bunch of money to spend, I play a lot of free games. Well, it seems to be pretty hard to find good free games nowadays, I mean, a person can go onto any number of free flash game sites and try to find good games, and occasionally you might, but there are too many overused ideas with only slight variations or twists that set it apart from the original to make it fun. Therefore, each post will start out with a brief overview of what the game is, and then I will provide a link to the game. This will be followed by a deeper look into what makes the game good compared to all the other games out there, and I will probably have spoilers as well.

Today's topic is going to be Solace, a great, but short, game developed by a four man team from the DigiPen Institute of Technology. It is a Scrolling Shooter, somewhat like an updated version of Galaga, with a little bit more movement involved. The developers labeled it a Bullet Hell, but do to my personal experience with Bullet Hells, there are far too few bullets on screen per second for it to adequately comply with the requirements for that, though the movements allowed are the same. It is a free downloadable game, and although I have only played it once, it will remain loaded on my computer for a long long time. It is mandatory that you turn on your speakers and listen as you play....

Parent Site: http://solacegame.com/
Download Site: http://solacegame.com/?page_id=7

|-Okay, only a little bit of a spoiler here.-|

If you didn't get it from the level names, or the quotes, this game is about the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I think this game does a great job of portraying them, using the visuals, the music, and the minimal but helpful quotes. This is what many people in the game business refer to as "games as art". And for about a half an hour I sat here trying to determine how I would explain what games as art is shortly. I'll devote my next post to that, and believe me, it'll take me a whole post, I'm very passionate about the subject. But anyways, This is a game that any person that has gone through any significant amount of grief can directly appreciate and connect with. I personally felt as if I was experiencing it all again, which can both be good and bad, but I have to say that getting all the way through this game does not simply give you the satisfaction of having beaten another game, it can give a sense of victory over yourself as well. ::Disclaimer:: Personal Satisfaction not Guaranteed. I do recommend this game though, it truly will remain a part of my desktop background obscurers for some time.

Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis

P.S. I figured GG was a good title to have, considering its use as the IM term for "good game".

It's the Black Spot!!!

"Dear goodness help you, lady."

"Hu, how long do I have, when will I start to feel it, the transforming?" stammered Karina questioningly.

"We don't know for certain the exact length of time, but..."

"Spit it out already!" yelled Ethan, shaking both in annoyance at the long delay and fear for the nearly unknown person he helped to save and who, it seems, is now in certain doom.

"Well, we plot it at around four days starting from the first time sunlight hits the infected portion."

"Then we only need to keep her inside then, right?" asked Kaley, visibly relieved at the news, then immediately tensing again at the next news.

"No, unfortunately even wood and concrete can't completely block out sunlight, leaving her here would commit her immediately to her fate."

"Oh goodness," cried Kaley, tears springing to her tears, Karina at the news went limp, going into deep shock at this news.

"Wait, you said 'leaving her here' would do that, is there another option?" asked Ethan.

"Very quick, you caught on to that very quickly. Yes, we can take her to my main base and we have a containment unit there that is made out of a special material that completely blocks out sunlight, as well as sound. If we were to put her in there, she would be safe."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Yelled Kaley, struggling to her feet attempting to carry the limp Karina.

"Unfortunately, my base of operations is too far away, and since we cannot use any vehicles that have internal combustion engines in it as long as the Drakt are here, we must walk the distance, a journey of two days, or in this case, due to the season it will be pushing it to get it done in three nights, and that is if we wait until tomorrow."

"Then there is no hope for her," mumbled Kaley, sinking back down with Karina.

"Normally, yes. Fortunately, I came prepared for this possibility, and for other reasons too... I actually am carrying a spare portable version of our containment unit," at this, Lieutenant Colonel Mcdouglas pulled a wrapped black tent-like object, "if you will open this and have Karina get in, she will be protected, unless something tears it, until tomorrow night."

Ethan grunted as he caught the tossed containment tent, "wow, this thing is really heavy."

"Now you understand why it has to be so thin. It's really heavy, but all it takes is a little pressure to tear it and at that point all is lost for the person inside."

"So what then? how do we make sure she stays safe?" asked Kaley, putting Karina down and moving to help Ethan put the tent up.

"You must stay up and keep watch, here is a paper for any authorities that arrive, and here is another shield device, it looks like this man..."

"Ethan," he interjected.

"I see, it looks like Ethan can teach you to use that."

"But what about you?" asked Kaley.

At this, Lieutenant Colonel McDouglas held up the palm of his left hand, which held a small dark spot on it, "I have been marked too, and am infected, which is why I carry two of the containment units."

"But then, that means...!" exclaimed Kaley.

"Yes, you must stay awake, all day, to assure that she, and I, are kept safe. All day, by yourselves."


Greetings and Salutations,

Well, as I'm sure you all noticed that I did not post my story post last week. This I blame on my friends for not bugging me enough about it. Tis their fault and rests not at all upon my laziness and non inclination towards posting on time. Anyways, for some reason this post was causing me trouble. I just couldn't figure out how to have the middle in there and then the end was just causing me pain. Shall I end it here? No, there. Wait, but here is better. ARGH. At one point I even started a whole different type of post, a sort of throwback to what I used to do, but then I came back to this (that's still saved so you may still see it one day). Anyways, there ya go, a post, happy?

Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis

A Little Glimpse to Bide Me Time

Greetings and Salutations,

This upcoming week I will hopefully post another of the story posts, I'm sure one of my friends who deeply cares about this blog will continue reminding me about it until I do. But in the meantime, I have a little personal update for you. I just finished my Sophomore year of college in game design, and have developed quite a few very small, not fun at all, games to get by all the many assignments involved. Bored with that, I joined to create Chimaera Games with a friend, and we are currently developing (or for the ones who have been following since the very beginning, resuming development) a single player turn based strategy game, similar to the Fire Emblem series, named Renegades of Flame. Unfortunately though, we both hold other jobs and are both in school, so getting together to work on it is difficult and so development on that will probably be slow. However, my mind recently spawned a great new idea that I am going to be running with shortly. It is a hybrid text based and graphic game based around a community of different types. And I leave you with the original concept to the game, written by me. 

Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis



It happened before anybody could learn anything, one moment everyone was driving or eating or watching TV, then next thing everyone heard, the radio was telling everyone to get to a nuclear shelter as fast as they can. The few that survived that blast returned to the surface to learn from the few military survivors that moments before the attack struck, America struck back. It seems, from what limited intelligence was gathered, that a group of  physicists, Russian, Indian, and Chinese, had joined together in Upper Mongolia, each dissatisfied with their countries, and amassed an arsenal of nuclear devices, both those that they designed themselves, and others that they 'liberated' from their respective countries. The terrorists were annihilated as well, as far as we can tell, but before the satellite dishes were destroyed we were receiving reports and emergency transmissions from every first world country in the world, and in addition to that the satellite images showed missiles streaking to every part of the world, striking the capitol cities and nearly all other major cities of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Europe, North and South America, and Australia. There is hope that at least a few of the US's military bases around the world were able to halt a portion of the barrage of missiles, but prospects of them being able to defend both the cities they are near and themselves are not high due to the incredibly high pace set by the  terrorist movement in their attack.

And as if that wasn't enough, here, just outside Atlanta, we had the worse problem of the CDC. One would have thought that the high heat would have destroyed the malignant viruses and other bacterium housed within its' walls, but no, the housings were designed to be kept safe in case of emergency attack. The concrete was too thick and the blast too far away to cause enough heat through all the many layers of protection to destroy them. However, the earthquake immediately following the blast shattered many containment units, shards of rock and glass ripped many HAZMAT suits, and the screaming people left the building before they had noticed what they had done. The first of these carriers swept over the remaining towns, looking for some way to get inside a shelter before the fallout rained down upon them. We lost several men who went down in a shelter that had been opened to a carrier. They yelled for us to close and lock the door when they reached the bottom. The things they told us...... They screamed for two days, their minds gone mad with the horrible agony from this potent evil concoction and the terror of dying surrounded by this unimaginably evil visage of death, the works of this cocktail of the world's most deadly and horrifying diseases and viruses. We marked the door in red paint we found nearby, hoping another group wouldn't be so stupid as to do what we did.

Life is completely different now. Life is exactly the same. Sure, we don't drive to work in a cubicle every day from nine to five, come home and sit in front of the TV watching reruns before switching to the latest football game. We now go out and work from nine to five rebuilding the barricades and fortifications. Some work in the fields, some write down what they recall from books they read and merit badges they earned, almost all of us work on innovation and I..... well, someone's got to go out to the store occasionally. I'm the king, the master, the... well, not really, I'm just the one that protects everyone else. I'm the one that trains and leads some of my fellow survivors in battle against the various new problems that arise in this society. I'm the one who leads out foraging parties to gather much needed supplies to build the next genius invention, or rebuild from a flood, or help versus a sickness, or just to bring home the bacon. I'm the liaison with the other communities of survivors.

I'm the one...... who needs your command.




Minutes After Midnight
-new hybrid video game trilogy
--   coming, eventually...   --

The Call to Justice and Honor

"My name is Kasyn, Kasyn Mauri."

"Wait... Kasyn.... Daren, isn't that the name of Taine's squad leader?"

"I heard you say Taine's name back in the orifice, how do the two of you know Taine?" asked Kasyn.

"...sigh... he was the one that brought the two of us together and created the friendship we now hold so dearly." Came the reply from Daren, "He brought us together, taught us all we know, trained us both physically and mentally, and gave us the skills, abilities, and materials to both protect and return the fight to the Drakt. He was our teacher, our friend, and was our leader all those years ago when we destroyed the first orifice at camp Smoothbark."

"He left less than a week after that, leaving us his tools to help the next people and telling us that he would keep in touch, but nothing ever came of that, we never heard from him again." Said Jaison, shaking his head at the ground.

"So you two are the ones he talked about... interesting," pondered Kasyn, looking more intently at the two, "Looks like my trip had added benefits."

"So you are Taine's squad leader! He told us he was under you... how is he? Are we going to be able to join his team and work with him?" questioned Jaison eagerly.

"Taine is....." Kasyn looked deep into the eyes of Jaison and hesitated.

"What?" asked Jaison.

"Taine retired last year, he was my best team leader, and I am looking for a good replacement for him, in fact, my entire team has left and I am looking into recruiting new squad members."

"Well, I believe you can count us in, Kasyn, he trained us well, and we already have a good deal of experience in taking down the Drakt." Daren said as he looked back down the road towards the hidden mouth of the orifice."

"Yeah, we're sorry to hear that Taine left, but we'll do our best to be even better than he was."

"You'll have to do your very best, I accept you as new members of my new squad. We must now continue back to the camp, no more talking for now, we must save all of our energy to the trek ahead, it's long."

"Yes Sir!" Came the chorused responses from the two young men standing before Kasyn.

Eye Opening? Or Just More to Learn

"Jaison...? Daren...? Is that you?"

Ethan edged slowly towards the shattered remains of the thin wooden door that had once led to the back storage and delivery room. Looking through the door, he gave an involuntary gasp at the carnage inside. Boxes torn open, pieces of plastic wrap covering everything, a thin layer of dust that might once have been cardboard boxes covers everything. The refrigerator in the back for employees, an old one made out of metal, stands dented all over with a big hole in the front straight through the door. A black softly pulsing mass, almost fluidlike, kind of like your dear grandmother's turkey gravy, is splatted all over the room, with what looks like a trail leading both to and from the back loading dock. A man stands in the middle of the room, covered in a heavy hazardous material suit, examining the trail out of the room.

"Who are you?" Demanded Ethan, raising the shield in his hands threateningly.

The man jumped and spun around, "My apologies, I didn't know anyone was still alive here."

"Well we are!" yelled Kaley, supporting Karina, "and if we don't get some answers soon..."

"You may put the inhibitor down, it doesn't work on humans," The man said to Ethan, who had begun making threatening gestures with the shield, "and yes, I am human, and I am Lieutenant Colonel McDouglas." Making a sweeping gesture with his hand around the room he added, "and this, is the Drakt."

"The what? This black stuff?" Ethan asked, making a move towards a large splotch of it on the wall.

"Don't touch it!" Yelled the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Wait.... What happens if we touch it?" Questioned Kaley, still holding Karina.

Shaking his head sadly, the Lieutenant turns from looking at the spot Ethan had moved towards, "After a while you die, not in the way most people think, which is that you are simply dead. In a way, you are still alive, you can think, you can feel, you can see, but that is all. The Drakt slowly begins taking over the processes in your body. Some bodies simply become nutrients for the breeders of the Drakt, your body slowly being broken down and passed into the orifice, but others are used as soldiers, augmented by the Drakt inside them, or carriers, looking just like us but invisibly controlled and passing Drakt to others."

"Does... does this happen... one hundred percent of the time that you touch it? How much do you have to touch?" Asked Karina, a little shakily, as Kaley starts slowly shivering.

"Yes, as far as we can tell it does, and it doesn't matter how small.... why do you ask?"

Karina simply points to a large black spot on Kaley's hand.

"Dear goodness help you, lady."


Greetings and Salutations,

Nice to be doing this again, though I cannot promise it will be every week, I'm in a more difficult and time consuming university so I'll do the best I can. I'm thinking no more Saturday posts for a bit, but we'll see how that goes. I might start switching off topics every week, one week another bit of the story, the next a more.... traditional post for me. Well, until next time,

Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis

Inverse Light

"Jaison?.... Jaison?...."

"Ugh.... Daren, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, Daren.... you okay?"

"Yeah, ugh.... everything hurts."

"Can you move?"

"No, you?"

"Nope.... but we aren't dead.... odd...."

...

"Daren? Are those really, you know,..."

"Yes, Jaison, they are... I don't know why they are here, I don't know why they are following us, I don't know how they escaped, but they are, they did, and they're here."

"....Well, we've taken care of them once before already, remember? and with our greater skills now, surely it should be easier, I mean, we were only ten or eleven back then at that camp...."

"Yes, but back then we had Taine, neither of us knew what we were doing and only he knew what they even were. He brought us together, taught us everything, lead us, and in the end was the one to destroy them."

"But Taine left for New York; remember, Daren?"

"Yeah, I remember, he barely even said goodbye, never gave us an address, I don't even remember his last name....."

"Hey! You got free, Daren!"

"Jaison.... no I didn't."

"....Then you might want to know that I am feeling what seems to be a human hand on mine working on freeing me."

"Shhhhh...."

"Daren, I'm free now, try not to talk too much, I just got shushed by whatever, or whoever, just freed me."

"It must be working on me too, because I feel like I can move a little bit more as well.... I'm free. And now it is leading me to stand up. Quick, Jaison! Grab my hand. It's leading me somewhere!"

"Gotcha, and it feels like out... there is definitely a breeze coming from this direction."

"Shut up already, you two..."

....

"Can we talk now? It's also getting brighter, and I for one am tired of being silent, Daren can understand."

"Yeah, you never shut up, that hasn't changed at all in the nine years I've known you."

"Yes, you can talk, now."

"Then if you don't mind me asking, who are you? I am Jaison and this is Daren, how did you come to be in there? Why did you free us? Where are we going? Are you a friend or foe?"

"I understand your point of view, Daren, now. I went into the orifice to save the two of you so that you could help me in my battle. We are heading back to my camp, and I like to think of myself as a friend."

"Jaison, doesn't the way he speak bring back memories? Who are you?"

"My name, is Kasyn. Kasyn Mauri."


Greetings and Salutations,

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I've gotten a little sidetracked with other things, including hanging out with my Girlfriend and doing school, so you can bring all of your complaints to them... they won't take them though. So suck it up. Or just keep reading and having fun, that's what I do, except the writing side of it. Well, I'm glad to be back writing, lessee how long it lasts this time.


Until next time, lemme know what you think down there in the comment section, if you like it, ideas for what should happen next, etc.


Farewells and Valedictions,
Eoin Anndra Davis

Synopsis Number 1

Greetings and Salutations,

Today is the first of hopefully many synopses pertaining to the blog. We'll take a look at which video readers thought was the best, which words and sentences were the best, and put up a list of what posts went up. Let's start with the various winners,

The video winner is Kladblog: "Some Awesome things, to which this YouTube links to: YouTube.

The most loved word is Quiescent, used post-humously by our beloved word user 'Tom Bombadil Memorizer'.

The most loved sentence is "The leader only palliated the problem instead of removing it, which caused prolonged tribulation." which was used by my fellow retired TBCRH poster 'The Professor'.

An honorable mention is the word "Shazam" which was voted on by the poster 'Arjo Bruijnes', though because it wasn't one of the words we were voting on it doesn't win. I place it up here as an honorable mention because the theme of the next seven words I will give you will be words that aren't actually considered real words but that we use anyways, like shazam.

So now you know both the winners and the new word theme, but lemme tell you the new theme for videos. The new theme will be nerd centered music that has been released mainly to the YouTube crowd. You can look forward to that starting up next week, as well as the new theme. And before I end this, I will give you a synopsis, like I used to do with TBCRH. 

On March 16th, I discussed blogging with regards to courtesy.

On March 23rd, I discussed wikis with regards to courtesy.

On April 13th, I discussed hacking with regards to courtesy.

On May 11th, I discussed nerd caves.

On May 18th, I discussed the entirety of web courtesy and the final law.

On May 25th, I copped out of doing a post by asking you to tell me my new series.

On August 15th, I started my new series with a storyline.

On August 24th, I continued the storyline and added two new members, Ethan and Kaley.

On August 31st, I continued the storyline within the gas station.

Thanks for a great time posting and talking to you all.

Farewells and Valedictions,

Eoin Anndra Davis