Bite me!

Lately, I've been bitten by the creation bug. Its a horrible time of the year to get such a bug, as I'm incredibly busy, and I've vowed not to shirk on my holiday responsibilities like I did last year. I have managed to create some PHP pages for a friend's online game, and that's helped, but I really want to do something more than that, like write a novel, or create a D&D campaign, or some other intellect-bending undertaking.

Part of this I blame on Gunch, who asked what kind of MMO we would make if we could. I proceeded to spit out a description of a game that's been building in my head for some time.

I'd make a good space MMORPG, or attempt to make one. Something on an epic scale, with various starting planets for each race. After starting on your home planet, you go on planet-based quests to get the equipment, notoriety, and respect needed to get on a vessel, captained by another PC. The vessels would be based off of templates, but could be altered and designed in such a way that they would be unique for each vessel. Then there would be vessel based quests as well, and skill-based "stations" on the ship, like navigator, weapons tech, communications, etc. Each of these stations would have tasks that needed to be done while on mission. What quests would there be, might you ask? Well, there would be "bad guy" alien ships to fight, space stations to loot, other PC ships to attack and loot, and of course planet based missions. The ship-to-ship fights can be shoot-to-destroy, or shoot-to-loot, where your ship would try to disable the other ship so you could board it. Once a ship is boarded, hand-to-hand fighting ensues on the ship, with the uniqueness of each ship playing out in the floor plan. The planetary missions could range from the simple recon missions for a reward from your government to full on raids with dozens of ships fighting off the planetary defenses to invade and eventually take over the cities and perhaps the whole world. The planetary defenses would probably be NPC based, with PC defender ships pitching in if they're in the neighborhood. Of course there'd be faster than light speed travel, but through wormholes or space highways, like in the Freelancer game. If battling for turf isn't your fare, there's always discovery missions to find new planets. Of course, there wouldn't be FTL highways to the new stars, but there'd be an in-game mechanism to make it not so boring going through space to the new locations.
Crafting would have its form in planetary play, with the ability to craft weapons, engines, shields, or whatever for ships, as well as chemistry and physics based skills to find new technologies and alloys to give your race, or even just your team, more of an edge. Death wouldn't have a penalty, or if it did, a small penalty, but if you died on a ship, and that ship was destroyed, the ship doesn't respawn, its gone. You've got to find a new ride, or if you're the owner, you've got to raise the funds for a new one. Think about it, a whole galaxy in flux, with planets changing hands and space stations getting built, then destroyed, etc.

Oh, I'd love to be able to make this game, and really get people in to it, but I know that its beyond my scope, currently. My other aim is to make a good Harry Potter style duelling game, and I've got all sorts of ideas for that, but I don't want to reveal them at this point. I've come up with all sorts of ideas lately for some pretty cool things, including an XBox Live Arcade Sumo game, an XBLA curling game,(I think this would be REALLY popular, in some kind of weird culty way) and other weird off the wall things.

But, real life comes in to play, as it always does, and can take us away from our creativity and "free time". I'm really hoping to hear tomorrow about a possible new job, and the holidays are crazily upon us, and that's taking a toll, and I of course still have lots to do at my current job, and there are games for the 360 and Wii that I haven't played nearly enough of, and 2 seasons of Dr. Who to watch, on and on. Its all quite a mess.

In short, I've got a bug, and thank goodness its not the Norwalk Virus. Once was enough for me. Stay tuned for updates, maybe I'll have something to show in a few weeks. Or not.

Don't Call it a Comeback(Bruins Blog 2)

I've been here for years...Huh? What? LL Cool J references? At this time of night? No, its just another Bruins blog. Wow, its been a month since updating this silly thing. But if you blog and there's no-one there to read it, does it matter? Did you know that I learned how to clap with one hand, just so I could answer that philosophical question, a la bart simpson? Its darn useful. Anyway...
After starting off horrifically, the Bruins are starting to make a comeback. Well, I hate to call it a comeback, as they've just reached mediocrity, and are still of little quality. The offense, as I predicted, is starting to gel,(or is it jel? I think its gel, and that the use of jel was inspired by the demon dessert, jell-o) and actually putting up the goals. But there's still the problem of not being able to stop the other team from scoring, especially in the third period, or when they have a large lead. Give these B's a 3 goal lead, and they fall asleep. I know its happened at least 3 times this year, against Toronto, Carolina, and the Habitants of Royal Mountain most recently. And having seen two of those games, I'm here to say that it definitely wasn't the goalie's fault. The defense was just letting the opposing team take shot after shot, like some crazed sideburned samurai.
So yes, they're looking better, and are over .500, with a 13-10-2 record. Hey ESPN, would it kill you to put up a graph a la what you do for MLB? I know that hockey is now 6th on your list, below NASCAR and "Autos", and barely above college basketball, which is just beginning, but show a little love, will you?
Ugh, I just looked at the NHL Power chart on ESPN, and I think I threw up in my mouth a little. The top teams are: Buffalo,(and their horrid new logo) the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks, the Nashville Predators, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Dallas Stars. Are you kidding me? If people want to know why hockey is failing, maybe they should look to expansion and the movement away from the traditional cities. I know that Hartford, Winnipeg and Quebec aren't exactly huge markets, but I certainly would rather have a team there than in Kansas City or Oklahoma City, or Salt Lake City. Cut the team in half, and you'll see some amazing hockey, and people will start coming back to the game. Or alternatively, do what the English Premier League does, and cut the league in half, with an NHL Premier and an NHL Standard league. The worst team in the premier league goes to the standard league, and the team that wins the standard league cup moves up to the big time. I've made this same argument for baseball, and I think it shows that I like it. Yeah, it would kill me to see the Bruins be in the standard league, but thems the breaks.
Back to the Bruins. Savard is looking very good, and he's fast as lightning. He reminds me a bit of Brian Rolston from a few years ago, except without the defensive capabilities. Marc is one of the reasons they're getting burned on turnovers and defense, he's always got an eye up-ice for that elusive breakaway. Phil Kessel is trying his hardest, but isn't coming out the way I had hoped, but he's trying, and he's young. Of course, I said that about Kyle MacLaren. I think Phil may end his season in Providence, but I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. Patrice Bergeron is blazing fast, and has eagle eyes. He's got 25 points, but would have 30 if you add his pipe-ringers. I haven't seen this kind of accuracy on the Bs since Ray was here.
Speaking of the defense, no one's standing out, and I do like Zdeno Chara, but I don't think he's captain material. Why not make Glen Murray captain? Because 1)He doesn't want it, and 2)if they continue to stink, he'll be out of town before the year's end. The D is overall a young group, and they're showing it, chasing around speedy players like a cheerleader after a jock. Players like Martin St. Louis make them look stupid, as do skilled players like Rod Brin'd'Amour.
I guess I was wrong when I said that Hannu was going to be the go to guy this year, he folded like a paranoid poker player, and got sent down to the minors for it. Who's the #2 in Boston right now? No one. Timmy T is between the pipes, and is 11-6 for his efforts, which is not a bad total, until you look at his goals against, which is a manwich-sized 3.10, though his save percentage is a little better, at 90.4%. For those stattos out there, that puts our man Tim at 33rd out of 41 in GAA, but a better 23rd in percentage. He's looked better of late, but still not great.

My new prediction is a sight better than last one, but not by much. New prediction:
32-38-12, for a total of 76 points, and a 12th place finish in the East, 25ht overall. Smack dab in the middle of half-crappy land, where you don't get a great pick, but you don't get into the playoffs.