Bydood

Author: ronnguyen

  • Drawing: That random duck…

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  • How the new life is so far…

    It has been months since moving from UK to Australia. It has been crazy busy from when I moved and until now, I believe that I have come to a stage where it has kind of calmed down that I can sit back to write an update blog. It has been a while but lets go!

    So what’s changed? I started off with a bit of cash so the minute I landed, I was a little unstable but good thing that I had a place to stay so that was a huge benefit for me.

    With no time wasting, I immediately went job hunting. This initiated with a quick portfolio website for companies to see and whipping something up and looking for work, I felt like the portfolio was the key part of it all. Finding time to do it was difficult but eventually, it was complete… After an extra few days, companies started to call me and several initial tests were sent for me to do. Long story short, it came down to 2 choices where one company was interested and the other still in deciding mode but with a bit of thought, it became clear that I decided to choose the company that suited me best… So 1 month and a bit later, I was in the working life.

    So now the job was clear and out of the way, it came back into looking to find time for my projects, which were put on hold for so long. This became a little difficult as I gave the job priority. It was rather hard to find time since I did a few late nights and stuff but recently, my weekends have now freed up opening time for development.

    My progress now lies at a point where a new project that I thought of a while back can now jump into motion. At the same time, I have given more thought into a web project in collaboration with my brother so with that, I will be busy for the next few months. This is a great feeling as personal development starts here!! This deserves a smiley :).

    In another topic, networking is starting to look better. I am beginning to see a clearer forecast of friendly people to hangout with and stuff. Although this is still a small number, it should rise if I let loose but like I said, it’s only been a few months so let’s see in another fe months to find out where I get to…

    The games part of me have played a bigger role lately. Specifically, the Wii U is the console played most. I suppose I never really saw the potential in the beginning for the Wii U but with the recent games especially Mario Kart 8 (and of course, the multiplayer experience), it changes my whole opinion about the console itself. Maybe I am living in the good old days where play games next to people just makes a game 10 times more enjoyable. Whatever the case, it creates a great diversion away from the world.

    Moving on to a social topic, I ran into a few friends down in Melbourne to see how they were in the weekend. They were friends that I have known for years (since secondary school) and we all decided to redezvous in Australia! It was pleasant seeing these faces again and we had a great time just catching up and hopping from bar to bar. I guess I haven’t really had one of these nights since London but it was sure a good feeling that I was experiencing my first time in Melbourne with these guys! So if you guys are reading this, thanks for that weekend! It was awesome!

    So to sum up my entire time over in Australia, I guess I have been enjoying my time over here so far. The people are pretty nice, work environment is a splendid place to work in and the general networking is slowly happening making everyday a moment to remember. I did start off a little scared moving from a space I was once very comfortable in to an entirely new life but it is growing on me…

    Thanks for reading guys and I will try post more often. Until next time…

  • Kirby: Triple Deluxe – Nintendo 3DS – Review

    Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the Nintendo 3DS version, is actually the first Kirby game I have tried and playing from start to finish, I can give a full review of it.

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    The game is developed in a 3D environment but keeping the retro feel by preserving the controls two dimensional. Considering the fact that I have only experienced Kirby controls on Super Smash Bros., the game feels the same when attacking enemies and avoiding the pits of death by inflating the pink bubblegum into the air (one problem: you can puff up Kirby infinitely so although some people will like this, I feel like the challenge decreases as you can float into the air throughout the entire stage).

    The layout of the stages and the interactivity of the game really challenges you ESPECIALLY when you are trying to get all of the Sun Stones and if you fail to comply, you are forced to either die and try again or complete the stage and do it again. I am the type to see that if a stage is not complete with 100% satisfaction, I prefer to do it again.

    It really keeps the player immersed with the variety of weapons Kirby can change into and the challenge of the puzzles. The game is very nicely laid out keeping the “learning as you play” formula. Also, there are some unexpected twists to the environment around every corner that surprised me.

    I feel there was a lot of thought considered into this game. I do believe that the cut scenes could have been good with some voice acting and I was rather disconnected from the storyline but truthfully, the gameplay really made up for those minor disadvantages.

    As a person, this game really fits my category of gaming as I enjoy my fair share of retro gaming. If I was to give a rating, it would be a good 9/10.

  • Experience with TFL!

    I generally never write or even complain much about public transport although there may be certain times where I mention how annoying delays kick in without any reason from TFL. But this one time, I experienced a service I was not satisfied with…

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    Firstly, I’d like to mention my smart watch I purchased a while back. So this is a Sony Smart Watch where it gives you the capability to connect your phone to this device using Bluetooth. You’re able to read tweets from Twitter, statuses from Facebook, a trigger to call your phone in case you lose it… Oh and obviously look at the time. Although there are a few drawbacks to this device but I won’t go through it now. Anyway, back to the story.

    So in the morning around 8.40am, I was on my way to work and usually I travel from national rail, and then 2 underground trains. On the first underground station, I was prepared to get off and as usual, I am readying myself to pace to the exit as soon the doors open to get off the train. As the train door opens, I shot out with my foot onto the platform and my arm swinging pass the door. As my arm passed the door, my watch clipped on to the edge of the door resulting the watch to drop on to the side of the tracks. Here is one thing I did not mention – the smart watch was made of two parts: the wrist band and the watch itself. It gives you an option to detach the smart watch from the wrist band and clip it somewhere else.

    Seeing my small white smart watch on the side of the track, I could identify directly where it is and was very much annoyed with my action. I could even just jump down right there and then to pick it up but two things stopped me from doing that. The first being that it’s dangerous and secondly, a poster is plastered around the tube stations saying somewhere along the lines of: If you have dropped an item onto the track, have a little patience and speak to a member of staff. Trusting this poster, I marched to a member of staff on the same platform and described precisely what happened and said what can he do about it. He took down my details and told me that I should return back the next day to claim my little smart watch. Reason that he couldn’t get it immediately is because as I said before, it was dangerous to do it at that time seeing that it was rush hour and all but in the evening, the tracks will be free so a member of staff can check the tracks. Also, I couldn’t wait around as I had work so I left it and trusted them.

    The very next day, I followed the member of staffs advice which was to go upstairs and ask someone for a supervisor. So I found someone who was able to help me and he told me that he will check. I assumed there was a box of lost stuff so I described precisely what I lost just to put emphasis that the thing they are looking for in this box did not look like a watch, it was a clip on watch. About 10 minutes of waiting, I was told that no one checked the track last night! He told me “We logged it in the book for someone to check the track but I don’t think anyone did so you will have to check tomorrow”! WTF!? As patient as I am, I replied “Okay that is fine however, can I just double check that you have my details”. They confirmed it in the book and so I went off to work.

    The next day, returning back to the same place at the supervisors office, I bumped into “Supervisor Andy”. I told him my situation thinking “Yep… This is the last time I’ll be doing this” and he said “Ok, let me check for you”. He went to the back to check and came back saying “Nope. Nothing there and it seems like no one checked the track again…”. Standing there like a right muppet, I told him “Oooookayyyy. So what can I do about this?” He tells me “Can you go down to the platform and take a look to see if your smart watch is still there? If it is, I’ll just jump down and get it for you!” So hang on a minute, these people made me wait 2 WHOLE DAYS and then giving me a conclusion that if it is STILL THERE, they will jump down to get it at RUSH HOUR on a FRIDAY!? With my head firing out so many questions in my head, I accepted his quest to journey through the huge amount of people rushing to get to work versus me walking the opposite direction just to check. As to no surprise, the smart watch is gone. Returning back to the supervisor empty handed, he goes on to say “Ok you’re not going to like what I am about to say next…” At this point, I really didn’t care anymore. He says “You will have to fill out an online form indicating that there is a lost item”.

    After all this, I have accepted that I will never see this smart watch EVER AGAIN.

    So, my final thought is: Don’t make “have patience and get a member of staff” posters… You just make us look like a mug when you don’t do anything about it! Thanks TFL…

  • One push in the right direction…

    It has been a while since I have written about myself and quite frankly, it’s all building up in my head that I need to release some of it on this blog so I can discard the thoughts and think fresh.

    So what have I been up to?

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    My attempt to accomplish my projects is just laughable. They seem to be increasing more and more! The thought of just how many there are makes me a little pissed off. Why haven’t I been doing it? It’s the overwhelming fact that work is draining my energy altogether. My sleeping pattern have completely changed and the motivation has decreased. There was one motivating day where it gave me the mental push I really needed.

    I don’t usually go to salons to get haircuts however, my last experience was cosy and thought that I would try it again seeing that the barbers are always full of people and although the price is twice as expensive, it was definitely worth it and I am going to explain why…

    So firstly, I had the most amazing head massage and made me feel at ease. This made my thoughts gather all at once and made me think clearly once again, as though my mind was reset to null. After this awesomeness, it was time for the main haircut. So I had the privilege of getting my haircut from the owner of the business. It started with a conversation from what I currently do. Then it went on to telling him my thoughts on what I really wanted to get into: Gaming. That’s where it started to get interesting.

    We went on to discussing this one guy who basically had a life with people doubting him however, he ignored all those people and continued becoming one of the most successful people in the world. I relate to this because I spend my time just caring about what other people think and end up forgetting my idea.

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    Continuing on, the conversation moved swiftly to pinball machines. So we discussed about how there were a small audience in the world where people are just so into these things and I must admit, I was surprised. I suppose I have been in my own world that I guess I never really analysed the world enough to even consider what is happening and just the thought of this small audience just means that there are plenty of other small communities waiting for the next big thing to be released for them.

    Finally, the conversation ended with gaming. We started speaking about how game ideas just pop up randomly, EVEN if it is just a small bug in a game, the bug can be altered to create a great game. The trick is to just create whatever you feel like creating and you will find even more inspiration. Like they say, ‘learn by doing’.

    After exiting this salon, my motivation was on high and I was just excited to get home and start developing.

    Now I’m going to explain why these 3 points of the conversation fired me up.

    ‘The doubt’ of others can be really off putting and although you can try convince yourself not to do things because of the one or several comments you received were negative, the inner troll embedded in your head just keeps poking at you and eventually crack! The result? Give up. I suppose my best method to stop being put off from my projects is just to keep it to myself and just do what I feel like doing and not speak a word of it until it is finished.

    ‘Pinball machines’… What made me wonder is that even though the biggest ideas are taken, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all is lost. In other words, these small communities are hoping for someone to create something for them and they will throw good words to their friends and families if proven worthy of it. The motivation actually pushed further and made me want to fulfil these small holes we have in this world.

    Lastly, the ‘game talk’. I suppose the gaming part of me have always been there and whenever someone asks me what my dream job would be, I immediately imagine myself wanting to strive in the gaming industry or better yet, having a small community just talking about a game that I was somehow involved with.

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    So there you have it! A great conversation that happened for one whole hour (or more) but what makes this one conversation stand out from all the other motivational conversations I had? I guess it all just dumbs down to the hook of the conversation. He backed up all his answers in such a way that really got me putting myself in the situations. I suppose it is just the way he expressed his words. He seemed rather regretful since he mentioned how it is too late for him to be the successful man he wanted to be. For that reason, I would like to thank him and probably try even harder to accomplish all I have… Before it is too late…

    Photo Credits:
    .reid. via photopin cc
    stargardener via photopin cc
    ktpupp via photopin cc

  • Too hard to choose between tablets or laptops

    So it has come to my attention that laptops and tablets are now rising in the market and the thing is that although a laptop signifies the possibility of graphical edge, it does not suit the portability crowd however, finding the perfect portable device (tablet or ultra thin laptops) means that it will lack processing power and the usage of graphics will be shared with Random Access Memory (RAM).

    So the question is: Should I buy a laptop or a tablet?

    The bigger question is “What will you be using it for?”

    Here is my opinion on this:
    Laptops with high specifications hold a great deal of components meaning that when running games or applications that require a big mass of math calculations, it will run smoothly however, if you are the type of person who uses these types of applications a lot, I would recommend a desktop… The main benefit of a laptop which is why we all want one is so that we can take it around with us.
    A tablet, which nowadays hybrids are being introduced, are mainly to carry around and optimised the battery long enough to use away from a power supply. Also, the touch screens make it easier to navigate rather than the little touch pad laptops provide…
    Moderate users who do use a mixture between just browsing, typing up documents, watching films or requiring a little photo editing, an ultra thin laptop or even a tablet will suffice.

    Shopping for these devices are quite head aching and there is no specific answer to it. Just comes down to personal preference.

    A way to choose your device

    Pricing is a whole new story. Given all the online stores, it is a radical difference. Tablets being almost the same price as a very high specification laptop however, tablets currently carry a low end specification but handles day to day activities excessively well. But as the diagram displays, its up to you where you want to be.

    Laptops are a hard choice! Tablets can even be difficult… So it boils down to weight, price, size and keyboard.

    Here are my top 3 choices of laptop hybrids:

    Microsoft-Surface-Pro-2 Acer-Aspire-P3 Sony-Duo-13
    Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Acer Aspire P3 Sony VAIO Duo 13

    And then my top 3 choices of portable laptops:

    Sony-Vaio-Pro-13 Samsung-Series-9-Notebook Asus-UX31
    Sony VAIO Pro 13 Samsung Series 9 Notebook Asus UX31 Zenbook

    But if you were to ask me which one I would choose, I choose a hybrid laptop. It completes both worlds for me which is what I’ve chosen to date today!

    This post is for those who are confused. I hope this sheds some form of light towards your problem…

  • First glance at GTA 5

    Grand Theft Auto 5 is amongst us and having grabbed my copy on the first day of release, I managed to start playing it this weekend and here are my thoughts…

    I haven’t played it to its fullest just yet. I will give this a full review when I complete it but give my opinion in regards to where I am now…

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    The game dives straight into the action allowing players to be engaged immediately and in order to learn the controls, GTA grabs our attention with a ‘learn by doing’ approach which is very typical in the gaming era. However, it is a great way to learn the controls and is simple to get hooked. As the game proceeds, you get the entire understanding of aiming, shooting, running, hiding and getting into a car in the little 5 minute situation. The game is straight forward if you have played any GTA series before.

    The game is so far a great game with all the little extra things they put in. Seeing that the last GTA game I actually played was in fact Vice City and I enjoyed that game to the very end. From seeing GTA: VC to the 5, it’s obviously a huge improvement in graphics but more importantly, the game carries several different personalities in terms of characters (especially Trevor)… The consistency has been kept as well as the controls making players feel familiar and it is definitely a game worth trying out. The part that most people do is start messing around with the police mechanics in the game just to try see how long they last for…

    From this short review, I give it a 8/10 so far. Definitely beats the last few iterations of the GTA series… For me anyways…

  • What’s with all the haters?

    What’s with all the haters?
    So here is what I gathered. Haters are basically individuals who like to put their point of view towards a certain someone who they disagree in whatever they are doing. In other words, these people like to be the ones who like to put other spirits down when it is not necessary to.

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    I suppose it is quite nice for someone to be honest and give out their opinions but too much of it can make one feel like they should give up.

    I guess this is a two way street:
    – The person who is being hated should stay positive and not let it bother them
    – The person who is hating should let their opinions out but at least with a valid reason

    When an argument starts in regards to this matter, it occasionally gets ugly and starts making the other person think twice about what they are doing. If it is an argument, that just means that the two people have different views and have a 30% chance of getting them to agree with each other. Why spend that time trying to get your point across when the conversation can move onto something more positive?

    We, humans, cannot control ourselves when it comes to firing our mouths off when it’s not necessary however, in some cases it is a good thing to hear, taking it too far is another story.
    Now this post was not just a random one… The reason for this post is due to the fact that whether the person is a musician, an actor, a director or whatever, there comes a point in their lives where they end up in the news or articles with one of their pitfalls in life and for this very same reason that fans stop following them and begin hating on them. They believe that they are supporting the stuff read on the news when buying their product in the shop!

    A little silly don’t you think?

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    Here is an example. When we buy an album, we are simply supporting their passion, not what they have done in their lives! Haters would ask “Why did you buy their album? Don’t you know what he/she did!?” Gossip is not what gets me to decide to buy an album… It is the music and beat that I look for.
    I suppose what really triggered me to write this post was the YouTube comments I disagree with and also, artists who really deserve a lot more credit but ends up with no attention because of their history.

    I suppose I can’t change how other people feel as they are who they are but I just want to send out my view to the world.

    Stay positive…

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  • Programming in today’s world…

    Here’s a brief history about my experience in programming. I walked down a path of many different programming languages where I got to adapt to platforms that were unfamiliar to me… I went from Visual Basic, to Java, then to PHP with MySQL, and then finishing with C++. Programming languages are amazing in my opinion and rather interesting. However, nowadays, it seems like things are getting a lot simpler for people to develop programs. Sometimes, you don’t even need to write a single line of code! Seeing as that is the situation, with the right documentation and tutorials, creating games or applications has become so simple to a point that anyone can do it. All it requires is patience and motivation.

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    Creating applications can be quite fun since everything is laid out for you but there are other times when it is better when you have that flexibility to create particular objects yourself. These third party solutions have led me to decrease my skills in development and I am forced to develop programs from scratch to keep myself up-to-date.

    The last thing I created with a third party tool is a game written in C++ called Marmalade. They gave the opportunity that you can port your games or applications from C++ to any mobile device on the market. For my case, I was able to create 2 simple games and release it on the Apple App Store. This did give me the advantage to ease myself into C++ and use object oriented programming which was rather fun to code in.

    Now that I am a web developer, I am forced to develop random stuff in my spare time so I do not forget the basic principles in programming; although I am aware that it is at the back of my head somewhere.

    Not long after this development, I discovered Unity which was based more of a drag and drop development and minor effort of programming however, they do give you the option to code in C# which is rather nice. The good thing is that if programming is at its minimum, it just means more creative games will be released with minimal effort which is good and bad. Good that it creative ideas are shown quickly for others to see but bad because programmers such as me cannot appreciate the programming of the game, like the good old days…

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    Speaking of programming, it seems like the books are slowly disappearing from our ways of teaching. Books were a great source and now it is taken over by the internet. Don’t get me wrong… The Google search bar is an excellent tool and I probably use it at least once every day and it is free so why spend money if you can get information for free? It is the same question as why do we prefer internet news instead of magazines? It is because we don’t like to be using our screens all the time and our eyes need to divert to something else. Also, stumbling across something that you don’t know is highly likely just by flicking pages in a book… I believe books still have a big role at this present day so book stores… PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE DOWN!

    To summarise, this is not me complaining about the way how things are, I am only just specifying how I used to program and learn and it has changed quite a big deal! Quick development is great but slower and optimising the code to every angle is a great accomplishment and truth be told, I haven’t had that kind of feeling in a long time. Maybe some point when I actually complete a project is where I will feel that sensation once again but I suppose time will tell…

    For those who want to develop games or an application, there are loads of tools out there… Just search for them……. With Google….

  • Thoughts about gaming today

    There are so many perspectives when the category ‘gaming’ is spoken of. Generally, games have evolved to a large audience compared to how it was before. The game industries have made a great impact to the world but is it all for the best?

    XBox Hamster

    I am a fan of playing games but have toned down a big amount compared to back then. It used to be the routine to wake up early to play and end the day with playing a few more hours but I was not as hardcore as other gamers. I can’t quite pinpoint as to what happened to me and what got me to stop playing games as much now. Maturity? Realisation of other things happening in the world? Or just the fact that I don’t like change?!

    Gaming has changed completely with a different audience it once had. With genres introduced and more coming…

    My view on gaming is that games are great at passing time or killing time. But I would never come to a point where I’ll assign it as a religion! It also has come to a point where they make a huge deal about connecting with people, e-shops and the cloud. These things are very convenient but also encourages the behaviour ‘sit on your ass all day in front of a screen’. I know this because I am part of this disease too. Escaping this realm is very difficult but it’s all about self control and remembering that you have a passion in life.

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    I recently got back into gaming and I feel like I cannot play a single game properly anymore. However, playing multiplayer with mics gives you twice the amount of engagement! One thing I love about multiplayer gaming is that there is a limitation. If your friends are not online or the gamers are boring to play with, I can easily divert my attention to something else that is not gaming related allowing me to continue with the more vital things in life.

    One game that I actually sat down to complete properly was Tomb Raider. The game just kept having cliff hangers over and over again that kept me immersed throughout the entire game. Although I caught several bugs, it was easily ignored and felt like I grew to understand how Lara felt during her wild adventure. With the feeling of the sequel being released, hinted by Lara’s thoughts at the end, it is definitely a must buy from me…

    Consoles have now come to a point where it connects to you in a personal way. It predicts stuff like what you might be interested in. These kind of things are again, very convenient but hypnotises you temporarily that it is something you must have making you use money. Personally, I prefer the old days where we go to our local shops and find a game by just reading the back of a cover or reading in a magazine but the beneficial factor that it is sitting online and pricing is cheaper online, it pushes me to support the online team…

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    Summarising this is rather difficult but being as it is, the old days made gaming a whole load of fun. The days where we play together in the same room, buying games from shops, the discovery of games… Those days were much more exciting than the choices we have now. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the new features nowadays but if I were to choose, I’d probably go back…