Well, I'm bored and decided that after almost 3 months away a blog post was due... in fact it is well overdue... and thus here I am yet agian typing about whatever I care to type about. There's no particular theme or topic I am writing about this time, just a general update on things that have happened in the world of Adam (and even then there's not exactly a lot).
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So first things first lets talk about why there has been such a massive gap between my blog posts, basically as stated in my last blog post (excluding my UDK tutorial which was done out of helpfulness rather than desire) I finished my blog assignment back at the beginning of May and then finished my 1st year on Uni entirely on May 20th. Literally the next day I had to return home due to certain circumstances, which was somewhat annoying as I didn't really get a chance to enjoy time just relaxing with people from Uni, and then since then I have been at home relaxing.
I had originally intended to get some work back at my old job but alas this was not the case for reasons beyond my control. So I thought, given that I've tried to get work but hadn't been able to, I would (for the first time in 2 years) enjoy a summer holiday like the old days of High School and earlier and do absolutely nothing except chill with friends. This was fun and enjoyable for a time, and still is somewhat now, but eventually I realised that doing nothing had its limits and so I have practiced various things for Uni (Flash, 3DS Max, etc) and tried to occupy myself as much as possible.
The thing I have realised from all of this though, is that doing nothing at all is a REALLY stupid thing to do as you get so used to it you lose motivation immensely, and thus this is why I haven't blogged at all until now.
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Next, I thought I'd talk about what I've been doing with regards to Uni work. Well, the main focus of my efforts has been working on my drawings and writings for the 5th entry of my Scarlet Nightmares series of games designs. Over the summer so far I have drawn and/or wrote 37 pages for it and am still going through it and should hopefully have it finished or mostly finished by the time I return to Uni. Below is a link to an album of photos containing all the pages I have done.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1862117758653.2102148.1412224436&l=7fe8ca3360&type=1
Other than this I have done some Flash work but only to keep me in practice as I still find it difficult and without people who know how to help me further it is hard. I have improved and am capable of making a lot of the code that I needed help with during my 1st year but still wouldn't say I am completely able to code a game (unless it is very simple). I have made a simple avoider game so far with a keyboard controlled player that rotates as you move around and has randomly spawning enemies zoom towards them and will blow up upon impact or fade away after enough time has passed - as of yet I have been unable to implement a lives systems which is the main blockade from making the simple game complete.
I have done very little 3D work I'm afraid to say but this is because it is the area of this course I struggle with the most and dislike the most - therefore the lack of work in this area isn't due to laziness but rather personal preferences. I have done a couple of little mini play abouts but nothing significant.
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After this I thought I'd talk a bit about games, music and the like as, to be fair, that is what has occupied a lot of my summer so far. I haven't actually got many new games over the summer, only 3 to be precise, and have been playing them as spaced out as possible to make them last (unlike when I normally fully complete a game in about 3 days :P) - so far I have completed 2 of them and am 3/4 of the way though the third so I think I'll be OK until the end of summer...
On the music front not much has changed either, started listening to a couple more bands since the last time I talked about music and only 1 of them was actually in Summer. The only 2 bands worth mentioning are Avenged Sevenfold and Black Veil Brides, the former was introduced by a friend not long before my last music blog post and the latter of has only been very recently listened to. They are both very good, particularly Avenged Sevenfold which have rapidly moved up my favourite bands list overtaking many of the bands I previously mentioned in my last blog post - the only really odd thing about me liking them is that they are heavy compared to the sort of music I normally listen to (I'll still always be much more of a rock fan than a metal fan) but it doesn't matter. Other than that all I've really done music-wise is get a few more tracks from bands that I already knew I liked.
Finally, while not related to games or music, something that has occupied my time for the past couple of weeks at least is exercise/ trying to be healthier. This is just something I've decided that I may as well do as, well, I have time to make use of and I'm not exactly the healthiest person in the world as it is. I have cut back massively on my snacking (I used to eat so much crap for no reason other than I was bored...), am eating healthier and am exercising more regularly - I'm taking my dog on much longer walks, am going out for walks with mates just for fun and am being more active in general by getting back into badminton and squash when able.
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And with that I have talked about all I wish to talk about - all other things that have occupied my time have been antics with my friends and even that has been a bit sparse for various circumstances (holidays and being busy, etc). All in all, I have enjoyed my summer with its various mixture of goings on but I think I'm done with it now - I'm glad I had this long period of time with ABSOLUTELY nothing going on as its made me realise that while everyone enjoys time relaxing and doing nothing from time to time that no one can do it forever. I miss doing some form of work (educational or job) and 12 weeks of doing nothing is enough for me... and I've still got 4 more to go before I return to Uni and a further week after that until I have my induction and a FURTHER week after that until I start again.
I am looking forward to going back, not just for the work and the ability to do something again but also for seeing people from Uni again, as I do genuinely miss them, and for just living on my own again. That's something else that I've come to realise, while I do love living at home not having to worry about food, washing, etc, I much prefer the atmosphere of living under your own rules and with friends - I can't wait until I go back and move into my flat with Matty, Weaver, Matt and Chris (plus random person who I don't know... :P)
Anyways, with the status update over and you now know everything that's happened to me (as boring and uninteresting as it is...) I think it's time to explain the meaning behind the 'goodbye' in this blog posts title. You see, over the summer me and Matty (who, as I've mentioned before is also on my course), whilst hanging out, have had various chats about stuff and decided that we should record these chats and upload them as sort of our own personal 'podcasts'. Most of the stuff we talk about is related to games, films, comics, TV, etc and is therefore linked to the course, and from this we decided that we want to write a joint blog with both of us as editors, mixed in with these 'podcasts'.
However, this means we need to find a blogging site that lets us do all this, so the 'goodbye' part refers to the fact that this blog may become redundant and will resume in a different place under our joint banner. However, if this does happen then it will be made clear on here so everyone knows.
Anyways, with all that finally said, I guess all that's left to say is until next time - that's all folks!
