Ode to ER

Release me from the shackles of my weeklong prison

Wing my flight into the celestial realms of relaxation and comfort

Ebb the tide of my strain and discomfort

Wash away the weariness and turmoil

Make hasten the refreshing spring of reunion with my beloved

let soar the joyous song of exhiliration and praise

Nestle me in the bosom of comfort,

And if thou canst not, at least let me ride the winds of change.

Change from a struggle day in, and day out

Until at last, the pattern has come full circle,

and I must needs return to the toil of my labours

But until then, O sweet release, come early,

And send me home from this weeklong commission

For of a certainty, it is friday,

And the longing for home is upon me




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ER is the Early release system at work that allows us to leave work early. Apparently, my ER button's broke, because there are no calls coming in, and I haven't received my e-mail yet. =p

Thoughts of the day

I just read a very touching blog from Rachel's dad about 20 minutes ago. It's the 20 year mark of the passing of his father. I'd comment further, but nothing I say here will change or do justice to the solemness of the occasion, so I'm just going to move on.

My computer's being a pain... again. That's what I get for keeping windows on it regardless of my knowledge of the reasons not to... but there are some things I just want to keep it around for. Mainly DVD shrink and gaming / video drivers.

Speaking of Gaming: I've decided I want to, at some point, make a game based on the world I'm creating for the Phoenixmage novels. It may not have to be very big, but I've got a great Idea for a system for it.

Did you ever play the old Might and Magic games? Not the Heroes of Might and Magic strategy games, but the Role-playing ones for the windows 95/98 machines? It was a turn-based Role Play system, one of the first of its kind, though the graphics were behind. It was all in First person view in a 3d world, your Four characters would all be able to fire in turn of one another while you were running or jumping or whatever as a group.

Well, that wouldn't necessarily fly today. But what I was thinking, was a turn based, 1st/3rd person view (can switch between), where you can switch between four characters. Much as with the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic engine, (which had 3 characters), you could freeze the action and enter a turn-based mode, where you program what your characters are going to do for their next few moves. Only, What I want to create is the ability to stay (and I reccomend 1st person for this, though you may want to glance at 3rd to get a better Idea of the situation) in one view frozen, perform an action, and have the engine perform your action until the next person's initiative hits, where you are switched to THEIR perspective and the action is frozen again. Of course, NPC's will have their turn in the initiative, and all that fun stuff. If this system doesn't tickle your fancy, I suggest a trigger for an auto-program ability or AI for the characters you don't want to use. Therefore, in this engine there would be 3 methods of combat: 1.) Standard FPS (your characters are in AI mode, Much as with the Star Wars: Republic Commando games), 2.) KOTOR-style Turn based, and 3.) Might-and-Magic style turn based, where you are auto-switched between characters per-move.

Of course, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things, So I imagine this system with Oblivion style Graphics, and an Oblivion style map and/or Campaign.

The game would not be complete unless you had the ability to choose midway through the game whether your characters want to become Good or Evil. I suppose it's not UNHEARD OF for a Necromancer to fight with a Paladin, but... okay who am I kidding yes it is. Perhaps Good/Evil decided characters won't be able to play in the same group... or perhaps once the "party" has made a decion... hmm, we'll see.

=)

I would so love to make this game.