Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Geek Squeak: 001

This series is going to be me expressing all the science-y things I like to geek out on. From new technologies to the latest discoveries in science, how I feel about them and why it gets my geek on.

Today I find myself particularly interested in Dark matter. Now, If your not fimlir "Dark Matter" is basically gravity that cant be accounted from mass. In other words we have NO IDEA what it is, and it makes up around 70% of our Universe. So when I say we have no idea what it is, doesn't mean we can't say what it might be. I theory about dark matter that I like to subscribe to is the idea that Dark Matter is just regular matter, but who's influence (gravitational pull) is transcending from another universe. This ties into the multiverse theory, where you have multiple or even infinite universes.

I find this theory very intriguing, one because it give he multiverse theory more merit and two, because its just seriously cool. The reason its unaccounted for gravity is because there isn't any corresponding mass to account for the gravitational pull holding galaxies together. When we build a model of a galaxy and put it together with only the mass of the matter we can account/calculate for, it falls apart. The galaxies get ripped apart because they are moving too fast and theres not enough mass to hold them together.

Awesome stuff I highly recommend youbtubing some of this stuff, Neil Degrasse Tyson has some pretty cool videos on it. Also on that note listen to his podcast Star Talk Radio, great stuff.

Stay Geeky, til next time.

Thought Block: 001

As a video game developer, I have a lot to say about my industry. Where video games are heading, where the industry as a whole is going and the process that goes on behind the scenes and more importantly how we as consumers play an important roll. That's what this segment or series is going to be about, my thoughts on anything and everything about game design.

I want to kick things off with my thoughts on something that I've become quite fond of "The rolling release" or buying into a game during its alpha state. A perfect example of this is any kickstarter funded game. I think it's great when a community of consumers get together with a developer to create something they want to play. Kerbal Space Program is an excellent example of a rolling release. I love it as a game, and the fact that I can look forward to up coming updates and be a part of that process in the community is amazing. I like the idea of a game never really being done and always improving. The end product is something that truly becomes what it was meant to be, a game created and loved by the people playing it. A shared experience between players and developers. 

I would love to see this model be picked up by larger studios, we would never have disappointments like that Star Wars mmo that was a total flop if players had been involved throughout the entire process. As fans we would have ended up with a product we wanted not what the developer thought we wanted. 

That's all for now, til next time. 

One for Science, Another for Art: 002

Now who doesn't love exoplanets? Am I right? With 2013 coming to a close, here is a list of some of the major exoplanet discoveries!


There have been an awful lot of great findings this year in science, and I urge all of you to go out on the interwebs and read up on all the cool stuff we have done in science. I can't wait to see what 2014 holds. Quick story between links. I remember when I was freshman in high school around 2005 I wrote a science paper on building a space elevator. All my research said we could have a space elevator, carbon nano tubes and all by 2014. Fingers Crossed. 

Now, for art! You will find I like to dig up my art stuff from Polycount. Its a truly amazing website. Go dig through their forums and your sure to find some inspiration. There is some seriously great stuff in this review article, I really like the one from "Clavin" I work with a similar art style right now :D



Look What I Found

So for this weeks Look What I Found, I think everyone should give it a read. We can't afford for something like this to happen. I had no idea what I had been taking for granted. Net neutrality is incredibly important, losing that would spell disaster for how we use the internet.

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/11/so-the-internets-about-to-lose-its-net-neutrality/


Sunday, December 29, 2013

Look What I found

This is really cool stuff, I can't wait to upload something of my own and get it printed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV38DXv7RW0

One for Science, Another for Art: 001

Let's see, This week for Science we have this cool article I found about 3d printing!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=loudspeaker-is-first-complete-3d-printed-consumer-electronic&WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook

For art we have this! As if Marmoset wasn't awesome already they have Marmoset 2! http://www.polycount.com/2013/12/05/marmoset-toolbag-2/#more-13901

Personally, I love marmoset as a tool for 3d. Not only do I have the ability to quickly check to see how a mesh will behave inside a game engine in real time, it makes fantastic renders! I recommend any of the Marmoset programs to any serious game dev, its a great addition to any workflow.