Numbness in my arm

Me: ...
Nurse: Whats your name? *checking my particulars*
Me: Low... Jason Low.
Nurse: OK. *Tightens pressure on my right arm*
Me: ...
Nurse: *Takes out anesthetics needle* Do you need anesthetics?
Me: ... No?
Nurse: *Puts back anesthetics needle*
Me: (Gulp)
Nurse: *Takes out protective covering from the tip of the blood bag, revealing the thick needle*
Me: (Can I change my mind about the Aaarggghh.....)
Nurse: *Stabs me in the arm*
Me: (Hmm. That feels different...)
Nurse: *Looks at the bag and walks away*
Me: (Guess I don't need anesthetics after all.)

Recovery!

Been sick for the past 5 days or so. Don't you just hate the 'sick' feeling that seems to last for more than 3 days? It just lingers there making your life miserable.

Anyways I'm feeling better now. I got to continue with my final year stuff and assignments soon... before I go even more behind schedule.

The Layer Cake of Electronic Entertainment

Heres abit from Raph Koster himself, about the 4 layers of a game: Mechanical, Statistical Variation, Metaphor, Narrative. Quite an interesting read. Some successful games were built starting from the Mechanical level, while some were built from the Narrative level, and the rest from a healthy balance of the two. Personally, I prefer the balanced approach. :D

The Future of Software Engineering : Product Design

I just came across this very interesting article by Danc describing the Evolution of software development towards Product Design. I can't agree more with him. Programmers and Designers just didn't work well togather in the past. But now, I'm just not too sure. The new generation of programmers and designers are really bridging the gap. I guess the only way to know for sure is to wait and see. A nice illustration of the whole evolution process is well presented in his article as well. :)

Grflfphtdorf.

Gah I feel like an idiot. I finally got in contact with a girl I really like and I think I really fumbled it up. The conversation just died midway. I just can't seem to think straight. My hands start sweating and my heartbeat starts racing. I only felt like this one other time before and I thought it was love. Maybe I still do...

I can only hope I do better next time. IF theres a next time that is....

Japanese RPG Designs

A few days ago I attended a gathering of sorts about Games Design. They were coming up with great RPG story ideas, but nothing about the actual game design. They were like, writing a novel. Of course, the concensus of the party was that Game Writing should come before Game Design. I have no problems with that. This is what the Japanese RPG developers have been doing for years!

They might not have great writing experience nor training, but they came up with the Setting, the Theme, and even a Plot. Not bad for a bunch of 20+ year old game designer wanna-bes. They had to stop at the plot due to time constaints, and I have no doubt they will continue next week on the characters and later individual scenes (which will no doubt take alot more time).

Even with a good story, the game ain't made till the game design gets sorted out. And thats where the hard part REALLY begins.