Walking the Edge of Reality

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Walking the Edge of Reality

A look behind the curtain to my world...

***DISCLAIMER***
Nothing... NOTHING... mentioned on this blog should EVER be considered
"in game" for any games being operated by myself or Darklight Interactive

Delayng the Inevitable
Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:25 PM

First off, I figured I'd share this. This is a picture of the dead USB drive, that which contained everything I'd done for Shadow Watch and other things. It's useless, a grim reminder of how things once were, but I still carry it around. In a sense, it means something special to me... a reminder of how things were, a reminder of how things should never be again. if I had an office and desk to speak of at home, I'd probably encase it in glass as a permanent reminder.

Anyway, to the main topic: things never go as planned... Maybe I should simply *not* have a plan? Then I wouldn't be as bothered 'cause it would be arguably impossible to do things wrong?

I've been getting hammered with work at the office; just now, on Saturday, I got a call from the boss at 10:30AM. I was hoping to dedicate today and tomorrow to get things going, but alas it doesn't look like it's going to be the case. And, in and around "real life" work delays, I'm trying to sell myself to some big fish, hoping to make the little one man shop known as Darklight Interactive something more. God, what I would give to make this a full time gig... if that were the case, there wouldn't be issues like this. I wouldn't be getting calls from anyone other than myself (and that would be rather creepy if I did).

The main and subordinate websites are done, but there are a lot of other things that still need to be in place, things that I've kind of been neglecting. And there's the whole matter of the trailhead, which I won't get in to.

So things are coming soon, just not on the last day of January as promised. Now I have to go change the "please wait" site, even though that image was on the dead USB as well. *sigh...*

I've noticed that some people are kind of bothered of the existance of this blog, of seeing "behind the curtain". Well I admit this wasn't the way things were planned, but it seems I have involuntarily become a celebrity. So much so that this blog entry will undoubtedly appear in the ARG's timeline, which is somewhat unsettling.

But, the way I see it, I think it's best that people know I haven't forgotten, and am doing everything within my power to get things moving, rather than have the project's interest and activity disappear in to the ether. I at least owe you that, and the promise that it will be up and going... "when it's done."

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Saturday, January 31, 2009 12:25 PM

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25 things...
Friday, January 30, 2009 1:34 AM

This is the latest trend going on Facebook. Since one of my closest friends did this and tagged me, I figured I'd go through the exercise. Plus, it might lend some additional insight in to who I am.

Enjoy..

25 Random Things About Me

1. I have been a programmer all my life, ever since the 5th grade (1982) when computers first began to appear in the world. Ever since then, I've been attempting to write a game, and have not been as successful as I would have liked.

2. Favorite movies are "Clockwork Orange", "2001", "Brazil" and "Patton". In that order.

3. I always sleep with a notebook and pen within reach; some of my best ideas have come to me at odd hours in the night, much to the disdain of my wife.

4. I was in the city of Bogota, Colombia, for four hours without having passed through customs. I arrived in a cargo plane, listed as "ninth class" on the cargo manifest as freight.

5. I once blinded myself for an hour by accidentally pumping several hundred volts through a lithium watch battery, causing it to explode inches from my face.

6. I know the entire dialogue in the movie "Poltergeist".

7. My two favorite cars are the Lotus Turbo Espirit SE (black, specifically) and a '63 Corvette Stingray "split window" coupe.

8. I knew my wife for over ten years before we got married.

9. I have won cash prizes and at least three trophies playing chess while in high school. In college, I walked in to a chess competition at the University of Miami and, not having ever played there and without anyone even knowing who I was, walked out with the championship.

10. The three computers that I use are called "Magrathea", "Deep Thought" and "Black Mesa". For a time, the server I personally owned at a colocation facility was called "Mordor".

11. I have not driven a car, or have had a valid driver's license, for the last four years. The last car I had I intentionally drove in to a tree because the brakes failed; it was either that or roll in to traffic on US-1.

12. I have had a rather lengthy email interchange entirely about video game design and development... with a world famous porn star.

13. I have had a rather lengthy email interchange entirely about about sportscars... with John Carmack.

14. I have been offered game development jobs at Valve Software, id Software, Raven Software, Westwood Studios and Digital Extremes among others. I have turned them all down because of my lack of interest in leaving Florida.

15. I own a Spanish short sword, a katana, a flail and a longbow. I have owned in the past a rapier and a blowgun.

16. I have an inner ear condition in my left ear which causes me to get dizzy regularly. I also have 40% hearing loss in that ear. Furthermore, I cannot ride on amusement rides that go upside down for a prolonged period of time because I will pass out.

17. I was listed as a contributor in the "readme" file for the Beta versions of the original Counter-Strike (when it was a "mod" for the original Half-Life). I wrote some of the anti-cheating measures they used at first, before Valve Software decided to write their own.

18. I know how to solve a Rubik's Cube. My speed record is one minute, fifty-seven seconds.

19. I can't tread water. I can swim (not well, but still), but if I stop I sink like a rock.

20. I am allergic to most varieties of nuts. I cannot even touch walnuts. On a related note, I now know where the first aid station is at Hollywood Studios in Disney World.

21. I once had the car alarm stolen from my car. The thief was kind enough to rewire the kill switch and the ignition so that the car would still start without it.

22. I don't remember any of my dreams. I know I had them, but for the life of me could never remember anything about them.

23. I failed a Theology class while attending a Jesuit high school.

24. My favorite meal is an omelet made from fried plantains.

25. Patrick Nagel is my favorite artist, and I own several of his lithographs.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Friday, January 30, 2009 1:34 AM

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Opportunity Knocks
Monday, January 26, 2009 2:42 PM

I use to work for an ad agency, so I have some advertising/marketing expertise in my blood. I follow Tribble Ad Agency, "The Ad Agency of Record" and their recent posts about what the current recession and national economic situation is doing to the advertising agencies of the world.

Ad agencies are cutting back by the thousands of employees because companies are unwilling to spend the money they use to. So companies are resorting to oddball, cost effective tactics. Like Miller High Life buying a ONE SECOND commercial slot during the Super Bowl because they refuse to spend more. Or Google, of all people, breaking their own tradition and posting revenue-generating ads everywhere they can.

And then there's viral marketing. In the past it's been hard to quantify the effectiveness of it, or if it really works, or anything about it for that matter because it's hard to really see how it's doing. Some people simply don't get it because it's not the way things have been done traditionally. But when I look at my current plans, how my fake company is appearing higher on Google search than the real company that has a registered trademark... I mean, you can't BUY this type of publicity! And I almost literally did NOTHING to deserve it; heck, I barely have a website to speak of.

Now is a good time for viral marketing and alternate reality games. Major corporations, rather than spending millions of dollars on advertising agencies and media buys, are going to start looking at these cost effective solutions for further exposure.

I wish I had the time to pursue this in that light, but alas I'm simply a one man shop with a fifty hour work week as it is. Here's hoping that someone out there takes the right steps to further our industry. Well, either that or make things much more entertaining for us players in the near future.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Monday, January 26, 2009 2:42 PM

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Slowly I Turn...
Friday, January 23, 2009 3:05 AM

As some of you may have noticed, the time is drawing near and I'm... well... stalling a bit. I'm still on schedule I think, but there are lots of things I want to get done before the "go live" date. I don't want to repeat the past, where I launched things that weren't quite ready; everything must be in place. So I'm trying not to commit to anything just yet.

Also, for what it's worth, creating a believable website for a defense contractor isn't the easiest thing in the world. I'm trying to create a site that sounds impressive, but doesn't make Lockheed Martin sound like Wal-Mart.

And there are other things I need to do, things with historical precedence so to speak, so I have to pick the right time to start updating those and plan accordingly.

And I have a problem I've run in to once before: I have a puzzle that I think is kinda cool, but has no place in the game. At least before the "trials" was a good excuse to throw anything at the players, but now I don't really have that as an option. So I'll either have to think of some mental justification for it or tweak it a little so that it fits in to the grand scheme of things. That or I pocket it and use it elsewhere in the future... but I don't think I can be that patient.

Like I said elsewhere: You're either going to really like this, or really hate it. If you hate it, I ask that you have patience. It will be worth it, I hope.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Friday, January 23, 2009 3:05 AM

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Digg That!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:13 AM

Tribble Ad Agency has an interesting report on how Twitter has officially beaten Digg in terms of traffic.

Twitter. Yeah, you know... the company that HAS NO REVENUE MODEL?

It's scary thinking about it. I'm starting to use Twitter more and more, primarily because of amusement and because I'm bored at work, but I can see the fascination over it. People are addicted to the thing. So... what would happen if it suddenly goes away?

I'm convinced that that's their business model: the "high school drug dealer" method. "First one's free...", and once you're hooked they pull the rug out from under you. I mean, think about it, if Twitter tomorrow decides to start charging for their service - even if it's as low as a buck a month - would you pay it? Let me rephrase... Would you rather spend $1 a month or be without it? Yeah, Twitter might lose a lot of customers, but I can see some people addicted to it happily paying $1, $5 or $10 a month to continue to use it.

I also point out this article in which Tribble does what I've been saying for a while: it's absurdly easy to create a service similar to Twitter. It's not rocket science; there isn't much to it, and the site is as simplistic as it gets. So why don't we? Well... why would we? Imagine Twitter's costs in terms of SMS messaging services, servers, bandwidth, database, etc... Keeping this infrastructure alive can't be cheap, and they have no revenue to compensate for it. So eventually the VC money is going to be gone. What then?

When Twitter hits critical mass, all hell's going to break loose.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 11:13 AM

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