Dropping this here before I slink off for two hours sleep before my new job. Or not. May pull an all-nighter, haven't decided.
Today we've got a few header snarks, the sequel to last week's. You'd think they'd get better as I go along, but no, they seem to be worsening. It's at any rate 395 words, not including the program names and descriptions.
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//Play Again
//Demonstrates a while loop
//This entire exercise has in fact been my effort to play again
//in terms of the first few chapter's worth of lessons
//and with any luck I will proceed afterwards
//and this time next year I will not be
//sitting here at the beginning of
//my programs, writing snark
//that may be thought of
//as largely raging for
//indeterminate reason
//against an activity
//which is by all
//definitions
//beneficial.
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//Play Again 2.0
//Demonstrates do loops
//While I personally preferred while loops in the past
//it would at least behoove me to understand these
//and so I'll, again, shut up and do the lesson.
//That said it's not out of the question
//to tweak this slightly -
//after all, I've done
//it once already
//and it went
//rather well
//I think.
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//Finicky Counter
//Demonstrates break and continue statements
//Hey look, it's an infinite while loop used for a main game loop.
//That brings back some old-school memories of youwilldie
//not all of which are good in hindsight
//but who knows? Maybe the years have
//been kind to my personal growth
//and my skill is such that it
//may yet live again.
//I suppose that
//we'll see.
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//Designer's Network
//Demonstrates logical operators
//Also of course I'm going to give my own name its own username and password
//and its own personalized little message, because let's be honest
//given the opportunity to do so, which here, I am
//and given the logical end result
//of these coding exercises
//I'd be imbecillic
//not to do so.
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//Die Roller
//Demonstrates generating random numbers
//Probably not the be-all-end-all of random number generators to be sure
//but if I intend to craft a pseudo-random number generator of my own,
//surely starting with the timestamp when an item was generated,
//and running through several additional steps to correct
//for duplicate time seeds, should be modestly effective
//and perhaps even worth including in redlib.h
//which, lets be honest, in its present state
//could really use some additional functions
//to spice the damn thing up
//because who wants a lib
//that only has a damn
//pause function?
//Regardless, a
//good entry
//point.
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//Guess My Number
//The classic number guessing game
//Finally, we're making an actual, factual game, crappy though it be.
//And since I've got my redlib.h handling the heavy lifting,
//I should even be able to code it relatively fast
//which is good because in thirty minutes
//there's somewhere I really must be
//and I could quite use some time
//to prepare for that
//so let's get
//to business.
[I was late. -Ed.]
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//Counter
//Demonstrates for loops
//To be frank, I have nothing particularly snarky to say
//I am told this program creates a grid of numbers
//through nothing but for loop usage
//and simple coding, and I
//would like to see this
//in action, so on
//to business.
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//String Tester
//Demonstrates string objects
//Previously I noted that I was running shy of snarky things to say in my openings
//This is largely true right now
//and so I won't.
//Nyeah nyeah.
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//Hero's Inventory
//Demonstrates arrays
//Here we go again, getting less crappy
//one lesson
//at a time.
Next, we have a subtext to the previous Antagonist document, detailing a few of the suit's more noteworthy villainous features in 722 words of lightly justifiable costume porn.
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Oh, and spikes. Did we mention the spikes? Spikes everywhere.
In all seriousness there are a few costume considerations for the Antagonist above and beyond the subtle shifting, and even above the spikes. Most of them are traditional villain tropes, but for a very good reason - just at a glance, you know the Antagonist is bad news, so when Tobias says that he'll fight the terror off, he gains instant hero points.
Let's get out of the way first, yes, there are spikes. There are spikes every damn where. Larger, curved ones on the shoulderpads, straighter ones at the joints and the toes, plenty on the helm to give it some teeth, and various shapes and sizes all over the limbs. That last set serves a vaguely practical purpose; merely crashing the back of an arm against someone is liable to rake them full of wounds. Spiked knuckles are also part of the package for a similar purpose, as are spikes on the underside of the boots (slightly more understated; also effective at keeping footing in unstable terrain, to an extent). Even the ornamental ones are fairly sturdy; it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility for the Antagonist to lift someone and impale them on his shoulders, though obviously it's not the kind of thing you'd like to do often (thankfully once is usually sufficient to get the message across). The spikes do not shift like the rest of the suit.
The helm is an interesting case. Obviously modelled slightly after the skull of some creature that isn't quite human, the helm covers the head down past the nose and out a fair distance from the face, but is uncovered at the jaw, which allows for the mouth to remain just recessed and just visible. This allows for several things. From Tobias' view, it allows the (presumed) humanity of whoever the Antagonist is to starkly contrast with his inhuman actions, inspiring the requisite revulsion. As Noah takes up the mantle, it serves as both a subtle taunt on Tobias' part, and a subtle reminder on the player's, of the human in the suit. To complete the effect, the Antagonist must show no emotion through his mouth - merely a flat, stoic expression. Noah is forced to take this visage on; strangely, Tobias is less effective at it and shows some minor revulsion from time to time, though any who could see it are quickly slain.
There is also a cape, because of course there is. It's quite long and flowing and makes for a hell of a presence. It's also incredibly impractical in a real fight; as such it can be quickly released from the rest of the suit with a latch. However, owing to the significant discrepancy in power between the Antagonist and many of his victims, and the vast army at his heel besides, there's often no need for anything that could be considered a "real fight" in the first place. When most fights end in one stroke as the Antagonist casually cleaves another average villager in two, the showmanship of the cape's presence is preferred. It's not quite a black color, however - it's actually a very, very deep red, so much so as to nearly be black, in order to invoke the bloody implications that would go along with such a color. Over time the implications become more and more justified as actual blood gets into the cloth, giving it a subtle splattered pattern.
Imagine watching an oil slick as you walk past it, then imagine the colors washed away by black, and finally imagine it doing this slightly, subtly, all the time. That is how the Antagonist do. Included in the effect are other horrors, like intentionally invoking pareidoila in the shifting patterns - while largely randomized they tend towards forming faces trapped in a sort of screaming agony, which then are quickly shifted away to something else, giving the impression of captured and tortured souls within the suit itself. This is nonsense - even if souls did make an effective power source, it'd hardly be worth it for all the struggling they'd do. However, it would be difficult for any foe the Antagonist comes across to not think of their own life when pitted against all the lives of those who tried and failed before them.
Lastly we have a more traditional whole document discussing a hopefully implement-able mechanic, in 957 words. It involves pheromones. No, not those kinds. Well, not for that purpose, anyway.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0f...it?usp=sharing
Sadly no pieces along the theme, although I'll remember to try and implement some big, heroic wings in another character design.
Re: The CHALLENGE continues!
