the sine wave
October 1999

October 31
Ha ha ha... it is I, the evil scary Zeoc, wishing you a happy Halloween... if you can survive through it, that is!  Well, all right, by now Halloween's almost over, and it'll probably be November by the time you read this, but I'm not one to forget the holidays.  I was going to do a special Halloween page, with ghosts and witches and pumpkins and all the other stuff, but I had too much homework to do.  I still have to write my Catcher in the Rye essay and read most of Ceremony.  Tomorrow I'll need to apologize for missing that party.  Sometimes I'm a real idiot when it comes to getting things done.
The most short-lived feature
I've been doing a lot of thinking about things, and I've decided that the world doesn't really need another web page griping about sexist comments made by people in the computer game industry.  It's like screaming into the fog, and it's totally negative, and I want the Sine Wave to be about cool stuff that's going on.  I don't want to spend all my time searching for bigotry.  That's why Zeoc's List of Questionable Remarks in the Computer Game Industry is gone.  If anyone really wants it back, I'll put it up again, but I'd rather be playing and making games.
Nalenna: Name Change?
Ever since I started my game development label Nalenna back in 1997, I've been wondering if Nalenna is a good name for a computer game developer.  It doesn't really mean anything; it's just kind of an esoteric onomatopoeia.  That means its only purpose is to have a distinct sound to its name.  I'm thinking of changing it to something else, but since I have no ideas yet, I'll stick to Nalenna.

October 30
Ever since I got Drakan and started reading the reviews, I've noticed a lot of reviewers compare Rynn to Lara Croft and make remarks about her figure instead of other aspects of the game.  In fact, that happens whenever there's a game with female characters in it.  Why is it that women in computer games, and other programs as well, are judged by their appearances over everything else?  You don't see any reviews comparing the figure of Corvus from Heretic II to that of Duke Nukem.  I notice it's mostly men reviewing these games, but even so, can't they separate their game interests from their sexual interests?  I've looked at about 20 reviews of Drakan, and most of them use a word like "beautiful" to describe Rynn.  And another thing: they also make a special point to mention that Rynn is a woman.  They all say things like "female heroine", which is a redundant phrase.  Another common phrase: "female warrior".  You don't see Corvus being called a "male warrior", do you?  It's like the reviewers are so astounded that the main character is female.  My main concern is the sexual comments, though.  That's why I'm compiling Zeoc's List of Questionable Remarks in the Game Industry.  It was originally going to focus on other things as well, like racism, but there isn't much of that, because somehow the reviewers seem to know better.  I'm only going to include quotes from "reputable" game companies which write articles and reviews for the general audience and are supposedly more mature than others.
Don't spy on me
A few days ago I got an e-mail from Planet Drakan, a Gamespy Industries site, asking me if I want to join them and run a level download section or an editing tutorial.  I'm probably the last person who should run a download section, because I'm at school a lot and couldn't keep up with it all.  As for the editor tutorial, that job is best left up to Surreal, who actually knows how to use it.  I'm still learning and tinkering around with it.  Besides, I already run The Sine Wave, and I don't want what I write to be ruled by some big corporation.  I think Gamespy would put restrictions on content because that's the kind of company they are.  They won't even let anyone go to their Planet Worms site.  If I weren't the only person writing this page, and I had people working for me, I wouldn't censor them or put restrictions on their work.
Rogue Spear overview part II
After reading the newbie's setup guide on the Sparrow's Nest, I decided to try my hand at Rogue Spear once more.  I started it up on Veteran mode, as opposed to Rookie, and I didn't use the HQ plan.  This time, I made my own.  First, I chose my team from the areas of assault, electronics, recon, and snipers.  I used the default weaponry, forgoing any extra silencers.  I split my team of eight into four groups of two, and then it was time for the mission plan.  I had the blue team, which I controlled, go around the perimeter of the museum and to the area where the hostages were being held.  The red team went around the other way, and the green and yellow teams started from the back and zigzagged through the middle.  It wasn't really the best thought out plan, but it turned out to work, eventually.  At first, when I tried it, my team kept getting killed off or hostages kept dying.  There are a lot more terrorists (or tangos, as they are called) in the harder difficulty levels, or maybe they're just more skilled.  Anyway, I retried the mission about 10 times, and I finally figured out how to approach the room with the hostages, and the mission was completed successfully.  I didn't use the heartbeat sensors or anything, and my main tactic was peeking around the corner.  My team was getting killed off due to my flawed plan.  Rogue Spear has a real strategy element, and you can't get by on weapons skill alone.  You have to have skill at planning and stealth, too.  My skills aren't very good yet, but they're getting there with practice.
Seeing double
I had missed the opportunity for the past 4 weeks, but I finally got around to seeing the movie Double Jeopardy today.  It's a thriller with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones about a husband who fakes his own murder and his wife is framed, and now she's out of jail and looking for her child.  I thought it was a pretty good movie, if a bit formulaic.  There were some plot holes, but none too bad to detract from its suspense.
Triple jeopardy
I have had really bad luck this weekend.  First, I was going to go to a Halloween dance for my school, but there was nobody there.  Today, I was supposed to go to another party  at someone's house, but I lost the directions and phone number.  Then, I tried to see if the school dance was actually today, but the gate was locked.  I've just been really out of it, and I think it must be due to lack of sleep.  Well, at least I'm good at keeping this page updated every day.

October 29
I've been informed that the word otaku only applies to fans of Japanese animation, and in Japan, it's an insult.  I guess it's like our word maniac or fanatic, only more negative.  I'm in my third year of Japanese so far, and we still haven't learned much about anime yet.  We did watch the first part of Tekken, but the plot was so ridiculous that we all laughed through it.  The video game might be good, but the anime just didn't work out.
The unreal world
I downloaded some mutator mods for Unreal Tournament, and I'll tell you about a few of them.  First, there is the Fatboy mod, which makes you fatter for every kill you make and thinner for every time you are killed.  It balances it out because the fatter opponents are easier to hit, plus it's funny to see a highly skilled player become huge.  Then there's the Golden Gun mutator, which replaces all weapons in the level with one: the instant-kill Golden Gun.  I think that might have something to do with the Nintendo 64 game Goldeneye.  It's not as solid as the Insta-Gib mega shock rifle, and sometimes there's a bug where you can't use ammo for it.  The Vampire mod gives you 50 health points for every kill you score, so it makes skilled players all the more dangerous.  There's an All Weapons mod that gives you all the weapons from the demo and some ammo when you spawn.  Out of all of these, I'd recommend... well, it's really no trouble to download them, so go ahead and get them all.  But my favorite so far is the Fatboy one.  You can download mods from http://www.unrealfiles.com/.
Rogue Spear tomorrow
After absorbing a little more knowledge of the intricacies of anti-terrorist combat, I'm ready once again to tackle the Pandora mission in Rogue Spear.  I'll give a second overview of the game, and tell you whether I understand it or not.  Once again, the newbie's guide on the Sparrow's Nest is where to look for info on how to set everything up.  As for now, it's time to work on yet another secret project, and then I need sleep.

October 28
I'm not going to have my Ethereal Light story at the top here anymore, but I'm not giving up on it.  From now on you can find that story on my alternative site, Nalenna.  I've given the Nalenna page a major style change, so if you go there, be prepared for a different look.  Please, give it a look.  The link is right there at the top of the left column.   Feel free to e-mail me about anything and tell me what you think of my site, because feedback is always welcome.
Drakan is Down
Well, the game which I have been an obsessed fan of for the past few days is again showing signs of downfall.  The game search feature doesn't work today because something is up with the master server.  Now that we have all these mods and levels, not only are there extremely few people playing, but none of the servers are accessible.  It's ironic that now is the time Planet Drakan has asked me to work on their mods team and write an editing tutorial.  The truth is, I only know a few things about the editor, and I'm still learning, just like everyone else.  Surreal is who to ask when you want a tutorial, and they're working on one right now.  Well, I guess if enough people want to know about the basics of the editor, I could contribute what I know and put it on this site or send it to someone, but I haven't really picked up anything that can't be learned elsewhere.
Teenage Mutator Ninja Zeoc
Tomorrow, I'll be Friday, so I'll download the Unreal Tournament demo patch and a few of the mutators available for download, and I'll tell you all about them and how much I like each one here on the Sine Wave.  I'll also have a Question of the Week for anyone who cares to answer it.  I put the old counter on here today, at the bottom of the links section, but it keeps saying "888888" all the time.  I don't understand why it's doing this.  It used to work all right with my old page before July, but now it doesn't.
It's showing up now
I don't usually add to entries after they're done, but the counter only shows up when the page is actually on the server, not when it's being written on my computer.  That must be a feature to keep people from stealing your counter and artificially giving you more hits on your page.  On the server, it reads 380, which must be the real number.  That's counting the total number of visitors to my site back when it was my family page.

October 27
It was a warm, clear day, so Kate decided to go play in the front yard.  She started kicking a beach ball around in the grass, and it hit the window.  Sarah heard the noise and went out to investigate.
 "Kate, kick that away from the house, or I'll have to take it away from you," she called to her daughter from the door.
 "Sorry!"
 Sarah saw a familiar car drive up to the house.  It looked exactly like the car driven by her ex-boyfriend Mark.  In fact, it looked a little too much like his car.  That is because that's what it was.  Mark had found out where Sarah had moved to, and now he had come for something.
 The car pulled into the driveway, and Mark got out.  "Kate!" he exclaimed.  "Kate, it's me!  It's your daddy!"
 "Daddy?" said Kate, confused.
 Sarah cut Mark off before he could continue.  "Mark, what are you doing here?  How did you know where I was moving?"
 "That's not important," said Mark nervously.
 "Oh, don't tell me you were going through our mail again!  When will you realize that I want nothing to do with you anymore?  You abandoned us once, and I'm not going to let you back into our life to do it again.  Now get out of here, NOW!"
 "Kate!" screamed Mark frantically.  "I wanted to show you something!  Something really great that I found!  It's a portal to another-"
 "Mark, you'd better leave right now, or I'll file a restraining order."
 Mark sidled back toward his car.  "Kate, I will return, I promise!"  And with that, he got back into the car and drove away.
Still no activity on the Sine front
I know you're sick of these slow news days, but there's not really much I do that anyone would be interested in lately.  I went to the dentist, but I won't bore you with the details of that.  I will tell you that I saw a few games I might be interested in.  They were mostly for the console, though.  Final Fantasy VIII is out, and people aren't quite getting sick of that series, but we all agree that it's time for some story line that doesn't follow all the traditional RPG guidelines.  Unfortunately, FFVIII relies on most of those traditions, like the archetype-based characters and the dungeon-boss routine.  There's still enough new stuff to keep it interesting, like the battle system and alternating storylines, so I might check that out.  I also played the demo for Donkey Kong 64, and it looked good.  I got creamed by both of the demo bosses, but my controller was broken... um, yeah, that's it...
Barren landscape
Nobody seems to be playing Drakan online anymore.  Every time I check the servers, they're all empty except for a few ground ones.  Compare that to the Unreal Tournament demo, which had 432 servers the last time I checked.  I guess Drakan just isn't a very popular game.  Someone said a few months ago that it was #2 on the selling list, but that must have been on the release date or something, and now it's not even in the top 10.  I thought the level editor was going to revive the online community and give players more variety of levels.  Now there are plenty of levels that are playable in multiplayer, but there aren't many people to play them.
My inquisition
Here's a question for anyone who cares to answer: What do you think of Ethereal Light so far?  You know, the story I'm assembling bits and pieces of in the first paragraph of every entry now.  Is it a "good" story that holds your interest?  Would it translate well into a computer game?  Remember that if no feedback is given, nothing will change.

October 26
I don't believe this.  Five years here and I still haven't made contact with the rogues.  I really miss Shalian.  I hope he's all right sailing the seas without me at his side.  Sigh... if only this desert mission would end...
 I was deep in thought when someone walked into the tavern.  It was a woman with light skin and long dark brown hair.  Another light-skinned woman, this one with golden hair, followed her in.  They started talking in loud voices.
 "Everyone's telling us to go to the castle.  Do you know where that is, because I sure don't!" said the dark-haired woman.
 "Sarah, I don't even know what planet we're on, much less how to get anywhere on it.  Face it - we need a guide."  That was a strange thing to say.  How could anyone not know where the castle was?  It is visible from the marketplace at Kudor, which is the most popular marketplace in the land.
 "Who do you suppose we ask?" said the dark-haired woman again.
 I thought about it for a while.  Those rogues weren't getting any more visible, and I had to have some reason for being here.  Guide work wasn't anything to get excited about, but it was better than nothing.  Finally, I went over and introduced myself.
 "Hi, my name is Tritha," I said.  "I hear you're looking for the castle."
 "Oh!  Yes we are!" exclaimed the dark-haired woman.  "I'm Sarah, and this is Nicole."
 "Hello, Tritha," said Nicole in a friendly voice.
 I sat down at the table and set my glass down.  "I take it you're not familiar with this area."
 "Well, actually, this is our first time to the desert," said Nicole.
 "If you follow me, I'll take you to the castle," I said.  I figured that showing these two around would make more time for new information to show itself.
Time for more catching
I had to write the rough draft of my Catcher in the Rye paper today, so I just threw something together.  I also went out to a lake to do chemical testing on it.  I've figured out that nobody in my school knows exactly what they're doing, and their expectations are not consistent from one project to another.  That's my life: one surprise after another when it comes to homework.  Now, on to computer game news...
New games pages and links
Someone on the Drakan forum named Signal has a site that reviews a selection of games, mainly role-playing, but also Drakan.  There's no text URL for the page, but there is a number code.  That's very odd.  You can visit the page at http://206.160.0.203/.  There's a Surreal News page that's been around for a few days now, with a few new forums, and I've added it to the Drakan links.  Also, if you want the latest on game demos and release date information, check out Gone Gold.  It's one of the best info sites if you can get it to load. I'm just reporting all this because I haven't gotten a chance to do anything of my own lately, except this page of course.

October 25
Nicole paced back and forth in the room.  "I won't give up, Tritha.  Sarah's not gone.  She's still out there somewhere, I can feel it."
 "Nicole, I'd like to help search for her," said Tritha sympathetically, "but she could be anywhere in the desert.  The transport craft only keeps track of the destination, not the path taken.  Any track left in the sand has surely been erased by the wind now.  Anyway, my top priority is to stop Adella from destroying the gate back to your world."
 Mark walked into the room, carrying a glass of juvon.  "Hey, I'm sorry about Sarah and all.  I hope she's all right."  Nicole shot a glare at him, but then looked sad again.  It was, for once, not Mark's fault.
 "I know it's unlikely..." began Tritha.  The others slowly got around to paying her their attention.  Tritha continued, "It's unlikely we'll find them, but there are tribes of desert nomads that have passed through the region we crossed.  The Iwalu were the most recent, I believe."
 "We have to do everything we can to find her," said Nicole.  "For Kate's sake, and for all of ours."
I'm really tired
Lately I've only gotten 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night, and I think it's affecting me.  I never have the ambition to do anything anymore, not even homework or human interaction.  That's why you haven't seen much of me lately on a certain forum.  I also forgot to change the closing quote on this page again.  It won't happen anymore, I promise.
Time for a dragon level
I'm going to make another level for Drakan, this time with Arokh in it.  It's going to be a canyon level, like the Wartok Canyons, and I'll try to find some way to have more interaction between Rynn and Arokh.  It's going to be a difficult task, but if I can come up with an interesting level from one layer of mountains, then surely I can pull this off.  After my next level, though, it's time to program my new Nalenna game, Lunaria.  I still have the Drakan story to write, though...

October 24
Shalian looked out to sea.  "So you need to go to the eastern continent?" he asked.
 "Yes, we need to look for another way home, now that Adella sealed the gate," said Sarah.  "Surely Tritha must have told you about the gate."
 "I... am familiar with such a thing," said Shalian hesitantly.  "But we never use it anymore.  We have no reason to."
 Tritha walked up to him and held his arm.  "Please, take them to the east.  Think about how you felt when you were lost at sea, separated from your homeland... separated from me.  They too are lost, Shalian."
 He stepped back and contemplated the situation for a while.  Finally he said, "Very well.  I will take you across the sea, Sarah.  My ship will be ready in three days."
 "Thank you," said Sarah, looking around.  She saw the two others looking at a map of the port town on a post near the harbor, and she walked toward them.  "Nicole!  Kate!  We have to take a little boat ride, but we're getting closer to being home!"
 Nicole joined Sarah and Kate skipped along behind her.  Kate stopped and jumped up in the air.  "Wait!  What about Daddy?"
 Sarah, without hesitation, said, "Mark got us into this mess, so he can find his own way home."
More about Ethereal Light
You may have noticed that today's segment of the story is incongruous with yesterday's.  That's because I'm going to skip around between several different points in the story, sometimes using the point of view of one of the characters.  It's a different style, but it should be interesting to piece everything together.
Help with Rogue Spear
If you're like me and are totally inexperienced with the new Rainbow Six game, but you want to learn how to play the demo, there's a newbie's guide at the Sparrow's Nest.  It has advice on how to set up your team, scout the area, and eliminate the terrorist threat.  Since the demo documentation doesn't explain much, the guide is helpful in figuring out just what you're supposed to do.
Crossroads of Drakan is DONE!
I've finished my Drakan level, the Crossroads of Drakan, and it's now ready for download.  You can find it on my Drakan links page.  The level uses the mountain world theme, with a few tropical objects thrown in there to make the castle ruins.  There are some enemies and weapons that you never see in the normal game, and it's non-linear because you can take any path you want to get to the exit.

October 23
Sarah looked around the desert, the heat of the sun pounding away at her forehead.  She saw nothing, but she was determined to find her daughter in this wasteland.
 "Kate!" she yelled into the distance.
 Nicole caught up and joined in, "Kate, where are you?"
 "It's no use," sighed Sarah, sitting down in the sand.  "Mark's taken her away."
 "You don't think he'd... harm her, do you?"
 Sarah looked up at Nicole with anguish in her eyes.  "I don't know what to think anymore.  I don't even know where we are."
What the...?
Let me explain the preceding paragraph.  From today until I don't feel like it anymore, I'll be writing a short passage from Ethereal Light, my new adventure story that will eventually be a computer game, as my opening paragraph.  Partly this is to let people in on a good story, and partly it's better that way, because I can't write about any different topics there since my style dictates that I shouldn't have a header under the date.  The story of Ethereal Light is like this: Sarah's daughter Kate goes off with Sarah's ex-boyfriend Mark, who is Kate's father.  Of course Sarah doesn't know he's taken her away, and when she goes to investigate, along with a neighbor named Nicole, they are all pulled into a luminous vortex, hence the name of the story.  Mark has a vehicle of some sort, like a chariot or something, waiting on the other side, which is a desert on another world.  The world will be populated by humans, I've decided, but the rest of the story is still forming in my mind.  It begins with the search for Kate, but then it becomes an adventure across the world.  Some other stuff happens, too, but I'm not going to tell you about that aspect of the story just yet.
Another travel page coming!
I've mentioned this once already, but I'll repeat it - in March, I'm going to Costa Rica on a field study for my school.  I'm going to see the rainforest, and you know what that means: more photos!  Yaaay!  Just when you thought you couldn't get enough of the Utah photos, there is news of more pictures to fill your Internet cache.  This trip isn't new like the Utah one, but there's no web page for it yet on the school's site.  In fact, most of the field studies have no pages about them on there, or else they have a minimal report.  If you want the real info on the Utah or Florida field studies, The Sine Wave is the place to look.
No game reports... why?
You may have noticed that I haven't said anything about playing computer games today, and that's because I've been working on a secret project.  You probably already know what it is, and I said I wouldn't say anything about it until... well, you get the idea.  Tomorrow I'll have the latest on playing the Rogue Spear demo again after reading the documentation.

October 22
I know I've been kind of negative over the past few days, and too mired in a single game, so I've decided to change things around a little.  First things first: I'll only talk more about my Drakan level when it's done.  From now on, I won't mention its status on here because there isn't really much to say.  As for now, I have other things to do, such as unveiling:
A New Focus
Not everyone is crazy about Drakan, and that's kind of all I've been writing about for the past month, so I'm changing the prime topic of The Sine Wave.  I put all my Drakan links on a separate page, and now I'll write more interesting stories and reports on other computer games that look interesting.  For now, my main focus will be the Ethereal Light story, because it's not going to write itself.
Overview of Rogue Spear
Okay, I didn't really know what to expect from the Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear demo.  It's a strategy-based game, and I have never really been good at those.  I always lose at chess and a lot of other board games, so I was thinking I wouldn't do too well in Rogue Spear.  I started up the game and set up the controls the way I thought I would like them, and then I went to New Game.  I started out at Recruit difficulty because I was a total newbie.  The game went into about 9 setup screens, and I just went with the default choices, because frankly I had no idea what I was doing.  Then it was time to go into the action phase, which had that first-person shooter familiarity I was expecting.  I started outside the Egyptian exhibit of a museum, where hostages were being held.  Knowing that I would no doubt fail on my first try due to the complexity of the game, I decided to fail with style.  I went into the museum, guns blazing, although there was nobody in the main room, or in a lot of other rooms for that matter.  But there were a lot of objects to shoot, and I started shattering the windows and the display cases.  Yes, I know Rogue Spear isn't that kind of game, but this was just my "test" campaign to see how badly I could screw up.  I kept hearing a voice saying "Tango down."  I don't know why I was being told to tango down - I thought Rogue Spear was an anti-terrorist game, not a dancing game.  Then I realized that "tango" means target, and in this case it meant a terrorist had been neutralized.  Okay, I had learned at least one thing about the game.  It was then that I started a real mission, but to tell you the truth, I wasn't much better this time around.  The character I was playing didn't shoot any terrorists or save any hostages, but somehow I managed to win the mission anyway.  It's really a complicated game, and there's a steep learning curve, but if I ever learn how to play it, I'm sure it'll be a blast.

October 21
I'm still messing around with my Crossroads of Drakan level, and I think it's about half done.  I have the textures and ruins throughout the level done, and now all I need to do is add weapons, enemies, and powerups.  It's not a very fine tuned level, but it has a lot of area to cover.  But the way Drakan works, you'll find yourself tempted to jump-walk all over the land.  I wish the game wasn't designed so you go faster while jumping.  In real life, you don't see the fastest runners in the Olympics jumping all the time, except in the hurdles event.
Light the fire
After I finish my level, I'll be working on a few stories.  There's the Drakan story, which I'm seriously thinking about delegating to someone on the forum because I really don't know how to write a story, and then there's the script to Ethereal Light, where it doesn't matter how badly it's written because it'll turn into a computer game anyway.  I have a lot of ambition for that game, Ethereal Light.  I'm expecting it to be a captivating adventure story that takes over 120 hours to finish and that has a lot of different branching storylines that all come together naturally in the end.  There won't be any plot holes or unsatisfying endings like a certain other game that is one of the main focuses (foci?) of my site.  Sigh... if only I had the skills to actually do it.
A flaming outrage
I was watching ER tonight when I saw a very peculiar ad.  It was for a battered women's shelter, and it had the usual melodramatic voiceover with slow motion images that are popular with that sort of thing.  It was really a good ad, very touching, until one important thing showed up: the name of the sponsor.  It was Philip Morris.  A tobacco company.  A company that makes a malignant and malicious product that kills people every day is now saying they're helping to save people.  I don't believe it for a minute.  I don't think Philip Morris cares at all about ending abusive relationships.  I think they're just trying to win the public over by pretending they're this great philanthropic company that cares about people.  Really, this sickens and disgusts me.  It could be any other kind of company sponsoring the shelter, and I would be glad, but Philip Morris is an institution of death that sells putrid, evil, addictive cancer sticks.  They're trying to win over more smokers, that's all.  They said they would help the children, too, but then I bet after the kids are in the shelter they'll hand them a cigarette.  Really, this is worse than Joe Camel.  I hope they get sued into bankruptcy when some idiot smoker burns down one of their shelters after falling asleep with a lit Philip Morris cigarette.  I'm not saying the shelter is bad, I just think it needs a sponsor that doesn't make money by killing people.  That's my opinion, and if you don't like it... well, I didn't force this page into your web browser, you know.
Still nebulous
I raised such a fuss about my game Nebula, but I haven't heard what anyone thinks of it.  I'm starting to think that nobody cares about the simple little games I've made.  That's really a shame, because if I had some feedback, I would know what to change and what people want in future games.  And I would be honest and tell people if I didn't know how to do something.

October 20
It's really late right now, and I didn't get much sleep last night, so I can't write much today.  Actually, I've been spending most of my time with the Drakan editor.  I'm working on a mountain level called the Crossroads of Drakan, with a lot of secret passages through the hills and walls.  It'll be a fortress kind of thing with walls all over the place, kind of like an Anasazi city with more Wartoks.
Elementary, dear Arokh
The Order of the Elements has posted the first multiplayer Drakan level, the Ubernaught Arena, made by Trev of the Immortals.  There's a link to their page from here, so if you want to play on that level, and can find others who also do, check it out.

October 19
The Drakan editor... get ready for this... finally came out today!  The good news is I can make new levels, but the bad news is that I might take a while to learn how.  This thing is really complicated.  I tried to make a short little "test" level to try out, and after much bumbling around with stuff (there's no help file), I managed to put Rynn and Arokh into a rectangular area with no texture.  When I tried to play the level, it crashed back to the desktop.  Okay, it's only my first day, and I think I'm coming along all right with the editor.  I'll be making new quests and areas in no time, as well as multiplayer levels!  A new patch also came out, and it gets rid of the bug where you could generate infinite items.  You can find them both on Surreal's Tech page.
Inherit the heritage
There's a 4-day weekend coming up for me, and I have to do an assignment where I interview an elderly relative about the family's oral tradition and stories passed down from generation to generation.  It's for an assignment having to do with this book I'm reading, Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko.  Yes, that's another rite of passage story, courtesy of Ms. Daniels.  I'm just putting this on here because I have to remember it and I'll forget otherwise, and also because nothing else happened today except the editor and patch. But the editor coming out is momentous enough, right?  When I finally make a level, no matter how lame it is, I'll post it here.

October 18
I finally finished reading The Catcher in the Rye today.  Now I have to fill in a sheet about the symbolism of the story.  Ms. Daniels is always lecturing us about the symbolism of everything, and she always gets very emotional about it.  She's very much into the "rite of passage" theme, and it seems like everything we've read so far has to do with rites of passage.  Everything last year kind of had that theme too... I think Ms. Daniels may be in control of the entire school reading curriculum.
Overview of Unreal Tournament
When I started up the demo, I saw a loading message just like the original Unreal, but then it took me to a screen that was kind of like the Windows or Mac OS.  It had a list of menus at the top of the screen, and you could select a command from there.  First, I set up the controls, and then I started a practice session with the bots.  I wasn't hooked up to the Internet at the time, so I couldn't play online.  Anyway, I chose all my configuration commands and started the game.  I appeared in a place that was on top of some buildings with low gravity so I could jump around easily.  Everyone (the bots and I) was flying around, being blasted by rockets and propelled off the buildings.  Most of the weapons are functional in the demo.  There's the shocker, which is a short-range weapon that you charge up.  Then there's a standard-issue pistol called the Enforcer.  You start out with both of those, and you can pick up another Enforcer for two-gun action.  Then there's the ASMD Shock Rifle, which shoots energy blasts and can be used for a combo attack, and the Pulse Cannon, which can shoot rapid-fire plasma shots or a steady stream of plasma.  The Minigun uses up ammo quickly and fires at a fast rate, but it is not very accurate.  Finally, the Rocket Launcher can be used to fire explosives as either missiles or grenades, and it can load up to six to fire all at once.  Basically, they are like the weapons from Unreal, but with better balance.  The Dispersion Pistol, Stinger, Razorjack, Flak Cannon, GES Bio Rifle, and Sniper Rifle are not in the UT demo, and some of those weapons might not make it to the full game.  The bot AI is good, and it's almost like playing against real human beings, except they can't swear at you, accuse you of camping, or blame the lag.  They're saving that feature for the full game (just kidding).  You can modify the game, even the demo, with files called "mutators", which change some of the graphics lines of code in the program to create different effects.  For example, there's a mutator that equips everyone with an ultra-powerful shock rifle that explodes the enemy in one shot.  I'm having a lot of fun with this demo, and I hope the full game lives up to it.  They promised more than 70 arenas, as opposed to the 6 in the demo, so we should see a wider variation of settings.  I can't wait to run around somewhere like Na Pali from the original.

October 17
If you want to download a new Drakan theme, there's one that was recently made by someone from the forum named Fastdad.  It's available on the Blood that Binds clan page, which you can link to from here.  It includes wallpaper, logos, and sound.  There are new .wav files in it, including the Islands music.  The Ruined Village music and the Succubus Lair music, which are not on the CD, can be downloaded here.
Lunaria is underway
I'm starting another Nalenna game, called Lunaria.  You control a hovercraft going over the surface of an alien moon, while flies and rocks get in your path.  You have to dodge the bombs dropped by the flies and either blast or swerve around the rocks.  This is all going to happen in pseudo-3D, like Nebula but more sophisticated.

October 16
I'm thinking about trying to make more of a pseudo-3D game as the next Nalenna project.  It'll still be an arcade-style twitch shooter, but with better graphics and gameplay than my previous efforts.  Maybe it will be like the old classic Moon Patrol, where you drive a lunar car over the moon and jump over craters.  I hope to someday make a game that goes beyond my usual routine.  Most of my games are like the ones you find on graphing calculators.
Sniffin' the Ether
I'm not going to be like Surreal and give you false hope of the release date for my big adventure game Ethereal Light.  I really want to make this game, but the truth is that I don't know how.  That's right, I'm not actually a good programmer.  After I finish the Drakan story, I'll start working on the Ethereal Light story.  Once again I'm taking on a lot of projects all at once.
I'm still waiting!
Well, that's it.  The Drakan editor doesn't look like it's going to be released anytime soon, so I'll quit giving daily updates on its progress.  I'll only mention it again when it's available and on my computer.  I really hope Psygnosis hurries up with that legal agreement.  It shouldn't take them this much time.  The Drakan forum community is fading slowly...

October 15
I don't know if the Drakan editor came out today.  My Internet account failed on me, and I'm unable to connect.  This means you might not see today's update of The Sine Wave.  I'm going to call the ISP tomorrow and see if I can get it working again, but I have a nagging feeling that it will take a long time, just like everything else in the computer-related industries.  I really don't know what the holdup is with that editor.  If you do see this update today, it's because I'm going through another account, which seems unable to access any site but this one.  That's really weird.
NEBULA!!!
All right, I went and programmed Nebula today.  You can find it on the Nalenna writings and games section of this site.  I bet you've never even gone there because you probably just skim the text on this page without reading any of the things to the side.  I know I do the same thing sometimes.  Anyway, I promised October 15, and here it is.  If you don't want to see the Nalenna site you can just click here to go to the download page.  It's only 208K this time, instead of over 240.  That probably means I did something wrong...
Separation anxiety
The editor could be out right now and I wouldn't know it, and all because of this dumb nonresponsive firewalled company Internet connection I'm forced to use right now.  Oh well... I guess instead of reading the Drakan forums and looking at movie reviews tonight, I could just get some sleep.  Hopefully the problem is on the MNInter.net server and not my account so they can fix it and everything will be okay tomorrow.
Yes... it works now! But still no editor...
It seems my account started working again.  It wasn't accepting me before midnight, but now all of a sudden I can get on... and I think I know why.  Last night, I fell asleep without shutting down my Internet connection, so I might have used up all my hours for the 15th.  I didn't miss anything, though.  There's still no editor.

October 14
Guess what?  The editor didn't come out today!  What a big surprise!  I'm getting really sick of this waiting game.  First they tell us it'll be out last Friday, then Monday, then Tuesday, then today, but where's the Drakan editor?  I don't see it!  Frankly I'm starting to doubt it'll ever come out now.  I made the prediction that it would be today, but it didn't come true.  Waiting for this editor is like watching an animation in an adventure game.  You see the guy put the glass to his lips, you see him drinking, but he never gets done with the drink.
An unreal experience
I finally downloaded that Unreal Tournament demo today and played a few games.  I haven't gone on multiplayer yet, though.  I just played a few games with bots.  UT is a great game, and the weapons are much more effective than in the original Unreal.  The only multiplayer game I've played besides that demo is online Drakan, and the UT demo just blows Drakan out of the water in that aspect.  Like I said, I haven't been online with it yet, but I bet it doesn't crash after 2 minutes like Drakan does.
The long wait begins
I've made a new prediction about when the Drakan editor will be released.  I think it will not be available until November 12, which is exactly five weeks away from its intended date.  All good things require five weeks of waiting.  It was the same way with Drakan itself - it was supposed to be released on July 14 or 15, but in fact the true release date was August 18 or 19.  The patch had several delays as well.  I've included the screenshot of the editor in my Drakan links section, so you can look at it if you want to see what it's like.

October 13
Today I received a screenshot of the editor from Sparrowslain, but I don't know if I'm supposed to show it to everyone or not.  I guess it doesn't matter, though.  The editor will be out tomorrow, I can feel it.  This is my prediction, and it may or may not come true, but I hope it does, because I really want to start making some levels.  I've seen the interface of the editor, and I've described my interpretation of it as follows:

"I see from the shot that it is showing the section of Wartok Canyons above the villager's house.  The terrain seems to be a grid with elevation mapping and different layers for levels of ground.  I don't know how the ceilings and arches will be rendered, though.  The fence looks like three bounding boxes near a larger one, which is probably the house.  The rest of the screen looks like it's filled with modifiers for all the objects in the level, as well as textures for the level terrain, with a viewer in the middle.  The landscape generator is unlike any I have seen before, and it seems fitting for large outdoor areas, as opposed to the overlapping cubes and pyramids of Quake.  This would explain why there is such slowdown when you're inside a house - because the house is made up of entity objects instead of level geometry.  I see the STOMP sequence editor looks like a sound mixing utility.  The level looks rather simple in the upper left box, kind of like the overworld map in a Final Fantasy game."

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about it, and I may even have a level or two to put on here if I pick up on it quickly.  By the way, if you have Rogue Spear or another co-op game and have a fast connection or live in the southeast USA, you may be interested in Sparrow's Rangers.  The Sparrow's Nest has more info on that.

Living in danger
We've been learning about endangered species in school lately.  In Africa, rhinos are being poached by hunters for the horn and nothing else.  That's as bad as hunting elephants for ivory.  At least there are still a large number of elephants left, but the rhino population has decreased severely, down to there being only 10 or so in a wildlife refuge.  The horn is used only as a status symbol, in the form of a dagger handle that people would carry around to show that they were elite, and as an aphrodisiac in Asia, and we all know how well those work.  So what we have is people risking their lives to hunt an animal and selling the horn for a pittance, and the horn isn't even used for anything really practical.  Personally, I think the idea of an aphrodisiac is kind of a dumb superstition.  Maybe a great many good, stable marriages started with the horn of a dead beast, but I doubt it.  Status symbols are another silly idea, and they are often nothing but a way to reinforce macho attitudes and control.  It stems from that rutting instinct, like elk in the forest, seeing who can be the biggest man.  I've also seen many of those attitudes on the Internet, particularly in the multiplayer game area, and maybe that's why I waited so long to play anything online.  I just thought some players' attitudes were pointless and stupid.  And they probably wouldn't care about the rhinos.
Unreal Tournament is coming...
Tomorrow I'm going to download the Unreal Tournament demo if the editor isn't released, and maybe if it is, I'll download it while making levels.  I've heard it's really good, and there are already some mods out for it.  It's not even a full game, and there are mods.  People tried making some for Quake 3 Arena, but they were all pulled off the web.  There has yet to be a multiplayer Drakan mod.

October 12
Well, first they promised the editor would be out by last Friday.  Then they promised it would be out by Monday, for real that time.  Now it's Tuesday and still there's no editor.  ToxikMan says he finished coding the editor on Friday and that it's going through all the legal stuff now.  Frankly, I'm starting to wonder if the editor even exists.  I haven't even seen any screenshots of this phantom Drakan editor, and my faith that it will come out is starting to waver.  I've been through this kind of thing many times before, and sometimes what we are promised is never delivered at all.  Now, they said it would definitely come out sometime this week.  I sincerely hope they are right.
The elusive 266th photo
Just when you think you're finished with a project, it returns to haunt you and jar you back into reality.  Today, I saw a photo, which had already been framed, that I hadn't put up yet, so I scanned it in as the final Utah photo for this site.

A very Tomb Raider-esque photo of me in the slot canyon.
This increases the photo count by one, making it 266 pictures of my Southern Utah trip!  I also put the picture in Emily's photo log.  I'm thinking about breaking my photo log into sections so all 188 pictures on there don't have to download at once.  It's too much of a strain on lower connections like 28.8 modems.

October 11
I've completed a little more of the Drakan story, but there's still a lot more to go.  I'm only about 5% done right now, because I'm only up to a little past half of the first part of the first level.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and they aren't kidding.  I may not have time to work on it tomorrow because I have a lot of homework to do again.  Plus, I will be playing around with a certain editor that's coming out tomorrow...
Nebula is still nebulous
I really hate to be unreliable, but it looks like my new game Nebula won't be finished by October 15.  I really want to get it finished sometime, but I think it's time for me to start looking for a better game programming utility than C++ Builder 3.  It's not even meant to program games - it's for Windows API functions and things like that.  If you've downloaded any of the games from my Nalenna section, you would see that they're all more than 240K.  This is because Builder has to compile all the C, C++, and Pascal libraries, plus all the conversion algorithms, into one file, so what you're really getting is an operating system along with every game.
One final note
If the Drakan editor doesn't come out tomorrow, I'll be sorely disappointed.  It's not so much that I want it so bad, even though I do, it's that the game makers are playing this little guessing game with us about everything.  First it was about the release of the actual game itself, then it was about the patch, and now it's about what is to a lot of people the saving grace of the multiplayer game.  It'll probably be worth it when it's out and I can make my own levels and weapons, so I guess I should be happy.

October 10
I just realized that I have a Drakan story to write.  I'd better start working on that tomorrow if I have the time and patience.  I had to work on math homework today, so I didn't get to do much with this site.  Basically just this column is all.  I really want to do more... I've got it!  I have a sound file from Crossroads II that I've uploaded here, and you can download it and see what the game I've been talking so much about sounds like.  Keep in mind that it is from a Commodore 64 game made in 1988.
Catching the fever
My English teacher, the subliminally dysphoric Ms. Daniels, has assigned the book Catcher in the Rye to us.  We need to have the first 80 or so pages read by Tuesday.  The book is a story about a cynical student named Holden Caulfield who gets kicked out of school for the fourth time.  Everyone swears a lot, and it's full of colloquialisms which seem a little dated now.  Still, it's more interesting than most books assigned in English classes.
Netscape has bugs!
Sometimes when I use Netscape to visit certain sites, such as the one that I get my Drakan forum signatures from, the program goes into a sort of browser limbo where it doesn't load pages right and when you close all the windows, the program stays running and you have to use the reset command to shut it down.  This has happened with all versions of Netscape, but they should've fixed that bug by now.  Why is it that some bugs are common but they never get fixed?  There used to be a page on the Eastview High site that crashed Netscape every time because of some table error, but I guess it's been changed.

October 9
Well, the Drakan editor was supposed to come out today, but it didn't.  I'm glad it was planned to be released so early, but planning doesn't give us the ability to make our own levels.  Apparently Psygnosis didn't approve of the editor yet, and that could only mean changes to it, and possibly restrictions.  I originally thought they would force Surreal to drop some of the tools, but I recently got word from Surreal's own ToxikMan stating that the editor would be released in full.  I can't wait to start making levels and weapons with that thing.  I wonder what weapon I'll do first - a boomerang?  A sword with a real ice shield spell?  Or just a good old-fashioned hammer of ultimate destruction?  Only time will tell.
Sorry once again
I said this would be the Sine Weekend, with a whole lot of new changes, but that was before I heard about the editor's impending release.  I've been on the Drakan forum all day, making suggestions and getting people all riled up over my views on the editor.  I'm sorry about that, though.  I really shouldn't come up with crazy speculations, because that only leads to rumors, which lead to lies and misunderstandings.  And that's the true path to the Dark Side.

October 8
Well, I finally did it.  I put up the Utah photos, and you can find them by clicking on Southern Utah Expedition and going to Emily's photo log.  Most of the pictures on that site were taken by her, but it's mainly a collection of photos I didn't take, like ones of the Colorado River and Devil's Garden.  There are only 35 of them, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  I expected there to be a lot more.  Now, the photo count is up to 265, which is probably more photos of the southwest than you can find anywhere else.
On the Far Side
I modified the Far View mod for Drakan, so if you downloaded the first one, you can now download Farview 2.  I modified it by putting the camera a bit more above Rynn as well as behind, and I made it work for Arokh too.  I haven't been playing much multiplayer Drakan lately, and from the looks of the servers, neither has anyone else.  The net play just isn't good enough to draw in a big crowd like Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament.

October 7
To start off the Sine Weekend right, I did a major update to this page today.  I moved the weekly quote to the bottom of the page below my net name, and I changed the subtitle.  I'm working on an improvement to the far view mod in Drakan, because it really makes game play a lot different.  You wouldn't think a camera angle could affect so much, but it does.  I can't wait until I get that editor so I can make all sorts of weird and crazy stuff for the game.
I took the power back
You may have noticed that there's a new link here today.  That's right, I took my Florida field study page back from the school and transferred it to this site, because the school had failed for about a year now to put it up on theirs.  I made a few changes and updates to the pages, and I would never have gotten to do that if they were on the school site, so I guess it's all for the best.

October 6
I made a new Drakan mod today.  This one replaces another file, System.odb, and it places the camera further behind Rynn so you can see more around her.  It's good if you're tired of her getting in the way of your vision in the game.  I call it Farview.  Thanks to Sageous for directing me to the file where that info is kept.  I'm afraid that, once again, there is nothing else to talk about.  So I'll spare you the agony of reading more of my ranting about how good Crossroads II is and how nobody knows about it.

October 5
I have realized that I'm taking on too many projects all at once.  So far they include my games Ethereal Light, Nebula, and Crossroads III, my Drakan story, my Utah photos, and this daily entry.  I'm going to set my priorities right now.  First I'll finish the Drakan story and put up the photos.  Then I'll work on Crossroads III and Nebula, and finally, although I don't know if it'll ever see the light of day, Ethereal Light.  Don't get me wrong - I'm really looking forward to making Ethereal Light, but it'll take some time for me to learn the programming skills necessary to make my vision in that game a reality.
The Sine Weekend approaches
This weekend, I'm going to put aside what little social life I have and spend some time updating this site.  You'll see the photos up before Sunday, and this time I mean it for good.  I know I've said it before, and it hasn't been done, but it will.  I might also come up with a new name for Nalenna, like I said I would do.  I've been getting lazy, and I'm sorry.  There's really nothing to talk about today, so I'll just leave it at that.

October 4
They say there's nothing you can't find on the Internet.  No subject uncovered by at least one web page.  Well, my friends, I have found the void of subjects on the Web, and its name is Crossroads II.  There is not one single page dedicated solely to that game.  That's why I'm going to make one as soon as I can.  I'm also going to put Nebula on hold and start working on my own Crossroads game.  Before my time is over, the world will know about Crossroads II: Pandemonium.  And that's a promise.
The Curse of Drakan
I was sick today.  My stomach hurt and I had to go home early.  Yesterday I complained about Drakan on this page.  I don't know if the two events are just a coincidence, or if my illness the result of a curse caused by badmouthing Drakan.  I'm sure it's just a silly superstition.  Anyway, I hope that Drakan editor is released soon, because I'm going to try and make the most of the Riot engine before everyone loses interest in the game.  And people are losing interest, I'm sorry to say.  Maybe it's because the multiplayer is so weak, or maybe it's because of the lack of secrets and quests in the single player game, but there just aren't as many people on the forums.  I really wish the multiplayer game was more stable and had more maps.

October 3
I've been talking too much about Drakan and not enough about what I think is the best game ever: Crossroads II!  Seriously, while I found out today that that other game I mentioned (gee, I forgot the name already... Dricken?  Drexel?) doesn't even let you play on a network, CII doesn't even NEED a network.  It was programmed before the days of network code.  Yes, I know not having network code is primitive, but isn't it better than code that doesn't work?
Still no photos, waaah!
Now before you give my site the evil eye, read further, because I have a decent explanation today for why I don't have the Utah pictures up today.  The truth is that I hadn't even started reading Last Chance to See yet, so I had to read the whole thing today and take notes because they're due tomorrow.  Yesterday I was too busy checking out the scene on multiplayer you-know-what.  So I don't really know when I'll have the photos up, and I don't know when I'll have my new game Nebula done.  It's a terribly difficult task to juggle my computer and school life like this.  Like I said, I'm deleting my copy of Crossroads II... however, my brother's copy will remain on my computer.  It's too good a game to give up completely.

October 2
Drakan multiplayer still has some problems, but it's still fun.  However, Crossroads II multiplayer had no problems.  Maybe that's only because it didn't have to deal with network problems or packet loss, but that's no excuse.  I should be able to play a game without it crashing on me all the time.  Like I said, though, some servers are better than others when it comes to stability.  If only the Internet itself were more stable...
Crossing the road
I've been writing so much about Crossroads II on this page and it hasn't even been mentioned on any other site except as part of a list, so The Sine Wave truly is the prime source in the world for information on that game.  So if that's the case, why not celebrate it?  Even after 12 years, I have respect for the Crossroads series.  It's still a good game.  Most games become tiresome after a few months, but not this one.  In fact, and I know it could be blasphemous to say this, even Drakan may eventually become tiresome!
Whoops, forgot again
Right now, I'm bending my leg at the knee rapidly so that I kick myself in the butt, because I forgot all about the Utah photos!  But really, there are so many already... are you sure you've looked at them all?  Okay, it's my bad. I'll have them in tomorrow, I swear on my copy of Crossroads II.  Maybe I should have the tagline read "Your #1 Internet source of Utah photos!"...

October 1
I've decided that from now on, September only has 29 days, as you can see from that month's archive.  Just kidding!  Actually, I spent the whole day of the 30th camping out in the woods behind the zoo for an activity called BioBlitz.  I took a survey of a plot, but it wasn't very accurate, I'm afraid.  We sat by the campfire in the cold night as a student, Steve, read To Build a Fire, by Jack London, to us.  It seemed fitting, especially with the cold weather here in Minnesota.
New Drakan and Crossroads II stuff!
I added some new things to the links today.  There's the Drakan Night Islands animation, which is a stylized animated GIF, and the Crossroads II animation, which is like a time lapse animation of a level.  I also added the Order of the Flame legend backstory to my Drakan story, so if you've wanted to see that in print, you can now.  I've been playing more multiplayer lately, and it still crashes sometimes, even with the patch.  Oh well, nothing's perfect...
Oh, gypsy luck!  Forgot again!
A few days ago, I promised to put more Utah photos on my site, and I still haven't done it.  Uh oh... I'm turning into one of the industry robots!  Tomorrow I'll scan in the photos and upload them to this site like I did with the others.

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