Musings on Cloud Computing

It's been a while. Life has been crazy, with midterms and projects and concerts and all sorts of goings on.

One side effect of this is that I tend to hop from computer to computer quite frequently. I have my home desktop, my laptop, my work computers (windows and Linux), and the school computer lab computers (windows and Linux). It's no wonder that cloud computing has become an extremely attractive option for me.

Currently I use Google Docs for most of my documents, including class notes (type them out on the laptop during class), course planning (multiple page spreadsheet organizing my course plan several terms ahead of time), time sheets, resume, and game ideas. The organization of Google Docs still leaves something to be desired, but it's been an absolute life saver in keeping me sane and organized.

I recently looked into IDE options in the cloud, and found that while there are a few out there, they all seem to be targeted at web development with no compilers for languages like C++, though some do have C++ syntax formatting. I even found some that play nice with Github, but nothing that exactly matches my needs. I'm hoping this is an area that will continue to grow and that new and exciting tools will be developed to push development to the cloud.

I've had classmates suggest simply using a server and ssh-ing into it, and that certainly is an option. However, I still feel cloud computing is a more intuitive and easy answer.

LoL What? Beginner Guide to Kayle

Kayle the Judicator
Hybrid AP/Support

There is a world far away where an ancient conflict still rages. Kayle was a champion in her war, the fair bringer of justice, and there are those that call her an angel. However, there are many who would call her murderer or monster. Kayle tirelessly fought for her people, bringing enemies to their knees. That is, until the day she was summoned. Plucked from her conflict, Kayle at first raged - until she saw the cause for which she had been called. Now she has brought her role to Valoran, dispensing her brand of justice to the League of Legends in an attempt to salvage the very survival of the planet. She is a striking winged figure. Though incredibly beautiful, Kayle hides herself under armor, knowing that justice is so often an ugly thing. Despite her newfound life, there is still a part of her that yearns for her home. Kayle is, for lack of a more sophisticated term, a bruiser. She can sear enemies with what she calls holy energy, sucking the life and magic from a victim. She is capable of sharing the harm done to her with those who inflict it. Her ability to intervene can help an allied Champion return from death with haste then she can bless them with increased speed. When the time comes, Kayle can ignite her sword with holy fire, bringing out the true avenging angel within her. In the League of Legends, Justice comes on swift wings.

Kayle is a fun champion for beginners to play. She looks extremely impressive with her bright armor and wings, and her invincibility and heal gives some wiggle room that beginners can really appreciate, yet she still does enough damage to feel powerful. She can fit into most any team, and brings a lot of utility to a group so you'll be quite popular with your teammates. Your main job with Kayle is to save people's butts. If that sounds awesome, read on!

Champion Abilities

Passive: Holy Fervor

When Kayle attacks a champion, the target loses 3% Armor and Magic Resistance for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times.

This passive is pretty pathetic. However, the effect does work for everyone on the team, not just Kayle, so it's still worth trying to get a few hits on whoever your team is focusing down.

Reckoning (Q)

Blasts an enemy unit with angelic force, dealing damage and slowing movement speed. While the target is slowed, Kayle inflicts increased damage to them. 

This is your harass ability. Use it as an opener (allowing increased damage), or in particular, to allow you and your team to catch up to a fleeing enemy. It's also your longest range offensive ability, so it's useful as a poke.

Divine Blessing (W)

Blesses a target friendly champion, granting them increased movement speed and healing them. 

This is your main support ability. The heal is pretty much negligible, as Kayle is a hybrid rather than a straight support character. However, in addition to the heal, this gives a speed boost that can be significant at higher levels. This is great to use in conjunction with Reckoning to allow Kayle or her teammates to catch a fleeing enemy, or to help Kayle or her teammates escape.

Righteous Fury (E)

Ignites Kayle's sword with a holy flame, granting Kayle a ranged splash attack and bonus magic damage.

This is your primary damage output, and will help in farming as it allows your attacks to splash to nearby enemies. Additionally, combined with her other abilities, this helps Kayle chase down enemies as it allows her normally melee attacks to hit at range.

Intervention (R)

Shields Kayle or an ally for a short time, causing them to be immune to damage.

 The move Kayle is most known for, her ult. This makes one champion of your choice (including Kayle herself) invincible for a short time. It can be great for many things, including escaping a near death situation, tower diving, or throwing on a massive DPS to allow them to get off their full attack while the enemy team looks on, unable to stop them.

Summoner Abilities


Ghost (F)
Your Champion ignores unit collision and moves 27% faster for 14 seconds.

Ghost greatly increases your mobility. Combined with Kayle's already deadly mobility spells, it allows her and her teammates to catch or escape from enemies with ease.

Other choices: Flash

Exhaust (G)
Reduces a target's Attack Damage by 70%, Ability/Item damage by 35% and slows its Movement Speed by 40% for 3 seconds.

Exhaust is used primarily to slow an enemy. Like Ghost, it can be used both offensively (to catch a fleeing enemy) and defensively (to escape)

Other choices: Ignite, Cleanse, Clairvoyance

Mastery

Kayle works well with the go-to mastery set up: 9/0/21. This mastery set gets you the following at max level: 9% reduced cooldowns, magic penetration, increased experience, mana regen, move speed, and longer Neutral buffs. Now, this guide assumes you aren't at max level, so I'll give the order in which you should pick these masteries up.

Offense Tree:
3/3 Deadliness
1/1 Cripple (if you use Exhaust)
4/4 Sorcery
1/1 Archaic Knowledge

Utility Tree:
3/3 Perseverance
1/1 Haste (if you use Ghost)
4/4 Awareness
2/2 Utility Master
3/3 Meditation
3/3 Quickness
3/3 Sorcery
1/4 Expanded Mind
1/1 Presence of the Master

Skill Order

Skilling for Kayle is easy. Grab Righteous Fury first so you have it available, then level in the following priority:

Intervention >>> Reckoning / Divine Blessing >>> Righteous Fury

Items

This is the most generic item build for Kayle, but be prepared to substitute items in based on your opponents and the specific situation you are in.

1. Doran's Ring
2. Mercury Treads
3. Hextech Gunblade
4. Guinsoo's Rageblade
5. Nashor's Tooth
6. Rabadon's Deathcap

If you need additional survivability, a Guardian's Angel (if people are focusing you down specifically) or a Banshee's Veil are good substitutes - insert one of them between step 3 and 4 in the item list.

Laning

Kayle is a strong soloer, so mid or solo top is good. However as a beginner, you may want to stay paired until you feel comfortable.

Before Level 6
Your goal is to get as many last hits as possible while harassing the enemy and trying to keep them from getting as many last hits. Use your movement speed to keep on the move and only hit minions to last hit. Use Reckoning and Righteous Fury to harass the enemy and Divine Blessing to escape if needed. Reckoning is really your best friend in this phase, and you should do your best to make your enemies fear it.

After Level 6
Stay in your lane to harass and farm as long as you can, but coordinate with your team if you can and join up for the occasional gank using your Intervention.Do your best to get gunblade before the main teamfighting phase begins.

Team Fights

It's important to remember that while Kayle can be awesome on her own, she really shines as a support character. Remember that you can't save butts with Intervention if you are stunned or dead, so don't draw too much aggro to yourself.

• Let your teammates initiate. Your moves are usually better used in reaction to the situation.
• Hit the team's focus target with Reckoning, then follow up with Righteous Fury.
• Heal your weaker teammates with Divine Blessing
• Use you Intervention as soon as one of your powerful DPS allies begins being focused down, when they reach around 30% health.
• Only enter melee range if you seem to be winning, to help chase the enemy down.
• If you are losing, help everyone escape using Divine Blessing to boost their speed and Reckoning to slow the enemy down.

More Information

If you'd like more information, check out the guide by "I am the Walrus" on LeagueCraft: Kayle, the Saver of Asses. I have essentially paraphrased his guide here, making it as short as noob friendly as possible. He's got a lot more information about why this build is recommended as well as hard numbers supporting his recommendations.

Have fun!

Geek Girl Con Reactions

Recently I attended Geek Girl Con, a brand new convention taking place in Seattle, celebrating the female geek. The con was very content heavy, and much smaller than PAX - a very different experience for me. The bottom line is, I loved it!


I got there a little late the first day and missed out on one of the panels I was interested in, which was sad. After picking up my badge, I met up with a friend of mine and we browsed the exhibit hall. After that, we went to a panel on Feminism, Race, and Geek Culture. The panelists included Regina Buenobra (moderator), Michelle Hu, Nina V. Reyes, and Christina Xu. The panel was interesting and brought up some awesome ideas for broaching difficult subjects such as race and gender issues in online communities. My favorite was the idea of presenting these issues in ragecomics. Another interesting point brought up was the problems of cross race roleplaying and how it can sometimes help proliferate stereotypes.

Michelle is a friend of the person I was attending the con with, so after the panel, my friend and I went to lunch with the panelists and a few other people - including a writer for ArenaNet currently working on Guild Wars 2, and a lovely woman who writes and edits for Border House under the pseudonym Quinnae Moongazer. The lunch was awesome, and it was really cool to be able to say I had lunch with people from ArenaNet.

After that, I browsed the exhibit hall some more and picked up two purchases. The first was purely for nostalgia trip reasons - I grabbed Pokemon Snap for three dollars at a used game stall. I don't even have my N64 right now, it's at my parents' house, but I'm going to have them bring it up to me - emulation is grand and all but it's just not the same. My second purchase has already gotten me a bunch of jealousy from my friends - my cactuar. I decided instead of getting a shirt, which I have way too many of, I'd spend the same amount of money on something that makes me squee in delight. So, small stuffed cactus it is. I also really wanted a goomba hat but by the time I came back with cash, it was already bought. Probably just as well.

Next up was The Designing Women of Bioware. It was awesome to be in the same room with the minds behind much of Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and KotOR. Their stories provided great insights into the operation of a game company. I noticed many of the level designers got their starts at Bioware as interns, and I'm a little concerned that I won't have that option available to me as there are no video game dev studios in my area. Despite this, I came out of the panel excited and inspired.

Sunday had one of the panels I was most looking forward to: Girls Make Games Too, which was about women getting into the gaming industry. I was a little disappointed that most of the people on the panel were on the art side of things, but there was one gameplay engineer as well as a team lead - in fact, THE team lead for Portal 1! The gals had some awesome advice for people getting into the gaming industry. They said they hadn't ever experienced blatant sexism, but there was a lot of unintentional separation that they'd had to break down. Often when a woman comes on to an all-male team, the boys worry that she'll ruin their culture, that they won't be able to joke around the same way or tell raunchy stories. Without any exceptions, the girls at the panel dealt with this the same way: be more raunchy than the boys. One mentioned that the first thing she did when coming into a new team was to crack a dirty joke. Another said she always makes sure to drop a "tactful" f-bomb during the interview. That sort of blew my mind, and jolted me into the reality that I'm in a creative industry now, not the dry boredom of typical engineering jobs. Almost all of the girls had tattoos and piercings in visible places. They dressed casually and stylishly, not in button up shirts and slacks. These are my people, this is where I want to work, and I'm just so excited to be getting started in this industry.

The last event I attended at the con was a spontaneous jam of three nerdy bands just outside the main conference area. They same some original nerd-feminist themed music, then had a sing-along for Birdhouse in Your Soul and Still Alive. It was an awesome note to end on, since I couldn't stay for the closing ceremonies.

Overall this con was a great jolt of inspiration for me, not only as a girl gamer but as someone who hopes to make games. The camaraderie and heartfelt support was palpable, and the issues discussed were thought provoking and important. It was a great start to an awesome new tradition, and I don't have any doubt that it will be continuing next year.

X in 10 Minutes

Hello, my wonderful readers!

I'm planning on starting a new series of videos called "X in 10 Minutes", in which I attempt to give a succinct overview of a game in under 10 minutes. These will have actual footage of gameplay, and will be targeted towards those who haven't played the game but who may be interested in trying it out, and just want a little more information about gameplay first. They'll have a very high level "how-to" but won't get into any details. There will be a very light element of review as well, just my basic reactions to the game, but that won't be the main focus.

Since I recently got into the beta for Wakfu, I plan to do a video about it first. After that, I'll probably just do a video based on whatever I happen to be playing!

I'm excited to start doing videos again, and hope you guys will enjoy them!

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.3)

Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

--- Continued from Part 1.2 --- 

The whole assignment seemed pretty ridiculous to me. Who cares about books? Can't they all be accessed by data slate, anyway? And this wasn't even an important book - it was just some progenium book for recent parents. There was also some political mumbo jumbo that the official explained that went right over my head, but I guess Gaius is pretty good at that kind of thing because he handled the meeting like it was nothing. The only good thing that came out of it, as far as I'm concerned, was a truly delicious meal.

Our mission was simple: a book had been checked out by an archivist, and hadn't been returned when it was due. Apparently this scribe wasn't involved in whatever political muck was going on, and was known to have a good service record. So probably she hadn't stolen it - something else must have gone wrong. Well, we located her house and found the place deserted, so I nicked the door open and we checked inside. We found evidence that the archivist and her husband and young daughter had previously left for an annual family vacation trip. Based on the family's travel plans, they should have returned one week ago. The book was nowhere to be seen.

At this point our best course of action seemed to be to head out to the vacation home, so we did. This is where things start to get really weird. The father, another scribbler, answered the door. He looked haggard, like he'd gone a week or so without bathing or changing clothes or maybe even sleeping. He tried to get rid of us, pretty bluntly I might add. Well, after having the door closed in our face, we decided a more direct approach was needed. Valentina snuck around back while Gaius, Cyniska, and myself readied ourselves at the front. Using our vox coms to coordinate, we charged through the windows and doors on both sides of the house all at once. Unfortunately, this made an awful racket - and woke the baby.

Until then I'd been blessed with never having to deal with any psykers or their cursed powers. So this mission... well, it was a crash course in the most literal sense. We barged into the entry room of the house just as this kid started screaming at the top of her lungs. We got a brief view of the parents, both sitting there with blank stares, like servitors with their circuits fried. Then the wave of psychic power hit us and threw us right back through the windows and out of the house - a good ten feet at least. It turns out, when you're being thrown through the air with psychic power, the ground hits like a fraking truck!

After that it was touch and go with the psyker. We tried a few tactics to calm her down, tried assassination from afar, tried kidnapping the father to get information. THAT was an exercise in futility. We managed to capture him, but all he'd do is babble constantly about needing to get back to the house, and he squirmed like a hive rat. We DID manage to grab the book during one of these sessions, but we couldn't exactly leave a rogue psyker on the loose.

Valentina even tried to befriend the witch. I agree that it didn't sit right with me to kill a young child, even if she was a psyker, but I wasn't about to get close to it after seeing (and feeling) what it could do. But Valentina - that woman has the Emperor's own courage. She walked right up to the girl, bold as brass, offering her some of the desert lizards that seemed to be common there. The child seemed frightened, though, and the mother told Valentina that she didn't want her there. We learned later that psykers can recognize the psychic signature of a mind, and that the little girl most likely remembered that Valentina had crashed into her house and frightened her badly only hours before.

Well, at that point all our tactics had failed and we'd been on the planet for a long time. It was time to report in, and to get some more powerful ordinance if we wanted to do this properly. I guess it never occurred to us to call Nomura in the first place - or that this wasn't the job we had been assigned to do. Shows how far I've come, I suppose. It makes sense that Valentina or Cyniska would see this as a threat to the law and order of the empire and want to stop it, but back in my hiver days I would have seen it as "not my problem" and left well enough alone.

Anyway, once we called Nomura, he offered to send down a kill team. As much as we wanted to prove ourselves, we decided that would be for the best. The witch had already bested us multiple times, and it was probably time to call in those who could properly deal with the threat.

Well, the sororitas came down and took care of the psyker.

+++ Sigh. Silence for 10 seconds. Nervous shifting.

I feel awful thinking about it. Imagining that scared little girl in that house as they descended on it with meltas and flamers, her mind blanked mother holder her. I know she had to be dealt with, but she was far to young to have comprehended or controlled the power she was using. Her father was outside, and I pleaded with Nomura to try to help him, at least. He said they would do what they could, and I guess that will have to be enough.

After that it was just cleanup. We returned the book to the administratum official, saying nothing about the girl or her parents. Then it was back to the ship, and here I am. My first mission for the Inquisition, and nothing went as planned. I guess that's only to be expected, though. As frightening and unpredictable as this new life is turning out to be, at least it's exciting!

--- To be continued in Part 2.1 (After the next session) --- 

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.2)

Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

--- Continued from Part 1.1 ---

+++ A pause, silence for 10 seconds. A sigh can be heard.


Well, once we were underway, there was a whole lot of nothing to do. Unlike my technomat friends, the team and I didn't have a job. I spent a lot of time with Valentina at the shooting range, and kept up my strength and wind in the gym. I also visited the temple with Cyniska several times. When all that stands between you and roiling madness strong enough to tear your soul apart is a flimsy bit of techno-craft, you tend to want to be on the Emperor's good side. But I guess we didn't pray hard enough, because only a few days into the trip, there was a fluctuation in the geller field.


I was alone when it happened, wandering the hallways of the ship, lost in thought and admiring the machinery around me. That same horrible, nauseating feeling gripped me, and I watched the ice climb the walls - it was like a delicate and deadly spiderweb. The feeling... I can't really describe it proper. I felt like the fire inside me, that glow that flares up strong when I pray to the god-Emperor, was being smothered. I felt like I couldn't breathe, like some great invisible hand had grabbed hold of me and was squeezing. And with it was a dread so strong...


+++ Her voice cuts out. A few deep, shuddering breaths, slowly calming.


It passed, though. Thank the Emperor on his Throne, it passed. I lay there on the ground, disoriented, until I heard Valentina's sharp command to report. That got me moving - when Valentina gives you a command, you don't ignore it. I met up with her and Gaius in the hallways on the way to the chapel - apparently Cyniska was in some kind of trouble there. Seeing Valentina with the steady, unflapable attitude I had become accustomed to did a lot to improve my mood - seeing my autopistol which she had brought me did even more. Gaius looked about as sick as I felt, but he held up well despite it.


We weren't really sure what we were going to find - but we definitely didn't expect what we saw when we got to the chapel. Cyniska was just kneeling there, praying, staring with her eyes wide as potholes at His great aquila. It feels like heresy to even say it... it was cracked. Right down the middle. And the two holy servitors who had frightened me so the first time I visited this place were on the ground in a bloody mess, their heads... gone. Splattered, really, all over the room. I've seen my share of violence, mind - but this was like nothing I've ever seen.


Wasn't long after that before the big wigs showed up with a whole mess of soldiers to clean up the place. They grilled Cyniska a bit, but we all stood up for her. She was still pretty messed up by the whole ordeal, and had seen something that frightened her badly in that chapel. I don't rightly understand it all, something to do with the servitors, but it definitely had her shook up. But, after investigating the seen, the man in charge commended Cyniska for her faith and her bravery, so I guess it was all alright.


Thank the Emperor, that was the only warp related event on our voyage. Later Valentina told me stories about other warp jumps, and talked about the procedures she and her security crew would go through if the geller field malfunctioned. I'm lucky, I guess - the most I had to worry about in my earlier life was hive rats, and maybe getting my throat cut in my sleep if I was careless.


One other noteworthy thing happened during the trip - we were introduced to our lighter. Not too much to say about that - it's a gorgeous piece of machinery, and Valentina and I spent some time looking the bird over. I wouldn't know the first thing about actually piloting her, sadly, but I guess Valentina is skilled in piloting light aircraft. She probably won't be driving this one, though - we had a pilot assigned too.


Well, after what seemed like forever, we finally got to our destination. It was an administratum planet, and to me, it seemed pretty much the most boring planet imaginable, as well as being bright and wide open and unnerving. Not really frightening, mind you - nothing so mundane as a strange planet could be frightening compared to what I'd already seen on the ship. But the white rocks and the bright sun and the lack of proper hab grated on me, I won't lie. Emperor bless Valentina, who thoughtfully bought me a pair of shade goggles to keep out the worst of the glare.


I guess I'd better explain why we were down there in the first place. Our ship was carrying a load of goods for the planet - we were traveling under the cover of making a Coblast Assay delivery. Upon arrival, one of our contacts on the planet sent us a request for assistance. Now, this contact was only aware of us as the Coblast Assay, and had no knowledge of our Inquisitorial association. So my team was sent down to do our best to help this contact out, but we were not to reveal ourselves as acolytes in the holy Inquisition. It's funny really - up until a month ago, I was working for the Coblast Assay as a reclaimator - someone who finds things. Now I had to pretend to be one again, because that's exactly what this administratum official wanted. Only this time, instead of machinery, I was helping to find a book.

--- To be continued in Part 1.3 --- 

Session Summary: Worse Things Wait (Part 1.1)

 Audio Log for Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

I was told I needed to make a log for my first mission. I'm not really sure where to start. I'm sure the others will be much better at this than I am, but Interrogator Nomura insisted that I record one as well.

+++ Silence for 15 seconds. Some nervous shifting can be heard.

I'd been on the ship for about a week when I met my new teammates. It's quite an experience. Being on the ship, I mean. Though meeting them was quite the experience too. I've never been on a ship before - never been off world before. Never been out of the hive before, actually. Funny how things turned out. At first I was really uncomfortable here, but once I started exploring... Well. I made friends with the technomats in my part of the ship and traded some stories, then some tools. I even got to meet one of the mechanicus. He was creepy, but also pretty interesting. I like machines and all, but I don't think I'd want to be one.

Anyway. The team. They all seem so experienced, so strong. I'm just a hiver girl, a scummer really. What's the likes of me doing with one of the Sororitas? And Gaius. I could tell he was trying to be nice, but he looked at me like I was something he scraped off his boot. Not anything malicious about it, mind. It's just how he was brought up. It's like he knows he's better than you, but he doesn't hold it against you, since it's not your fault. I mean, he's from a hive too, but... when I asked him about his home, he mentioned windows. Windows!

At least Valentina and I seem to get along. She's a strange one. She's huge, but as loud and brash as she is, she doesn't intimidate me, not like the other two do.

Well, I guess I ought to talk about what actually happened, and not just blather on about my teammates. When I met them, they had just returned from their last mission. Shortly after they boarded, our ship shifted into the warp.

I feel a little silly about it now, but when we first shifted, and I saw Cyniska start praying, I dropped right down next to her and started praying along with her. Now I know she prays pretty much anytime anything happens, but that first jump... I had never felt anything like it. For a moment, the whole ship was covered in ice, and I felt this feeling in the pit of my stomach like something was grabbing me and twisting me inside out.

+++ A shudder.

But that passed quickly, and we were sailing through the warp to our destination. I learned later about the geller field that protects the ship while we travel, and that in that instant when we first make the jump, the geller field takes a moment to snap into place. Kinda scary to think that in that instant, that brief moment, we experienced the warp in it's unfiltered, unshielded, raw form. Of course, that's a good deal less scary than what happened later in the journey.

--- To be continued in Part 1.2 ---

LoL What? Beginner Character Guides

Way back in my original League of Legends article, I mentioned that I wanted to write some character guides. Why should I, a beginner myself, make character guides to LoL? Wouldn't it be better to just read the guides on LeagueCraft? Well yes, it would, if you are looking for in depth strategy and tips relevant for high level summoners. If, however, you are looking for tips for summoners level 10 or below, just learning the game, the best person to ask is someone who just went through the learning process themselves.

Don't expect tips here for high level competition - this is guide is for lower level summoners who want help starting out. I plan to make LoL What? a series, and I'll be covering the following things:

• Champion Abilities: To even begin to understand how to build your champion, you must know what their abilities do. For each champion I cover, I'll describe in simple terms what their abilities do and how to use them effectively.
• Summoner Abilities: The recommended summoner abilities for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices.
• Mastery: The recommended mastery spec for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices. NOTE: Runes will NOT be discussed as this is intended for beginner summoners, and you shouldn't really buy runes until level 20. However, a more in depth guide will be reference at the beginning of every guide, where you can find Rune recommendations.
• Skill Order: The recommended order to setting up your skills for the champion will be given, with a short explanation as to the reason for the choices.
• Items: Recommended item choices and order will be given. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.
• Laning/Jungling: This section will cover early game strategy and tactics for the champion. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.
• Team Fights: This will cover late game strategy and tactics for the champion, revolving around team fights. I'll give a few choices for different situation but the focus will be on brevity.

In general, I will be trying to keep these guides as short and concise as possible. I will NOT be including much advice for specific situations or alternative builds. The idea here is to get someone up and running as quickly as possible, then point them in the direction of more advanced guides.

Look forward to my first guide coming later this week, for the champion Kayle!

Life of Jiya: What Free Time?

Hello everyone! With all the article style posts I've been making, I thought I should drop in and give you an update on what's actually been going on in my life.

I'm finally done moving and have settled in to my new apartment. It's a nice little place that's much closer to work, but it's frustratingly still a decent distance by transit. Luckily I've worked out a schedule with Andrew that allows me to drive most of the time, which saves me a lot of time. The downside to this schedule is that I'm away from home literally from when I wake up to when I go to bed. I have a feeling this is going to take it's toll over the course of the term, but I'm actually sort of delighting in the business of it right now.

I'm making a point of making new friends and contacts at school this term. I've got a few people who want to study together already, which is exciting. I've also made some friends at our weekly ACM (Association for Computing Machinery, the CS club) "meeting" - in which we sit around eating pizza and playing board games. Overall I have really high hopes for this term and I'm looking forward to seeing where it will take me.

Not only are my weekdays busy, but I've got plans for every weekend this month as well. Next weekend is GeekGirlCon in Seattle. It's the first year for this new con and I'm very excited to see how it goes. I'll be reporting back in with my impressions of the con next week.

Not your typical magician.

After that, I'm going to see the anti-conjuror, Dan Sperry. My aunt booked him in her local theatre as a benefit to the local humane society (she's a veterinarian). When my mom asked how much that cost, my aunt just told her not to ask. I'm really looking forward to the show, as I've always loved magic shows and this one looks like it's got that awesome blend of creepy and charming that I really enjoy.

After THAT, I'll be running Zee at my second session of a Dark Heresy group I've joined. I do plan to post a session log for my last session with them, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. This group has been a blast so far, and I'm really enjoying the "marathon" style session - instead of meeting weekly for a few hours each time, we meet monthly for the entire day. I've found I really start settling into the feel of the world after a few hours, and I just don't have time to do that with a three hour session. The GM also uses music to help get us in the mood for different scenes, and that's been fun to experience as well.

Best vegetable ever.
Except for maybe peas.

And, finally, this month would not, COULD NOT, be complete without pumpkins. I have a strange and overwhelming fondness for this fall vegetable, and October is it's month to shine. I plan to have a pumpkin party (as I do every year) where we'll carve pumpkins, eat baked pumpkin with butter and brown sugar, roast pumpkin seeds, make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, and generally enjoy everything involving pumpkins. I know, I'm weird.

Amidst all this, I'm trying to continue both playing and making games. I've begun playing WoW again, and am working on getting my rogue raid ready. It's actually going fairly quickly, and I'm hoping after my slew of crazy weekends I'll be able to start up a weekend raiding group within my guild (which sadly normally raids on weeknights). I've also recently played through the masterpiece that is Bastion, which I need to do an article on sometime soon. I picked up a new game for my DS recently as well - a remake of the classic Chrono Trigger. I started playing the emulated version, but I thought a portable might be easier for me to work in to my busy schedule. I'm planning on starting a play by post Rogue Trader game soon as well. And, of course, work continues on Pollinator. I just got some images from my graphics guy, and I'm super excited to see them in action. I'm also still working on getting a website up and running for Bounder Studios. More on that to come!

All in all, my life is totally crazy in the most awesome way possible. I'm loving it and hope it never stops!

Catching Up in WoW

I've recently (last weekend) hit level 85 with my rogue in World of Warcraft. There's a special place in my heart for this rogue, as she was the original use of the name "Jiyambi" and was my first "main" in WoW. But at the moment, she's terribly far behind the other characters in my guild, and the task of catching up to them in order to be able to participate in current raids is somewhat daunting. I thought I'd share my philosophy on how to catch up quickly, in case anyone else is in a similar position to me.

Know Your Class

You can't find good gear until you understand what makes gear "good" in the first place. There are a lot of awesome sources out there for determining what kind of stats to look for for your class and spec, but my personal favorite is the Elitist Jerks forum. They typically have guides for each raiding spec as well as cutting edge research into what talents, glyphs, gear, and rotation to use. The information overload can sometimes be a bit daunting, however, and they usually only care about the very top level content. This means that if you're just gearing up for heroics, their advice won't always be applicable, but it will often be close enough.

If you want a simpler approach, just punch your class and spec into the item filters in WoWhead. This will give you the Wowhead developer's opinions on what the best stat weight is for you. For rogues, stats are very simple, and I've found Wowhead's suggestions agree pretty much exactly with the "equivalence points" assigned by the Elitist Jerks folks. However,  for classes with more complex stat needs, such as healers, your mileage may vary.

Know The Gear

Not surprisingly, in order to get good gear, you need to know what's out there. It would be really unfortunate to spend thousands of gold getting a cape crafted only to discover there is an awesome cape as a quest reward (incidentally, there IS an awesome cape as a quest reward for the Firelands quests).

One resource for finding gear, which can also be found on the Elitist Jerks website, or downloaded and run locally from your computer, is Rawr. Rawr is a simulator which actually tries to simulate combat based on whatever gear you feed into it, taking into account spec, rotation, glyphs, and even what buffs you usually have on, how long the fight is, or how much you have to move or switch targets. It's somewhat clunky, however, and takes up a lot of computer resources to run, making it difficult to run alongside WoW on older computers. It also is sometimes not actively maintained, depending on your class, so use it with caution. For my rogue, as gear for rogues is relatively simple, I primarily use Rawr to determine the best trinkets. Trinkets can't easily be ranked based on equivalence points alone, and simulators are great for finding out exactly how useful one might be.

Wowhead is definitely high up in the ranking for finding gear - it is a database, after all. You can use their pre-built stat weighting to look for gear or enter your own, and add filters for your class, armor type, and how the gear is acquired. In my recent gear quest, I used this tool almost exclusively. I found it to be far more transparent and much less buggy than Rawr, but again my class is very simple. For more complex classes such as healers, Rawr is nice since it takes your current gear into account when determining upgrades.

I kept track of all of the potential gear and it's stats in an Excel sheet. This is above and beyond what most people will want to do, but I'm an engineer. I love spreadsheets and I'm not afraid to admit it. Having everything in an excel sheet let me see at a glance what the stats were on the gear, helped me automatically calculate equivalence points, and reference a sheet with my current gear to determine the amount of an upgrade. Which brings me to my next point...

Know The Upgrade

So you know what it means for gear to be good and you know what good gear is out there and where to get it. The next question is what to do first. I organized my gear list by source. I had all the gear available in heroics into groups based on which heroic you could find it in. Similarly all the gear available by reputation was separated into groups. This let me pick which rep I wanted to grind first, and which heroics I was most interested in running. I also looked at what was available in justice points - these items would be pretty easy to come by, and it would be a shame to grind reputation for an item when you could get one of comparable quality (or better!) simply through justice points. For rogues, it's really easy to rate how big an upgrade something is because we have a value known as equivalence points - essentially, how much an item will contribute to our DPS. For other classes, though, upgrades are more qualitative, so you'll have to decide for yourself how to rate these.

Keep It Simple

Of course, all this might not be necessary for your situation. I enjoy creating spreadsheets and figuring out the exact most efficient use of my gear grinding time. But you may simply pop on once a week and run whatever dungeon you get in the random finder. If that's the case, here's my suggestions for you:

• Get the addon RatingBuster and turn on stat summaries. Every piece of gear you mouseover will now be compared to what you currently have. When a piece of gear drops in a dungeon, if the green numbers are for stats you like (see Know Your Class above), and they offset any red numbers, then it's an upgrade!
• Always wear a tabard for a rep you haven't maxed out yet. Max out the rep for your arcanum faction (look it up on Wowhead if you don't know which one you need) and Therazane first, as you will always need an arcanum and inscription (head and shoulder enchants). Get all your reps to at least friendly and carry the tabards around for those you haven't maxed yet so you can switch if you max one out. Each time you reach a new level, either look it up on Wowhead or just head to the vendor and use your RatingBuster addon to check for upgrades.
• When you are about to cap out on Justice or Valor points, head to the vendor and buy something that's an upgrade. At least at first there will be a LOT of things to upgrade. Try to find something not easily replaceable via rep or quest, but if you don't want to do a bunch of research, just replace the item that has the lowest ilevel in your current gear. These days it's somewhat of a waste to buy blue gear with your Justice points, so try to stay with purples.

Have Fun

As always, it's important that you have fun as you work on your gear. It's a game after all! If you absolutely can't stand a dungeon, DON'T RUN IT even if it happens to have good gear. Having good gear is not worth being unhappy while you are supposed to be having fun.

Character Profile: Gavin "Red" Lockees

SP131-6847

Contact Gavin "Red" Lockees

Name:  Gavin "Red" Lockees

Vocation:  Technomat

Inquisition Ident:  AR013:123:M41:031SP-131

Homeworld:  Hive Dromis - Scintilla

Age:  24 solar standard

Gender:  Male

Background: Born to unknown parents on hive world Scintilla in the lower levels of Hive Dromis. Given name "Gavin Lockees" by schola officials, however immediately nicknamed "Red" by fellow orphans. Early years spent in care of a schola progenium orphanage, was reported missing at age 7 [ref. Arbites record P10:AFT-522]. Lived on the streets, multiple incidents of gang involvement and petty theft. Later became involved in Inquisitorial affiliated cover organization Coblast Assay as a reclaimator. Contact distinguished himself by locating thieves responsible for stealing Coblast Assay property [ref. Arbites record P12:AFT-003]. When working partner was recruited into Inquisition service under Inquisitrix Sola Prinn [ref. Inquisitorial record AR013:123:M41:031SP-022], was stationed on the interstellar freighter the Black Grox. Contact currently works on the freighter as a technomat, but has known dealings with grey market merchants on several planets. Known continued association with acolyte Ziapatra Havelock [ref. Inquisitorial ident AR013:123:M41:031SP-022].

Aptitude Profile: Known close combat and street fighting abilities. Skilled in knife use. Combat rated for basic solid projectile shoulder- and side-arms. Illiterate. Some tech-use knowledge and abilities despite lack of mechanicum training. Skilled in security circumvention, search, and inquiry. Comfortable and confident in working with underworld contacts. Strong interpersonal and leadership abilities.

Pict-Record Ref:  SP131-6847

General Appearance Profile: Lean, stringy build. Tall, lean height to weight ratio. Pale complexion. Bright red hair. Aquiline nose, angular face and cheekbones.

Preferred Equipment: Multiple mono-molecular bladed knives. Silenced Sturm & Drang Hailstorm-pattern autopistol. Multikey, combi tool, and other paraphernalia of the technomat and reclaimator trades. Seldom seen in armor aside from piecemeal street leathers, primitive protection at best.
Contact Status: Trusted contact. Can be counted on for unusual favors, as well as weapon procurement and discount.

Character Profile: Ziapatra "Zee" Havelock

SP022-5668
Acolyte Ziapatra Havelock

Name:  Ziapatra "Zee" Havelock

Vocation:  Reclaimator

Inquisition Ident:  AR013:123:M41:031SP-022

Homeworld:  Hive Dromis - Scintilla

Age:  20 solar standard

Gender:  Female

Imperial Divination:  ‘Even a woman who has nothing can still offer her life.’

Background: Born to parents Dracus and Jedia Havelock, skilled workers and supervisors at Hive Dromis' Red Lens manifactorum. The manifactorum was destroyed via heretic sabotage [ref. Inquisitorial record SNH-931-2255]. Family fell into poverty in the lower hive. Recruit forced to live on the streets when parents died due to overwork in a lower manifactorum. Despite early gang involvement, later became involved in Inquisitorial affiliated cover organization Coblast Assay as a reclaimator. Recruit distinguished herself by locating thieves responsible for stealing Coblast Assay property [ref. Arbites record P12:AFT-003].

Recruitment:  Psy-trance divination undertook by Inquisitrix Sola Prinn and her Astropath Kevil Stass revealed a connection to recruit which lead to agent traveling to Hive Dromus for recruitment.

Aptitude Profile:   Literate despite humble origins in the lower hive. Combat rated for basic solid projectile shoulder- and side-arms. Skilled with the knife and other primitive melee weapons. Some tech-use knowledge and abilities despite lack of mechanicum training. Skilled in security circumvention, search, and inquiry. Comfortable and confident in working with underworld contacts.

Pict-Record Ref:  SP022-5668

General Appearance Profile: Wiry build, short, lean height to weight ratio. Ruddy complexion, dyed hair (blue as of this writing). Gray eyes. Abstract tattoo covering left shoulder and side.

Preferred Equipment:   Modified Sturm & Drang Hailstorm-pattern autopistol, Drystan Growler-pattern shotgun, brass knuckles and mono-molecular bladed knife for close combat. Carries a multikey at all times. Prefers a flak coat for armor which provides protection but does not inhibit mobility.

Bounder Studios is on the Nets

Hey all! I've been pretty quiet lately. But there's been reason - I've been working day and night on development for Pollinator, and on organizing and establishing Bounder Studios on the internet!

That's right, my game development team now has a website, http://www.bounderstudios.com! We're also on twitter @BounderStudios, and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bounder-Studios/281096775253183. Our website is currently a placeholder, but I'm hoping to get something more substantial up there this weekend. Eventually we'll have a development blog, screenshots, videos, downloads, an about page, and more. I'll continue to post my progress here so you can check it out when I add new features!

On the game front, I've been coding up a storm on Pollinator. Progress has been slowed somewhat because I've switched to Allegro 5, from Allegro 4 which I was using before. Allegro is a game development library that helps make graphics, sound, and input easy. Allegro 5 is a HUGE improvement over Allegro 4, but it's taking some getting used to. I'm literally re-writing the entire game from the ground up, which allows me to keep things in mind for future ports to Android and other platforms.

In other exciting news, I've met with my sound and graphic designers. My sound designer has already produced a set of sound effects and is working on more, as well as music. My graphics designer is getting some mock-ups to me this week so we can decide on a style and begin sprite work. It's been an amazing experience explaining the game to people who actually have to create things based on what I'm telling them. It definitely forces you to see the things you haven't quit figured out yet!

Nerd Crafts: How to Make a Creeper Shirt

As you may have guessed, I'm not the "girliest" girl out there. I don't typically do arts and crafts projects. However, I needed something appropriately nerdy to wear to PAX. Rather than purchase an expensive shirt from Jinx or some other nerd-ware site, I decided to follow this simple video I found to create my very own creeper shirt!

Note: this video was NOT made by me, it is the property of Evange. Check out more of her awesome crafts and recipes!

The method is really quite easy. I'll lay out the steps in text form, since I think it's nice to have that to accompany the video.


STEP 1: Gather your materials.

You will need:

• A green shirt with room for the creeper's face on the front.
  
• Black paint. Fabric paint is best, but even black acrylic paint would work.
  
• Pencil. Make sure it's not very sharp - softer pencils are best.
  
• Ruler.
  
• Masking tape.
  

STEP 2: Draw the grid.

Spread out the shirt on a flat surface. Using the dull pencil, draw a 6x6 grid of boxes. My boxes were about 1.5 inches to a side, and that worked well for my shirt, but use your best judgment.

The diagram shows suggested placement on a shirt, but you might want to try the shirt on and think about placement of the design on your body.

STEP 3: Tape off the eyes and part of the mouth.

Tape off the area around the creeper's eyes and part of it's mouth, as shown in the diagram.

STEP 4: Paint the eyes and part of the mouth.

Paint in the creeper's eyes and part of it's mouth, as shown in the diagram. Use a stippling motion rather than brush strokes, being careful to cover everything evenly, but not push paint under the tape.

STEP 5: Wait for paint to dry, then remove tape.

Wait until the paint is dry to the touch. This depends on the type of paint used. Carefully remove the tape.

STEP 6: Tape off the rest of the mouth.

Tape off the area around the rest of the mouth, as shown in the diagram. If you are sure your paint is fully dry, you can place tape directly on the previously painted sections. If you are unsure, cut your tape carefully and only tape right up to the edge of your previous section.

STEP 7: Paint the rest of the mouth.

Use a stippling motion, as before. Where the new mouth sections meet the old, you may want to paint over the edge a bit to make the transition look smooth. This really depends on the type of pain you have, so just do what seems to look good - you can always touch it up afterward, too!

STEP 8: Wait for paint to dry, then remove tape, and wash.

Again, wait until the paint is dry to the touch, then remove the tape. If you have fabric paint, it should tell you on the bottle how long to wait until washing. If you aren't sure, wait three days. After washing, the pencil marks should come off and you'll be left with an awesome creeper shirt!

While you can certainly make one of these on your own, I decided to throw a small party with some of my other nerdy friends, and we made them together. It was a great excuse to get together and do something creative, and away from a computer screen for a while!

I got lots of compliments on this shirt at PAX, and people even asked where I bought it - when I told them I made it, they were disappointed that they couldn't get their own at the con, but I directed them to Evange's video so they could make their own! So you can really make something that looks professionally-made for a very cheap price, and have lots of fun in the process. Enjoy!

Geek Girl Con in October

I am a geek, and also a girl. So it's little wonder that I'm interested in the upcoming Geek Girl Con in Seattle this October. The con celebrates all things nerdy with a focus on gender-female geeks, but welcomes geeks of all types.

There are a lot of interesting panels lined up, though they don't seem to have a schedule listed yet. Here are some of the ones I'm most interested in:

• Killing Cattiness, Creating Community - "This panel discusses how Geek Girls can put aside being negatively competitive, divisive, and catty to our sister Geek Girls. Panelists will give examples of both positive and negative experiences and answer questions from the audience."
  
  As a child, I was often teased by other girls. Even now I often see other girls as threats or as people likely to be rude to me or put me down, but seldom (at least initially) as allies. I'm curious if that's a mentality common to geek girls, and how we can overcome it.
• Girls Make Games Too - "How do you start out in the gaming industry? This panel of women have various roles with in the games industry at Microsoft Game Studios and will speak about their careers and their experiences. Useful information like the skills required for their jobs, what it is like being women working in the games industry, and how they got their feet in the door. The panel will address how the industry has changed, outlining where we were, where we are, and how we move forward in the gaming profession."
  
  Obviously of direct interest to me, I'm hoping to get some advice in this panel on how best to get into the gaming industry.
  
  
• Rocking the geek niche: Nerdiness is your superpower - "The Offbeat Empire is an enormously popular web publishing network owned and staffed exclusively by geeky women who’ve learned how to use their nerdiest qualities to their best business and personal advantages. This panel will address not only how the Offbeat Empire is built on celebrating geek culture, but also how each panelist has applied her individual techy/nerdy qualities in her career development."
  
  I've always felt my nerdiness gave me an edge over other people in some ways. I was used to standing apart, to being put down, and to being quirky. I'm interested in seeing how others have turned this to their advantage.
  

I'm really excited for it and can't wait to see how this brand new con turns out! I'm hoping to attend at least one full day, possibly both days. I'll definitely report back in with my reactions, and hopefully it will be an awesome event that continues in the future!

PAX Reactions

PAX is already a week behind us. This year it was bigger than ever. Sadly I was only able to attend Sunday, and spent most of my time running around the convention center craning my neck to look at all the awesome stuff, and generally soaking up the atmosphere. Most of the goodies were already given out, though I did score some League of Legends skins.

I didn't attend any of the major events or panels, but I did stop by one of the tabletop RPG workshops. It was a very small affair, only about 8 people in attendance. The subject was dungeon design, and I really enjoyed a chance to talk with professional dungeon designers and bounce ideas around to use in my own tabletop RPG campaigns. My friend stayed for a workshop about integrating the horror genre into games (with one of the writers for Call of Cthulhu), but I decided to go exploring on my own after that.

I waited in line for half an hour to try out Wakfu, a new MMO on the way from Square Enix. I didn't get to play long, but it seemed charming enough and I should be receiving a beta invite for it shortly, so I'll comment when I get the chance.

Last but not least, I got to talk to a wonderful gal named Epona from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. The AIE is a workforce training school that's very big in Australia but has only recently landed in the US. As I mentioned in my previous post, I managed to score a $15,000 scholarship to the first year of their two-year program, but unfortunately had to decline. However, it's still something I'm really interested in. Seattle is an awesome place to live, I've got good friends there, and it's definitely a gaming hub.

I left PAX with a T-Shirt, a small amount of free swag, and some good memories with friends. I was also randomly given a "team notch" button by someone on the elevator who liked my creeper shirt. Overall it was a successful venture, but I definitely want to get a three day pass next year so I won't feel so rushed.

Hard Decisions Suck

Just had to turn down a full ride ($15,000) scholarship to the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Seattle. I would have had to start school next week, move again, find a place to live and a job to support myself while in school (scholarship only covers tuition), and leave my roomates in Portland in a lurch. Still the hardest decision I've ever made. Hopefully something that awesome will come along again!

Moving, moving, and more moving

Well, everything's finally been moved into my new place. However, it's all still in boxes all over my floor. I will probably be spending the next few days unpacking everything and getting myself settled. That said, I'm going to try to resume blogging as soon as possible, with updates from PAX, progress in Bounder Studios' development of Pollinator, and some other article ideas I have been kicking around.

I am getting excited for the new school year, which starts at the end of September. Sadly, I was unable to register for my math class, which leaves me with a light course load this term (only 9 credits). However, I've decided to use this extra time to work on my game design stuff. Due to my ride situation, I'll be at the school early each day, and this will be an ideal time to meet with team members. I'm hoping to have a finished version of Pollinator for at least one platform at the end of this year. I have ideas for two games after that - one a Pollinator spin off tower defense game, the other a Dungeon Overload meets Recettear meets Monster Rancher.

I'm also hoping to get a website going soon for my game company, Bounder Studios, as well as a personal website that will act as a portfolio. I've been working hard on career development things lately, and am actually considering going to a specialized game design trade school instead of finishing up my traditional CS degree - or maybe I'll do both! Either way, I'm very excited for the future and hope I can find a wonderful place to work when I'm done with school.