davidr64's blog

X’s Funny Moments Montage

A YouTuber by the name of TheYakov2020 created this montage of some funny moments throughout my Let’s Plays.  I laughed when watching it.  :)

I’ve embedded the video below, but you should visit the YouTube page it’s on directly if you want to leave a comment.  :)

Thanks, Yakov2020!  :D

Oops! Sorry, Notch!

So it turns out Notch saw it, but didn’t read my previous blog post. 

And I don’t blame him.  The title I gave the blog post — “What’s Wrong with Minecraft (and How to Fix it)” — comes off (unintentionally) as, “Hey, Notch, let me fix that boring game of yours.”

Now that I think about it, I was pretty ignorant to think he wouldn’t take offense to a title like that, even though that’s not at all how I meant it.

I mean, I’d be annoyed, too, if someone wrote a really long blog post titled, “How to Fix X’s YouTube Channel.”  My immediate reaction would be, what the hell?  My channel’s fine the way it is, this guy needs to get off his high horse.

So I don’t blame Notch for choosing to ignore my blog post.  First of all, he has to filter negativity out so he can continue to make Minecraft.  (And trust me, after doing YouTube for over a year, I should know a thing or two about filtering out negativity.)  Secondly, he shouldn’t have to put up with someone telling him “how to fix” his game.  Especially not on the weekend.

And he most certainly shouldn’t have to put up with it to the point of receiving text messages at home about it.  Which is what happened.

So I do feel bad about all that.  My post wasn’t meant to annoy or demoralize him, but that’s what it ended up doing.

It always sucks when someone tries to do something good, but it ends up having a a negative impact.

I’m going to take the path of humility here and realize that, although my intentions were good, I went about that post in the wrong way.

And though I realize the chances are slim Notch will read this, I’ll say it anyway:

Notch, sorry about that, man.  :)  I promise you my intentions were pure, but I made a mistake.  I’m still new to having an audience following me, and I didn’t realize exactly how much of an impact I could have.  I’m still learning.

For the rest of my audience: please remember that my previous post was, and still is, for you guys.  I don’t feel any great loss for Notch not having read my post, because as I stated several times, that post was just to keep my audience informed about my feelings toward Minecraft.

Having Notch read it would have only been a bonus.

None of the ideas in my blog post did I ever expect to get implemented.  I did say several times that I realized that my ideas were probably pretty far from what Notch had planned, and I posed all of them in such a way that they were examples of what could go into Minecraft.

I still think they’re all pretty awesome, and I’m glad so many of you do, too.  Some have suggested that I turn these ideas into a mod for the game.  Well, if I had the knowledge, time, and ability to do so, I would.  It seems like thousands of you would have a great time with it!

So again, thank you all for your support about my last post, but let’s not bug Notch about it anymore.  The man says he has a plan for the adventuring aspect of Minecraft, and I, for one, believe him.

Stay tuned, everyone, for more X’s Adventures in Minecraft: Call of the Prime Wolves.  :)

What’s Wrong with Minecraft (and How to Fix it)

UPDATE: IMPORTANT: Notch has responded to this post.  I wanted him to read this blog entry, but it’s clear that he doesn’t want to, AND THAT’S PERFECTLY FINE.  I don’t want a whole legion of people attacking him about his decision, and I don’t want anybody else trying to get him to read it.  

I sincerely thank everyone who thought my critique was valid and who were excited enough about my ideas to try to get Notch to read it.  :)

I will write a blog post and/or make a video about what I’ve learned from this experience later today when I get time.  You can read his response on reddit here: http://fb.me/YYIxWnpQ 

Okay, here’s the post as I wrote it in full:

First, let me say this.  Notch, if you ever read this, please understand that it’s not meant to sound degrading or demeaning.  It is not meant to make it seem like I know more than anyone else, nor do I intend this blog entry to feel like my ideas are the “right” ideas.  No, these are simply my thoughts on Minecraft.

I hope you and the community as a whole will see it for what it is: one man’s experience with Minecraft and his thoughts on how it can be improved for the benefit of the game and the community.

And please note: the first part of this writing starts off with a fair bit of negativity, but it grows into something much better.

Let’s get started.

I don’t mean to ruin anybody’s fun; I really don’t.  (And honestly, I don’t think I will anyway.)  This post is going to sound cynical, but the topic of Minecraft, and how I feel about it, is one that I think very few people actually understand.  And that, naturally, is my fault, because I haven’t communicated it clearly.

I’ve thought about Minecraft a lot, and why I find it (mostly) so very boring these days.  But I’m not the type to sit around and whine about how bad things are and leave it at that… no, I, dear friends, come up with solutions.

These solutions are ultimately just ideas, and they’re ideas that I’m sure are far from Notch’s agenda for Minecraft.  In fact, I’m fairly certain Notch doesn’t even know I exist.

First, let’s talk about why I stopped playing Minecraft.

AGAIN, THIS IS GOING TO SOUND CYNICAL, BUT THERE IS A SILVER LINING.  Just read on.

Minecraft gets boring.

Minecraft has a simple premise.  You mine, and you craft (thus the name).  It’s a sandbox world.  It does have some minor elements of adventure in it, but they are just that: minor.

For a lot of people, the mining and the crafting is enough to sustain them.  These are the people who like to build giant structures that serve no purpose other than to express their builder’s creativity and to sate their creator’s desire to build.  They are the kids in the classroom who play with the Lego blocks, their minds endlessly formulating new contraptions and ideas, their imaginations concocting new reasons for why a block might go here, or might fit there.

And for other people, the adventure part is what draws them in.  The excitement of knowing that in Minecraft, the sun will set, and that throughout the carpet of blackness there are endless hordes of deviant creatures seeking to maim, pierce, shred, and destroy the player if given even the slightest opportunity is what keeps these people playing.  They crave the idea that there are better and better materials to find to craft stronger weapons and armor, and they delight at the discovering a new dark, sprawling cave system.  

These are the kids who are in the playground who are trying to swing as high as they can on the swingset, and climbing the fences to see what’s in the trees across the road.

Most Minecraft players are not either of these two extremes.  Most players are a healthy mix of both of these types, but often tend to lean one way or the other to favor either building or adventuring.  And often, this lean is influenced by situational mood, so a player who normally favors mining and crafting can one day be bitten by the urge to explore, and vice versa.

This is a good thing for Minecraft, because it means when one aspect of the game becomes stale, the other is waiting to be experienced.

But it’s also a bad thing for Minecraft, because it means that both aspects of the game (the gathering/building and the adventuring) must, themselves, remain healthy in equal measure.  If either of these sides grows too weak and stale, the game begins to get boring.

This is why we see some updates that bring in building materials, like fences, sandstone blocks, and dispensers.  And it’s why we then see other updates that bring adventuring up to par, such as with watches, compasses, wolves, and, of course, the Nether.

But, come on.  I mean, really, step back and look at it.  None of these updates has given Minecraft new life.  Mojang is a small team and they are doing their best, and yes, they have achieved phenomenal success for small crew.  They will grow, and Minecraft will grow with them.  But for the time being, they are still only a small crew, and the best that a small crew can afford right now is to bring in these minor updates.

Sandstone blocks and the other building materials like colored wool do not add anything new to the game.  They just add a few different types of Legos to the bucket in the classroom.  The basic premise behind building in Minecraft is not changed by these additions (and don’t worry, I will tell you my thoughts on how this could be improved later in this blog entry), and so updates like this only provide players with a spark of emotional inspiration.  ”Ooh, sandstone!  I have to try that out!”  But when a player does try it out, he or she soon realizes that what they just did was the same thing they did with cobblestone, and dirt, and wood, and obsidian.  The process of finding a new type of block, harvesting a lot of it, and then using it to build something (or compliment another structure) is the same.  Builders have done it before, and with each new colored block, they’ll do it again, and it will again be the same experience over and over again.

As far as adventuring goes… well, the adventuring in Minecraft has been very weak from the start.  And this is the core reason I became bored with Minecraft and have remained bored.  Wolves have brought me back into the game because they were the first real adventuring update in my eyes, and I am playing Minecraft again, but I can’t imagine wolves will keep my attention very long.

When it comes to adventuring, there always needs to be some threat.  Creepers, zombies, skeletons, and spiders… these are all things that a smart player can protect himself or herself from easily.  The X-System, for example, is built in such a way that no monster can threaten me when I am in or near it.  The looming defensive tower lets me spot threats from afar; the X-Light 9000’s angled design makes it so nothing can block the view; the roof of the X-Fort is built with a 2-block rim so that monsters can’t jump on me as I exit the door; the whole place is well lit so that monsters can’t spawn within; and all the entrances and exits to the X-Cave are sealed.  (Yes, I know spiders can climb walls now and thus the X-System is no longer 100% impregnable, but back when I stopped playing this update hadn’t been released and at that time the X-System really was a one-man fortress.)

Case in point: it’s possible to become TOO safe in Minecraft.  Once the X-System became impregnable, and the X-Cave became too well-lit to spawn many monsters, and I had gained fighting skill enough to handle any foe, the danger and threat of evil faded — quickly.

Monsters became just another mob type in the field; just more animals from which to harvest resources.  Resources I already had too much of anyway.

This removed, almost completely, the adventuring element of Minecraft.  And this is why I say the adventuring in Minecraft was very weak from the start, and remains very weak to this day.  The building aspect actually eats the adventuring aspect too quickly.  You can create a completely safe base of operations out of dirt, the simplest resource.

With the adventuring aspect gone from my game, I actually left the X-System.  Without adventuring to do, all that was left was to build.  And I don’t like to build things unless they serve a purpose.  The X-Fort and the defensive tower protect the entire X-System.  The Greenhouse of Harmony goes unused, but it was built to provide food.  Mining Shaft 1 is there to give me a way to collect new resources.  All of my structures DO something; they’re not just for show.

I’m not putting down anyone for building large structures just for the fun of it.  I fully realize that’s a big draw for many who play Minecraft, and I respect that.  I enjoy seeing all the awesome things people make.  But that type of play just isn’t what I like to do (most of the time).  My series is “X’s ADVENTURES in Minecraft,” not “X’s Giant, Useless Buildings in Minecraft.”  (Again, not insulting anyone for what they do in Minecraft; just stressing a point.)

So I left the X-System in search of more adventure.  It was a sad day for all, etc., etc., yadda yadda.  But leaving the X-SyStem wasn’t nearly as sad as the realization I came to when I actually did find something new.

I found Death Mountain.  And it was fun at first.  But the adventure to find and survive in Death Mountain wasn’t *real.*  I had named the place Death Mountain hoping it would make the game feel more dangerous somehow, that there would be a ramp up in difficulty.  But no; Death Mountain was no different from my home back at the X-System.  The creatures were still the same (and killing them was just as easy and non-threatening).  The resources were still the same (and collecting and using them wasn’t any more significant).  The gameplay was still the same.

Shortly after I died and respawned at the X-System, having lost all my work back at Death Mountain (of course later, a viewer would send me a map to get back, but I’m talking about before that happened).

So I lost all my work at Death Mountain… and I was glad.  I was happy that I was finally out of that “adventure.”  It was very dissatisfying, and it was then that I realized my adventure in Minecraft was done.

My series had run its course after that, because the adventuring in the game was over.  I found myself dragging it out because I didn’t want to let go of that feeling Minecraft originally gave me.  That dark, scary feeling that I must hide from the evil things, that I could be confronted with danger around any and every corner.  I wanted to hold onto that, but it was gone.  Because there was no more adventure to be had; there was nothing around the next corner except yet more procedurally generated terrain, more annoying animals, and more easy-to-kill monsters.

I had experienced this once before with EverQuest, an MMORPG I played back in 1999 - 2001 or so.  Norrath, the world EverQuest was set in, was so new and there was so much danger and adventure to be had.  After the first year of playing, though, I found myself familiar with the game’s many places, characters, classes, and threats, and it began to lose its grip on me.  I played the game for many, many months after I felt the excitement leave, searching desperately to find it again, but eventually EverQuest fizzled for me and I had to let it go, disheartened.

Having experienced that once before, I recognized the feeling with Minecraft and I quit playing it much sooner than I did EverQuest.  I feel many people playing Minecraft today are in that boat.  It has been out long enough that I know many players are still playing the game just because they want it to feel like it did before, but they’ll never feel that feeling again from Minecraft.

Not as it stands now.

But X, you can install mods!  Or texture packs!

Yes, I hear this a whole lot.  Texture packs are okay; I like the default look of Minecraft so I don’t think I’ll use one and if I do, I won’t stick with it.

Mods are a different topic though.  I realize they can add a lot to the game, but they do nothing to give real substance to Minecraft.  One commentor said something to this effect on one of my videos: 

“Minecraft is about mining and crafting. No amount of mods will change Minecraft beyond that simple premise.”

And it’s true.  Until Notch and his crew can give Minecraft new life, REAL new life, no amount of mods will make Minecraft any more fun for me than it is now.  (And don’t worry, as I said earlier, I have ideas for this.)

I can’t overstate this: Very few Minecraft mods interest me, and those that do, don’t interest me enough to care.

But X, what about adventure maps?!

These have some potential.  I like the idea of adventure maps.  I’ve seen some pretty cool looking ones.

And to be honest, I had an idea for my own adventure map… I may release it at some point in the future, and I may not.  This is why I haven’t released the X-System world for download.  Because I intend, someday, to make it an adventure map all its own.  I have such cool ideas.

But don’t get your hopes up.  Really, don’t.  I may or may not ever get around to this.

But yeah, as far as playing adventure maps goes, I may try one, but it seems to me that (and I hate to say this) Minecraft is becoming to PC gamers what Call of Duty is to Xbox gamers.  That is to say, there are so many people doing Minecraft videos, and so many people doing adventure maps on YouTube that I just don’t want to join in that already diluted, watered down pack.

Okay, so let’s summarize up to this point.

In my opinion, Minecraft, to maintain longevity, needs a healthy mining/crafting element and a healthy adventuring element.

It has a decent mining and crafting element already in place.  This is up to par, but could definitely be improved.

It has a very weak adventuring element.

So, X, what do YOU think would make Minecraft more fun?

I’m glad you asked, voice in my head.

The building part of Minecraft is fine, I think, for now.  I think being able to build more useful things with the blocks and materials in the game, like movable cranes and wrecking balls, or aimable spotlights, or generally just working, moving parts like pulleys, gears, and pivots would be awesome, but I also recognize that the game engine prohibits creations like these.  They are things that would really make Minecraft builders go wild with joy, though, and I’d like to see work toward things like this made in the future.

But for now, I think the building is okay right where it’s at.  Instead, I think OTHER additions need to be made to the game to make the existing building game more fun.  I’ll talk about these ideas in just a bit.  But first, let’s talk about the weak, fragile, and ailing adventuring part of Minecraft.

Let me preface this by saying that, hey, maybe this is all just me.  Maybe Notch never intended Minecraft to be an adventure-type game, and maybe my strong imagination gave the game more credit than it deserved in this department.  I fully recognize this as a possibility, but I really think it’s in the game’s and in the players’ best interests for me to go into this next part assuming that Minecraft not only IS an adventure/survival game, but that it can be a really, really great one.

And here are my ideas.

The first thing I think Minecraft needs is many more layers of progression.  (And I don’t mean World of Warcraft-type progression, I mean progression in the literal sense of the word.)

Let me explain what progression is, first.  You know how spiders have that pesky leap ability which lets them close the gap between you and them very quickly?  For a new player (or any player that has no strategies for defeating monsters yet), this means the best way to defeat a spider is at range, with a bow and some arrows.

But wait, you can’t make a bow until you’ve collected string… and you can’t collect string without… killing spiders…

That’s progression.  Minecraft forces you into melee combat with a tough foe, and you have to do it a few times until you’ve collected enough string to make a bow.  Once you have a bow, spiders become easy, but only after you’ve already beaten the challenge (the spiders) as it was intended to be beaten do you get the reward of being able to surpass that challenge more easily in the future.

You see this in many games, and it’s part of what makes games fun, and makes games rewarding.  In The Legend of Zelda games, many temples have puzzles and challenges that you have to beat the hard way first, such as crossing a large gap with a series of hops, jumps, and moving blocks or defeating enemies.  Only after you’ve crossed that gap the hard way do you really appreciate the Hookshot when you get it later in the temple, making that large gap a breeze - and really fun to cross.

So Minecraft already has progression like this with the bow, but needs more.  One way I think we could build on this example would be to introduce new, and more powerful monsters into the game.  They wouldn’t even have to be designed from scratch, either.  You could make them variants of the existing enemies.

A spider, for example, with glowing purple eyes and a sickly, pale grey skin instead of black would be scary to encounter.  It could have double the jump distance, and it could poison the things it bites.  Poison could act like short-lived fire, damaging the player periodically until the poison has consumed an extra 2 or 3 hearts in addition to the damage it dealt with its attack.  An even more fun idea would be that if the player is wearing iron armor or better, the poison effect won’t apply (the fangs can’t get through). 

Now what if these spiders only spawned deep underground, and dropped a special type of string that when used to make a bow increased the bow’s attack damage?  This would give players a reason to armor up (protection from poison) and go dungeon crawling.  A new, more powerful weapon is the reward, and the fun is in the adventure.  What’s more is that an update like this could be done in a single patch.

All Mojang would have to do is make a new mob out of a reskinned spider, give it spawn rules (could use the slime’s spawn rules, except just make it spawn more frequently), code in some poison damage, and make a new craftable item for the new, higher-damage bow.

It’s a small update, and the players would create their own adventures out of it.  It adds a level of progression, too, keeping the player playing longer.

Now that we see how one small change can have a big affect in the adventurer’s Minecraft, let’s do this for all the existing monsters!  Remember how I said the new spider could spawn only deep underground?  Well what if deep underground, there were variations on ALL the monsters you see normally above ground?

A new zombie type with double a normal zombie’s health, and its attacks have a 50% chance to slow the player’s movement for a few seconds.  This new zombie would be more “tanky” (to use an RPG term) and would work well in groups of other monsters (as zombies often appear).  With all that extra health, having that upgraded bow from the new spider string is a very good idea underground, now!

And a new skeleton type, too, whose arrows fly 90% fast as yours do.  (Currently, skeleton arrows fly much slower than the player’s arrows.)  I don’t think their arrows should fly as fast as a player’s, but I do think giving a normal skeleton more accuracy would increase its difficulty enough to make it a whole new creature with a new threat level.

Creepers?  Maybe they should stay the same.  They are a staple of Minecraft, and they’re already as threatening, I think, as these dark variants of the above ground creatures would be anyway.

Let’s talk drops, too.  As the dark spiders (that’s a good idea, I’ll start calling them “dark” creatures, since they live far below ground) drop the new type of string, the other dark creatures should drop new rewards as well.  Maybe the dark zombies don’t drop feathers, but instead could have a chance of dropping iron ore.  ”What?!  Iron ore should only be mined!” some people may cry.  But remember, I’m talking about improving this game’s adventuring aspect, and adventurers are not always particularly fond of mining expeditions.  Having the dark zombies drop iron ore (not iron INGOTS, but just the ore) would give adventuring players a way to recover some of their lost resources, too, without having to slow down their fun with a mining run.

And because it’s just the ore, the player is still encouraged to return whatever home base he or she has built to smelt the ore and fulfill the “craft” in Minecraft by creating another sword or more armor.  Because remember, the dark zombies we’re talking about have more health, and thus they require more sword swings to kill, and thus will wear out a player’s weapon durability faster.  An adventuring player needs a way to recoup that loss, and having zombies periodically drop ores would be a fun way to do it.

Dark skeletons could drop dark dust, which I’ll go into in a bit.  They’d also have to drop a few arrows, too, so the player doesn’t have to worry TOO much about using that new, upgraded bow (not too many arrows, though; a little worry and resource management is good, and a skill most adventurers like using).

Dark slimes could be an especially rare find, too.  They could be quite dangerous, launching slimeballs at players, and spawning even more rarely than normal slimes.  A dark slime, once defeated, could have a 100% chance to drop a diamond.  Again, this fits with the theme of letting adventuring players collect resources without having to build mining shafts, and since dark slimes would be so exclusively rare, pumping the occasional extra diamond into the player’s personal economy (or even an SMP server’s working economy) wouldn’t hurt things very much, and it would go a long way in making a player feel really good about gearing up, digging deep, and exploring.

Diamond in hand from a fresk dark slime kill, any adventurer would seek to return to the surface to stow it away.  And then comes that sigh of relief, and that personal feeling of a job well done.  At that point, and adventuring player could log out of Minecraft satisfied with what he or she’s done, much the same way builders can look upon their grand structures with that same sense of accomplishment.

Individually, these dark creatures are small changes that could add a lot of fun to the game.  But I realize that as a whole, everything I’ve proposed in relation to these dark creatures could bring up a lot of balance issues and require a lot of coding work.  But once done, I feel that Minecraft and the players would benefit immensely from something like this, and I hope that Notch and his crew could feel the same way at some point.

Great ideas, X!  But personally, I don’t think I’d like stronger monsters…

That’s fine.  I understand a lot of players like the threat level of the monsters right where it’s at.  I realize that many players aren’t like me and don’t have strategies in their heads for going toe-to-toe with the existing creatures and for a lot of players, the current set of monsters is tough enough!

But remember: the game has a difficulty slider.  Perhaps the dark monsters only spawn on Hard Mode.  Or perhaps the existing difficult levels remain exactly the same, but a new ”Extra Hard” option is added to that slider.

I think that would make everyone happy.

More than just monsters

There’s more than just monsters, I think, that could be added to the game to make it more fun for builders and adventurers alike, and everyone in between (remember, I know everyone falls somewhere in between “builder” and “adventurer”).

Let’s take some of the game’s existing resources and make them more fun!  Redstone dust, for example.  Yes, it’s true that redstone can be used in massive contraptions that do simple things like calculate numbers, dispense cakes, fire arrows in one direction, keep track of time, launch packs of TNT, or play music, just to name a few.  But as it stands, to do anything really awesome with redstone you need a degree in Minecraft physics and computer science.

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration.  But you get my point: for the vast majority of Minecraft players, redstone doesn’t do much for us.  And there’s so much of it to be found!  

Each block drops so many units of dust and redstone is really common at the lower depths.

So, redstone is magical, right?  (Or at least, that’s the theory according the Minecraft wiki and the Minecraft community.)  Let’s make use of that idea… 

Minecraft already has books, paper, and magical redstone in place.  How about a new type of craftable item: spellbooks?  What if you could combine a normal book with some redstone dust and some other item to create single-use spells?  A normal book, some redstone dust, and a redstone torch, for example, could create a Fireball spellbook.  The spellbook could then go in the player’s hotbar, like any other item, and when you selected and right-clicked it would consume the book (just one use per book!) and launch a fireball up to 100 squares.  The fireball could behave like a ghast’s normal attack, except thrown by the player, and when it strikes enemies it could deal heavy damage and set aflame any enemies in its blast radius, but not directly hit by it.

How about that same recipe, except instead of a redstone torch you used, say, 10 snowballs?  Now you can have an Ice Bolt type spell that when used acts as a fireball would, except on impact it covers the ground in snow, sends a few snowballs (not more than 10) flying around, and, like the fireball, destroys a small area of landscape. Except when an Ice Bolt destroys something useful, like a block of coal or iron ore, the resource is dropped as if it had been mined, instead of being destroyed as it would by a ghast’s attack or a creeper’s explosion.

This would make Ice Bolt a decent spell to carry around to help with mining resources and defending oneself underground, whereas Fireball could be the definitive attack spell.

Mind you, these spell books take a lot of resources to create.  We’re talking papyrus and wood (books), snow and/or torches (coal, wood), and a hefty amount of redstone dust.  

Plus these spell books would not be stackable, so resource management again comes into play.  Do players bring some magic with them when they go adventuring?  If so, what do they sacrifice?  A pickaxe, potentially shortening their trip?  Some cooked pork, making it so they might not be able to heal?

Is the magic really worth bringing at that point?  Or is the idea of Fireball and Ice Bolt just a novelty; something you make just to try it out and then never make more of?

If that’s your thought, then remember, since it’s magic, there could easily be more useful things that would be worth the inventory space for that one-cast spellbook.  Let’s add another layer of progression for fun.  Let’s say you can create a new resource of your own: a magical book by combining a normal book with 8 redstone dust surrounding it in the crafting square.  This would yield a magical book that, like papyrus becomes paper, could be used to create other types of magic books.

Say you take that magical book you just created and surround THAT in 8 Lightstone Dust.  You could create a Light spell that, when used, creates a radius of light around the player as he or she moves.  (Again, I realize the game’s engine prohibits this kind of thing right now, but we’re just throwing ideas around here.)  The spell could last one full game day or until the player dies.  This would make a useful and fun alternative to setting torches everywhere as you adventure, and notice how the recipe for it didn’t require any coal.  It actually saves on torches.  And torches, vice versa, save on spell components if you choose to go that route.

How about another type of spell?  Something for the builders.  Combine a magic book with some obsidian blocks and create a spellbook of Fortify.  Fortify, when cast, could ”harden” a 12x12x12 square (or some other area, this doesn’t have to be exact) of already placed material (like, for example, the X-Fort, or a large part of the Greenhouse of Harmony), giving all those blocks the same durability as obsidian (while maintaining their original looks).  Enchanting a whole building in this way makes structures highly resistant to creeper attacks.  There could even be two types of Fortify.  Glinting Fortify, which would make affected blocks “shimmer” just ever so slightly to indicate they’ve been hardened, and normal Fortify that applies the affect without a visual cue (for those who want to maintain the exact look of their buildings).

Notch could go crazy with this kind of stuff.  A magical book and some feathers could create a Flight spell, letting the player fly for short periods of time (maybe 30 to 60 seconds, I don’t think any spell should grant too much power).

Or instead of flight, maybe a Jump spell, similar to what you’d find in Zelda 2.  It gives the player the ability to jump ten times the normal jump height for three minutes.  

Combine that with an also-craftable Haste spell (possibly created by combining a magical book, a pair of chainmail or leather boots, and sulphur) to give the player double movement speed, and you’d have players scaling mountains easily to collect resources or traverse their (by now) large Minecraft worlds more easily.

In fact, I can picture Haste, Jump, Fireball, and an upgraded bow making the Nether seem easier to handle.  And hey, maybe people wouldn’t have to turn the game to Peaceful just to travel in the Nether!

And yes, I realize the Nether is SUPPOSED to be a hellish place where if you linger for any length of time, you’ll die.  But if a player puts forth the time and energy into creating the necessary resources through adventuring (spells, armor, powerful weapons, plenty of food), that player should be able to enjoy the reward of being able to face the Nether and actually use it for fast travel between Nether gates.  Isn’t that what the Nether was originally made for, anyway?  Give players a way to use it without having to switch to Peaceful.

And maybe you could create a Regeneration spellbook that would give the player a slow, steady health regeneration for a full game day, lessening the need to carry food.  But the regeneration should be very slow, like half a heart every 8-10 seconds, so as not to ELIMINATE the need to carry food.  (And yes, just because I know I’m going to get someone spouting, “just turn it to Peaceful,” I know Peaceful mode has this effect.  But not everybody likes switching their game to Peaceful when things get rough.  That gets boring very quickly.)

There’s more.

I have many more ideas than this for improving Minecraft, but I’d hate to put them all in one post.  This blog post is colossal already, and if you’ve made it this far, I thank you for reading it.

Again, I’d like to stress that I do not think my idea of how we can improve Minecraft is the ONLY idea for how to improve Minecraft.  I also realize many people think it’s fine the way it is and that I should stop QQ’ing.  I respect everybody’s opinion in this regard and I ask that you respect mine, as well.

This post is just about why I became bored of it and what I think could be done to improve it for those of us who enjoy its immense adventuring potential.

If you agree with this blog post, please try to get Notch to see it.  Tweet it to him over at Twitter (@Notch), e-mail him, post it in forums, on reddit, Digg, all that stuff.  I’ve never wanted to catch Notch’s eye before, but this time, I really hope to.  I’d love to get his recognition on this, and to see what he thinks about it.

[Edit: He’s already responded (read above) so please don’t notify him about it anymore.]

Please leave your own comments below, too, dear readers.  I’d love to hear what you think.

Goodbye, 2010, and hey, thanks.

2010 was a fantastic year for me.  2011 will be hard pressed to beat it.

“Hey, Dave,” he said, looking at me sitting at my work computer.  ”This’ll be the year, Dave.”

He was right.

His name was Mike… I don’t remember his last name.  He was a heavy set fellow with a warm spirit and a big, genuine heart.  It was December of 2009, and I was working at a popular cell phone provider’s call center.

I was miserable.  The weather was cold, and the routine was boring, soul numbingly boring.  I didn’t care at all for that job.  Nothing there interested me even vaguely, except for a handful of the people I met there.  I hated having 10 hours of my day stolen from me by that place.  I desperately needed the money at the time, though.

You know how when you first start a job or in some classes in school you’ll be required to stand up and say a little bit about yourself?  We had to do that our first day.

“My name is David, and I used to run my own business.  Some things didn’t work out, and when the economy tanked I lost what little business I had.  I’d like to start it up again, but first, I need more money to advertise.  So I’m here.”

Only a few days into training, I hadn’t had any real time to get to know my  coworkers.  But already I was in a routine of picking up coffee at our first 15 minute break once we’d herded ourselves like mindless cattle to the tiny break room.

“Hey, Dave, what kinda coffee you drinkin’?”  Mike was from New York, and his annunciation and pronunciation made it no secret.

“It’s a vanilla latte… that’s all this machine has except straight black coffee.”  At the time, I didn’t drink black coffee very often.

“Ah, I have a coffee mug in my truck you can have.”  He obviously needed the money pretty badly, too, because Mike was a stocky fellow who had previously only worked in construction.  He answered the ad for phone support just like I did for a lack of any other options in this economy.

“No, it’s fine,” I waved my hand weakly to turn down his kind offer.  ”I’ll just use these cups.”

“Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it.  Those cups don’t keep the coffee warm.  I don’t use the mug in my truck anymore, you can have it.”

“Okay,” I said, “Sounds cool, thanks.”

I didn’t think he’d actually give it to me later.  I figured he’d forget.  This was only a few days into the job after all.

But the next day, he came to my desk and placed on it a green coffee mug with a black lid.  The bottom rim of the mug was chipped, but only barely.  It was also clearly old and had seen much use.

I looked at the mug, visibly confused.  I had forgotten he even said he’d give it to me.  An instant later it dawned on me.  ”Oh, right!  Hey, thanks, Mike.”

“Hey no problem, Dave.”

I bought his coffee that day to thank him.  It was a small gesture, sure, but it was the least I could do. 

Soon, Christmas and the holidays of 2009 rolled around.  Some of us brought treats for the whole class to celebrate… but not only did I hate working at that sinkhole, I had no money to buy something that I could share with the whole class.

Mike, however, bought everyone a personalized card.  While I couldn’t be bothered to care about anyone in that classroom (except of course, him and a couple of the prettier girls), he was awake and lively enough in class that he knew at least a little bit about everyone there.  He was just that kinda guy.

He passed out his Christmas cards.  Knowing I wanted to start my business back up, he made mine out: “Don’t give up, Dave!  Things will be great in 2010.”

I can’t find that card today… I tried to find it just before writing this blog entry.  Sadder still is that I can’t find the coffee mug he gave me.  I know they’re here somewhere.  I would not throw those away.

Know what’s even sadder?  A few weeks later, in January, Mike quit.  He was a very nice guy, and everyone liked him.  But working in construction so many years prior to this job, he had a difficult time understanding the technicalities of a cell phone and the workings of a cell phone company.  He failed or barely passed most of the tests, and didn’t do too well on a daily basis there.

He lined up some work for himself in yet another city, and quit.

All of us in that training room didn’t care for anybody else there (we were all just making it hour by hour for our paychecks).  But the day Mike stopped showing up, everything felt different.  The whole class was very quiet.  Usually it was pretty loud in there.  The people there, full grown adults most of them, chatted and gossiped and spewed vulgar, tacky jokes all day.  I don’t blame them.  They were trying to get through the deathly monotony of it all in their own way.  But it was obnoxious.

Still, we all felt Mike’s quitting that day.  Things went back to normal only a short few days later.

Some number of days passed, and Mike showed up one more time to fill out some paperwork with our trainer.  Everyone greeted him with warm hello’s, some of the girls telling him how much they missed him in the class.  He was real cool about it.  Wished everyone good luck, and waved goodbye to everyone from the doorway.

My desk was right by the doorway.

Just before he left that January day in 2010, he turned to me and pointed a finger my way.  ”Hey, Dave,” he said, “this’ll be the year, Dave.”

He was right.

Last year, in 2010, I suffered some major financial setbacks.  I’ve gone deeply into debt, and tried time after time to get my business running again.  I’ve failed numerous times.  Sure, I’ve had minor victories… but the losses I’ve taken have been devastating.  They far outweigh my gains.

But all the while, I’ve had a beautiful hobby.  This shining light that has kept me not only sane, but happy, this whole past year.  You see, in December of 2009, I released my first YouTube video.  Clicky the image to watch.

It wasn’t very popular at all.  I got about 20 views a day.  Back then, YouTube used a star rating system (you know, like rate this video between 1 and 5 stars), and I used to sit there for the first few days after I’d released a video to watch for the first rating I’d received.  I used to hope someone gave it 5 stars.  Sometimes it took several days before any of my videos got a legitimate rating, or a comment.

My first few comments and ratings were exciting!  People found my video useful, and that made me happy.  Very happy.  The process was difficult to start, but I decided to make more videos.  I was mostly new to editing and capturing footage, and I was poorly equipped at the time.  My computer wasn’t very strong, I had a tiny hard drive, and my microphone wasn’t all that great.

But I turned video making into my hobby.  It was incredible fun.  I’ve always been the creative type, but had no legitimate creative outlet.  YouTube gave me the opportunity to create new things that people actually wanted to consume.

I was incredibly happy, and addicted.  I couldn’t stop thinking about my next video, or how to improve my style or editing, or when I’d find the time to capture footage, or how I desperately just wanted to leave work so I could make my videos.

Despite financial problems, despite health problems, despite my business failing… I was enjoying life more than ever.  Yes, making YouTube videos truly was that big of a thing for me.

I realize it sounds silly.  But I don’t care.  I LOVE my hobby with a passion.  To me, it’s like a hobby train enthusiast.  At some point in his life, he gets a train set and builds his little circular track with a little working engine and a few cars on his coffee table.  He takes a few more steps, and now his train set has a switching station and another little train running on it.  He later expands his first train and makes it larger, and adds some grass and trees and maybe a little town to his model train set.  Soon, the set grows too big for his coffee table, and after years of enjoying and loving and nurturing his hobby, he’s dedicated his whole basement to the train set and the thing runs like a charm much to his delight.

This is what my YouTube hobby has been like to me for all of 2010.  I never imagined I’d gain this many subscribers (at the time of this writing, 107,161 and counting), but I never really cared for subs, or views, or ratings, or comments.

I’m glad I have all of those, though, because they make the hobby more fun.  But I just love playing video games, and I love sharing my experiences in them with the world.  It’s the love of the games and the art of creating a quality video that makes me love what I do.

And now, at the end of 2010, nothing has changed.  I still absolutely love doing this, and I’ve gained so much from it.  I’ve never had a hobby in my life before, something I look forward to every day.  Something that helps define who I am as a person.  But now I do, and I’m so thankful I found it.

But now there is so much more.  Now, as I work on a video, I know I have tens of thousands of people who will be happy to see it, and that’s a special feeling.  I’ve also over the course of 2010 earned a Machinima contract, so some of my videos are even earning me some money.

Here’s my first Machinima video, for those of you who didn’t know I was a Machinima Director or for those of you who haven’t yet started watching my Half-Life 2 videos (clicky the image to watch):

When I got the Machinima contract, I nearly melted with joy.  This, admittedly, is because the prospect of making a living doing my hobby was extremely exciting.  Get paid to play video games?!  Sign me up!

But this also began an internal struggle for me.  Should I start making videos and sending them exclusively to Machinima so I can make lots of money?  Or should I let my hobby remain pure and fun, instead of turning it into a job?

Ultimately, I decided I loved my hobby way too much the way it was to change it.  So I haven’t released very many Machinima videos, even though they would pay me to do so.  Instead, I’ve focused on my channel and doing what I love simply for the sake of loving it.

As a result, I haven’t made very much money off my videos, but it wasn’t about money in the beginning and I didn’t want to change that.

On the topic of making money from videos… My YouTube channel’s growing success also enabled me to do something else I absolutely love doing: it enabled me to talk on even footing with some of my favorite YouTubers.

SeaNanners, DiggitySC, PeanutSC, JX23, Dodger from PressHeartToContinue… these are all individuals I am a fan of, and now I talk to most of them on a fairly regular basis.  To be able to meet and socialize with some of my favorite personalities on YouTube is awesome.

Getting back on topic, though: SeaNanners has been doing the YouTube thing longer than I have and undoubtedly he has had more success with it.  He’s been through everything I’ve been through and more, so when I started struggling with the prospect of making money from my YouTube channel, he had some advice for me.  I’ll never forget what he said to me.

SeaNanners: Oh, money… haha.  Keep doing your YouTube thing because you love it.  If money comes, great.  But don’t chase it.  Then it’s not genuine.

He was absolutely right.

And some money has indeed come in for me as a result of this YouTube thing.  But it’s not because I’ve chased it.  It’s money that has come in just because I love what I’m doing, and I couldn’t be happier with how I’ve been able to achieve that while not sacrificing the integrity of my beloved hobby.

So, thank you Mike, wherever you are, for believing in me.  You’re not a computer type person, so the odds of you reading this are extremely slim, but thank you anyway.  I know you meant to wish me luck in my business, but things work out strangely sometimes, and your encouragement has carried through this year to help form something even greater.

And thank you, 2010, for being such a fantastic year.  Mike was right.  ”This’ll be the year, Dave.”

And indeed it was.  It was the year I found a great love in my life, the love of my favorite hobby.

What will 2011 bring, dear viewers?

Stay tuned.

About my Live Stream, Fallout, Cataclysm, Minecraft, and More!

It’s been a while since I updated my blog!  But there are some things I’ve been wanting to talk about, so I’ll make a quick update here.

What’s become of Fallout: New Vegas?

Well, I ran into some serious technical issues with the game while recording.  One part of the game had busted polygons that would stretch into eternity and flash on the screen wildly, and I couldn’t walk down that hallway, much less see into any of that building’s rooms.  People told me the game was bugged, but I didn’t know it was *that* bugged.

In addition to that, I decided to restart my LP of New Vegas anyway because I wanted to focus on Energy Weapons.  I think I’ve since changed my mind about that, too… because I tried restarting my LP and it turned out very bad, haha.  Partially because I kept running out of energy ammo and, MOSTLY because I had some sound problems while recording the game.  I recorded about 2 hours of Fallout only to find out the sound was unusable.  :(

The sound was great in the live stream, but in Fraps it was broken.  Sigh.  Well, if you want to watch the footage of the live stream where I restarted New Vegas, you can watch it here: 

Watch live video from davidangel64’s channel on Justin.tv

I will be restarting New Vegas a third time, most likely while not streaming it.  So wish me luck on that.  I haven’t had much luck keeping that LP going, but dang it, I really want to!

Speaking of the Live Stream

Speaking of the live stream, in case you didn’t know by now, I have one.  Here’s the link: http://www.justin.tv/davidangel64

Make sure to sign up at Justin.tv and follow me there.  You can also keep up to date of when I start streaming (I always tweet it) on my twitter: http://www.twitter.com/davidangel64

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Ah, WoW.  The game that started my whole channel.  Yes, my name is X because it’s short for “Xalamon,” the name of my undead death knight in WoW.

And now Cataclysm has finally been released and I… am not excited for it.  I thought Cataclysm would hook me and reel me back in, but it hasn’t.  Not quite yet.

I’ve seen a lot of videos on it, and watched a number of live streams, and kept up with the news about it.  But Wrath of the Lich King (the previous expansion) was just so very boring at the end there that it left me with a really stale taste for WoW.  I don’t have any desire to get back into grinding heroics for better gear that lets me grind more heroics for hours.

BUT!

I must admit that everything I have seen about Cataclysm looks fantastic.  The expansion really does seem to make WoW a whole new game, with much more dynamic quests, more dynamic play, more dynamic content… I think it’s safe to say Cataclysm is just so much more dynamic than previous expansions.  And that’s a very, very good thing.

But money is tight around the holidays for me, and like I said, Cataclysm should excite me but doesn’t.  So I won’t be buying Cataclysm right away.

That said, I realize that I don’t have to buy Cataclysm to enjoy 90% of what the expansion offers.  Most of the new content comes in the form of the new landscape and the new gameplay experience from levels 1-60, and I can do that without spending an extra penny.  So I may make some videos of Cataclysm content soon, but I make no guarantees.

At the end of December I’ll be getting my first small check from Machinima.  We’ll see how much money that brings in and if it’s enough, I’ll probably buy Cataclysm and join the fun.  We’ll see how it goes.

Now, while I will never turn down donations (you can click here to donate, hint hint), please don’t donate with the idea that it will get me to buy Cataclysm… I appreciate the sentiment very much, but I don’t want to feel obligated to buy and play a certain game because someone donated specifically for that game.  If you DO donate, please do it simply to support my channel as a whole.  :-)

Minecraft Beta

Now, this surprises me.  I’m actually fairly excited about the Minecraft Beta coming out, and I’m not really sure why.  Currently, I am quite bored with Minecraft and it’s difficult for me to stay interested in playing it for more than 2 minutes at a time.

But the beta promises a form of loose narrative to the game, and I really think that’s what it needs.  Some sort of objective, some sort of goal or story to it, while letting it remain a sandbox game.  That’s difficult to achieve, I know, and a tall order, but it’s exactly what Notch is beginning to implement in the beta for Minecraft.

That’s big news for me, personally.  There are also supposedly some other neat features that will be coming with the beta, like full-fledged multiplayer support that should play mostly like the single player game, except with more people.  I realize most of this functionality is already in the game, but that it will be more polished and more fleshed out in the beta is a fun idea.

I might be interested in making videos about Minecraft again after the beta comes out… but remember, I said the same thing about the Halloween Update, and I didn’t make a full series of that update like I intended to.

The reason for that, though, was because I expected more out the Halloween Update and I feel, to me, that update fell flat.  It didn’t add as much as I thought it would, and in the end the Nether (which I looked forward to most) is pretty darn useless.

It was a fun distraction, being as scary as it was for the first 10 minutes, but once you get past the initial disturbing sounds, the Nether became a place where you just went to die.  There are no rewards for traversing the Nether, except that glowing stone that permanently emits light.  Using the Nether as a transportation system is sketchy at best, too, so… in the end, as I said, the Nether was pretty useless and that turned me off even more when it came to Minecraft.

Will the Minecraft Beta release fall flat, too?  Or will it breathe new life into X’s Adventures in Minecraft?  I’m hoping the latter.

And More!

Here’s the “and more” part.  It’s Alizee.  I saw this video a few years ago and just found it again.  For no other reason than “I think she’s hot,” here’s the video:

(Use the full screen button there on the right.)

That’s it for now!  Thanks for reading, guys.

New Computer!

Yay, a new computer, finally!  This is the first time I’ve ever had a computer that can run brand new games.  In the past, my computers have always been a few generations behind.

I have to thank everyone who donated.  It took me a while to actually build the machine (3 days in my spare time!), and I spent the whole last week testing it.

Before I go any further, let me give you the machine’s specs.

• Processor: AMD Phenom II x6 1090T (6 CPUs) 3.2 GHz 
• RAM: 8 GB (Upgradeable to 16 GB)
• Graphics: GeForce GTX 460 (~1 GB) 
• Storage: 1.75 TB (1x 1 TB HDD, 1x 750 GB laptop HDD)

Now, let’s talk about some of the things this rig is going to let me do.

Live Streaming

Here’s my stream’s URL: http://justin.tv/davidangel64

I usually start the stream whenever the whim hits me.  Sometimes I’ll post a YouTube video up about it, and sometimes I won’t. You can be better notified of when I’m streaming by following me on Justin TV when you get there and having it use one of its notification methods (like e-mailing you) when I start streaming. And you can follow me on twitter, where I am much more likely to make announcements about impromptu streams.

Right now I’m streaming a lot of Starcraft 2 and I’ll usually sneak a little Minecraft in there, too, but I’m keeping Minecraft minimal until the Halloween update comes out.

Half-Life 2

With my new computer, I can do much newer games, and I plan to.  But before I can do those newer games, I need to make room on my list of active series.  So this means I need to finish Half-Life 2, so I will be doing that soon.  Keep an eye out!

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Like with Half-Life 2, I need to finish up Castlevania so I can begin playing newer games.  In all likelihood, I will not be doing a 100% run of Aria of Sorrow anymore.  I don’t have the time to farm all those souls, and it’s for this reason I haven’t been able to continue Aria of Sorrow.  If I just cut all the soul farming out (which it pains me to do), I can actually make videos of this game again.  And that’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now.

Minecraft Halloween Update

I will be releasing a new series of Minecraft videos when the Halloween update hits.  I may release this series on Machinima.  I’ve been talking with my contact over there but I don’t have anything set in stone yet.  I can’t say for sure where the series will air, but it will air.

One thing that is certain, though, is that the series will not be nearly as long as X’s Adventures in Minecraft, and I will continue to give focus to other games at the same time.

I’d like to give more details about this, but I don’t have everything worked out even in my own head yet.  Things may completely change or they may stay right on course.  I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned to find out (even me!).

Duke Nukem

Well, Duke 3D doesn’t work too well on newer computers, it seems.  I have sound problems with DN3D on my new machine.

The reason we haven’t seen any new Duke videos in the past week or so is that my old computer has been unplugged since my new machine took its place.

But I will continue and finish this series.  Duke Nukem Forever is a game I WILL be playing on my channel, and I feel it’s only right that I complete DN3D first.  So I’m going to fire up the old PC again and play me some Duke!

New Games: Fallout?  Fable?  Something else?

So the two main reasons I even built this new PC from the ground up is so I could do live streams and play new games.  But I’m not sure what new games to play yet.  I’ve spent most of the donation money on the PC, and I made sure to save some for games.  I’ve only got enough left for one or two games; they have to be PC games because I don’t own a PS3 or an Xbox; but I don’t know which games they should be.

Fallout: New Vegas seems like the most obvious choice, right?  Well, that’s the problem… it’s the obvious choice.  I’ve always liked doing the off-the-wall things that others aren’t doing, and New Vegas is heavily saturated on YouTube right now.  I’m not saying I won’t do a New Vegas Playthrough, but I am saying it’s not my top choice right now.

Fable 3?  That’s not being released until a few months from now.  I really want to do an LP of this, but it’ll have to wait.

Do you guys have any suggestions?  Do you want to see New Vegas anyway?  Is there another game you think would be worth watching me play?

Let me know, but keep in mind that I won’t be putting much priority on a new game until I’ve finished Half-Life 2 and Aria of Sorrow.

Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2?  Another Castlevania Game?

The questions that arise about my new approach is whether or not I will continue the Half-Life 2 series with Episodes 1 and 2, and whether or not I’ll move on from Aria of Sorrow into something else, like Dawn of Sorrow or even Lords of Shadow.

The answer is that right now, while I do intend and want to do these things, I just don’t know.  I would love it if I could do every series I wanted to and all their sequels, but it takes a lot of time and I have to prioritize.  We shall see what the future holds for these.

Minecraft Live Streams

I’ll probably end up doing more of these when I get a new headset.  Right now, I can’t stream my microphone and the game audio at the same time without making it so I can’t hear any sound myself (clearly not an ideal setup).  To remedy this, I need to get a headset that doesn’t plug into USB, and instead plugs into 3.5mm jacks.  This will send sound through my PC’s Stereo Mix instead of through USB and I can stream it properly.

That’s it for now.

Alright guys, that’s for reading this far.  I hope I’ve done a good enough job in this blog entry of keeping you guys up to date.

Totally Just Beat Starcraft 2

I totally just beat Starcraft 2.  I will not post spoilers about it, and I do not want spoilers in the comments of this entry, so please be courteous.

I will say this, though: I loved it.  It did a great job of making me feel like I was put right back into the story I played through in 1998, even though that was 12 years ago.

The campaign was fun and very interactive.  I’m looking forward to playing it through again several times to earn all of the game’s achievements.

Might I make videos of this?  I wish I could.  I mean, I guess I can TRY to… but my current hardware could only run the game on medium-low settings (and yes, I felt somewhat remorseful that I had to play a game that’s so important to me as Starcraft at such low graphics), and if I try to run Fraps while I play it, it would probably run at like 4 frames per second.

I need a stronger rig to make videos of any of the more recent games.  This is why I do gameplay of old favorites like Duke Nukem 3D and Half-Life 2, and why I do less intensive games like Minecraft.  I had hoped Starcraft 2, with Blizzard being known for making really optimized games, would be different, and that I could somehow record it, but right now it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

I’ll try some things, but it’s not looking good… right now, I can’t even play the game in 720p, meaning high definition videos of SC2 are out of the question.

Regardless, SC2 videos are something I want to do, and I’m going to try to find a way.  It may take a couple of months, but during that time I’m just going to be playing and practicing, trying to get better at the game so that MAYBE I can produce some good gameplay for my channel.  ’cuz no matter how good my computer is, if I suck at the game, it won’t be worth recording.  :)

Let’s see what the future holds.

Signing out.

(And going to play some multiplayer.)

Just a Few Things

So I’m at a friend’s house, and we’re all just chilling out.  I happen to have my laptop here, so I figured I’d make a blog entry.  I haven’t updated this thing in a while.  :)

Man I love nights like this.  Sitting around a table with a big group of friends, a beer in hand.  And no, I don’t drink very often at all, and when I do, it’s never very much.  And I know a good portion of my audience is underage, so if there’s one message I want to get across right now, it’s this: don’t drink, you young people.  And for those of you of age to drink, make sure you drink responsibly.  It’s how I do it.  :)

Anyway, there are a few things I wanna talk about in this blog entry.

Swearing in Duke Nukem

“Oh my gosh,” people are saying, “X is swearing!  He’s not supposed to swear!”  I’m glad you guys have such a high opinion of me, but everyone has multiple dimensions.  I like to let my commentary and personality reflect the game I’m playing, and there’s really no other way to compliment Duke Nukem than to let my bad-ass self cut loose.  My personality does change from game to game, and this is how I have the most fun with Duke.  Don’t worry guys, I’m not “changing.”  This is a part of me that’s always been here.  ”But X,” some people say, “popularity changes people.”  Maybe that’s true, but don’t worry — I’m not one of those people.  :)

A New Game

So there’s a new game I want to play on my channel.  I’m not going to say what it is, but it’s pretty awesome.  I think I’ll play the demo on my channel first and see what you guys think of it.  Should be out sometime this weekend, but, as usual, no guarantees!

Minecraft Friday Update

With the Blue Series of X’s Adventures in Minecraft, I intend to cover the Friday updates that Notch releases.  This usually means a Minecraft video will come out on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday every week.  Just keeping you guys in the loop.

Optimus Prime

Man, I love Optimus Prime.

My Twitter Account

I update my Twitter much more often than I update my blog.  If you want to keep abreast of all the latest with my channel and with me in general, you’d do well to follow me there.  Here’s the link: http://www.twitter.com/davidangel64

Machinima Premiere Director

In case you’re not aware, SeaNanners’ spot as a Premiere Director at Machinima is open.  I’m aware I qualify to apply for it.  But I don’t feel I’m ready.  I’m at a point with my YouTube channel and in my life that I’ve got to make some very key decisions.  And I don’t know where my status a Premiere Director would fit into all that.  I’m excited about all the opportunities coming my way, but that’s one that I’m happy to let slip by me for the time being.  When it comes around next time, maybe I’ll apply for it.  But right now, I’m just planning to take things slow and make decisions carefully.

I know I’d do a good job as a Premiere Director, I’m just not ready for it.  So we’ll see what the future holds!

Donations

I’m pleased to say that I’ve received a few donations so far, and I’m very thankful.  Currently I’ve received enough donations to buy Cataclysm for World of Warcraft, OR StarCraft 2… or I can save up for a new Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle, which would let me venture into the realm of console games on my channel… I’m not sure which way i should go with this at the moment.  Any suggestions?

Oh, and if you’d like to donate (all donations go toward making more videos, or making videos better, or making videos faster), you can do so here: Donations

I think that covers everything I want to talk about… you guys have any questions you want to ask?  I’d be happy to answer some questions here on the blog.

As Mookie (creator of my favorite webcomic, Dominic Deegan) would say:

That’s all from me for now.  Rock on.

Starcraft Commentary

I don’t know how many of you care about, or even KNOW about Starcraft commentary (both Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2) but it has a very special place in my heart.  Recently, some alarming things have happened in the English Starcraft commentary world that have me on edge.

It began when Klazart retired from the world of e-sports commentary.  That, to me, was a hurtful blow, but I got through it with the knowledge that we still had greats like DiggitySC, Rise, and Moletrap carrying on Klazart’s legend.

Recently, Diggity got married, and while he will return to Starcraft commentary in a few months, his hiatus leaves a large gap in the Starcraft commentary world.

I just found out that Rise is officially retiring from Starcraft commentary of any kind, forever.  Another devastating blow to English Starcraft commentary.  I’ve never, ever been disappointed by a Rise video, and now they’re ending.

Moletrap is still going strong, and for that I am very thankful.  Even with SC2 out, Moletrap is continuing the tradition of commentating Korean Starcraft 1 professional games, and that’s important to me and hundreds of thousands of others.  I know you’re not reading my blog, but thank you, Moletrap.

Of course, we do have the likes of HDStarcraft and HuskyStarcraft spearheading the next evolution of Starcraft on the Internet.  Their subscriber count is amazing for Starcraft, and they are making leaps and bounds in the right direction for Starcraft to become a mainstream e-sport, even here in America.  I applaud what these guys are doing and I am behind them 100%.

But they lack the warmth of those that came before them.  They do their thing differently, the way it SHOULD be done if you want Starcraft to progress.  And I do very much want Starcraft to progress, so I have absolutely nothing against these two… Again, I think they are a crucial part of the future of Starcraft as a whole.

It’s just that the love of Starcraft, the true understanding of the heart of the game, the knowledge about what it’s done for ALL video games (yes, every video game you’ve played after 1998 has been touched by Starcraft in some way), the passion that comes with the intimate knowledge of its colorful cast of characters (I’m not talking about in-game characters, I’m talking about the people involved with the game — the players, the viewers, the commentators, the competitors)… all of these are things you cannot commercialize and continue to keep intact.

One more time, HuskyStarcraft and HDStarcraft are, in my opinion, really big parts of the future of Starcraft and thus, in my opinion, potentially a big part of how the future of video games as a whole will be sculpted.  I am behind them in full.  But commercializing the game the way they have, they cannot hope to maintain the same trueness to the game that the previous greats can, have, and still do.

It’s not Husky’s or HD’s fault.  What they’re doing is completely and totally necessary.  In a way, although they are spearheading the future of Starcraft, they are sacrificing a part of their experience with the game.  And we can regain that experience only through truly passionate commentators who continue to do what they do solely for the love of the game.

Commentators like Rise, Diggity, Moletrap, and Klazart.

But commentators like these four greats are fading away slowly.  When Klazart retired, Diggity took it upon himself to make more commentaries and put more of himself into his craft (no pun intended).  Part of him felt obligated to fill the void left by the Grandfather of Commentary, and to make an attempt at filling such legendary shoes is extremely commendable.

Diggity does a great job at what he does.  But as with Klazart, the world outside of Starcraft takes over and eventually wins every time.  Marriage, health problems, business decisions, loss of interest… these things are all natural, they all happen, and they all have good chances of taking down a commentator, especially when said commentator is making no money doing what he’s doing.

Diggity’s on hiatus now, but even when he gets more free time I’m sure he won’t put 100% of what he used to put into his commentaries back into them again.  It’s natural, and it’s not his fault.

But with Rise announcing his retirement, I understand what Diggity felt when Klazart announced his.  I almost feel obligated myself to step and take the microphone.  I love the Starcraft community and I’d love to contribute to it.  It might be time for me to take some bold steps and introduce myself as a Starcraft commentator.

My main problem with doing this, though, is that it’s a very large undertaking.  I already have a lot of other projects I’m working on, both within YouTube and without.  I don’t know if I have the time and energy to begin commentating Starcraft.

PLUS, with Starcraft 2 out, we don’t know what the future of professional Korean Starcraft will look like.  Will Brood War continue to reign because it is so balanced and its nebulous metagame is ever changing?  Or will the Starleagues in Korea begin hosting Starcraft 2 tournaments for the players we already all know and love?  If the situation is that Starcraft 2 is going to become the mainstream Korean Pro arena, should I wait for that moment to begin commentating?

Another doubt I have about this is that I admittedly do not know a whole lot about the individual players of the game.  Moletrap is such a respectable commentator because, in the middle of random games, he’ll recall a situation from a game that happened in like, 2006, at an exact moment, complete with who played that that moment and with what units.  I realize he’s one of the best because he does that and I shouldn’t try to match up to that kind of standard, but still… I feel my spotty technical knowledge of the game could hinder my commentaries.

Anyway… this is just me ranting.  I needed to get these thoughts out in the open, and I realize most of you will not know what I’m talking about and many of you won’t even care.  I had to write this down more for my own benefit than anything else.

But still… if this is something you DO have knowledge of and that you are involved in, what do you think about all this?

I love Minecraft, but…

I love Minecraft, and no, I’m not going to stop making videos about it.

But be ready to start seeing a healthy infusion of videos from the other games I’ve played on my channel, and maybe a couple new ones.  Half-Life 2, mainly.

I’d do Castlevania for sure if I was positive I could get it set up correctly on this new laptop… getting it recorded and uploaded on the PC was a tricky affair, having to use several different programs to get it working properly.  I’ll try that again on the laptop at some point.

World of Warcraft?  Meh.  I seriously would love to do more WoW videos, I’m just too bored with Wrath of the Lich King to have any good ideas for videos on it.  I’ve already divulged all of my best gold farming strategies and done most of the interesting heroics for Frost Tanking Heroics.  Any ideas from anyone?  I want to play WoW again with some purpose.

SMBC might show up, too, but I’m still saving that one for big announcements and stuff.  I’d like to see an update for this game come out soon, because when Exploding Rabbit releases updates, they’re really, really good updates.

But yeah, the main purpose of this post is to start getting everyone used to the idea that I do play other games.  :)

I know there are a whole lot of you who already understand that Minecraft is not my only game, so that’s good.  But having just gained more than 12,000 subscribers in a week because of Minecraft, I’m sure there are TONS of people who don’t realize that yet, and this blog post is an attempt to inform those people so I don’t just throw them a curve ball unexpectedly.

Onward!