Mark my words, unbelievers, I am going to build a terrific machine, capable of horrific destruction, which will lay waste to all opponents that come before it! MWA Haha hahaaaa….

Ahem, sorry about that. That was needlessly maniacal. But I am going to build a robot.

Full sail is either putting on or participating in a Robocode tournament. Robocode is a java framework that allows you to set up arenas where computer-controlled tanks fight to the death. The competitive part is you have to write the AI that your tank uses to fight with. I at least am going to compete in this, as to whether it will be a solo or a team project, I’m not sure. This is also an excellent point for any links you might want so share about AI you may have. This wiki has some interesting info (programmer talk heavy) about some of the challenges that these robots (or their programmers) have to overcome.

It should be fun.

Technology | 3 Comments »

There exists a personality test called the MBTI, or Myers-Brooks Type identifier. You can take this test just about anywhere on the internet, or here for easy reference. After you have taken the test, you will have a 4 letter code, representing your personality type. Now you can take your code and apply one of these labels to it, called a Keirsey Temperament Sorter:

Guardians:
ESTJ – Supervisor
ISTJ – Inspector
ESFJ – Provider
ISFJ – Protector

Artisans:
ESTP – Promoter
ISTP – Crafter
ESFP – Performer
ISFP- Composer

Idealists:
ENFJ – Teacher
INFJ – Counselor
ENFP – Champion
INFP – Healer

Rationals:
ENTJ – Field Marshal
INTJ – Mastermind
ENTP – Inventor
INTP – Architect

Now, being a huge nerd, these sort of labels appeal to me in some strange way. Perhaps it’s just because I think it’s extremely awesome that my results come back “Mastermind”. It might just be me.

Edit: Some extra stats, here are rough, general population statistics for the MBTI test:

Rationals 1-2%
Idealists 8-10%
Artisans 35-40%
Guardians 40-50%

Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

It’s been a while since the last update, and I’ve been meaning to post for a while now, so bear with me as this will be a bit of a mish-mash. Let’s start with a rant here at Full Sail, and I believe this is starting to take effect at just about all colleges, you can actually have your grade penalized if your cell phone goes off in class. Now, I’d wager that about 90% of today’s cellphones either have GPS functionality or are able to approximate their location via cell tower triangulation. So where is the cell phone feature that allows my phone to behave differently based on where I am in the world? I remember advertisers getting excited about the prospect of sending me ads based on what store I’m in, how about a phone that can automatically set itself to vibrate once I enter the building my classes are in? Seems logical eh? I’m sure that Verizon is ready to roll out yet another $5.99/month service that does exactly this.

Next, Crayon Physics. This fun little game was created in 7 days as part of a monthly project over at Kloonigames. In crayon physics, you draw shapes with the mouse that react in a realistic manner in order to get a ball to collect a star. It’s really quite interesting to see the interesting contraptions different players come up with. The upcoming Crayon Physics Deluxe promises to really be something, as there you can draw more that just rectangles.

I’m also going to give a glowing review to Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Nintendo DS. I’ve been a big fan of the original ever since it was released over Steam (I realize that it has been out on Xbox 360 for some time, but I am not so fortunate as to own one of those.) Initially I was worried as to how the game might suffer from the port to DS, but all gameplay elements remain gloriously intact. The control scheme of aiming with the stylus is a little quirky, and a little fatiguing, but it does work. It’s a toss up as to which DS game is going to get the gold of best action title, this or Contra 4.

Games, Uncategorized | No Comments »