A Journey Ever Onward

Sometimes, I consider what it would be like to live in a world without war. Just imagine it. No war. No greed for money or power. No fighting over natural resources. The entire human race collaborating on something much more important.


Think about it. The only way we're ever going to advance as a society is to accept that we are all human. Everybody is different. Some people are white, some people are black. Some people are short, some people are tall. Some people are overweight, some people are underweight. Some are gay, some are straight. Some are in between. But we are all human. Every single one of us on this planet is equal in our own right and we all need to learn to accept that.


We don't need to fight over money, power, land... because once we take the next big leap and venture into the depths of the universe, that will all become futile. The leaders of a country rule the land for but the blink of an eye on a "tiny mote of dust" in respect to the universe. Money? Well that's only good around here isn't it. If we do ever encounter intelligent life elsewhere, what good is our money - especially the notes? Some pulp from wood with a face of a species they don't recognise and symbols they don't understand written all over it. (Understandably, the coins may be a bit more valuable, but still containing symbols they won't understand)


People need to wake up and look at the bigger picture. Nobody on this planet is perfect. Nobody. Not even you, not even I. Well maybe I... The only way we're ever going to achieve greatness as a species is to work together. All of this fight over money and resources is worthless if we want to build enormous space shuttles. We don't need one human giving another human some money so that the second human can give the first human some resources. This planet belongs to us all. The resources belong to all of us.


It saddens me to think that, in my lifetime, this may never become a reality. The human race is still in its infancy and, evidently, getting more and more stupid. I guess for now, this ambition of greatness, is nothing but a dream.

"Pale Blue Dot"

Earth, seen from Voyager 1, 6 billion kilometres away.

Wanted: Focus

As the year ticks quickly onward, I find myself realising that we've made little, or next to no progress on game development. Primarily due to the fact that the majority of the year passed so far was spent on full time education. However, summer break is now upon us and I have more time to dedicate myself to releasing a game as soon as humanly possible.


BUTTTT there's a problem. Through college, I spent time procrastinating by working on games, programming, researching sciencey stuff, anything to get away from actually doing my work. Now I have my results, and I no longer need to do any college work, I'm drained. I can't find my buzz to work on games. That's not to say I don't enjoy it, I most certainly do enjoy it. I just can't find the motivation to push me forward. Waking up late in the morning has led me to being stupidly tired at night and I'm no longer able to stay up until sunrise like I used to do - which is an inconvenience since I work best alone at night.


It has always been a problem with me. I can never finish what I start. I've started many games, and finished very few. I've started to read many books, and finished very few. I've started working on many games, and finished very none. Well that's a lie. I've made simple games, but the Marshmallow Zombies team needs dedicated offices with a set up to help me focus on what I'm doing. Sitting at home with a bed close at hand and the ever-increasing distraction of the wonderful Interwebs is not a good recipe for working. Ever.


I'm not even bothered to finish this blog post but you're reading it which is a sign that I can at least have the energy to hit Publish. It draws me in with it's orange glow. Urging me to publicly roll out the post in the middle of a sent-

A New Chapter

So it would seem that college is now over, and I'm about to start a whole new chapter on my life. When my results came through, I realised they weren't the greatest - but they were sufficient enough for me to enter university. Now I only depend on my English resit results. I would imagine I did rather well seeing as I'm capable of writing long blog posts on a somewhat regular basis. The key difference is, however, that these blog posts are freely written and I take a couple of hours to write and perfect it. I can even save it as a draft and come back to it later when I'm less writer-blocked (is that a word? I'll go with it). Examinations... yeah they aren't the same. Controlled conditions, predetermined topics, set time limit - these are things I don't work well under. I struggle to write descriptive text if it's not something I choose to write about, or something I enjoy.


I've thought long and hard about it, and I've decided that if I am to fail my English again, I won't be resitting. I will happily live my life going into work, and developing games in my spare time as I always have. I do have 5 GCSEs at C or above, and evidently I now have A-Levels; it should sustain my life.


As a side-note: I find the whole system of qualifications ridiculous. Companies don't care what you know, they care what GCSEs and degrees you have. You could have the greatest self-taught skills around, but if you don't have a piece a paper to say so you can't do shit - and companies think you don't know a thing. It's an absolutely absurd system, especially when you realise that what they teach you in schools is no where close to the facts.


But anyway, enough about my opinions. I'm quite content with the time I've spent in college. I've met some great people, some of which are now good friends. I've learned how to solve Rubik's cube*. I've learned how to build my own computers. I've strengthened my confidence, and I've expanded my knowledge. In my eyes, even if I do fail my English, my time there has not been wasted.


*I did not accidentally my grammar. The guy who invented it was named Ernő Rubik. To say "a Rubik's cube" is the equivalent of me inventing a light bulb and going "an Oliver's bulb" - which is just nonsensical.