hibi no awa

Onett Board Game!

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:25:31 GMT

Well, here's a picture of the Onett board game that I made for my students to play in class! It's actually only a first edition. I've made improvements by adding in a lot of EarthBound characters hidden in all kinds of different spots so when the kids play, they can try to find all the Mr. Saturns, Possessors, Magic Butterflies, etc. But I don't have that version printed out yet.

The rules of the game are you have to go find food in all of the trash cans. The trash cans are numbered, so once you land on one, you go to where the teacher is and ask them if you can look in the trash can of the number you landed on. Then after you pull a food card out of the trash can (the cans are actually big flashcards on the board with food cards behind them). Then before you go back to your seat, you have to say the food in English to the teacher and the teacher will ask you something like "Do you like ____?" Then you have to answer "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't". During the game, if you run into another player, you can do "rock, scissors, paper" to try to steal one of their food cards. But if you lose, you have to give one of yours to them. The person with the most different kinds of food cards at the end wins.

I have another version of the game where the kids have to solve a crime. They are told that the crime took place at a certain place in Onett. I changed some of the places names to be better for English learning. The kids then are shown a list of possible suspects (EarthBound characters) and are told to find out who they think committed the crime. The kids then have to go around searching in trash cans for evidence that connects certain characters to certain places in Onett. I'm still working on it though.

You can also play the crime solving game version while practicing telling directions. That's why I have all the stop signs moved around in a more realistic fashion. This way, kids have to stop at the intersections. The kids will play in pairs and have to tell each other which way to go to the next place they want to search for evidence for.

The picture is only one version of the game, but I hope it gives a good idea of what it's like. Oh, and the blue blocks on the board are places you can't steal from other players.

New EarthBound game in class

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:33:37 GMT

I made a new EarthBound themed game for the classes I teach! I won't go into the details just yet, but it's basically Onett made into a board game. I edited all the streets so they had spaces to move on and I made game pieces that are every vehicle in the game (like the Runaway 5 bus). I have 3 games all planned out that the board can be used for but so far I have only used it for one game that I tried today and it went great! Everyone loved it. I even edited in a bunch of EarthBound characters into Onett which all the kids thought were cute. They all had fun on the streets of Onett while learning English at the same time.

Will have pictures hopefully this weekend.

Fangamer

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:24:18 GMT

Well, I got new part time work! I now run the new Japanese version of the Fangamer site along with my friend Lindsay (aka: Chewy)! Woohoo! What's great about this is that I get to work with friends on something I'm really into.

Just got back yesterday morning from the 321 MOTHER event in Tokyo. Lindsay and I represented Fangamer by wearing Fangamer swag and handing out free newly designed pins with an ad on the packaging about the new Japanese site. We handed out 300 pins and got to do a little presentation in front of everyone at the end. We switched back and forth with the microphone talking about merchandise and about Fangamer/Starmen.net. Everyone was really supportive (the staff, everyone who came) so it went great. They were all really digging the merchandise and almost everyone in the place wanted to buy our stuff. So hopefully this will be the start of a good thing here in Japan. Maybe become even as popular as the US store? That'd be cool, but before I get my hopes up, gotta fix this site up and make it perfect!

Novel Hack?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:44:26 GMT

I was just thinking. Wouldn't it be cool if someday someone made an EarthBound PKhack that copied the Mother 2 novel to the tee? Like all the dialog and everything that happens slightly differently. I think that would be awesome. Heck, if an official translation never panned out maybe the hack could be a replacement!

Would be cooooool.

Mother 2 - Chapter Two: "First Trial"

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:04:30 GMT

I meant to write this as just a summary of chapter two of the Mother 2 novel, but it accidentally turned out to be more like a very detailed follow through of everything that happens in chapter two. It's not a translation, but it'll tell you almost everything. So if you don't want to spoil everything in the chapter, don't read it, but if you wanna know what is going on in chapter two in great detail, then check it out!

Ness finds the roads to Twoson blocked off. He tries to get by the cops but they find
him suspicious and take him away.

Chief Strong looks at Ness and thinks he's probably too young to be one of the Sharks,
but he asks if he's one of Franks henchmen. Ness pleads that he's not part of the Sharks. He's heard of Frank but has never met him before. Strong decides to believe
him and tells him to go home. Ness begs for passage to Twoson but Strong turns him
down strongly. Ness tries to explain but Strong ignores him and starts talking on the
phone. A young, tall police officer named Jim comes in by orders of Strong. Strong tells him to take

Ness home. But on the way out, a woman officer with glasses named
Maggy drops a bunch of documents after getting slammed into by a group of officers
running through the narrow hallway in a SWAT team like fashion. Jim and Maggy flirt
a lot. Ness says he doesn't need an escort and Jim lets him leave on his own.

Ness notices from all the heckticness from the Police Station that the reason the
road is blocked is because of the Sharks and the fuss they started causing over
the fallen meteor. He decides that he must convince the leader of the Sharks to
stop what they are doing so that the police will stop their famous road blocking.

Ness heads off to the Arcade which is the first floor of an old rented out building.
The windows have posters from last year that had been torn and fixed with tape. The
sidewalk is blocked off by old bikes and scooters. Trash is scattered around the
trashcans with fast food cups and wrappings.

Ness walks up to three rough looking types and asks if Frank is around. The guys bully
Ness and rough him up a little bit (the guys include the equivalents to a Skateboard
Punk, a Pogo Punk and a Yes Man Jr.) Ness doesn't back down though and demands for them
to take him to see Frank. The guys warn him that Frank has a shorter fuse than them and
that Ness would be in a lot of trouble. But Ness keeps a serious face and doesn't back down and

demands to see him. The Sharks finally give in and lead him into the Arcade to see Frank.

They take Ness down some stairs into a partial basement type hallway that leads to a door.
The guys knock and tell Ness they warned him and head back up the stairs leaving Ness alone.
Ness opens the door and sees Frank. He looks to be about 20 years old and is wearing sunglasses.
He's in the middle of playing a game of pool. Ness asks Frank to stop all that they are doing
and make up with the police. He also tells Frank about the meteor and the threat of Giygas.
Frank is irritated and thinks Ness is crazy and gives him a chance to go home without getting
roughed up. But Ness is persistent and begs for Frank to help, saying how the world is in
danger. Frank gets fed up, takes out a knife and tells Ness to come at him with his bat. Ness
doesn't move so Frank goes at him. Ness swings his bat which clashes with the knife making the
knife stab directly into the bat taking it from Franks hand. But Frank starts to take out some
darts and throws them continuously at Ness. Ness dodges all of them in time but Frank is now
upon him throwing a punch. Ness is now on the floor and Frank starts the beating. Ness' vision
starts to blur and he can feel blood run down his throat. He starts to lose consciousness and
thinks how he must somehow pull through and find Paula in Twoson. Suddenly he hears a voice
calling him. It's Paula communicating to him through telepathy. She tells him that he has
hidden power that he must awaken. Ness suddenly feels a rush of energy and his body releases
a white flash of light. He doesn't feel the pain from the beating anymore. He feels totally
recharged, like a battery. Paula tells him that what he did is called "Psycho Healing". Ness
stands up, totally refreshed, smiles and asks Frank again to hear his plea. Frank freaks
out and calls on his robot Frankenstein 2 which busts through an area in the brick wall. Frank

controls the robot with a box like remote control. The robot looks like it could run Ness right
over. Ness gets scared and calls for Paula to tell him what to do. Paula communicates to him that
PK would be the best thing in this situation. She instructs him to concentrate his spirit energy
into a ball. Ness tries by imagining his energy in the form of a baseball. He then releases it with
a loud scream. The energy surges towards the robot in the form of a dragon and strikes! Frankenstein
2 falls apart from the blast. Frank falls to his knees with mouth gaping open. He confirms that
Ness is a psychokinesis wielding ESPer. Frank becomes excited and laughs. He then apologizes for

treating Ness the way he did, to which Ness accepts his apology and says he's sorry for breaking
his robot. Frank shakes Ness' hand. Frank explains that he used to love the anime Astro Boy when
he was a kid about the same age as Ness. He loved it so much that it made him want to become a
world renowned scientist someday and build a great robot. But his family was poor and his parents
told him only to work and make money and to forget about school. Frank becomes helpful and friendly.
He then tells Ness that one of his members (nickname Mop, one of the guys that picked on Ness) has a

strong spirit sense and knows about the power spot at Giant Step. But he says he can't get to it

because of a strange shining thing that
blocks the way and makes Mop shiver with fright. Mop says he also senses some sort of beast that
is sucking up the energy at the spot. Mop says the beast is calling out for someone else. Ness
realizes that this might be one of the "My Sanctuary Locations" that Buzz Buzz told him about. Frank
then tells Ness that he'll ask for the cops to take down the roadblock for him and supportingly
wishes Ness luck on saving the world.

Ness goes to where his friends hang out in the tree house behind the library to tell them of what
has happened and tell them to take care of Tracy and his mom while he's gone off on his journey.
Chris, the leader of the boys, tells Ness not to worry about making it back in time for the new
semester at school and that he'd cover for him somehow. The wanna be writer, Gody, asks Ness to
tell them all about his adventures when he gets back so he can write it all down and make his
writing debut. Gody has such a pretty face he is often confused for being a girl. Ness' hat was
damaged in his rumbles with the Shark's and Frank, so Gody gives him a Mister Baseball hat, signed
by Mister (whoever that is). Gody says he owes it to Ness for saving him that one time he was being
chased by a dog and Ness protected him. Teddy dug in his pockets and gave Ness a Mini Mag Light that
would be useful for caves. They all wish him luck and say goodbye.

Ness enters the cave leading to Giant Step and uses the Mini Mag Light that Teddy gave him. The cave
gets narrower and narrower and he goes further in. He then comes to a light ahead of him. The cold
and mysterious light showers over him. Inside the blinding light comes the voice of something big.
It says "This is the first of your locations, but it is mine now. Take it from me if you can." Ness
couldn't believe his eyes as the beast came out of the light. The beast is a giant ant!
They fight and the ant is helped by other smaller ants. During the fight, Ness' mini mag light

accidentally hits the ant in the guts and the giant ant shrinks to normal size. His ant cohorts
carry him off. The mysterious light disappears and Ness carries on further into the cave which soon
ends and lead out under a blue sky. There is a giant foot print and Ness records the sound of the
location with his sound stone. For a moment, Ness caught a glimpse of a small, shaggy dog. Paula
congratulates Ness through telepathy. As Ness leaves through the cave and goes down from the
mountain, someone from the Town Hall is there looking for him and takes him to the Town Hall.
He's taken to a conference room where he sees the mayor, the Chief of police and Frank, for some
reason dressed in a gleaming hero-like Sci-Fi costume that looks like it's straight out of some
comic. Mayor Pickle tells Ness of how Frank has agreed to become part of the clean up force in
Onett and has used the left over parts of Frankenstein 2 to build a cleaning machine. Frank has
also committed the Sharks to becoming a part of Onett's clean up committee. Mayor Pickle then tells
Ness that he is taking down the road blocks and offers Strong to take him down there personally in
his patrol car. Ness excitedly tries to inform Paula through telepathy of the good news but can't
seem to get a hold of her. Ness is worried something might have happened to her and starts to run.

End of chapter two.

Enjoy! I wrote it pretty quick but I hope it quenches the thirst some people might have for this novel.

Sierpinski Triangle

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:58:23 GMT

I really think I came across something awesome with that self generating pattern. If you notice in the video, the pattern turns itself into a Sierpinski Triangle fractal. It's a well known fractal, but I still can't find anything on the internet about this kind of reproduction of it. And the fact that this pattern grows and is self generated makes it so much more interesting.

Is this a new find? Should I be excited about this? I can't help but feel excited about it.

Self-Replicating Infinite Growth Pattern

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:16:42 GMT

I came up with an easy way to create a self-replicating infinite growth pattern.

All you need is a bunch of dots to bump into each other and then go back to where they were! How simple can you get? Check out the video:

EarthBound Card Game

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:59:22 GMT

Here's the card game I'm using in class! Each monster only has attack and life to make the rules of the game really simple and easy to play.

Click here for image.

You'll notice I also used one of Camille's clay models for a card. Hope she doesn't mind!

EDIT: Here are the rules for the game:

Each kid is given two monster cards and two treasure cards (not shown in the pic). Now let’s say the thing they were studying that day was clothing and the phrase “I like your ____.” for complimenting clothes. They will carry around with them clothing cards that they themselves drew and colored in.

After they find someone to duel with, they put their monster cards face down so they can’t be seen, and then one clothing card over top of each. Each person can only choose which monster the OTHER player fights with by complimenting the piece of clothing on top of one of their two monster cards. After each player compliments each other’s clothing, the two selected monsters duel and the damage taken is written down on a score card. If someone’s monster dies, they have to give up one treasure card to the winner. They then take the fallen monster to the teacher and say “I lost” so they can receive a new monster card from the deck. Then they go compliment/duel with other person. Playing like this let’s you use any English words and phrases you like as long as you have card for them!

Push ups

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:11:38 GMT

I've been tired of having no chest strength and feeling like a weakling. So for the last 3 weeks I've been doing push ups. I started off really slow and worked my way up. I made sure I got my form right and did everything as right as I could.

It only took 3 weeks for me to get awesome results. It feels so good to stick with something and have it pay off. I've tried to get in shape so many other times in the past and never got past a week of working out. I gotta keep this up!

I've gotten to the point where I need to start using some weights in a backpack or something because no matter how many push ups I do, I don't get sore the next day now. Like, I did a total of 90 push ups for yesterday's session and I don't feel a thing today.

Sweet!

Using EarthBound in classes

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:47:49 GMT

I'm an English teacher for 3 elementary schools as most of you already know. I try to come up with new ideas for games all the time and recently I made a new card game the kids can play while practicing their English. I made it like a monster battling card game, but made the rules really simple. I designed the cards myself and made all the monsters out of the clay models from EarthBound! The kids love all the characters and think they're hilarious. A very rare few of the kids know that they are from EarthBound but most of the boys know of Ness from Smash Bros. Lots seem to already know of Mr. Saturn too from some TV show (don't remember the name).

It's so fun watching all the kids enjoy a card game I made based on all those clay figures from EarthBound. The cards came out really good too. I'll have to get a picture of them up on here sometime.

The universe and what it's made of

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:44:49 GMT

I'm always thinking about the universe we live in and what it might be made out of. You know, stuff I'll never understand, but I like to contemplate. I came up with a new idea.

What if space-time is like a big liquid energy...thing (stay with me, I have illustrations).

That red stuff in the top left (point 1) is the beginning of the universe. Just a small little compressed ball of what I'm just gonna call "jenergy" (mix of jello and energy) for purposes of having no other ideas of what to call it. At first it's solid and pure, but it starts to grow (for reasons unknown).

At point 2, the jenergy has gotten bigger. But since it has gotten bigger, little holes in it have started to tear open.

At point 3, more and more holes are torn open and it's a party going on inside the jenergy. The holes inside the jenergy don't like to be open, so they try to close themselves up. But they can't really do that because the jenergy is expanded. The holes are pushed around as the jenergy around them tries to close in on them. This makes the holes flow on endlessly through the jenergy.

My thought is that what if all the known particles are just different kinds of little holes in the universe? They flow through it, interacting differently with other holes depending on the shape of the holes, which determines how the jenergy around the holes presses in on them and makes them seem to react when they come close to each other.

What if we are all just made of holes inside of a big universe jello?

New Game Semi-Progress Report

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:40:13 GMT

I don't have that much to show, but I thought I'd show what I have going for this robot platformer game I'm working on.

Description of planned game play:

"The player will control the spirit of a robot through a level or multiplayer versus mode. The spirit itself only can reside inside a robot head part. Once inside of a head, you can roll it around to connect other parts and build up your body. Any enemy you defeat will blow up and their parts will scatter. You can steal parts and swap them for your own robot, making your character totally customizable and changing up what you can do. All parts have their own special function. You die when the head of your robot dies. If your parts are blown off, you can still slap them back on to continue fighting as long as your head is in tact."

I programmed it so I can easily create parts that have whatever properties I need them to. I could program a jetpack that makes the robot fly, or an arm that shoots lasers, whatever. And programming how they rotate/move with the body or part of the robot it is attached to is also easily implemented.

Right now, I'm in the middle of level and physics programming. Gonna keep physics stuff basic though. Also, NOT using tiles for level/map making. Gonna be object based, not tile based maps.

Hurricane

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:13:54 GMT

Hurricane tiiiiiime!! See you guys later (maybe)! I'll try writing words like "water pump" and "life vest" in Scribblenauts and hope things work out.

No school tomorrow, yay!

Semi-Review of Scribblenauts (spoilers?)

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:33:31 GMT

Things I like

Everything thing that was hyped about the game came true.

Things I don't like

The camera always going back to Maxwell after a couple seconds. I want a BUTTON that lets me do that or something. I wanna look at other places on the screen for a while to figure them out.

It's hard to control sometimes, yeah. Wanted a choice for some D-pad control of Maxwell.

Vehicles flip over too easily. Trying to fish from a boat can make the boat flip over.

Lava doesn't melt ice?! Gah! Oh well. At least the heater does.

New song up for download!

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:32:58 GMT

Simple acoustic/instrumental.

DOWNLOAD HERE

It's a song I had started a long time ago with "kids" as the theme. I love kids with their innocence and adorableness and I had always wanted to write a song for it.

I recorded it while Saori made dinner tonight. I think it fits nicely into the song.

20th Century Boys - Chapter 3

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:52:29 GMT

Tomorrow is the opening day of 20世紀少年第3章 (the 3rd and final installment of the 20th Century Boys movies). Me, Saori and her family are all going together! Can't wait!

I REALLY gotta read the manga sometime. I love the movies. I heard they were gonna be playing in the US too.

Whoa, an update!

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:10:09 GMT

It's been a whole month since I updated this last, wow! I guess it's I've had nothing to say beyond little one liners in facebook and twitter.

I'm working on a new game using DirectX 8 libraries again (but this time in c++). It's not the RPG idea though, since there were just too many things holding me back with that.

This time, the scale of the game is a bit more reasonable for one person. It's gonna be a platformer that I hope will be unique and fun. Programming is going really smooth. And the graphics will be something that I will definitely be able to make on my own.

I've been working on it every day since I'm still on summer vacation (till September 9th). At this rate, the basic engine will be done in September and then I'll be able to work on the level editor and graphics.

So glad I switched

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:22:31 GMT

I'm so glad I switched to C++. I gotta be honest, the way I coded stuff in VB was totally sloppy and crappy. I used totally basic (and inconvenient) styles of programming cause I never really learned anything past the basic things I learned in high school. Now I finally have learned all the other cool stuff from the ground up in C++ and it makes things so much nicer. I've finally learned what object oriented programming is all about and I'm loving it. I thought the switch to C++ would make things harder for me, but it's just the opposite.

Hopefully all this new knowledge will help me in my career somehow. Maybe I could even fit it into my resume.

Dreams against reality

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:17:40 GMT

I dreamt last night that I had a spicy chicken sandwhich from McDonalds and it was reeeeally nasty. So then, for lunch, I tried having one for REAL and it was the total opposite of my dream. It was hot, fresh and juicy. The best quality chicken I've ever tasted from a McDonalds! Who'd have thought?

In other thoughts, I gotta start job hunting for spring next year...

C++ fun

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:28:42 GMT

I figured it was about time I learned a programming language that was more sought after in the real world. So I've been learning C++ from this site. It's a really great site and I recommend it because it's been really easy to understand and follow. It's been a lot of fun finally learning this stuff. I only ever learned a little bit in high school and then the beginning of college but I switched from a Computer Science major to Japanese after my first year.

It's just so fun and interesting. I love this stuff. I kind of wish I could have kept up with Computer Science in college, but the math courses killed me. I tested into a course that was like calculus 101, but everyone in there seemed to already know what they were doing and the teacher hardly explained anything. It was my first time with that stuff, so I didn't understand a thing. I love math, but I gotta have it explained to me really thoroughly to understand it.

I'm doing this to give myself a little more of a selling point for whatever future jobs I may try for. I wonder if there are any programming proficiency tests?

Rifftrax

Thu, 28 May 2009 10:03:14 GMT

Attention all MST3K lovers!! Did you know about RiffTrax??? Because I sure didn't!! Check it out, because it's basically Mike Nelson (plus other original members) still doing their thing!

You can even make your own riff tracks and sell them on the site!

This is friggin' AWESOME!!!!!

EDIT: I just bought the riff track for Iron Man! Yay!

My idea

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:30:17 GMT

Hey, that was basically MY idea!! (Look here)

I guess someone else had it too.

Skip that

Tue, 19 May 2009 09:11:34 GMT

Actually, skip that video idea. Wouldn't be worth it.

Next video

Mon, 18 May 2009 12:24:03 GMT

I think I've decided on the next video I'm gonna make for my YouTube account. I figured since I have a couple favorite movies of mine about 95% memorized, I'll try acting one of them out from start to finish, no cuts. I'll act it out quick too, so it's not too long to watch.

What are those movies, you ask? Groundhog Day and (Franco Zeffirelli's) Romeo and Juliet. Two movies I've seen so many times I can literally recite 95% of the lines from both. So I figured why not polish my memory up on the last 5% and make something interesting out of it?

I decided on doing Groundhog Day, since my accent sucks when I try to recite Shakespeare.

Movie Reenactments

Sat, 09 May 2009 15:07:40 GMT

I love watching movie reenactments by normal people on the net. Here's a funny/goofy one I saw tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZjD36lF7fg

I like this one too (done by a really awesome guy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-QWmRxVOT0

It makes me want to do one sometime. Looks like so much fun.