Personal on Terry Nguyen

Starting Over With Jekyll

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the relaunch of my new personal blog, powered by Jekyll! If everything is working, then this post should show up on the website for everyone to see!

I guess this is my version of WordPress’ welcome post!

iFEST - the Preparation

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

iFEST isn’t quite ready to open to the public yet, but I volunteered to help exhibitors set up for today. Getting a peek at things behind the scenes was great as I got to meet some really neat people. All of the expensive gear from the Seattle VRcade guys made me really nervous though; their gear is incredibly expensive so handling their motion tracking cameras was scary, but manageable.

Other game exhibitors brought in presentation materials and of course, the actual games that are being shown, but I’m even more excited for the people who hadn’t shown up yet since there are some interesting names like MOGA, which makes phone controllers, that will also be showing up on the day of the event. I’ll have to cut this short since I don’t want to give away too much before the event takes place, but it’s definitely not something I want to miss out on. I’m glad I get to not only attend this year, but lend a hand in running it.

Screenshot an Entire Page in Firefox

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I always wondered how people do this without an addon or plugin, and I finally know how! I’ll never remember it though, so here’s a blogpost on it.

Press “SHIFT” and “F2” buttons at the same time to bring up the developer console.
Type “screenshot –fullpage” into the box or “developer console”.
Press enter! It saves to your default Downloads folder. You can see the file path at the top.
"

Defend Da Taco Shack

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s my entry for the 0h Game Jam of 2013! You are a lone warrior of with a nice tan who must defend a taco shack from flying burritos! Use the spacebar to shoot and hope you have a slow computer because there’s no frame limit on this thing! I’m tired, so hit up the download for more information and the game itself.

Requirements

Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)

Release of Mann vs. Machine Server Script for Team Fortress 2

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Today marks the official public release of a small script that I made to ease the pains in setting up a Mann vs. Machine match in Team Fortress 2 without going through Valve’s matchmaking process. I usually host local servers for things, and since the Mann vs. Machine interface doesn’t make such an accommodation, I took it into my own hands to give myself a painless way to do it. The script and relevant instructions are found in its Github repo, mvm-listenserver-script.

Sharpening My C# Skills - Week 03 - AABB Collisions

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For the third week of programming (which occurs once per week except when it’s cancelled), we went over AABB collisions. Basically, if the top of one object exceeds the bottom of another object and the side of the first object exceeds that of the second object, then the two objects are colliding. I’m sure I missed some sort of specific, but that’s the core of the concept. Even if we are learning how to programming in the dying XNA environment, the concepts will surely be transferable to future frontiers.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 6 - New Ideas, Concepts, and Clones?!

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s think in hypothetical terms. Let’s say that you have a clone who are at this very time. Let’s say that this clone, at the point of creation, was exactly the same as you were in both mind and body, but not place, because then we’d have two things occupying the same space, and who knows what would happen then. What would you do?

I’ve always dreamt of having a clone of myself that I could work together with. It’s not because I love or lust for myself excessively so, but if I could have a clone, then I could get twice the amount of work done in the same amount of time, provided that I could merge with my clone and merge our intelligence together into one, but we wouldn’t really have a conflict if we could hide ourselves with just a snap of the fingers.

Learning Maya - My First Steps - Day 1

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It’s the start of a brand new semester, and with that, comes changes at the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Seattle. With our two-dimensional group animation projects behind us, we can now proudly march forward towards learning how to work in three-dimensional space. I’ve picked up some things that are not only about my workflow in Maya, but also about other people’s workflows and how they learn the software.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 5 - Starting Over

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been quite a while since I wrote my last entry. The last few have just been sitting on my netbook for weeks, so I figured I’d slowly offload them onto here. Since then, I’ve come up with quite a number of choice events and situations that the protagonist could get into, but I can’t help but feel as though that I’m lacking a plot or driving force. Though this project was first created in order to facilitate the learning of Python, I can’t help but feel as though that it can be difficult to find time for it while at the same time, I find myself thinking about it from time to time.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 4 - Development Tools

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’s been rough around these parts as I’ve been beaten up by my classes. Homework threw the first punch, classwork threw the second, and projects came in with the finishing blow. Did I mention college applications? It’s been difficult to really spend any time on the visual novel project as of late. The plot hasn’t seen a new addition in weeks now, so this’ll be a short post.

I was spending some time on an IndieGaming subreddit when I came across some neat tools. Every four months, there’s an event called the Ludum Dare where people try to put together a game in 48 or 72 hours from start to finish, depending on whether you enter the competition or “jam” respectively. To help participants out, a page on the Ludum Dare website lists some popular and free development tools.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 3 - Struggling With the Idea

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Early on in the project, I had assigned themes to everyone’s routes. For example, Character 1’s route was considered to be the rational and unworldly route, a path best suited towards those who did not have an incredible attachment to material things. On the other hand, Character 2’s route was the designated route for those who were more worldly or attached to material possessions.

Initially speaking, the idea that caused me to start developing this visual novel was that it revolved around materialism. Do you place too much value in the things you own? Is the matter that makes up the item much more valuable to you than the sentimental value you’ve attached to it? Are neither important at all?

Checking In: Python, Codeacademy, and Stories

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been quite some time since the last update, so let’s do a quick rundown of virtually everything that I’ve done! This’ll be a short post.

Python and Codecademy

In order to supplement the fact that the visual novel project has come to a grinding halt in recent weeks, I’m reviewing and picking up on additional things through lessons at Codecademy. I’m still sticking with the Ren’Py visual novel engine, so that isn’t changing. I’ve been flow charting the common route, and though having a point-based decision system sounds nice, I’ve concluded that a simple diverging route should be more than enough for me.

Write a Visual Novel - Day 1: Why?

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping in mind that this isn’t actually the first day that I’ve worked on the visual novel, I think it’s best if I bring everyone up to speed. The point of trying this self-designed programming exercise is to ease me into programming and learn something in my spare time. I have always wanted to design and build programs, but because of the fact that I get easily discouraged by a lack of results meant that I’ve never been able to do so. By gradually building up my knowledge, I will be better prepared in the future to take on programming classes and assignments as well as having fun in the process by designing a visual novel.

Resetting Windows 7's Volume Mixer

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

If an application has appears to have sound activity in your volume mixer but isn’t actually heard on the device it’s outputting to, maybe the mixer needs a good nudge. Here’s one thing you can try to get that sound to actually make it all the way to your ears.

What might’ve happened is that though the Volume Mixer might not reflect this, it is muting an application, which means it’ll never make it to your ears. If this is true, then toggling it in the mixer won’t make a bit of difference because it’s essentially stuck this way.

Using Entertainment to Unwind and Focus

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s become very apparent to me in these past few years that after I spend a good deal of my time watching anime or playing a visual novel that I find myself rejuvenated and a lot less irritable. In addition to the previous two mental boosts, I feel as though I’m ready to get up and plow through a truckload of work. Though the important and possibly hard part may be actually plowing through it, it’s hard to get something done if you can’t even see yourself start it!

Gaming Mode vs. Working Mode

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I find myself making a distinction between gaming and working mode more and more often as of late. It’s not perfect, but it certainly is a nice crutch to have for the time being. I can actually work and play for satisfactory periods of time, though that doesn’t stop the two from spilling over into the other. Even my desk is a mish-mash of the two and switches to accommodate the fact that I both play and work in this space.

My Plans for August 2012

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It’s August 1st, which means my month long summer vacation has come to a close. What does this mean?

Volunteering

All of my friends are heading back to class as juniors, seniors, and university freshmen. They won’t be around to play with me which means they won’t be up in arms when I say I want to work now, not play.

Writing Blog Posts

I’ve been writing in sporadically on this personal blog of mine. The main idea behind the inception of this blog was to give me something to reflect upon when I’m older. In additon to that, I could give others a personal point of reference as to how little I started when I was young. Wouldn’t it be incredible if I made this blog into something truly wonderful?

Media Keys and the Sidewinder X4

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

As far as I know, the latest drivers for the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 Keyboard only function with Windows Media Player. I use Nightingale to manage my music so it was either me or keyboard that was going to have to adapt. At first, I installed a plugin for “command-line” support so I could run bind the media keys to shortcuts with command-line switches, but that would always cause the program that I was currently in to lose focus. That wasn’t normally a problem unless I was in some sort of full-screen application, especially ones with 3D environments like Max Payne 3.

Looking Back on Soluto

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Today, I’m going to try to give Soluto a try again. I picked it up when it had an appearance on Lifehacker, but I later dropped it because it began to be a hassle after some time to work with. It certainly seems like a nifty little tool that’ll allow the common end-user to make educated decisions, or in some cases, guesses, about their computer to speed it up by reducing the number of things it has to do.