Test blog update #3

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Who woke me up - and why'd they do it!?

Erm, been a very long time since I wrote in here!

Might start using this more, pointing things from Facebook here - or re-posting Facebook things here.
Just for the odd occasions when it's funny / useful to say the problems I've gone through and the way I've fixed them...

PEACE!

Decentralized Gaming Network

So, I have this rather big idea:
Having a gaming network which is essentially hosted BY the people playing the game!!
Of course, it'd only be the top 10% (by default) of the gaming network who would end up actually hosting the game, but that would be an improvement in either way we currently do it.

Right now, you can either have a centralized gaming experience, where the game is hosted on a main central server (Wow etc, or public games servers) and these take commands from your PC, take where you are and only gives you the information that you need (so locally within a certain in-game distance). This is good because there's low bandwidth used from the client PC's and provided the server can handle the bandwidth, it only deals out what's needed to each server.
BUT this comes at a price - you need the moola to get the bandwidth.. You need the moola for the server to be able to handle that many people concurrently.. You need to moola to store these somewhere, for the electric, for the IP address, etc.

Then there's games like Unreal Tournament etc. They can REALLY test the network to see where contention is, and stress the network to it's best.
This is because each PC, broadcasts what it's doing to all the others on the network. This means you get a flood of packets coming from each PC, and then each one needs to get that, look at it and see if it's relevant at all.
The cost here is that the more PC's you've got, the more packets have to be sent to tell everyone of the updates, and so you need a very wide bandwidth.

My idea: have 10% of the people playing the game, actually host it. This is given by the speed of the network (latency etc - I don't quite know how I'd do that), and then organise it so that the map is split into two whenever it gets busy.
So the main map on one server gets too busy - it get's split in half so one deals with one map-grid area, and the other map-grid area gets assigned to the next-fastest PC in a list (list is updated every 30 minutes speed-wise.. Logging-off removes them from the list). Then if that one's too busy then that one splits in two also, and this organises itself so that the busiest area's are immediately sorted out, rather then relying on some central numbering system.
The grid-areas are duplicated and load balanced - so for every area there is in fact 2 servers which need to keep each other updated on what's actually happening (so that almost doubles the bandwidth required by these servers) - this is so that you can't loose a server and have people loose where they were etc.

If that does happen, then it becomes stale and another server replaces it. Once it comes back, it'll be told that it's been replaced and it'll redirect any attempts to the replacement (shouldn't really be necessary because each of these 'servers' will be updated with a new list once a server is 'created').

Now comes the only down-part I can see: the fact the players can alter, or potentially create bogus users, alter their users details, alter OTHERS' details, and get to the top of the 'network speed' list by faking details.
So you can cheat and there's nothing I can really do about it.

On my mind right now is time-based encryption involving MD5 sums, continually rolling files, and shadow-node verification when a user moves from grid-area to grid-area.

To me this seems a very good idea from a software point of view, it lessens the money the game creator needs to generate to keep the game going - but maybe not from a corporation's point of view (making money).

And the main reason I'm putting it up here? .. Is because I have no-one who I can actually bounce these idea's off of, so if some poor soul comes across this and has an opinion, give us a shout!

The drunkard

OK, so I'm drunk... But I keep having this thought and I wanna get it outta my head:

The Drunkard
"Urgh" he lent against the bar, hanging his head between his shoulders and placed the quarter-pint glass down with a little force - the ice rattled.
He closed his eyes and thought; he thought of the past, the present and the future. Everything and nothing. He burped a few times, his stomach was shaking it's fist at him.
"You've 'ad enough" mumbled the barkeeper, a man with a leather jacket and an eye for people in trouble.
"I have only just started my good man!" stated the wreck who was only held up by the stool he was sitting on, ".. eye whisshh that I was a beet.. bit more gorn." he said, breathing deeply and wobbling just a tiny bit.
"I haevent eeven told yoo my story" he slurred, managing to at least make sense. He peered up at the barkeeper, hoping against hope he'd get a drink and an ear to talk to.
"Ok, another Whiskey Mac was it?" the bartender, although he wore a leather jacket and a pierced earring knew when to listen, and when one more drink was appropriate.
"Thanks Jo.. Actually, what is your name?" Conner closed one eye, concentrating on the man infront of him - as if that made a difference.
The radio at the back of the bar distracted him for a second, the background noise taking control. Suddenly he re-focused in time to hear;
"..Dave. and here's your drink friend."
"The name's Matt. Cheers, DAVE?" he swigged half the glass, and breathed deeply again, blinked slowly and then returned to the real world.
"So what's your story Matt?" the bartender wiped a glass, ready to lend the poor man an ear.
"I lurve someone." Matt leaned forward, almost falling right into his glass.
"Shouldn't that be something to celebrate?"
"Ahhh, you don't noe hur! She's sweet.. She's funni. She is everything!" he waved his hand around, Dave grabbed it and placed it back at Matt's glass.
"BUT-" Dave raised an eyebrow. He knew there was a but. There always was with the guys in trouble. - a 'but', an 'or'.. sometimes even an 'if only' - he knew this one was a 'but'.
".. but.." Matt stared into his glass - it was a regular glass, but the brown liquid inside seemed to slosh about and give him his destiny - or at least give him one certain thing in life; he'd end up in the toilet before mid-day tomorrow. ".. she doesn't like me. I'm not up to her 'standards'." and with the standards, he sloshed the drink again, and pulled a face, before taking a sip.
"But you're friends?" Dave asked. He wiped the bar infront of him, the glas was gone - Matt was too drunk to notice.
"Yes."
"And you value the fact that she's a friend? You like her company and she likes yours?"
"Weeell.." Matt concentrated, he didn't need to but he was forming the words into as short-a sentence as possible... ".. yes!" - he'd done it.
".. and she doesn't know you like her in that way?" Dave attempted to take the drink - Matt pulled it almost falling off his chair...
".. no." he re-balanced and finished off the drink, slipping in some ice to suck on.
"- Well, I think you're better off being friends. You will look out for her, and make sure she's OK. You will also let her make her decisions." Dave stole the glass of ice, Matt looked suspiciously at his hand.
"Yeh.. Yurr right! She's a gooood gurl." He stood up, and thinking better sat back down.
"And you'll pay me the thirty dollars you owe me.." Dave marked up that he under-charged a guy by 5 dollars - it was all he could do. "Do you want a taxi?" he asked, patting Matt on the shoulder.
"Here ya arrr" Matt handed over fourty, ". thanks for the help."
Matt stood up and checked his pockets - he had it all.. Apart from what he wanted. Money, status, a home.. He leaned forward and stumbled towards the exit, still agile enough to avoid anyone in the way. Swinging through the door he wondered what would happen next.. He pulled up his phone and called the number he was thinking of..

OK.. That seems to finish it off.

Smokey

It drifted over the pile of rubble which was the south wall, almost knocking it over. It was thick, and sweet, and it crept along the grass running through it like fingers through hair. The intoxicating smell of burning mahogany seemed to part as it surrounded the rose. It seemed to give off one spectacular last red blaze, fighting against the choking smog, and then disappeared.
The smoke wandered further away, hitting the tall tree's only feet away, and stopping as water does against a brick wall. It smirked and spread westward; it wanted adventure and it was going to get it!
Tracing the smoke backwards, over the southern wall, the bare grass lay there, flat, looking at the ground and avoiding eye contact with the billowing snake above... That didn't protect them.
The fire burned strongly, it was on the other side of the field, over the much sturdier North Wall, which actually looked like rocks had been gathered, prepared, even slightly shaped, and then organized into a neat row with mud pulling it all together, stopping the rocks from escaping (which of course they tried daily).

OK, so it gets a little further along huh?

I'm not sure where to go next. I want to hop over the wall and describe the fire, the person next to it, what's been thrown in.. But I'm not sure whether this'll be a fantasy story, or reality, or mystic (I think they're good but possibly over-done).

Back into real life for a second, my guitar practice is still ongoing. Morning, noon and night (if I can)..

I have a fridge which doesn't work right now.. I think the electrical box thing which is next to the motor has gone, so I've currently got the giftee (my mother) searching for the reciept to it. If not, then my screwdrivers haven't been used in OOooooo - 2 weeks? They must be getting awfully stir-crazy!

I'm feeling vacant.. More vacant then normal anyway, like several parts of me are missing, and my mind is continually elsewhere.


Work is ongoing. Audit stuff is quite boring, and I'm trying not to over-think the script's we/I shall be creating.
Right now there are parts that people can't use because back when it occurred no-one was interested. Now we have people wanting to use it and of course, it's all not working and no-one knows where it is (ie, the level of code) and no-one knows how to fix it.
We're also currently paying for people to ask us the questions we're asking them... Hopefully it will get better!

I'm reading a different type of book. It's called "This book will save your life". Not really enthusiastic about it so far, I've simply grown accustom to Terry Pratchett - his wit, his imagination and his descriptions (hopefully people will see part of his influence above). This book is different in that it's a female writer, tackling a male issue of solitude, and it's more from an odd personal point of view... I can connect with the lifestyle this man holds (sort-of), but the descriptions are more emotion based, more idle.
I say idle because I am acutely aware of very much that goes on around me. The people walking past to go to the toilet in the morning, the shadows that play on the ground as I pass the woods in the morning (and even the people across the 2 lane road and large grass embankment, who are in their front doorways talking), or the fact of the car that always speeds around the roads where I live at roughly 1 am every morning (sounds a bit like those tire-burning party's sometimes). But in the story, it is from a man who notices very little of the world surrounding him, he blinding walks through simply thinking of his emotions - which doesn't seem very male-like to me.

I will end, as I often do in my Journal, with a quote from my fabulous 'book of quotes'.

Love is as strong as death, many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it

The Solitary Rose

Well, I've always been good at beginning things - never really at continuing or finishing them off.
But this will hopefully be the start of a short story (or perhaps just left as a piece of poetic non-description, who can tell!?);

The Solitary Rose

The solitary rose stood there suspended, glistening in the dawning sky. The layer of fresh dew from the night before - frozen, imprisoning the blossoming spirit in a glowing glass-like time capsule. The early onset of winter had caught it off-guard in full glory.
It wavered as a harsh but gentle breeze moved it like a metronome, it's bud following the southern wall which peeped inches above the jagged ridge.
It bobbed and weaved, taunting the poor collection of rocks calling itself a 'wall' until, without warning, the wind ceased - as if awaiting it's arrival.

I was toying with the idea of a rosewood fire with the sweet smelling smoke.. But don't like the use of 'rose' twice.
I could use Cedar - but not a lot of people know that Cedar is a type of wood.

So as always, it's the little niggly bits which stop me going forward. If I had a good type of wood which I feel comfortable using then I could continue on.