The Blog of RPG Master

It’s Dangerous to Go Alone…

RPG Master — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:40:10 +0000

I had this idea for a wallpaper while I was in the shower the other day.*

This was originally posted on my (now deserted) deviantArt page. I thought I’d bring it here for those who found my blog when searching for “Christian Wallpapers”.

I’ve made many more wallpapers since this was posted on deviantArt (October 4, 2009). Maybe it’s about time I share them.

(This is an edited screenshot from “The Legend of Zelda” for the NES, for those non-gamers out there.)

Life Lesson Learned

RPG Master — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:30:08 +0000

Let’s make a list.
What promises have a made on this blog? And what happened to them?

Review Miro and Flock? Didn’t do it.
Read entire Bible and share favorite verses? Got 3 books in.
NaNoWriMo? Set word count really low at the last minute and rushed the ending. (I’d still like to polish it and release it.)
Build a computer for 16th birthday? Nope. Waited until my laptop died last September before I bought a Dell XPS9100.
“Project 365″? Gave up about a month into it.
Post at least once per week? That was almost three months ago.

What lesson have I learned?
I shouldn’t announce crap I know I’m not going to follow through with.

A New Year, And With It, Some New Promises (To Break)

RPG Master — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 22:20:13 +0000

Well, not much at all has been posted here this last year. In fact, I really haven’t been as active on the internet. I only posted twice on this blog, and I only uploaded 35 photos to flickr vs. the 53 photos I uploaded in 2009.

But I’ve got several New Year resolutions that I think I can actually achieve this year.
I’d my like my friends to hold me accountable for them, just encase I start to burn out.

Project 365

Ever heard of this before? It’s where a photographer takes at least one picture every day for a year. I’ve been told it’s a very good way to grow as I photographer and several friends have done it and recomend I do it too. And I am!

I’ve been disappointed with myself and how little I’ve been uploading to flickr. I try not to share anything but what I think is worth sharing, but sometimes I wonder if I set that bar too high. This challenge will force me to post photos, whether I like them or not.

Blogging

Another personal challange I’m giving myself is this:
Post atleast once per week!
Yep, this blog is actually going to be worth reading with topics such as:

My workflow with digiKam and RawTherapee
Indie game reviews

Wait. That’s just two…
But trust me, more will come! And I’d appreciate any comments and recommendations on both my writing and the topics.

This is going to be an interesting year.

The Purpose of Twitter

RPG Master — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:47:27 +0000

Some use it to post “status messages”, descriptions of what they’re currently doing. Others (like me) use it like a “micro blog”, a place to post thoughts too small to warrant a full blog post. Then some have gotten creative, using it for sharing haikus, alerting people, and even writing full novels.

Now, I bring this all up because I want to know, what do you use twitter for? Does twitter have a solid, fixed purpose? Or is it just a blank slate for others to interpret their own use? Will twitter continue to be a venue for expression and discussion of import matter? Or will it turn into nothing but a public facebook?

I’d like to hear your opinion.

Sorry if this all sounds like a slurred mess… I just wanted to post something and I had been thinking about this recently. My next post will either be about my new mytouch slide or, if this gets some comments, if it really is worth using a FOSS alternative to twitter (identi.ca) if no one will see what you have to say.

New Photos, Fixing a RRoD’d Xbox, and Building a Computer

RPG Master — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:04:47 +0000

Dude. It’s been three months since I last Blogged!

And I told my self I wouldn’t start doing that again…

So, let’s begin.

Photos from My Trip to the Zoo

My homeschool co-op all went on a trip to the Zoo. I haven’t usually been one for Zoos… But now that I have my camera I was all ready to go!

RRoD’d No More!

Right before Christmas, my dad’s Xbox 360 (a premium 360 from 2006) finally RRoD’d (Red Ring of Death, named after the glowing red ring on the front of the console). After replacing it with an Elite model he gave me the dead corpse, telling me that if I could get it to work I could keep it. And so I did, by fallowing this video guide!

So now I’ve been playing Blue Dragon.

Building my First Desktop

The 18th will be my 16th birthday, and to celebrate I’m building my first desktop! And it shall involve:

An AMD Phenom processor (most likely quad-core)
A decent nvidia graphics card (at least 512mb of vram)
A hard drive at least 500GB
Ubuntu Linux 9.04 64-bit

And more…. or less. I’m still choosing parts.

Once I do get the parts I plan on photographic and blogging the building process. So be looking forward to that.

Firefox Open Video Issues

RPG Master — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:28:04 +0000

Ever since I started using Firefox 3.5, I have had issues with pausing and then unpausing HTML5 powered videos. I did all sorts trouble shooting, trying to find the source of the problem. I tested my Firefox, with and without certain add-ons, and our family’s other computer (which also runs Ubuntu). Same problem there too … My Dad suggested it might be an Ubuntu issue, and I was starting to think so too. But after going back and forth with the dudes over at #firefox, it turns out this is a documented bug with Firefox.

~~A part of me is happy that it’s not Ubuntu/Linux’s fault, but the other side is disappointed that Firefox 3.5 shipped with such a huge bug …~~

EDIT: Yeah, just now fixing this. As those in the comments said (months ago) these issues were fixed with 3.6…. Which was months ago…

Yes, I’m lazy.

This Blog isn’t Dead!

RPG Master — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:40:30 +0000

Boy, has it been awhile! I’ve meaning to write a new post but either I’ve been too busy or I end up forgetting to.

So maybe I should catch you up to speed.

Marathon: Better then Halo

I’ve recently started playing the Marathon Trilogy of games. It’s like Halo, but with an even better story line! And Doom 1 like graphics. Though there are some great HD texture mods for all three games. Also, its got some great online deathmatch maps!

Go here to get it for Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Also, I’ve made some great replacement icons for each game. I may or may not be putting them here…

NaNoWriMo

I decided to do NaNoWriMo for the first time with the support of my friends at my homeschool co-op. I had originally set my word count goal at 25,000 words… But then I went down to 15,000 words. Here I am with only 820 words and 4 days to finish…

If and when I finish it I’ll be putting here under a creative commons By license for all to see.

So be looking forward to that.

I am Going to be a Published Photographer!

RPG Master — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:32:49 +0000

Several months ago I entered a photo contest hosted by Photography Forum and sponsored by Canon. That was around April of this year. They said that it would not be judged until this fall.

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail. From Photography Forum…

I have been chosen as a finalist!!!

While that does not mean I am going to win any Canon gear (yet) it does mean I am going to be published in their book, “Best of Photography 2009″ come this December! So I am going to be a published photographer at 15 years old!

Now which picture got me selected? My most popular on flickr.

Unreal

And here it is available at it’s original resolution for download! Enjoy

Unreal by Matthew F. — “RPG Master” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

P.S. When my mom read the letter, she cried

My Entry for the Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase

RPG Master — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:27:17 +0000

From the site:

The Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase is an opportunity to show off high quality free culture content in Ubuntu. At the heart of Ubuntu’s ethos is a belief in showcasing free software and free culture, and with each development cycle we open the opportunity for any Free Culture artist to put their work in front of millions of Ubuntu users around the world. Although the space restrictions are tight, and we are limited to how much content we can include, this is an excellent opportunity for artists everywhere.

I really hope I win!

The Hardy Heron by Matthew F. — “RPG Master” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

A Home Without Windows

RPG Master — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:50:56 +0000

Well, my parents finally did it. They gave me permission to wipe the family desktop (which ran Windows XP) and install Ubuntu.

How it all Went Down

First I had to back up all of our important documents and photos which was 16gigs total. Most of the backing up was easy… except for exporting my mom’s emails from Outlook Express. It’s kinda hard when the Inbox is 4gigs.

After that came the installation, which if you’ve installed Ubuntu yourself you know how easy it is. But after that came my favorite part, Breaking It In!

“Breaking it in” involves downloading updates, installing codecs (flash, mp3, DVD), installing apps that aren’t included (tracker, Songbird), adjusting the fonts (installing Liberation fonts, change DPI settings), and tweak the theme settings (*with my parents input ).

So far they like it. The only one who’s not happy is my sister because now she can’t play any of her old Windows games. Not like she was really played Diner Dash anyway…

*If anyone is interested, my dad decided on New Wave.