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Hey there everyone.





So I finally have been able to take that idea I've been screwing around with since 2016 and turn it into a tech demo: https://punishedfelix.itch.io/the-sequence

Basically, its a braille tutor JRPG that is based heavily on Golden Sun. Instead of Djinn, you equip Braille Tablets, which you can combine in one turn and release at once, to boost the first Tablet's power. Doing this adds the letters to the "Chain" which has characters in a queue. You can decide if it inserts on the left or right side. And instead of summons you spell out words to form "signs" which release the summons instead. So, you spell out words to signify attacks.

But it's still pretty early in development. Right now I'm focusing on completing core engine features. I'm pretty close so that way I could show off the tech demo.

I have plans for a full demo at this point, I'm just cleaning up the engine and preparing to draw some of the art assets for it, and setting up a few features (such as scripting and the tileset, cuz lol it doesn't use one lmao) so that it can support the needs of that demo. I reckon I can get it almost done by the end of the year, with frequent updates.

A few cool things:
- It can scale to any resolution and automatically letterboxes, and since most of the graphics are vectors, it looks great.
- A lot of the features are loaded in from ini files at the beginning of the game, and you can modify things yourself with them.
- It features the full blind accessibility that Braillemon had, and has fully customizable HUDs, loaded in from the ini files.
- It's also extensively documented with Help, which I'm currently working on filling in.

It's free to download (even if it pesters you for a donation) so let me know what your feedback is. Thanks everyone.

Fox, like I said before, I really think you should not be going into the military unless you want to get politically involved in what the military is doing right now, because the military is used as an international extension of the USA's reach. Everything the military does is political, which is why the military is highly controversial. The US military has done some truly despicable things in the last 50 years as well.

What does a person do to live on their own? (e.g.  When I looked, to buy a House for yourself without help is quite expensive. Even trailers run for five figures. =D I mean, you could take out a loan, but still.... If you found an even better option, you're sure to be kicking yourself. And pretty badly at high figures.)
I guess Charon already answered, though... but I mean like.... if you are less prepared than that.

I figured it was fear... The best thing you can do for yourself is find other people nearby, maybe even your own family, to live with. Communal living is going to become more common as rent rates continue to climb and debt is commonplace. Explain to your parents that the situation for people in our age is simply not the same as the one they had, where rent is too high and we can't afford anything. You sound genuinely nervous. Also, focus on those career advice tips that I gave you. It IS possible to get a job without a degree in computers (I have), its probably one of the best fields for this.

For fun trivial... I wonder... Have numbers been posted for how many American soldiers been killed in battles for the last 10 years vs. how many different soldiers participated in those battles? (To get my hands on some percentages. Statistics is fun. =D )

I think you might be more interested in the number of military casualties vs how many civilian casualties there are; this is one of the big reasons why people are not fans of the US military.

I'd thank you not to assume I never had any passion or love for what I was doing, and just dismissing my entire 10 year career in the Military as "submission training."  While the Military does love to try to teach you drink their kool-aid, many of us do still have minds of our own.  Regardless, I'd like to think I'm still allowed to be proud of my accomplishments, and the work I did during my service.

lol OK, so what you're saying is that because it's not literally all you do, it's okay. I think it's fair to say that this culture of submission is passed through every action the military partakes in, even the small ones, right? Due to the strict hierarchy of the military? The military uses repetition through this culture to instill submission through your actions and schedule. Of course it's not as simple as "people listening to you" but if you were ordered to be deployed to Iraq or Iran right now you'd probably do it wouldn't you? You wouldn't think twice about why you're doing it or what you're going to do to the people there. And THAT is the true power of "submission training" - they know not to make you a drone. That's how the military maintains its power structure to be able to continue functioning as a single imperialist unit. Even if you didn't want to go you don't have a choice because the other option is desertion which has massive consequences. But a lot of people don't even have that choice because of the impact of how information is carefully distributed and the submission training aspect of the military.

Realistically you could learn most of the stuff you learned in the military outside of it, outside of things specifically relating to defense. Hell, if you were on a defense contract and got secret clearance you would probably have access to some of the same information even. So yeah, you learned some stuff but more importantly you also learned how to listen. Even in peacetime I would be dissuading Fox from the military but current times make it unequivocally a bad idea unless you want to blow up brown people in the middle east (and if that were the case I wouldn't exactly want him around on the forums anymore)

[You will probably die if you do.]

Like I've never been in the military so I'm not saying with definitive answer but we are basically engaging in war with Iran at this point so you're probably going to go to Iran, who are EXTREMELY pissed right now considering the attack last week. So you're probably going to get your @#$ headed to Iran where you're likely going to be on the front lines; this is like 2003-levels "probably not a good idea". If you want to go Iran and do that I suppose that's reason enough but I would not join the military if I wanted to live right now. Just being perfectly blunt with you.

I'm going gloves off with this post so pardon my political projection, but.

On one hand.... Hard to say... loss of life is pretty much a guarantee/unavoidable...  (Unless say, something like a rapture happens... :D) - Who knows if this life really means anything afterwards. (On one perspective.)

Iran literally just attacked out bases in Iraq in the hour. We're going to war. You will probably die if you do.

So question becomes whether you want to die from natural causes/no reason... or die trying to help someone/whoever/whatever.... and be remembered for your great brave cause.

This war, as are many wars fought in the last 50 years from the USA, are highly controversial. The Iraq war lead to practical genocide across the region with hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. That's what will be attached to your name - you will be a hero only to the people who support the US war machine. You certainly won't be a hero to me, and if that's the reason why you're considering enlisting, I'm frankly disgusted - but concerned, that you should seriously reconsider if only for your own life.

If you want to be remembered as a hero, do something for your community that matters. But you don't have to be a hero - just being Fox is perfectly fine and most of us here would prefer you to stay that way.

I feel like the U.S. is more likely to go after the bad guys... even so, it is likely no one country is perfect.... it would be a real shame if the "bad guys" were really the true good guys... so in that case, yeah.
And on another hand... the ability to live a civilian life for a time, and do what you want... is hard to pass up. And also offers a lot of opportunities.

There are no "good guys" or "bad guys" here, you're going to be used as a pawn for war and get killed. This idealism is not worth your life. I guarantee you that the opportunities you'll see in the civilian life are far more worth being a pawn of war.

This isn't also going into how veterans are often fucked over even after serving, many end up homeless or unable to get proper medical treatment. I know people who were raped in the military who receive compensation from the government. I'm not saying everyone involved is bad but I think the way the military is structured is designed is inherently toxic to many of the people who serve, which is why often they're such a mess when they return despite not even seeing any combat.

Hmm.... what employers would be likely candidates for me? Hmmm...... While I have worked a job before, it was not a programming one...

You don't need a programming job to show experience, having projects can help you get a resume passed around in junior level positions. Look for positions with 0-2 years of experience in the language you specialize in. If you have experience with Java, you can pick up C# and maybe even C++ with some relative ease. A lot of object oriented programming languages use similar syntax and flow so if you understand one you can pick up knowledge in several. If you need help learning how to get started with Java or C# give me a holler since I have 5 years of experience in both langs.

And while I'm confident in my ability to program in a reasonable amount of time for the average thing.... I don't really have much to show for it. And my main two projects are an embarrassment. Kinda. (Yoshi Magic and gsmagic)... They were a bit messy.... There were also a few other things... For example, I once got the Python For Everybody certificates from coursera.org, but I really don't think those should count... they barely have you do much Python beyond the first two courses.

Slap these on Gitlab or something, clean up the code and put them on your resume - they prove you can code.

So it'll probably have to be entry level... but do we have any companies interested in hiring a bunch of entry level?

Absolutely. The industry is growing in labor force. If you have coding skill and enjoy working in code I highly recommend trying this route.

While its ultimately your choice what you do, based on current political circumstances, I think joining the air force (or the military) outside of genuinely believing in the cause is not a good idea at all. I would avoid it. Atrius's account offers some important insight but a lot of political tension has happened in the last year that sways my opinion away from encouraging anyone to go into the service right now.

If you want advice on how to get a job without a degree, I would recommend building out projects and treating those as jobs on your resume. You can explain them as some sort of self-funded project in your spare time. It doesn't have to be a company or anything. Also, contribute towards the open source community and demonstrate your skills through building your own tools. In fact, Atrius's editor is a great example of what an employer would love to see. You can take a few days to clean up your codebase and make everything look nice - its worth it and if you can secure a job, you will be making a lot more money than a lot of other people without degrees and you won't have to go to college or the military.

A degree does give you good skills for the theory behind computers but frankly you aren't going to be the best prepared for the workplace without actual direct experience. Building my own games was the best thing I ever did for myself both for my own confidence as a developer and my capability as a worker. If you're interested in theory you should pursue a Master's so you're more adept since I don't think a bachelor's is enough for theory. I do want to go back to college for learning more computer science theory but its so expensive its not worth it.

When I joined the Air Force I was at a point in my life where I felt completely lost.  I had been out of high school for a while, was struggling to find a job and had just dropped out of college because I couldn't afford to go any more.  My parents were threatening to kick me out on the street, I had very little self confidence, and pretty much nowhere left to turn at that point.  The discipline, skills, and confidence that I gained from my service in the Air Force were life changing for me.  I can say without a doubt that it was the correct decision and I am very glad that I did it.  I can also say that it is not a good decision for everyone, and I am very glad to be out now.

What concerns me about this approach is the idea that this is an appropriate way to achieve self discipline. Discipline isn't just a matter of submission training but also a passion and love in what you do, which the military can't provide in of itself. I dropped out of college and had to get away from my parents too - my discipline was carved by fighting poverty and fighting in the direction that I carved myself by building my own tech. When I realized what I could do with my own hands it really was a confidence booster. Even people who "fail" at society still have the discipline to survive - and I think compassion is needed to see that in other contexts. There are many paths to discipline and confidence. I think what's more important than being trained in these things is being trained in the ways that we may knock each other's discipline/confidence down in competitive banter. We're stronger together but we fail to realize it if we are constantly judging each other's discipline and confidence. Would I sacrifice the autonomy I gained by figuring out my own self discipline by having it given to me through someone who is using my life for causes that I don't really understand? This is much more of a concern because loss of life currently is a real possibility in very recent times.

System.out.println("Hello World");

Thanks, Fox

Yeah I'm aware it's down, I haven't been able to pay for the fees to keep it up. Unemployment sucks.

Thanks, Atrius!!

Edit: can't find it under the profile, is it hidden?

Since most of us are on discord, I think it might be a good idea to have a new profile field for discord name, so we can tell who is who better.

It should be a single line text field that is displayed on a profile. I don't think it needs to be linked, it's just something that can be used to correlate a poster's identity to their discord identity. Might be a good idea to have it visible next to posts as well possibly.

If you need help setting it up, Kain, let me know and I should be able to walk you through it.

No

1. golden sun the lost age was actually probably where the series should have ended, realistically, considering that Dark Dawn seemed to forget about 90% of the lore that wasn't directly relevant to the plot (most notably the anemos)

2. golden sun dark dawn was a mess that introduced all this extra bs lore that makes no sense and comes out of left field, with absolutely no reference to it in the previous games, even though it's supposed to only take place 30 years later.

3. the story in all the games basically is total generic garbage, which was acceptable in 2001-2003 but not so much in 2018

Like don't get me wrong GS is cool and a big part of my childhood but it really needs a spiritual successor more than a sequel.

Favourite Season: Autumn

- Pleasant colours
- Beautiful skies
- Fresh air
- Few allergens
- Good for birdwatching

Least Favourite Season: Winter

- Death trap
- Ice is kill
- cold
- costs a lot to warm the place

[roger]

change my name to roger so that it matches my discord name

welcome aboard dude




also I think talking about sex is the opposite of being gentle lmao

what the hell how did I not

doesn't seem to be updating on refresh. can only remove it/use the defaults or I'm this lovebird.

because science

you're only beautiful if you're willing to suck my cock

aesthetics 101 bitches

btw I've released a new update for any forum goers here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BygzFYHIO87LVnVzUzEyME1RQW8/view

RGBSHELL is kind of broke in this version though, due to a display issue.

I don't know anything about NA citizenship laws so I can't comment there.

Forcing pure american citizenship is absurd. Dual citizenship exists so that immigrants are still citizens of their home countries, so that when they return they don't need things like visas/travel documents to go visit their families or something.

In all honesty outside of that huge @#$% up I'm not really as worried about Trump as I am about heightened political tensions with the people. I genuinely feel that some of the extreme young left is trying to silence the center here. I really hope that all the shenanigans involving punching neo nazis and labeling centrists as neo nazis keeps itself relegated to the insanity of the internet. The moment that this @#$% starts spilling into real life I'm going to seriously contemplate bailing this PoS country.

The main problem with the travel ban is its blanket implementation. The biggest offending part is people with dual citizenship with these countries are being assblasted with it, which is a huge problem. So basically if you came here, became a citizen and didn't renounce your citizenship to one of those countries (usually because of travel reasons) then you were fucked.

But I'm not surprised at all because immigrants are always treated like @#$% in this country.

Honestly I'm lukewarm about Trump for the most part but his travel ban is @#$%&*! retarded and was clearly half baked. I get what he's trying to do but coming from a family of immigrants its just another smear on immigrant families. Sure we aren't affected but immigration in this country is such a clusterfuck anyways that it just shows this country's hostile approach towards immigrants. So while I think most of the changes he commits to aren't necessarily "bad", the ones that are bad are... really stupid.

If anything I'm more concerned about the political climate with the people. The left is going batshit insane right now, moreso than even the right was with Obama. Being in the middle sucks here. And believe me, I'm aware that this is not anything new, but the extent of anger towards moderates is very intense. What genuinely worries me is that moderate-rights are starting to be grouped in with neo-nazis by extreme leftists - this division is more intense than it ever has been.

Sounds good... (We also shouldn't get too distracted that we forget to protect the "normal" people. ... (People who are viewed as "normal"... not that they are actually normal, since I'm not sure that actually exists. Depends on context.)

I think what you're meaning to say is that non-LGBTQ people should not be pressured by the LGBTQ community in the same way that LGBTQ shouldn't be pressured by non-LGBTQ. The community seems to be very ignorant to how pushy it really is. There's a clear tribe formed by these folks that extends beyond just being gay or transgender. The only thing I'm really watching out for here is any sort of ban on homosexual marriages or issues with obtaining HRT for people legally diagnosed with GID.