ISS Flies Over

After missing the longer duration fly over of the ISS (International Space Station) yesterday which was publicized via email, I went out today to see it again. It appeared for 2 minutes and rose from the NW and set in the NNE. It looked like a fast moving medium-bright star. I managed to snap one lousy shot of the thing. You can see it in the image below (you have to click on it to see the tiny spec in the center of the image, just to the left of the trees). I posted a cropped zoom in of the white spec.





This is the actual thing (image source: wikipedia):



The ISS is a joint project by the US, Europe, Russia and Japan. Other parts have been built by other countries but those space agencies are mostly responsible for the construction which started in 1998 and is scheduled for completion in 2011. It is the largest satellite orbiting Earth and currently there are 6 astronauts living aboard it.

Escape from Planet Doom

Our game design course project is up and live. It's a bullet hell shooter (a specific type of shoot 'em up games) with a twist of comic drama.

Try it out (Escape from Planet Doom) and let me know what you think. Use w-a-s-d keys for moving your ship and move the mouse to aim. Beware of the drama ;)!

Here are some snapshots:

King of Kong

"King of Kong: A fistful of quarters", a documentary about the best of the best in classic arcade video games. The story is about the rivalry between Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe over conquering the high score position of Donkey Kong :D.

If you dont want me to spoil it, dont read any further and read it after you watch it...



Billy Michell was the first gamer to get a perfect score in pacman and has been known as "the greatest arcade video gamer of all time". He owns a restaurant and sells a line of hot sauces :). He's quite a unique individual. Steve Weibe, on the other hand is a high school teacher who challenged Billy to Donkey Kong. He also held the record for Donkey Kong Junior but Mark Kiehl stole the title back just yesterday (April 19, 2010).

What the drama of the documentary does not show is that the current high scorer is a third guy - a 35 year old plastic surgeon from new york - Dr. Hank Chien who recorded his score via DVD just last month (April 8th). It also does not show that Billy stole back the position after Weibe took it in 2007.

Just watch it...

Color Harmony

Do all colors go together?

Obviously not, there are contrasting colors, colors that match and colors that don't match. There are primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors and many more hues and levels of saturation. Color theory has long set out to find colors that work well together and appear to be in harmony. Color theory can be traced back to the 15th century with the works in principles of colors by Leonardo Da vinci and Leon Battista Alberti. Sir Isaac Newton started the tradition of color theory with his theories on primary colors in the 18th century.

The color wheel can be traced back to the 18th century. Boutet's color circle/wheel can be seen below. This was drawn in 1708. It depicts hues of primary, secondary, tertiary and complementing colors.



As time passed the color wheel got more detailed. The one sketched below was created in 1908.



From this color wheel, harmonic color schemes can be composed. Here I describe the basic color schemes:

- The monochromatic classic scheme is one that is based on levels of saturation and brightness of a single hue. An example of this is the grayscale which I've seen in games and looks exceedingly soothing.

- An analogous color scheme focuses on colors that are adjacent to one another on the color wheel. Only a limited number of hues are selected.

- A complementary scheme involves colors on opposite sides of the color wheel.

- A split complement color scheme takes an analogous color scheme and adds to it the complementary analogous scheme on the opposite side of the color wheel.

- The triadic takes three analogous color schemes and puts them together so that they form a mercades benz kind of symbol over the color wheel. This can be seen below.



- In addition to these color schemes, there is also the double complementary scheme or tetradic scheme which is similar to the previous one but involves a pair of split complementary schemes over the wheel.

For a more detailed description of these as well as the pros and cons and tips on using each, visit this link.

It is very important to pick your colors, saturation and contrasts well and iterate over your color schemes. The more you experiment and get feedback from others, the more you master this art of producing harmonious color schemes. Color schemes also depend on the art style that you are coloring. Some color schemes go well with certain art styles and badly with others, so think, visualize and iterate.

Revolutionary Learning

What youtube has brought us is way more than hilarious moments that break the monotonous cycle of work and viral videos out of control. It has brought about a revolution in learning. Now the lucky bastards of the younger generations can tap into this immense resource of knowledge and information right under their fingertips.

I cant get over the power of learning through visual means. Those of us who thrive on imaginary visuals thought up in the chambers of our brains that allow us to comprehend new things, find youtube and the like an amazing source for learning new things. Things we never thought possible a few years ago.



The days without internet were not long ago for those like me who can still remember the days when the term "Internet" started spawning off the tongues of friends more well-read than I. I can remember the first time I heard it. I couldn't comprehend it.

Anyway, nostalgia aside, say we wanted to learn a song on the guitar. Back in the day, I was lucky enough to be learning during the internet phase but before youtube had matured. I used to read tabs off the net, print them out and study them hard. Nowadays a simple search on youtube will show you a person playing the guitar and playing the song that you want to know how to play and chances are you'll find a visual tutorial on how to play it.

The power of visualizing something has been inscribed in the history of man, for example, the ancient Egyptians conveyed detailed stories of the afterlife in vivid pictures. The steps a man goes through as he is judged before the Gods, is carved out and painted on walls of tombs and temples for the people to see and visualize what happens in the afterlife. Vision is the most powerful sense people have. It is the most perceiving of our senses.



It goes without saying, that the ability to record visuals and transmit them over the internet is an amazing capability. For example, I took a course in linear algebra and found videos from Professor Strang at MIT. In them, he explained linear algebra in a simple way. This was extremely beneficial. I was not physically present in the classroom but could see what was going on. The alternative would be to filter through books on the subject and write up notes or something.

So I'm happy to be witnessing this powerful means of conveying knowledge and thought I would share this with you.