Yay! I Finally Have Time!

[Jojon]

Got to try to find some time, one of these days, to go through the Portal2 co-op with somebody, while there still exist one or two other people, who hasn't already... :P


Sad to see you go, Andy -- don't get hammered. :)

[Rabbit]

Sorry to see you leaving...I found your videos very inspiring. Hope you come back someday.

[semplerfi]

WOW! Sorry folks...

I ask a simple question which answers the blocked video question and offer a personal opinion and Andy rage quits over it.

[Chacal]

No, he's actually quitting Plasma for a better graphics engine and mod tools.
He's been talking about it for some time, actually. I just didn't realized he was also leaving the Uru communities.

[andylegate]

WOW! Sorry folks...

I ask a simple question which answers the blocked video question and offer a personal opinion and Andy rage quits over it.

*sigh* no no, I'm not doing /ragequit

I was trying to avoid some sort of long post, blog, speech (come on! no one really cares to have me drone on and on. If you really want that, read my tutorials! ).

I've been planning on moving on for many months now. I've been closing down or completing projects one by one. Tying up loose ends so to speak. The other day when I posted the video, I was making fun of the fact that I was nearing completion of it all (private joke, for me, but I thought people would get a chuckle out of the video......not start something about copyright laws, or get offended by something... sorry, but just another reason I've lost so much interest in this community. You can't breath without offending SOMEBODY, or even say "Hello" without someone, on some Uru forum raising cain about and wanting to start something over it. Tired of it all.)

I've been plodding along with Plasma for over 4 years now. I was making maps for shooter games and rendering still scenes years before that. I learned a LOT while here (check the post count) over the years, and on my own, enough so I was able to share that information with others, to hopefully help them too.
But at the end of the day, no mater how great anything you've made is, the fact remains that it ends up on some shards that have a handful of people only. That's okay. At least someone explored what you made. But those numbers are dwindling too. The best thing is for this user content to get on the MOUL:a shard itself, where there are more people, especially those who are new, or just not aware of the community out here. But it's been one big delay after another:
User content can go on....BUT: a pipeline needs to be made. Trust me. I've very aware of this, and that pipeline is still not there (not blaming anyone here....or at Cyan, just not enough man power).
THEN: there was a big stink about license. That took quite a while to get fixed, after all the bicker, yelling, arguing, finger pointing and Jello / Mud Wrestling that had to be done first.
NOW the server stuff has to been finished (well let me clarify: done enough to be acceptable. Leave no doubt that there will always be things that need to be fixed, improved, tinkered with), and I sincerely HOPE that what I gave Hoikas today REALLY helps that along. But even so, there has been all sorts of problems with it, ranging from bickering and arguing again (Uru: The Complete Arguments), to simply the lack of people that have time to do things.
Finally: User Content that is compatible with the MOUL format will have to be done. Great strides have been made here with the modified Plasma Plugin for Max 2010, 2011 and 2012. I also have it on good authority that enough SDK's have been gathered for the earlier versions of Max too. And that's wonderful.
But it leaves Blender, poor people, non-student people shut out. Until something can be done about that, so more waiting (hopefully with out the arguing and bickering part.....but the track record so far says otherwise).

So, I've been bored to tears, and starting to mess with other SDK's, making things that I thought were years away. Still, they are for making your own game, and the problem with that is: pretty much everyone here is a very loyal Plasma Fan. And at those other SDK forums, everyone already has their own big project going on (sort of like being and inventor at a Inventors Convention, everyone wants to show off their own thing, which is understandable.).

Having wandered over to the Valve community, I discovered something that I had completely forgot about: I can make things, and it's fully supported by the software company that made the game, because it still supports the very game they made, they are doing very well finacially, and still pumping out games. Better yet, they WANT user content: the more, the better.
Want to have what you made get seen? Put it out there. If it's a good map, it will be all over the place. If it's a bad map, well, it will still be out there, just not as much. Arguing and bickering over tool development or forks? non-existant since it's the gaming company that makes those things, not the fans. Who controls what goes on what server? Who cares? That is up to the individual clans and server owners, and there are so many of the out there, and so many players, that it really doesn't matter.
Oh, and no bickering and arguing over story lines or canon. Of course not. It's mindless violence of course. The only "canon" they have is the one that's pointed at you and ready to fire!

So what I saw over there was this: FUN. Just that. FUN. And I thought about the years spent over in this community and everything I've been though, and thought about before this community when I was in the CoD one, and I had a voice go through my head:

"Whattya nuts?!?!?!?!? Why you sticking 'round this place?" -said in a very deep New Jersey accent.

So no, I'm not rage quitting. I'm finally doing something that I should have done a while ago: leave and go have fun!

See? Y'all ended up getting a long droning post out of me anyways. Next time, just watch the video.

and just remember:

Be Polite.
Be Efficient.
And have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

[Tomala]

Having wandered over to the Valve community, I discovered something that I had completely forgot about: I can make things, and it's fully supported by the software company that made the game

Great isn't it? I love playing around with the SDK's too. It's nice doing your own things with developer tools plus the company encouraging it. Perhaps Cyan should take a trip over to Seattle to buy a clue. They can learn how a community works, and they can teach valve how to write a better set of instructions for people setting up servers...

[diafero]

I did not realize this was a "farewell" post either (and sorry for derailing it off-topic - I just thought this was a video uploaded by you, Andy, and I wanted to watch it).

I hope you are having more fun over there than you seem to have here. I don't agree with everything you made and said, but that does not stop me from valuing your contributions. Thanks! And take care.

[Trylon]

Okay, Im going to add my goodbye to Andy's here.

Some time ago the news of Open Source Uru kinda drew me back here, kindling some interest in me again. However, the usual arguments hindering any sort of consensus have spoiled the fun for me again.
A while ago I tried DI shard - which honestly was my first play of Uru in a long time. And I found myself bored out of my mind running the whole cleft again. And while I have high respect for the work in some of the recent fan-ages I visited, I found I could not find the same enjoyment in visiting them as I had some years ago when this was all fresh and starting.

It got me thinking and I realized I only still visited this forum for the fun of seeing all the arguments play out. Which felt to me a most dubious past-time.

Now, Andy's goodbye finally made my realize that I've been here too long as well, and should really get going. And I found an odd satisfaction in deleting all my old uru installs and files.
About a week or so ago I released my collection of source files for the ages I wrote in the past - and whether I realized it at the time or not, it should also be considered my parting gift to y'all.

Should anyone ever need me for something specific, just use the "Email Trylon" link in my profile here.

But now, Goodby everyone!
Take care, have fun, and don't beat the crap out of each other

[Tomala]

First Dustin, then Andy, and now Trylon... This is serious. The community slowly continues to lose people and the one thing we have to look forward to is one entire Minkata sparkly. Maybe I should take a page from these guys and leave too.

In fact, this is it. As it is I've mainly been playing other games. The only reason why I visit every single forum is so I can fill the void where content should be. That's right... As much as I hate to be one of the people to pull a GBCW, I'm leaving and that can't be helped.

I'll be back with coffee in an hour.

[Jojon]

What is truly saddening, is that so many of the people wearing down and leaving, are among those that have proven the best at inspiring a change for the better.

More reason for those of us that remain to put effort into mustering up and filling the vacated spaces, I suppose.