Anybody remember Rogue? Great little game with ASCII graphics (your character was a smiley face, monsters were some letter of the alphabet e.g. b=bat, D=dragon, etc, etc)
Anyway there is a fantastic little game called Dwarf Fortress out there with similar graphics, but the gameplay is quite similar to Dungeon Keeper with some vaguely Sims-like dwarf management. It's actually quite deep and involved, and can take a long time to learn how to play.
Here are some of the things you can do:
- Assign each dwarf some set of tasks they'll do, which they'll gain experience in and improve (mining, carpentry, jewel-setting)
- Build up a military with training areas, equipping dwarves with equipment you made yourself or bought from traders which occasionally visit
- Build bedrooms, dining rooms, offices, catering to the needs of your dwarves
- Build traps, trebuchets, or levers which (if you've engineered them correctly) will flood an area with water or lava
- Watch your dwarves go on insane murdering rampages if enough bad things happen to them to drive them to the edge
Game can be downloaded for free from here: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
Some guys started a succession game on a forum where each player took over for a year, then zipped up his save and sent it to the next guy to continue. Hilarity ensues. Here is the saga of the dwarf fortress: Boatmurdered. The beginning of the end really starts in chapter 18 with this line "I've started project "F*** The World", a top secret attempt to funnel magma to the outside. I'll kill those elephants. I'll kill all those f***ing elephants."
Not doing a lot except a bit of grunting, but here you go. I also don't know why she's adopted that hairstyle, kids huh?
Two versions of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that you need to watch:
Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas! Sonja is obviously excited because she kept Bing up all night until 6am, so the presents are still all sitting under the tree while they both have a bit of a lie-in :) I'll be making pancakes in a minute and then a few hours later it'll be pop-in-the-oven instant meals. Can't really afford to spend hours cooking right now.
I hope it's a good year for everybody - good decade even, though doesn't the decade officially start in 2011 and not 2010? It's going to be a busy time for us, and we're looking forward to our daughter getting a bit bigger. This time next year she might be able to get excited about Christmas for real. Can't wait.
It's been a hectic few days, but at 00:07 on Tuesday 15 December 2009 my daughter Sonja was born! Yes I haven't even made a post about my wife being pregnant, we've been secretly planning it this whole time. Then on the morning of the 13th the waters broke and then a day and a half later the size of my family went from 2 to 3, that's a big step up.
Since then we've been learning as fast as we can, Bing has been great and is picking everything up very quickly. I'm doing my best but it's not easy! We're both pretty tired right now since Sonja does like to have a lot of attention :P
Here are a few pics:
Yes as part of Movember I've shaven that crappy facial hair I had on, in order to grow a magnificent 'stache in the next 30 days or so, all in the name of prostate cancer awareness & research. A few guys I work with have formed a team 'BBC Forge Mos', so if the mood strikes you you can donate towards the cause. Make sure you 'donate to dave' and not to the team! Both will go towards our team but clicking 'donate to team' donates it under the team leader's name and makes him look awesome instead of me :(
UPDATE 30/11: This is the best I could do in 3 and a half weeks! Our team raised about £800 which is pretty good (I only raise £31 in total, of which £21 was me donating to myself so I could beat the guy who had £20)
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Best. Movie. Ever.
