My latest project: Mobilizing Zork

I'll be the first to admit: I have no idea if this is going to actually go anywhere.  But for the past few years I've had an idea and it's always seemed like a fun one.  And it would definitely be a challenge to pull off.  But things have changed since my forays into programming (with the C language, in 1995) and I'm thinking that this might really be possible so, we're going to find out.

A while back a crazy notion hit me: to play Zork on my iPhone and iPad.  Yes that Zork: the 1977 text-only role-playing game.  A game that kept countless insomniacs awake long into the night as they explored the Great Underground Empire in all its riches, its horror, and occasional hilarity.  There were no graphics at all involved with Zork: like most any good story it played out primarily in one's imagination, with only the on-screen descriptions awaiting your command for the parser to further the tale.

Envision that on the screen of an i-device or something running Android.

It's too wild an idea not to do.  The absurdity of it: a modern mobile appliance, with all its portable power and potential - thousands upon thousands of times the combined computing capability that put the space shuttle into orbit on all those missions - running a text adventure.  The text adventure, mind you.  The game that in one way or another has boasted the core technology of every role-playing game on every device in the past half-century.  It would be at once a step forward and a loooong leap backward, to do that.

Well, like I said, it's too perverse not to try to pull off.

A few months ago Microsoft published the original source code for the first three Zork games.  Yes, it's open source now.  Meaning that it can be played and finagled with to one's heart's content.  It's noteworthy that these are the first three of the original Zork games.  When the game was first created circa 1977 it was  much too big for the personal computers then just starting to hit the market.  So Zork was split into three games.  This source code is for the full experience.

For the past few weeks I have been in the process of taking the source code and running it through ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and some other artificial intelligence systems.  Pouring in the raw code and producing something that should, theoretically, be compilable into an app for iPad and iPhone.  It hasn't been easy, not for the least of which reasons being that I don't have a Mac or other desktop computer powerful enough to test the finished product on.  And so far as I can tell I've only been recreating the game's engine.  The associated geography, items, monsters etc. are still waiting to be implemented.

But what has been produced so far, well... it looks an awful lot better than the discombobulated code that I was generating for that Computer Science 101 class at Elon three decades ago.  I've some confidence in it.  A lot of people who know better about such things than I swear that AI has become pretty competent about creating source code.  Which, I still consider "cheating" in vast part.  But maybe AI in this case is a pretty sensible tool toward creating a piece of software.  I don't know.  What I do know though is that so far I've a few pages worth of code ported to the language and syntax of i-devices.  And maybe that will sooner than later be something letting players discover a place first explored by their parents and grandparents.

So, that's my project.  We'll see if it comes to any fruition.  That is if a grue doesn't devour me first...

Read More

I'm going to start a Fallout tontine

This November will mark ten years since the release of Fallout 4.  That game was published seven years after Fallout 3.  There was Fallout: New Vegas in 2010 (still need to finish that one, my friends swear it's the best of the series).  And I suppose there was Fallout 76 in 2018 but that game just isn't the same.  Fallout really is more of a single-player experience, though I know that Fallout 76 does have its loyalists.

So this will be a full decade without a mainline Fallout entry.  Surely we're going to get word sometime soon that a new one is coming, right?  Right?!?

The sad fact of the matter is, friends, is that video game production is now (a) very expensive and (b) very loooong.  Grand Theft Auto V was first published in 2013.  Its follow-up was announced two years ago and it's going to be fall of 2026 before it's released.  Which if the trend continues means that Grand Theft Auto VII won't see the light of day until around 2040.

See where this is getting at?

So when I came upon this article at Gaming Bible about when we might expect to see Fallout 5, my heart fell.  But I suppose I should already be braced for it.  The next Fallout game may not get published until I'm pushing sixty.  Maybe by the time Fallout 7 comes out I'll be looking forward to seeing Halley's Comet for the second time in my life.

Let's just get the obvious out of the way: there are many people reading these words who won't be with us when Fallout 5 comes out, and certainly not when Fallout 6 is released.

I've got something figured out though.  A strategy that will help pass the time.  I'm going to start a Fallout tontine.

You probably know the concept even though the word is fairly rare in the English language.  A tontine is an agreement where a party of individuals put something in security.  It could be a sum of money.  It could be a more material item.  And whoever is the last surviving member of the agreement gets the goods.  There was an episode of M*A*S*H where Colonel Potter and his friends during World War I had saved a bottle of fine French wine, and the final friend left got the bottle to enjoy.  It was also the subject of an episode of The Simpsons.

Here's the plan: I'm going to get some friends together.  We're each going to contribute some money to the tontine.  Whoever is alive when Fallout 6 comes out (I'm going to allow for robust health between now and then) gets the money, which after accumulating interest should be enough to buy a then-modern generation video game console, a new high-def screen, and a copy of the Fallout game.

No, seriously, this is what I intend to do.  I may be coming up on eighty years old when the chapter of Fallout following the next game is released, but I'm going to do my best to play it.  It's going to be a life goal.  And if I don't make it to then, I will get the satisfaction of knowing that a good friend is going to play it in my honor.

I do NOT plan on doing this with a BioShock game though!!

Read More

Here's a photo of a Dachshund family

My favorite breed...

Maybe if Tammy the Pup will stand still long enough, I can get her to pose for a picture that sweet :-)

Photo credit goes to @TheDoxieteers (Cindy, Pepsi and Misty) on Instagram.

Read More

Let's conduct a weather experiment!

Just for fun (or maybe not)...

I have heard it said, since at least 1993, that if it thunders in the winter that it means snow is coming ten days later.

The first time I was told that, it was by Dad in February of that year. Exactly ten days later we had "the Storm of the Century" blizzard.

And every time since then that it has thundered during winter, we have had snow: if not precisely ten days later then very closely thenabouts.

Well, we had thunder this morning here in Reidsville, North Carolina. A lot of thunder.

So with this post as a benchmark, I'll check back in ten days from now Lord willing, and we'll see if there's any wintery preciptation :-)

Read More

I have some very tragic news to report

Well, not tragic for me anyway. But this will come as absolutely heartbreaking news to the very many would-be suitors who have written in during the past several months asking if my extremely beautiful, incredibly sweet and saintly-in-spirit cousin Lauryn was taken.

She is now! :-)

Now don't y'all worry: I shall continue to post pictures of her whenever there is dire need to publish something aesthetically pleasing on The Knight Shift (which is more often than not). However this will affect some changes to my task.

So to celebrate the occasion, and to mark the passing of the shotgun some of my duties, here is a new photo of Lauryn... along with her FATHER, the elusive and enigmatic Bob!

Perhaps someday I shall be able to also post a photo of Lauryn's brother Robbe, if he ever walks back out of that jungle...

Read More

I have been a might slack in blogging lately...

...so to make up for it, here's a shiny new photo of The Knight Shift's unofficial Page 3 girl: my beautiful cousin Lauryn!

And look: she's got another gorgeous friend, whose name I do not currently have on file. But who are you to complain? After all, you're getting two lovely ladies in one great shot!

By the way, the rumors are true: I am currently giving this blog a severe and long-awaited overhaul. However contrary to reports there will not be a pay-only section of Lauryn photos on The Knight Shift (although I would no doubt make a tidy sum from such a practice... but I am an ethical and upstanding publisher after all :-)

Read More

"It's May, it's May..."

"...the Lusty Month of May!"

I couldn't resist posting a lil' vintage Vanessa Redgrave (one of the most talented actresses in the history of anything) from the film version of Camelot to celebrate the occasion!

Read More

All Points Bulletin issued for Ron Paul's necktie

Take a look at the necktie that Ron Paul is wearing in this photograph...

The Honorable Representative Dr. Paul has been spotted wearing this tie quite often lately. And my good friend Danny de Garcia II has become obsessed with finding that particular necktie! As Danny puts it...

"There it is again. Notice how sharp his tie looks with the light blue, silver blue, blue pinstripe and white. I'm looking for that tie."

So let's help Danny find Ron Paul's necktie, boys and girls!! If you know where to find this thing, e-mail me at theknightshift@gmail.com and I'll pass the info along to Danny A.S.A.P.!

Read More

This blog needs some more beautiful on it...

...so once again, here is my cousin Lauryn.

Curiously, every time I post a photo of her, this blog's counter starts skyrocketing.

Read More

I don't post "Beautiful" nearly enough on this blog...

...so here is a photo of my second cousin Lauryn, who is celebrating her 22nd birthday:

And here is a photo of Lauryn and her mother (and my cousin) Robin. They could be - and have been - mistaken for sisters!

And in case any of y'all are wondering: Yes, ALL the women in my family are this beautiful! :-) Not to mention very sweet and among the most Christian ladies I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Anyways... Happy Birthday Lauryn!

Read More

Image of Jesus on my closet door?!?

This might be the stupidest post that I've ever made on this blog (and that's sayin' something). I'll let you, Dear Reader, judge for yourself.

It's sort of my friend Kevin Bussey's fault (even though he's a totally great guy :-). His blog, Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee, is one of my favorites: not just because he offers up a lot of terrific insight as a brother in Christ, but also for his fondness of posting about the more whimsical news of the world. And he especially enjoys sharing the occasional stories about "apparitions" of Jesus or Mary materializing in loafs of bread, lava lamps etc.

So yesterday Kevin had this item about what is supposedly a picture of Jesus in a car dealership's door. It reminded me of something that I'd promised to do for Kevin over the past few months. And seeing that picture well... I couldn't help but think "Hey, my Jesus is more Jesusy than their Jesus!"

So I might as well get this over with...

Here it goes: my old closet door has a very curious wood grain pattern in it, that many people over the years have said looks exactly like Jesus Christ holding out His hands.

On the right (click to magnify) is the best photo that I was able to take of it, over at my parents' house last night. But trust me: this looks much better in real life than it does in the picture. Even in subdued light, the visual signature is readily discernible. Several people who have visited my old room have said that they can make out the hair, brow, eyes, nose, and mouth of a male figure who seems to be standing. Most of the folks who have seen it swear that they can see the figure is wearing a robe or similar garment.

The most interesting feature of the pattern is that it seems as though, if indeed people are seeing a man (or Son of Man) here, that it/he/He is holding two hands out in front of him, in apparently perfect proportion to the rest of the figure.

So... what do y'all think: is this just a regular wooden pattern, or is it a bona fide photographic anomaly?

I'll have it be known here and now though: I do not want flocks of pilgrims lining up to see this! So far as I'm concerned, there's nothing supernatural about it at all. And it wouldn't be proper to come oggle this anyway: if the Bible teaches us that not even the angels are to be worshiped, then I can't begin to imagine how much worse it is to pay homage to an inanimate hunk of wood.

But all the same, I will confess a curiosity as to what others might be seeing in this picture.

Comments?

Read More

Opening intro for STAR BLAZERS first season

One of the greatest title sequences for a children's cartoon ever.

The theme song alone will make you want to go flying off into outer space on a World War II battleship with a bunch of other men...

Okay, so it wasn't originally called Star Blazers, the original Japanese title is Space Battleship Yamato, but it's still an awesome show no matter what language it's translated in :-)

Maybe someday the suits at Disney will finally give us that live-action version that's been promised since 1995. Would be cool to see what the wave motion gun would look like...

Read More