Thinking Outside the Box

It's been a busy week for Knight Models . First up was the announcement of the upcoming release of their new Marvel Universe Miniature Game . This will use a new system, different to that of the Batman Miniatures Game . Some details about the MUMG can be found on Facebook or over on Ian's blog here . It's interesting that it's a new system, but not entirely surprising. Many fans of the Batman game had discussed whether or not to bring in more powerful characters like Superman, and if in fact they could even be properly represented in the BMG system. With the web-supplement for a Spiderman Miniatures Game made available in December by Knight Models, many of us thought that this was the Marvel game and were happy that it was largely compatible with Batman. I'm a bit conflicted on the announcement about the Marvel game. In one sense, a new system does allow for a better representation of powers and abilities without having to worry about puny humans like beat c...

Ok minor rant time. I use Kickstarter a lot. I've supported many a project over the past few years, and today I happened upon something that, as a software designer, drove me absolutely insane. After over five minutes of searching, it's fucking impossible to submit feedback to Kickstarter. You might ask what the hell I'm talking about, so here's a little more detailed information. I was reading an update from the creator of one of my supported campaigns on my iPhone. It had some nice info and images in it, so I wanted to add a comment stating my appreciation. When I clicked on the "Leave a Comment" button, the page simply reloaded and I was right back where I started. Yes, I was logged in. Now, this is odd, so I went to the support section on the site. There's no way to submit a bug report or feedback. I can submit specific things about "My stuff" or "General Questions" like pledging and payments. But a simple "hey thi...

With 2014 winding to a close I thought I'd post another Kickstarter  round-up, because I find them interesting. Move along if you don't care...but happy holidays regardless! :D Achtung!Cthulhu These guys have done a great job putting together all the materials they promised during the campaign. I'm still waiting on a few books: - Shadows of Atlantis campaign - Assault on the Mountains of Madness campaign - Editable Dossiers - Dust mashup - Godlike supplement Age of Conan expansion Just last week I went through their web site to submit my "order" and paid the shipping fees. I'm hopeful that this one will actually be delivered on time. Carnevale 2nd Edition Fees have been collected, and their 1st survey was made available a few days ago. I've already filled mine out, but I'm not sure when the second one will show up, which will allow us to select all of our add-ons and other goodies. Deadzone This one has been pretty lengthy, w...

So a new year begins, and that means lots of folks starting up new year's resolutions: making promises to themselves and others. Most of those people will fail, or give up, or in some cases not even really get started. As for me, I'm not going to bother making grand gestures, plans or set any lofty goals. To me the start of a new year is simply another day wherein I can learn and improve, just like the day before it, and the day after it. Why should I wait for the beginning of a new year to start something that will make me better, fitter, smarter or happier? I should be working towards those things every day, no matter where in the year it lands. And so should you. Do what makes you happy. Improve yourself. Learn something. Do something nice for someone you care about. Or a stranger. Or not. If you waited until the start of a new year to "get started" you've probably missed my point...but Happy New Year anyway.

Recently we made the change from SVN to Git for source control in my software development team. We've all been using SVN for years and, while not without its own serious flaws, it works. Managing the archive and access to it is simple, and people can easily check out and contribute with a minimum or effort and training. Yes, they can screw things up, but that's what source control is for...to cover your ass when you've left it hanging out in the wind. While SVN does require you to pay for the Visual add-in for Visual Studio, that's not so bad. I can see which files I've changed within my dev environment at a glance. Git does not have this feature, but it's not a deal breaker. I can live without this nicety. Now we have Git in place and holy christ if it isn't the most convoluted and arcane piece of ... software I've ever had the misfortune of using. As someone who grew up with DOS and UNIX command line operating systems, that's saying something. ...