So the Mavericks

Yeah so Apple is doing its thing and releasing Mavericks. I knew it would happen one day. Now I haven't personally seen the Mavericks yet, but for one I can say it takes a TON of time to download. Of course this is expected because it is an operating system, but I shudder to think of what plies ahead when I finally see what it looks like. And of course looks don't make all the difference, will it be a MAC? The recent iOS 7 basically butchered their original iOS and made a monster out of the iPhone 5S and 5C. I would like Mavericks to be a nice edition the the Mac software and an edition that I will actually use. Well, I will have to wait and see won't I?

America

So America is my home country, but they seem to be messing themselves up right now -_-

When the government is shut down, half the people in America lose their jobs. The government says it is doing the shutdown to resolve issues, but what a great way to make MORE issues -_- Then Obama comes out and says lets put the government back up and THEN we can talk about issues like healthcare. Of course everyone knows he's lying through his teeth.

All in all, I just wish this country would fix itself!

The Power of KiK

So recently I got KiK. For those who do not know, KiK is a social messaging application. It is totally free, without ads, and is simple. You can share messages, pictures, emotes, and just about anything, but in a user-friendly interface that involves more talking than graphics.

To be completely honest, I'm addicted. It's amazing, just how easy it is. It's completely private too! Or you could invite tons of friends to one chat! It's easy!

So my question to myself was, do I REALLY need to be talking to people this much? My answer was, yes. I don't talk to many people IRL, partly because I have no life :D It is a great application, and can be used for many purposes. 

But, as with any programmer, I see how it could be made better. I recently launched the Alpha of a social networking system. It is not Available to the public, but should be fairly soon.

Well, I've been Mokko, and have a good day :)

Ima back!

Hey guys and welcome! I've been away for the past week. I'm back now though, and I have news! I was able to record about 5 podcast episodes with friends, and those will go up weekly with the MokkoTechPod. If you havn't already, go ahead and subscribe to the Pod on iTunes or PodOmatic. Just search up 'MokkoTechPod'

I'm Away ATM

So right now I'm not where I normally am staying. Sooo.. I'm away at the moment, that is why there is not very many blogs :D You know you love me. ;)

However, my podcast has been accepted! Yay! Search for it on iTunes and you can watch awesome stuff man! Yeah! Well, anyways, I've got to go, so see you dudes!

Pens and Paper - D and D with a twist

Be honest, all geeks, nerds, and hardcore gamers have a Dungeons and Dragons character inside them ready to burst out. While Knights of Pens and Paper isn't the best character customization tool, it does have ultimate turn based strategy. 

With the game you start out with two characters. You may choose a class for each character. Paladin, Rouge, Warrior, Cleric, or Druid. Each class has different skills. As well as class, there are characters with unique passive abilities. For example, the Pizzaman is half price to buy while in game.

As the game progresses, you receive gold. With gold you can add more characters. You can have a maximum of 5 characters. With gold you can also buy upgrades, items, new accessories, and more. 

One of the things that sets Knights of Pen and Paper apart is the ability to create your own quests. There are the story quests, obviously, but when you are just grinding mobs you can create your own battle quests, or rescue a grandpa. It's up to you :) When doing quests, you may choose the amount of mobs you would like to battle at one time. Does it feel like you are cheating? NO! The genius developers created a game that it is basically impossible to cheat in. 

All in all, it's a great game to buy. A world of fun wherever you are, as it is also available on Google Play and iOS.

Podcast

Hey everyone. Today I start the MokkoTech podcast. Yes, that is why there have been a shortage of posts. I have just now sent the podcast off to the iTunes Store, so we'll see if it gets accepted. When it does, I will post a blog about the episode. For now, though, so long!

2D vs 3D

DevBytes - Little tips for game developers
No. 2

When we begin a game, one of the most important things is to decide if we want a 2d or 3d game. In 2d, the game is somewhat limited as you can not travel on the z axis. In 3d, however, it is much harder to program because of the z axis. Today it is easy, however, to get a engine such as Unity to do all the hard work for you. My suggestion is to go for 3d, as most people are only looking for 3d games. Apparently 3d screams quality.

The Life of Slender

Slenderman is sort of a modern legend. At first it was people who claimed to see a man without a face steal children. Then you have the internet pictures that showed a tall, slender (lol), man without a face.

So some brilliant people decided to make a video game on it. The game was a hit, and is now what we call slender.

Mechanics
In Slender, you play in first person, walking around in search of 8 pages. As you go around in an eerie forest, finding pages scattered around, some on trees, some on the dark grass, you realize you are not alone. If slender catches you, it's game over.

When you see Slender, all you can see is his outline, as your screen begins to fuzz up. If you don't look away in time and run, you won't live to see another day. When you find all eight pages, you 'win' (trollface).

Youtube
As the game grew famous, youtubers began to 'lets play' the game. They would all have facecams in one of the corners of the screen so that people could see their reaction to the game. When watching it or reading about it, it seems just like a fairy tale. When playing it, with headphones on, the soundtrack, eerie graphics, and incredibly scary slenderman will make you scream.

In fact, I've met many a person who is fearless, and then watched their reactions to Slender.

The Continuation
Many people believe that the days of Slender are already over. That is a lie. Slender has only just begun. 20 years from now we will be putting grandchildren (or children) to bed, saying, "if you don't go to bed Slenderman will get you". Heck, in a few centuries Slender will be in storybooks!

So whether you are young or old, be prepared. SLENDER IS COMING FOR YOU!!!

Blog UPDATE - 20/09/13

OK, so I may not have been posting every day recently, and my posts have been short. Yeah. Well, sorry, but I can't do much better at the moment. Life is acting up.

Anywhos, my new resolution is to post when I can at least twice a week, very likely more than that. When I post, I will post long, meaningful posts. Then there is also my new DevBytes series. I want to continue those small writings as well.

Finally, pictures. Nothing brings a blog to life more than pictures. I hope to bring those soon.

Vector vs Bitmap

GameBytes - Little tips for game devs

No. 1

So lets talk graphics. Vector graphics are freehand, more like painting. Much of the art on the Internet is Vector. Then you have older graphics that are made up of dots. When  creating a video game, the mechanics of the game affect the graphics. If it is story-based, the graphics are better vector. Most other 2D games use HD bitmaps. There are so many dots that you can't see each one. Some retro platformers and other games use 8-bit, which is extremely low res graphics. Graphics can be important, and what you choose affects your game.

Browsing The Web

Normal people spend hours on their computers. They play games, check email, and, most importantly, they browse the web. It is important then, what browser you use.

So here we are, in no particular order, the top 4 browsers on the Web!

Chrome
The growing standard on windows and Android is Google Chrome. It boasts fast connection, and a whole App Store.

One of the many features of Chrome is that many online widgets and specialised websites support it. On other browsers I have come often across sites that will ask you to "please download google chrome".

Recommended for: The average user who wants access to  all sites.
My Rating: 4.5/5

Firefox
This browser dates back from the Stone Age with browsers such as Internet Explorer, but has managed to keep up with time.

OK, I bet you all remember those REALLY old computers that had IE 5 and if you wanted an upgrade you would get Firefox. Today, Firefox is much better than what it used to be. You can add plugins to it that will do just about anything you want it to do. An easy navigation bar means more bookmarks and easy access to favourite sites. It shows almost every site on the web easily. The thing that puts it on par with Chrome, is that it can be personalised with plugins.

Recommended for: The avid user who wants a personalised environment
My Rating: 4.5/5

Safari
This browser is probably the most overrated. On a Mac it is the standard for every computer.

Well, here we go. Most Mac fans always tell their Windows friends about Safari. "It's an incredibly fast browser of awesomeness!" Then, to humour their Mac friend, Windows users download it, run it, see that the speed is almost null, and trash it. Then of course they go to the Mac guy and yell at him. There is NO plugins, personalisation, or goodies available on this browser. I, as a Mac fan, am appalled at the lack of speed on windows! It really is a Mac browser, but even then not great.

Recommended  For: The average Mac user who is too lazy to download something else
My Rating: 1/5

Opera
Opera is a different browser than the rest. Almost unknown, this jewel of the Internet is actually one of the best.

Unlike the other browsers, this browser does not support all the websites. Some widgets refuse to work with Opera. The real gold in this browser is the Developer resources. It allows devs like me to play around with creating applications and plugins for the internet and Opera. It is very much community driven, and does not have the large company processes. You have a problem, call in. It will be about 5mins only.

Recommended For: Developers
My Rating: 4/5

So there you go! If you have a favourite, comment down below!

Programming on your Phone

Nowadays we can do almost anything on our 'smartphones.' Play fully 3D games, do impossible calculations, and manage our lives with a calendar. Naturally then, we should be able to program in its fullest. -_-

The problem with phones is that no one wants to sit down and do something for a long amount of time. That is why many games that hit stores are small and have very little depth. Programming, however, takes a large amount of time. With a tiny keyboard, it takes even MORE time to create programs that can do more than trace.

The you have the problem of compiling the code. Phones today are very powerful, but they do not support compilers such as the java compiler. Therefore they can write code, but you still have to be connected to a computer to use it! 

In the end it is easier to lug around a laptop. Many laptops today are thin and light anyways, so there is no big deal carrying one around. But still there are people who want to program on their phones, or are in a position where it is useful.

Well, there are limited programming devices on the App Store, and even less on Google Play. There are a few, however, and if you have a couple dollars in your back pocket, they are yours.

But what if there was a language FOR the phone. What if someone created a language and compiler that would work on phones. THEN, what if that could be compiled into a web application that could be placed on any HTML site? 

At the moment, I am thinking about doing just that for Android phones. If you think it is a good idea, please tell me down below, and give me suggestions. 

I'm Back!

I am back from Alabama!

Finally. Unfortunately I was only able to get one blog out during that time. The internet there wasn't exactly perfect :P

But anyways, I'm back and ready to blog some more. Not today though! I'm friking dead tired, and I'm about to go take a nap. Soooooo, yeah. 

Stories

Speaking from a developer's viewpoint, stories are incredibly useful. They captivate your audience's minds and inspire them. So it is a very important part of your game.

This is going to be a very short blog about stories.

Many people have ideas for games and the gameplay behind it and generate a story off of the ideas. That works fine, but a better way of doing it is to take a story and create the gameplay off of what the story has.

Every developer spends ages making a story where there is no SMOP (small matter of programming) involved. I say that if there is something hard to program, GO FOR IT! Or of course you could hire a person to do that work for you...

But nevertheless, stories play an important role in our modern games.

Later I may touch on this subject again, but for now this is a quickly made post that was just so that I could post today :) I am away at the moment, so I had problems with blogger.

BLOG UPDATE: 12/09/2013

So here I'm going to take the time to update all you brilliant dudes and dudettes with a blog!

So far the blog has been accepted, no hate on it yet :) So thanks for that. I've posted 3 articles and a beginning blog update. One thing that you guys don't see is that I have a TON more articles that are drafts at the moment slightly unfinished. I'm going to try to keep a article or blog a day, just simply doing that. 

Anyways, thanks for the support, and PEACE OUT!!

The iPhone 5C

Customers all over the world rejoiced when Apple announced an affordable iPhone. The iPhone 5C was said to be all the iPhone 5, with a plastic body, therefore much cheaper.

Then the iPhone 5C debuted.

The iPhone 5C is priced at 99$ for 16GB, and $549 without a subsidy. The 32GB model adds 100$.

Apple recently has been trying to reach people on a budget, especially people in China. This price falls rather short of what they needed. For Apple, this is devastating. Android phones from providers such as Samsung have been causing Apple problems for years. Now with this Android can slowly pull ahead.

Or can they? Studies have shown that the mobile phone market is slowly degrading from its first glories. For mobile phone providers to start making it big again, they have to be able to make truly cheap affordable phones. Once they do that they open up the market to millions of people in places like China and India.

But if the phone market is degrading, what does that mean for application developers that hinge most of their business on Android and iOS? 

For now we are safe. Companies may not be selling as much, but there is still people who own phones. Ultimately, though, moving slowly on the platforms like tablets is our best option in the long run.

If you thought this was helpful, please give a +1! And if you want to continue hearing tech news, subscribe via email or directly through google plus.

The Oculus Rift: Gaming From Your Brain

If you haven't heard of the Oculus Rift yet, you are seriously out of date with gaming news! Not to worry, this post here will tell you all about this strange piece of equipment! Even if you have heard of it, you might learn something new, so stick around!

The Oculus Rift is a Virtual Reality Headset. Basically, when you input a game into the headset and slip it over your eyes, you go directly into the 3D world. Your view changes as you move your head around, just like it would in real life (struggled not to say IRL there). Obviously, it's only a headset, so you still have to have a controller to be able to do things such as shoot, but gamers do like their shiny colorful buttons, don't they?

Already many games such as Half Life 2 and Minecraft have been announced for the Oculus Rift (well, to be completely honest Minecraft has used the Rift, but it isn't officially announced yet). However, the Oculus Rift is still in alpha, and at the time of my writing we don't have a definite release date. Developers and some gamers such as the famed CaptainSparklez have managed to aquired a Oculus though, and YouTube is alive with the videos made from it. Obviously it isn't like it would be IRL (xD that time I didn't even try), but I've certainly had laughs from it.

At the moment not much is on this blog post, and that is because there is not too much that the public knows about the Rift yet. When updated news comes out, be back here for more! The best way to follow the blog is through Google Plus, but there is an email tab on the right where you can subscribe by email.

Flash - Still Alive?

This is a much debated question. The new rage on the Internet is HTML5 and Java! It started so gradually that people didn't realize that Flash was being slowly pushed out of the way. Today many people, including me, still hold onto Flash and ActionScript. The reality is, Flash is just as good as gone.

Now, don't get me wrong, Flash is still very much used, just not in the same way as it once was. There are still loads of websites that use Flash. In fact, if Flash was taken out of the Internet today it would be surprising to see just how many websites that are frequented no longer display correctly. It is also used majorly in online games on websites such as Miniclip.com and Addictingames. Many children and amateur adults use the Flash interface.

However, the new trend is HTML5, a supposedly faster, easier, and smarter way to go. It is used majorly in many websites, but it's downside is that for online games it does not provide Flash's versatility. So why is it supposedly better than Flash? If it doesn't take care of ALL of the things that Flash takes care of, there is no point, right? Well, it is a relatively new language, and there are not very many libraries for it, and almost no Internet tutorials. As the language progresses, there will be more ways to create programs such as games through HTML5.

To be completely honest, nowadays Flash is actually very outdated. Much of the scripting is old and is giving way to new languages such as Java.  It is a sad finality, but in the end it is for the best.

From what tech news says, Adobe is actually going to give up on Flash very soon and move on. (Please remember that 'very soon' could be 5 years) At that point, to use Flash people will have to use IDEs such as FlashDevelop.

I, however, am still a huge fan of Flash, and will continue to use it until it is true and gone. What side are you on? Flash or HTML5? Tell me in the comments below :)

Cheers,

Mokkoforc3

Hey Everyone!

Hello!

I have many names, Mokkoforce, MokoRocket, Luc Stringer, and my legal name, Trannie Stringer. Today I've started the TechUnleash3d blog. It's a simple blog where I'm going to post things like reviews, opinions, and other Techy stuff. At the moment I will post 2 - 3 times a week, maybe more. If the blog blows up big, I will post more! So get following!

To give you guys some background on who I am, I am a Android Developer. I create games and applications for the Play Store. I am an Indie Developer, which means that I am not affiliated with a company. I simply create applications. I do however work with some friends of mine every once and a while. Some of these friends include Roboss8, and TooCoolExeption. However, I am not just a developer for Android, I also develop Plugins for Bukkit, which is a Minecraft server software. I work closely with the server ArchaniaMC and TheCraftinNetwork.

I hope to see you guys again in a post, but for now,
Cheers,
Mokkoforc3