Torn between three directions...

[Shockwave]

This post is probably half serious at best so it's best to take some or most of it with a pinch of salt. I got to thinking before that I had had enough of the computer and left the PC forever, selling my old system and getting rid of all my old source code in the process.. I really did intend at that time to quit for good. I lived happily but not ever after, something was missing and I made some tentative steps to get back in touch with the PC and it seemed that some of the people that I had chummed around with before were still around.

One way or another I ended up coming back to the computer, a sense of shame came over me that I had let the DBF webspace expire so I re-instated it and then before I know it, here we are.. DBF are back again, going strong with nearly 100 members on the dbf / Gravity messageboard in less than 6 months.

Do I spend my time on the forums?

Or Do I code?

Or Do I split my time?

I've been splitting my time and recently I have felt some urge and pressure to produce something mainstream which I could do.... But you know something? It's not me. My roots are in my past, I was a part of the Amiga scene when it was in it's hayday and it's a fact that I can never deny so sometimes I have to indulge myself and do dumb shit like the attachment to this post. This attachment was coded for fun, if anyone seriously wants it for their prod / group, let me know.

And yet I feel guilty for this because I know that other people in DBF and Gravity are pushing the envelope and I am in my comfort zone coding lame shit and easy stuff. Perhaps I should just administrate the fucking board and have done with it but that's not me either.

I am not expecting any answers and I am not going to dissappear again like I did before but I don't have much direction at the moment and I'm wondering whether to push myself or just keep myself happy and code the stuff I luuurve to code.

Or maybe it is me and I am just afraid of coding newschool stuffs. Perhaps I will love it when and if I get started on the new stuff.
I just don't fucking know but time will tell.

[Ghost^BHT]

My unsolicited opinion- Do what you like to do and be happy with what you do. If you try and please everyone.... you know the rest.

[Shockwave]

Yeah I know dude. You and I are the same like that I think and red has it's influence too if you know what I mean Maybe I should have gone to bed tonight eh? !

[Clyde]

Shockwave dude, do what you know best and create the stuff you want and love to make. I know that everytime you try and steer away from the computer, you'll be back at it at some stage. It's in your blood, and your a bloody good coder to boot. I recommend venturing into new circles at some stage, just to break the normski.

To be honest this forum has surpassed my expectations, as going by the other sites we used to trawl the love is lost somewhat over at them. I thought we'd only have a hand full of cool dudes, as alot of them have dissappeared. I've even felt like doing the same; as at this moment in time through my personal life, it's not going too well, and this may sound sad, but all I really have to pass the time with, is my trusty PC.

It just goes to show that we're onto a winner again, just like the good old days. And all this is down to everbodies friendlyness and helpfullness. And not to mention everyone's passion. And another point, I love seeing yours and everyone elses prods, as it inspires me, I may not have a dickie bird of an idea how the effects are done. But I really do enjoy to watch and listen to them.

And also if you need to concentrate on an idea for a routine, and are afraid of not being able to do your rounds, then dont worry about it, there's enough of us mods to sort out any misbehaviour. And a growing cool member base to help people out. And the board will still be here the following day.

I appologies if some stuff I've typed doesnt make too much sense; my medication is in full swing with my brain cell, but Im sure you'll get the general jist.

Cheers and all the very best,
Mike aka Clyde.

[Yaloopy]

Hi.

I'm going to go and be an asshole right here and say that you should code some newschool stuff. I mean, we all know that I can't code for shit, but it has to be said that when the Amiga scene was at it's peak that stuff was newschool. It's been years now and as DBF progressed you've stuck with the oldschool stuff and that's fair enough, but why not come up with some proper 1 byte demos or whatever the fuck those wankers over at pouet and so on would like to be the norm and fuck 'em all.

I mean, and I know I'm in rant mode now, don't do it because of them, and definitely don't do it for them, but do it so that you can keep your code innovative and fresh and any other stupid fucking buzzword I can't think of right now. Look, you've got a great fucking team at the moment; made even better recently by bringing Fryer on board, and you could really make a go of some of this newtech shit. With your creative fuckin' genius I'm sure you could retain the oldschool vibe that's in all of the other DBF demos but do it with some hardcore modern code behind it.

As far as the forums go. To be fair, they're not gonna go to shit if you leave them be for a while. I'm not talking about taking huge amounts of time off, but it you are working on some code you don't need to be on here every day, or most days. People on here will understand and every time you release a demo, oldschool or new, that justifies any time you do dedicate to that. Which isn't to say that I actually want you to take any time at all away from the forum. I'm not here anywhere near as much as I would like to be recently, but I'm still lurking when I can and it's great to see you posting!

Now, I'm just in a shit mood at the moment and I don't expect you to actually code any "newschool" demos or take time away from the board or anything like that, but I just thought I'd throw some random $0.02 in there.

[Shockwave]

Wow! It's nice to know that people care. Thanks Bill, thanks Clyde and thanks Loopy.

Lately I have been uploading a lot of stuff over at Intro Inferno, I still have hundreds of cracktros and intros to upload but as they are just part of my collection I have no screen shots so basically I've had to watch all these old cracktros again and it took me back even further to when I started off and I just thought for a few days.. I wonder how it would look if I did a cracktro, not that I am going to crack anything you understand...

In Freebasic I released 3 intros so far, one of them was a classic cracktro style, another was just plain wierd and the last one I did was more of a demo and actually a little bit of a progression. Fryer is indeed a cool addition to the group and he's done some absolutely unbelievable stuff which isn't on view yet and I'm even helping out in it in a small way.. I was just blowing off some steam with that post I suppose.

Sometimes it helps to just get it all off your chest.

As far as what I am going to do next is concerned, I don't have any idea! I'll probably keep coding the oldschool stuff even if I don't release much of it but perhaps there is reward in pursuing something more new-school.. But damn it there's hardly any fucker coding oldschool style stuff in the scene these days.

People love Farbrausch and their demos have a distinctive style.
You know you are looing at an ASD demo without seeing a logo.
Traction have a definate style.
What's wrong with having an oldschool style? Hmm. Most probably nothing and if people don't like the stuff or even if they love it it doesn't matter.
I'm going to have a damn good try to get more and more people into these forums and coding demos be it oldschool or newschool.

I'm just racking my brains for an idea at the moment

[Rbz]

Just one thing:  With nearly 100 members, Do you think that people don't like your work ?

There's only two people here that can be able to make a cool forum with alot of people - you and Clyde. And the truth is: if you and Clyde stop posting, the forum is dead, believes me, I know that from the old forum, and if something like that happen again , will be my excuse to stop everything too...

As AlienEye said: Do what you like to do and be happy with what you do !

[zawran]

So far just about all the demo stuff I have done have been retro amiga like. And I have to say that I don't really care what people think of it, as long as I am having fun making them. And I think that you should do the same, just make sure that you are having fun with it, and then don't care too much about what others think you should or shouldn't be doing. Although it seems like there aren't that many left who truely enjoys this pixel retro stuff, it doesn't make it less valid. Keep it up and don't let anything put you down.

I myself have been struggling with what I want out of programming for a while now, which is also why there haven't been much of anything released. I have a complete graphics library coded for freebasic, just haven't figured out what to use it for yet. I have a ton of stuff made with blitzmax, but also haven't figured out what I want out of that. I am almost certain that if I am getting the inspiration/motivation again to start coding a bit more often and a bit more seriously like I used to, that I will be using freebasic for fun retro stuff, and blitzmax for more serious application/game stuff.

As you probably already know, programmers tend to hit a mental block every now and then where there just isn't any motivation/inspiration to do much of anything and where the future doesn't seem all that clear, but from my own experience it usually only last for a couple of months and then I am back at it once again.

[Shockwave]

Rbraz, please don't worry I am not thinking of abandoning the forum, I am truely greatful for all of you and I feel quite humble. 

Zawran, thank you for your nice words too.

[ninogenio]

refering to the first post.

i would go with what ever makes you happy shockwave.
i used to code like mad trying a bit too hard but then i just thought fuck it and slowed down to a level i was happy with now i find new stuff seems to come to me easyer.

[DrewPee]

Shockwave,
I agree with ninogenio - just do what you enjoy - seems like most other people on this forum like what you do - I know I do!
I've not coded anything good yet - well anything worth being on here! But without people like you (and this forum) where would i be . . . ?
I appreciate all the help, not just the help from you but the help from this forum - which in turn without you wouldnt exist - or at least not like it does now.
From my first post - you have been nothing but helpful! Keep up the very good work but ONLY if you can!

Andy aka DrewPee aka Falcon

[Shockwave]

It surprises me that there are other people in the middle of the Summer slump too. I thought it was just me

Thanks for the encouragement. This board is for everyone, it's not really mine, it's just that somehow the community seems to gravitate around this place, I just feel privilaged to be here and happier with my old style

[ninogenio]

ohh and btw i thought cpre was cool.

[Shockwave]

Cheers, I may even tart it up and release it, you never know.

[Clyde]

Yeah those raster / copper bars are really snazzy dude.

[DrewPee]

You just gotta release that man! reminds me sooooo much of my amiga days . . . . those were the days . . . !!!

Drew

[Shockwave]

Lol, ok. I'll do something with some coppers. Maybe we should have a coppers competition here or something.