Jason Lu

This week, I am going to talk about my final programming project. It is due next Friday but I have completed most of it. In this blog, I will talk about what I have done.

The original assignment told us to make a Zelda like game. However, usable sprite sheet was limited. We couldn’t use any 3d or side-scroller. Eventually, some students basically just decided to do a side-scroller. I was one of these students. I had two reasons for doing a side-scroller. One was the lack of sprites. The second was the similarities between Jacky’s projects and mines. Throughout the year Jacky and I have been helping each other a lot. In the end, our projects end up being pretty similar. This time, I did a side-scroller and Jacky did a Zelda game.

On my second day, most people were focused on sprites. I was busy trying to understand gravity. Although we received many lessons, gravity was not one of them. This means everyone who was doing a side-scroller needed to figure out gravity on their own. I ended up searching up tutorials on youtube and it worked. By the 5th day, I had the level design, enemy animation, projectiles, and obstacles figured out. Five days after winter break, I was essentially done.
However, our teacher moved the due date to next Friday. This was because we had exams and missed a work period during a snow day. My most recent addition to the game was background music. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can and much more. The website we submit our project to has a limit of 50,000 MB.

Overall, I had a lot of fun working on this project. I managed to incorporate almost everything I know. I even added some other stuff like music. Even after the project is due, I still want to expand it. In the end, I manage to make something that resembles a game by the end of the semester.

This year, my family and I went to Montreal. Every year we go to Montreal to meet with family. However, on this year, my grandparents didn’t go with us.

We had to wake up early in the morning. I mostly packed up the night before. That day, we drove to Montreal. The ride wasn’t too bad. It took around 6 hours to get to Montreal. When we got there, Kalen and I headed to the basement. After a few hours, our uncles arrived. We then played Mario Kart until dinner started. Midway through our session, Harrison arrived. Then we continued after dinner. The first day just getting to Montreal and playing games.

The next day, was the Christmas dinner. Again, Harrison, Kalen, and I where busy playing Mario Kart. Soon it was time for dinner. At dinner, there was potato, beef, chicken, stuffing, and a bunch of other food. I mainly ate potatoes with some meat. After we ate Kalen, Harrison, and I went back to the basement. However this time it was just us. the Uncles didn’t really join us until late into the night because of the party. That night, we played Mario Kart and Bomberman on the switch until 1-2 am in the morning.

On the final day, we again played a lot of games. Harrison again came over and we played a 48 round Mario Kart marathon. That was probably the most noteworthy thing we did that day. After dinner, we played this new game. I forgot the name but was a telltale story. The players basically had to find clues, and choose options that would affect the story. The telltale story was the last thing we did at Montreal. The next morning we packed up our bags and left Montreal.

In the end, I had a great time. I meet with family and I got top to play with the switch. My favorite thing to do there was probably playing with the switch. Overall, I had a great time in Montreal.

This week I will be talking about my new cat Darci. She is A Balinese cat. The reason we chose this breed, was that it produces less Fel D1 protein. This protein was the one that started allergic reactions. So far, I only one full day with her. So I will talk about my current experience.

When mommy, uncle Johnny, and I picked her up she was very noisy. During the one hour ride, she was meowing constantly. However, when we got back Darci decided to hide in the corner. After about five hours, Darci began to open up. I managed to play with her for a good two hours. Instead of meowing, she made a purring noise. The purring noises sounded more like a stomach growling. That night, I had to sleep in the basement with Darci. At first, I tried to restrict her access to the rest of the basement. Unfortunate, she jumped passed the couch. Next morning (today), she was much more active. Even auntie Tina and Lily came over to see Darci.

I personal like Darci. She is very sociable and made a lot of friends. I am very curious to see how she would react to Juno. Currently, she primarily stuck in the basement. The next step is to get her to roam or get familiar with the house. However, all the noise on the main floor is making that hard. Overall, Darci is a welcomed family member. I’m also slightly concerned she isn’t eating enough.
In the end, I Darci enjoys her new home.

Sleep is essential to a healthy lifestyle and a lack of it isn’t good for you. This week, I will be talking about the benefits of sleeping early. There are many benefits but I wanted to point out 2 of them. I will also talk about my personal experience with sleep deprivation.

One benefit is the ability to be attentive. This benefit can literally save your life. Many studies say sleep deprivation can lead to car accidents and many other disasters. Being attentive means you will also do better in school. You can listen to the teacher and know what to do. You will also be able to think clearly. This is crucial if you have a pop quiz. Overall, being attentive is very important.

Another benefit, being healthy. For example, sleeping can help with digestive problems. Or if you don’t sleep you could lower your lifespan. However, the most surprising thing was weight gain. Apparently, sleep deprivation will make lazy on top of being unattentive. So when you wake up, you become less willing to make a healthy meal. I have experienced this many time because of my laziness. On most days I would just eat bread, yogurt, and a cookie (if there is any). This can lead to an unhealthy diet. On top of that, you do some digesting during your sleep.

In the end, sleep is a thing everyone needs. You can’t live without it. Even so, I believe you need a balance of sleep. I find that I get slight headaches. In the end, I learned I should sleep more (8-9 hours of sleep).

This week, I will be sharing my thoughts on Fallout 4. Fallout 4 is a first-person RPG by Bethesda Softworks (also the creators of the Elder Scrolls series). Fallout 4 was released 2 years ago, and I got the game 6 months ago. In 2 months I beat the campaign and for a few months didn’t touch it. However, in the last month, I decided to play the campaign again this time with mods.

The story of the game is really simple. The player is a mother/father that lost their spouse and missing son. This all happen, when the family was frozen through cryogenic technology. For the rest of the game, you travel the apocalypse/wasteland of Boston. During the game, you can find 13 companions and 3 factions. Companions can help you fight, while the factions help you progress through the game. Personally, my favorite part of the game is the gunplay. The Fallout series has a special gun mechanic called VATS. VATS freezes the action and lets you target enemy body parts. This system is super fun and great for getting headshots.

One of the reasons I decided to play Fallout 4 again, is because of mods. Mods are add-ons created by the community. Mods can be a weapon or a quest. Currently, I am using graphics enhancers and weapon mods. I really like mods, they can add a lot to a vanilla game.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. Fallout is already a great game without the mods. However, the mods add more fun and gameplay. In the end, I look forward to completing the game a second time.

This Friday, my family and I celebrate my cousin birthday. To celebrate we went to Akasaka Teppanyaki. Akasaka Teppanyaki is a Japanese restaurant that serves sushi and Teppanyaki cuisine. Teppanyaki meals are cooked in front of you using a large iron griddle. Usually, Teppanyaki meals contain beef, shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken, and assorted vegetables.

My family and I(including Doris), arrived at the restaurant at around 7:15 pm. When we arrived I immediately looked the menu. There weren’t too many options to choose from. Including the very expensive dish, I only saw 7 options. I eventually chose the Kobe Kabi. The Kobe Kabi is a lamb dish with short ribs, lamb chop, and fried rice. As I watched the chef cook our food I was reading my book. Most of the tricks that caught my eye, had a fire in it.

Overall, I had a great experience. I did go to Akasaka Teppanyaki multiple times but its very rare. This is because the restaurant is pretty far and the food is expensive. The meal I ate cost around $30-$40. The meal daddy ate cost around $90. Even with its high price tag, the food was delicious. In the end, I think Akasaka Teppanyaki is a great place. I would defiantly go there again if someone else is paying.

This week about Doris birthday party. The birthday party started at around 7 PM at auntie Michelle’s place. When my family and I arrived, most of the guests were already there. Kalen and I immediately went upstairs. Upstairs, we found all the boys playing with their Nerf guns or iPads. After 10 minutes, dinner was ready. There were kinds of food like noodles, fried rice, beef and much more. I was one of the first to finish eating, so I waited for everyone else to finish. Once, most of the boys finished eating. We went to our house to play Nerf. Kalen didn’t want to play, so the teams ended up being divided very unfairly. It ultimately became three versus one. Since I was all by myself I eventually was defeated. During the second round, I bolstered my defenses. Unfortunately, the other team gained another member.

Midway through our game, it was time for cake. Everyone in my house went back to Michelle’s house. After singing happy birthday, we finally got to eat cake. There ended up being three different cakes. There was a chocolate cake, vanilla cake, and an ice cream cake. I personally really like the ice cream cake. Once, everyone finished eating their cake. We went back to my place to continue our game. Unfortunately, the game was dragging on and I became bored. In the end, Nathan enjoying to my side and I quit the game. I later went downstairs to play with the dog. Soon, most of the guest had to leave. Once, most of the guests left Kalen Nathan and I cleaned up the mess. After cleaning the mess, we ended up watching Flash on the TV.

In the end, I had an enjoyable time. The food was good, and I got to play some Nerf. Unfortunately, some people did not participate. In the end, I hope to have another great party.

This week I will talk about my current computer science assignment. In this assignment, we need to create a Pokemon battle simulation. So, I will talk about what I have completed so far, what I plan to do, and my current problems.

So far, I have been doing alright. I have completed the part where you need to input your characters stats. I have also created a mini tutorial for the buttons. Some of the things I’m working on are the buttons. I need to create an attack button, heal button, defense button, attack boost button, and magic attack button. Each button is unique and some are harder than others. For example, heal button and attack boost button are easy. I also might know how to the defense button.

Unfortunately, there are some things that I need help with. For example the attack button. One thing I definitely need help with is the enemy move generator. For example, the Ai can either attack, defend, or heal. I need to get the Ai to pick one, then create a random number for it (how much damage you will do and how much you heal) based on your stats. I also need to work on the enemy transition. For example, when the first enemy dies I need to generate another one.

Later, I hope to include other features. Maybe a title card and you win screen. I might also change some sprites. However, I can’t do that until I finish the actual project. In the end, I still have work to do on the project

This week I will be talking about the game Castle Crashers. I recently got this game from Nathan. In this blog, I’ll be talking about my thoughts on the game and experience.

I have already played this game on the Xbox, so I already know a lot about the game. Castle Crashers is 2D style game and you can play with three other people. The plot revolves around saving four princesses and a crystal from an evil wizard. On your quest, you gather exp, weapons, and pets. In my opinion, the story is lacking. However, the game wasn’t made with a good story in mind. If you get this game you playing for the laughs, gameplay/art style, and multiplayer.

The game has you choose one of four the knights. However, if you play with your friends there might be fighting over the orange knight (The overall best starter character). From that point, you start the story. After the evil wizard steals a crystal, you fight hoards of enemies to retrieve it. Unfortunately, the crystal has been taken to another continent. You will then need to retrieve three items (spyglass, compass, and steering wheel) for a ship crew to take you to the next content. Along the way, you’ll find two of the four princesses. Each time you save a princess, your character will kiss her. If you play with your friends you enter a PvP situation. Whoever wins kisses the princess.

Overall, I think this is a very good game. It won’t take very long to finish the game (It took Kalen, Nathan, and I 12 hours to finish it). However, playing with friends can be fun. Besides the main story, there’s also plenty of mini-games. In the end, a great game that you should buy if on sale.

This Wednesday, I went to my Dad’s workplace instead of school. This is because the grade 9s were coming to Richmond green. The grade 9s need to come to our school to prepare for the transition to high school. Since there was nowhere else to put us the school board sent us to our parent’s workplace.

I woke up at 7:30 am, the same time I normally wake up. However at 8:30 my dad and I headed to his workplace near downtown. On the way there, I tried to sleep a bit. When we arrived we entered a skyscraper and went to the ninth floor. We then entered the part of the building pVelocity owned. pVelocity was the company daddy worked for. In a meeting room, I meet Sidney. Sidney also had Bring your kid to work day and was the daughter of one of my dad’s co-workers.

Soon we were waiting for the co-op student that would tour us. While we waited, my dad taught us about the relationship between companies, consumers, and a bunch of other stuff. Eventually, the co-op student arrived. He was named Adil and he talked what pVoelocity does in general. However, we ended up talking about universities. Adil then gave us a tour of the building. Soon it was time for lunch. We decided to go to Swiss Chalet, which was right across the street. For lunch, I had chicken and fries. The rest of the day was spent sitting through a meeting. It was also really boring because I didn’t understand the topics. In the end, I had a good time. I got a day out of school, and I learned about universities. Overall, I learned more about the workplace, the relationship between companies and consumers, and about getting into a university.