Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Blackberry, girl genius

Today had been one seriously exhausting day. I dropped into my bed almost as soon as I got home and slept like a log. I haven't felt this tired for a long time now. It's a real shame too, since today was the day of the secret science club, on the topic of Mars exploration. I just can't understand why I'm feeling this tired though, I don't think I've done anything that I usually don't.
 
I woke up around 10:30 pm. Since I got to home and to bed around 5 I'd say I slept close to six hours. I didn't eat anything yet so I might as well get out of bed now and grab something to eat. Sleeping early and staying awake throughout the night, this cannot be a healthy lifestyle.
 
I was rather hesitant in getting out of the bed though. There still was a little hope in my heart that I might be able to go back to sleep and stay more or less unconscious throughout the night. So I turned on my blackberry and browsed through the net for something to read/play on the net. It turns out that there is a version of simcity for blackberry devices, probably based off the released code (as a donation for OLPC) of the original simcity game. I was rather excited until I found out the game would cost about 14 dollars. Seriously, 14 dollars for a mobile game whose original code was written in the year I was born? Ridiculous!
 
I continued my search and that's pretty much the state of blackberry software ecosystem right now. Over charging for old and outdated softwares, simply because there just aren't too many softwares on the market itself. The software market for blackberry is ages beyond that of iphone or even that of android, and RIM should really pay attention to it if they are even moderately interested in putting bb into the public pocket. This trend is somewhat strange though, considering that the sdk for blackberry os is available on the net for free, and from what I see developing for bb devices would be a lot more easier than developing for symbian os, since bb os is entirely based off java with a bit of difference in byte code compilation (not to mention who have to fork a fortune over if you want to develop for symbian, something Nokia is trying to amend). I guess the bb people just don't game much? It's somewhat understandable, since I read and write email when I'm bored with bb as well, instead of running some sort of game.
 
What I don't understand is the lack of two of the most fundamental gaming programs that's almost universally available on practically every single mobile devices with keyboards. Interactive fiction interpreter program like the frotz and old school rogue-like games, like moria and nethack. I would think that the keyboard based interface of the blackberry devices would be perfect for playing those two types of games, not to mention the small sizes and relatively low complexity of the games themselves that would lend well to modification and porting. Apparently someone has time to program a poker/texas hold'em game with full graphical interfaces from scratch but don't have the time to port over existing code. It's really a nonsense.
 
Sick of looking at overpriced and crappy games for the device (although I must give credit for the cool yellow pages/google apps/notepad with full spell checking/free spreadsheet for bb), I hunted down an ongoing web comic series titled 'girl genius.'
Girl genius is a web comic set in fantasy/steampunk alternate world where there are people called 'sparks' who are capable of utilizing all sort of crazy techniques to build lumbering steam robots, death rays, clockwork devices of nefarious purpose, and floating castle/airships. In the beginning the art style put me off somewhat, but I've already grown to see them as unique rather than off-putting. The years of reading Japanese manga really seem to have done a number to my sense of aesthetics, with their impeccably polished and proportioned characters (even the homeless are clean and well proportioned!). I should really watch out for that.
 
Girl genius has one of the most intricately developed characters/world and storylines I've ever seen, and I'm amazed that they are releasing the graphic novel onto the net for us to view for free. Even if they stick with pay-to-view or paper only publishing model they would be able to make a tidy living with the girl genius universe (it's that good), so this isn't some publicity stunt.
The world of magical steampunk where people scream 'for science' as a catch phrase in popular stage plays, with mad scientists roaming around every corner? Jesus christ it must be like heaven (except for the whole death and misery part of the world torn by conflict between impossibly powerful princes and secret societies).
What if I could combine all of those lovely worlds into one cohesive form? The library of babel, the steampunk universe akin to the girl genius world, and others... It would be quite exciting. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

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