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It is hard to imagine that 16 years ago I began a journey that would eventually lead me to discovering who and what I was, and would reshape my path for all time to come.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QZ9yJda.gif)
That journey was, of course, Starcraft. But the real path was undertaken when I began making custom AI for it in 2000.
This journey would lead me to attempting to actuate my dreams of creation.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5R1EWMEl.jpg)
Some years ago this was me trying to figure out just what the fuck I was doing. I still don't actually know. I'm just a little more salty about it.
From 3d graphics to music composition to voice acting, I attempted nearly everything. Skills and tools I didn't know existed before I threw myself into them.
Unfortunately, voice acting is kind of a useless skill. You can't make projects with voice acting or writing. That just isn't a thing. I still keep up with it, putting in a few practice lines every few months. But I don't really do much with it. Not yet. It's just not a very useful talent toi have. Not like making carriers.
https://soundcloud.com/iskatumesk/black-sun-retribution-pride-final
https://soundcloud.com/iskatumesk/black-sun-retribution-adjak
I even learned how to use my unedited voice for acting. As someone who only ever talked to people over the internet this was extremely difficult. Only through a few years of casting did I learn how my own voice could be manipulated to great potential.
https://soundcloud.com/iskatumesk/apex-h-talpharaxx-test-new
Meanwhile I'm still trying to remember how I did old content. Forgetting things is common when you have no reason to actually do voice acting.
Just that one chance. That one chance to relive the golden age of Starcraft, when I can learn and dream again. That's what I want. Unreal 4 may well be able to give that to me.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4tmjVxZl.png)
I didn't think I would live to pull this off back in 2003. But the work is a waste. I have to find a way to bring such bursts of potential into alignment and shape them into a living thing.
Conception, porting, design, and a mix of mismatched skillsets. Unreal 4 is the playground that can let these mesh together. I can model terrain and doodads, or port them and remaster them. I can port the characters. I can convert and repurpose textures. I know how to take the surface data of textures and use it to build higher resolution, highly customizable variants. I can make all of the sounds and voices. I know it's possible to build this. I know it's within my capabilities. I have figured out how to bridge the gaps of my ability to create. I have to conquer the fear to try.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0rFDzUnl.png)
My time will come or I will die fighting for it. In either way, I will know peace. So there is no reason to be afraid. Even so, conquering fear is not a logical thing. Depression is not a logical thing. There is no magic solution. There is no drug. There is nothing but willpower.
Can old dogs learn new tricks? Maybe not. But old dogs know their way around that broken fence. Sometimes, you gotta skate. Sometimes I don't even skate. I just slide, accruing immense amounts of rugburn. What matters is making the cut, neh?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fIsqWAkl.png)
Starcraft. What an unusual little piece of software. I would not believe such a strange and mishappen life could be conjured from discovering it, had I not lived that life myself. I hope Unreal 4 can bring justice to all those sleepy years. To the 28 years of my otherwise pointless existence. I must find myself again.
Looking back on all my blogs I cannot help but see that hope was never realized. I kept searching for a golden age that could not live again. So, understandably, I do not have any hope for the future. But that will not stop me from trying. There was never a greater chance than now to make right the wrongs of the past and start over. At the end of life a new life may yet be born. In that I find solace. It will all be over soon either way. The long, difficult road. The labor and the dreams that drive it.
 
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May I ask what software you used for the Black Sun: Retribution - Pride clip? That clip is amazing.
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Adobe Audition 1.5.
/edit
Specifically, I used some directx plugins and autotune within Audition 1.5. I had two separate castings and two separate edits, one of which was very old, but I could not recreate it for the radioplay. I later melded the two using Sony Vegas, but Audition could do that as well (just the multitrack editor in vegas is far superior, and I don't normally use multitracks to make the actual voices).
The edits are not very unlike Talpharaxx, and usually only use 1-2 filters.
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Oh, sweet. Epic just released a portion of their assets from their Kite demo. My master material I made for remastering ported assets works perfectly with their assets, too.
Essentially I can change any of their rock textures to use a variety of other textures while retaining surface information like color distribution (which gets turned into a mask). It greatly expands the possibilities I can use just with the few meshes that were released.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8cPSt99l.png)
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United States13143 Posts
On April 03 2015 13:38 IskatuMesk wrote:
I'm actually more interested in knowing what that green glowy thing in the bottom right is, I played a ton of HOMM3 and I don't recognize it.
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I believe that's a gateway. I know there's a reason they look weird... maybe it's one of the expansions or patches or something we were playing on.
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On April 03 2015 19:35 IskatuMesk wrote:
I believe that's a gateway. I know there's a reason they look weird... maybe it's one of the expansions or patches or something we were playing on.
That's indeed a two-way monolith, added in Armageddon's Blade, together with another three.
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United States13143 Posts
On April 03 2015 20:22 Kurumi wrote:Show nested quote +On April 03 2015 19:35 IskatuMesk wrote:
I believe that's a gateway. I know there's a reason they look weird... maybe it's one of the expansions or patches or something we were playing on. That's indeed a two-way monolith, added in Armageddon's Blade, together with another three.
Huh; I played with AB and I remember monoliths, but I also remember them looking different.
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Hong Kong9176 Posts
i take offense with the blog title
sometimes u just gotta.
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TLADT24920 Posts
You have quite the struggle there. Just hang in there and who knows, you may find just what you are looking for.
On April 03 2015 13:38 IskatuMesk wrote:
What game is this from?
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United States13143 Posts
On April 04 2015 10:51 BigFan wrote:You have quite the struggle there. Just hang in there and who knows, you may find just what you are looking for. What game is this from?
Heroes of Might and Magic 3, one of the best TBSes ever.
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Heroes 3 was that game with the best RMG. A horde of Vampires blocking your town on day 1 to a one-way monolith that leads god knows where. Then you find a pack of Rust Dragons guarding a narrow passage where the other end is guarded by a throne of wyvern matriarchs and no actual loot to be found.
Then you have HoMM6 and "what's a RMG?"
Also, 3 had extremely good music and great atmosphere.
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TLADT24920 Posts
ah I see, cool. Heard of the game but never actually tried it. The older graphics are very enticing though so maybe I should give it a go from the beginning ;;
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I was introduced into the game only a short time ago (I think around 2008ish). Like Brood War it has aged pretty well, and the RMG offers a huge amount of replayability.
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United States13143 Posts
I actually really like HOMM6 too, but it's very different from 3 and 3 is a classic.
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I was really hopeful for 6. The only major downside was the youtube spinners in the menus. Unfortunately, it didn't ship with an RMG, so I gave up on it much like I did 5 (who at least got an RMG several expansions in, but holy god did the AI turns take forever).
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It's unfortunate but the number of people that remember groups like CamSys, tools like StarDraft and the birth of the Starcraft modding community is all but decimated.
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Yeah. The most we have now is people who think maps are mods and have never even heard of total conversions or their ilk before. The amount of top mappers in sc2 who have no aspirations of making big projects or learning new things is really eye-opening at how the blizzard community has changed since its golden era.
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EPT
