nickelndime

Sunday is here, and Sunday is a day of reflection. So as I sit here watching American Football and stuffing myself with chicken wings, I thought it would be good to do a review of my content and tie it in with the CBC (Content Builders Club). After this article you'll see why joining the CBC is a must for anyone starting out on Coil. Let's get started with the most important topic, me!

What I'm Working On:

I been having a lot of fun with the, “I'm Coding a Game” series. As the weekend approached, I finished off with an animation of the main character. Now, if you didn't read the article, in it you saw that I became rather frustrated drawing the character and animating him. Enter Adam, a member of the CBC. Just by coincidence he wrote an article on “Pixel Art Tutorial.” Now, I want to go back and redesign my character... or have Adam do it? Message me Adam we'll talk!

The next article I posted on Coil I asked readers to send me song requests. I didn't think anybody was paying attention. Well, I was mistaken because two people responded. Boy, they each threw me a curve ball. First Sandra, requested, “Fiddlers Green” by the Tragically Hip. Quite a folk sounding tune, I had never heard it before. It's in open E tuning, which is cool because I don't get to play in that tuning very often. If you're not familiar with Sandra, her blogs are so inspiring, and optimistic. Definitely give her a read, and a follow.

The other request was from Lauren, who requested, “Vienna” by Billy Joel. Again another curve ball, but that's okay. It's awesome that people from different states and countries are giving me requests. It takes me out of my comfort zone and makes me learn songs I would never think of looking at. Lauren is new to the CBC and her latest article, “When History is “Relatable AF”, takes a historical figure, and as the title states, and makes them relatable AF.

Ladies I look forward to learning these two songs and posting them. Until then here is a classical piece I did yesterday. It's titled, “Tanz”, and it is a piece from [](https://coil.com/u/moncho) the Renaissance era. This is a piece I give to my guitar students to introduce them to finger picking. It's the only Renaissance piece I know. I have visions of taking this song to the local Renaissance festival and playing it over, and over again until I'm asked to leave. If I was a D&D character, my alignment would be chaotic neutral.

https://www.cinnamon.video/nickelndime/watch?v=174680015454078152

JOIN THE CBC TODAY!!!

Everything I just wrote about is why you should join the CBC. It's so much more fun to have a sounding board to bounce your ideas off of, or have your ideas influence someones else's ideas. If you're getting discouraged because nobody is looking at your articles, the CBC is for you. If you want to be part of an active and vibrant community, the CBC has a Telegram chat that is going 24/7. I'll log into the channel and see that I have missed 800 lines of text and it's only been a couple of hours. If I must be truthful, I don't always read everything that is said. Contact Ken today, if you're interested. Tell him NickelNDime sent you, he'll know who you are talking about.

Part – 1

Part – 2

In this installment, I added animation to the main character(Chester Deadeye Killingsworth III) for when he runs, and jumps. That may not sound like a lot; a simple four cell animation, and a two cell jumping motion, but there is quite a bit of code to make that all come alive. So let's start with the artwork.

For the running I created and animated a four cell GIF.

Look at him go!!!

I used a simple GIF editor online, and made it 48 x 48 pixels. When I first started I thought, All I need to do is draw four cells of a guy running, how are could that be? Two hours later I was pulling my hair out screaming, “Why must I fail at everything I have ever tried?” but I digress. Eventually I got an animation that didn't look like it came from straight out of my nightmares. For the jumping I only used two cells, and did not animate them. One would be used when jumping towards the heavens, and the other would be used when falling towards the earth. After all the fun drawing was done, it was off to code it.

Ladies, if this code gets you too hot and bothered, perhaps you should COIL elsewhere.

Okay, let me see if I can break down the code. Again I apologize if I make a mistake, I'm still learning this as well.

The first IF statement:

If (!place_meeting(x,y+1, Owall)

This states that if the sprite(Chester) is not touching the ground go to the subroutine below. The subroutine is as follows:

{

sprite_index = SplayerA;

image_speed = 0;

if (sign(vsp) > 0) image_index = 1; else image_index = 0;

}

This code follows the IF statement. If the sprite going up in the air, use the jumping picture. If not, than use the falling picture.

Now to follow up the original IF statement is the ELSE statement:

else

{

image_speed = .125;

if (hsp == 0)

{

sprite_index = Splayer;

}

else

{

sprite_index = SplayerR;

}

}

What this states is that if the character is not in the air, run this routine. This routine sets the animation speed, and if the sprite is moving switch to the run GIF.

Lastly there was this little bit of code:

if (hsp != 0) image_xscale = sign(hsp);

This line of work cut my work in half. If you noticed up top Chester is running to the right. I didn't need to animate him running to the left because of this code. What it this line states is flip the animation depending on which direction he is running.

Next I will be adding a weapon system, so good ol' Chester will have arms. Stay tuned!

If you like what you read follow me, I have many a good blogs!

I'm also on the Twitter. @nickelndime06

Part 1

In my last installment I covered sprites, objects, and was able to make a basic scene with a movable sprite. In this installment I added a better graphic to my main sprite, and cleaned up the scene a bit.

When I first started the game my sprite looked like this:

Now... feast upon some of my best work!!!

Now I know what Michelangelo meant when he said, "It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David."

He goes by the name of Chester Deadeye McKillingsworth III. He fought for the 1st regiment back in the war of ought 6. When the war was over, his personal battle had just begun. No longer could he go back to guessing people's weight at the carnival. Oh, did I forget to mention, he came from Carnie folk? Yeah, his mother was the bearded lady, and his father was the strong man. Those memories, like his humanity, were now a thing of the past

If you're wondering how I came up with such a vivid back story it's because I spent many evenings during high school playing Dungeons and Dragons instead of talking to girls... I was pretty, pretty cool.

#noregrets!!!

As for the actual programming, I did redo the main sprite, and changed the color of the background so it's easier to see the character.

So, Keelan booked us a gig at the Barn Sanctuary yesterday, which turned into the longest set we have ever played. The Barn Sanctuary is dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating abused farm animals. It seems they are making a pretty big name for themselves, and this “Moonster Mash”, was a way to give back to the community. There were tours of the farm and the rescued animals, and they had all kinds of tents set up. We were set up right by the barn:

The calm before the storm.

A little back story to this, the night before was pure hell for my wife and I. Anyone who has had a seven week old baby knows that sometimes they don't want to sleep. So my wife and I, were up all night trying to sooth him to sleep. I believe my Fitbit logged my REM sleep at about 17 minutes. The morning of the gig I was in a groggy haze, and for some reason I kept thinking the gig started at 12:00p.m. It wasn't till I walked passed my wife in our living room when she asked, “Shouldn't you be on the road?”

“Why, it's 10:20 and we don't start till noon.”

“Umm... I'm pretty sure you guys start at 11:00, and it takes about 40 minutes to get there.”

“Babe,” I said confidently as I pulled out my phone and went to the link and continued, “It says right here that Nick and Keelan go on at... DAMN IT!”

I ran out to my car and squealed out of the driveway, threw the car in drive, and slammed on the gas. Still wearing my Saturday lounge around clothes which consisted of my flannel and jeans, I thought to myself, Maybe I could go for the 'rugged look.'

Google map estimated my travel time to be 45 mins, I made it in 35. This left me just enough time to pull up to the tent and help Keelan set up.

If you time it prefect, your band mate will set the whole thing up. They don't teach stuff like that at Julliard.

“You look awful,” We're Keelan's first words to me.

So much for going for the rugged look. As I gave Keelan a look over, it was my turn to repay to compliment. “You don't look so hot yourself.”

“Dude, I haven't got any sleep since Tuesday, and I think one of the twins gave me a cold.” Keelan did have a rough week. His wife went into labor 7 weeks early, so his newborn was still in the NIC unit at the hospital.

I put my arm on his shoulder, “Dude, let's just play this thing and get outta here. It's only a three hour gig and nobody is going to be filming this, so nobody is going to remember that two disheveled looking guys provided the entertainment for this event.”

“Three hours?” Keelan replied confused, then continued, “You didn't read the whole text message did you?” He pointed to the billboard:

11-2 Nick and Keelan, and at 3 – 5 we have... Nick and Keelan.

“Ugh...” I groaned. This was going to be a long day. “Still, I don't think anybody outside of this event is going to see us looking like a bunch of vagrants.”

I was incorrect on that front as well. You see, while we were playing there was a gentleman with a high end camera filming the event. He got several shots of us playing. Later when one of the speakers got up on stage during our break, he announced that they were filming a documentary on the Barn Sanctuary for the Animal Planet Channel. So if you're watching the Animal Planet Channel in a couple months and you see two rough looking middle aged men playing their guitars and singing... That's Nick and Keelan.

For the actual performance I have to say, we did pretty well. It felt more like a marathon then a sprint. Usually when we play a two or three hour gig, we play all the songs we know are going to get people clapping and singing. That just wasn't possible. There were times when all the seats were filled, and times when they were completely empty. So we played a lot of slow tunes just to fill out the day. Towards the end I could barley sing a note. I honestly felt like a major league pitcher trying to close out the game. It was gratifying to know that we never repeated a song. So it's good to know that Nick and Keelan have 5 hours of material if need be. We got lots of warm feedback and hopefully they'll have us back next year.

Through history there has been many great game makers. To name a few:

There was this guy...

Shigeru Miyamoto - Creator of Donky Kong

And this guy...

Sid Meier - Creator of the Civilization series

...and now there is ME!!!

I'm the one on your left, in case there was any confusion. RIP Captain Whiskers!

After the 30 day CBC ended I had no idea what I was going to blog about, and then it came to me. I've been wanting to code a game for awhile now, and I thought it would be fun to document the process.

I bought Game Maker Studio version 1.4 almost 3 years ago, and totally forgot that I had it. When I got this idea to see if I could code a game, I scoured the internet to see what was a easy/cheap programming language to make games and my search lead me to Yo-yo games which are the makers of Game Maker Studio. Seeing as I had already purchased the software, I just downloaded the program, and I've been toying around all morning. I found a great tutorial series on the internet by
Shaun Spalding. If you're new to GameMaker Studio and want to dive right in, watch this guys videos.

What Did I Program Today?

Today I just wanted to get familiar with the program and see if I could make anything work. Blogging about what I learned helps me remember it. I created two sprites, and created their object counterparts. A sprite is an entity in the game, and the object is the action of that entity. Try to think of the sprite as the noun, and the object as the verb. The two sprites I created were the action figure:

Here's a close up of the main character:

and the Wall/Floor:

You're thinking, "Man he can play music, write, and DRAW TOO?"

Next I wrote code to assign to these sprites, in their objects. I created two objects and assigned them to the Splayer sprite. The two objects created were create, and step. Create code is applied on startup of the game, and step is created each and every frame in the game.

Did you get all that?

This was the create object window. Here I assigned 4 variables to the splayer sprite. This means when the game starts the character has these attributes assigned to it.

The variables I assigned to it were:

hspeed = horizontal speed

vsp = vertical speed

grv = gravity

walksp = walk speed

That wasn't too bad... then came the step object window. That's where the main code for the game takes place:

I'll try to break it down the best I can, cause this is still making my head spin.

//Input Assignment

This takes information from your keyboard. It tells the program, “Every frame that passes, check to see it the play is pushing down on any three of these buttons.”

//Calculate movement

This code calculates the movement. Var is a function built into Gamemaker studio that says this is a variable only lasts for one frame of the game. The main line is very clever in it's logic:

Var move = key_right – key_left;

So let's break this down because this code is pretty important. Every time the left arrow or the right arrow is pushed, the code gives that variable a “1” and if it's not pushed it gives it a “0”. It's binary code.

If we push the right arrow key we get:

1 = 1 – 0

If we push the left arrow we get:

-1 = 0 – -1

and if we push nothing we get:

0 = 0 – 0

It's really clever in it's simplicity.

//Jumping

//Vertical Collision

//Horizontal Collision

I'm still staring at these codes trying to make sense of them. GIVE ME A BREAK, I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR A DAY!!!

It's Nickelndime here, how are you today? I'm good thank you for asking. Well, now that pleasantries have been exchanged let's get down to brass tracks, shall we? Seeing as we are coming to the end of the 30 day challenge, I thought I would give a summary of my experience in the CBC. So here we go...

First of all, why did I join? Well, If you must know, I constantly need approval from strangers on the internet. It does wonders for my self esteem. In all seriousness, when I first started posting content I would get lukewarm or tepid responses. I mean, I really worked hard on some of these posts, and then when I'd publish them...nothing. Here are some of the original posts:

Found Out Today(Original)

4 Ways Your Life Changes When Your Fiancé Becomes a Registered Nurse

This bothered me, because I knew they were good, but I started second guessing myself when nobody was reading or listening to the content I created. Determined not to get discouraged, I decided to write another article hoping that I would substantially build my followers and readers. I wrote quite a long blog:

My Most Memorable Gigs Volume 1

When I completed it I thought to myself, This is it, I'm totally set. Everybody's gonna read it, and I have more followers than Hodor. They'll consider renaming COIL to, THE NICKELDIME BLOG. So, I hit the publish button and refreshed the main page and...

...nothing.

So, I went to bed thinking that maybe there would be more likes in the morning. The next morning there were still no likes, and I had gained no new followers. It was such a bummer, I was really banging my head against the wall. I knew the content was good, but nobody was clicking on it!!! That's when I decided to fire up Twitter and see if I could find anyone else using COIL and that's when I found Ken Melendez's Tweet on starting the CBC. Well, I thought, I've got absolutely nothing to lose so what the hay.

So I joined, and it was probably the best decision in regards to COIL. People were reading my articles, I was reading theirs. So many different people, from so many different walks of life giving and taking feedback. Something was created, which up to this moment I think COIL lacked, and that was a community. Joining the CBC reminded me of the early days of the internet where there was this feeling of something new and exciting happening. It has also pushed me to come up with material. All in all, It has been a very positive experience

What will happen now with the CBC now that the 30 day challenge is over? Well, I'm pretty sure the CBC will continue on, and if you're interested contact Ken at his twitter handle @_Kenmelendez. When people ask me on the street what the CBC is like, I always tell them the same thing. I say, “How dare you speak to me!” After they stop crying, I tell them that they should probably join.

Past Beer Reviews

M-43

Spruce-Pilsner

NickelnDime here to tell you about the best brown beer I've ever had and will probably never have again. I know, it's terribly sad, but as they say, “Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” This is the case for Founders, “Frangelic Mountain Brown.”

With Fall upon us, I love nothing more than to have a nice hearty meal, watch some football, and have a brown ale. To me, this is the pinnacle of fall. When it comes to browns I definitely have my go-to's such as, Bell's “Best Brown”, or Short's “Bellarie Brown” but nothing can compare to Frangelic Mountain Brown. It's too bad that I'll probably never have it again.

You're probably dying with anticipation wondering why I'll never have it again. Okay, Okay... I'll tell you.

Founder's Brewery is a remarkable brewery out of Grand Rapids, MI that has a plethora of great beers. They have their standards that are known throughout the state, country, and possibly the world. Along with their standards, they also have do limited releases, and “Frangelic Moutain Brown” was one of those special limited releases.

I stumbled upon the masterpiece one evening as I was in my neighborhood liquor store, when the owner looked around and then looked at me and said, “Psst, hey do you like beer?”

I don't know what's about to happen, but my answer will be, "yes."

I looked around to and then gestured to myself to make sure he was talking to me, “Uhh... yeah?” I answered.

“Well, check this out then,” and he pulled out what I thought was a wine bottle at first but on closer inspection was the Frangelic Moutain Brown. “Forty dollars,” he said like he was giving me a deal.

“Forty dollars?!? No way!”

“Do you know how hard it is to get it? If you don't like it I'll let you have one of the mini liquor bottles.”

“Deal!”

I took the bottle with me on the first vacation that my wife(girlfriend at the time) and I took. Our vacation was to St. Ignace MI, and it was such a hidden gem. We rented a cabin by a stream.

I cooked a mighty steak that night...

Ate all of the steak...

...afterwards I built a fire all by myself. LIKE A BIG BOY!!!

Then, I opened the beer and poured it for my wife and I

It poured thick and smooth. The aromas perfectly blended for a brown. The dark caramel tones, mixed perfectly with the hazelnut and coffee flavors. Now these are all strong tastes, so Founders made them subtle enough to make you stop and let the taste sit before you can notice them. It's by far the best brown I've ever tasted. Now, it could be argued that I only fell in love with the beer because it was I had attached such a wonderful memory to it. Well, my response to that is, of course! Isn't that why we try anything new, to make memories? Which is why my heart was broken when I couldn't get my hands on another bottle. You see, this was a limited release, which means Founders doesn't make this yearly, bi-yearly... etc..... they make it when they want to. So I've been waiting ever since.

I know if I could have that beer again, I would be instantly transported back to St. Ignace with my soon to be fiance and we'd be cuddling by the fireplace, dreaming about our future...

Past music articles:

1st

2nd

It's NickelNdime here again and I thought I'd do something a little different with this music review. I wanted to take songs that were covered by an artist that in my opinion did a better job than the original artist. You might disagree, but you would be wrong. Let's get started:

1) Levon Helm – Atlantic City

Original artist – Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0eZwpHtcK4&list=RDI0eZwpHtcK4&index=1

Well I got a job, and I put my money away,

but I got the kind of debts that no honest man can pay

So I drew out what I had from the central trust

and I bought us two tickets on that coast city bus

This song is about the downtrodden man. Levon Helm, the lead singer from The Band had an extremely hard time after The Band broke up. If you never watched, “I Ain't in it For the Money,” I strongly recommend watching it. It covers Levon after his days with The Band, and how rough things got for him. That's why I think this song fits him so perfectly.

2) Rufus Wainwright + 1500 Singers sing HALLELUJAH!

Original artist – Leonard Cohen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRfJ6-qkr4&list=PLQuE8YTeqGMaaT1iMpyLXRnEJUYzLgmmD&index=50

Maybe there's a god above,
but all I ever learned from love
was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you

I used to think Jeff Buckley's version was the best rendition of this song, until I heard this one. The song use's many references to religion and compares those images to being in love. That's why the choir just works on this. It makes it much more powerful when the chorus comes in. Just listen to it, and you'll be like, “Nickelndime, how are you always right, all the time?” Stop it, you're making me blush.

3) Seu Jorge – Life on Mars?

Original artist -David Bowie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M05dpNBFTE0

**But the film is a saddening bore

'Cause I wrote it ten times or more

It's about to be writ again

As I ask you to focus on
**

If you've ever listen to the original version it's very operatic in it's delivery. That's why I was surprised when I first heard this version. It's stripped down to just a classical guitar and vocals. The vocals are also in Spanish, which makes it even cooler. Seu Jorge covered a bunch of Bowie tunes in this style for the movie, “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” The whole sound track is amazing, but this to me is the best track.

2) Johnny Cash – I See A Darkness.

Original artist – Will Oldham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtVKfHfea20

Many times, we've been out drinking
Many times we've shared our thoughts
but did you ever, ever notice
the kind of thoughts I got?

You saw Johnny Cash and thought, “Hurt”, didn't you? That's okay, that is a good cover, but to me, this is his best. This song is such a good description of depression and how just having someone there to listen can mean the world of difference. Just listen to it, and you'll agree, this is the best cover the man in black ever did.