General Update

by Pappy May 5th, 2008, Posted in: Life


It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but not because I haven’t been busy. In fact, just the opposite is true. I’ve been developing several new, open-source PHP classes: the first, called awfDialog, was nominated for the PHP Innovation Award at PHPClasses.Org. I didn’t win, but did take 4th place with 14% of the vote. The second, not yet publicly released, called awfRadial, is in testing to be used first on one of my clients’ websites.

On top of that, I’ve been learning to use several new graphics programs to which I’ve become addicted. Check out the code and art at my TestLab site.

On the writing front, I’ve been toying with the idea for a story that I think may best be realized as a campaign setting for the Spycraft RPG system. I haven’t played table-top RPGs since I was in junior-high, but close friends have kept me up to date with the scene, and I think the story may well work best as something to be played instead of read directly. The general concept I call “The Sundowner” series. In a nutshell, there is a secretive corporate that is planning on a global take-over, fueled by destroying the world’s current energy driven economy, to be replaced with “free” energy provided by the consortium. It is a deep-seated multinational conspiracy, weaving in and out of numerous industries and across every part of the globe.

If I do develop this as a game module, players will have to uncover clues across many adventure missions in order to untangle the conspiracy and stop the corporate barons before they succeed in toppling the modern society as we know it. The plot is straight out of today’s headlines: fossil fuels based economies struggling to deal with increasing demand and diminishing supplies, environmental devastation caused by the effects of global warming, corporate espionage and terrorism, and the introduction of bio-medical, computer interface technologies.

That’s it for now. Just wanted the world to know Pappy hadn’t disappeared…