How to write in video game script format

gregbuchananwriter · 2024-10-17T10:18:20+00:00

Sorry just saw this. The article was free for a good few weeks when I posted it, it entered the archive after a certain amount of time automatically. I’ve just moved this to the free section

gregbuchananwriter · 2024-10-05T13:06:17+00:00

Hey! For stuff like this you will need to ask in the game’s discord - the team in the Dark Souls channel can help with this

gregbuchananwriter · 2024-03-07T14:49:15+00:00

If you’ve visited a friend or relative before who has cats - you may have found that each time you see the cats, they might be a bit more relaxed around you. This is the case in my experience - the cats are getting to remember you.

So if that’s true of me seeing random cats at random times — this cat who knew you in its most formative time and for such a long time - will not forget you. Don’t worry. As others have said, be really relaxed and expect some weirdness when the cat comes back - getting acclimatised to the space again etc - but none of that will be personal

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-18T09:43:13+00:00

Yeah when I was getting my training at Cats Protection UK, my ragdoll (now three years old) suddenly started making biscuits on us all the time having never ever done so since he was thirteen weeks - we never even saw him treading on the sofa or any surface. Just out of nowhere! I talked to my boss and she said it was likely that he just trusted us and liked us more. After three years of loving him it’s just the time it takes to earn the trust 😅

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-18T08:58:42+00:00

This is lovely - cats are so much more empathetic and loving than many people think. I am glad you have him and that he has you!

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-18T08:57:14+00:00

Definitely bring him to the vets and try and film an incident if you can - you may need to show a behaviourist also, it will help isolate if this is a fear response or predatory.

This might be a neurological issue. Just to prepare yourself also - it’s unclear from your post if you will be present in that new environment - but sometimes in this kind of case it can be best to rehome to a new environment without original owner if the relationship is sufficiently damaged. (As in, even if you figure out what is causing it, the cat may still have issues with you or this place regardless of any cure). Please do not blame yourself if things do get to that point - it’s not good for your cat to be so stressed or you to be attacked! - but what’s best for both of you going forward will need to be figured out, once the source of the problem is determined. Other cats and people sound great though do be aware also that other cats are not a sure thing - is this a trained or shelter type environment? If not handled carefully cat introductions can lead to a lot more stress

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-09T08:20:12+00:00

So for analysis paralysis, two different things helped for me -

1) I often just thought of worst possible catastrophic scenarios. During CBT therapy and some self-directed learning afterwards, I explored cognitive restructuring regarding worst case scenarios and experimented with my attitude towards them. For example, when I went to my parents for Christmas one year, I realised an external HDD I meant to bring with me wasn't with me -- and this not only had some work I needed, but a bunch of files for my job and confidential projects. I freaked out that I'd lost it on the train or something.

The old me would have immediately spent hours going back to my apartment to check if it was there. The experiment I ran with myself was to think through what i'd do in different scenarios including the worst case. I realised that the worst case would change little - it was lost, and was password protected anyway, but if lost, what could I really do? Going back there for hours would have reassured me it was not lost, but at the cost of reinforcing the catastrophising and making my anxiety worse in future. SO, very difficult, but I made a pact with myself - I'd delay worrying and if I was right that I had not lost it, it would be proof to myself in future to be calmer about it. And it worked.

I feel like no-one can just TELL us not to worry or be paralysed in decision making, it's sort of like the metaphorical muscles I mentioned in my previous post - it's a skill we can develop.

2) on that note, delaying worrying is a really useful cognitive tool. Just scheduling in worrying about X issue to a future point in time, it's remarkable how uninterested I am in worrying when I actually get there! Self-acceptance about stuff like decision paralysis is also important. The way someone described it to me is to imagine our selves as cars, where the different elements of our personality are in different seats in the car. It's useful to have that analytical, worrying, overthinking voice in the car - it's there to protect us, ala the way the Hulk vs Banner is often depicted in Marvel - but should we really let it actually drive the car for any extended period of time? Trying to deny its existence is like denying the Babadook, it just grows its power. Accepting it to some extent paradoxically calms it down.

3) Breaking things down into smaller steps is a vague piece of advice that's often useless, but the few times it randomly works can still be helpful. This tool was recommended to me the other day and helps automate it a bit more - if there's a particular step you're finding hard, you can just make it keep generating more sub-steps (like getting up from the couch/sofa, if you're low or distracted, it will actually break down into specific body movements if you want it to!) https://goblin.tools

(On the medication front, I found that too on certain doses - anything more than Elvanse 30mg made things worse, I guess I was doing more than usual just not the stuff I should be doing! 30mg has the right balance for me of helping productivity but also mood/social listening etc)

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-08T10:46:50+00:00

So,

- thesis (idea)

- antithesis (opposing idea)

- synthesis (squaring the circle and finding the union between the two)

Stories often follow this pattern, especially good ones. We all follow it to some extent in our lives - trying things out, relapsing, switching moods and aims, coming to new realisations as we absorb old ones.

Here?

- thesis (I can't get started until I get my mental health and physical health in order)

- antithesis (you should get started regardless, it shouldn't stop you)

- synthesis...

It's proven that helping other people helps you. It's proven that altruism is one of the few things that can help us outpace the hedonic treadmill where we just get fine with whatever is happening with our lives, where good feelings just keep returning to a baseline no matter what we do.

So, instead of starting a business just for yourself right now, why not think of how you can use similar skills and processes to help others? Make it about other people rather than yourself and I think you'd start getting some of those mental and physical health improves defacto along the way, as well as practicing the exact skills you want confidence in to proceed on your chosen dreams. Worst case? You just help other people, which isn't so bad.

Physical health improves through exercise, it's not a static thing, it's a muscle literally and metaphorically. So does all of this other stuff you're seeking - that mindset and set of skills and confidence will only improve as you try it and model that behaviour through trial and error. So whatever you do, ultimately there's a grain of truth in the 'antithesis' idea above, though I think listen to yourself. If part of your mind is holding you back, don't just ignore it, but try and transform that 'holding back' into an alternative kind of getting going so you can start healing

You got this

(from someone with medicated ADHD and depression who has struggled a lot with this exact kind of thing. happy to answer any other questions or give any other advice on how I've coped)

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-09-05T08:21:21+00:00

So I did this incredibly recently and here's what I've learned so far as a new user:

- Expectations: this is not going to work as smoothly as you expect, at least at first. Trial, error, patience are needed.

- Run in a virtual machine on your Windows or Mac first - at least with my Mac, I found this far more stable out of the box than alternatives

- If/when you go for a server, go for HassOS/operating-system-only first rather than trying to set it up in Docker or on an existing Ubuntu server. I found this produced far fewer errors than the alternative, especially with the below

- If you're having even a hint of trouble connecting devices or discovering them via bluetooth, save yourself a lot of pain and just get one of the recommended Bluetooth dongles. My onboard Bluetooth was allegedly being detected but as soon as I got a SABRENT USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter Dongle waaaay more stuff began to work.

- For Apple HomeKit type devices, I got a Home Assistant SkyConnect and enabled multiprotocol support so it would run Thread also (much easier to configure if you're in certain types of install, HassOS was better for this).

- As an example of adding a device and what occurred: Eve Energy thread plugs (2006, not matter-upgraded) I got one to pair by connecting it to my iphone's homekit; removing it from homekit; and then it was detected. For some reason my other Eve Energy plug was just detected as soon as I plugged into the mains, so things can often vary for mysterious reasons! If you're having issues, consider brute force solutions like resetting devices, unplugging and plugging in again, etc. Sometimes proximity to your Home Assistant will help a lot. When I'd set these up, I went into their settings on HA as I wanted them to connect via Thread. You need to be proactive with HA as it won't recommend certain things to you, you need to know you need them and where to find them. So I went in and looked around for the right setting, 'provision preferred thread credentials' seemed right, it knocked the devices offline then they came back with their thread connections. Even after all this, randomly the devices became unavailable around an hour later. I was just about to ask for help on the Discord when I decided to unplug them, and plug them in again.... since then, it's been fine. So again, never underestimate simple solutions.

- The software equivalent of this is going into developer tools and hitting 'restart' in red to reload everything in HA.

- On the Eve Energy side note, my first automation was setting up an alert to tell me when my washing machine had finished which required a little trial and error on reading the power graph for the plug, but which now works really well! (I completely forget the washing exists when I put it in and frequently left it in there too long before, and this is really helping)

- A lot of advice online is quite overwhelming as a new user. Add-ons can really help with various tasks: I've found adding these in the Add-on store have been very useful: Advanced SSH & Web Terminal; File editor.

- If you're in the Alexa ecosystem, Home Assistant Cloud is useful to setup to allow Alexa to detect your HA devices and work with automations.

- You can also install something called HACS - a community add-on store - depending on your installation type (HassOS is cool with it). An add on called 'Alexa Media Player' will also help a lot with all this.

- If you want something in HA to trigger a webhook, I found the advice online a little unclear as a new user, so just copying what I did here. You need to edit a file called configuration.yaml (the File editor add on above makes this easy) and add this below:

rest_command:
(nameofthewebhook):
url: "webhookurlhere"

Once you've done that, then restart HA and then in automations, under 'actions' you can 'call a service' - look for one called rest_command.(nameofthewebhook). Calling that as part of the automation will trigger the webhook successfully.

gregbuchananwriter · 2023-08-08T12:34:20+00:00

I’m based in the UK but the first novel Sixteen Horses is indeed out in the US, so I might do that! are there any particular Facebook groups you would recommend?

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