Guest Lecture: Richard Jones from 3D Framework
Quite possible the single greatest and least boring lecture I've ever sat through.. then again, starting my own company is what I intend to do.
The basis of the guest lecture was setting up your own business, and from someone who had actually done it without any prior knowledge before he tried.
The first issue Richard talked about was how many people would be taking part with the setup of the company. Whether it was by yourself or with a friend/group, each having their own benefits such as setting up by yourself is better from a bank point of view since there will be less arguments over the direction of the company, the group being better from a trader point of view since people interested in buying your software would see you as more professional than a freelance.
Securing money is important as one would expect when setting up a company, a business plan is needed for banks to judge whether or not they'll invest in you, and Richard himself got the backing due to his Excel spreadsheets just updating when you changed a value.
Another method of getting money is to find an investor which can give you more than a bank can, however this can pose problems, as by law you have to take the path that will get the most money for your investors.
The lecture continued to talk about company types, whether you want to be a Sole Trader or register as a private limited company. As a Sole Trader, you and your company are seen as one, so if you get sued, your company doesn't just get sued, you do. As a registered company, only your company can be attacked through lawsuits, not yourself. Being registered as a company may be harder to setup, but it makes you look more professional, however your finances are visible to other companies.
VAT registration although optional if your annual turnover is less than 70k, but the downside to registering is that you must charge VAT on top of your sales if you are registered. Although you as a company can claim it back, and if you sell to another company that is VAT registered they can claim back the VAT they paid on your product, for average consumers, it makes the price higher. By not being VAT registered, it can make your company appear small to larger companies.
Finally, when setting up a business, Richard mentioned that it is good to get help from CIDS Manchester, Accountants and Solicitors that are recommended, and Companies House.
Mass Modifications to Website
I made some mass modifications to the website today. Converted all pages into templates, which are individually added to a single page class. So now I can insert comments before the footer if I want, or if later I decided I want to shift them above I can without shifting the PHP with them.
At some point I'll probably add a page caching system to reduce actual PHP repetition for the same page.
Another feature I plan to implement will be to generate CSS on the fly in order to reduce my CSS. At the moment I'm using it everywhere when its not really needed. For example, loading the syntax.css file even when there is no syntax on the page. Hopefully with this page generation class, I'll be able to segment parts of my CSS and load it as the PHP decides it will need it.
Burn the Rope
I got a link from one of my friends to an amazing game. It is like Call of Duty 4 had a child with Mario Kart. Its a small internet flash game called, Burn the Rope.
The premise of the game is really simple, theres a boss at the end of the level which cannot be defeated, and you have to burn the rope to defeat it. From what I've read it required great skill to play, not just an average gamer. And some people have taken nearly 3 hours to do it.
The website seems down at the moment, but here is a video of it on YouTube.
Double Life
I came by this old Playstation advert a few days ago and brought back old memories. Back from the day when adverts were good. Not many people I speak to remembered it, but then I accidentally came by it when link hopping on YouTube. Seems these days, alot of websites allow you to link hop.
Just a couple of days ago, when link hopping on MetaCafe, I learned how to freeze beer inside a bottle by tapping it with another bottle, and how to turn an egg green using red cabbage.
Legend of Bob: Night
After a bit of thinking, I've decided that it would be better if the game was in a night time mode.
So I've changed the skybox for my AGT project to be of a night sky with stars.
I've also reduced the fog near and far distance to be closer, and then darkened the colour. These worked together quite well, and the night effect was achieved.
I think with a bit of Bloom, the snow would look great like this.
Legend of Zelda Movie
Despite being an April Fools by IGN, the idea of a Legend of Zelda Movie was quite well done, even the slightly modified storyline, almost makes it real. Why have they never thought about doing this? Are they afraid it'll turn out like the cartoon? But quite frankly, I think with today's modern CGI, this could be done great, even IGN with a limited budget apparently managed to make enough footage for a four hour mini-series.
I hope they do show more, hopefully with the the largeness of the fanbase for Legend of Zelda, shouldn't take too long to poke them with a stick to do it.
And afterwards I found the making of video, their choice for Epona was very well done, almost like they pulled the horse out of the game, the patches are almost exactly the same, as is the size relevant to adult link... kinda feel a bit geeky there.
Legend of Zelda Movie: The Making Of
Love the Link costume, makes me want to pay a blacksmith to make me the Master Sword (quite possible the greatest birthday present of all time) and dress is cosplay.