End of Summer

I've been dreading the idea of making this post, but I think I will anyway.

Today's my last day of summer, and school begins tomorrow (even though I get Wednesday and Thursday off). Looking back on it, I think I had a pretty good summer. Here are some of the things I hoped to do, and what became of them.

1. Get 120 Stars in Super Mario 64

Done! Took me forever, though. My last two stars were in the clock level. If you've never heard of it, watch this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg-YIIk5t0k . It's not me, but that was pretty much how it went. I kept almost falling, and I almost ran out of coins at the end. I actually got the 100-coin star while I was falling, so I had to keep climbing back up and trying to land on it.

Anyway, in return for finishing the game, you get to meet Yoshi. He gives you 100 lives, a wing cap to use (only outside of the castle), and then jumps off the castle (suicide, sortof). That's it. No new challenges, no Luigi, nothing. Just 100 lives to replay the whole game. Oh, and you get to race a fatter penguin in Cool, Cool Mountain. I was expecting more, honestly. Oh well.

2. Design 3 Web Sites

Done! Mostly. It was actually quite an interesting time designing these. One actually uses a database to store different items of jewelry, so I spend time learning how to do that. Only one is online so far, and the other two will be online soon. If you're interested, here are the links:
italiancornerrestaurant.com
hairnailgallery.com
dgbeaddesigns.com

Italian Corner was a redesign, and it's the only one up. Hair and Nail Gallery is actually next door to the Italian Corner, and D.G. Bead Designs is run out of HNG. So they were all referrals.

I also did maintenence on another site:
modskinlabs.com

I mainly just did the press page and the home page. I didn't design the whole site, but I did make some important changes for them.

3. Make a Flash Game

Done! I guess I wasn't thinking I would make a whole game, just learn how to, and make an engine for it. And I would say that came out good. My engine is pretty good, and can do a bunch of things. And since I'm in a good mood today, I'll update it. Here is my latest engine:

http://andrewanimation.biz/games/flash/engine5.html

New stuff includes walljumping, improved platform code, new spring code, and an air meter for underwater.

4. Make a Few More Videos

Not done! I don't know where the time went this summer, but I just never got around to doing this. I have a few videos I wanted to make, but I guess I was just too busy with my websites and stuff.

All in all, awesome summer.