=== Dark Reign - Game Review, Real Time Strategy - 10/10 ===

     Today I'm here to review Dark Reign: The Future Of War. This game is an oldie made back in the good old days of 1997. This game was one of the first RTS games which came out at around the same time as Command & Conquer and Warcraft II. Considering the age of this game, I'm not reviewing it completely as though it is a new game considering the age of the game; but even considering how the game has held up over the years, I think it's going pretty great.

     Many RTS games these days tend to have at least two types of resources to work with. One basic resource and one advanced resources with which to make stronger things or research new things with. Some have even more types of resources; Dark Reign has one... and a half. The most important resource in this game is water; the story goes that most of the water has been poisoned and now fresh spring water is a valuable resource. So you collect enough water until it gets launched off-world in exchange for credits which you use to spend on things. Easy enough, right?

     Now, why would I say there's a half of another resource? I say that because you also have to power your buildings using a resource known as Taelon. That sounds pretty important.... but if you have enough credits, then you can keep building new power plants to power your things without filling them up with Taelon because every power plant is already half full when it's completed.

     The campaign in this game I think is done wonderfully. There are 12 levels in total and you can play each one in control of either of the two factions in the game. That means there are technically 24 levels in total... but if you only want to play each level from one side, you only have to complete 12 of them to get to the final level in which you  play a "third" faction which has access to all units from both sides in the game.

     The two factions in the game as seen above, are the Freedom Guard, and the Imperium. As this is an early RTS game, the two sides really aren't very different. They have nearly the same tech tree with some differences in units, but for the most part, everything is quite similar even when you get down to the units available to each side. I could take some points off for this, but as it is quite early in the timeline of RTS games, this isn't a huge concern for me. The game seems pretty well balanced and I can see how it could be quite competitive as a result.

     So from me, Dark Reign will get a 10/10. If you haven't played this game but are a huge fan of the Real Time Strategy genre, then you have to pick this up from GOG and give it a try. This was and still is one of my favourite games of all time. Yeah, maybe I'm giving it a higher score than it deserves, but this truly is a wonderful game and you really should give it a try.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== World Kindness Day ===

     I'm honestly unsure how I feel that we have designated a World Kindness Day. That makes it sound like we're never nice to each other on any other day... or that we need some kind of excuse to actually be nice to the people around us.

     Don't get me wrong, I think it's great for people to show respect to others and I wouldn't want to take something like that from the world, but I do question whether it's something we should truly need. Wouldn't the world be perfect if we could all be nice to each other all the time?

     Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of people who are driven by a desire to be successful in some way; whether that means being rich, or powerful, or whatever else a person wants which would make them feel like an accomplished person. And when these factors come into play, we end up with a lot of people who would much rather treat others quite poorly for their own gain.

Well, here's hoping we can find some balance in the world.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Idle Kingdoms - Mobile Game Review, Idle / Active City Builder - 4/10 ===

     I'm always on the lookout for new games to play especially when I'm looking to kill some time on the go. Unfortunately, this one isn't one of the best games I've played. As with all idle-type games, this one has an aspect of it where you still make progress even when you're not actively playing the game.

     Strangely with this game, there's an option whenever you turn the game back on to watch a video to get double rewards. This means you get more out of NOT playing the game for a long period, then turn the game on, upgrade a bunch of things, and do it again. I'm not sure I agree with this approach; while I do think it's good for there to be a level of progress in some way while not having the game turned on... I wouldn't want to encourage people to not play at all.

     Now we must keep in mind that this game is a game in progress. There are no sounds or music to listen to, so at this time this game doesn't get any bonus points on that front. The gameplay also seems to not be set in stone. I started playing Idle Kingdom when everything was immediately gathered by clicking the gather button. Recently there has been an update where you have manually sent out carts from your castle and gather points to bring back resources. A little bit of it is automatically gathered and there is no limit to the stockpile of resources which can sit at each location. This update seems to have made the game slower which does not feel as fun to me.

     As with most other idle games, there is a system of restarting the game to gain prestige which makes you produce and carry more with each point. Unfortunately this doesn't really solve the problem of the game still being quite slow and then rewarding you for forgetting about it for a while.

     Progressing through the game involves saving up enough food to buy the next tile which you can then build on. Every once in a while you come across a shrine which unlocks new structures or bonuses such as more prestige or faster production. There does come a point where things get so expensive that once again the game becomes so slow that it doesn't hold much interest.

     Idle Kingdom at this time gets 4/10 from me. At this time it's unfinished and I'm not a fan of the current gameplay and rewards.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Discovering A New Show ===

     Recently I've discovered a new show to watch and keep up with. Star Trek: Discovery is finally out after such a long time of hearing about it and waiting for it to come to the TV screen. I love things to do with space, and so I've always been a huge fan of all the Star Trek shows. Finally having an updated show to watch with all the new content and ideas and everything going on in it is breathtakingly amazing.

     There's something about space that really gets to me. I can stand outside on a clear night and look at the stars and start wondering and thinking all about how amazing it is that we're here; so small in the grand universe of things. And then when I think even more about that... how something so small as an ant exists as a living thing, and even smaller than that can be alive as well. All of these things are as small to me as I am to Earth. And yet, Earth is only an ant to the other planets, stars, and space around it.

     So here I am watching a wonderful new show all about these amazing things which is first of all is a great show with awesome content in the Star Trek universe, and secondly is about one of the very things I can lose my thoughts in.

     I don't watch a lot of TV shows, which is another reason why this is so great for me. It's nice to have something to sit down and watch or listen to where I don't have to be constantly at work all the time. I spend a lot of time thinking and planning and doing all sorts of things because I always want to be busy and productive. Every once in a while... it gets to be a little too much. As much as I would like to be the superman who never needs to rest, even I can get tired of working absolutely all the time. Speaking of working all the time... it's time to stop working for a bit. :)

Have a great day everybody! Don't work yourselves too hard. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== October 2017 Recap - Getting Into The Groove ===

     Alright, so I've decided around the beginning of each month from now on I'm going to give some kind of recap as to how things are going with my blog and sometimes with myself as well.

     This past month I only made two posts and my total views has gone down a little which says to me that I need to get back on the posting train so that I can continue to make something of my site. I have a lot of good ideas in mind to post about so here's hoping I can find the time and energy to actually get to work on these things. There's so much that I can do with this to let everybody know about my thoughts and even to share my ideas on current events in the world which could one day grow into something pretty big if people find me entertaining enough.

     The hardest part is finding places and people who are interested enough in my content that the word gets around. I don't personally know many people and I'm not really part of any groups so it can be difficult to get in touch or find people who actually want to engage with my content and spread it around. That's where I'm hoping someone out there will share these stories or tell others about my work just to take that quick second to share something.

     I also greatly appreciate any comments people leave on my posts whether it's something telling me I'm doing a good job, or an insightful question, or any kind of feedback at all. Let me know you're listening! You shouldn't even have to sign up to make a comment at the bottom of each of my posts.

Keep being wonderful everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle