=== PC Game Review -- Human-Powered Spacecraft - Story Clicker - 8 / 10 ===

Human-Powered Spacecraft is a game I got on sale on Steam for $0.59. In my never-ending quest to play through all the games I've acquired over the years (or at least try), I sometimes find new ones that are on such a good Steam Sale, that I just can't refuse them.

I'm honestly really not usually a fan of clicker games. I've wasted so much time trying to kill time on my phone with clicker and other idle games that it's really hard to come up with good reasons to get new ones; especially ones you have to pay for. While browsing through Steam, I came across this little game on sale and thought I'd go ahead and give it a try because I really liked the art-style and it looked like something a little bit different than what I had experienced before.

There are multiple different "levels" in this game where more and more upgrade options are unlocked at each stage with a different "goal" of progressing to the next stage. It isn't really anything huge to talk about; click, make money, upgrade, click, make money, purchase whatever the game wants you to purchase to start the next stage.

You end up having a couple ship problems including a fire, asteroids, and aliens sucking energy from the ship, finally concluding with a rogue computer trying to enslave you into forever powering the ship by peddling to generate electricity. The only real challenge to the game comes at the end when you have to figure out how to use the electricity-sucking alien to help you fight back against the rogue computer system.

That's... really the whole game. I have nothing else to tell about it. It's not an endless clicker where the game keeps on going forever and ever, there's a bit of a story to it. It's just a nice and short experience. I would love to be able to say this game is a good value, and at a sale of $0.59, it's very hard for me to say that it isn't, but when I seriously think about how much this game cost vs how long it entertained me, the $:hour ratio actually isn't that great. The total gameplay time for me was maybe an hour at most.

Verdict

Gameplay: As you may expect from a clicker game... you click and upgrade.

Sound: The music and sound design is very nice, I don't have any complaints about it at all. Right from the get-go I was sucked in by the great music rather than being driven away by annoying sounds and awful music.

Art: I like pixel art as a graphic style. I imagine pixel art must take quite a bit of time to design and draw and I think it has a lot of character that's simple, yet pleasing.

Replayability: You can't. Really... once you've beaten the game once (which took maybe an hour of gameplay at most), I don't know why anybody would want to subject themselves to that sort of pain and tedium again. It was fun to play once, but I have absolutely no desire to do so again.

SCORE: I really wanted to give this game 5/5 because I did find it more enjoyable than all the other FREE clicker games out there, but unfortunately it was too short for me to be happy with the end result. 8 / 10 will be my final score for Human-Powered Spacecraft.

~ DaemonVirus

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Sidetracked Development

Hey everyone! We've had a little bit of a... development last week and now not only am I super far behind on blog posts from months ago, but I'm also incredibly sidetracked from where I want to be right now. All is not lost though! At this point, I need to keep myself busy and what better way is there to do so than by resetting myself and getting back to work?

So for a little bit, my posts may be jumping around a tad more than usual with some being current events and some being past events, but I'll be sure to keep all the proper pages updated so that correct timelines can be followed for anybody who wants to read from start-to-finish all in one go. Now that I'm done with the most important final class I have (which means I can officially apply to have the certificate I've been working towards for the past couple years), I can finally put more focus back into the blog that I have loved so dearly since it began.

Between work and child-entertaining, I've got a lot to do, but I think I can fit in a little bit of time for those important hobbies that keep be sane. I have a plan, a vision, a goal, a desire, to make this into a wildly successful site along with everything else I do and I can only make that happen with YOU.

Don't be afraid to keep up with IntroNerdedLiving, there's something for everyone here! I'm always looking for suggestions no matter where the comments are done. Please like, share, follow, and whatever else you have time to do if you enjoy anything that I do on this here blog. You can look forward to the continuing story of our honeymoon trip, game reviews, YouTube videos, and more!

Whether you tell me in person or via text, it means a lot to know that people read and keep coming back to read more.

Stay tuned for the next edition of IntroNerdedLiving. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Movie Review - Insidious: The Last Key (2018) - Supernatural Horror - 6/10 ===

Today we take a look at Insidious: The Last Key. Carley and I are very much into watching horror movies on a regular basis. We're always looking for those great horror movies that actually get you a little terrified whether it's from something really creepy or from a good jump scare or two. This movie is a good continuation of the series; if there is anything which really gets to me it's definitely ghosts and things, but unfortunately I didn't find this one too scary.

This movie is the forth in the franchise (oddly enough I still haven't watch the first movie). In this movie we learn about Elise's past where her father didn't want her doing anything to do with spirits and supernatural things so he would try to abuse it out of her. With her mother being supportive of her, Elise would continue to refuse to listen to her father and eventually ended up locked in the basement where the demon of this movie was released.

Years later Elise is working with her assistants and receives a call which leads her back to her childhood home where this all happened. At first she refuses to help the man calling, but then she reconsiders and decides that it is her responsibility to fix what she started years ago.

The story is revealed in a great way where you learn about twists and turns in the story that you didn't expect. There were times in Elise's childhood where she thought she was seeing a ghost, but she was really seeing someone who was alive but had escaped from the basement of the house. Crazy, right?

Some of what I didn't enjoy so much in this movie was the girls who were supposed to be her estranged nieces. While I think it's great to meet them and get to know them a little bit and even have them join Elise in assisting her with the ghostly problem of the house... they just don't have very much character other than being good-looking on the screen and a source of "jokes" for the two assistants to make fools of themselves. I really would have preferred the movie keep more of a serious tone and build more character rather than make jokes.

This movie presents some serious topics such as the aforementioned child abuse and even touches a little bit on a sort of rape-ish theme in the way the demon treats his female victims. Considering the only-female victims and the way the girls are treated throughout the movie, there's an air of sexism which is a little uncomfortable to think about after the fact.

All things considered, this is a fun movie series to follow. I think the horror part was a bit lost in this one, and I think it could have done without the frantic jokes about the guys falling over themselves for the girls. I'm going to score this one at 6/10 for being pretty average, but not bad. I still recommend watching this one especially if you are an avid fan of the series.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Age of Wonders -- Keepers Scenario 4.3 - Part 2

Have we finally completed this scenario? Are we able to leave this behind and never see it again? It's been so long, but I think we can kiss this scenario goodbye once and for all. Go ahead, watch the action and then we can continue with this story and move on to the next. Where will we go from here?

- More videos can be found on the Age of Wonders page.
- All videos and more can be found on my YouTube channel.

~ Kyle Welykholowa / DaemonVirus

=== 30 days on $30 ===

     February 3rd, 2018 marks the beginning of Carley's 30 days on $30 challenge. In this challenge, her goal is to spend only $30 for the month of February on food and drinks. She had asked if I was interested in doing this with her. Unfortunately my answer had to be no due to being completely aware that I would be miserable the entire time. Carley on the other hand, is mentally prepared to go through this to gain a better understanding of how to keep a food budget on the cheaper side rather than unnecessary spending. She is also using this as an opportunity to learn to be more creative with the foods she has available. Finally, she's doing this because she wants to be able to say she has completed this and can do it whether or not she really has to.

     At first, while I was accompanying Carley on her shopping trip, I had thought to myself that it couldn't be possible to buy enough food with only $30 unless most of it is spent on something really cheap like rice. As it turns out, most of the food she got is NOT rice. There are quite a few noodles and soups and things and even some juices. Amazingly, what she managed to find and buy is much more than I would have expected and definitely more options than I would have thought possible. Here's a picture of everything she got for herself throughout the day.

     I know every time I go shopping I always think I'm not getting all that much... until I get to the checkout. At that point, things start to add up and then I realize just how expensive it is to eat anything other than noodles and rice. Just in case some of you don't believe this is actually $30 worth of food, here's the receipts as proof.

     Now, for all of you who can do math, yes, these receipts do go over the $30 value. There's a bit of a story to that as an explanation: See, we were looking at frozen vegetables thinking she'll need some sort of veggies to eat for the month. At first we were thinking of a couple different kinds of vegetables, but then we saw a price tag for a larger bag of peas for only about $2. Who could pass that up, right? It's not every day that you find a price tag that is probably printed wrong! Unfortunately the cashier we went to was her first day on the job and the manager on duty started yelling at her when he came over. It was in a different language, so we couldn't tell what he was saying, but it was clear that the girl was being yelled at. We felt so bad because she started crying that we just decided to pay what the price came up as and leave. Here's the tag we found for the peas.

     So, yes, the price tags aren't completely accurate as a result of the error, but keeping this price tag in mind, Carley did in fact stay under her price limit. She's keeping her food separate from the rest of the household so she can keep track of it all. My job? I'll be here to tell you all about her experience with this challenge and keep track of whether or not she's sticking to the rules. If anybody has any questions, please feel free to comment and I'll be sure to get the answers for your as soon as I can. Just for attempting something like this, I'm very proud of my Carley whether or not she succeeds.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== What's Wrong With People? ===

     The first thing that comes to mind right now is simply... what's wrong with people? I hardly know how to start telling you all about this other than to simply hang my jaw open in disbelief at the sorts of things that go on in the world. Now don't get me wrong, I love it here in Moose Jaw; there are just some things that are a little bit odd happening of late. Let's just get right into story-time shall we?

     This past week, we've had a couple odd things go on while I've been gone to work. It seems like this first started when my parents were over and Carley saw a man walking down our back alley. Naturally, she didn't think much of it; there's no reason to give much thought to a person walking by. The real oddness starts a couple days later when someone walks by unlocking the back gates of every house in the area. What makes sense for someone to ever do that? As strange as that was, we didn't think too much of it other than to realize that we should put a lock on our back gate just in case something like that were to ever happen again. It certainly wouldn't be fun to have Furgle run away especially since we lost his tag and need to get him a new one.

     Do you think that's strange? You'll never guess what happened the very next day. Someone walks by (whom Carley thinks is the same guy all three of these days), reaches over the fence, and gives something to Furgle. Carley didn't think much of what it could have been at the time, but was pretty pissed about someone doing something like that. Now, when we have company over and Furgle is being too crazy, we put him downstairs in the office to chill out for a while. Usually he voices his opinion on how he would rather be with us by howling like a banshee in the basement being chased by a cop car, but on this night he sounded like he was going mental. Almost like he was throwing himself at the door.

     It wasn't until later on that night after company had gone home that we let Furgle out and Carley noticed his heart was pounding and he was pacing so badly that he just couldn't lay down for longer than a minute. At this point, Carley thought about it and asked what the symptoms of a dog eating chocolate are. I didn't know, so we looked it up and realized what the man gave him earlier Carley believes was about a cup of chocolate in total. I'm so flabbergasted that someone would do that I'm unable to process what even could go through the mind of someone to want to do that. The good news is that Furgle is fine now and he isn't having any issues of any sort. He just needed a little bit of time and rest to get back to normal.

At this point, all I can say is... what's wrong with people?

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Visiting My Family - Happy Birthday Dad! ^_^

     Just got back from visiting my family this evening. Had a wonderful time. I always enjoy seeing my mom and dad. My sister and brother. And of course the rest of the family. We always have great conversations and being the general wallflower that I am, I like listening to all the stories people tell. Especially my brother, he's really great at telling stories in a funny way; Makes me think of my grandpa.

     So a bunch of the family got together tonight to visit and celebrate my dad's birthday. Me, being the lovely son that I am, played some pool with my dad... and unfortunately I wasn't very nice. I won two of the three games we played. We'll have to play some more games sometime dad. It would give me a wonderful reason to come visit you guys other than seeing the dog and my little gerbils.

     Tomorrow is back to work once again. It's Sears Days right now, so there's some pretty good deals going on, but seeing as I'll be working during the day... it'll probably be another slow day. Perhaps I'll write some more of the story I'm working on in my spare time. Or maybe I'll decide upon something to draw. Who knows? There's so much that I feel like doing, I don't even know what I'm going to want to do.

     I used to prefer planning things out ahead of time... I still do like planning some things ahead of time, but I think I've reached more of a point where I just like to do things as they come along. Whatever I feel like whenever I feel like. In the past I took things too seriously and wanted things to work out in a certain way, but now I realize that there are much more important things in life than worrying about everything all day long. Sometimes you just need to go out for an unplanned drive rather than having everything planned out ahead of time.

     Well anyways, that's all for now. I'll talk to you all again later. Have a great day everybody! ^_^

~ Kyle

The Girl Upstairs Listens To Some Loud Music

     Some people might find it annoying to hear the music of their neighbor going on really loudly... but as it turns out, she actually listens to good music. If not for her, I wouldn't have just found the artist Kygo. Apparently a Norwegian DJ who has made some really good remixes and things including a remix of I See Fire by Ed Sheeran which I REALLY like.

     So now I have some new music to listen to all because of my upstairs neighbor who plays her music way too loudly for any reasonable person to ever do. And oddly... I don't mind at all. Music has been pretty important to me recently. Without it, I don't know if I would have made it to where I am right now. It motivates me to get things done; to post on my blog for all you wonderful readers out there, and to make videos for anyone who likes those.

     Things feel good right now. This feels the start of a new chapter in my life story. I feel like I have something meaningful to do for the world, even if it's only for a small number of people. But it still makes me happy to have had an effect on even just one life out there. Some people might think it's silly, but I have a want, a need, a goal... to make other people happy. If this is how I can do so, then this is what I want.

     By this time next year, if I had one hundred people who enjoyed reading my words, listening to me talk or sing, watching my videos I think I would be happy. That would be one hundred people who's lives I'd have changed and made just a little bit better than before. Maybe I'll reach that goal, maybe I won't. In time, I'll see where life takes me. I have an ever-changing story that may be foreshadowing one thing, but may turn out as something completely different. The only way to find out... is to keep reading what will be written.

~ Kyle

=== PC Game Review -- Hero of the Kingdom - Point and Click Puzzle - 10/10 ===

     Hero of the Kingdom is a casual point and click indie game for $7 on Steam. For a dollar per hour value, it lasted a little over seven hours which is right where I think a game should be priced. I don't play a lot of point and click games, so I took a chance on this one and was pleasantly surprised.

     This is one of my favourite types of art-styles to look at, so I thought this game was absolutely beautiful the whole way through. The music was enjoyable to listen to all throughout. The gameplay was simple and crisp. You get energy by resting, then use that energy as a resource to complete other tasks.

     One of my favourite parts of this game was as it introduced new things to you through tasks, you would be able to go back through previous areas and find things such as mushrooms or boxes hidden in the scenes. It was really quite fun to look through everything and complete the achievements, read the story, and play through this sweet little game.

     To anybody who enjoys a nice casual game, or a rest from their competitive games for a while, I definitely recommend this game. As usual, if you can get this on sale, it's even more worth the price.

     For me, this point and click game is a 10/10.

~ Kyle

"Life doesn't happen to you... it happens FOR you."

     I heard this quote by Jim Carrey in a video on Facebook just last night. It was a video of a bunch of things he has said, but this one really got my attention. I've been thinking about it pretty much all night.

     Sometimes I find myself guilty of thinking "Why has this happened to me?" or "What have I done to deserve this?" It's a mindset that promotes the idea that Life is out to get me. The reality of it, is that my life isn't trying to get back at me. Things come and go as life goes on, and it's up to whomever is living that life to either take those experiences that happen and do something with them, or forget about them.

     People like to label some experiences they regret as "mistakes"... but they're still an experience that you have now had. Whether it was in fact a mistake or not, I don't think it's right to forget about; It's something you chose to do. I don't think something can be a mistake if you didn't make the choice to do it. I think these experiences should be taken, remembered, and learned from.

     Now of course there are some experiences in life that some would rather not remember. These are usually the experiences that were not the choice of the life-user, but rather they tend to be the choices of others. Though these are harder to think about, I still think they are a part of a person's story. Every story has good and bad parts to it. In the end, it's the journey that matters. Nobody would have a story without a journey. We're here to work through our journey so that in the end, we have a story to tell about how we got there. After all... isn't that what history is all about?

~ Kyle 

Story Time - February 26, 2016

     One upon a time, there was a simple prince living in a small secluded forest town. This prince wasn't fancy like all the other princes. In fact, hardly anybody knew he was even a prince... but that's the way he liked it. This prince didn't really like lots of people knowing about him, so he often kept to himself.

     As much as the prince liked being on his own, he always felt like something was missing; a companion for his travels and adventures. The prince couldn't have just anybody accompany him though; he needed someone to spend time with. So he went on a new adventure to find a proper companion.

     He found many possible companions, but an overwhelming majority of them were unable to hold a conversation with him. That was a pretty important thing in a companion, so none of them were considered. They could be found everywhere. There were so many of them that it was difficult to find what he was looking for. So the prince went to a wizard who sold him a potion that would filter out all those people who wouldn't make a good companion.

     The prince decided to go back to his adventure. He went to a clearing in the forest town to enjoy some sunlight. He drank the potion and was amazed to see his vision much clearer. His vision became so clear that he was able to see right through everyone to the beautiful princess of the secluded forest town. The prince had seen her before and thought that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but he knew that she had many friends and not much free time.

     The prince wasn't very good at coming up with ideas for things to do that weren't creative or that used a lot of thought, and he knew that people who were always busy tended to not like doing creative things or thinking too much all the time. So he wasn't very sure about the princess... why would the potion reveal to him someone who was always busy with other people? That seemed like an odd choice for a companion.

     But the prince believed in the potion and decided he would try to get the beautiful princess's attention. He tried and tried, but she always seemed to be busy. Sometimes she wouldn't be busy and would notice him. She would make plans with him to spend time with him and get to know each other... but then their plans would be cut short or changed because she would be too tired.

     The hardest part was when the princess would tell him she wanted someone to spend time with; that she liked people who wanted to spend time with her... the more, the better. But then she would tell him to go do things on his own without her. So the prince was sad that he was unable to spend more time with the fantastic princess. He would keep trying, even though she was so busy... and one day... everything would change.

~ Kyle