My Life in Games 1: Little Computer People (1987)

Seb was trying to get me to work out my Top 20 video games of all time, and I narrowed it down to 20... but it was too hard to put them into order.  So I cheated, and put them into chronological order.  But then I thought that was actually quite interesting.  It's like my life, told via the games I was playing.  So here we go.  

Though our first computer at home was a Spectrum, my gamer memories really begin with our Amiga.  The first game on this list is "Little Computer People", which was released in 1987.  Some would say it is not a game at all, but I'd say it's a game as much as "The Sims" is.  

"House on a Disk"

The premise of this game is that there is a Little Computer Person in your computer.  You buy this "House on a Disk", put it into your computer, and it lures the LCP out of hiding.  He moves into the "House on a Disk"!  This is all badged as some kind of research project, and you're encouraged to make notes to send back to the developers.

Excerpt from the manual

The LCP has a 'unique' name, and whatever you do you're only going to get that LCP with that disk.  (Apparently if you bought the "House on a Disk" again you might be able to lure another LCP out.)  My LCP was called Terence.

When your LCP arrives, he spends a while looking around and getting settled in.  Once he's living in the "House on a Disk", you can use commands to make certain things happen (food deliveries, fill up water tank, ring the alarm clock, deliver dog food, make the phone ring, send him a book or record, or "pet" him).  You send him food deliveries, fill up his water cooler, make sure he has everything he needs.  Make sure his physical and mental needs are met.  

The LCP in his home

You can suggest to him (by typing simple commands) that he do certain activities, for instance 'please type a letter to me', or 'please dance'.  (He appreciates politeness, so remember the pleases and thank yous.)  And you can play games with him.  There are five games: anagrams, war, poker, blackjack and word puzzles.  He's a pretty good opponent!  I spent some happy hours playing games with the little guy sitting at his kitchen table.

Playing Blackjack

Sometimes you just watch him going about his life.  Maybe he'll play practice the organ.  Maybe he'll watch TV.  Maybe he'll play one of his records.  He'll brush his teeth and do star jumps to take care of himself.  And he has that dog to look after, too.

I loved playing this.  It was just such a happy game.  The terrible thing is that it scarred me for life, and I don't really understand what happened.  One day Terence walked out of his front door and... he never returned.  I didn't even know that was a thing.  I had looked after him as well as I could - why did he leave?  And was that even supposed to happen?!  I have no idea.  It wasn't like you could just google it at the time to see if that had happened to other people...

So there you have it.  The terrible tale of the disappearing LCP.  I just hope his dog was ok after he walked out on us...

Thanks to Abandonware LCP longplay - I took the screen captures from their video.  :-)

Shady Oaks update no. 9

Most people haven't been posting videos, so I hadn't been writing up the ones that HAD been put online.  Terribly slack, I know...  But now I have now gone through four SB videos, three Thnxcya/James, one Cupquake one one new video from Dan (though it's very behind story-wise!).  The updated synopsis document is here!

Dan has just got up to Think trying to find the netherite pick with the compass.  Thnxcya/James, Cupquake and SB are all post-Thinknoodles in the storyline, so their videos are now covering the time period following the reading of his will and the destruction of Kraken's Hollow.

There have been a LOT of pranks...

Lots of horses at TDM Towers

Button prank at Honey Co Farms

I presume Squid is still going to post some videos, but I don't know if Ecko has any plans to.  Which would be a shame, I'd like to see what has happened from his point of view.  His huge Eckoville settlement with courthouse is very impressive.

Shady Oaks update no. 8

I have finally added a bunch of Thnxcya and Cupquake videos to the summary, as well as one Squiddy vid.  I have also swapped out Think for SB, a new member on the SMP.  I'd like to try and use the five YouTubers providing the most SMP data, so this might not be the only change I make!  CaptainSparkles has joined now as well.  Oooh.  Updated document is here.

The big event this time was the long awaited horse race.    There was danger (fire, cacti, jumps!) and controversy (did Think or Thnx win round 10?).  Also a slightly confusing setup to the whole competition.  But it was pretty epic.  :-)

Diagram to illustrate progress to the final!

SB, despite being a newcomer to the SMP, emerged victorious!  The after party took place in Cupquake's now finished Speakeasy, The Shady Pickle.

SB on the winner's podium

Shady Oaks update no. 7

Just added some Dan and Squid stuff this time, they are way behind Thnxcya and Cupquake (who have also posted some videos - I will add theirs soon!)  Updated document is here.

The possession of Squid by Kindness has been covered by both Dan and Squid now, and Squid's done some time consuming and frankly pointless activities - attempting to build a blaze farm and find a trident!  (Neither of these things ended well...)

Squid is crying...

Shady Oaks update no. 6

Squid uploaded three videos all of a sudden - possibly an accident since he uploaded #13 first then had to upload #11 and #12!  Lots of big events covered here - much added to the "Curse of Kindness" lore, also lots of horsey fun with "who has the fastest horse" and building the racetrack!  Lots of stuff not covered in Dan, Thnx, Cupquake or Ecko's videos.  :-)  Updated SMP summary doc is here.

Think hears the voice of Kindness!

Shady Oaks update no. 5

Updates in this version of the Shady Oaks summary document include videos by Thnxcya, Cupquake, Think and Ecko.  It seems that things aren't entirely in chronological order in some of these, which is messing with my head a bit!  And Think's making videos of things that happened ages ago...  But I am attempting to pull it all together.  ;-)

There's quite a bit of action involving Think's house, which is a copy of the house in "Up" (relevant of course because the retirement home in that film is called Shady Oaks).  Amusingly, Think builds this house from concrete powder, which is not the best building material.  Apart from obvious issues with it, there's also the danger of Squid turning it into actual concrete a lot as he pours water on it...

Think's House

James is fixing it in the above picture following one episode of Squid destruction...  

House definitely needs more balloons!

Also "Up" related, we learn that Dan doesn't like talking dogs.  Interesting...

Shady Oaks update no. 4

Dan finally uploaded, so here is my updated SMP document!  

It's the big one - Dan takes on the "restricted section" quest, to kill the owner of the netherite sword Kindness...

Death of ThynxCya...

I removed Yammy from the document (sorry Yammy) and added Think's two videos.  :-)

With great sword comes great responsibility!!

Shady Oaks update no. 3

I made my ridiculous document A3 (have added Ecko and Yammy, but might not keep them both, waiting to see who makes lots of useful videos!).  Also I made a special Shady Oaks page on the blog, and a "permanent" URL for the file.  

The file is basically a PDF version of what I've done so far.  I'm fairly up to date though DanTDM is really holding things up!  So this is all subject to change, stuff further down the document will move as I get more info.  :-)

Stuff has been going on with the evil sword Kindness (think "The One Ring"), with Squid trying to get Dan to kill Thnx and get the sword for him, and Dan and James plotting to enchant it with "Curse of Vanishing".  (By the end of the document we know from James that he no longer has the sword, but I need Dan/Squid's version of events to really flesh it out...)

Will DanTDM accept the Corrupted Quest?

Thnx has made a working bee farm.  Cupquake has made a very pretty bakery.  Weirdest thing so far is probably the "Gallery of Squid".  Is it just me, or does aged Squid look like Jeremy Corbyn?  Thnx made this gallery by aging Squid's selfies and adding captions.  Absolute classic.  :-)

The Gallery of Squid

Shady Oaks part 2... (pages 5-6)

Well, I was pretty happy with the reaction I received from my first Shady Oaks post (understatement!!), so I've done some more work on it.  I will have to upload the PDF somewhere. 

(Ok, I think I've uploaded a version that works to an Amazon Bucket!!  CLICK HERE!!)

 If you care about this sort of thing, I've changed the way I did it a bit, so I will re-upload the images of previous ones (they should be the same data though, with a couple of corrections).

Googly eyes!

Spinning horses and googly eyes on skyscrapers, it's all happening...

Page 5

Page 6

I have done more than this, but I can't cross reference things until Dan posts another video!  After watching Squid's latest upload, let's just say THINGS JUST GOT REAL.  ;-)

Shady Oaks SMP!!! (pages 1-4)

iBallisticSquid had an idea, an idea to start a new SMP...  Seb and I are pretty excited about this.  (POG!!!)   

SMP means "Survival Multiplayer", so this is basically an online server for Minecraft.  The most famous SMP so far is probably Dream's.  Unlike Dream's, Shady Oaks is a "family friendly" SMP, as you'd expect from the YouTubers doing it.  

The thing that makes this fun for people who've been watching Minecraft on YouTube for years is it's populated by "OG Minecrafters" - or "Old School.  As such, the people in at the start are DanTDM, iBallisticSquid, ThnxCya and ThinkNoodles, also now joined by others like iHasCupquake and Bigbst4tz2.  Shady Oaks is a retirement community for OG Minecrafters!

They're putting some videos on YouTube, but also there's a LOT of streaming going on on Twitch.

The Rules

The main rules are no trading with villagers (to encourage spending in shops) and no crafting netherite armour or weapons.  There will only ever be one of each netherite object on the server, and these will eventually all turn up.  (The first to show was the netherite sword, "Kindness", for when you want to, er, kill someone with kindness.)

In my sad data-driven hobbyist way I started writing down everything that happened in different YouTubers' videos and seeing where they crossed over.  I don't know if I want to keep on with this, it takes a while (and the more YouTubers join the more videos will happen - not that everyone is making videos on their channels).  I coloured in the crossover bits.  :-)

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

I know this is pretty much illegible, I'll figure out a way to put a PDF online or something. 

(Ok, I think I've uploaded a version that works to an Amazon Bucket!!  CLICK HERE!!)

I might update things a bit more, since I have gone through pretty much all the YouTube videos uploaded so far.  (And I admit I have also watched Twitch streams of Squid and Dan - if you do this, bear in mind the YouTube stuff is substantially behind the streams!)

So far there have been lots of shenanigans, with Think being the excellent comedic relief.  There have been plenty of tense moments between Dan and Squid.  Shady Oaks is definitely the shadiest of oaks...

Hollow Knight and Undertale homemade Plushies!

What with Christmas and Covid things seem to have gone a bit crazy round here.  But now Christmas Day is over, I can finally post some of the plushies I made on here!  Seb wanted a lot of weird plushies that you can't really buy, so I started making them for him, and in the end I made a LOT of plushies.  He had a bin bag full of plushies (though a few were lovely official ones).  I ended up making plushies for friends too, so it certainly kept me busy.  

These are four of the plushies I made for Seb, all of which I had to make up since I didn't have patterns for them...

Gruz Mother

I do like this one, which was one of the first I made - she's just so big and squishy!  It has been suggested that I ought to make a Mark 2 with a zip so you can let all the baby gruzzers in her out... 

Nailmaster Sly

The other Hollow Knight plushie I made was Sly.  He turned out pretty well - it was hard to make his massive nail, but I made it as big as I could.  I expect I could have put something inside it to make it stronger.  Perhaps I will learn more about all this if I keep making plushies.

Annoying Dog

It's weirdly difficult to do square pixelly things in fleece plushie form, but this Undertale cutie turned out pretty well!  I printed him out to make the pattern, and also to use as a guide for cutting out the felt face details.

Gaster

This last one was weird.  I was instructed you had to be able to turn him upside down so his hands/shirt make another strange face.  So I copied him as best I could.  Not the best but Seb was happy with him!

I made a bunch of other things for people, Pokemon and Ghibli related, some of which I used patterns for (there are lots of great Pokemon patterns, many of which are free).  I think Seb has given me a new obsession!  

Also, I really hope I'm getting some serious mum points for all this.  ;-)