Hey guys, exciting news!
First off, I am planning on restarting this blog again soon!(august-ish). I want to build up a buffer first, and probably cut updates down to three times a week, but So You Want to Be a Video Game Character is coming back!
Secondly, part of the reason I've been gone for so long was because I've been working on a video game with my own indie company! The name of the game is Terrabellum, it's an online multiplayer tactical/card hybrid strategy game! That's a mouthful, but the point it, it's an awesome online game we're making, and we're running a kickstarter for it right now!
Check out the kickstarter here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idiosync/terrabellum-an-online-multiplayer-strategy-game/dashboard and please consider making a pledge, and telling your friends! Every dollar counts!
So that's it! You should see me again in a couple weeks! =)
Danny "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Delays!
Sorry reader folk, I've been a bit swamped last/this week. Court for visitation alteration, thanksgiving, couple of side projects boiling over...stay tooned, I'll be back soon!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Dovahkiin Fitness: Changing Your Body
Ever wanted to Fight like Dovahkiin? Well now you can, with the Video Game Combat Guide: Sword and Shield!
Sometimes, when we want to change ourselves, the simplest thing to start with is the physical. Now, notice, I didn't say the easiest, I said the simplest. Dovahkiin is whoever you want him or her to be. A big burly melee fighter? Go for it. Stealthy, wiry ninja assassin? Absolutely. Lithe, strong, swift hunter? Sure thing. Maybe a skinny mage, small on brawn but big on brain? Sure! But creating a body type in Skyrim is as easy as playing with a few sliders on a computer screen. Notice I said the simplest thing to start with is the body, not the easiest.
At its heart, fitness is simple. Eat X amount of calories, carbs, fats, proteins, and vitamins, do X amount of/type of exercise on a regular basis, and get what you're looking for. It is that simple but it is never that easy. Food is one of the base interactions we have with the world, changing our eating habits is HARD, even if we know what we need to do. By the same token, we are creatures of habit in our daily goings-on, too. Exercise can be difficult to fit in, especially if we don't particularly enjoy it. I will not lie or sugarcoat it, significant results can sometimes hurt. Not in the bad, I-think-I-hurt-my-knee kind of way, but in the man-I-don't-like-getting-sweaty-and-my-lungs-and-legs-are-burning kind of way, or the oh-my-god-I'm-so-sore-it-hurts-when-I-lift-my-arms kind of way.
The fact is, both of these things involve habits. Habits are hard to break once you've made them, and sometimes it's hard to start them, too. It can be severely intimidating to try to jump right into a new lifestyle regime, so let's take a look at a couple first steps.
SLEEP.
Seriously. This is important. This is the most important thing of all, honestly. Working out, losing weight, changing your diet, gaining muscle, ALL these things are SO MUCH HARDER without sleep. Focus hard on getting at least eight hours a day. Set a bedtime for yourself, and a wake up time. Get your sleep cycle in order, and you will already feel much better than you did.
Keeping a Food Journal
If you've ever tried to change your weight before in life, you've probably heard of this one. Food journals are meant to track and tally your average eating habits. Here's the problem with food journals: they often just end up making you feel worse about your eating habits. There's a benefit in knowing something, but just knowing it doesn't make you feel any better. So here's my take on things. Keep the journal, and don't total your days up. For a month, write down what you eat, and write down four things: calories, carbs, protein, and fats. Do not total numbers up, just write it down every day.
At the end of this month, I want you to, instead, go through and pick out just a few things that you eat on a regular basis, but know you shouldn't. You've probably got a guilty pleasure or two that you know, so now is the first test of willpower. Try to keep these pleasures limited to a once-a-week thing. Remove the obvious guilty pleasures at a rate of one-pleasure-a-week, but don't go overboard on yourself if you slip up sometimes. Remember, the whole point of the journal is to just develop a habit related to food that ISN'T negative. The journal itself is your tool.
Once you've gone through a few weeks of eliminating the guilty pleasures, I want you to start totaling up your days. Go back and total up all those days in your journal, and take a look at the numbers from then till now. Congratulations, you've already made progress. You leveled up. Now it's a game of numbers. Pick a diet plan(I recommend the Fighter Diet for losing weight and toning, or the Big Guy Diet for gaining some good muscle), and slowly try to make your numbers match your goal numbers(according to the diet plan). Start picking out the less obvious guilty pleasures and subbing in the good food recommendations.
Don't scold yourself from slidebacks, and don't worry about weighing yourself(at least at first). Your food journal, and the numbers in it, are the only things you're worried about, at least at first. Results will come in time, what you need to do is build a habit of controlling your own eating habits, and not letting them control you.
Start Workouts Slowly
Okay, let's assume you are at level zero for fitness. Heck, forget that, you're at level negative one, and your in experience debt to boot(City of Heroes reference!). What do?
Start. Slow. Do NOT jump into even the level 1 section of any of my workouts yet. It's intimidating to start a huge new fitness plan from scratch, outta nowhere. You'll burn yourself out, and give up, and that helps no one. What I want you to do, is find a twenty minute block of time, at the same time each day, when you go for a walk. I'm not talking power walk, or jog, I mean just take twenty minutes, and go walk. Start doing it every other day. After two weeks of this, start walking every day, and resting one day out of the week. Twenty minutes, ever day. That's it. Once you are walking six days out of seven every week for a month, ramp it up to half an hour. If you feel comfortable with that, then move on to the level one of the character workout of your choosing. But that first month of twenty minutes of walking every day is crucial.
As with the diet, don't kill yourself for setbacks, they'll happen. If you don't get a workout in every day, it's not the end of the world. But twenty minutes, ever day. That is your time, and in it you go walking. The end. Accept no compromises or substitutes, that is YOUR thing. The end.
So that's it. There's your starting point. Get your sleep. Then get your food. Then get your walk. Do all three at the same time if you feel ambitious, but don't overdo it. You have the rest of your life to become who you want to be, taking it slow at first isn't going to be any worse than whatever you've been doing up until now. It's worth it, I promise. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me, I'll help as best as I can, and keep it in confidence.
That's it for today. Tomorrow we start learning new skills! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, or like the blog page on Facebook, or hit me up on G+
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Dovahkiin, Oblivion, Morrowind, and all property therein are © Bethesda Softworks.
Sometimes, when we want to change ourselves, the simplest thing to start with is the physical. Now, notice, I didn't say the easiest, I said the simplest. Dovahkiin is whoever you want him or her to be. A big burly melee fighter? Go for it. Stealthy, wiry ninja assassin? Absolutely. Lithe, strong, swift hunter? Sure thing. Maybe a skinny mage, small on brawn but big on brain? Sure! But creating a body type in Skyrim is as easy as playing with a few sliders on a computer screen. Notice I said the simplest thing to start with is the body, not the easiest.
At its heart, fitness is simple. Eat X amount of calories, carbs, fats, proteins, and vitamins, do X amount of/type of exercise on a regular basis, and get what you're looking for. It is that simple but it is never that easy. Food is one of the base interactions we have with the world, changing our eating habits is HARD, even if we know what we need to do. By the same token, we are creatures of habit in our daily goings-on, too. Exercise can be difficult to fit in, especially if we don't particularly enjoy it. I will not lie or sugarcoat it, significant results can sometimes hurt. Not in the bad, I-think-I-hurt-my-knee kind of way, but in the man-I-don't-like-getting-sweaty-and-my-lungs-and-legs-are-burning kind of way, or the oh-my-god-I'm-so-sore-it-hurts-when-I-lift-my-arms kind of way.
The fact is, both of these things involve habits. Habits are hard to break once you've made them, and sometimes it's hard to start them, too. It can be severely intimidating to try to jump right into a new lifestyle regime, so let's take a look at a couple first steps.
SLEEP.
Seriously. This is important. This is the most important thing of all, honestly. Working out, losing weight, changing your diet, gaining muscle, ALL these things are SO MUCH HARDER without sleep. Focus hard on getting at least eight hours a day. Set a bedtime for yourself, and a wake up time. Get your sleep cycle in order, and you will already feel much better than you did.
Keeping a Food Journal
If you've ever tried to change your weight before in life, you've probably heard of this one. Food journals are meant to track and tally your average eating habits. Here's the problem with food journals: they often just end up making you feel worse about your eating habits. There's a benefit in knowing something, but just knowing it doesn't make you feel any better. So here's my take on things. Keep the journal, and don't total your days up. For a month, write down what you eat, and write down four things: calories, carbs, protein, and fats. Do not total numbers up, just write it down every day.
At the end of this month, I want you to, instead, go through and pick out just a few things that you eat on a regular basis, but know you shouldn't. You've probably got a guilty pleasure or two that you know, so now is the first test of willpower. Try to keep these pleasures limited to a once-a-week thing. Remove the obvious guilty pleasures at a rate of one-pleasure-a-week, but don't go overboard on yourself if you slip up sometimes. Remember, the whole point of the journal is to just develop a habit related to food that ISN'T negative. The journal itself is your tool.
Once you've gone through a few weeks of eliminating the guilty pleasures, I want you to start totaling up your days. Go back and total up all those days in your journal, and take a look at the numbers from then till now. Congratulations, you've already made progress. You leveled up. Now it's a game of numbers. Pick a diet plan(I recommend the Fighter Diet for losing weight and toning, or the Big Guy Diet for gaining some good muscle), and slowly try to make your numbers match your goal numbers(according to the diet plan). Start picking out the less obvious guilty pleasures and subbing in the good food recommendations.
Don't scold yourself from slidebacks, and don't worry about weighing yourself(at least at first). Your food journal, and the numbers in it, are the only things you're worried about, at least at first. Results will come in time, what you need to do is build a habit of controlling your own eating habits, and not letting them control you.
Start Workouts Slowly
Okay, let's assume you are at level zero for fitness. Heck, forget that, you're at level negative one, and your in experience debt to boot(City of Heroes reference!). What do?
Start. Slow. Do NOT jump into even the level 1 section of any of my workouts yet. It's intimidating to start a huge new fitness plan from scratch, outta nowhere. You'll burn yourself out, and give up, and that helps no one. What I want you to do, is find a twenty minute block of time, at the same time each day, when you go for a walk. I'm not talking power walk, or jog, I mean just take twenty minutes, and go walk. Start doing it every other day. After two weeks of this, start walking every day, and resting one day out of the week. Twenty minutes, ever day. That's it. Once you are walking six days out of seven every week for a month, ramp it up to half an hour. If you feel comfortable with that, then move on to the level one of the character workout of your choosing. But that first month of twenty minutes of walking every day is crucial.
As with the diet, don't kill yourself for setbacks, they'll happen. If you don't get a workout in every day, it's not the end of the world. But twenty minutes, ever day. That is your time, and in it you go walking. The end. Accept no compromises or substitutes, that is YOUR thing. The end.
So that's it. There's your starting point. Get your sleep. Then get your food. Then get your walk. Do all three at the same time if you feel ambitious, but don't overdo it. You have the rest of your life to become who you want to be, taking it slow at first isn't going to be any worse than whatever you've been doing up until now. It's worth it, I promise. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me, I'll help as best as I can, and keep it in confidence.
That's it for today. Tomorrow we start learning new skills! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, or like the blog page on Facebook, or hit me up on G+
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Dovahkiin, Oblivion, Morrowind, and all property therein are © Bethesda Softworks.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Character Breakdown: Dovahkiin
Ever wanted to Fight like Dovahkiin? Well now you can, with the Video Game Combat Guide: Sword and Shield!
Name: Dovahkiin
Game(s): The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skills/Attributes:
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin...DRAGONBORN!
I know I wasn't the only one who got goosebumps the first time I saw the trailer for Elder Scrolls V. As a fan of the series since Morrowind, I was stoked when I heard about/purchased and played Oblivion, but it was nothing to match my enthusiasm for Skyrim. The game is gorgeous, the world is incredible, the music is beautiful, it's amazing. Enough gushing.
This week will NOT be about turning you into a badass viking nord dude. Sorry, I promise, we WILL have badass viking nord dudes soon. This week is going to be more of a "how to change your life and yourself" blog. The Elder Scrolls series is amazing and unique in that you can basically create whoever you want, be whoever you want, and do whatever you want in the game(Dunmer assassin mage FTW).
The fitness section this week will be about starting a fitness and diet regimen from scratch. Various methods for beginning, how to handle overwhelming odds or bad fitness attempts in your history, etc. Also how to identify your body type, what workout programs might fit best for you, and how to decide where you're at as far as fitness goes.
The skill section for this week will be more about personal growth. How to improve your life overall by educating yourself on new things, learning new abilities, and making that boring ol' day job seem at least halfway bearable. There will be a focus on tracking yourself, setting and attaining goals(this is a common thread you're going to run into here), noting progress, and motivating yourself to make forward change.
The philosophy section this week will take a good look at altering your own perceptions and outlooks, as well as deciding who you want to be, and how to work for that. Main focuses will include how to overcome yourself, forgive yourself, understand yourself, analyze yourself, and convince yourself whether or not it's time for a change.
So that's the fare for the week! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, or like the blog page on Facebook, or hit me up on G+, to get regular updates(and occasional cool stuff!). I will see you all tomorrow!
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Dovahkiin, Oblivion, Morrowind, and all property therein are © Bethesda Softworks.
Name: Dovahkiin
Game(s): The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skills/Attributes:
- Malleable
In their tongue, he is Dovahkiin...DRAGONBORN!
I know I wasn't the only one who got goosebumps the first time I saw the trailer for Elder Scrolls V. As a fan of the series since Morrowind, I was stoked when I heard about/purchased and played Oblivion, but it was nothing to match my enthusiasm for Skyrim. The game is gorgeous, the world is incredible, the music is beautiful, it's amazing. Enough gushing.
This week will NOT be about turning you into a badass viking nord dude. Sorry, I promise, we WILL have badass viking nord dudes soon. This week is going to be more of a "how to change your life and yourself" blog. The Elder Scrolls series is amazing and unique in that you can basically create whoever you want, be whoever you want, and do whatever you want in the game(Dunmer assassin mage FTW).
The fitness section this week will be about starting a fitness and diet regimen from scratch. Various methods for beginning, how to handle overwhelming odds or bad fitness attempts in your history, etc. Also how to identify your body type, what workout programs might fit best for you, and how to decide where you're at as far as fitness goes.
The skill section for this week will be more about personal growth. How to improve your life overall by educating yourself on new things, learning new abilities, and making that boring ol' day job seem at least halfway bearable. There will be a focus on tracking yourself, setting and attaining goals(this is a common thread you're going to run into here), noting progress, and motivating yourself to make forward change.
The philosophy section this week will take a good look at altering your own perceptions and outlooks, as well as deciding who you want to be, and how to work for that. Main focuses will include how to overcome yourself, forgive yourself, understand yourself, analyze yourself, and convince yourself whether or not it's time for a change.
So that's the fare for the week! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter, or like the blog page on Facebook, or hit me up on G+, to get regular updates(and occasional cool stuff!). I will see you all tomorrow!
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim, Dovahkiin, Oblivion, Morrowind, and all property therein are © Bethesda Softworks.
Friday, November 18, 2011
The Link Roundup!
BONUS LINKS!
Some dubsteppy/rappy Legend of Zelda goodness for you!
My favorite Legend of Zelda dubstep remix ever.
First, I feel obligated to tell you that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword comes out in a day and a half. I know I'll be picking it up! ^_^ Second, I would like to tell you that this particular weak has been close to my heart. For a large majority of my formative years, Link was my prominent role model in how I should act and react in life. I strayed from this a bit in recent years, but I felt in part that this week was a more mature me returning to my roots. Thank you, everyone who reads this, for the chance to do that.
Let's take a look at what we covered!
Character Breakdown: Link
We talked briefly about Link, his defining characteristics and skills, and laid out our plan for the week!
The Link Workout
We talked about how to build the body of an epic swordsman!
Bonus links:
The Skills of Link
We looked at swordplay, weapons adaptation, and rapid acquisition of new physical skills!
Bonus links:
The Courage of Link
We talked about what it means to be truly courageous, and how to find your own courage in difficult situations.
That's about it for today! Next week is going to be a special character breakdown! We're going to be doing Dovahkiin, from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. "Wait a second, Dan," you say, "That makes no sense, Dovahkiin isn't a specific written character! You can be anything you want in an Elder Scrolls game. How are we going to do that?" To which I simply reply, "Come and see next week!"
Don't forget to tell your friends, hit up the Facebook page, and check me out on Twitter. I'll be back Monday morning with our Dovahkiin breakdown!
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
Dovahkiin, Skyrim, and The Elder Scrolls series are © Bethesda Softworks.
Some dubsteppy/rappy Legend of Zelda goodness for you!
My favorite Legend of Zelda dubstep remix ever.
First, I feel obligated to tell you that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword comes out in a day and a half. I know I'll be picking it up! ^_^ Second, I would like to tell you that this particular weak has been close to my heart. For a large majority of my formative years, Link was my prominent role model in how I should act and react in life. I strayed from this a bit in recent years, but I felt in part that this week was a more mature me returning to my roots. Thank you, everyone who reads this, for the chance to do that.
Let's take a look at what we covered!
Character Breakdown: Link
We talked briefly about Link, his defining characteristics and skills, and laid out our plan for the week!
The Link Workout
We talked about how to build the body of an epic swordsman!
Bonus links:
The Skills of Link
We looked at swordplay, weapons adaptation, and rapid acquisition of new physical skills!
Bonus links:
The Courage of Link
We talked about what it means to be truly courageous, and how to find your own courage in difficult situations.
That's about it for today! Next week is going to be a special character breakdown! We're going to be doing Dovahkiin, from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. "Wait a second, Dan," you say, "That makes no sense, Dovahkiin isn't a specific written character! You can be anything you want in an Elder Scrolls game. How are we going to do that?" To which I simply reply, "Come and see next week!"
Don't forget to tell your friends, hit up the Facebook page, and check me out on Twitter. I'll be back Monday morning with our Dovahkiin breakdown!
Until then, continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
Dovahkiin, Skyrim, and The Elder Scrolls series are © Bethesda Softworks.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Courage of Link
Link's main defining characteristic, and the one true constant that remains throughout the Legend of Zelda series is his courage. He is the chosen bearer of the triforce of courage, which chose him because of his ability to face insurmountable odds in the defense of others at great risk to himself. Link's bravery demonstrates itself in the tireless manner in which he defends those who cannot defend themselves.
But what is courage? I'm sure you've heard it in movies and books before, and it still rings true...Courage is not just the ability to face something scary to other people. Courage is admitting that YOU are afraid of something, and still facing that fear anyway, accepting that fear does not control you.
I used to think that I was fearless. I genuinely believed that nothing in the world scared me. I was also a testosterone-fueld adolescent wannabe badass at the time, so that might have had something to do with it. But this wasn't true, and it's not true for anyone, really. Everyone has something that they are fundamentally afraid of. You don't truly master your fear until you admit it, accept it, and move on from that.
Personally, I'm afraid of a few things. I'm afraid of harm coming to my son, my fiancee, or any of my loved ones. But particularly my son. I know that my other loved ones are relatively grown, relatively responsible individuals who can defend themselves relatively well if need be. My son...my son is only three. He is adorable. I cannot describe to you the type of love a parent can feel for their child, it is truly something you can only experience yourself, but trust me, I have never felt a stronger, or deeper emotion in my life. My son is wonderful, and beautiful, and relatively helpless in life right now. He can't defend himself, or know when he's walking into a bad situation, or even understand bad situations that he's in.
That's what makes the fear so basal. I am, in effect, the person charged most with keeping him safe. If something happens to him, it's probably because I screwed up. I am absolutely terrified of something happening to him, to cause me to lose him in some way, either through physical harm or legal dispute with his mother(my ex). But I have to see this fear, and accept it, lest is influence my decisions. I still need to let him play outside, and explore his limits, and boundaries, and trust my own judgement in what I do or do not allow him, because to keep him shut off or limited merely because of my own fear would be to harm him.
This brings me to my next point. Trusting your own judgement. I mentioned before that you need to love yourself before you can love anyone else. You also need to trust yourself, before you can overcome your own fears. This can be surprisingly hard. A lot of people are inherently afraid of trusting themselves.
Let's look at Link for a moment. Link walks into dungeons, not knowing what's going to happen there. He does it to save his friends, his family, his princess, his kingdom, and his world. But all these things riding on him mean nothing if he can't trust himself. He is, more often than not, the only person he can rely on in these dungeons. He's alone in some lost temple, ancient volcano, or deep forest, with himself, the items on his back, and maybe a somewhat annoying faerie on his shoulder.
Look at your life for a moment. Think about the challenges you must overcome, the difficulties you need to face. These are your dungeons. It may not seem as adventurous as taking down a Dodongo King, or discerning the real Ganon from the Phantom Ganons, but I promise you, your dungeons are every bit as real and dangerous. You need to trust yourself, and face your fear of these dungeons. Remember my post a while back about challenges. You are your own biggest fan, and biggest critic. Until you trust yourself, you cannot rely on yourself. Until you can rely on yourself, other people cannot rely on you.
If you want to be the hero of your own world, you can do it! Face your fears! Everyone has fears, they are nothing to be ashamed of! Admit you are afraid, and then know that you are in face strong enough, and brave enough, to face down those things that you are afraid of. You can slay that dragon of a boss that's holding you down at work, you can climb that mountain of inequity that is facing you at school, you can defend yourself against the jeers and insults of your peers by knowing that you are the hero of your own story. You can believe in yourself, you can face your monsters and demons, and you can rise above like the Eternal Hero, Link.
Dan "DaRastmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, Hyrule, Ganon, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
But what is courage? I'm sure you've heard it in movies and books before, and it still rings true...Courage is not just the ability to face something scary to other people. Courage is admitting that YOU are afraid of something, and still facing that fear anyway, accepting that fear does not control you.
I used to think that I was fearless. I genuinely believed that nothing in the world scared me. I was also a testosterone-fueld adolescent wannabe badass at the time, so that might have had something to do with it. But this wasn't true, and it's not true for anyone, really. Everyone has something that they are fundamentally afraid of. You don't truly master your fear until you admit it, accept it, and move on from that.
Personally, I'm afraid of a few things. I'm afraid of harm coming to my son, my fiancee, or any of my loved ones. But particularly my son. I know that my other loved ones are relatively grown, relatively responsible individuals who can defend themselves relatively well if need be. My son...my son is only three. He is adorable. I cannot describe to you the type of love a parent can feel for their child, it is truly something you can only experience yourself, but trust me, I have never felt a stronger, or deeper emotion in my life. My son is wonderful, and beautiful, and relatively helpless in life right now. He can't defend himself, or know when he's walking into a bad situation, or even understand bad situations that he's in.
That's what makes the fear so basal. I am, in effect, the person charged most with keeping him safe. If something happens to him, it's probably because I screwed up. I am absolutely terrified of something happening to him, to cause me to lose him in some way, either through physical harm or legal dispute with his mother(my ex). But I have to see this fear, and accept it, lest is influence my decisions. I still need to let him play outside, and explore his limits, and boundaries, and trust my own judgement in what I do or do not allow him, because to keep him shut off or limited merely because of my own fear would be to harm him.
This brings me to my next point. Trusting your own judgement. I mentioned before that you need to love yourself before you can love anyone else. You also need to trust yourself, before you can overcome your own fears. This can be surprisingly hard. A lot of people are inherently afraid of trusting themselves.
Let's look at Link for a moment. Link walks into dungeons, not knowing what's going to happen there. He does it to save his friends, his family, his princess, his kingdom, and his world. But all these things riding on him mean nothing if he can't trust himself. He is, more often than not, the only person he can rely on in these dungeons. He's alone in some lost temple, ancient volcano, or deep forest, with himself, the items on his back, and maybe a somewhat annoying faerie on his shoulder.
Look at your life for a moment. Think about the challenges you must overcome, the difficulties you need to face. These are your dungeons. It may not seem as adventurous as taking down a Dodongo King, or discerning the real Ganon from the Phantom Ganons, but I promise you, your dungeons are every bit as real and dangerous. You need to trust yourself, and face your fear of these dungeons. Remember my post a while back about challenges. You are your own biggest fan, and biggest critic. Until you trust yourself, you cannot rely on yourself. Until you can rely on yourself, other people cannot rely on you.
If you want to be the hero of your own world, you can do it! Face your fears! Everyone has fears, they are nothing to be ashamed of! Admit you are afraid, and then know that you are in face strong enough, and brave enough, to face down those things that you are afraid of. You can slay that dragon of a boss that's holding you down at work, you can climb that mountain of inequity that is facing you at school, you can defend yourself against the jeers and insults of your peers by knowing that you are the hero of your own story. You can believe in yourself, you can face your monsters and demons, and you can rise above like the Eternal Hero, Link.
Dan "DaRastmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, Hyrule, Ganon, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Skills of Link
Link is a very skilled warrior, as well as a proficient puzzle-solver and explorer. He uses his surroundings to his advantage whenever possible, as well as making use of a dizzying array of weapons, tools, armor, devices, spells, and other constructs to win the day. In recent games, Link is also something of an amateur musician, using various musical instruments to solve puzzles, cast spells, interact with other characters, and open doors. We're going to take a look at some of these, starting with his swordsmanship.
Link most commonly wields a single-handed, double-edged broadsword, and a small kite shield. If you are genuinely interested in learning these skills, you might want to first check in with a local renaissance fair and see where the battle re-enactors learned. Typically, you'll find some sort of stage combat school, which can actually teach you a fair bit about swordplay. Failing this, you can take a look to see if you can find any local classical fencing teachers. Here is a directory I found of some schools in the US. My cousin and myself were interested in learning to fight like Link a while ago, but unfortunately, we couldn't find any local schools or clubs. We were, however, lucky enough to find The Cateraan Society, a traditional Scottish weapons school that does long distance apprentice programs with a curriculum constructed from traditional Scottish fencing novels. I think their program is fantastic, and I'm currently learning the sword and targe method(the targe is a smallish circular shield).
Beyond swordsmanship, Link is also an equestrian and an archer. If you're still in school, see if your school has any sort of horseback riding or archery clubs. If you're not in school, or they don't, see if there's any local stables that offer horseback riding lessons. For archery, you can search online to see if there's any local ranges or clubs. You can also go down to your local sporting goods store(find one that actually sells bows and whatnot), and ask if they know of anyone.
That's about it for Link's primary skills, but there's a LOT more that goes into every game. If I tried to run through every tool and weapon that link acquires, it would take a long, long time. Instead, we shall focus on ways to learn and adapt new skills readily.
For weapons, I must again recommend the aforementioned Cateraan Society. They have a program called "The MacGregor Method" which is basically built around the idea of learning base principles that can be carried over into any sort of weapon, to adapt and use them on the fly with ease. In fact, at base level, weapons can be categorized into three basic categories: blunt trauma, sharp trauma, and trapping/deflection. Note: this is not the actual categorization or description of the MacGregor Method. If you want to learn that, go join the Cateraans. This is just me speaking off of twenty years of martial arts experience.
Blunt weapons work on the idea of leverage, that is, you hold onto the lighter end of an object, and swing the heavier end around to hit someone. This applies high levels of force to vulnerable targets, typically small bones like the hands and feet, or vital areas like the head, knees, or groin. Good examples of blunt weapons are hammers, sticks, closed umbrellas, beer mugs, or briefcases.
Sharp weapons work on the idea of either stabbing, or lacerating a target. For stabbing, you apply direct force, for lacerating, you must drag the sharp edge along the surface you desire to cut. Too many people forget this and think swords just cut instantly when you hit someone. You have to draw the weapon across the target. Good examples of sharp weapons are swords, knives, broken glass, cardboard, jagged plastic, or broken pipe(hey look, a blunt weapon with sharp characteristics!).
Trapping/deflection weapons work by either entangling or redirecting a target, typically inflicting some sort of blunt trauma in the process. They can be either flexible, and wrapped around the target, or rigid, to strike the target. They include ropes, wire, shields, boards, briefcases, opened umbrellas, and backpacks.
Remember, these are just a few objects that can fit in each category. As you go through life, look at objects and think, "If I was in a life or death situation, how could I use that to defend myself?" It sounds morbid, but it's an interesting creative exercise and it can actually come in handy. Pick thinks up, feel their heft, give them a few swings. Get to know how to estimate an object's heft or unwieldiness quickly, you'll get a feel for it.
Which brings me to my method for learning...anything else. Play! People learn things most quickly by playing with them. If you want to learn how to throw a boomerang, go to a toy store, get a boomerang, go out in a field, and play with it for a few hours. Play a lot, even with things you don't think have any real application. Building proprioception(your body's ability to calculate it's location in space in relation to itself) and hand-eye coordination will help you learn any physical activity quicker, and forcing yourself to regularly learn new actions keeps your mind nimble and sharp. I'm talkin yo-yos, juggling, legos, skipping rope, competitive cup stacking, balancing things on your nose/head/elbow, anything. Just keep trying new things with new objects! That way when life throws a dungeon at you, you're ready to react to what you find in there quickly.
That's about it for today. Don't forget to like the Facebook, follow the Tweets, and tell your friends! Tomorrow we'll be taking a look at the philosophy of a hero, and what it means to be truly courageous.
Until then, continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, Hyrule, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
Link most commonly wields a single-handed, double-edged broadsword, and a small kite shield. If you are genuinely interested in learning these skills, you might want to first check in with a local renaissance fair and see where the battle re-enactors learned. Typically, you'll find some sort of stage combat school, which can actually teach you a fair bit about swordplay. Failing this, you can take a look to see if you can find any local classical fencing teachers. Here is a directory I found of some schools in the US. My cousin and myself were interested in learning to fight like Link a while ago, but unfortunately, we couldn't find any local schools or clubs. We were, however, lucky enough to find The Cateraan Society, a traditional Scottish weapons school that does long distance apprentice programs with a curriculum constructed from traditional Scottish fencing novels. I think their program is fantastic, and I'm currently learning the sword and targe method(the targe is a smallish circular shield).
Beyond swordsmanship, Link is also an equestrian and an archer. If you're still in school, see if your school has any sort of horseback riding or archery clubs. If you're not in school, or they don't, see if there's any local stables that offer horseback riding lessons. For archery, you can search online to see if there's any local ranges or clubs. You can also go down to your local sporting goods store(find one that actually sells bows and whatnot), and ask if they know of anyone.
That's about it for Link's primary skills, but there's a LOT more that goes into every game. If I tried to run through every tool and weapon that link acquires, it would take a long, long time. Instead, we shall focus on ways to learn and adapt new skills readily.
For weapons, I must again recommend the aforementioned Cateraan Society. They have a program called "The MacGregor Method" which is basically built around the idea of learning base principles that can be carried over into any sort of weapon, to adapt and use them on the fly with ease. In fact, at base level, weapons can be categorized into three basic categories: blunt trauma, sharp trauma, and trapping/deflection. Note: this is not the actual categorization or description of the MacGregor Method. If you want to learn that, go join the Cateraans. This is just me speaking off of twenty years of martial arts experience.
Blunt weapons work on the idea of leverage, that is, you hold onto the lighter end of an object, and swing the heavier end around to hit someone. This applies high levels of force to vulnerable targets, typically small bones like the hands and feet, or vital areas like the head, knees, or groin. Good examples of blunt weapons are hammers, sticks, closed umbrellas, beer mugs, or briefcases.
Sharp weapons work on the idea of either stabbing, or lacerating a target. For stabbing, you apply direct force, for lacerating, you must drag the sharp edge along the surface you desire to cut. Too many people forget this and think swords just cut instantly when you hit someone. You have to draw the weapon across the target. Good examples of sharp weapons are swords, knives, broken glass, cardboard, jagged plastic, or broken pipe(hey look, a blunt weapon with sharp characteristics!).
Trapping/deflection weapons work by either entangling or redirecting a target, typically inflicting some sort of blunt trauma in the process. They can be either flexible, and wrapped around the target, or rigid, to strike the target. They include ropes, wire, shields, boards, briefcases, opened umbrellas, and backpacks.
Remember, these are just a few objects that can fit in each category. As you go through life, look at objects and think, "If I was in a life or death situation, how could I use that to defend myself?" It sounds morbid, but it's an interesting creative exercise and it can actually come in handy. Pick thinks up, feel their heft, give them a few swings. Get to know how to estimate an object's heft or unwieldiness quickly, you'll get a feel for it.
Which brings me to my method for learning...anything else. Play! People learn things most quickly by playing with them. If you want to learn how to throw a boomerang, go to a toy store, get a boomerang, go out in a field, and play with it for a few hours. Play a lot, even with things you don't think have any real application. Building proprioception(your body's ability to calculate it's location in space in relation to itself) and hand-eye coordination will help you learn any physical activity quicker, and forcing yourself to regularly learn new actions keeps your mind nimble and sharp. I'm talkin yo-yos, juggling, legos, skipping rope, competitive cup stacking, balancing things on your nose/head/elbow, anything. Just keep trying new things with new objects! That way when life throws a dungeon at you, you're ready to react to what you find in there quickly.
That's about it for today. Don't forget to like the Facebook, follow the Tweets, and tell your friends! Tomorrow we'll be taking a look at the philosophy of a hero, and what it means to be truly courageous.
Until then, continue to be awesome.
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
Link, The Legend of Zelda, Hyrule, and all property therein are © Nintendo.
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