Blogs - Reborn:X

Hello everyone,

This is a rather big blog post and an announcement to show that I am not dead. I will try to keep it short and without incessant blabbering.

Life has been keeping me pretty busy and I haven't got much of a time or a creative input to be more active on the ModDB once again.

In the meantime I have (finally) created my own YouTube channel after writing a plan for it months ago and keeping it in limbo for even a longer period of time. Currently, my YouTube hosts just a few videos of various missions/campaigns from some of the most famous mods for the game Operation: Flashpoint. The game itself is quite an an old one and my main rationale behind the creation of this YT channel was that I wanted to show some unique gameplay for a game that is basically almost forgotten today. It is essentially a channel for the times of mission gameplays you guys probably haven't seen before. :)

This channel is very small and a bit disorganized (as with many other starting channels, I suppose). I plan to expand it a bit in the near future and to shift away from OFPR and old games into a something different, something more educational and informative perhaps. However, don't expect for the channel to be updated weekly with new content due to my life's schedule. All in all, I plan to shift to periodically shift the focus on the content in my channel, just as I did with the "screenshot storytelling" blog posts on this website a few years ago.

Youtube.com

I have also taken a liking to webcomics lately as I discovered the websites of Tapas and Webtoon.

I have noticed that sadly, most of the comics uploaded on these websites are either stereotypical Anime-esque romance (I think like 80% is literally Anime romance with most of that being gay love stories to boot, not that there is anything wrong with that.), ghost/supernatural horror stories or some historical tales and some South Korean apocalypse survival tales. Therefore, I have been thinking about this and the platform that the website of Webtoon is and I have decided to kind of start my own webcomic. Since I cannot draw good enough for a war story comic, I have decided to make use of game as the graphics platform for the creation of my comic. I have noticed that this is a kind of a niche that some other creators also create webcomics in the style of. So, why not to try making something unique with just Arma 2 and its massive amount of mods combined with a image manipulation software? I think it is worth trying to do.

Taiwan 200x

Currently, I have in plans a trilogy of sorts that is a short, 16 episodes/parts at maximum seperate story about a fictional, hypothetical war in the 21st century. "Taiwan 200x" is my most advanced in terms of finished content project that I will be uploading in the upcoming days. The webcomic is a story about a group of Taiwanese soldiers trying to survive a PLA invasion on a small island, far away from the Taiwan proper and the main war that happens sometime in the early 2000's. Also, I am not sure if I will continue to host via Webtoon or eventually switch over to Tapas if this turns as good as Tapas seems a bit more
user-friendly and not that "must be mobile device friendly!" creator experience in your face.

To sum up this blog post: I am not dead, just very, very busy (though still happy with life) and I will be once again trying to upload some of my creative stuff on the Internet as I did few years ago.

Have a good day, everyone! :)

- Reborn:X

Hello everyone,

This is a quick little blog update to inform everyone that I am not dead and that various life things have made me too occupied to spend some time on the ModDB.

Also, since this is an update, I wanted to refer to something I have recently stumbled upon.

Long Gone Days - a "2D modern-day military RPG set in our current times"

Yes, this is a modern JRPG/VN/Action Shooter featuring the Polish Armed Forces equipment and uniforms. Now, this is generally something that I wouldn't have noticed but thanks to a message from a buddy of mine I managed to take a look at it.

Now, I must say that I really, really don't like any game(s) that claim to be a 'realistic, modern-day military RPG' when you have this Anime artstyle and long haired (by military standards) prettybois walking around and occasionally saying some philosophical mumbo jumbo with the intent of making the player feel guilty about playing the game as a soldier. In my humble opinion, the unique artstyle of Anime just makes me cringe when a serious situation develops or you engage hostiles that look like high schoolers. This is not an insult, just my personal opinion that is if you want some veracity from a war scenario, don't make the soldiers have this memory imprint (for a lack of a better word right now) of a high school boy à la Anime.

So, Long Gone Days is in early access and from what I managed to read about it has quite a backstory behind the development. It appears to be a one person passion project which is something the creator really deserves recognition and applause for. It is also interesting how little exposure this game has received enough though it looks like to be the second game every (first was Arma) to feature the modern Polish Armed Forces equipment in significant detail and have hypothetical Kaliningrad skirmishes as the central theme of the game.

This is not a reccomendation but merely just an update post that I thought it would be interesting. Personally speaking, the game is really interesting for the fact that the player character for the most part is stranded in place in which he does not know the language of, and the struggle of the military interaction with civilians is portrayed quite nicely. Especially when one is faced with a decision to surrender some of his/her valuable protection equipment in exchange for medicine for a sick civillian child. This is something that I honestly can't remember experiencing before in a commerical game with modern war as the main theme.

So, that would all for my return blog post. I might try to post some new things on the upcoming weekend but not promises. I hope you guys and girls are doing all fine in these early days of May! :D

- Reborn:X

It has been a while

So, hello everyone. I am finally online on this site again after a long time of inactivity. I had plenty of life-related things to do, and I was really planning to post something new on the ModDB but unfortunately, I was really busy.

This blog entry is going to be a small one. I just wanted to tell you guys and girls that I am doing quite alright and I am not going to disappear from the ModDB. I have been a member for about 6 years and counting now, and I am really happy with the way ModDB is still alive and kicking. There were plenty of new mods and fascinating indie games being published lately. ModDB is now also promoting VR games, and we're once again hosting the MOTY and IOTY.

I feel like the whole gaming industry has changed, somewhat. There is more, at least to my observations, emphasis on storytelling and the concept of 'scenes that touch your soul' rather than on games as means of only entertainment and a way to pass the time. There has also been a explosion of military-themed games like Squad or CMANO, which in my opinion go beyond the 'casual simulator' tag and into something that really resembles actual warfare and tactical-level decision making process. Honestly, I was never really that knowledgeable about the Navy aspect in modern warfare but after watching some YouTube playthroughs, I think I finally understand something more. With that being said, I am positive about the future of gaming and modding.

Anyways, I wanted to wish you all a very merry Chirstmas and a joyful, happy time with your family and loved ones. I also wanted to wish you guys and girls a Happy New Year, may it be as interesting and productive for the ModDB and for the whole gaming industry as this passing year is.

I will try to be once again more active on the ModDB when I will have a longer break. Maybe upload some new content in the beginning of the next year. Also, I'll be playing some newly purchased games (Codename Panzers: Cold War, that game with more prototypes than Wargame) on Steam this evening, so If anyone wants to chat with me today, you can find me on Steam. :)

Take care everyone!

- Reborn:X

Hello everyone,

It is December already. Dead leave whistle through the ground, touched upwards the space by heavy wind. Cold air licks the exposed skin, goosebumps. Scents typical to that of December days spread 'round the streets, Santa Claus statues all around. A feeling of upcoming joy is prevalent throughout the land. The vibe of Winter can be felt, although the colds are still not that worrisomely felt. December is here, and hopes are high it will be a good one here and out there.

Apologizes for not spending enough time online on the ModDB lately. Many things from the real life have kept me from spending some time with you guys. The beginnings of every months are always the busiests. :(

As some of you might already know, I have finally upgraded my PC and now I can finally make use of a 64bit OS and most importantly, can play Arma 2 battles without lag creeping over the gameplay like a well, creeping barrage. That was a lame comparsion. It feels nice to be able to make use of a much larger selection of software now.

Anyways, this blog entry was mainly a remainder to show that I'm still not dead and that there is a suprise coming up. Before the new year, I plan to collect all of my art and literary works and publish them here in a form of a collection. This will, hopefully, be one of my first self-published full fledged literary works on the Internet. This time it will be released for real.

So, I hope everyone is doing fine on the Moddb! :) Oh, and you guys (and girls) should check out this fine Company of Heros total conversion modification Far East War I am currently working as a member of the dev team focused on translating the mod so it will have a bigger global reach. It is perhaps one of the few remaining CoH mods which are still be actively worked on and I definitly reccomend it especially for the unique Asian setting.

Stay safe & strong everyone.

I'm back.

This blog entry is focused more on text and is primarily an explanation of my absence, a world news report (also known as Reborn:X dabbling into international politics) and a remainder of my birthday this Thursday (which already happened). Explicit TL;DR warning notice.

Hello everyone once again, as some of you may have noticed I have been rather inactive lately due to various reasons. I had some stressful events to attend to but everything went out fine, as usual. This summer is looking to be a great one for me. Now, I am back again to the ModDB and to my daily work in the website! :)

This summer, a lot of things had happened. There was the Brexit, which apparently nobody in the high UK leadership really though of to happen in real life. This was this kind of assurance and poll results that stated everything would be 'business as usual' until you woke the next day and nearly half of UK's population is confused as to what exactly had happened. Part of the EU's top leadership wants UK to swiftly leave the whole political union and go on projecting its visions of statehood somewhere else. The resulting chaos is just that, in my honest opinion, that most of the general population didn't really understand what the referendum what about and what will be the ramifications. The Brexit shockwave wasn't as traumatic as believed and did not result in mass suicides in the Wall Street or in the DAX stock exchange. What I see is that we are and especially this generation is witnessing the changing internal structure of the European Union. The fluidity of history is once again becoming really irritating in this modern world that most of us thought would just 'go along together' and witness no more serious political problems... or wars.

This summer, the Central Europe has witnessed the most explosive and manly event perhaps in this decade and surely in the modern history of the Republic of Poland. Anakonda-15 military exercise saw NATO tanks rolling around Polish military training grounds, massed paradrop airborne infantry assault operations all complete fancy warplanes flying around. I'm sure most of followed this event, as everybody knows the ModDB folks enjoy good humor and tanks the most as the “Popular Groups” wall would say *chuckle*. Okay, that a really bad attempt at being humorous on my part. Anyways, that NATO exercise had put Poland on the military spotlight. As it seems to become more pronounced, the lines of peace in Central Europe are not as stable as most would have thought. The recent NATO summit in Warsaw was, for the most part, remembered for the incredibly tight and expanded security measures and for the temporary walls being placed around the Polish capital city. However, what the end result of the summit was that Europe sliding just a little too much to the “seems like a trouble is brewing” spectrum in something that I would like to describe as a: “Crazy Random Military/Political Happenstance Slider.” If you can imagine that. Nobody is really sure whether the planned deployment of additional NATO battlegroups in Baltic countries or in Poland in the year 2017 is going to have an actual positive effect on the security in Europe. Many people in Europe seem to asking themselves a question. “In which direction is Europe heading towards?” or “Is Russia really that of an aggressive nation?” or the ultimate question “how much will the military deployment cost the taxpayers?”. The answers to these questions are as complex as the world modern world is. All in all, the wisdom lies in staying open-minded and not succumbing to radical political influences.

This Thursday was my birthday and I am officially just a year from becoming a “full adult, not an advanced teenager” if you believe the latest in the research paper on human biology. To stop you for using Google too much, I can say that age is considered to be twenty-five. Furthermore, I got even more books as gifts and this was also the day of the Bastille Day military parade which, regrettably, I didn't get the chance to see. However, 14^th of July was also a tragic day. That night in Nice, France a truck rammed into a crowd killing many people including children. it was probably one of the most unconventional and unpredictable terrorist attacks in the 21^st century. On the next on a Friday night, Turkish fighter jets rocked the ground around Ankara and the Turkish military was deployed in the cities, the Bosphorus bridge was temporarily closed. The military coup attempt lasted a few hours but the entire country has changed. Never before in the 21st Europe an NATO member-state witnessned such an event. Those events in a sense, had also affected me. Although I am somewhat known for not necessarily being an emotional person.

My thoughts and well-wishes go everyone who was affected. Stay strong Turkey.

Finishing this blog entry, I would like to announce that I have begin working on a few short stories that I would like to upload. Expect some real updates from me on the ModDB, soon. :)

Hello everyone,

As some of you may already know, I'm kind of a amateur writer, especially around the grand ModDB. I have been posting some of my little parables and short stories to buddies around the Steam. Now, I am thinking of actually uploading my literary works here, on the ModDB.

To make it better, I am considering uploading them via the MediaFire website service. I know that various literary works generally do not see much readership and interest on the ModDB, but I am still determined to share my literary work, here.

I am not sure when the MF download link will be uploaded, as I am busy nowadays. I'll try to collect and upload them tomorrow, if possible. The stories themselves are of various themes, some are of military setting, some are of... more ordinary life settings (like Moscow night time stuff). Nothing incredibly saucy or brutal, though. :/

POST EDIT.

Here is it, the Collection: Mediafire.com

Files are in a RAR file, no password needed. Once extracted the content is in a PDF file format which should be readable just with any device. I hope you guys enjoy! :) There might be more to come.

Cheers!

- Reborn:X

Merry Chirstmas!

I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Chirstmas, full of nice presents, happy moments with your families and loved ones, great food and above all; good health and a quiet and prosperous New Year! :D

- Reborn:X, ModDB Moderator

Happy Halloween, guys! :D

It is a dark, hollow night. The streets rang silently throughout the night, the livid orange-like lights shine through the dark, brooding urban lines. In this enthralling realm, the jack-o'-lanterns of various shapes and sizes break through with the creativity of the humankind.

The time has come for a day of celebration, of trick & treating activities but also a day of remembrance. A day of remembering about the relatives and loveys who are no longer with us. This is both a day of respected the dead and a day of giddy kids (or teenagers, for the matter) visiting the homes of random people and asking for sweet things. Optionally involving breaking down a trash can when the sweets are not delivered in satisfying quantities. ;)

Today is also the day in which I wanted to write about how it is going around my parts. I know I'm being sometimes awfully inactive lately, work keeps me occupied. But I haven't forgotten about this wonderful community. The Blog attempt hadn't be updated for a while, actually for about a few months. But I still haven't forgotten about it. In the near future there might be a suprise scary update coming. ;)

I wanted to say, It's been a eventful past few months for me. I got to visit a special friend of mine in Germany. Although the stay was wonderful it was short also. But those are the peculiarities of nowadays and of my work. Though, I must admit I haven't been playing much (!!) video games lately. This I am hoping to change as I will be trying to get back to the Steam Source MP community and try to finally promote the Armoured Brigade game scene inside this fine website. The ModDB will soon experience the 2015 Mod of The Year Awards. Now with a new logo it will be a wonderful opportunity to show how our modding community is still very much lively and ripe with talent!

You guys and girls all together make this wonderful gaming/modding community in this wonderful website that has, in my opinion went from a mod or video game hosting service to something of a full blown social media service. I believe many of the members from the 2005's ModDB couldn't have imagined it evolving in this great way. Remember all, it's not the Staff or in a way the fancy technology which makes the website. It is always the people, their passions and merits and demerits.

Until next times guys & gals and stay strong everyone! :D

Hello everyone once again! I have returned to the ModDB after a ten day break! This will be perhaps the penultimate release of my screenshot blog attempt. I will try to be more active now on the ModDB and to be of better service overall. I wanted to thank you all for your lovely Birthday wishes. :) This one blog entry is a little different from the one that was in the original planning script. I found it a little bit too depressing so the final version has an invention of humor in it. I am thinking of... "serializing" some of my work in a form a là webcomic. This is still an early idea however. Though, the screenshot blog can't continue on forever, right? This will be the last entry made using the 2D izometric Enigma engine.

Deep Winter, Somewhere in Northern Finland, Year 1959, Chateau.

Somewhere in the vast regions in the North of Finland a Chateau was build by a rich man. Not many people both on the outside and in the inside really knew him. He was thought to be a man of significant wealth but also a reclusive paranoid guy. His Chateau was built on the place in where the only other sight of mankind was small village located a few minutes drive from the Chateau's vicinity. The man had brought with himself random object of enjoyment as well as luxury items and a pre-War vintage automobile. A pair of grand statues of an antique origin. There was also a shed for housing timber for heating with a favorite utility vehicle for jobs of hard work. Because the rich man was a kind of a weird man; certain rumors spread around the area some accusing him of being illegally rich and even of being a former member of the dreaded SS organization of the not-so-past last War. Nobody really knew whether that was true, but one thing was very visible on the outside. The Chateau was protected by fence-link wire walls with the construction detail and security being managed by the "Palkintokilpi" local Private Security Company. They were an unusual group. The rich man even bought himself a pilot operative along with the needed equipment for handling a recently made Eastern-looking helicopter. The crew was housed in a specially made tent for them along with the equipment. The roaming security guards were often seen as and behaved as like SS organization members of the last War. The Chateau was shrouded in much secrecy, indeed.

Far away from the Chateau. An outsider resident lived in his household, improved and modified by himself. He would earn a living by maintaining a geese farm but not now as it was winter, occasionally hunting for food and selling some valueables to the people from the outside area. He had everything he needed and he enjoyed this type of life very much. On that very day, the outsider had decided to go to the nearby village and check how things are going on there. This decision would be the way to show the true conscience, to be part in the fight of good and evil and perhaps even to be a hero in this uncertain world.

As he approached the village area, hiding behind the snow and the snowy trees he noticed something unusual and alarming. The security guards from the Chateau had moved into the village and begun to subjugate and terroize the local population. The village policemen were startled as the leader of this small group had presented his demands. The people will be left free and unharmed if the police would load the hauling truck with the lumber intended for export and drive it to the Chateau grounds. If not, the security guards would kill every person they currently saw inside the village. The outsider had thought of this horrible situation to be an opportunity to project good and defeat evil in this place. Even perhaps to change his pathetic and linear so far for the new and better.

He had decided to sneak around the village from the left side of it. As he moved through this destination, he immediately hid in front of the truck as the policeman was inspecting the cargo. The path was clear now, the subjugated local police force would not notice him moving through. But the real problem now was to come up with a logical plan on how to defeat them as the outdated hunting rifle was no match for the automatic firearms of the "Palkintokilpi" Company security guards. The plan was needed to be devised fast and suddenly the lightbulb had flashed.

Something had ticked in the mind of the outsider as he moved near an rather weird household compared to the rest inside the village. The lumber was placed on the outside of the wooden fence, very strange. In this structure, there must be some usefull items that would help the cause. As the outsider started to carefully search through the entire house the leader of the small security guard group was finishing up the preparations of the delivery of the lumber to the Chateau. In the meantime, inside the house some incredibly useful items were found. It was a selection of documents stating that the cash the rich man had was gained illegally. Also, among these were even accusations of fascism sentiments of the Chateau owner. Now the outsider had only to rush away from the village and into the cityscape world, to bring out the truth.

The eviction notice and an arrest order was issued. The government has sent a bailiff to execute it. Fearing the entire population of the Chateau might not go down easily especially with the security guards armed with non-standard firarms the bailiff was issued a protection himself. A truck-load of FDF reserve forces as well as an entire tank was sent. The security guards outer patrols, being only of five men strength couldn't do anything while being overwhelmed by such a force and the bailiff was let through. The security guards had surrendered.

The bailiff has arrived and got out of his service car. Moving near the fence-link wire walls and into the antique-style large gate. Bringing with himself the documents of doom for the Chateau and for the rich man. This was a force the "Palkintokilpi" Private Security Company field personnel couldn't really stop. All they could do right now is to observe the developing situation. But the bailiff would not meet the rich man here. When he finally went through the gate the rich man was already somewhere far away from here, from the chateau, from the village. High up in the sky in where there are no possible limits, or so some people do say...

Tomorrow will be my Birthday!

One this occasion, I wanted to write that I how much I enjoyed and still enjoy being a member of this fine website of ModDB! Those all years passed with much activity! :D

As I go older, I realized one truth that might or might not be universal. That the older you get the more less attractive the Birthdays get... because you get older. But you still don't lose the vigour of life!

Regarding my Blog attempt, the promised new blog entry will be posted someday during this week, that is for sure. :)

Stay safe & strong everybody! ;)

- Reborn:X The Moderator