Dream Angels Paradise Blog

A place to find more Dream Angel stuff

Games on the website

Written By: admin - Jan• 05•12

If anyone’s been keeping up with my activity on Facebook, they’d know that I’ve been building little Flash-based games quite successfully. As things stand currently, there are three available for play. Nothing extremely fancy or complicated, but the latest is pretty challenging.

The first game is just like Bejeweled just swap the gems for three in a row and gain points. Not complicated at all. The second is Dream Angel related in that it’s a “choose your own adventure” type of game. The third is a basic side-scrolling platform game a lot like the old Mario Bros games. I had a little fun with this one, making 50 levels that are apparently quite the challenge – I haven’t had anyone report getting past level 12 yet. Even while testing, I could scarcely get past level 20 or so. I know the whole game works, though.

Since I’m taking this spring off from school (not too much choice in the matter, but that’s a personal reason really) I’m starting up as a freelance game developer using Flash. For purposes of testing (mostly) I’ll be posting more games on a regular basis as I make them to ensure they work as they should in a web browser. Sorry, no games that’ll work with Ipad/Iphone etc yet as I have no means of testing them. Oh, I’m sure there’s programs for the computer I could get that would simulate those things, but I’d rather test using the genuine article and it’ll be a while before I can afford that. In the meantime, I’ll be doing some heavy reading that will include developing those types of games, but I won’t be making them for a while.

For now, just enjoy the games I’ve got online. You’ll find them on http://www.games.dreamangelsparadise.com.

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Happy everything

Written By: admin - Dec• 14•11

Okay, I know it’s politically correct to say “happy holidays” and all, but I do believe in equality for all holidays. True, I don’t celebrate all the holidays (especially the ones in December) but I believe that to achieve the desired “Peace on Earth” we have to accept that people are different, have different views, and celebrate different things. This means I could be biased and simply say, “Merry Christmas” or I could be fair to all and say “Happy Holidays.”

December isn’t just about Christmas, though some people would see it that way. It just doesn’t sound right to someone who celebrates Hanukkah when you tell them “Merry Christmas” just as you wouldn’t like to hear “Happy Hanukkah” from them if you celebrate Christmas. “Happy Holidays” shows an acceptance of diversity that this world so badly needs, constantly preaches about and doesn’t have. Is that a case of “Do as I say, not as I do”? There isn’t a religion in history that isn’t guilty of that crime. The Spanish Inquisition was a major example. All that preaching of “Thou shalt not kill” (or words to the effect) and what did they do? Torture and kill. Let’s stop that nonsense and accept all holidays and religions for what they are: diverse.

Now that that’s on the table, I hope I’ve ended all arguments on the holiday issue. You’re welcome to make the issue into a discussion, but I still believe in equality for the holidays.

On to other things, now. I’ve kept myself active on hubpages for some time now, and in hope of finally getting a publisher to accept, I’ve posted a preview chapter of Dream Angel. The idea is to have a high activity level that’s visible to prove to the publisher that there’s a waiting and willing market for a groundbreaking genre like mine. So, please, go join the discussion of the book, vote in the poll, I look forward to hopefully gaining the publisher’s acceptance soon, and I think this is a good way to do it.

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I changed the theme again!

Written By: admin - Nov• 07•11

I’m sure the change in theme is noticeable from that Halloween one, to the creative one I had for about a week or so, to this one. I’ve been having some fun lately, just messing around with various projects of different sorts. On the main site, rather than posting multitudes of pictures for character profiles, I’ve begun making Powerpoint video presentations that I can embed on the pages, saving space and time. The images are all grouped together in one file that’s easily viewable to all. This even saves space on the server for other things.

Sorry, no, I haven’t gotten around to the Sailor Moon paper doll collection I’ve had up for years – it’s big and I’m still deciding what the best method of display is for it. I’ve tried several ways and every time, it wound up a big mess. I’m hoping to avoid that problem this time.

The main rebuild is already looking very nice and using a site-wide spread among sub-domains has actually made things just a bit easier to handle. I can update each area as I need to separately from others, which makes it far better for keeping track of files where in the past, everything was jumbled together and next to impossible to keep accurate track of.

I’m hopeful to have finally found a good e-book publisher for my novel, too. I know better than to really get my hopes up, but finding a publisher that’s an author too and knows what it’s like to be a nobody in the writing world… that’s pretty uncommon. Even more uncommon is the same publisher actually wanting newcomer authors. It’s only been a little over a week now, but I’m hopeful the saying of “no news is good news” being true on this!

If I’m lucky, this publisher likes new ideas/genres along with new authors…

Posted in general, novel | No Comments »

Happy Merry everything and related mythology…

Written By: admin - Nov• 05•11

Since I  enjoy the study of all religions, I have a fair understanding of their holidays. In light of this, and the soon arriving season of many holidays, I just acknowledge them all, whether I actually celebrate it or not. Personally, I love the mythology of the various cultures and all the different stories and gods. As I usually say, “I don’t care which god is listening or watching over me, I’m just glad there’s someone who cares to be watching or helping me.” If you think about it, how is one god supposed to keep track of billions of prayers anyway? Then there’s the quote, “God helps those who help themselves.” I have no problem agreeing with that one. I’ve worked hard, Ive done plenty of research, I’ve made many efforts toward my goals, I don’t care which god might help me along the path, I’m helping myself, so regardless of who, the god that helps me help myself is the one I thank.

I don’t usually delve into religious subjects – for the most part, I prefer staying out of the religious arguments. My study of mythology has taken me through many religions from many eras. My personal favorite is Greek and Roman mythology. I actually like to read about the lesser known gods and goddesses alongside the more commonly known ones. A prime example of my admiration of the lesser known gods comes in my novel, actually. In Dream Angel, two of my primary characters, protagonist and antagonist, Dream Angel herself and Nyxus come from those uncommonly known gods. Dream Angel, or Arora Arum when she’s not transformed, has a couple links into mythology. Specifically, she’s based on Aurora, the goddess of the dawn. The goddess herself was said to be rosy fingered, relates to the color saffron orange (Dream Angel’s outfit color until her goddess form) and bring the newborn day – thus, Dream Angel fights primarily at night against Nyxus. Nyxus has her own ties to mythology – the goddess Nyx of night. While I don’t really go any deeper than that on Nyxus, other than the fact that her power’s at its greatest at night, her mythological tie is still there. Dream Angel has another tie, but not to mythology this time. This time, it’s to the periodic table of the elements. Since the goddess Aurora was the goddess of the golden dawn, it seemed fitting that Dream Angel’s civilian name end in gold – the Latin for gold anyway. Arum is the Latin name for gold on the periodic table of the elements. Dream Angel’s tie to this is her goddess form being a golden gown. But I’m getting away from the joy of the season with my own character mythology.

Feel free to offer your thoughts~! Sorry to those who would prefer not registering for a blog to comment, but I’ve gotten a lot of spammers in the past. Only registered and logged in users are able to comment.

Happy Merry EVERYTHING! Hopefully, this covers ALL the holidays for the rest of the year!

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Shhh… I’ve got a game in the works…

Written By: admin - Oct• 17•11

Since my discovery of a program called StencylWorks, I’ve been plotting and slowly making a game that’s all my own – Dream Angel related, of course.
Thus far, I’ve managed to create one good game actor, I won’t say who – it’s a surprise for players’ eyes only – but I can say it’s looking really good with just that for the moment. Eventually, I’m hopeful to create a full-fledged game, but for now, it’s simply a work in progress… wish me luck!

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Will someone tell my praying mantis it’s October, not April Fool’s Day?

Written By: admin - Oct• 14•11

I’ve had a praying mantis for a while now – caught her in the middle of the summer on one of mom’s roses, thus she’s been named Rose – and last night she left me a “present”: an egg sack. Would somebody tell Rose it’s October and not April Fool’s Day?

Now, I’m getting mixed tales of how many babies she’s supposed to have. Some sources say 40-100, others 200. Fortunately, most say 1-3 months for hatching or keep the sack at 60-70 degrees and 40% humidity.

I have to admit, the last time I tried hatching an egg sack of mantids, it didn’t work. The darn thing refused. True, I was in junior high at the time and didn’t know much about the bugs… not as much as I’ve learned since, anyway… but I was pretty disappointed when nothing happened and I needed the bugs to hatch for a science fair project for school. Typical uncooperative nature, right? At that time, I ended up using lady bugs in my experiment – no, nothing that would harm the insects, simply test them – which was to test the intelligence using the old rat-in-a-maze test. I won a bronze medal for that, but I was still disappointed that I didn’t get to use my praying mantids for that. I’ve since learned that these are very intelligent, motion-tracking, lightning fast predators of warm climates.

So, without further ado, here’s the mantis mama and her egg sack:

From what I’ve read, she can’t lay unfertilized eggs, so I figure she must’ve mated before I caught her. Makes sense, since she’s the only one I caught this summer who was an adult already.

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Main Website

Written By: admin - Oct• 05•11

I’m quite proud to report that my main website, www.dreamangelsparadise.com, is running again without redirects and hopefully with more comprehensive navigation. I know it’s been terribly confusing in the past and hope this time it’s easier to understand since each area of the site’s now separated into sub domains with individual navigation.
With time and a lot of patience, I hope to have the site running better than ever and more active than ever.
In the middle of all this, I hope to also create a Flash-based game featuring Dream Angel and friends. Go easy on me, game fans… it’ll be a big time first for me to make a game of this sort. I really want to make it the best possible so I’d greatly appreciate constructive criticism when it comes out! Please, be polite about it… It’s really taking a great deal of work and planning, so I’d really appreciate polite thoughts and comments when I do finally post it.

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Happy Halloween!

Written By: admin - Oct• 04•11

All right, I know it’s a little early, but why not have some fun? Besides, the theme of this blog can change with the touch of a button, so I’m having a little fun displaying a new theme for October just simply because I can. Well… that, and the WordPress themes I’ve got to play with are all very nice and I thought it would be fun to show a few off.
Sorry to those that don’t celebrate the Day of the Dead, but it’s really a fascinating holiday with a lot of great history. Ignoring the religious aspects of it, there’s a lot that can be learned about how different cultures celebrate and show respect to their dead.
A favorite movie of mine that discusses this is called “The Halloween Tree.” In the story, three kids are trying to save their friend from dying and wind up traveling to different times and cultures learning about their costumes as a witch, mummy and monster along the way. What a shame so many focus on the religion and not the history of such a fascinating day.

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I’m moderately positive on this…

Written By: admin - Oct• 04•11

Of the three newcomer toads to the tank, I’m moderately positive I’ve got 2 girls. One, I’m certain of since I caught Battoad in amplexus with her – thus she’s earned the name of Cattoad. The other, while I’m not as positive has been accepting of the boys getting on her back without making any noise as they do… that special noise saying, “Hey, dummy! I’m a guy!” So, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to have girls laying eggs next year when mating season comes around.
As for the lizards, they’re just babies themselves and quite happy chasing crickets around their tank.
The mantids Rose and Harem Girl (the latter being a joke on my brother, who found her) are happy enough with whatever is put in with them that has the ability to run around. Rose especially loves the chase.
I’ve lost a few of the fish so far, but that’s something I expected anyway. The rest have gotten into a morning/evening feeding routine that’s easy to remember since they all go right to the front of the tank at the same time wanting to be fed.
Okay, I’ll admit it is possible for critters like the lizards and mantids to be carrying diseases, but I’ve been very careful when taking care of them – I clean my hands every time, without exception. Matter of fact, I keep hand sanitizer around right next to their various houses so I’m certain to take care of that possibility. It’s not just a possibility for the lizards and mantids, though, it’s possible for the toads who came from the pet stores too. Regardless of where the pet comes from, it’s always a good idea to wash hands after taking care of them – not trying to sound like an ad, just a responsible pet owner who’s been around animals both store bought and found outside.

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Cheerful news…

Written By: admin - Sep• 27•11

On the happy side of things (ignoring the apparent machines that like posting nonsense on this blog) I appear to have a girl in my toad tank…maybe two out of the three new additions of recent weeks. Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll have to move the fish to a new tank in the living room under dad’s care to raise toadlets… babies for my babies!

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