Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:30 As I ike to take part in local events and meet new people I from time to time get to have a little extra fun. Here is some pictures from the local college during the Cosplay Valentines day party.
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 11:59 As the weather blocks me in, I listen to "FLOSS Weekly" from Dec 10th 2009, and I hear them talking about doing some of the same things I have been planning for a long time. They are talking about CouchDB, Ubuntu, and cross-platform information. A bit about getting a file on Linux and putting in on a Windows machine makes me glance at my pink thumbdrive which still has a file on it -- I had to do just that last weekend.
I can't help but wonder, how many other people think just like I do but don't talk about it? It makes me feel good knowing that the goals and plans for my company are indeed things that are in demand and are viewed by experts as being the way of the future. If my dreams are realized, Furry Moon Creations LLC will be a product that will scale not just with each person's needs now, but will scale with everyone's future. It is just as important though to me that your future is secure from anyone who would steal it from you. To this end, we are looking at ways to give the best security for a product everyone wants but no one has created yet.
I have to thank my lead tech for dealing with my heavy requirements on security, scalability, and versitility. I do not beleive you have to sacrifice one for the other two, and he's done his best to prove me right. A great start, and that leaves me confident to the future.
Credits Friday, December 4, 2009 at 12:46 I got to poring over old bills and invoices, prepping for taxes, and I stumbled upon some milestones. This is going to be a rather lengthy post, so my apology to the "tl;dr" crowd. I'll start it off with some images from oldest to newest.
From our forums logo which never quite worked right.
To our website banner after converting from PHP to RHTML 
From
To the image that most recognize us by now. ;)
We keep growing, learning, and improving. It's easy to show you how the art has evolved over time, but it's not so easy to show you how the back-end code has. The email, VPN, even the wires for the hardware are laid smarter. With all that we've improved, it still obscures where we came from; lets dig deeper.
"Lowmoon" was the 6th planned name for what is now Moonshards; the domain had been picked up months later by a sponsoring umbrella company, Top Gun Enterprises, Inc. It was a side project to them as part of the company's view of seeing if something was cost effective. With an expansive number of products and services they dabbled in, from child safety and car security to dating and advertisement, this was just another possible path to success. During this time, Lowmoon was based in California, and I did web work for them in trade for the funding for the Lowmoon project. Times changed, and I moved to Iowa where I moved in with the man I would one day marry. We had already known each other from Second Life where he had his estate, Lop Ear Purlieu. He too had the dream of creating a project for managing images in a unique way. This would later be dubbed Image Warden by me and the project as a whole called the Warden Project. Now we had a bunch of pieces but no direction.
In Feb of 2008, money was tight and the projects were all intermixed, and it was decided we needed a change of pace. Furry Moon became the umbrella for which we would link everything, but it was to much like Lowmoon, and I had already used it for unoffical things, not to mention it said who we are but not what we do. We realized right away what we do is create and so Furry Moon Creations became a sole proprietorship, and the web site got a major overhaul. Lop Ear Purlieu got a rules revamp, and the pricing was adjusted to account for the change from charity to break-even. We started keeping better book keeping and looked towards breaking even and were not concerned with making a profit. Not yet at least, that would come in time.
In late Aug of 2008, we got our paws on two low-end servers and took a daring leap of faith. Opensimulator Project looked very promising and, given the economy within Second Life, a worthwhile venture. Thus FMC undertook the Furry Life Grid project. It started off nearly too perfect: complied, ran, easy to log in, but then. We found major flaws with it that were still being worked on by the community, we found we needed more infrastructure then we had available and above all we need time to get it all working right. So we did the best we could, we started working on other projects that will later become the framework on which the Furry Life Grid will be built.
Over the next nine months, we would lay low, setting up email, databases, finding a good ISP, checking laws, firming up storylines, and trying to keep everything afloat on a shoestring budget as the world economy around us tanked. Then in July of 2009, Furry Moon Creations became Furry Moon Creations LLC, and that brings us to here. The world of Moonshards is now known to hundreds of people around the world with an unexpected number of alpha sign ups. We have our paws into a fair number of projects but they are all unified in three key areas. Same furry focus, same programing languages, same passion.
We have a slogan here in the office: "Where mind and fur blur." We enjoy producing a product for others, but we also get to enjoy the product ourselves once finished. It is selflessness that turns into a self rewarding effort. It can make us wonder, is the passion in the work or in the goal? I think it's both.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 15:42 Got back to Iowa Monday night in time to handle a swarm of email, unpack, manage some LEP parcels and go to bed. Up bright and early today and off to run accross two cities in the pouring rain to handle tasks missed during the convention. Just now back into the office and for the first time I don't feel like I've got something pressing. So naturally what do I do? I do something work related instead of relaxing. I know I promised a handful of people pictures and I will be uploading MFF 2009 picture in a little bit after I resize them to fit the CSS of this site. Along with pictures at the convention, I also took information. I asked around to find out what many were interested in or conversly what they really didn't want.
I got the chance to talk with the great people from Furoticon and am looking forward to working with them in the future. We are in talks about them expanding their great game onto the web. Nothing is final, so don't start churning the rumor mill just yet. It is my hopes that we can merge our abilities and provide a way for adults world wide to enjoy a really well designed game together from the privacy of their own homes. For those concerned this will delay Moonshards you need not worry, Moonshards will remain on task. Which brings up the success of the recent convention, we have received more sign ups for the alpha testing before the con had ended then we expected to get by the weeks end.
So what does this all mean? What it means is that with the feedback I receive, I can work to ensure the things people ask for, they can get. Don't expect anything to fast however, these things will take time. It is our goal to bring you a working online demo by Midwest Fur Fest 2010, and because I know someone is going to say "Mina said she will have a demo at MFF2010" I'm going to say it again. It is our GOAL to bring you a working online demo by Midwest Fur Fest 2010.
What could stop us? Tornado, flood, fire, robbery, death, coding issues, new laws, lawsuits, lack of funding, spontantous combustion, the moon falling out of the sky, the sun imploding, the Earth imploding, or a lawsuit over the moon falling out of the sky causing the Earth to implode a worm hole into the center of the sun causing it to implode. It should be noted each of these things are not mutally exclusive and in fact could all happen in the next year. Lets hope not and I'll see you at the new hotel for MFF 2010!
Credits in Convention, Kitsune Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 23:26 We get to the convention on time and meet up with our friend from the UK early. We find out he got an upgrade to a suite, so I canceled our 2nd room RSVP. In the Lobby of the Westin North Shore in Wheeling, Illinois, I met Lightpaws and Bear from Ohio, then mingled with other furs. I talked about various things and told a bit about Moonshards. I was asked if I could do a panel on it if need be and I said yes. One of the three laptops we brought was set up just to use for a demo if needed. I went up later to the room to grab it, deciding I want to take the stairs down to let the line for Pre Reg get smaller. I didn't get far into the stairwell and ... slip ... Knee gets twisted, I ungracefully land upright on my other leg, laptop falls in the worst possible spot, right down the center shaft, bouncing a few times before ending its seven-story flight in a mangled wreck. I hobble down the flights, adrenalin hiding the pain for the time, as I go to recover the poor Macbook Pro. I call my husband; he comforts me, letting me know he's on his way. I take some pictures of the heap of what used to be a computer.
I finally get to my room again and call my American Family Insurance claims number as I put ice on the knee. After an impressively short hold, the guy on the line was very nice and kind, asking me if I was OK over asking me my name or policy number. I felt relieved to know someone I didn't know really had my best interest at heart. He gave me a claim number and told me my claims agent, then read off his required disclaimer that I could tell he was only reading cause he was required to. He let me know to tell the Hotel staff of the incident.
After my leg recovered a bit, I headed down to talk to the staff. I requested a manager and got one fairly promptly, given the chaos of a convention starting. They got Security to take an incident report. They asked me about six times total if I needed ice for it, twice if I needed medical attention, and once if I wanted a wheelchair. I very stubbornly but politely turned them down, as I hate letting weakness or injury slow me down or get in the way of work or fun alike.
So I go to wait in line at Pre Reg on an injured leg, like an idiot, and eventually gave up in defeat and went back to my room to heal a bit more. My husband insisted I get a wheelchair, so I did a bit begrudgingly, but I knew he was right. Getting the wheelchair took no time at all compared to what I expected and then I was perplexed. It's not that I didn't know how to handle a wheelchair; unfortunately, I know how to very well. It's that I'm used to zipping through crowds of people at breakneck pace, ducking, slipping, and bouncing past people without them knowing I was there. Now I'm in the slow, large, fingernail-destroying contraption in a busy con in the lobby alone.
Three minutes it took in total to get from the little shop to the carpet to the main show rooms. The carpet was hard on my arms as I'm not a strong girl and wheelchairs don't do carpet. Fortunately fewer people in the way here, though more than once I had to halt for people not paying attention to where I was going. Including going from behind me past me and cutting in front of me to go into a room instead of going behind me as their face was in a guide book. I get to Pre Reg line now for the 3rd time tonight and after 15 minutes in the line one of the workers remembers me from before and whisks me to the front. I got my and my husband's badges, then faced the daunting task of getting back to my room.
Help came from behind me, I never saw her face clearly or caught her name. She told me last year she was in a wheelchair due to health issues. She barreled paths through people who got out of our way with a *BEEP BEEP* and before I knew it I was at the elevators and on. I got up to my room and unwound a bit before starting this blog. What sticks in my mind is how diverse furs are but how they are not any different then any other group really. They just like something that seems odd to outsiders and that makes a good target for the media. Knighty Night! Here is hoping the rest of the con goes better. Mina Kitsune at Midwest Fur Fest going to sleep.
Credits, Critiques in Convention, Kitsune Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 12:50 Well for me it is. I have my clothes packed already. Flyers, business cards, and even some electronics. Tonight will be packing the rest of the electronics after ensuring the encrypted VPN is working one last time. So much double checking and making lists that include things like air pressure gauge and hand lotion. The thing I personally will take great pride in showing is this flyer here, created by a local company, Slumgullion Designs. I have been very happy with the work they have done, and they met every deadline without skipping a beat. After the convention I'll talk more about what it took to go from ideas to finished product in less then eight weeks
The first promotional flyer for the Moonshards Furry Game World
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 14:20 Minutes after my last post, my primary laptop went down to have it backed up, then have a restore image created, then have a new OS put on it. Going from Jaunty Jackalope KDE backend and Gnome frontend to Karmic Koala XFCE front / backend. I lost my pretty pink desktop theme, and several of the GUI quick links take more effort to reset the way I like them, but those are cosmetics that will be tweaked over the next six months ... or longer if I don't upgrade.
What I do like about Linux -- and the thing that made this process painless -- is replacing my program by program settings. Remember those backups I made? I restored my /etc and some of my home folder. Reinstalled AMSN in Synaptic. Went into my new home folder and renamed .amsn to .amsn.fresh and then copy/pasted .amsn from my old home folder to the new one. I fired back up AMSN and it was like I never changed my OS or reinstalled it. CAKE! I did this with GNUCash, Firefox, Thunderbird and more ... what I didn't do it on was Open Office ... because I went from version 2.4 to 3. something I wasn't paying full attention at that point.
I used to freelance as a computer tech before I ever learned of Linux. I would service Macs or Windows machines that were no longer covered by standard warranty, as I never bothered with certification in my younger days. The headache of redoing Windows from scratch for someone that owns 2 or 3 typing programs, 4 accounting programs, 20+ games, AND wants you to not lose any of their work files or saved games if it's at all posible to save. I've done it, I managed to keep 90-95% of everything for them even from a damaged hard drive. It was a three day project. Day one was recovering the Info and doing a fresh install and waiting for them to find that blasted CD key for the install disk. Day two was 100% mind numbing instalation of programs and CD keys and making sure each worked and getting the right drivers. Day three was transferring data to the right locations with no help or documentation. While I can't sit here and say I don't have a Windows machine, I can say that I dread having to reinstall my Windows machine and all I use it for is a couple of games at a time and web browsing to make sure my CSS works on the latest IE.
Pros and Cons
Issue - Linux - Windows
Good Backup - Yes - Maybe
Cheap Backup - Yes - No
Fast Reinstall - Yes - Yes
Fast Update - Yes - No
Fast Reconfigure - Yes - No
User Friendly for New people - Maybe - Yes
Secure - Yes - Maybe
Quality Programs - Few - Many
Quantity of Progrms - Few - Many
Cost of Quality Programs - Free or Cheap - Left Arm and 1st Child
Documentation - Maybe - Maybe
Reliable Networking - Yes - No
There are reasons to use both. My husband uses Mac and Linux for himself but is required to use Windows at work because his company is a Microsoft Partner Company. He primarily works from home because he's a computer programmer and is constantly telling me about how he has to try to connect 2-4 times before Windows networking can "see" the IP he wants to connect to even though it never went anywhere. I personally don't use either of our two Macs much but I'm going to start using one of them at this coming convention.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 14:02 I'm picky. Very. I hold myself to a high standard, and thus I gain certain expectations of quality from others. It is to this end that I have been shopping around Ames for someone who I will let touch my hair. In the end I always go back to Melinda at Great Clips near the Super HyVee in Ames, Iowa. They had a guy who worked there who did wonders, but he stopped one day, and I got her by chance. Then one day I went in and another lady went to work on my hair. Having had two good stylist in a row, I had no clue the physical pain and disappointment I was about to receive. After that, I started shopping around watching other stylists and, in the end, I always returned to Melinda. She always does it right: knows just what I want, takes that extra time to not pull my hair, won't put stuff in it I don't like. When it looks done, if there is even a question as to it being perfect, she'll touch it up instead of saying "good enough". Her reliability causes me to work into my schedule a time to get my hair cut by her and only her and, if she's not available, I'll wait a week or two just for her.
The weather was cloudy. This has a predictable effect on people: they get sleepy. Many have a drink they turn to that they rely on to keep them awake. Some go to coffee, others to Mountian Dew, a few who really don't need it turn to stuff like Volt or some other thing that should have a radioactive label and a legal age requirement of 45. For them, it is "the only thing that works for me". If they need to stay awake they have their poison and have no interest in trying something else out. Why? Because it works. Will they settle for the off brand? Often no ... even if they are broke.
In the business class, I learned a lot about taxes, including some interesting local law about paying Iowa taxes on items purchased out of state; it the state in which the item was purchased does not charge at least as much sales tax as Iowa does, then we are required to pay the difference to Iowa. Very expensive for some types of business, after hearing about many of the cases where it must and must not be paid, as well hearing about those who would never have been caught. I have decided I don't like to roll dice and will make sure any purchases I make that I have reason to believe I wasn't charged taxes on from here on out I will pay.
Fortunately for me, most if not all of my online purchases are via companies that charge my states taxes not their states taxes. Those who live in Iowa should try to make sure that their online vendors are charging them the proper tax %. Why do that if you won't get caught? Three reasons. 1st is because it's the right thing to do even if it does cost a lot of money. 2nd is because it gets you into the habit of being reliable and honest. 3rd and unfortunately the reason most would even do it is, if you get caught it's EXPENSIVE! The penalties are insane. Keep reliable records, pay reliably, and you will keep yourself and your company in the mindset that makes someone want to come back and buy your product or service.
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 14:21 I have been doing much research into DDO's business model. I've been comparing it to WoW's. I have come to realize that each one is viable but they target and thus create a different subset of players. D&D has a long history of being mostly or entirely free. Not to mention in this person's view Turbine released a shoddy product when it 1st came out. So you have gamers who for the most part expect to have to have a party for the content, yet they expect to not have to pay much unless they want to. They don't need that dungeon to have fun, they don't need 8 character slots to play the one class they enjoy 6 hours a week. They work, go to college, are in the armed forces, they just don't have a lot of time or money to invest in a hobby. Yet they are a vital part of the D&D community, they have knowledge, some have been playing sense 1st Ed, they are there to provide free allies to those who do pay. They cater to those that have money and want those extra special things. For anyone wanting it all RIGHT NOW, they provide, and they do so without making the game to cheap or to easy. They can add things in smaller chunks a dungeon here some armor there it's upgradable and versatile.
World of Warcraft's business model is good too but targeted elsewhere. They provide a quality game which you must pay for. Then you must keep paying them to play this quality game. It is their world, their rules, it's got goals and objectives one after another. Instant gratification abounds, but it's a dog eat dog world. The players form cliques and some resort to stealing from others within the game's design. I applaud Blizzard's new Need before Greed system that has been useless from the game's release. It's a lovely world, creative with puns to boot. It's got that draw to it that makes you want to kill just one more orc for this quest or gather one more titanium mine before bed. They charge you a static fee, they know how much money they will have each month because it doesn't change with the whims or wants of the user. They also know that unless you get bored with the content after beating the game or get mad because your guild leader took the entire guild vault and sold everything and moved to another server and left you with no recourse, you're going to keep paying for your World of Warcrack.
Enough time has passed and both games have great graphics, both have build in voice though DDO's is better, both have a ton of content though I'd argue WoW has more. One targets groups and those who act on need and want the other targets those who thrive off instant gratification. DDO has come a long way from what it used to be and WoW has always been the same level of quality. The question I have had and the reason for this research. Which one is truely sustainable? For as I design Moonshards, if my goal is for the game to still be popular and played in 200 years, what must I do that's already being done, what must I change? Will my goal be achieved? I won't live long enough to find out but I can still try.
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 13:55 It's been a long Halloween weekend. After Japanese Class at ISU I headed to my PNP (pen and paper) D&D 3.5 game to play my Wyrmling Copper Dragon Renathorithithus or as the whole group calls her Ren. After our Warforged Leviathan (or Levi) carted a snake lady though town tied in rope, manacles, gagged with cloth and rope, and chained some more at 1hp, we all split up in town. The bard went to get drunk and get slapped by women, the rogue went to steal from the snake lady's manor, and I followed the rogue until I got hungry and lost interest in following a halfling, then proceeded to make a bed out of the top of a book case of one of the local lord's main study.
We met up the next day in the lord's house as a script translated a message and gave us a map of a secret hideout. I took a cute tie of alter self from the bard while he was casting a spell on me, then got some extra healing from the locals. Then we headed out of town with the bard playing his music (we youtubed the instrument and had it playing for effect). It started a conversation where the halfling proceeded to explain to the 9 month old dragon about humanoids. Now she understands if it's got a beard it's either a male of one of the races or a female dwarf. The little dragon still doesn't understand why it even matters but figured it's just a game to keep the lesser creatures entertained with an excuse to fight. While looking for the dungeon, I altered myself to be sky blue to scout. Once inside the bard hinted I should look like a Blue Dragon of my age. A UMD roll yielded great results and I fit the bill perfect for an evil little dragon.
The 1st guards attacked right away before even seeing us clearly with an entangle spell. The whole party less the bard got out with so much ease we might as well have been walking through paper. A strong bluff almost got the guards to back off but the bard's diplomacy blew the bluff out of the water by throwing in facts that the bluff was able to leave out. Thus our ruse was seen through and we were forced to dispatch the guards for their own good. The little dragon wanted to let them live; if they could have been just as dumb as the average humanoid it would have worked. After a one-sided fight, I had a meal of snake man while the rogue and bard looked for traps on the door. It was trapped with a powerful electric trap. The rogue turned to me and asked me to open it, after all weren't dragons immune or something. Thus I had to teach about dragon's strong and weak points as I bravely used the snake body as a shield and scurried far away from the deadly door. Through teamwork we got past the trap. I gnawed the arm off the snake man, and the bard used mage hand to open the door as the hand fried. He then used an open/close spell to finish opening the door. GAME PAUSE