Margin MagnateAbout Me
This is where he uses 3rd person to write about himself
I am a child of the very early 80s who grew up - and still lives - in Steyr, Austria.
Programming is my primary passion, but photography, running, cycling and being a fire-fighter are not far behind.
Steyr
odd facts
- started using the nickname ‘morlad’ when playing Diablo over IPX (a sorcerer)
- sometimes uses a hex-editor to create web-pages
- loves the sound and smell of matrix printers
- only started with photography when affordable digital DSLRs became a thing (EOS 300D)
- never had a mobile phone that supported W@P
- still has LVD SCSI cables from the 90s lying around
- surprised himself by joining the fire-fighting brigade of Steyr
- started programming on an Amiga 500Amiga 500
The sound of the disk drive when starting up .. priceless. - turned his back on C++ after more than 20 years and fell in love with C
- thinks that the mid 90s were the most exciting time in PC gaming (and )computing in generalcomputing in general
Watching the Internet really taking off thanks to the Web: giving us games like Ultima Online, Meridian 59, QuakeWorld, Diablo. Having graphics adapters with 512 KiB of on-board-memory basically pushing pixels to the screen slowly transform into super-computers in their own right. Back then Matrox was still represented in the consumer-space and had early 3D-accelerators. But the most impressive change for me was getting a GeForce 256 DDR and running Quake 3 on it. Just knowing there was this “T&L-Engine” thing happening on the GPU (and it was then that the term was coined) made me all fuzzy inside. - considers playing Ultima Online (pre-renaissance) one of the most unique experiences in gaming
- played way too much and Command & Conquer on the LANDoom 2Doom 2
We also wanted to play Duke Nukem 3D. But it rarely worked and always ended in out-of-sync errors, until we upgraded from null modem to LAN with real coax cables and BNC connectors. The future was then! - does listen to metal music despite his long braided beard and hairNOTNOT
Aside from projects including Bruce Dickinson. Or Rammstein, but they are not Metal are they? They are just Rammstein. Neither are Maynard Keenan’s projects, but I will just add them here for completeness sake of things that are vaguely close to Metal. In reality I am an electronics guy. I need my synth sounds! I am a huge fan of GUNSHIP and listen to mixes by ThePrimeThanatos while programming or driving. - still got a Microsoft development magazine somewhere that boasts about the new hotness: DHTML and VBScript
TV series I have watched countless times while programming
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
1993-1999. The only Star Trek I ever really got into, with all its shades of moral greyness. Erase that entire personal log.
1993-1999. The only Star Trek I ever really got into, with all its shades of moral greyness. Erase that entire personal log.
Babylon 5
Babylon 5
1993-1998. A greater distraction than DS9, because its story has much more detail, foreshadowing &c. woven into it. Londo and G'Kar are probably my favourite characters in the series. And I think Londo is the saddest character in any fictional story. His character-arc combined with Peter Jurasik's portrayal of him.. wow.
1993-1998. A greater distraction than DS9, because its story has much more detail, foreshadowing &c. woven into it. Londo and G'Kar are probably my favourite characters in the series. And I think Londo is the saddest character in any fictional story. His character-arc combined with Peter Jurasik's portrayal of him.. wow.
Firefly
Firefly
2002-2003. Firefly got not even a full season. And this probably is a bad thing, however I would like to think of it as an advantage. Who knows where the series would have ended up. Look at the Battlestar Galactica-remake as an example. Started out on a very high note and then, they.. unfortunately had no plan.
2002-2003. Firefly got not even a full season. And this probably is a bad thing, however I would like to think of it as an advantage. Who knows where the series would have ended up. Look at the Battlestar Galactica-remake as an example. Started out on a very high note and then, they.. unfortunately had no plan.
Farscape
Farscape
1999-2003. Scorpius is one of the best villains in TV. Incredibly smart and calculating up until the very end, never wavering. Certain writers for a better known fantasy series, whose initials could be a tabletop role-playing-game, should have studied it carefully to learn how writing characters works. Pretty please with a cherry on top.
1999-2003. Scorpius is one of the best villains in TV. Incredibly smart and calculating up until the very end, never wavering. Certain writers for a better known fantasy series, whose initials could be a tabletop role-playing-game, should have studied it carefully to learn how writing characters works. Pretty please with a cherry on top.
The Expanse
The Expanse
2015-?. Finally, after 12 years another well written science-fiction series. It feels much more like a Tom Clancy novel - a political chess game - than most other series in this genre. However, with all the story arcs going on it also reminds me of Babylon 5. And while I do not know the books, the screenplay is written so tight, the only way is to binge watch it.
2015-?. Finally, after 12 years another well written science-fiction series. It feels much more like a Tom Clancy novel - a political chess game - than most other series in this genre. However, with all the story arcs going on it also reminds me of Babylon 5. And while I do not know the books, the screenplay is written so tight, the only way is to binge watch it.
some select games I enjoyed over the decades (somewhat sorted by genre)
Descent
Descent
No other game trains spatial orientation as Descent does. For me the first game is very much a maze, with shooty bits thrown in: A game more about navigation in narrow twisted corridors. Its sequel quickly became more of an action shooter: Less maze-like structures, more open spaces that allowed for dodging. It lost me there.
No other game trains spatial orientation as Descent does. For me the first game is very much a maze, with shooty bits thrown in: A game more about navigation in narrow twisted corridors. Its sequel quickly became more of an action shooter: Less maze-like structures, more open spaces that allowed for dodging. It lost me there.
DOOM 2
DOOM 2
I have never played the first one and after playing Doom 2 I could not get into Doom 1. The level design just felt vastly inferior to the sequel. And I have hit my head countless times against the wall behind me when I tried to dodge a rocket. Immersion does not need photo-realism. In fact I think it is a distraction. (uncanny valley and whatnot)
I have never played the first one and after playing Doom 2 I could not get into Doom 1. The level design just felt vastly inferior to the sequel. And I have hit my head countless times against the wall behind me when I tried to dodge a rocket. Immersion does not need photo-realism. In fact I think it is a distraction. (uncanny valley and whatnot)
RAGE
RAGE
Okay, I am an id-fanboy, but I still think that 'Megatexture' was a fantastic idea and the animation system in RAGE is to this day unparalleled. The first time I shot a mutant while it stormed towards me and it started to stumble, ran face forward into a wall behind me and fell back onto the sewer floor was quite remarkable. Incredibly fluid and natural animation blending.
Okay, I am an id-fanboy, but I still think that 'Megatexture' was a fantastic idea and the animation system in RAGE is to this day unparalleled. The first time I shot a mutant while it stormed towards me and it started to stumble, ran face forward into a wall behind me and fell back onto the sewer floor was quite remarkable. Incredibly fluid and natural animation blending.
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
Serious Sam: The First Encounter
The only game where more time is spent running backwards than forwards. The sequels never got close to The First and Second Encounter. It was quite remarkable when regular enemies suddenly started to turn up shrunk to 10% their normal size, stalking on the ceiling and the game threw the player a curve-ball by completely messing with gravity. And being mentioned by - I think - Tim Willits in a .plan update must have felt great for the guys at Croteam.
The only game where more time is spent running backwards than forwards. The sequels never got close to The First and Second Encounter. It was quite remarkable when regular enemies suddenly started to turn up shrunk to 10% their normal size, stalking on the ceiling and the game threw the player a curve-ball by completely messing with gravity. And being mentioned by - I think - Tim Willits in a .plan update must have felt great for the guys at Croteam.
Deus Ex
Deus Ex
Think you can break the game by doing something unexpected? Think again and watch the game react to it. Walking into the women's restroom? The game got you covered. Well, now that Deus Ex got mentioned, you know what needs to happen: reinstall it.
Think you can break the game by doing something unexpected? Think again and watch the game react to it. Walking into the women's restroom? The game got you covered. Well, now that Deus Ex got mentioned, you know what needs to happen: reinstall it.
Ultima Online
Ultima Online
Vendor buy the guards a bank!
Vendor buy the guards a bank!
SimCity 3000
SimCity 3000
For me this is the perfect SimCity. Is is not bogged down in micro-management like its sequel SimCity 4, but adds a lot over SimCity 2000. It hit the sweet-spot in city-building for me, right there.
For me this is the perfect SimCity. Is is not bogged down in micro-management like its sequel SimCity 4, but adds a lot over SimCity 2000. It hit the sweet-spot in city-building for me, right there.
Transport Tycoon
Transport Tycoon
Probably one of the first games that hit my 'optimization-itch'. These days there is a great open-source cross-platform remake available: [OpenTTD](https://openttd.org)
Probably one of the first games that hit my 'optimization-itch'. These days there is a great open-source cross-platform remake available: [OpenTTD](https://openttd.org)
Dragon Tax Return Simulator 2015
Dragon Tax Return Simulator 2015
Dragon, [P(l)ay](http://walsh9.github.io/dragon-taxes/) your taxes!
Dragon, [P(l)ay](http://walsh9.github.io/dragon-taxes/) your taxes!
Invisible Inc.
Invisible Inc.
This is without a doubt the best remake of X-COM that is not a remake of X-COM.
This is without a doubt the best remake of X-COM that is not a remake of X-COM.
Homeworld
Homeworld
games I enjoyed but had to watch fall apart
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars | Dirty Bomb (see a pattern there?) | Hawken