Leaderboard

If you haven't yet had a chance to look through Brick by Brick, the recent book by David C. Robertson, I highly recommend it. Amongst other things it deals with LEGO's first forays in the digital world, through internal project they titled Darwin. According to the book (to the best of my memory, I don't currently have access to it to check), Darwin began when a Swedish man paid a visit to LEGO HQ. He insisted that he meet with Kjeld, and eventually got his wish. What he had to share was a highly impressive 3D animation featuring LEGO spaceships. The goal of project Darwin was to create a complete library of digital LEGO bricks, perfect in every detail. Then, to use these bricks to create a system for developing videos, games, and any number of computer-based paraphernalia LEGO could wish for. After many years of testing and playing with numerous concepts, and huge investments on LEGO's part, the company realized that technology was too limited to get them where they wanted fast enough. In addition, the employees on the Darwin team were being perceived by others to be receiving special treatment from the company, creating an ugly divide that made cooperation difficult. In 1998, LEGO Media was established, and quickly replaced Darwin and all of LEGO's ambitions related to it with a new aim of outsourcing to other companies to produce games. But that isn't why I'm here, posting this topic. I'm here because someone on the Bricklink forum just linked to The LEGO Movie - not the upcoming feature film, but what appears to be the original animation that inspired LEGO to launch Darwin. This animation, then, is the basis of everything LEGO has since done digitally. But that isn't all. Here is a window into some of the work that went on during the days of the Darwin project.

It's been a dream for all of us for a very, very long time... I'm proud to announce: LEGO Racers Online! Me and my brother have been working on this very hard for the last couple of days and the result is amazing. Please note that I'm not posting anything yet but a little teasing screenshot, but we are working REALLY hard to make something that we can all use and enjoy this game like when we we're kids! 02/08/2014: New video added. Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch it! 04/08/2014: New status update added. 20/08/2014: New status update and video added. 05/10/2014: New status update added. 12/10/2014: New status update added. 20/10/2014: New status update added. 27/10/2014: New status update added. 05/11/2014: New status update added. 16/11/2014: New status update added. Current status: Currently, the following functions are implemented and working properly: Play online with two players real-time (1 VS 1) - INCLUDING POWER-UPS! Patch the game automatically. However, we do have all the required information to drive all the opponent from within the software (tested and working). We are working on an implementation of playing against eachother with up to five other players right now. We can't say when this is finished, but we don't expect a very long time. Added 20/08/2014: Power-Ups are now working properly. This means, whenever someone uses Power-Ups, this is getting fired on your client too! Although it is now possible to patch the game automatically, this is not a perfect solution and we are working on something that makes it possible to play online "on demand". Added 05/10/2014: Although I have not been developing actively on game functions, I am now working on and completing a critical step to split the software accepting both TCP and UDP network traffic which is required for some functions, for example connecting to a game server. PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM CURRENTLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL AND I DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO DEVELOP ON THIS PROJECT! I HOPE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THIS! The following things must be completed and working before release: Full implementation of TCP and UDP traffic; Starting a new Race; A chat function, if people are interested in this function. Added 12/10/2014: Last week I have not been developing very much and this will continue for a few more weeks due to school. The good news is that Grappigegovert has proven his immensive skills again and developed and gave me the code to disable the loading of AI paths so patching the game can be removed from the software now. Also, he created functions to start a Race from the software so the Server can tell the Clients to start a specific Race. All credits go to Grappigegovert for his massive research and developing. Added 20/10/2014: Due to school, I have not been developing actively on the online functionality again, but Grappigegovert and me made some nice improvement with the API. This API will be released in the open source (near) future and will give developers the opportunity to create mods very easy. Added 27/10/2014: Due to school, I have not been developing actively again. The good news is, the software is now fully compatible with TCP and UDP, more structured and the API has been put into a seperate project which will result in a release of the public API soon. This API will be discussed in another thread that I will make in the near future. Please note that the project is not dead and I am still developing, but unfortunately due to school I just do not have much time for this great project. Added 05/11/2014: Good news. Last week I was able to develop more actively on the software, which resulted in the possibility to start races from the Server, which brings us a step closer to the release! I will create a new video of the current progress in the near future. Also, the API is getting prepared for a release with the last bug fixes and comments above the functions. Stay tuned! Added 16/11/2014: I am currently facing problems with the starting of the game client and additional events regarding to the API. I am still not satisfied with the way the API currently works. These problems must be solved in order to continue with the online functionality. Don't think that this project doesn't gain any progress, it just takes a lot of time. Please note the following things: It's not guaranteed that this mod will be ever online for public since this project has still needs many, many development hours; The Server and Client are both only in alpha stage at this moment. We are working really hard to create something that just works and anyone would understand; It is very hard to find all the addresses and the correct pointers, so this takes a lot of time; Currently our main goal is to make everything work on a basic game copy. This means that mods are NOT SUPPORTED (YET) and will likely crash the game when used! On the bright side: We currently do have something that works and we are working so hard to make it possible for everyone to enjoy this with us. It was our dream for many years and finally we took the step to actually create something, and not just for ourselves but for everyone who just loves LEGO Racers. I will keep you guys regularly informed. Make sure you check this post at least once a week as the project is under heavy development. Special thanks: We would like to thank Grappigegovert for his great help which resulted in massive improvement of the software. Thanks to this guy, a lot of things are now working (like using Power-Ups). Videos: The following videos show a demonstration of the system in action:

FUN FACT: Llanfairpwllgwyngyll in Wales has the longest placename in Europe. It's also the only interesting fact about Wales. :P

I'm listening to the Freedom Planet soundtrack, it's just so good. Right now the track I'm listening to is Battle Glacier 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au431n6dIv8

Or, how about this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Ooh, it goes by another name for whom the original just was too boring... Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch. Does anybody even say "Oh, I come from Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch!" "What? Do you have a stutter?" "No, Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch. Can-you-hear-me-pro-per-ly?" It would be an interesting thing for those speeches where you have to speak for a set time... "Hello, I'm Aiden Pons and I come from Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch" There we are, time limit done with and you didn't even start the topic.

By happenstance, I have recently begun collecting LEGO books, and purchased a variety of Bionicle books at local thrift stores. Do you require any of the following? Bionicle Chronicles 1 Tale of the Toa 2 Beware the Bohrok 3 Makuta's Revenge Bionicle Adventures 1 Mystery of Metru Nui 3 The Darkness Below 4 Legends of Metru Nui 7 Web of the Visorak 9 Web of Shadows 10 Time Trap Bionicle Legends 10 Swamp of Secrets Bionicle Guides Metru Nui - City of Legends Dark Hunters Misc. LEGO Curse of the Mummy LEGO Ninjago Official Guide Afterthought: It's possible I could also find some of the yet-uncatalogued books at a library.

NOPE BIN: The greatest trash bin in the entire universe.

Excellent. I'll put the BIONICLE book, LEGOLAND Books, and Medieval Mischief and Mayhem on my to-do list, and I'll also upload the Space Port book if nobody else has by Thanksgiving.