So, how far have you come?

[Flippy_D]

Hmm... retrospective.

Can't believe how long I've been a member of this place, although my visitations have dropped sharply (used to be daily, now maybe once every two months).

Alot has happened.

Two planes into two towers changed the face of global politics.
Chelsea FC have risen to be the juggernauts of the modern game.
Spirited Away was released.
I have been to Russia, Namibia, Majorca, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Spain and Scotland.
The Gamecube died a quiet death, but the Wii looks to be a big player.
A distant relative from the USA came over to go to a LOTR convention.
I've started two books. Ceased writing one; the other is in progress.
I lost my ability to write MIDI music. I don't know why.
I lost my ability to write poetry. I don't know why.
I have passed my GCSEs and A levels and am in Leicester University studying English.
The Bird Flu scare had me going for a while.
I am no longer a virgin.
I've built my own computer.
One of my cousins has married.
I rode my first rollercoaster.
I know how to pronounce 'paella' now.
Hitman: Blood Money is my game of the year so far.
I've walked a dog for the first time.
My Grandfather has died.
I've listened to, and become a fan of, My Morning Jacket.
I now know how to drive.
I'm a heavy player of World of Warcraft.
I've met the most wonderful girl I could hope to meet and had a 17 month relationship with her...

... and the catalyst for the post. We broke up just recently. Mutually. Amicably. Devastatingly.

Currently I'm trying my best to make sense of my life and figure out what's going on, and what I need. I've decided to try and stick to some advice from Polonius in Hamlet - a dubious character, maybe, to take advice from, but...

"To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man".

I'm hoping that 'man' includes me.

Hmm... retrospective.

What's happened to you?

[scotch]

Nothing much happened in the past 4 years, I went to some AGS meets, and I've done 6 weeks of university studying game design, I might do lots more weeks in future.

I've never had a girlfriend but I always knew how to pronounce paella, so that's ok.

[Erenan]

I've only been here about a year and a half, so not many exciting things have happened to me. But I'll try...

I have...

Seen Robert Fripp perform live
Graduated from college with a Bachelor of Music in Composition
Purchased an engagement ring, which now waits to be offered
Been hired as an Accounts Payable Processor at the Home Depot Supply
Discovered and purchased a novel with my first and last names in the title
Seen Tony Levin perform live
Left Christian theism
Discovered a new species of deep sea life
Singlehandedly fought off a gang of ninjas
Conversed intelligibly with cephalopods
Designed and constructed a miniature golf course so expansive that one can stand at its center and not see its edges
Prepared and played a giant game of horseshoes by utilizing full-size trebuchets
Discovered the secrets of time travel and built a time machine
Used aforementioned time machine to plagiarize Beethoven's music before he had a chance to write it
Short sheeted the devil's bed
Eaten the sun

[Vince Twelve]

I just passed the two year mark here.  Wow.  In the two years that I've been hanging around here, I got married and had a baby girl.  I bought a house in Japan.  I've travelled around Asia a bit and taken two trips back to the US to visit my parents.  The rest is all working, making games in my (very) limited freetime, changing diapers, and generally having a good time being a husband and father.

[ManicMatt]

Hmm lets see now..

Had my heart broken.
Went from writing good music on a PS2 to writing crap music on a PC to writing good music on a PC.
Made an adventure game.
Lose count of how many times my name has appaeared in PSM3 magazine. (I'm in it almost every other issue now in some form or other!)
Start up a Jesus Jones MySpace profile. (With some of the band's blessing)
Be horrified to discover Chicago Town Pizza changed the recipe and made their delicious two in a box small pizzas just average and the base underneath now tastes stale when in the microwave. WHY MAN WHY!??!!!!!!!!!!??!!!!!!!
Learned how to make animated GIFs:
Learned how to use photoshop: (This man and mix, he's not me)

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Singlehandedly fought off a gang of ninjas

You stinking liar!  They were nuns!

[ManicMatt]

Singlehandedly fought off a gang of ninjas

You stinking liar!  They were nuns!

Nuns in wheelchairs, I recall!

[Tuomas]

Sheesh. How long have I been here? I could give a pageful of things that have happened. Only thing that didin't happen was me killing myself... yet.

EDIT: Oh well, Why not try (listing, not killing myself of course)
Hm, I joined pretty much when I got my own computer... so
-Experienced the world of free porn
-Took into stealing up to 13 gigas of great music
-Bought approximately 200 CDs and 70 LPs
-Saw Tasavallan Presidentti live at Tampere
-Saw Wigwam live at Tampere twice
-started a band with my schoolmates, did a few gigs and left when they started playing Metallica
-Experienced Metallica and have hated it since
-grew to know a lot of new bands up to 100 of them
-got interested in politics
-joined a political party and have been going to meetings ever since
-stood behind the president when she was re-elected
-wrote a comic about a guy getting drunk thinking the end of the world was coming
-finished upper secondary school
-went to Russia with my dad for an extended weekend
-learned what it feels like to be really poor
-sold my Amiga and threw over 1000 games in the trash
-worked in the garden of the hospital
-went to Ibiza to work as a tourist entertainer, didn't work out
-Attended Lapaset in -06 summer, drove to Vaasa to pick Inkoddi up, was there a day too early and spent the night drinking beer with teenagers, woke up in my car with a headache
-set up a band with my brother, made couple of songs, performed live once
-just now started a jazz band with a friend of a friend
-started playing jazz seriously
-managed to get a girlfriend and to leave her (well, she got me, so)
-cut my hair that I had let grow for 6 years
-changed my clothing style to approvable
-left my jacket on the roof of my car, got it back with my librarycard and my grandpa's watch broken... there goes several hundred euros
-replaced my PSU, my DVD-drive and my psu-fan
-got interested in computers
-went to uni this fall to study IT
-had some wonderful wonderful time on christmas with my family, listening to Jethro Tull christmas album
-had a huge crush on quite a lot of girls
-ate some black sausage
-stalked a cute blonde
-bought a fender deluxe 85W amplifier
-watched people grow up
-got my horrible acne fixed, now all I have left it scars
-fell deeply in love with a singer of a band, just heard she got engaged, so now I'm trying to get some sleep, won't work
-met some cool new people at the uni
-found out everyone hates my irc personality there
-got bloody drunk multiple times
-also drank some with sense to it
-bought a new cool jacket and got some flirting glances from girls
-tried to hit on a girl and lost her number
-started skiing regurarly with my new awesome equipment
-started rollerblading around the land
- made a 200 km bikeride with my old mates
-made this list

puhhuh. There's so much more, but I know no-one is going to read this anyway, so I'll just leave it to this, maybe a fifth of what I had in mind. Oh, and add lots of unfinished ags related stuff there.

[Helm]

I've been here many years. A full retrospective is beyond me as I don't remember that far back.

I slided into pure-willpower aescetic abstinence for some time, was completely positivistic "IF YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEAN, WHAT YOU MEAN DOESN'T EXIST" and everything. I was -naturally- not very active on the boards during that time.
I destroyed cancer.
Wrote a lot of Heavy Metal (this up to today. I started and never stopped).
Found and made public the startling truth about life after death.
Went to school and studied making comics.
Invented the No-String Guitar.
Made some wonderful people, who in the period of 3 years became close friends, from that field.
Programmed alarm clocks to strike in different pitches, minor seconds, all at the same time. Arranged surround like in my room.
Studiously avoided women.
Maintained a collection of magical ancient hip-bones.
Discovered I don't know what this free will presupposition was, so:
slided out of pure-willpower aescetic abstinence into a period of reconfiguration.
Had my right arm cut of in an unfortunate gardening accident, had a cybernetic one grafted on.
Organized (well.. 'organised') Mittens!
Destroyed Malta.
Became a professional comic artist for a spell, made some - I think - good comics.
Attended a silent concert.
Got a cat! I love my cat!
Prevailed in various social circles due to absurd charisma.
Met a wonderful, but broken, person.
Killed her.
Had a wonderful, but broken, relationship for a while.
Killed her again.
Emerged a bit tired.
Went on an existential dream quest.
Made more comics.
Stopped a nuclear explosion with the power of denial.
Made some ags orow games which I consider good.
Attended more AGS meets.
Destroyed remaining canceroids planning retraliation.
Went to a few places abroad.
A string of dead prostitutes was discovered abroad.
Reconfiguration complete, I'm just enjoying myself.
Minorr errorrs in firrmwarre.
Featured in the big greek comic art exhibition 'babel' as well as Galera's exhibition in thesaloniki, generally, I exist in that field.
Plastic radars. A lot of them.
Lost my job on a matter of ETHICS.
Kicked a pigeon.
Making huge comic until I go to the army.
Saw a few good movies at the theater.
A string of almost-relationships or brief relationships with different people.
Absurd cases of self-mutilation.
Single-handedly defeated death.

[Huw Dawson]

I, on the otherhand, have accomplished nothing. And I'm enjoying every minute of it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Helm, is Canceroids anything like Asteroids?

[m0ds]

Long live Canceroids!

FlippyD, interesting thread - nice to see you do still feel you've come so far even if you haven't been about as much.

Over my 5 or 6 year existence here a lot has happened in my life generally, in AGS and in my life because of AGS. So it's all pretty odd but at the same time a bit of a blessing I guess Things mostly started for me with AGS at the age of 16, and a LOT has happened since then I can tell you. Goddamn!

- Invented, ran, enjoyed then destroyed an online ezine (AGDzine)
- Started singing about AGS & adventure games & enjoyed it as other people did too (AGS opera)
- Started taking the piss out of people on the forums through audio form (AGS shows)
- Learnt HTML skills, only to realise the best looking site I could make is the simplest HTML ever
- Made hundreds of adventure game contacts through AGS
- Started up a crazy internet meet for crazy internet people & met them (Mittens)
- Visited Sweden for the first time (Mittens)
- Visited USA for the first time (Mittens)
- Visited Greece for the first time (Mittens)
- Started to decide just to eat anything no matter what it tastes like (Mittens, spain)
- Made many a new friend through Mittens and saw lots of them again and again and again.....
- Lost all my hair through alopecia
- Watched it grow back again
- Lost it all again
- Watched it grow back aagaain
- Built up my skills as a MIDI composer
- Got sacked from 2 jobs (Virgin & Big [Gay] Oxford Computer Company)
- Made the first post about 9/11 on the forums, then spent the rest of the day on IRC debating 9/11
- Came home one day to find my cat had been put down
- Met, interviewed & effectively got drunk with Ron Gilbert
- Started attending ECTS and met Charles Cecil
- Added Bill Tiller to MSN & had some good chats
- Interviewed Steve Stamatadis (FotAQ)
- Interviewed David Gray (Hugo)
- Did my first commercial/paid MIDI work (Fatman)
- Thought my art skills improved but really they didn't
- Took over a project that I didn't really know where it was heading
- Got a fucking demo out to the masses after many years
- Gained industrial turf for 2 years, watched turf get torn down
- Became very knowledgeable in AGS scripting then a day after feeling absolutely confident the scripting language was changed
- Met lots of random internet girlies (hehehe)
- Met Beth
- Fell in love with Beth
- Took pictures of Beth
- Put pictures on internet
- Lost my virginity (at 18)
- Had a dodgy threesome, can't complain tho
- Learnt to drive, crashed, bought my own car
- Won 2 awards for my video making talent at college
- Became a member of staff at college for a term
- Made good friends, lost good friends
- Some friends died
- Became an extra in Midsummer Murders
- Wrote & directed my own first stage play, got high marks
- Did 3 solo's & wore a massive wig in schools Xmas musical "Grease"
- Had a speaking part in a school Xmas "musical", after many years of waiting
- Was given my very own mini-DV camera - yay goodbye hi8!
- Shot my first complete short film (Ginger 2)
- Started getting some kind of MIDI fan-base, appreciated Jannar's "m0ds ringtones" page
- Acted in a real stage play, not a school one - had a great time, was a bit too obsessed with "proper bo"
- Blew up a tunnel
- Met Meg randomly, went out with her for a year, got dumped, got depressed again
- Met Richard Branson
- Met Charlie, Huw & all my current friends from Wallyworld, got accepted into their group and have had an awesome 3 years AWAY from the internet.
- Started to hate the internet more and more, started getting pissed off at people who were cracking 4 year old internet jokes because they'd never seen/heard them before

The rest is probably un-important. But then, so is a lot of the above

PS, there are still some things that I'm sure will happen through my AGS life...like, going to my first proper (metal) festival, getting married, having a kid...actually, no, those last two are a bit far away. I'm still betting on the end of the world sometime before then.

[Erenan]

Singlehandedly fought off a gang of ninjas

You stinking liar!Ã,  They were nuns!

Ever heard of Nunjutsu?

Seriously, Wing Chun, man.

[LimpingFish]

I stubbed my big toe once, but you don't hear ME bragging about it.

[Kweepa]

I stubbed my big toe once, but you don't hear ME bragging about it.

Oh yeah? What's this then?

I stubbed my big toe once

[LimpingFish]

I...

Damnit! 

[Nikolas]

- Met new friends
- Wrote A LOT of music
- Got experience to writing music to computer games
- Got 2 paid contracts for writing music to computer games
- Got a second child :p (everybody knows that by now )
- Got a Masters in Music with distinction
- I will get a work for string orchestra performed in the 21st of February
- Won 2 music competitions
- Met with Radiant, Lemmy and Binky and Alkis21
- Uploaded my Amazingly done with great music to listen to website (:p)
- Almost reached 2000 posts here, and in only 1 1/2 year!

Not sooo much to write, but really great stuff...

[Becky]

I was already awesome before I joined the AGS forums.

But on a related note I have taken up ninjutsu since I have been at university.

[Pet Terry]

Lots of stuff is missing, because I can't remember every single small detail.

- Decided to make the best adventure game ever.
- Realized that it's not going to happen, so started studying good game design, and eventually became better, I think.
- Learned a lot about graphics designing, eventually got a lot better at that.
- Decided to get better at composing, thanks to m0ds and Trapezoid's midis.
- Entered the first ever team challenge, eventually became the leader of the project, kinda.
- Hurt my knee in a sledding accident.
- Promised to make a soundtrack for a certain AGS game. This lead into more and more people asking me to make music for them. Someone even called me "m0ds2" once. Was one of the known music makers in the AGS community for a while.
- Assured my parents that it's actually okay to travel aboard and meet some strangers from the internet. Visited the UK.
- Released some horrible horrible games, but also learned what not to do again.
- Got fine grades at art, thanks to AGS.
- Got fine grades at English, thanks to AGS.
- Got a driving licence.
- Finished high school.
- Applied to an art and media school, but didn't get in.
- Had a neat temporary job, got paid for designing business cards and other stuff, composing music and editing video.
- Wasted 6 months in the army, total waste of time.
- Went to Greece.
- Got a job at local newspaper. Made lots of money and fell in love with photography.
- Switched guitar to bass, but not because of frustration.
- Started a music project that never got finished.
- Was mistaken for a girl.
- Applied to another art media school, and got in.
- Was called a hippie for the first time.
- Had the most hectic summer ever: met a special girl, spent a week at countryside with AGSers, had to do lots of stuff for school (stressing), lost a relative, moved out, lost another relative two days before starting studies, started studies, went to Spain to meet AGSers two days after starting my studies.
- Pretty much gave up game making because of lack of time.
- Had and still keep having amazing time in my new school.
- Was called a stoner and Jimi Hendrix by some drunk skinheads.
- Survived a snow storm while the whole city was in a chaos.

I used to be much more geeky back in the days and looking back now it feels like not much happened those days. I have definately changed from those days.

[Adamski]

Lots has happened over the past five years, too much to mention. The highlights however:

- Surviving secondary education with moderatly poor A Levels
- Venturing down to a small campsite to meet some folks who I had previously only spoken to through the magic of ezboard and eye are sea.
- Doing the same above the next year, only in nicer surroundings with better weather. And then again in New York, Agia Anna and Benidorm! Every penny spent and every travelling mishap was worth it a hundered times over for the good times had.
- Conquoring University with a first class honours degree, an air of pride and a tear of sadness, because the real world sucks in comparison!
- Meeting the love of my life and subsequently dragging her to strange and foreign places such as Wales  to see what I was really up to when I went away with these crazy internet people.

More over, I have grown up a lot over the last half-decade and continue to get ever-closer to my elusive dreams. Hopefully in another five years time I will have reached my goals, and perhaps released a couple of games along the way.