The Home of the Hornet.

So, mortal, you seek to fathom the deepest and darkest mystery known to man? Then I suggest you look somewhere else. Looking around that page, I found a rather interesting parody, although the three of us don't get paid that kind of money for the privilege of outsourcing all the work. Remind me to go on strike one of these days. Anyway - back to business. I present to you: my profile.


Online nicknames: The Silver Hornet, although I sometimes use TheSilverHornet on forums, but it's usually shortened to just Hornet. In some places I am also known as Astral Vengeance, and when I'm in aggressive mode on Half-Life (I'm usually a very cautious player) then I'm known as Piro. B4k4.

Location: I've recently moved to Ipswich, but I used to live in the Basingstoke area, and I lived in Eastbury prior to that.

Interests: Many and varied. Archery, swordfighting, all aspects of computers, including assembly, disassembly, website construction, graphics, programming, fiddling with other peoples networks and testing computer security (more commonly known as hacking with permission). I also build trebuchets and other seige engines, which is excellent fun, if a little dangerous from the life-and-limb point of view. The danger is not usually from the engine itself - merely the owner of the unfortunate window two streets down. Seriously though, in Eastbury I once managed to send a golfball clean through a crop of tomatoes (the ball stripped a neat line straight through the middle of them!), but due to the extreme range I was firing from, I avoided an encounter with the owner. The fact that the owner only discovered the tomatoes (or lack thereof) a week later also helped. I also like Latin, mostly because quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.

Music: Mostly Classical. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it - I Giorni is among the most divine music ever written, if divine is quantitative... And what you're listening to now is technically classical; not so bad, is it? But if you want to stop it, just press escape.

Pets: Two cats and a German Shepherd.

Distinguishing feature: My eyes change colour depending on my mood.

Things I like: Sausage rolls, siege engines, StarCraft, Midsomer Murders, walking in the woods at midnight, Danse Macabre, and a whole host of other things.

Things I dislike: Being unable to sleep (I can't _ever_ sleep between 9pm and 1am, unless I'm already asleep, and I never feel tired - I only realise that I need to sleep when my eyes start closing), and I can't stand buses.

I wish I was able to... Hurl fireballs.


How much of Garjen can you be blamed for?

The layout, colour scheme, graphics, menus, PHP and most of the scripts. The original content from the old Garjen was written by Gareth (the only parts of it that remain are articles of text, along with the background image and the downloads!), although I have tweaked it by a considerable amount. I also created the Unholy Warfare campaign, but that was a long time ago, and some levels are a bit patchy. The installation map is well worth a look though. Several Zerg strategies (and some others) can also be traced back to me, along with the comment about Gareth's hair... The chat script's graphical interface is also one of my creations - although it has yet to be implemented - and I am working on some Half-Life walkthroughs. And the Skins and Wallpapers are entirely my fault, I must admit.


What tools do you use?

For casual graphics work, I use Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, ImageReady, and Paint on occasion. For website work, I use DreamWeaver, Mozilla and the ever-faithful Notepad, along with the previously mentioned graphics software. WinAmp (deux ex machina) was also liberally deployed throughout, along with a good CD and a stealthy pair of earphones. For serious graphical projects, I use Blender: an insanely powerful (and very hard to use) 3D rendering program.


What does your desktop look like?

I did most of the work on Garjen at Sixth Form, using the school's software, but the school desktops are lifeless one-colour affairs. So, here's my laptop's desktop. The background is one I made myself, currently called "Warp" (I rarely keep the names I start out with). I may put it up for download at some point, depending on demand - if you think I should, say so in the ShoutBox, and I may actually get around to finishing it.

What kind of title is "The Seventh Shade"?!

It came into my head ages ago, and I had to do something with it! I remember reading somewhere that the Apache Indians believed that the body had seven spirits, or "shades", and you didn't die until all the shades had left you. Or something like that.


What did Garjen look like while you were building it?

The first thing I created was some very rough concept art, which I knocked up in five minutes flat using Jasc. I did it to see what an oval TOC might look like, and I was rather impressed by the effect - V3 was born!

After much pratting around, I came up with this monstrosity, but it was one of my first creations in Photoshop so please excuse it. It was intended to be an experiment, not a full-blown interface. I also used it to jot down some notes about the new features of V3.

This is the final TOC, whilst being optimized.

This was an early idea for a potential splash graphic.

And finally, a quick snap taken whilst creating the V3 logo.


What did the old Garjen look like?

The first version, made entirely by Gareth, looked like this.

The second version was not really a second version as such, but it had some graphics I made. Anyway, this was it.


What will the next Garjen look like?

Not a chance! What can I tell you... It will work in a completely different way - it'll be dynamic for a start - and will actually be developed in some semblance of an order. Other than that, I'll probably use a lighter colour scheme, and that's all you're going to hear about it, unless you're a Garjen contributor.


What other websites have you made?

Only one other, which has now thankfully been removed! It was my first website, and it was made in Publisher *scuttles away and hides*. I've also made several wallpapers, which can be found here, and a whole host of Avatars, which I make for our loyal members and are on display all over the forum.


What is that music?!

A rather nice public domain MIDI file, called Erika. Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox users might not be able to hear it unfortunately, but I'm working on it.


I wish you luck - Hydra's page is next! If in doubt, arm yourself with a hefty stick.