BestNerdLife

5 free Steam games actually worth playing

With so many garbage free-to-play games in the Steam Library, it can be a challenge to find something that’s fun to play. Luckily, i’ve compiled found 5 games that are both entertaining and completely free! Check out my list below! A word of warning though. Some of these are not suitable for children to play.

1. Doki Doki Literature Club (Dating Sim, Psychological horror)

Let’s start with the game that is probably the most famous. I felt uncomfortable throughout my time playing this game. I’m not really one for dating sim games and this basically starts out like one. However, once you get further into it, things start getting weird. And even more unsettling.

2. the static speaks my name (Psychological horror)

I’m sticking with the weird vibe at the moment, just so I can get it out of the way. the static speaks my name is a short game that starts out fairly normal and then basically tips over the edge into crazy. The graphics are incredibly clunky but this actually adds to the creepy vibe. Thankfully it does have multiple endings so there is replay value.

3. The Plan (Flying Simulator?)

This game is also super short. I wouldn’t actually call it a game, more of an experience. Probably one that you can sit down and get done in less than 10 minutes? Despite the short length, I really enjoyed my time with The Plan. I can’t say that the ending is life-changing but it did make me sit back and think…”Huh? That was unexpected.” There’s also something that happens after the game has ended that does make it worth playing through again one last time.

4. Emily is Away (Visual novel, Romance)

Out of everything on this list, ‘Emily Is Away’ is my favourite. Since I grew up in the 90’s and 00’s this game brings back a flood of nostalgia. The chunky Windows 2000-esque graphics and pop culture references of that time speaks volumes to me. It has the nice touch of making you type on your keyboard to reply to characters, even though what you say is mostly fixed.

5. Endless Sky (Space Sim)

It blows my mind that a game this deep is available for free. My first time with this game consisted of flying around for a bit trying to work out the controls, failing at everything and ultimately getting blown to smithereens. I promptly began the game again, fixed my initial mistakes because I knew what I was doing and then lost 1.5 hours of my life. I’ve not played such a time sink since Stardew Valley.

Thanks for reading this list of 5 free games that I recommend you play on Steam! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Will there actually be any surprises at E3 2018?

I don’t know if it’s because i’ve been paying more attention to the run-up to E3 than I have in previous years thanks to working on my blog, but it feels like every single game ever has been accidentally leaked. Either that or games have officially been announced anyway to make sure they don’t get leaked. Has there been a single day in the last two weeks that hasn’t featured some game or other that will be shown at E3? Is this what it’s like every year? Will there be any need for an E3 in future?!

Obviously, i’m being a little hyperbolic. There will undoubtedly be surprises waiting for us in the next few days, but it does worry me how much has been revealed beforehand. The problem is, there are so many avenues that things could be spoilt. Updates of current games can be datamined to see if they are coming to other consoles. Developers can inadvertently leak images or accidentally imply certain things when interviewed. People with inside sources can straight up announce things. Retailers can add game listings to their sites way ahead of time.

As Alexander Pope said, “To err is human”. He wasn’t referencing to all the leaks that have happened recently but with the game industry getting bigger and bigger each year, and more humans to potentially “err” – it’s a pretty decent quote to describe recent times. Although that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s definitely building the hype. In fact, what if it’s all been a massive well-orchestrated plan by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to build hype to an unbelievably high level? That’s a conspiracy for another day! In any case, I am super excited for E3!

Thanks for reading silly little post about E3! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

First impressions – Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido

Images sourced from YouTube trailer

Many awesome things have come out of Japan, there is absolutely no doubt. One of the best things? Sushi! Simple in construction, yet devilishly hard to get just right – sushi is a versatile and tasty dish that is enjoyed around the world.

However, in the universe of Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido, sushi takes on a new form. Something that is mystical. Something that is powerful. Something that is outlawed! Thanks to The Sushi Struggles (a great and terrible war), the evil ruling empire has forbidden even the mere mention of sushi.

Putting aside the slightly nonsensical story, this game unabashedly doubles down on its anime-inspired roots. The game starts with the catchy theme song featured in the E3 2017 trailer, which made me think for a short time that it was some kind of adaptation from a TV show. All the over-the-top zaniness of an anime is there and is undoubtedly charming. The bold lines and bright colours of the characters are appealing and eye-catching, and the voice acting isn’t obnoxious in the slightest.

One area where this game falls flat is when it decides to have a strange mix of design choices shoved together into one screen. As mentioned before, all the characters have bold outlines and bright colours, but most of the over-world outside of the cut-scenes are line-less 3D environments with the 2D characters layered on top. Compared with the cohesive style of something like Cuphead, it’s slightly disappointing. Not a deal-breaker by any means as the presentation is very appealing.

The gameplay starts off super simple – collect as many plates of the same colour within bursts of seven-second slots. Each time you collect two or more plates they get added to your table. Once your table is full, your empty plates are automatically fired at your opponent. Every single stack of plates can be fired off manually too, so your shots can also more controlled if they need to be. The higher your stack of plates – the harder it hits your enemy. Once your opponent’s health vanishes, you win the match! Obviously, your opponent is trying to do the same.

Depth is added using quite a few mechanics but the big major one is the inclusion of Sushi Spirits. These lovable Pokémon-esque creatures all have their own power or “skill” as they are called in-game. These help control or change certain things as you play, such as providing you with healing sweets to eat. Your Sushi Sprites can also undergo an awakening or essentially “evolve” into something else.

There are plenty of ways to progress in this game. Almost every mechanic can be upgraded. The player character can gain stamina and strength by leveling up, Sushi Sprites and their skills can be leveled, and even the sushi on the plates that you collect can be upgraded. Different items can help boost your Sushi Sprites, and there are even items that benefit the player character. It’s pretty expansive and thanks to the steady tutorial intertwined into the main story, it doesn’t feel as intense as I thought it would.

Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido has a lot going for it. It’s a solid little package, with plenty of gimmicks to keep it interesting and it holds the player’s attention. I feel like this isn’t as an accomplished puzzler as something like Puyo Puyo Tetris, with a little too much random stick waggling when trying to find dishes to chain together. Personally, I don’t think that it’s worth the price tag. Regardless, anyone who digs the bright colours and quirky Japanese aesthetic should buy this, as you will more than likely have a blast.

Thanks for reading this post! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Apparently Day 1 of E3 has already happened?! (Funny post)

It’s no surprise that i’m super excited for E3. As it turns out, E3 is super excited for E3 too! So excited that the official Twitter channel has accidentally already tweeted about how good the first day was! Obviously, a Tweet that has already been drafted in preparation for next week has been sent out by accident but made me chuckle nonetheless.

The best bit? They actually acknowledged their mistake in another Tweet, in a way that referenced the many, many leaks that have been coming out in recent days/weeks.

Normally, I wouldn’t make a blog post about as something as small and daft as this but it just really made me laugh. Hope you found it funny too! Plus, it just makes me want E3 to happen right now!

Thanks for reading this post! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) NON-SPOILER Review

Images sourced from YouTube trailers

Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel, Jurassic Park, along with the subsequent 1993 film by Stephen Spielberg has left a Tyrannosaurus-sized cinematic legacy that all other Jurassic Park/World films have failed to meet. In my opinion, Jurassic World (which came out in 2015) was the closest the franchise has ever come to finding the wonderment and spectacle that the original film so famously had.

So, a question. Does Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom take the reigns as the best Jurassic Park/World film ever? No. It does not. But what it does do is use the lengthy amount of history and lore the franchise has to good effect. There are nods and winks to the previous films, in ways that don’t entirely feel too shoehorned in. As a long time fan of the franchise, I appreciate this. Although it’s starting to make me feel old.

Don’t get me wrong though. The main bulk of the film isn’t about the winks and nods. I’m just saying I like a film that gets me feelin’ nostalgic. The story that surrounds these references is split into two sections. These were definitely not created equally and one is infinitely better than the other. Part of me wishes that the film should have concentrated on one of these sections, rather a mishmash of the two. It doesn’t exactly feel like two films smashed together though, as there’s plenty of connective tissue holding them together.

I did find myself generally invested in the story, despite some Hollywood cheese smeared all over it. In a universe where dinosaurs are not only back from the dead, but are now known to the world and trapped on an island, it’s getting a little difficult to swallow what is happening on screen, but i’ll roll with it for now.

Character-wise, this story drags behind the others. Owen and Claire are back, but there isn’t much character development to keep them occupied. New sidekicks are introduced and do a fine job for what they are needed for but don’t really get a lot of room to do much else. The “bad guys” in this film are in no way interesting or menacing. It’s a shame because there is a ton of very talented people in this film, but they just aren’t given much to do! Plus, it needed more Jeff Goldblum. In fact, all films need more Jeff Goldblum, even ones starring Jeff Goldblum.

I love you Jeff.

The stand-out human character is the little girl, but the absolute stars of this show are the dinosaurs. There’s plenty of species to keep dinosaur fans busy, and they get involved in a surprising amount of emotional moments. Like I said before, this is a universe where dinosaurs exist and as such, are treated as people would real animals. Jurassic Park is a franchise well known for it’s practical effects, and this film is no different. Real puppetry is once again used in certain scenes where the humans and dinosaurs are interacting closely. This really helps to elevate a scene, as it feels like the real living actors are interacting with real living dinosaurs.

As is to be expected from a big summer block-buster, it looks great. There are some fantastic action scenes, big sweeping shots, and some close, claustrophobic sections too. I can see multiple elements of the director’s previous films in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and it did entertain me. I’m not sure I would purposely put this into my Blu-Ray player and watch it again, but the first time around was a fun enough ride. It has done one thing though, and this is probably the most important bit. It has made me wonder where the franchise will go next. If it’s anything like what it has set itself up to be (because obviously there’s going to be a sequel), then colour me intrigued.

Thanks for reading my review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse looks INCREDIBLE!

Images sourced from YouTube trailer

Warning: This blog is run by a HUGE Spider-Man fan, so this might be slightly biased.

With that said, let’s talk about this new trailer. HOLY MOLY! It looks so DAMN gorgeous! The colours alone make this an extremely eye-catching film, but that’s just one aspect of this trailer. It’s very clear that the people making this film are well versed in comic books, as this aesthetic shines through immensely. Every single frame bleeds detail and vibrancy. Textures and little features like visible sound effects really help make this feel like an animated comic book.

Thanks to the sheer amount of carefully crafted detail, this trailer needs to be watched multiple times just to appreciate it. It’s such a dynamic trailer too. Even the simple act of Myles picking up a bag of random objects has an incredible cinematic flair to it. The massive sweeping views of cityscapes are breathtaking, but it’s the smaller, tamer shots that impress me the most. Character expression and movement are oddly fluid but jerky at the same time. With so many animated films coming out with absolutely no personality (i’m looking at your Sherlock Gnomes!), it’s refreshing to have one to look forward to with such style.

I have lots of love for the live-action versions of Spider-Man. Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland. They’ve all brought different angles to who Spider-Man is and even though we have things like CGI, there’s always been some restraint with those movies. You know, because of reality and physics and stuff. Now we have a big budget animated release, things can get beautifully over-the-top and exaggerated, just like in the comics. Multiple universes. Multiple Spider-People. Plus, now we could possibly have a big giant rhino man rather than a regular man in a rhino robot suit? Just an example I randomly picked. No relation to anything. *ahem*

At least we can be certain of one thing. If this movie ends up being a massively disappointing mess, at least it will be an incredible good-looking mess. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is scheduled for release on December 14, 2018, and I genuinely cannot wait. Check out the new trailer below!

Thanks for reading my post about the new Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse trailer. If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Free Comic Book Day 2018 – Top 5

Thanks to both my girlfriend and I being absolutely massive comic nerds, Free Comic Book Day is a pretty big deal. We always tend to share the comics that we buy so it’s a no-brainer that we share the free ones too! Due to this, we finished the day with 17 awesome little reads. However, not all comic books are created equal, as some are more awesome-r that others. Now that i’ve finally gotten around to reading them all, I can confidently say which ones are my favourites.

Below (in no particular order) are my top 5 comics from Free Comic Book Day!

1. Lady Mechanika
The first on this short list, Lady Mechanika is the story about the sole survivor of a mad scientist’s horrific experiments. The experiments have left our hero with mechanical arms and no memories of her former life! This steampunk series set in an alternate London has some amazingly intricate detail, something that I absolutely adore.

2. Adventure Time

Despite the absolutely colossal cultural icon that Adventure Time is, I never got into it much. I found the first season charming and fun but never worked my way past that first bit. My lack of exposure to the series is probably why I enjoyed this short story about Fionna and Cake taking a glass of punch to Prince Gumball. I’ve been drip fed enough information to understand who these characters are without them overstaying their welcome.

3. Berlin
As much as I like the cinematic versions of superheroes, I don’t really take too much notice of their comic counterparts. I do have a soft spot for comics/graphic novels based on historical events or people though. Castro by Reinhard Kleist or Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus comes to mind. You could, therefore, imagine my delight when I found Berlin nested between all the whimsical fiction. It was apparently the first few pages of an immense three-book epic that depicts life in Berlin between 1928 and 1933, set to the background of the decline of the Weimar Republic. Definitely not for everybody, but for someone who is interested in history (even the not so savoury bits), I will be at some point buying the full thing.

4. The Wormworld Saga
The Wormworld Saga looks like a wonderful old-fashioned adventure, one involving a magic painting that can teleport people to other…dimensions? This painting lets humans enter into other places, but doesn’t necessarily seem to stop things from those other places getting into our world. I had fun with this comic. It has a very distinct digital style to it. With bold sections of colour and details, at times it looks almost 3D. Definitely something to look out for if you enjoy travelling to fantasy worlds.

5. Barrier
After encountering the epicness that is Y: The Last Man and the more recent Saga, I will basically read anything that Brian K. Vaughan is associated with. Centred around a tale of violence and illegal immigration, this comic is interesting that it presents its pages landscape rather than portrait. I think this is actually a pretty cool gimmick. This decision lends itself well to some dramatic panels, almost cinematic in value.

The full list of comics that we managed to get can be seen below!

Street Angel’s Dog
Malika: Creed & Fury
Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake
Ultra Street Fighter II
Lady Mechanika
World’s Greatest Cartoonists
Shadowman
Barrier
Maxwell’s Demons
Berlin
Pokemon: Sun & Moon
The Wordworld Saga
Zero’s Journey
My Hero Academia
Bob’s Burgers
Crush
Comics Friends Forever

Thanks for reading this list of my top 5 comic books from Free Comic Book Day 2018! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Why we should be excited about “Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee”

Images sourced from YouTube trailer

Well, the rumours floating that were floating around the interwebs for a while have been confirmed to be true! Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee are coming to Nintendo Switch on November 16th, 2018! While most people (myself included) expected them to be the next in the core series, they are actually spinoffs. Along with Pokémon Quest and the untitled 2019 core game, that’s a whopping three games to looks forward to in the near future!

There’s no doubt that these spinoffs seem to be aimed more towards the “casual” gamer but they can give us an idea of what we can expect about the future of the highly anticipated 2019 release, and the future of the franchise as a whole. Obviously, this is a whole lot of speculation so please take what I say with a grain of salt. With that said, Let’s Go! (Geddit?)

Graphics

An announcement trailer is never a good indication of what a finished game will look like. It’s also not a good indication of what the NEXT game in a series is going to look like. However, this trailer does indicate something pretty significant but also kind of obvious. Future Pokémon games are going to look a lot better than their previous iterations. Even if nothing were to be updated from the DS graphics, the inclusion of the larger resolution of the Nintendo Switch is guaranteed to help boost the visuals of the game.

While I would be happy with this, I don’t think that Nintendo will leave the graphics as-is. The limitations of the DS system are now gone, replaced with the Nintendo Switch. It might not be the powerhouse of a machine to rival the Xbox One X or the Playstation 4 Pro but there is something there to be utilized that Nintendo didn’t have before. A new Pokémon game at 1080p resolution and 60 FPS? Yes, please!

Pokémon

This trailer confirms that there will actually be Pokémon in this Pokémon game. What? That not enough for you? Fine.

Both Pikachu and Eevee can be seen riding atop their respective trainers, while other companions can be seen trailing behind a lá Pokémon Yellow. This does make sense as Junichi Masuda has stated that the games can basically be considered “remakes” of that game. While Pokémon riding their trainers is probably going to be a feature specific to these games, I really hope they bring followers forward into the 2019 release. There would be nothing better than having a great hulking Charizard or Tyranitar trailing behind you.

While the majority of the trailer featuring Pokémon from Generation One, there is a little section of the video that teasers we’ll get to “meet a special Pokémon.” This could mean several things. It could mean that we get to meet a special Pokémon from previous generations like Mew, it could maybe mean a special variation of a Pokémon like the Alolan forms or (and this is what I hope it means) we shall be introduced to a brand new Pokemon that will feature in the 2019 release. Regardless of what it might actually mean, I would say it’s highly likely that there are going to be new creatures to catch.

Accessories

Nintendo has had a long and sometimes worrying obsession with strange peripherals for their games (i’m looking at you Virtual Boy and Power Glove). Thanks to the Nintendo Labo and the newly announced Pokéball Plus, this obsession is not dying anytime soon. A mash-up between a Joy-Con and an updated Pokéwalker, players can use this Pokéball shaped device as a controller but also have the opportunity to use it for taking their favourite Pokémon into the real world with them.

After having a Pokémon transfered into it, the device will vibrate, light up, and make noises relevent to what is contained inside. I’ll put myself down for 6 of them then! Taking my team into the real world sounds like an absolute dream! One would hope that this kind of functionality would also work with future games. As the Pokéball Plus acts as a Joy-Con, it should get all the usual updates that regular Joy-Cons do, so it probably won’t be a one-hit wonder.

Co-op & Connectivity

Thanks to the Nintendo Switch shipping with the built-in capability to support two players out of the box, it makes sense that Nintendo would want to implement more multiplayer action into the Pokémon brand. It might not be the entire campaign spanning co-op that I want, where you can start the game with a friend and play it through to the end, but the drop in, drop out gameplay that seems to be offered in certain scenarios in Let’s Go is a step in the right direction.

Lastly, it seems that Nintendo is doubling down on the financial success that is Pokémon Go. Aside from being able to carry your favourite Pokémon around you in the Pokéball Plus, there will be functionality between Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee and Pokémon Go. I don’t see any reason not to have a similar type of connection with the 2019 release. The hundreds of Pokémon you’ve caught in Pokémon Go probably won’t transfer one-for-one in the 2019 release but there will surely be some kind of incentive to make you want to keep playing Pokémon Go.

I’m not sure whether I am on board with this more casual version of a Pokémon. If this was the only game that Nintendo had announced then I would have been disappointed, but as a placeholder game for the big event in 2019? Sure, I can get behind Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee.

Check out the trailer below!

Thanks for reading my thoughts on this newly announced Pokémon game! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Building a free and open-source alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud

Before I start – a quick disclaimer. Downloading random bits of software off the internet can be a risky business. When delving into the world of open-source software, take care to download them from their official sites and make sure you have a robust anti-virus installed. Bungee jumping can be fun and exhilarating, but you wouldn’t do it if you weren’t safety attached to that long stretchy cord.

As Adobe Creative Cloud is such a comprehensive collection of specialist apps and services, it’s nigh on impossible to get the same level of usability from open-source applications. It’s a veritable David vs Goliath situation, a small collection of dedicated volunteers vs an army of Adobe developers. This doesn’t mean there isn’t worth in open-source software. I’ve always been an advocate because it lets people learn creative skills while only spending a tiny amount of money (if any at all). These creative skills can then be transferred over to any number of propriety software if/when needed. With that in mind, I’ve collated a big list of free and open source alternatives to Adobe CC that will all work on Windows, Mac OS and Linux!

Photoshop (GIMP)

First up, we have the GIMP. Don’t laugh, it’s an acronym. Otherwise known as the GNU Image Manipulation Program, this is a powerful piece of software that is well suited to editing photos. GIMP can also be used to create original artwork and graphic design assets. As with many of the open-source projects in this list, the UI design can be confusing for people making the transition from Adobe products. Luckily, as GIMP is infinitely customizable, there are a number of plugins and themes that make it look more akin to Photoshop.

Illustrator (Inkscape)

Even though Inkscape was released in 2003, at the time of writing it still hasn’t reached version 1.0. While still not being considered “complete”, this vector graphics editor is the go-to program when dealing with SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics). It also has the option to open and save files in .EPS and .AI if something a little more mainstream is needed.

Indesign (Scribus)

One of the more premier free page layout programs available, Scribus offers a stable platform for desktop publishing. It ships with plenty of colour palettes, supporting RGB, CYMK and spot colours. An additional feature helps emulate forms of colour blindness to help inform your design choices. Helpful and ethical!

Premiere Pro (OpenShot)

The Openshot website boasts that this piece of software is “easy to use, quick to learn, and surprisingly powerful video editor.” Very straight to the point. With that said, Openshot is one of the better-looking and sleeker apps on this list. Proving a plethora of features, from curve based keyframe animations to chroma key (green/blue screen), this is a compact and functional video editor.

After Effects (Blender)

As After Effects is a very specific and powerful piece of software, it’s REALLY hard to recommend an open-source alternative. So hard in fact, that I have to offer something slightly different. Instead of a dedicated visual effects program, I can recommend Blender. Blender is an absolute powerhouse that supports the entire 3D pipeline, from modelling to motion tracking. More importantly (in this case), Blender has lots of tools that support visual effects and motion graphics. Time spent learning how to use Blender is time very well spent.

Lightroom (darktable)

According to the website, “darktable is created for photographers, by photographers.” It’s nice to know that the people who have programmed this piece of software have a clear vision of what they are doing. This makes darktable very usable. Plus, i’m really amused by the name. “What’s the opposite of light? Dark, sure, cool. We need something else? Something that’s in a room? A table? Awesome. Let’s call it darktable.”

Dreamweaver (Brackets)

Out of everything on this list, Brackets is my absolute favourite! There is something very satisfying about looking at the clean and modern UI. It lacks the WYSIWYG capabilities of Dreamweaver but does have a live-viewer that shows you a preview of what you are working on. Interestingly, it was actually developed by Adobe as a community project, something that I think does reflect in the way that it looks. Is it ironic that my favourite “alternative” is made by Adobe? Yeah, I think so.

Audition (Audacity)

If Brackets is my absolute favourite, then Audacity is a close second. One of the first pieces of open-source software that I ever discovered, it isn’t the best looking. This drab exterior hides a very practical application. It has the capabilities to edit audio, but it can also record live sound, as long as there is a microphone handy. Perfect for recording podcasts!

Media Encoder (Handbrake)

While a few open-source apps take time to learn, Handbrake has be one of the tougher nuts to crack. The world of transcoding is a murky one, and Handbrake doesn’t take any time to explain any of the many features it has. If you can fight through that learning curve though, this is a very viable choice for your digital video file needs.

Bridge (Digikam)

Do you have an impressively large library of images but don’t want to use Adobe Bridge? If you are in this very specific situation, then let me introduce you to Digikam! Aside from its ability to handle lots of files, it can handle lots of different TYPES of files and edit metadata.

BONUS SOFTWARE!

Libre Office – Like Microsoft Office, but free!

OBS Studio – Screen recording and live streaming!

VLC Media Player – The ultimate multimedia player!

Thanks for reading my list of open-source software alternatives to Adobe CC! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.

Piggin’ out at the Sheffield Food Festival 2018!

Foodies have once again descended on Sheffield to savour the food this great city can offer at the annual Sheffield Food Festival. Now in it’s eighth year, this three day event has spread across the Peace Gardens, Winter Gardens, Millennium Square, Town Hall Square and Fargate. Even though we have lived in Sheffield for several years, my girlfriend and I have never been around the festival before. As we are both vegetarians we were interested to see what was available.

Thankfully, there were so many incredible options! Most of the vendors that we saw had at least one vegetarian dish and a few even had some vegan things to eat too. Obviously, not every single stall had as much choice, but that’s fine! It’s good to have variety! In fact, that was probably the best part of the whole day. Just looking around the vast array of stalls was entertaining enough.

Rather than just spending our money on random things, we decided to set ourselves the challenge of only spending up to £10 on food. This made the search for food both stressful and fun at the same time. You can see the breakdown of what we spent below:

Noodle Bar – Me

Plain noodles with onion & pepper : £4.50
Black Bean sauce: £1

Wah Wahs – Girlfriend

Halloumerito: £7.50

Bedazzled Cupcakes – Both

Oreo Egg cupcake: £1.80
Creme Egg cupcake: £1.80

Total spent

Me: £7.30
Girlfriend: £9.30

As you can see, I tried some noodles and my girlfriend went for the Halloumerito! We both enjoyed what we had, although I probably could have got something that was a bit more exciting. At least mine was super tasty and the service was good.

In case you are wondering what a Halloumerito is, its a tortilla wrap filled with Mexican spiced bean balls, halloumi fries, bbq’d veggie salsa, sweet potato relish, slaw and sauces. It was quite the concoction, and one that my girlfriend enjoyed, although she did note that there didn’t seem enough halloumi in it to earn its name. There was a slight food emergency, the tortilla split open and food went everywhere while she was eating it!

To finish our small culinary adventure, we both decided on some super cute cupcakes. Bedazzled Cupcakes was a great little place. We were served by a friendly gentleman who explained that specific cupcakes had a tiny chocolate egg baked inside them. What more could you ask for? They ended up being slightly dry but both cupcakes that we bought were very full of flavour and tasty.

Overall, we had a really nice time. The weather was perfect and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. There were plenty of other things to do like attending Food Futures or Food For Thought but we only had a short amount of time to see what was happening. It was definitely worth going though, and I would completely recommend it!

Thanks for reading about my experiences at the Sheffield Food Festival! If you liked it, then please follow this blog for similar updates in the future.

Humble Monthly – Guaranteed $100+ worth of games each month for only $12

This page contains Humble Bundle affiliate links.