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Southlake, TX
Imparting game development wisdom of dubious quality a ridiculously long time.
February 15, 2006
Just have to collect my thoughts here. Today was a pretty wrenching day.
We had to lay off Andy (CivilGrrl's CAD tech) today. It was one of the toughest things we ever had to do. It's just that CivilGrrl's long-term prognosis has taken a turn for the worst in the past six months given the long-term …
We had to lay off Andy (CivilGrrl's CAD tech) today. It was one of the toughest things we ever had to do. It's just that CivilGrrl's long-term prognosis has taken a turn for the worst in the past six months given the long-term …
February 13, 2006
Spent much of the day working on financial stuff (read: taxes), but I did get a chance to make a much-needed improvement on ConFusebox.
I'd been using an easy-to-debug but glacially slow homebrew algorithm to generate the puzzles. With a little research, I discovered Eller's Maze Generation Algorith…
I'd been using an easy-to-debug but glacially slow homebrew algorithm to generate the puzzles. With a little research, I discovered Eller's Maze Generation Algorith…
February 10, 2006
Eh, what the heck. I got enough done with the game (new title "ConFusebox") to show off. It properly generates and scrambles the puzzle, and you can rotate the pieces around. It doesn't yet keep score or detect whether or not you've won, but that's not too difficult.
http://www.thecodezone.com/delme…
http://www.thecodezone.com/delme…
February 09, 2006
The next daily puzzle is thought up and is about half-developed, which is to say that I'm now generating a puzzle, but there's not yet a way to solve it.
It's nothing you haven't seen before.
Actually it might be something you haven't seen before. It was one of the reasons to purchase a Cybiko and wa…
It's nothing you haven't seen before.
Actually it might be something you haven't seen before. It was one of the reasons to purchase a Cybiko and wa…
February 08, 2006
The Voracity high score board is now playing back the top scores, so if you wanna see how the top folks did, you can play back their solution. I originally just had the game playing back the top solution, but I changed it to the top three, mainly so that you wouldn't get the impression that Bob/T2K…
February 07, 2006
First is phpFlashMyAdmin. If you're using MySQL, you're probably using phpMyAdmin to manage your database. It's a great tool and it does make the job of managing your database way easier than via an SQL command-line, but it's based entirely in HTML forms. This makes the whole experience clunky to s…
February 06, 2006
If it seems like I'm spending a lot of time tuning a rather trivial game, it's because I am. I'm trying to get every feature that I want into Voracity so that when I make future daily puzzles the groundwork will already be done.
That being said, I have the playback stuff working now!
Unfortunately, p…
That being said, I have the playback stuff working now!
Unfortunately, p…
February 04, 2006
Yesterday was "Date Night" at Clariden. That's a once-a-month affair when the school babysits the kids so parents can have kid-free time. Maggie thinks that Date Night is the greatest thing that ever happened, as all of the kids get to put on their jammies, eat pizza, play ball in the gym, and watc…
February 02, 2006
Shelly made the astute observation that the front page at www.thecodezone.com doesn't do a goldurned thing except announce stuff that you're better off reading on the blog page. So I had two choices. . .
1. Put up a pointless piece of animated flashturbation to fill the space and make it look like i…
1. Put up a pointless piece of animated flashturbation to fill the space and make it look like i…
February 01, 2006
Okay, the protection stuff went a tad faster than expected, and I was able to pull together a second daily puzzle in a hurry (actually, the game was already written. It was just a matter of shoe-horning the update stuff into it).
The upshot is that for the first time in who-knows-how-long, you can a…
The upshot is that for the first time in who-knows-how-long, you can a…
February 01, 2006
Well, I actually planned to unveil my first online puzzle on thecodezone.com yesterday.
As bad fortune had it, though, I found out that Verizon's byzantine labyrinthine billing system had just discovered that while I do have fiberoptic internet coming to the house, I do not have any phone numbers as…
As bad fortune had it, though, I found out that Verizon's byzantine labyrinthine billing system had just discovered that while I do have fiberoptic internet coming to the house, I do not have any phone numbers as…
January 26, 2006
Unlike many people I know who participate in online discussion forums, I really don't have an "online persona". The way I conduct myself online is, for better or worse, exactly like I act in real life. Anyone attending the GDC with me can certainly attest to that.
And this does extend to my speech m…
And this does extend to my speech m…
January 24, 2006
I'm still doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work on the site, preparing it for selling games. One thing I decided that I need is some more "come on" freebie-type items to drive traffic to the site.
One thing that Flash is born to do is screen savers. Screen savers and Flash should be a match made in …
One thing that Flash is born to do is screen savers. Screen savers and Flash should be a match made in …
January 23, 2006
Okay, I'm now officially happy with my browser. One thing I like about my Firefox setup is that everything's shoved up near the top, so I get as much stuff as possible on the screen. Here's my browser-top:
It's a bit squished, but everything I like is there. Gamedev gets its own button because I cam…
It's a bit squished, but everything I like is there. Gamedev gets its own button because I cam…
January 22, 2006
Was just surfing Google Video, the biggest time-sponge in the universe next to Google Earth. I won't post a list. I'll just post the one video that amused me the most.
Exceedingly stupid dog.
Exceedingly stupid dog.
January 19, 2006
Here's an unbeatable deal, especially if you have kids. It's one of those "Dance Dance Revolution" games, complete with dance pad, for ten bucks.
Step one: Go to the Kraft web site and order the Kraft dance pad ($9.95 shipped). It's a full size dance pad, similar to the ones you've seen in game stor…
Step one: Go to the Kraft web site and order the Kraft dance pad ($9.95 shipped). It's a full size dance pad, similar to the ones you've seen in game stor…
January 18, 2006
Just a question about software packaging, specifically for mailed products. How important is packaging to you if I was to mail you a CD?
For example, let's take four scenarios for a piece of software that I mail to you.
1. Full color CD in DVD-style clamshell case with full-color insert with screensh…
For example, let's take four scenarios for a piece of software that I mail to you.
1. Full color CD in DVD-style clamshell case with full-color insert with screensh…
January 15, 2006
Saw "Brokeback Mountain" this weekend. It was pretty good.
It rather reminded me of "Last Picture Show" in its treatment of conventional-yet-loveless relationships. Also the sets and pacing were similar. Fairly slow, but rewarding.
The sex stuff wasn't as bad as I'd heard. If you've ever sat through …
It rather reminded me of "Last Picture Show" in its treatment of conventional-yet-loveless relationships. Also the sets and pacing were similar. Fairly slow, but rewarding.
The sex stuff wasn't as bad as I'd heard. If you've ever sat through …
January 12, 2006
There was a sticker on the cover of my latest issue of C/C++ User's Journal telling me that this issue (February I think) is the last and that the remainder of my (free) subscription will be paid out in issues of Dr. Dobbs Journal. Given that P.J. Plauger's editorial made no mention of it, I presum…
January 11, 2006
This is interesting.
A year ago, a dual 2 Ghz PowerPC processor machine was half again as fast as a dual 3.6 Ghz Intel machine.
But now a single 2.1 Ghz PowerPC processor machine is half the speed of a dual 2 Ghz Intel machine.
Assuming that two processors offer a 20% speed increase over one and that …
A year ago, a dual 2 Ghz PowerPC processor machine was half again as fast as a dual 3.6 Ghz Intel machine.
But now a single 2.1 Ghz PowerPC processor machine is half the speed of a dual 2 Ghz Intel machine.
Assuming that two processors offer a 20% speed increase over one and that …
January 10, 2006
One nice perk about being an ASP member is that ASP members like to give perks to fellow ASP members. There are loads of shareware utilities and games and stuff that are available free or at pretty steep discounts for ASP members.
Thus far I only took advantage of the 100% discount for PromptPal, wh…
Thus far I only took advantage of the 100% discount for PromptPal, wh…
January 07, 2006
First it was "Google Office" which ended up being "Java VM setup will have a checkbox to install Google toolbar".
Now it's the "Google Computer" which ended up being "Google will zip Firefox, Acrobat Reader, and Norton Antivirus together".
Here's the Google rumor equation. . .
(Google announcement rum…
Now it's the "Google Computer" which ended up being "Google will zip Firefox, Acrobat Reader, and Norton Antivirus together".
Here's the Google rumor equation. . .
(Google announcement rum…
January 06, 2006
Working on making my stuff size nicely for monitors now. Up until yesterday, the client area of the game was about 760x520 pixels. That way the game would be playable on an 800x600 machine (allowing for title bars etc). Problem is, I also wanted the user to have a full-screen option. To do full-scr…
January 05, 2006
Way back when in the early days of microcomputers, there was the computer convention. Often given whimsical names and devoted to a single platform (Apple, TRS-80, etc), these computer fests were the grass roots. Little garage software and peripheral companies abounded, selling all kinds of programs…
January 04, 2006
Almost everything's working. I'm down (no pun intended) to the download manager. Looks like I need to use the HTTP_Download class in PHP, which is part of PEAR, which is a collection of useful stuff for PHP.
And I can't find the goldurned thing on my server. Looking at the PHP config on my site, it …
And I can't find the goldurned thing on my server. Looking at the PHP config on my site, it …
January 03, 2006
Happy new 2006 and such.
Looks like there's about to be a new entry in the continuing PDA-made-game-machine wars. This one's verrrry pretty and can be seen here.
Unfortunately, while putting a PDA OS on a game handheld sounds good in theory, it's been a cavalcade of failure in practice, witness the …
Looks like there's about to be a new entry in the continuing PDA-made-game-machine wars. This one's verrrry pretty and can be seen here.
Unfortunately, while putting a PDA OS on a game handheld sounds good in theory, it's been a cavalcade of failure in practice, witness the …
January 01, 2006
Happy new year to all.
This is also my 15th wedding anniversary, so congratulate me on that. Shelly and I don't have any grand plans for today. We'll probably just go out to eat somewhere not too expensive and try to take it easy.
Humanist Hall's library just grew from about three books to over 2,000…
This is also my 15th wedding anniversary, so congratulate me on that. Shelly and I don't have any grand plans for today. We'll probably just go out to eat somewhere not too expensive and try to take it easy.
Humanist Hall's library just grew from about three books to over 2,000…
December 30, 2005
Well, I got. . .
- Three emails telling me that I'm great
- One email telling me that Ravuya is great
- Two emails from gamedev members in Nairobi who need my help laundering 25 million dollars
- One email telling me that I'm a sarcastic creep who's only making the situation worse (posted in the gamedev staff …
December 29, 2005
This developer journal is now closed forever. . .
. . .or until someone emails john@thecodezone.com to tell me how great I am.
. . .or until someone emails john@thecodezone.com to tell me how great I am.
December 29, 2005
After reviewing dozens of books and products, I've found that I'm completely burned out on the whole process. I can't even look at a computer book nowadays without going completely crosseyed.
Which is a problem because I have about ten books that I wanna get reviewed before year-end. Ugh.
Which is a problem because I have about ten books that I wanna get reviewed before year-end. Ugh.
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