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Southlake, TX
Imparting game development wisdom of dubious quality a ridiculously long time.
April 24, 2002
Been looking for a decent leak-tracker for quite some time. The STL smart-pointer stuff just strikes me as anti-intuitive and cumbersome, and I had some good past experiences with the non-intrusive ones (i.e. Bounds Checker), which had saved my bacon a couple of times by reporting on stuff that I d…
April 20, 2002
Gotta plug an interesting site. Basically, I needed 256 random bytes for an encryption routine I'm writing. I figured it'd only take a couple of minutes to write a piece of code to generate 'em, but I decided to do a search first, just in case.
Lo and behold, I find www.random.org, which'll generate…
Lo and behold, I find www.random.org, which'll generate…
April 09, 2002
I just got my $300 rebate for VS.NET. I was a bit worried because the rebate sheet said that the only valid proof of purchase that would be accepted for VC++ 6.0 was the original box-top (which I no longer have). Just to be hopeful, I sent in the cover page of the old manual (which was what they us…
April 07, 2002
The Code Zone would like to announce today that Fredrick Fribble of Marble Falls, Arkansas has licensed The Code Zone's small-format games for use on his home computer. "Boy, this certainly is a breakthrough", remarked Fribble. "I can't wait to install them and play them.
The Code Zone is a leading …
The Code Zone is a leading …
April 05, 2002
Roger Corman is 76 today. In honor of his birthday, everyone must watch one Corman film this weekend. Showtime's playing a bunch of 'em, so you'll have plenty of opportunity.
I've already got a head start on you, having watched House of Usher and the 1995 remake of Piranha. I've got the Tivo set to …
I've already got a head start on you, having watched House of Usher and the 1995 remake of Piranha. I've got the Tivo set to …
April 02, 2002
STL is without a doubt a Good Thing. Much like C++ ten years ago, though, you've gotta change your thinking about 90 degrees to get the most out of it. Also like C++, its harshest critics are those who don't know enough about it. Anyway, I'd been looking for a decent string tokenizer in STL. I'd lo…
April 01, 2002
If those laundry detergents are so good at making things white, why can't they manage to change the color of those little blue crystals in the box?
March 25, 2002
Dunno if anyone's interested who hasn't got it already, but MS is giving away free trial DVD's of VS.NET here.
Their "free trial" programs are usually pretty generous, usually usable for 120 days before timing out. I used the magazine-beta of VS.NET for a full six months without a timeout complaint …
Their "free trial" programs are usually pretty generous, usually usable for 120 days before timing out. I used the magazine-beta of VS.NET for a full six months without a timeout complaint …
March 23, 2002
As you can see, the diary's got a new look. After all this time, I finally caved and am using a real-live database to store entries.
I'm using Moveable Type, which seems like a pretty capable little system for storing diary entries.
There's some stuff I'm gonna miss, though, like spell-checking and s…
I'm using Moveable Type, which seems like a pretty capable little system for storing diary entries.
There's some stuff I'm gonna miss, though, like spell-checking and s…
March 15, 2002
1. On the desktop, along with an "easy purchase" icon
2. On the taskbar
3. Under "Accessories" in the Start Menu
4. Under "Programs" in the Start Menu
5. Under its own directory in the Start Menu
6. On the left-side list on the Windows XP Start Menu
7. On the Internet Explorer Favorites menu
This is where…
2. On the taskbar
3. Under "Accessories" in the Start Menu
4. Under "Programs" in the Start Menu
5. Under its own directory in the Start Menu
6. On the left-side list on the Windows XP Start Menu
7. On the Internet Explorer Favorites menu
This is where…
February 27, 2002
In case you didn't see it on the gamedev.net main page, my wife Shelly had her baby on Saturday. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Maggie. We've got full pictures and information here. She's cute, but we're exhausted!
One clarification on the stuff from the 20th. Looks like Amazon had…
One clarification on the stuff from the 20th. Looks like Amazon had…
February 20, 2002
Just ordered my Visual Studio upgrade from Amazon. They've got pretty good prices going there. Cheapest I've found so far.
At first it seems pretty steep ($1000 standalone, $500 upgrade), but if you've got an existing Visual-product (6.0 or higher), you can get a $300 rebate, which drops the price t…
At first it seems pretty steep ($1000 standalone, $500 upgrade), but if you've got an existing Visual-product (6.0 or higher), you can get a $300 rebate, which drops the price t…
February 19, 2002
Ugh, I've got the flu. This sucks.
Congrats to Gamedev's own TANSTAAFL, who sent me the winning name in my ad-hoc contest from a couple of days ago.
Duce Caucho
It got a chuckle outta me, so I'm declaring it the winner. Babelfish doesn't agree, though, saying "goma pato" is correct. Any Spanish schol…
Congrats to Gamedev's own TANSTAAFL, who sent me the winning name in my ad-hoc contest from a couple of days ago.
Duce Caucho
It got a chuckle outta me, so I'm declaring it the winner. Babelfish doesn't agree, though, saying "goma pato" is correct. Any Spanish schol…
February 13, 2002
Awright, I found several odd items that I've accumulated randomly over the years, and I don't know what to do with 'em, so I'm gonna have a contest!
No, this time the prize isn't an XBox. It's the following:
No, this time the prize isn't an XBox. It's the following:
- A cassette tape of a lecture from the 2000 GDC, specifically "Heat into Light: Community Gen…
February 06, 2002
I Finally implemented something in my game class library that I should've implemented quite a long time ago. . .
Copy-On-Write bitmap objects.
The bitmap object is one of the cornerstones of the whole library. It encapsulates a bitmap's data (in my case, an SDL_SURFACE structure) and has functions to…
February 01, 2002
Wow, something actually related to game programming? Wow!
I've been working diligently on a "new" Duck Tiles that's worthy of all of the great levels I got from the contest. Rather than make it a part of another game pack, I decided that I could make a version that's good enough to sell on its own. …
I've been working diligently on a "new" Duck Tiles that's worthy of all of the great levels I got from the contest. Rather than make it a part of another game pack, I decided that I could make a version that's good enough to sell on its own. …
January 17, 2002
I just noticed an e-commerce site that's selling my games for "free" (provided you pay $6.99 for shipping). Yeah, it's not really free, but seven bucks with shipping is still pretty damn good.
Check it out at www.unbeatabledeals.com.
Note that I haven't actually bought anything here so I don't know h…
Check it out at www.unbeatabledeals.com.
Note that I haven't actually bought anything here so I don't know h…
January 09, 2002
Once again, I'm taking a bit of inspiration from Bryan's diary. This time, regarding his short commentary on the review of Lessig's book. I, like Bryan, am amused by the irony of somebody going through standard publishing channels to make a book proposing to cripple copyright laws and liberalize fa…
January 06, 2002
Noticing the link on Bryan's developer diary, I took the test. Here's my result. . .
I am a Space-invader.
I will happily recruit the help of friends to aid me in getting what I want. I have no tolerance for people getting in my way, and I am completely relentless until any threats or opposition are…
I am a Space-invader.
I will happily recruit the help of friends to aid me in getting what I want. I have no tolerance for people getting in my way, and I am completely relentless until any threats or opposition are…
January 03, 2002
Wow, sorry for the lack of updates. I intended to do an update between the end of the contest and my Christmas vacation, but the contest ended up running long and I just got too busy. Anyway, I'm back from holidays (the wife and I did Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and a buncha …
December 07, 2001
Okay, time for some more. . .
Super-Secret XBox Contest-Winning Tips!
Super-Secret XBox Contest-Winning Tips!
- Take to heart my suggestions on 11/30. I've gotten plenty of levels with pretty patterns of tiles on the floor, but that I can solve just by glancing at 'em. While aesthetics are important, if a level's not fun to play and a reason…
December 05, 2001
The contest is still going well, and the field is still wide open.
I got an email from someone who was tearing his hair out about that level I posted on 11/30. Here's the solution. I'll do it by coordinates because I was a dumb person and made all of the soaps the same color.
(0,2) U
(0,4) U
(0,1) R
(0,…
I got an email from someone who was tearing his hair out about that level I posted on 11/30. Here's the solution. I'll do it by coordinates because I was a dumb person and made all of the soaps the same color.
(0,2) U
(0,4) U
(0,1) R
(0,…
December 01, 2001
I found another little thing that would make for a great little set of contest entries (hint hint).
While browsing the February 2002 (why do they put these things out so early) issue of Games Magazine, I came across a short article about "Tilt Mazes", which are basically paper-n-pencil versions of t…
While browsing the February 2002 (why do they put these things out so early) issue of Games Magazine, I came across a short article about "Tilt Mazes", which are basically paper-n-pencil versions of t…
November 30, 2001
Contest Update!
The contest is going steadily, but the flow of entries have dropped off from the first day. If you enter now, you'd have a pretty fair chance of winning just from the number of entries. Make an entry and make it good, and you've got a fair chance to walk away with a nice prize.
Secret…
The contest is going steadily, but the flow of entries have dropped off from the first day. If you enter now, you'd have a pretty fair chance of winning just from the number of entries. Make an entry and make it good, and you've got a fair chance to walk away with a nice prize.
Secret…
November 16, 2001
The Contest is up!
Go here, design a great level, and win a fully loaded XBox outfit. I'm spending a lot of money on this contest, so impress me.
NOTE: If you downloaded the level-builder on or before 11/26, please re-download it. There was a bug in level-saving. Sorry.
Go here, design a great level, and win a fully loaded XBox outfit. I'm spending a lot of money on this contest, so impress me.
NOTE: If you downloaded the level-builder on or before 11/26, please re-download it. There was a bug in level-saving. Sorry.
November 16, 2001
Aww crap, I surrender.
According to Slashdot, Apple owns U.S. Patent No. 5,379,129, which patents composting a source image to a destination using a mask image. This is an obvious and well-known technique, but Apple seems to think they invented it in 1992. Here's an example. This is the masked bitma…
According to Slashdot, Apple owns U.S. Patent No. 5,379,129, which patents composting a source image to a destination using a mask image. This is an obvious and well-known technique, but Apple seems to think they invented it in 1992. Here's an example. This is the masked bitma…
November 12, 2001
Okay. Sorry about the delays, but I've been a busy person. Working on a new game called "Alien Isotope". It's probably nothing special, but some of the stuff I thought was gonna be nothing special turned out to be the best.
Also, it looks like the Ducky Builder contest is finally gonna happen, and …
Also, it looks like the Ducky Builder contest is finally gonna happen, and …
October 29, 2001
The .net DVD is now officially spoken-for. Thanks for playing!
Got a couple of eBay items you might want.
The Entire print-run of Game Developer Magazine. This one's about $200 to buy on CD, and somebody's gonna get it really cheap!
Two Game Programming Books. Not as cheap as Game Developer, but stil…
Got a couple of eBay items you might want.
The Entire print-run of Game Developer Magazine. This one's about $200 to buy on CD, and somebody's gonna get it really cheap!
Two Game Programming Books. Not as cheap as Game Developer, but stil…
October 26, 2001
Wednesday afternoon I put up a DVD beta of Microsoft Visual Studio .net on eBay. It stayed up for 24 hours, then was suddenly canceled due to "licensing restrictions".
Now then, this was a disk that came packaged with issues of Dr Dobb's Journal and Software Development magazine (I get both, which i…
Now then, this was a disk that came packaged with issues of Dr Dobb's Journal and Software Development magazine (I get both, which i…
October 23, 2001
Howdy doo. Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been a busy person. Been doing some contract work for Civilgrrl, doing earthwork quantities for other peoples' projects using SiteWork LT, which is a 3D grading program. You enter the coordinates of the existing land, along with your proposed str…
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