Archive for May, 2007
May 21, 2007 at 12:48 pm· Filed under Misc
Hello there! Well - a week of solid posts followed by a week of cobwebs… what gives?
The quick answer is that I had a project due before I traveled to South Africa - which is where I am now! Wow… this is such a multi-national blog! I’m sure you’re impressed.
The previous week was so time-poor. On Wednesday and Thursday, I only managed to get 2.5 hours sleep each night. Then on Friday the trip was Melbourne > Sydney > Johannesburg > Cape Town… which ends up being 24 hours start to finish. It’s now 4:30am and I feel like I should be over my jet lag by tomorrow which is great.
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May 11, 2007 at 9:10 am· Filed under Play, Tech News, Flex
When they’re not playing/watching/talking about the All Blacks and Rugby Union in general, New Zealanders can actually come up with some interesting stuff! Don’t believe me? Check this out…
Outsmart is a NZ-based RIA development studio that has just given us a peek into their new 3D rendering platform in Flex. More info and pics are just a click away…
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May 10, 2007 at 9:40 am· Filed under Play, Tech News
Here’s a quick follow-up post to something I’ve mentioned earlier - the WoW VISA Credit Card is go! Nerds can now impress their nerdette dates by paying for both Big Macs with an Orc encrusted badge of merit.
Last time I checked, WoW had something like 7 million registered users all paying AU$10/month to get their virtual thrills… and it’s not hard to see why. The game is totally impressive both visually and technically and is overwhelmingly immersive and addictive. The only problem is that players have to regularly venture out into the ‘real’ world and put their latest quest on hold whilst they visit the loo, get a sandwich or, God forbid, go outside.
Well, unplugging from one’s virtual self just became a little easier now that groceries translate into free game time…
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May 9, 2007 at 12:15 am· Filed under Flash, Play
This game combines two of my all-time loves: playing with Lego and killing zombies! If only I had a penny for every zombie I’d killed…
The developer, Sean Cooper deserves a special footloosemoose mention for making a couple of great online games. More than simply the usual point-and-click fodder… Sean (who has 20 years experience developing games for major titles) includes a healthy dose of physics and AI in his projects. This post will focus his Boxhead series but I’ll include links to his other games in the footnotes.
Warning: if you don’t like zombie blood, this post isn’t for you!
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May 8, 2007 at 9:15 am· Filed under Play, Tech News
Just when you thought all conferences in our field were expensive, US-based affairs… along comes Remix07 and restores my faith in humanity.
It’s a Microsoft-inspired adventure (Dr Rees will be so proud of me!) which means that I’ll finally get some closure on my Silverlight concerns… for better or worse. Tickets are only AU$140 and it’s on for two days, 25th and 26th of July in the heart of Melbourne.
I’ve chosen the ‘Web Developer Track’ which is a bit annoying as I’m sure there will be some design presentations that I’ll be interested in. Regardless, you’ll get a few posts from inside the lion’s den and hopefully I’ll find some inspiration for new games and experiments.
So, let me know if you’re going - especially if you’re into Flash… we should meet up for a beer and make fun of the Microsofties. Strength in numbers!
Link: Remix 07
May 7, 2007 at 10:15 am· Filed under Play, Tutorials
OK - I’ll admit, I don’t know enough about JavaScript. I’m totally aware of its similarities to ActionScript but I just don’t often find myself wanting to work on jobs that would require it.
Lately I’ve been keen to explore a few more languages. On my PC, I’ve got PHP, Python and Perl installed and ready to go. I’ve dabbled in them enough to get a feel for what they’re about, but I haven’t really done anything significant in them… except in PHP where I often use it to get my Flash talking to online databases (still, not all that impressive).
So as I skulk through my local Borders (mega bookstore) trying to extract as much free knowledge as possible - yes, this is fun for me - I often struggle to choose a programming career path. Dont’ get me wrong, I’m ActionScript all the way and with AS3/Flex/Apollo the future is bright for me/us… but lately, I’m feeling a little incomplete.
The conclusion is that I’m going to brush up on JavaScript first - which may sound like an odd decision. I figure the learning curve should be quite easy and manageable and it will be a required step towards AJAX and things like creating Firefox extensions (something that I’m keen to look into).
For the ActionScript rookies that are reading this - make sure you check out the following videos as you’ll no doubt pick up a trick or two that will help you along the way. There are 10 quality videos in total - check them out…
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May 5, 2007 at 12:00 am· Filed under Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Now here’s a research project that wouldn’t have any trouble finding volunteers! Jennifer Chowdhury’s investigation into controlling computer games via intimately positioned touch sensors appeals on many levels… even works as a spectator sport!
Inspired by research into new interfaces for video games and by the Widows of World of Warcraft support group, Intimate Controllers is endorphin inducing goodness which takes half of the game off the screen.
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May 3, 2007 at 8:39 pm· Filed under Flash, Play, Novel Ideas, Tech News
Hey bandwagon, wait for me!
I was thoroughly amused and entertained by the anarchy that transpired over at digg.com yesterday… (if you haven’t heard the goss, catch it here and here)… and perhaps more interesting than the legalities of the issue is how we’ve witnessed that the digg community is essentially one massive organism. The owners pulled the leash too tight and the dog bit back! I also learned a new term - the “Streisand Effect”: where the act of trying to cover up leaked information actually achieves the opposite as a result of the publicity that such activities receive - more here.
Another of the more interesting aspects is how people decided to disseminate the information once the can of worms had been opened. As I was strolling through my RSS feeds today, I noticed that people are now making t-shirts where each of the numbers has been converted to a colour… essentially making a bar code of the key. This ‘in joke’ is the sort of thing that really appeals to the geek crowd (me included!).
The next step was a logical one for me - you guessed it - my Analog Binary pattern has found a new purpose!
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May 2, 2007 at 1:02 am· Filed under Flash, Play, Tech News
It seems that a new online game genre is emerging - something that I’ve been observing over the last few weeks. The iterations that have enchanted my browser are “Desktop Tower Defense”, “Onslaught”, “VR Defender Y3K 1000+”, “Picnic Panic TD”, “Flash Element TD” and “Turret Tyranny”.
MANY, MANY hours have gone into discovering their appeal and this post attempts to validate the wasted time and perhaps reclassify it as ‘research’. Here’s a quick overview of the Tower Defense (TD) genre, the games that I’ve found that fit within and a few notes on their points of difference.
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