Cybernetic Pit-Stop

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Escape! Alpha 1.0 Release
08/26/2010

I'll try to make this post quick, but I've completed the initial version of Escape! I talked about in my previous post. I'm calling it an Alpha 1.0 release and a 'Tech Demonstration'. See the previous note for additional information, but basically I'm posting it on sourceforge (see the links page) and going to let it sit for a few months because I'll be at school. I'm HOPING it isn't a stagnant few months though as I am asking that people who download the demo also contact me to provide feedback and suggestions. You can contact me through here or you can see the CONTACT file included with the download package.

An Ending and a Beginning
06/30/2010

First thing's first. I finished the second of my three year graduate program this past May and have been getting back into my 'summer coding groove' that I've been in the past few summers. I actually had some free time during the semester (which was extremely rare and likely won't happen again next year) and finished up the Presidents game I had made. In addition to my desire to learn and practice programming, I am committed to the idea of the Open Source community. It is for that reason that I decided to post the educational game on Sourceforge to make available to the community at large. In addition to the source version (and there is finally homemade makefiles for CMAKE, so yes you can compile it now) there are also Win32, Linux32, and Linux64 binaries available. I can't even begin to describe how excited I became to see up to 11 people downloading this something from nothingness I had created! (Ok, so it is a bit corny but remember that this is my first time submitting something like this :-p) Anyway, I've been keeping an eye on it just to see how it was received and, as I expected, I did not get much more than the 11 downloads per week average (I'm currently about 2 and, by the time someone reads this, that'll probably go down to null). That having been said, I got an e-mail that, at first, I almost deleted because it was from Softpedia and looked like some spam that had made its way through. Something about it, however, called out to me and I opened the letter up anyway. Turns out that someone at Softpedia came across the post on Sourceforge and tested it themselves! The letter was to inform me that it met their quality standards for non-malicious code and was spyware/malware free (which I could have told you, but I was simply beaming at the recognition!) Thanks guys! That seriously made my day. Hell, it made my year! So bottom line is that I've now added the Softpedia 100% CLEAN gif at the bottom of this site to commemorate that. Please note that, as of this writing, it ONLY is there to recognize President Matchup (the new name, as 'Presidents' was already taken at Sourceforge). I've also since submitted the game for review at Happy Penguin to add to their archives as well, so keep your eyes open there too, and you might see it spread around a bit :-) As for the beginning: I know that I already mentioned that I had started on a game 'Escape!' and I just wanted to update that I've been getting some serious work done on that as well. I'm still very much in alpha stages, but I'm at the point where I'm implementing the plot system (so there can be an order to things now!) My goal for the summer is to complete an alpha demo of the game which will have basic functionality and enough of a simple plot to allow people to test the game out. I'm not considering it 'beta' yet because there are many things I know need to be changed (both code-wise and concept-wise). By this I mean that I'm not sure if things like the control scheme, or the way the player interfaces with bad guys, or bad guys with the player, etc... will be do-able (this is my basic concept, but how can I make it better, basically). That is what the demo is supposed to demonstrate and allow people to test out. When I release it (hopefully mid to late summer) I want to ask that people try it out and let me know what they think. Comments/questions/criticisms are crucially important to me right now and any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Latest Devolved Code
11/30/-0001

It came to my attention that I had not put up my most recent version of Devolved (what used to be - and is still sometimes referred to as - Life RPG). Anyway, the code has - at the time of this writing - collected about a years worth of dust, but I wanted to make sure it was available online (which I thought I had). Since Eclipse manages it's own makefiles (and configure scripts are therefore not needed) the download does not have a configure script included - I'd recommend using Eclipse as well and just letting that program handle all the dirty work. If that is not an option - or you prefer another IDE, then there is a makefile located in the Debug/ directory. To build: cd Debug/ make cd .. Debug/Devolved I did test this on my system (albeit briefly) and it did work, but if there are any problems please let me know. When I get back into this project full swing, again (and make it to beta) I'll worry about a more extensible 'configure' script and makefile. Check the 'Archives' page for the download.

This title is called: I'm Tangential!
11/30/-0001

I thought I had updated this more recently than I had, so there've been a few things that I should confess; here's the story: First off, I found that (around the time of the last post, actually) I was slowly gaining interest in a more 'direct' video game implementation (focus on a game vs an engine). In effect, my interest in Devolved (the new title for Life RPG) waned enough that I made an executive decision to put it in temporary haitus to allow me to work on another project for fun. At the same time I got my hands on a copy of 'Accelerated C++' which, if you are ever interested, is an EXTREMELY impressive intermediary C++ book. Anyway, my waning interest in Devolved and my exposure to this new book inspired some work on 'Escape!'. The premise and details of which I'll leave for when it is closer to be released (suffice to say, I've found that my intentions for it are strikingly similar to a DSiWare game that recently game out: 'Escape, Go!' - whose title is not lost to me) I worked on this project throughout the middle part of last year but, by the end of the summer, school was immenent and I had to put that on hole for the semester - as I need to focus more on my studies. This brings me to the holidays, where I acquired another book: 'Essential C++' (not even half as good as 'Accelerated', but still a good read. As I only had a few weeks off between semesters I decided to give this book a read and, to implement some refreshed ideas, work on ANOTHER new project: 'Presidents'. This wasn't so much a 'fun, really want others to play this' game so much as a means of practicing some techniques I had learned. Presidents is a simple game, where the player matches the various US presidents to their term. There are several game modes (including matching presidents with vice presidents and individuals with their political parties) but, as with my other projects, this game is not yet completed. UNlike the other games, however, it almost is. If I have any spare time during the semester (unlikely, but possible), I'll try to finish it up and post source/binaries on this site. I'm currently looking at some design stuff with Escape! and will likely get back to that after Presidents. So sorry if you've been reading this, but that's the details to this point. Just so that I don't COMPLETELY disappear, let me point out that my semester ends in May, so unless I get work done on Presidents before that, it is very likely I will not have the chance to do more work/updating before May 2010. As I've mentioned before, questions/comments/complaints can be sent to me via e-mail (check the 'about me' for details).

Bad... REALLY bad...
11/30/-0001

Ok, so I finished the semester about a week ago and I'm intentionally procrastinating on Life RPG for a little bit. I plan on going back to it soon, though, but in the meantime I've become a bit interested in another (intended to be small) game. More details on this if anything comes of it. Meanwhile, sourceforge is currently having nominations for projects this year. I don't expect to get many (any) votes for Life RPG, but I'd love to get some! (I voted for it under 'Best New Project' - TOTALLY better than the rest!) Anyway, the little icon below the XHTML validation icon will take you to the voting page. VOTE FOR ME!!! {please}