Andrew Wooldridge Dot Com

CoverFire - a canvas based game

2009-01-17T08:04:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year and all that. I've been so busy, you cannot imagine.
However this game seems to be pretty interesting in that it uses canvas to render the game - check it out.

MysticQuest: a Twitter-Based Fantasy Story

2008-12-12T22:46:00.000-08:00

I'm embarking on an experiment in interactive storytelling. I've started a fantasy story on Twitter called MysticQuest. It is the story of a young fairy who's embarked on the unlikely occupation of Knight. She has to go on a final quest to achieve Knighthood. The idea is to get ideas and suggestions from the net as to what might happen to her. Add MysticQuest to your Twitter and help me create something really interesting!

Idea for browser makers - persistent cache javascript libraries

2008-12-11T00:02:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get this idea out there, though I'm sure I'm not the first. Browser makers should set up a way to persistently store javascript libraries in the browser. Like jQuery, Dojo, YUI, etc. (User could add as many as they wanted) and then when the browser hits a site that references that library, it uses the downloaded version instead of the remote one - make the apps much faster to download and use...

What do you say browser makers? What do you think of this idea?

YUI 3 pr2 is out!

2008-12-10T00:12:00.001-08:00

I was just starting to understand YUI 3 with PR1 when they've gone and released PR2. It's a very exciting thing for me because I am basing a lot of my future web app development on this platform. I think it's going to compete head-to-head with biggies like jQuery, Dojo, and even Ext in many ways. Now I just gotta go read and read and read.

With app frameworks like Titanium coming out, it's even more important to become familiar with a js framework, as you will be able to use it in more and more contexts.

NextDB.net - a free database for ajax programmers

2008-12-08T00:14:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this on Programmable Web and had to think about it for a bit. This could be really revolutionary for Ajax programmers to have access to a freely available database site that can talk javascript directly. No need for your own database hosting or learning SQL. It's really intriguing.

Link Sharing, Anyone?

2008-12-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hey there. Do you have a blog about games and the web? Or about webgames? Or perhaps just a blog about cool things you find on the web? Let's talk. I'm blatantly looking for blogs, sites, etc. to exchanges links with. So, if you are interested in link-sharing, please email me at triptych@gmail.com - with subject "link sharing". I don't guarantee every request - especially if you are selling chainsaws or news about politics - but hey, let's talk!

Review: Jelly Towers

2008-12-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

In Jelly Towers you drag around geometric shapes in a mini physics-based world to create towers. The goal of this tower building is to feed a giant hydra a certain kind of block, depending on the level. The graphics are simplistic but convey the style of the game well, and the tutorial levels are very helpful in learning how to play. You'll need all the knowledge you can get because you will be faced with more and more difficult levels pretty quickly. I have to say I've not been as frustrated with a game in a long time, yet still spending time playing it. Frustrated because it takes a steady hand to get the towers to not fall over with a single swipe of your mouse, yet strangely addictive once you figure out a way to build a tower tall enough with your limited pieces.

So, if you are looking for a bit of a diversion for a half-hour or longer you should check this game out. Just prepare to want to throw your mouse at the wall a few times trying to get that block to settle just right to feed your jydra...

Itty Bitty RPG Bar update

2008-12-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

I've had a bit of a brainstorm regarding itty bitty rpg (bar) having to do with quests and how the game will be organized. I have a deadline of getting a playable game by the end of the year. Hopefully now I'll be able to reach that goal. Stay tuned!

Good Experience Flash Games

2008-12-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Good Experience has compiled a list of great freely available flash games. If you dont like wading through the morass that is web portal gaming, then look at the cream of the crop here.

Friv - flash games portal

2008-12-01T16:55:00.001-08:00

I ran across this flash game portal in my travels. It has a unique interface (flash) so give it a try if you like flash games.

Top Gaming News

2008-12-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

If you like to get your game news in one giant page as a veritable firehose of information, you'll love this page. Virtually every major news source of gaming news is on this page. If you don't bookmark this page you arent a real gamer :)
(just kidding)

Great Sound Effects for your UI's and Games

2008-12-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Soundrangers is a great site to go to when you need inexpensive sounds for your applications. Mouseover the arrows and delight in the sound effects.

Amazing Augmented Reality using Flash and Papervision

2008-12-01T10:47:00.001-08:00

What is really amazing about this is that you can download the pdf, allow the flash to read your camera, and see this demo working live on your own computer. It's like seeing the future, today!

Best Old Games - old DOS games worth trying out

2008-11-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

Thanks to DOSBOX the realm of old DOS games is reviving on new machines. Even Macs can partake now thanks to the DOSBOX folks. Give this site a view and revive old memories or make new ones.

11th Annual Independent Games Festival Entries

2008-11-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

From TigSource comes news that the entries in this years IGF are out for all to see. There are some amazing games in there. If you've missed out on the "indie" scene this year, then check out this list to get some idea where gaming is going.

3D Wolfenstein Engine with DHTML

2008-11-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Jacob Seidelin has done the world of DHTML gaming a great service and created a tutorial for building a Wolfenstein-like engine via canvas and the DOM. I fully intend to suck up this information and use it for IBRPG :)

OSX Shmups (shootem ups)

2008-11-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

From OC Remix comes a link to some Kenta Cho shootemups for OSX. So, go shoot some aliens while eating turkey on your mac!

Web MMO: 12 Tails Online - First Look at Panda

2008-11-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

12 Tails Online looks to be an amazing MMO using the Unity3D engine. I don't know yet if it will be accessible via the web plugin but since it's in Unity it should be able to run in your web browser! This looks to be a fantastic new MMO that won't require a huge initial download, as well as being runnable on Macs as well! I hope you other MMO builders learn from this and stop making windows-only clients...

Major Progress on Itty Bitty RPG (BAR)

2008-11-26T16:59:00.000-08:00

I'm finally making some headway on my Itty Bitty RPG Bar. This will be a tiny embeddable region you can add to your website to play a tiny RPG. I have made tons of progress today with the addition of a game heartbeat via setinterval, custom events via YUI3, and DATA url images.

If anyone has an idea how to get this working on Safari please send me a comment.

I have all the components now to create the game. All I need now is the logic for battles, leveling, etc.

This is going to be really fun.

What's Coming for YUI 3?

2008-11-26T16:23:00.001-08:00

Satyen Desai talks about what's coming on the horizon for YUI 3. I think this updated library is going to be a serious competitor to jQuery when it finally comes out. It has a lot of great ideas as well as some amazing features.

AVA7 Patterns | Free seamless background patterns

2008-11-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've neglected my web developer base here with all sorts of game links and stuff. So, in light of that, here's a link to a great collection of tileable desktop backgrounds. You can never have enough of links like this when building websites. And free stuff is reason the internet works. Have fun!

Tim Brown: The Powerful Link Between Creativity and Play

2008-11-25T13:53:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting video of Tim Brown talking about the connection between creativity and play.

From the site:

At the 2008 Serious Play conference, designer Tim Brown talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play -- with many examples you can try at home (and one that maybe you shouldn't).

GameQuery - jQuery plugin for games

2008-11-25T12:17:00.000-08:00

From the site:

gameQuery is a jQuery plug-in to help make javascript games easier to develop by adding some simple mechanism and commodity. It's still in a very early stage of development may change a lot in the versions to come. The project has now also a Google Code page where the svn repository of the project is hosted.

Kivi's Underworld is out!

2008-11-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned this game before but given that it's finally out I have to bring it up again. If you enjoy casual - oriented RPG's like Adventure Quest and Fate, you'll really enjoy something like this. It's a Diablo-esque game where you hack and slash your way to fame and fortune.

I just joined the affiliates list for this game, so if you feel inclined to download and try it out, you'd be helping me keep this site up and running if you went through these links:

Windows Demo
Mac Demo

Windows Full Game
Mac Full Game

Why I Hate Game Reviews...

2008-11-24T13:59:00.001-08:00

I want to start this out by saying I (used to) read many many game reviews, and I believe they serve a valuable function by guiding folks into not wasting hard earned money on games that stink, or games that aren't the kind of game for the purchaser.

That being said, I find more often than not that reading a game review poisons me to a game. I read the analysis of the poor storyline, or cheap graphics, or the history of the delays of a game and I can't help but think of those things when I sit down to play. I recall one review in particular about an RPG called Grandia Xtreme. It was rated a measly 6.5 or something like that, and the reviewer found all kinds of reasons to dislike the game.

I picked it up in a bargain basement bin at a local game store and tried it out. My expectations were pretty low and I almost didn't buy the game at all. I was suprised to find the game really fun and pretty much a perfect game for me at the time. Something I could pick up and play without alot of issues remembering what the game was about, while also providing a depth and challenge in the boss fights that kept me playing for many hours into the night longer than I had anticipated.

What bugs me is that if I had followed the reviewer's idea of a great game I would totally have missed out.

Even for games that are "highly" rated, the reviewer often feels the need to point out all the flaws, shortcomings, and issues with framerate or comment on the lack of depth in the backgrounds or something.

To me, this often has the effect of spoiling what fun you might actually gather from a game. I have yet to play more than 2 or 3 games ever that I would consider completely unworthy of my time. I believe this is partially due to the fact that I really like to explore games and find all the nooks and crannies - to get inside the head of the developers and see what they were trying to do.

I believe one of the fundamental flaws of "game review" sites are that these reviews are written by folks who basically do nothing but write reviews for a living. They are like restaurant reviewers in that they spend all their time picking apart their chosen field of interest and presenting you with the broken pieces - in the hope that you will reward their efforts by making good choices with buying games or eating food. While this is a great goal, I feel like reviewers end up being too "close" to their subject. They often feel that they need to present a balanced view of all of the aspects of a various game and have to find at least something wrong with everything they review.

To me this ends up causing me to enjoy a game less so than if I had started playing it "cold". Imagine if you worked at Pixar and spent your time every day working on the tiny nitty gritty details of a movie. How then can you enjoy watching a movie yourself? You end up spotting flaws here and there or say things like "I could have made that better" or "they cut corners there" in the movie. You never get to enjoy the movie for the "storytelling" aspect. You can never "suspend disbelief" long enough to have fun!

I get that same feeling when I play a game that I've read several reviews about. I end up disengaging from the game and start analyzing the flaws in the English translation, or stare at the improper 3D clipping of the character on a stairwell.

So, the solution for me has been to cut back on reading game reviews. I wish there was a site that has game reviews from just average players who take joy in having fun with a game, as opposed to hard core game reviewers who have to meet a deadline. This has been kinda hard because when you close off that avenue of information, you run the risk of buying a game that is a real stinker. But, in a way, I've found that to be kinda fun. Instead of having someone give me a handful of reasons why I should dislike this game, I get to find out for myself.

Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre

2008-11-24T13:28:00.001-08:00

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/Web20StorytellingEmergenc/47444?time=1227555832

From the site:

A story has a beginning, a middle, and a cleanly wrapped-up
ending. Whether told around a campfire, read from a book, or played on
a DVD, a story goes from point A to B and then C. It follows a
trajectory, a Freytag Pyramid—perhaps the line of a human life or the
stages of the hero's journey. A story is told by one person or by a
creative team to an audience that is usually quiet, even receptive. Or
at least that’s what a story used to be, and that’s how a story used to
be told. Today, with digital networks and social media, this pattern is
changing. Stories now are open-ended, branching, hyperlinked,
cross-media, participatory, exploratory, and unpredictable. And they
are told in new ways: Web 2.0 storytelling picks up these new types of
stories and runs with them, accelerating the pace of creation and
participation while revealing new directions for narratives to flow.

The Futures of Entertainment

2008-11-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Game Girl Advance talks about the "Futures of Entertainment" which boil down to a few ideas that seem to be transforming the gaming landscape. I believe the person or persons who really tap into these ideas is going to have a real "killer app" for the web.

Games as "Experience Grenades"

2008-11-23T19:11:00.000-08:00

Jane McGonigal talks about how these new kinds of games (specifically ARGS) act as delayed 'bombs' of information and transformative energy. I have yet to actually play an ARG, and while I can understand how this might happen in a sort of headology type way, I wonder how such things manifest themselves.

I have played a few games of Werewolf at the office, and I have to say I'm hooked. If there are any groups of gamers that play games like this around the Bay Area Peninsula - lemme know how to join up...

Night of the Cephalopods

2008-11-23T10:02:00.000-08:00

From Indiegames comes a link to an interesting short game that experiments with a dynamic narrative during gameplay. You play a hapless guy out in the forest fighting floating squidlike things while the narrator guides you along. Try out the video to get a sense of how things work.

Starving for email...

2008-11-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

I've noticed a drop offage of email in the past few months. Are my posts not email-worthy? Do you have cool web/game news that you'd like to share? Email me! I want to make this more than just a one way street - I want to be part of a conversation, not just a broadcast.

If you dig this site, please let me know! Anything you'd like to see different, or more of, or less of - let me know!

It's so great to hear from people who run across your blog and find something they didn't know of before. It's kinda what I do this for. Drop me an email if you visit more than once in a decade or so :)

Square Enix competing with BigFish?

2008-11-22T15:35:00.001-08:00

Looks like Square Enix is getting into the downloadable games market. I wonder how hardcore or casual these games will be leaning? Look at the WiiWare games and how successful they are...

Z-War - DTHML Zombie Game

2008-11-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

While I couldnt get this to work on Firefox because of some glitch with preloading sounds, I was able to see it working in safari. It reminds me of Dink Smallwood, only with zombies. Very cool!

MMOHub

2008-11-22T00:51:00.000-08:00

I wish there were more web-based mmo's - instead of these supermassive 300MB+ downloadable games. Especially since I'm on a Mac and for some reason most MMO developers have completely ignored the Mac when it comes to having a client for their game. Fortunately this is changing slowly.

If you want to keep up with the MMO scene and perhaps catch word of a new game that strikes your fancy - give this site a go.

Sharendipity - create and share your own games!

2008-11-20T21:50:00.000-08:00

From the site:

Sharendipity's vision is to democratize software development tools. Beginning with casual games, Sharendipity empowers non-programmers and programmers to create interactive software applications, much like the spreadsheet empowered businesspeople to perform their own financial analysis. Sharendipity then offers a distribution platform and transaction-based marketplace for this user-generated content.

Play Conference: Coverage of the Games Panel

2008-11-20T21:43:00.000-08:00

Bret on Social Games has posted about a recent panel from the Play Conference. Also check out his post on the Virtual Goods Summit.

GameGum - flash games

2008-11-18T23:22:00.001-08:00

There are many, many flash portals out there. Probably more than hairs on my head :)
However, this one has an interesting twist in that anyone can submit a flash game and have it show up in the portal right away. Good games get good reviews and rise to the top. It's kinda like digg for flash games...

SpringPad - specialized online notepads

2008-11-18T22:43:00.000-08:00

While I wonder if this idea will get cloned or bought out by a company like Evernote, its kinda cool. You can create special "pads" around a particular task you are doing and the site makes it very easy to keep track of what you are working on, or friends you want to watch, etc.

Free CSS Book when you follow them on Twitter

2008-11-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

From the site:

One of our best-selling CSS books of all time, The Art & Science of CSS (valued at $29.95), is FREE to download for two weeks. All you need to do to grab a free copy of this awesome CSS book is follow @sitepointdotcom on Twitter. We’re calling it a Twitaway—a Twitter giveaway!

New Web Based MMO from BigFish soon!

2008-11-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

If you read this article: http://nabeel.typepad.com/brinking/2007/11/big-fish-games.html
and this one: http://thinglefin.com/2008/11/12/long-overdue-update/
and put 2 and 2 together you'll realize there's a major new MMO coming out from BigFish soon.

iPhone Developer Strikes it Rich

2008-11-18T20:56:00.001-08:00

I don't know whether to be encouraged or discouraged by this article. In one way I see that it's possible to make money doing iPhone games. In another way I dispair of ever having the success of this person , who's not even trying that hard.

*sigh*

New Term? Flashual gaming

2008-11-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

I ran across a friend at work refer to flash games that show up on portals that cater to casual gamers as "flashual" games. It sounds like "casual" only with the fl sound at the beginning. Interesting subgenre perhaps?

Incredibots

2008-11-17T01:08:00.000-08:00

If you like to build things and play with physics, you'll get alot out of this game. Be sure to go through the tutorials or you'll be totally lost...

Smith and Tinker

2008-11-17T00:22:00.000-08:00

I'm just a bit behind the times when it comes to ARG's. Alternate Reality Games for you fellow clueless folks. I have yet to participate (knowingly) in one yet, and I'm still at a loss to really explain what it's all about, and why you should really dig it and find out more about it yourself. However, I have it on good authority that this site is one to check out regarding this genre of game. Here's a few other links. Here, and here.

So, the next time you chat with a stranger online, you never know if he or she might be a fictional character who's goal in life is to suck you in and get you involved in an ARG.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around this stuff - perhaps there is some kind reader who might help me with clue-gettage?

Zombie Shooter Review at GameTunnel

2008-11-16T21:51:00.000-08:00

I have a special place in my heart for shooters like this. You basically start out as a puny human with a handgun. Your task is to destroy football fields full of monsters, zombies and other creatures. In this particular game you are beset by zombies out for your life as usually. The formula never gets old. Check out the excellent review at GameTunnel.

--
Note: Watch out for the toolbar that might get installed when you install the game. Make sure you really want another toolbar in your IE and/or Firefox browser.

Business and Games Blog

2008-11-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

One aspect of developing games is a practical one. You need to pay your bills and perhaps even have enough to take your wife out to dinner every once and awhile. This blog is about advertising, games, and how they might mix.

Playyoo

2008-11-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

It's not often you find something unique in your web travels, but I seem to have a knack for finding really cool game related sites. This one allows you to play and create mobile games. It's actually kinda cool because you can try out all the games in your browser as well. I havent tried the creation aspect yet, but it seems intriquing.

Mini Review: Tarnation (flash game)

2008-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Tarnation is a flash game by Brad Merritt that makes a very interesting derivative of the "Tower Defense" genre. You have a field of undifferentiated "seeds". Depending on how you drag your select box, it creates "bullets" of a certain color. You have to match the color of the enemy with the color you create. This is interesting in that you cannot just select your whole field to attack a certain color. This is another of those "simple, yet cannot put down" kinda games.

Game Idea: The Tapestry

2008-11-15T08:58:00.001-08:00

I get so many ideas that I am in constant mourning over the loss of them over time. I don't want this idea to die, so perhaps blogging about it might strike a chord with someone else who would like to help me make it a reality.

Imagine a game which has 3 different aspects. The first aspect is a "tapestry" it's the storyline of a fantasy "novel". You have landscapes, characters, conflicts, romance, etc. This is the basic level of the game, displayed somewhat like an unfolding tapestry.

At a level above this you have a grid containing the main characters of the game - laid out somewhat like a tactical RPG. However this grid is not of a traditional landscape. Instead it's a landscape of relationships and conflicts. Say you had Brad the warrior and Helga the princess as characters. If you wanted them to become romantically involved, you would move them close to one another on the grid along the "personal relationship" axes.

This positioning of characters on the grid would be the way the generative storyline of the first level is created. The game engine looks at the relationships of all the characters as well as their positioning and uses that to "generate" the story.

There is a problem however. There is an antagonistic force which seeks to turn the story into a dark direction where the bad guy wins and everyone suffers. Plus that "enemy" seeks to make his bad characters move into romantic relationships with your main characters and "corrupt" them.

Moving along the grid is not a simple matter. There is a 3rd level to this game which involves managing resources such as turns, etc as well as battles you have to have in order to "unlock" areas of the grid, break bad relationships, or otherwise position characters and elements on the grid in a strategic fashion.

It seems like this could be a fascinating game. You play mini-games and battles to unlock abilities and grid areas. This in turn allows you to position your characters in a favorable fashion. You then watch the "tapestry" unfold of a fairy-tale story that works out good or bad depending on your actions. You might even be able to "save" the story and play it back later.

I wonder if such a game might be possible - or even practical.

So, interwebs. If there is someone out there who reads this who may find something interesting and compelling about it, please contact me. I'm hoping to find a way to make "the tapestry" a reality.

Itty Bitty RPG update

2008-11-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

I seem to have a habit of jumping from one project to another, which makes for a frustrating time of it I have to say. For me the greatest challenge is "closing the deal" - meaning getting something beyond a quick 30min demo. My latest attempt is working on a new version of Itty Bitty RPG. The idea is to try to distill an RPG down to it's component parts and make that a small web - based game you can embed anywhere. Let's see how it works out.

GameCake : Host your Indie Game

2008-11-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

It appears that the creator of GWLog (http://www.gamingw.net/) is back and running a new site called GameCake. It appears to be a portal-style site where you can upload and host your indie game projects. It is always a pain to have to try to find a place to upload your executables, and this site seems to want to scratch that itch. We'll see how the content goes, but it's a nice site to keep in your list, especially due to the site's creator's pedigree.

U.S.G ~ A New Beginning - Cool Indie Game Shmup

2008-11-14T23:21:00.000-08:00

The production quality of this game is pretty high seeing that it's an indie shootemup with a storyline you'd see from many saturday morning cartoons. That being said, this game kinda grows on you as you play it - especially with the snappy character interactions.

RPG Battle Systems: Game Design 101

2008-11-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

Since I'm working on a simple RPG I've been poking around looking at various engines and systems for game mechanics ideas. This article talks a bit about RPG's and what makes a good and interesting one. Worth a read!

Great Flash Game: RoboKill

2008-11-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

Grab your mouse and get your arrow key fingers ready for a highly polished 2d shooter called RoboKill. The production values are high and the addiction will be as well as you move through levels blasting robots and collecting $ to upgrade your robot. Sounds simplistic and boring but this game gets it right on the smoothness and gameplay.

Games as Happiness Engines - Jane McGonigal Keynote

2008-11-12T01:15:00.000-08:00

I've probably blogged about this in the past, but it bears repeating. If you are in any sort of game design field - or even if you just build web pages like me - then this is a great speech to read. It's going to play a huge role in the future of our society.

From the talk:

That’s the thing I want to spend time talking about - happiness is the new capital. If you want someone to value your service, eperience, you need to explicitly generate a positive experience for them. Happiness doesn’t mean what it used to - some people do define it as a warm fuzzy thing still, but I’m hear to say that it’s not a warm puppy, although I have a picture of my puppy coming up in 20 slides, so we will extract some, but this warm fuzziness is not what I want to talk about. I’ve been researching this for a while, so the 4 key principles that have come out of all of this peer reviewed research:

1. satisfying work to do
2. the experience of being good at something
3. time spent with people we like
4. the chance to be a part of something bigger

Whirled is out!

2008-11-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Whirled is a 2d game world where you can create your own "space". You have a room, pets, etc and can play flash based games to get money to buy more stuff. You can also create items which you can sell in the marketplace. It's very trippy and chaotic,but also quite fun!

The Brainy Gamer

2008-11-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

As one grows and matures they expand their horizons from simple diversions to more sophisticated ones. The Brainy Gamer is a perfect site for folks who are ready to move beyond just enjoying a game, and perhaps pondering a bit more of the things behind games, as well as reading about interesting aspects of gaming. Certainly a must-bookmark.

Roger Caillois' Patterns of Play

2008-11-10T12:31:00.000-08:00

From the site:

In his 1958 book Les Jeux et Les Hommes (usually translated as Man, Play and Games), the noted sociologist and intellectual Roger Caillois introduced a terminology for considering patterns in games. He used the term 'game' in a very wide manner, applying it to all play activities. This is a partial consequence of his native language, French, where the term 'jeux' and 'jouer' express the concepts of both play and game in English.

PyroGine 2d Game Engine

2008-11-09T10:49:00.001-08:00

From the site:

PyroGine™ SDK is and advanced 2D game application framework for PC's running Microsoft Windows, Direct3D with 3D hardware. It is made with and usable from the Delphi programming language by CodeGear. PGSDK is feature complete and can easily create any type of 2D game with D3D for rendering. It was designed to be easy to use, robust and feature rich and should be easy to use in your projects. It is suitable for making 2D games and graphic simulations. There is a complete set of classes which give you a solid foundation and you can then can build on top of this layer to any level of complexity that is required for your project.

The SDK includes support for surfaces, textures, sprites, audio, streams, archives, INI files, configuration variables, render targets, swap chains, scripting and much more. In addition to a low-level procedural access (supporting all 32bit versions of Delphi and possibly other languages), there exist a robust high level framework that includes classes such as TPyroObject, TPyroObjectList, TPyroActor, TPyroActorList, TPyroEntity and TPyroGame and more to give you a rich high level support to make it very easy to get started with your projects in an object oriented way.

Ambient Software

2008-11-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

From the site:

There’s now an opportunity for software like these examples to develop into something we think of more like music, as an ambient addition to personal experiences. Most software requires you to be actively up to your elbows in it, fully engaged without leaving space to do much of anything else at the same time. Contrast this with the affordances that music permits.

Why your RPG is Disappointing (Editorial)

2008-11-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

Cinemablend has a commentary about some common issues in modern role playing games. I find myself agreeing with many of them, and wondering how I might construct a game that avoids those pitfalls.

The 14th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition results

2008-11-05T08:30:00.000-08:00

Interactive fiction has always been somewhat of a esoteric yet ultimately rewarding crossover of literature and gaming. There has yet to be a real "killer app" for IF, but if IF had a spokesperson, that person would be Emily Short. Go download some worlds and help judge this year's competition.

Make 3D Games without (much) programming.. DIM3

2008-11-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

DIM3 is like having a game engine already created for you and all you have to do is provide the "content". Like many game engines that allow you to "mod" them to create new levels and such, only this doesnt have an existing game to start with (though there are demo levels).

What you'll find nice about this game is it's accessibility. You can get into coding your game quickly, and it smartly uses javascript - one of the most well-known scripting languages - for it's scripting aspects.

My only beef about this engine is that it looks about 8 years old. You can create some really fun games, but no matter what you do it'll look like it was made for the Quake/Duke Nukem crowd of games. However, since dim3 is completely open source there's no excuse for some enterprising folks to come in and beef up the engine.

So, you can't beat free, and the game engine and editor are so accessible that you'll find yourself playing around with it just to try things out. For some reason the post I made about this game a year or so ago is still popular, so I decided it's time to dust off the link and send it around again. If you missed it last time, you should definitely give it a try this time around.

A better day yesterday...

2008-11-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I had what I might categorize as one of the worst days in a long time. Basically something bad was going to happen and I had no control over it even though I saw it coming. However at the last moment the help I needed came and disaster was averted. Yesterday was a much better day - sunshine, family, and less stress. Thanks for your comments! Knowing that I'm not just posting links to the wind makes me have a renewed sense of purpose about this blog :)

The Lab - my new blog for experiments..

2008-11-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

I'm creating a separate blog just for code experiments and such. I plan on using that as a test bed for interesting javascript and dom scripting stuff. Not much there right now. Perhaps there will be something new and interesting this week.

Amazing new web mmo 12TailsOnline (uses Unity3D engine)

2008-11-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

If this game comes to the US it'll be amazing. It looks like a console style rpg done using the Unity3D engine. This means it could show up in a browser as well!

Here are some more videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BigBugStudio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI3ndWSNfNQ&feature=related

Makes my toes curl!

Having a really really really really really bad day today

2008-11-03T19:10:00.001-08:00

Just had to get that off my chest. I'm having a really rotten terrible no - good stinking crappy day. Life sucks and sucks hard.

FreeMMOGamer - free multiplayer games directory

2008-11-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Every so often I run into a link that really is in line with my main interest of games that meet the web and vice-versa. This site features free to play games of all kinds, with a focus of course on MMO's. If you enjoy web-based games you'll find tons to like here.

OMG! AdventureQuest Worlds! AQ meets MMO!

2008-11-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

This comes as a suprise to me but a very pleasant one. Imagine taking the traditional game Adventure Quest (more like DragonFable) and mixing it up with World of Warcraft style quests and adventures. As a fan of Adventure Quest for years, this is very good news! The graphics are cartoony without being kiddish and the gameplay is simple enough to leave in a browser tab, yet interesting enough to keep you engaged for quite some time. You should definitely check this out.

Domain of Heroes -my kind of rpg!

2008-10-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

I have often looked for an RPG that is "pick up and play" while offering more than just killing monsters and collecting treasure. I've played many games like the great Adventure Quest and RuneQuest as well as Fate and other games of the same genre. One web game that is pretty fun is Legend of the Green Dragon, but it is unfortunately too shallow in terms of role playing. (Its basically a fighting game with fantasy elements).

However tonight I got a message in my inbox about a game called Domain of Heroes. It looks like a combination of Legend of the Green Dragon and more of a traditional role playing game. To me it's perfect. Something that I can just jump in and play while offering more than just random monsters to kill.

They seem to be making use of Ajax in a prudent way, while not overwhelming you with stats and stuff. While I could stand to have more in the way of graphics and atmosphere, they certainly rise above your standard webgame in terms of images and storyline.

All in all, if you like games like DnD Tiny Adventures on Facebook, or Adventure Quest, then you'll really dig this game. I'm only the barest level one character, but I'm already having a great time.

Changes soon

2008-10-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

I'm recommitting time and energy to this blog - time to create something truly interesting :)

Flash Game: Towering Forever

2008-10-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting take on the tower defense genre: You are a hero defending a magical tree against waves of machines in a side - scrolling shootemup. Pretty cool!

Indie Game Reviews at Indigo Static

2008-10-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

From Tales of the Rampant Coyote comes news of a site that presents a detailed review of his game. While that review itself is interesting, I wanted to post about the site itself, as it looks to be a destination point for upcoming indie game reviews. If you are an insatiable indie gamer like me, you'll enjoy the reads. Also check out the sites pointed to from there such as Game Design Reviews.

indie rpg: the griffin legend

2008-10-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

From the site:

500 years after the Griffon-Dragon war, the Dragons have
returned to reclaim their empire. Cities are falling,
everyone is dieing, and the lone Griffon Knight Fayne is
caught up in the middle of it all.

-----------------
If you enjoy old school rpgs you'll find lots to like here.

FantasyStory: Help Create a WebComic via Twitter!

2008-10-18T00:19:00.001-07:00

As an experiment in socially created storytelling and art, this twitter account allows you to view a continuing fantasy story and help give suggestions to the artist as to the direction the story should go. A very interesting idea! I wonder who came up with it (*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*)

Go follow fantasystory on twitter and start posting ideas to the artist!

Love: A Generative MMO

2008-10-17T23:21:00.001-07:00

Check out a recently posted video of Love, a generative MMO created by a one-man team. It's quite amazing and inspirational perhaps to some other world building folks out there?

New Forum for Atmosphir Developers

2008-10-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

If you are into building worlds, playing platformers, or just enjoying a fun new way to be creative then you'll really like Atmosphir. If you have managed to get into the beta and want to discuss the finer points of developing levels in Atmosphir, then come to this Yahoo Group and share with other developers!

Caster : Music meets Magic in this Indie Game

2008-10-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

Gametunnel finds many interesting new games, and this is no exception. Caster is a fast action 3rd person shooter. Check out the videos.

New Casual RPG - Kivi's Underworld

2008-10-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of games like Fate or Diablo, and are pressed for playtime (I know I am) you may find this to be the perfect game for you.

It's in beta right now, but go download it and help the developer out with feedback.

Thanks to Rampant Coyote for the link!

Create Cool Sound Effects on Your Mac: CFXR

2008-10-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

CFXR is a mac port of SFXR which is an amazingly cool retro game sound generator. Before now, only PC folks would be able to play with this tool. Now you mac folks can also partake. Download the app, and click on "random" repeatedly to find something you like (or any of the other buttons) - perfect for indie game developers.

ThemeForest - marketplace for webdevs

2008-10-08T00:54:00.001-07:00

As a web developer, I know that there will be many opportunities to build sites for folks probably till I'm too old to type :) However sometimes freelancers have trouble making ends meet between clients. Sites like this are very cool in that you could spend some webdev time creating a cool theme or template and allow that work to pay off almost like writing a book and getting royalties. So, check it out and consider it a possible place to sell your latest wordpress or joomla theme.

Note: I have a referral tag in the link above. Hope you dont mind or think this post is just some bid for some driblet of money. I believe sites like this are essential to help freelance webdevs show off their work as well as helping out other folks build great looking sites quickly.

Academagia - indie adventure

2008-10-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

This game hasn't been released yet, as far as I know, but it looks like a mixture of Travian and Hogwarts. You choose each day what your character will do in a magical academy and play along with tons of other folks. Looks like it'll be a great game.

Mystic Mine: M. C. Escher meets Miner 2049'er

2008-10-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

This game is not released yet, but the gameplay looks really interesting. You pilot a mine car through levels picking up gems. You always go 'down' but are still able to go to any part of the level through a trick of perspective. Looks really interesting!

Easter Eggs at Minor Studios (creators of Atmosphir)

2008-10-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Minor Studios, the creator of Atmosphir seem to have a great sense of play. I was clicking around on the site and noticed that if you click on the letters of their logo you get easter egg like effects. I particularly liked the letter "s". I am really liking the Atmosphir application though I am chafing at the small number of blocks and items. Sure you can be creative and do lots of things, but I want to recreate Zelda :)

Tumbledrop - further evidence of Unity 3D's future dominance :)

2008-10-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

This is a fun little game that directs you to save a little star on a tiny island. Figuring out the right sequence of blocks to remove is actually pretty fun in a casual lunch break sort of way. I love that this was done in Unity3D -- makes me want to go out and build something like it.

23 Javascript Fractals

2008-10-02T09:35:00.001-07:00

More reasons to love javascript this morning. The folks at Nihilogic (js gods without a doubt) released an application to explore fractals. It's amazing and a hopeful sign for more intensive javascript apps in the future.

How to create fantasy worlds

2008-10-02T01:59:00.000-07:00

Alot of game creation owes its inspiration to writing. This is a great little article about how to go about creating your own fantasy world setting. Great read.

How javascript is taking over the world

2008-10-01T00:55:00.001-07:00

I'm not the only person who believes javascript is really taking off as a language. The folks at Aptana seem to think so as well and with the combined influence of faster javascript engines and software like Jaxer - we are going to see more and more javascript - based apps.

Now if someone could give me a javascript - based compiler for windows and mac I'd be in heaven.

Top Draw - js meets procedural images

2008-09-29T22:35:00.001-07:00

Javascript is taking off as a language. I mentioned this before. This is the Era of Javascript, and it's just beginning.

Check out the cool images and create some of your own!

Amazing Away 3d Flash demo

2008-09-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

The Railway Express is a great way to feature the Away3D engine. It also reminds my why I enjoy 3D games to begin with - the sense of exploration. I wish someone would create a game that not only was all about exploration and discovery, but allowed itself to be constantly updated with new worlds from the net. Hrm.

Amazing Unity 3D demo

2008-09-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, I told you Unity3D is going to be big. This appears to be a single room demo of a concept, however the fact that the Unity engine is capable of this in a web plugin is just amazing. If you want the context of this level, check out the forums.

Create Physical Objects from just your ideas...

2008-09-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

The Fabbing revolution has taken a major step forward today. The 3D making site Ponoko has released a new feature that allows you to create 3D objects just by drawing line drawings and uploading a photograph. The possibilities for this are mind blowing.

Interactive Storytelling with Pixels : StoryTeller

2008-09-24T02:42:00.001-07:00

This is a very interesting idea - you have a 3 act story which you can influence by just dragging the characters around. It makes me want to create something like this in dhtml.

Moving from MMO to Web ...

2008-09-24T02:17:00.000-07:00

Great article about how MMO's and online games are taking lessons from web apps, and vice-versa. The trend continues. Interesting reading.

YUI3 as gateway to next-gen Dom Scripting Apps

2008-09-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

YUI3 is such a departure from YUI2 that I'm being force to relearn my javascript fundimentals, as you will as well. Baked into YUI3 seems to be concepts that will be taking javascript to a new level as a development language. Based on the collective brains of the javascript superstars inside Yahoo! this revision of the language looks like a combination of old YUI, jQuery, and lots of mojo from Douglas Crockford. Just try to wrap your brain around the basic stuff here such as Merge, Augment, Custom Events, and dynamic library loading. To me it's like finding a flying saucer with the flying instructions still inside. I just know it's going to take me amazing places.. if I can just figure out how the darn thing works!

Even if you are not a YUI fan of the past, I think you are going to take a second look at YUI3 when it leaves Alpha state - if just to learn how a truly next-gen javascript library does magical things to the DOM.

The Era of Javascript

2008-09-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's certainly taken a long enough time for this language to come into its own, but I believe that this year will mark the time that javascript grew up and became a powerful, serious platform for developing applications. From Air to Android to iPhone to Unity - javascript is everywhere and there's never been a better time to be a web developer. I have more ideas than time but if I can harness just 1% of the possibilities I see now then I'm sure others are going to do amazing things. Mark my words. Move over Ajax - here comes full fledged Javascript Apps.

Writing more often

2008-09-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping to get into the habit of writing here again more often. With things like twitter siphoning away what little energy I have to post, I think perhaps it's better to write things that have a bit more longevity and substance for a change. With that in mind I'd like to offer a bit of advice for would-be writers (of which I consider myself a member as well).

I've found two really great free applications to help you in your writing endeavors:

Adobe Buzzword and
Evernote

Buzzword is an excellent word processor that can follow you anywhere you go (as long as you are online) and has great collaboration and sharing features.
Evernote is my online grab all notebook for ideas, snippets of story thoughts, and more. It's the place to put all your junk before you get it all organized in nice little columns.

Both of these apps are free to use and I cannot recommend them highly enough - if you are a writer of any sort - be it blogging, stories, etc etc you should check out both web apps.

My only wish was that there was a fullscreen mode for Buzzword on Mac...

Adobe AIR Textmate bundle

2008-09-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

If you work with Adobe Air and have Textmate, you probably already know about this bundle. However if you don't, then I encourage you to check it out.

More evidence of a coming revolution in web games

2008-09-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Google Chrome will be a fast, efficient browser. It'll also be an excellent platform for building web applications, which is what I think Google is "really" getting at. Browsing pages is something most browsers can to easily. I think Google Chrome is going to be for building Web Apps. And this is good for Browser Based Games as well.

The Coming Revolution in Web Gaming

2008-08-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Every so often I run across a series of sites, news items, and other things that lead me to some conclusions about the web. I've had similar feelings about RSS before it was popular, blogging, podcasting, and other things. The feeling I'm getting now is about web games. Not just flash -- that technology is trucking right along. I mean given ultra-fast javascript in modern browsers with canvas and SVG support - we may finally get to see web-based games really take off. Not just boring lists of tabular information, and crappy graphics, but polished games with animation, sound, and interaction that competes with the likes of Flash, Silverlight, and other plugins.

There are several things holding this back a bit, however. Such things as lack of a good sound/music player built into the browser , spotty support for SVG and canvas in IE, and lack of a unified way to display downloadable fonts.

However I do see web gaming approaching someday soon a tipping point where it can compete with Flash type games -- all it needs are some great tools, great libraries, and better browser support.

Mogulus - personal videocasting

2008-08-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

Every so often I run across something so amazing I just have to blog about it as soon as I find it. You've probably not heard about Mogulus, but after about 10 minutes of poking around you'll be as amazed as I. You are given the tools to create a full fledged television station. Complete with live video, video on demand, playlists, prerecorded clips, clips from youtube, podcasts, and more! I dont know how or why these folks are doing this, but its truly an amazing site. If you have even a passing interest in having your own video channel, then you have to check out Mogulus.