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Southlake, TX
Imparting game development wisdom of dubious quality a ridiculously long time.
August 06, 2006
Thanks to Pouya who, in the course of playing my standalone games (available here for only ten bucks, which is the best gaming value on the planet) discovered what may possibly be the crowning achievement in Shi Sen bastard-hood, board 489220.
As you can see, I appear to have taken a good start in t…
As you can see, I appear to have taken a good start in t…
August 03, 2006
Sorry about the delay. Maggie's summer-school let out last Friday, so we now have two weeks of full-time-at-home-kiddo. Shelly's had some "drop everything" projects going on, so I've been Mister Mom for the past few days.
Thus far things have gone fine. She joined up with two summer reading clubs at…
Thus far things have gone fine. She joined up with two summer reading clubs at…
July 29, 2006
Okay, first the cheapness. I found a dandy little XML editor that's small (one 500k EXE file and no installer) and cheap (free). I played with other XML editors before, and I honestly didn't understand why something as intrinsically simple as XML would require some kind of giant obnoxious editor th…
July 28, 2006
Thanks for the info on the whole 'keep me logged in' thing. It pretty-much confirmed my suspicions about how that whole checkbox worked. What I'll be storing as a 'keep me logged in' will be the user's user number (which never changes) and a double-hash of the username and password.
Gotta go with a …
Gotta go with a …
July 27, 2006
Okay, I know I can probably get a longwinded answer if I look elsewhere, but my question for today is. . .
How can any kind of reasonable security and the 'keep me logged in on this computer' checkbox be compatible?
You've seen it everywhere, but let's take gamedev as an example. You create your acco…
How can any kind of reasonable security and the 'keep me logged in on this computer' checkbox be compatible?
You've seen it everywhere, but let's take gamedev as an example. You create your acco…
July 26, 2006
Awright, it looks like the back-end for The Code Zone's account machine is now up-n-running. Give it a try and lemme know if you see anything that doesn't look right.
http://www.thecodezone.com/accountman.php
You can now create an account, make changes to it, and retrieve your password. Thus far, thi…
http://www.thecodezone.com/accountman.php
You can now create an account, make changes to it, and retrieve your password. Thus far, thi…
July 26, 2006
Dang, I feel like it's 1998 all over again. That was the heady time when internet startups were getting tons of VC cash and were immediately handing it off to consumers in an attempt to "leverage brand loyalty" or "manage synergy" or some other marketspeak that reduces to "bribe people into liking …
July 24, 2006
huh huh, I said "moron organization", huh huh.
I got all of one comment about how the site will ultimately be organized. It was from Shelly, and she said that the site's actually pretty easy to navigate and that I shouldn't fret over making the site more complicated with a couple of new panels. I ju…
I got all of one comment about how the site will ultimately be organized. It was from Shelly, and she said that the site's actually pretty easy to navigate and that I shouldn't fret over making the site more complicated with a couple of new panels. I ju…
July 21, 2006
Oh how to organize things here.
You see, one of the things that's next on the docket for the games is to add some kind of real account registration to the site. There are a few reasons to do this, but it all really boils down to "there are about a half-dozen cool things I'm planning down the road, a…
You see, one of the things that's next on the docket for the games is to add some kind of real account registration to the site. There are a few reasons to do this, but it all really boils down to "there are about a half-dozen cool things I'm planning down the road, a…
July 20, 2006
Just as a lark, I added microsummaries to the games. A microsummary is a very short piece of descriptive text that can be added to a bookmark to make its text change dynamically. It's something new with Firefox, and it'll be interesting to see if it catches on.
Needless to say, it's poorly documente…
Needless to say, it's poorly documente…
July 20, 2006
Awright, back to cheap stuff.
First good bit of cheapness is fifty bucks free from Chase.
1. Go here.
2. When you get your coupon in email, print it and take it to your local Chase branch and open a free account.
It did take a little finagle-ing, as I had to explain to 'em that being self-employed and …
First good bit of cheapness is fifty bucks free from Chase.
1. Go here.
2. When you get your coupon in email, print it and take it to your local Chase branch and open a free account.
It did take a little finagle-ing, as I had to explain to 'em that being self-employed and …
July 19, 2006
Ahh yes, it's now part 103 of "The HTML minutae minute", chronicling little bits of HTML that appear nowhere in books that claim to be the "definitive guide" to HTML but apparently are well short of that.
This time it's what to do to make your table bits appear in the right place. In the past, you w…
This time it's what to do to make your table bits appear in the right place. In the past, you w…
July 18, 2006
Just a note that you can now not only read an article from my wife on engineering ethics, but you can take a quiz on the article and get yourself a continuing education credit!
http://www.ceejpublishing.com/Articles/0019.htm
Okay, here's the story. A few years ago the professional engineering registr…
http://www.ceejpublishing.com/Articles/0019.htm
Okay, here's the story. A few years ago the professional engineering registr…
July 15, 2006
I'm proud to announce my latest technological advance here. You heard it first!
I's called the HD-LIT. It's a new higher definition way to read. Before you dismiss this technology as simply being a book printed on smoother pages with a higher-definition printer, thus making the print sharper, there …
I's called the HD-LIT. It's a new higher definition way to read. Before you dismiss this technology as simply being a book printed on smoother pages with a higher-definition printer, thus making the print sharper, there …
July 14, 2006
I noticed that Radio Shack got themselves a real CEO last week. And just outta curiosity, I did a google search for Radio Shack's former CEO, the one who got fired in disgrace a couple of months ago when it was revealed that his resume was about as factually accurate as The Cat In The Hat. Doing a …
July 13, 2006
Remember the scene in The Great Escape where they were making their last-minute preparations for the big 200+ person escape when suddenly the unexpected happens? The allies attack and they sound an air raid. The potential escapers are about to panic when they realize an air-raid will force the pris…
July 13, 2006
In the next two months, I was under the impression that there were two game-related conferences that were happening in Texas.
Austin Game Conference on September 6-8.
Flashforward Austin on September 11-14.
Well it turns out that one was sneaking in right under my nose.
Texas Independent Game Conferenc…
Austin Game Conference on September 6-8.
Flashforward Austin on September 11-14.
Well it turns out that one was sneaking in right under my nose.
Texas Independent Game Conferenc…
July 11, 2006
Made a few changes to the daily puzzles in anticipation of "going live" with the commercial versions. Biggest change is that that big opening PAUSED box that you see with the existing games will be replaced with an ad gently ushering you to get the commercial version.
I'm really rather curious to se…
I'm really rather curious to se…
July 08, 2006
Two good things that I haven't mentioned before. . .
1. Axialis IconWorkshop. Honestly, it's really the only icon editor you'll ever need. It can edit and create pretty-much every icon format in existence, including the new enormous alpha-blended XP and OS X icons. The painting tools are top-notch, …
1. Axialis IconWorkshop. Honestly, it's really the only icon editor you'll ever need. It can edit and create pretty-much every icon format in existence, including the new enormous alpha-blended XP and OS X icons. The painting tools are top-notch, …
July 06, 2006
Well, I'm about at the point where I need to start advertising things, so I took out a few hours to make some playable banner ads. I made four little ads that I intend to put here and there when I get the opportunity (i.e. gamedev needs to reimburse me a few bucks that I haven't invoiced, so I'm ho…
July 02, 2006
I've gotten to do something in my six daily puzzles that I haven't really done in my previous games (with a couple of exceptions). And that it, playtest them extensively. I've played all six games maybe five times a week (I'm "Flyman" in the high score tables and I stunk up the place yesterday, not…
June 30, 2006
I got Flash 9 going on the Mac Mini. Apart from a weird Java error message, and some random crashes and a complete lack of help files and the fact that the Flash IDE is almost unusable on a 1024x768 screen, it seems to be working.
The new-n-fancy ActionScript 3, however, is gonna require some code-c…
The new-n-fancy ActionScript 3, however, is gonna require some code-c…
June 29, 2006
The standalone games are basically done. I'm letting 'em marinade for a couple more days to see if any new bugs bubble up. If not, I'm gonna release 'em to the wild.
I probably ought to start making a couple of banner ads to put on the daily puzzle pages gently ushering people to the "buy some games…
I probably ought to start making a couple of banner ads to put on the daily puzzle pages gently ushering people to the "buy some games…
June 27, 2006
A couple of days ago, you mentioned that you had some cross-platform code that gets the friendly data-storage path, calling SHGetSpecialFolderPath on Windows and its equivalent on Mac.
If you could save me some work and get it to me, either by pasting it as a comment or emailing it to john@thecodezo…
If you could save me some work and get it to me, either by pasting it as a comment or emailing it to john@thecodezo…
June 27, 2006
Took a break from Asimov a while back, although I have been reading his Atom : Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos with my morning mini-wheats. His science books work well in small doses, so that's become a bit of a morning ritual.
Most recent series I read was the Parable of the Sower and Parable o…
Most recent series I read was the Parable of the Sower and Parable o…
June 25, 2006
Movies I have never been able to watch all the way through, despite having tried more than once.
1. Catwoman.
2. Pluto Nash.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean.
I did make it all the way through "Batman Begins" despite desperately wanting to change the channel during the "car chase on rooftops" sequence.
edit:…
1. Catwoman.
2. Pluto Nash.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean.
I did make it all the way through "Batman Begins" despite desperately wanting to change the channel during the "car chase on rooftops" sequence.
edit:…
June 24, 2006
Well, I ended up getting the $600 Intel Mac over at our local Apple store. I got that over the $450 G4 for a few reasons. . .
1. The $600 Intel Mac has a CD burner. The G4 with the burner was $550, which really is too close to make the savings worthwhile. I don't know if I'll ever do any burning on …
1. The $600 Intel Mac has a CD burner. The G4 with the burner was $550, which really is too close to make the savings worthwhile. I don't know if I'll ever do any burning on …
June 23, 2006
I mentioned a few entries ago about getting a Mac so that I could port my games. I looked at older machines (like those blue ones with the hideous bulgy cases) because they're pretty cheap now and they still run OSX. Only problem is that once you've got the memory and drive updated to modern standa…
June 22, 2006
I just did a pretty extensive update to the look-n-feel of The Code Zone web page in anticipation of putting up new games. Specifically.
- I re-did the menus and tables to take up less vertical space.
- I added a 2-level menu based on the old Macromedia.com menus. Now that Adobe's changed it to the old s…
June 21, 2006
- Finish standalone games (basically done except for more beta testing)
- Update storefront to accomodate standalone games
- Finish Duck Tiles (basically done except for more beta testing)
- Finish new Bulldozer (needs more levels and music)
- Update existing six games to accomodate a new login/password system. …
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