I noticed that the Zinc folks are holding a "make a game in Zinc and win some cool prizes" contest. Given that I've already got three Zinc-written games on the market (Bulldozer, Duck Tiles, and the Puzzle Pack), I figure I'll cobble together some hobbled versions and submit 'em as entries. I never really bothered to make a time or level-limited EXE version of those games, mainly because you can play the limited versions right on the site and see if you like 'em. Although I'm starting to wonder if making some level-limited EXE versions would be worth doing just so I could post 'em to the download sites.
Although I do lose control of 'em if I do that. As it stands, if I find a bug in Bulldozer, I just have to update it on the site and I'm done. If the demo version is on a hundred download sites, it's not a trivial matter to update 'em all to version 1.01.
Although I haven't gotten a bug report on Bulldozer/Duck Tiles in months, so it's unlikely that they'll see a new update unless some OS update somewheres breaks 'em.
As for what I'm reviewing, here's my current list of completed reviews. . .
Carrara Studio 5.1
Cinema 4D version 10
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
Adobe Fireworks CS3
Adobe Flash CS3
DAZ Hexagon 2.2
QSetup
The Razer headphones and earbuds (co-written with Terri Carey)
3DConnexion SpaceNavigator
I rather like that the items all get a chance to "marinade" a bit before they get posted to the site. Because that gives everything a chance for the newness to wear off. Some stuff I find myself still using after months (like the Razer headphones) while some stuff just turns out to be a worthless gimmick. I can usually smell gimmick a mile away, but sometimes I get distracted.
I think I'll review some books today. I still have a few in the queue.
Oh, and Shelly knitted a cute toy for her nephew's fourth birthday. Myself, I think it's the best toy possible. It's just irresistibly cute, but it's also really sick and twisted. Ranks up there wish GOAM's daughter's zombie bunny that her daycare pals find so disturbing.
