Framework Hacking

I really like the look of the WorldWeaver project site. I want to make RM -RF / look similar. The vertical node navigation is cool (And a sort of rip off of Blank Linux :) ), I would like to expand its functionality. It's a basic generic layout, but it looks so nice.

I'm thinking about doing a WordPress install onto Byethost, and hacking it to look like WorldWeaver. But it's been a while and the navigation, in particular, will be fairly complicated in its visual behavior. The site would have an ever growing amount of links the menu needs to handle, without showing very many at once. I have some ideas, they involve a bit of logic and animation etc. So if I do this, I will definitely learn a lot.

Java Is Speechless

I can't believe how annoying it is to simply play a .wav in Java. - At least all the solutions I've encountered so.far. I know I should be using something better for game development like c++ or even c#. And I AM interested in tackling c++ but I like Java's portability and I actually like the language. This may be just due to familiarity.

At any rate, until I know c++ well enough to translate WorldWeaver over, Java it is. So I need to find a way to play sounds repeatedly, and rapidly, without all sounds dropping after a while. I keep encounter bad format errors after playing sounds for roughly 20 seconds or so.I believe the error is due to the file being in use. What's weird is, at least in The Swarm, If I try to donit in a class or method, the error occurs. But if I do the same code, duplicated everywhere I play the sounds the error does not occur. - but what a nightmare of redundant code.

Currently I'm using AudioInputStreams, and Clips. There must be a way to define the AudioInputStream and keep it open, resetting it to the start to replay it. So far I haven't uncovered how, if at all, to do this.

2D Engine

Ugh I'm totally stuck. The NetSplit intfiction game I started a bit ago has become a bore. It was so promising, but now I feel like I'm just defining a boring city with uninteresting shops in it. It has become - not so cyberpunk. So I think I need to step away for a bit.

So amid writing Unity scripts, I'm thinking about trying my hand at a 2D game engine. To test it I'll probably make a horror rpg, kinda Zelda-ish.
I'm being meticulous about commenting etc and using javadoc. I'm trying to keep a mindset that I'm coding for an open source project. And ultimately that may be the engine's fate. Or it'll end up never finished. We'll see.

No matter what it'll be a learning exercise.

Simple Site

After watching Dorian Dot Slash's review of BlankOn Linux, and its gorgeous installation interface, I decided to mimic its style for the World Weaver website. So far I have the site laid out and looking how I want it. The content is minimal and not very visual, but I can improve it constantly over time. I think it has been one of the smoothest sites to code I've done yet. It came together effortlessly, in spite of my not doing HTML in over a year or so.

BlankOn Linux

WorldWeaver

If You've Got It Use It

The other night I tried running The Swarm. It no longer works. It throws an error reading the assets files. I decided to fix it... Then I saw my source code. Wow. I had NO idea what I was doing at the time. My bytecode files are jumbled in with my source files. At the time I didn't know how to build jar files and I was stuck on the idea of having only the jar, no other related files necessary. Now I am perfectly fine with files external to the jar file. This would allow users to be able to customize assets or config settings.

On the other hand,y lack of knowledge resulted in an accident that ended up being the game's unique angle, and became the very heart of The Swarm. Sadly in my rebuilding of The Swarm, my improved movement and pursuit code is too effective. The enemy ships actually come at the player without overshooting and hyper accelerating. So now the game is too easy. The enemies zig zagging across the screen made the original version extremely challenging.

In light of this I think I'll have to make the rewrite a totally different game. In the meantime I'll fix the original.

Remember Shadows?

Man I remember way back in the day... Windows 2000, marveling at the mouse pointer. It had a shadow! It was the most amazing thing. Items near it were still visible but they were cloaked in a little, smooth gradient shadow. The mouse pointer was hovering above the other items on the desktop.

Remember being amazed at the little details? New OS versions would come out and the biggest question was what would it look like? The glossy plastic of Vista (It looked an awful lot like Beryl on Linux prior to Vista's release *ahem*).

I still notice and enjoy the little things. The cool flat Doh's UI. Sadly my love minimalism robs me of most of the fun. I typically turn off any panels or shortcut bars, launchers etc. Plain color backgrounds and nothing but basic window decorations. So when I install new distros efc I miss out on any new flashy GUI elements.

But it still feels so good running a freshly built machine!