Ok, back to work.
Since consulting did not really pan out (I guess one needs to be more social then I am in order to make the connected needed to find work), yet I still have a craving for projects, I've decided I am going to take a long overdue new shot at some hobbyist work.
For a while I played around with writing some apps for EVE, specifically a python app that could read in both market dumps and the EVE database, plus a set of blueprints, then produce charts concerning total costs and total profits. It was fun, but rather limited.
I also wrote an app that you could scan through the database and find system that met certain criteria. For instance, find a system with stations, L4 agent, and no good refining.
But this was rather limited, so after playing some Farm Town on Facebook, I started thinking about Flash games. I've always wanted to try out this (ok, no longer 'emerging') technology but never got around to it.
So now I am exploring how this stuff works. The first thing I need to figure out is what tech to focus on. There are a whole bunch of techs used for doing stuff like this. Flex, Java, Silverlight, and AJAX.
Flex is well supported, and there are lots of 3rd party sites out there that host the files. Newgrounds, Albinoblacksheep, etc. It would also be something very new for me to learn.
Java I already know, but I am not sure how to handle hosting. It is also a pretty heavy technology and support seems to vary. While it would be the most 'comfortable' technology from a language perspective, I am not sure how comfortable I would be with it for actually writing something for other people to play.
Silverlight is still too Microsoft specific.
AJAX sounds like a cool idea, but it is a mix of techologies and I am not sure what the barrier to entry to would be.
There is also the question of server support. I would start with single player games, but I really like the idea of working on a multiplayer game (duh). I keep dreaming of making something in the veign of tradewars ^_^
Of course the scary part is, whatever I do, I will eventually need art. I need to learn computer art. Blark.
At the moment, I am leaning towards Flex due it having a low barrier to entry and cross platform support. This may change as I explore how it actually works.
