Tadaima

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.

Wumpus

So, I am writing a demo game as part of a challenge.

1 Week, in an API I am not familiar with in a language I don't know. Interesting I admit but stressful too.

Anyway, I have finished up the tutorial so I think I have an idea of how the system works. A nice block diagram or UML would have been good, but I think I am getting it. Very 'automagic' oriented,.. a bit like gendef + netsprites from our system but with more crack. But anyway.....

So now I am at the stage where I have to make an actual minigame.
I had several ideas for what to do. I tend to have that problem, there are so many games I would love to have the time (and art skills) to write. Unfortunately many of them get pretty complicated pretty quick and are not all that easy to simplify into a 'you have a couple days to learn and code' type project.

I thought of various smaller ones... a turn based artillery game came to mind (since that is a simplified case of one of the other games) but even that felt like a bit much. While it would be fun to throw together a quick physics engine that would be one more thing to worry about.

So what about Wumpus world? Ok, it's been done to death, there is no real originality or creativity. But it is a well understood problem (thus I can focus on the things I don't understand like the API). I also have a bit of a soft spot for the game given all that time spent solving it in college ^_^.

And thus my evil plan.