Category: General

Those who read my blog regularly, will know that I’ve been developing Flash applications using haXe. It’s been very rewarding.

Each programming language and API has a certain way that it wants you to write code. There are many different ways to approach problems and implement systems, and it’s much easier when you are working with the language/API rather than against it.

Learning a new language/API may sound very technical, but it feels very human to me. Another person (or people) designed the system and learning about it means learning about them. Every detail of the system communicates aspects of their motivations, experiences, and personalities.

Sometimes it’s clear that the system was designed to solve a specific problem. You can usually date when the system was developed, because it reflects what was feasable (on computer hardware) or fashionable (in programming circles) at the time. It’s also pretty easy to see when one developer left and another took over.

Many systems are effectively clear summaries of accumulated knowledge from decades of prior research and development, or years of consistent implementation. If you’re very lucky, you witness an intellectual epiphany embedded right there in the system design. It’s a great thing to share in.

I’m just recently started to form a good understanding of haXe and Flash (9+) and I greatly respect the many authors, designers, and contributors of both.

I came across Headspin Storybook via this Rock Paper Shotgun post.

It’s gorgeous and charming, and had me similing almost immediately. After a little while I was enamoured and I could feel my eyes involuntarily widening.

Here’s a screenshot of the game (from their website):

I was reminded that a simple concept combined with complementary art and music can really make a game (and that flash is a great accessible platform).

We decided to put something a little more meaningful on the main OneTwenty website and also created a logo for our planet.

Here’s a screengrab of the new homepage:

Thanks to Jim for all the html and css work.

In related news, moonmoon is easy to administer (no cron required), looks nice, properly handles embedded videos, and is very easy to theme.

Any PIGMI members out there think Planet PIGMI should make the switch? 😉

omg! it’s just like teh internats, lol:

via videosift.com

Predictable, but on the mark.

I was going to write something about how “Internet culture” is incredibly immature, low-brow, and homophobic. Then I figured that it’s just a plain reflection of the personalities of the people on the Internet (or at least how they act when online).

Group mentality goes to a whole new level when you engage millions of people. Not a new thing mind you: that’s “culture” right? It just happens so quickly online. Internet “memes” can emerge overnight, but IRL “trends” are marked as seasonal, annual, or by decades.

(Hmmm… there are probably too many quotation marks in this post.)

Simon (of gamejam.org fame), Minh (OneTwenty Events Organiser), and I met the other day to work out how to coordinate some social events around the upcoming GameJam (and into the future).

We went over some feedback from the most recent OneTwenty event and we decided on the following:

• Community events will take place after work hours on the last Tuesday of every month (this seems to be the frequency that people want)
• The next event (April 28) will be to introduce GameJam and get some teams together (so it will be somewhere a little quieter than a pub)
• The one after (May 26) will be a GameJam wrap-up and community awards event (Simon likes to call them “achievements”)

Hopefully, the next event will be much like the 2006 Nullarbor Mixer at ECU. We had a great BBQ, a lot of new people came along, and small development teams were formed right then and there in the computer labs. 🙂

I’ll be restoring the OneTwenty Events website tomorrow, and we’ll put event details up as soon as we finalise venues, sponsors, and times.

Update: The next event will be at eCentral TAFE, and it (and future events in general) will be organised as part of the Let’s Make Games initiative. So we won’t be restoring the old OneTwenty Events website. Look for more details over at Let’s Make Games.

The Indie Games Scene Showcase and Mixer went even better than we had hoped. Thanks to everyone who came along, and a huge thanks to Minh (OneTwenty Event Organiser) for making it all happen!

There was a great crowd:

There were great games:

There was Great Success:

At the end of this week, we will be announcing details of the next event. After talking to a lot of people last night, we feel that running events on a monthly basis is the right sort of frequency (so we’ll aim for that!).

This advertisement won The Linux Foundation‘s recent video contest:

It’s well done and definitely the most suitable entry for a general audience.

I felt that the other entries were targetted more at people who are already using Linux (who know the jargon and the in-jokes).

Just a reminder that the (Perth) Indie Games Scene Showcase and Mixer is on tonight! (7:30pm at The Velvet Lounge in Mount Lawley.)

A few people have inquired about the format for the evening. There will be table-space for local game developers to demonstrate their work. Aside from that, it will be a fairly casual event for good conversations over food and drinks.

There will be brief announcements at 8:00pm to formally kick things off (after people have had a little while to setup), and again at 9:30pm to start winding things down.

Hope to see you there!

Inspired by Chris’ minimalist platformer, I made a minimalist flash game.

I mostly wrote it to learn Haxe (it was my first real Haxe program after “Hello World“), but I quite like it:

I’m drawn to the concept of games that only last a few seconds, are something that you might share with other people, but not anything that you can enjoy repeatedly… kinda like witty comments or lame jokes.

This game is a one-trick pony that gets old immediately. Is that a bad thing?

I just found out about Xtranormal via Rockethands‘ (rather detailed) Vision Statement video. It’s pretty crazy awesome!

I made this video using their neat in-browser creation tool:

The technology has a fair way to go, but it really feels like a precursor to the way that movies will be made (or at least prototyped) in future.

It’s an excellent example of technology empowering individual creative efforts!

Update: I decided to make a series of videos! Here’s part two:

Update: Hmmm… couldn’t stop. Episode 3 is available now as well. Check out my Xtranormal profile page.

Update: Looks like viewing at Xtranormal doesn’t work unless you have an account. I might just export to YouTube. For now, I’ll embed videos here. Here’s Episode 3: