Sorry for the lack of updates on this project! I’ve had a slew of tech problems recently, from software to hardware and it’s generally been slowing me down. I recorded a video blog, but it came out blurry, so I’ll have to try again soon!

I got the iPhone 4S last week! I really love it, I’m enjoying it much more than I realised. I was long overdue an iPhone upgrade, and getting my new project on here was pretty exciting.

Growing up, I always had mac-lust.

I always saw them as unattainable. Desirable, yet impractical. In 2000 I was in a position to need a laptop for my new job, so I chose the Apple iBook, the manly graphite coloured one which had just been released. For a year or two I was travelling often, and the iBook went everywhere with me. I would work and play on the train, and the battery lasted a healthy amount of time too. Sure, it only had 64MB of RAM and an 800×600 screen, but that didn’t slow me down.

Whilst I’ve never been mac-exclusive, I love having them as part of my life. Right now I have an iMac on my desk, and a Windows laptop, and I expect I’ll always mix it up. I still find apple products to be desirable, impractical and unattainable, but they brighten up the world and pull the market forward. I hope Apple continues to drive the market forward.

Sometimes I wish laptops still came with handles.

http://starfruitgames.com/hopping

I made a quick single level demo of this puzzle game. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

I thought of an idea for a puzzle game this morning, and I was able to do an implementation. I’m trying to decide how to design levels, as doing it manually is prone to errors, but automated systems are a bit out of my comfort zone.

It’s Saturday, so I’m mostly taking it easy and taking a break from ‘Project Bugle’. Today I’ve been playing Ico on the PS3. Ico is my favourite game of all time, for the record. However, it’s fun to play around with ideas and to get a working prototype like this going.

I’ve decided to keep a video-diary of my new project! It’s my first time doing a video like this, but hopefully these will improve with time. Let me know if there’s anything about the game, or game development in general, that you’d like me to talk about. What do you think?

I spent much of this weekend playing around with Vectors. I had a lot of fun, and I’d like to bring this together.

I’ll be sharing a journey with everyone soon!

It helps to get away from the desk sometimes. There’s a decent amount of design and planning that can be done without a computer within reach, and if the sun is shining it doesn’t hurt to get some fresh air.

Today I shared some source code for the first time.

It’s very simple, and many  people I know could write something better in a few minutes, but I know that it’s something I would have found useful in the past. I remember chatting with Eskil Steenberg about the reasons to release code, and my come away was that that it makes you a better coder. It forces you to pay greater attention to your code style and how well designed something is.  He’s in a different league to me in terms of coding, but I respect the principles.

In the past I’ve said ‘this is too simple to be worth sharing’, but often simple code is the most useful. Larger chunks of other people’s code makes me nervous, whereas often a task can be tried out with something shared, and refined later on.

Do you share your source code or write tutorials? Have you ran into positive or negative experiences having done so?

We have another Tigjam UK! It’s at CB2 Bistro as ever, and it starts today! Are you coming along?

I’m away in Portsmouth today, but I’ll be there tomorrow. See you there!