Blogs by topic: Games
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GUI
In my last blog I’ve introduced JavaFX 2.0 beta, describing an initial port of JavaFX Balls, also in beta stage at that time. Now I finally finish JavaFX Balls 3.
Look ma, no design!
I don’t pretend to be a designer, and the consequence is that when I make a mashup of animation, video and web, that’s the result. Get the source code here.
I’ve added new layers of content...
I've finished the development of my Game of Life, with a couple final fixes and new features... including a solution to the bad performance reported before. Once again the work has uncovered some surprises; read on.
JavaFX 1.3, codename SoMa, was released at long last on April 22 - after some delays (originally due November 2009) and feature cuts (the new Prism toolkit has shipped but in EA status). In this blog I will explore the performance improvements of JavaFX's graphics stack, including Prism. Just take a cup of coffee to ride this blog - it's long, seven miles.
You think that with Unicode
™ the stone age is over and your Java software will print even egyptic hieroglyphs? Dream on!
Programming
After a long hiatus the Timing Project is moving forward again.
I developed my first implementation of the Reversi game on BASIC 20 years ago. Since then, I ported it on each programming language I studied: Turbo Pascal with graphics library and Turbo Vision, C with the Windows API, C++ with the ClanLib, Java AWT applet, and Swing application with Java2D. Now I am ready to publish yet another implementation, on JavaFX Script.
javafx({
name: "Reversy",...
Accessibility
The www.abelski.com web site offers free (for personal and academic usage) courses about various topics in software development. The site focuses on Java technologies.
Mobility
Ian Bogost's recent article Flash is Not a Right highlights some new aspects of the debate about Apple's iPhoneOS development restrictions. I have a different opinion.
Games
To supplement the posts about the triangular and square tilings, let's consider the third type - the hexagonal tiling. This is my favorite one. Each hexagon has more non-diagonal neighbors than a square. It simplifies calculating distance between two tiles. The main disadvantage of this tiling is that the axes are not orthogonal.
Recall from the previous post there are only three regular polygons that can be used as tiles. Let's have a look at triangles now. Such tiles are practically not used in games because there is no direct path on the map and the game unit should be turned at each tile. Besides, it is rather hard to place units within acute corners because a lot of free space is wasted.
Many games use graphical maps based on iterative tiles. There are only three regular polygons that can be used as tiles: triangles, squares, and hexagons. Consider the square tiling first. Such tiles are most often used in games because of their ease of processing. Sometimes game developers enable diagonal movement, however, this feature makes calculating distance between two tiles more complicated.
Check out a fun zembly game for Facebook and MySpace users.
My weekend of casual searching produced no reliable information. I still don't know whether any of the shipping Playstations, X-Boxes, or Wii systems contain a JRE.
My younger brother and I decided to try and make a viral video game. The sort of game that can suck hours away from your life. The type of game that passes the boring times at work. The type of game that normally seems to be coded in Flash.... Here we'll document how successful Java seemed to be in making this game.
Happy coding to everybody in the new year.
Keynote: Spontaneous Brilliance, by Kat Koppett
Kat described aspects of improv, and how it can be used to create an environment where brilliance emerges.
The first rule - celebrating failure. "Exercise the courage muscle - our willingness to be creative and take risks. We don't do it by creating a safe environment, we do it by creating an incredibly risky environment." "Celebrate failure and...
I know I said "day 3 of 4", but I actually need to add a couple more things about day 2.
In addition to his keynote speech, Bernie DeKoven was recognized for his contributions with the Ifill-Reynolds Award, which NASAGA bestows on someone each year.
In the evening activity of day 2, I joined the group playing STARPOWER, a simulation by Garry Shirts. This game has you split into three groups...
NASAGA - the North American Simulation and Games Association - is a group consisting mostly of trainers and facilitators who use games and simulations in their training.
They're having their conference in Vancouver BC this week - and it's lovely here. (The only problem is - the conference has been so busy I've only been outside 2 hours.)
A lot of the fun at a conference is reviving old...
Java is about to arrive on Blu-ray. Suddenly home brew content might be back in vogue again. I had a wasted childhood. How are these things related?
