Post date: Apr 30, 2012 1:16:09 PM

Yes, umm … I am still working on planet101.

I’ve also cast aside some code that I’ve been getting annoyed with for now. Namely planet generation, I still have to sort all that out, but frankly, it’s rather a large chunk of code that can be replaced over and over. So back on the TODO pile it goes.

I’ve also noted that a couple of months after a friend tweeted about my p101 facebook page, notch announced that he’d like to do something similar. Thankfully, he appears to have got stuck into writing a virtual cpu so people can code in the game. I’m not sure if this has much to do with a ‘space game like elite done correctly’. Still, it irks me somewhat. If anything, it’s got me throwing more of my time and effort into this.

Post date: Aug 24, 2011 5:4:29 PM

After getting very frustrated with my previous attempts at devising a decent framework, I went back to basics and used a pattern from the time I hacked mostly with Java, and all my game objects are now agents :)

Now I can get on with generating planets again, which are generating just nicely, thank you very much!

Post date: Jul 02, 2011 1:37:10 PM

So where am I ?

Well ignoring the collections of little tech demos that have disappeared into the mists of time, not really that far…

• A very crusty galaxy generator that was converted and heavily modified from Carl Burkes java applet (yes, it used to be on a Geocities site, so here’s another backup link to the same page).
• A whole heap of spaceship models that may or may not be used in the game.
• A developing C# game framework that sits on top of a renderer such as:

Unity 3D

Unity 3D is a fantastic game engine with lots of middleware built in. It sure beats building your own game engine + physics etc. It targets out of the box, for free, Mac and Windows (and a web-player for both), supports iOS, and Android, and even Consoles like the Wii, 360, and the PS3 - though I expect licenses for the consoles to be prohibitive!