Managed World

Well, I think I might be officially addicted to Roguelike RPGs (thanks Chris!). What finally put my over the edge? GearHead. That's what. I don't think I realized just how much can be done with just ASCII art. The source code is also available for this bad boy. One thing that I love about it by just glancing at it? There's a bunch of data files that use a custom scripting language (a "Domain Specific Language" if I were up to using buzz words) to describe the elements of the game. Sweet.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this is going to consume all my time this weekend when I'm not working on my own game. Damn it, Chris!! Why did you have to do this to me? :P

[Update: Interesting. I just noticed that Gearhead is actually written in Pascal. Sweet.]

Well, since no other of my cohorts have blogged about it yet (minus Jason Mauer of course), I wanted to let everyone else know that the initial Portland Code Camp website is up and running. There is little information on it as of currently because we are still in the planning stage. But there is a way to register if you wish to go (it's free of charge and is on the weekend (so hopefully you won't have to miss any work)).

Portland Code Camp

The website will be filled in a lot more in the coming days and weeks hopefully.

P.S. I especially love how Jason M. took the top-level of domain for the country of Montserrat and adapted it for a "Microsoft" top-level domain. Clever Jason M. ;) I'm not sure I would have done the same myself (is Microsoft in the business of taking over foreign governments now ?), but to each his own :).

While Chris is at it, I thought I would post that I'm also a member of the IGDA. Unlike others though, I'm in it for the chicks. And I'm not talking about women, I'm talking about the baby ducks. Yeah, Baby, Yeah!!!!

 You know, I find myself fascinated by software architecture. I love looking at how other people have approached the problem of designing a game engine. Unfortunately, that usually involves reverse-engineering a bunch of source code. If any of you out there (meaning my handful of subscribers) are like me, you might want to look at the reference for the NeoEngine here.

I have absolutely no idea HOW I came across this, but I'm glad I did. Do you know of any API references out there that you would like to share? They don't have to be "top-notch," I'm just intrigued by any of these kinds of references. The way I look at it is that it's always a good thing to try to look at topics you're familiar with in a different light.

Enjoy!

Will you be there? I know I will.

From what I know, my buddy Chris Williams (of Heroic Adventure fame, of course (if you've never heard of Heroic Adventure, wonder on over and give it a try, especially if you're feeling a little nastalgic)) will be there. So far, I've heard of a couple of others that will also be there, like ZMan and David Weller.

If you're going to be there, drop me a line and perhaps we can meet up for drinks sometime. One thing is for sure, it's going to be a blast. 

Testing a code snippit:

public void Test() { // do something here }