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April 15, 2007
My left hand is become an orb of pure, immobile agony. The digits move only in short, tortured lurches, as if gasping for the last gulps of life. My right hand no longer obeys the commands of my mind, but moves only in vaguely rhythmic vertical twitchings.
I am occasionally seized by an uncontrollab…
I am occasionally seized by an uncontrollab…
April 15, 2007
I've discovered an interesting truth about creating a programming language: you won't have enough motivation to do it right, unless you already have a program you want to write in that language. It doesn't matter how stupid the program is; if you don't have a problem to solve, the language won't go…
April 03, 2007
There was a time when I was vaguely concerned that investing in the 360 would ultimately prove to be a mistake. I think I believed that somehow I wouldn't play it often enough or get much enjoyment out of it.
This fear has been stomped on and viciously maimed in a two-prong attack that involves so m…
This fear has been stomped on and viciously maimed in a two-prong attack that involves so m…
April 02, 2007
I've talked before about how hard it is to relate my job experience to other people.
It's pretty common for people, upon hearing that I work in game development, to react along the lines of "wow, cool! What a great job!" And this is a difficult problem: they are both right and wrong.
I say "I make vi…
It's pretty common for people, upon hearing that I work in game development, to react along the lines of "wow, cool! What a great job!" And this is a difficult problem: they are both right and wrong.
I say "I make vi…
April 01, 2007
So I had a few beers last night, and decided to write a raytracer. The last one I did was a huge amount of fun, and despite it eating up three years of my life and turning into one of my most annoying failures, I still have fond memories of the project.
I keep getting ideas for stuff I'd like to try…
I keep getting ideas for stuff I'd like to try…
March 27, 2007
This is a story.
It doesn't have any guns, explosions, or crazy futuristic technology. There is no romance, no beautiful woman to be saved at the end, and no vague but stirring innuendo. There is no deep, insightful commentary on humanity or any of the goings-on of human beings.
There is, however, an…
It doesn't have any guns, explosions, or crazy futuristic technology. There is no romance, no beautiful woman to be saved at the end, and no vague but stirring innuendo. There is no deep, insightful commentary on humanity or any of the goings-on of human beings.
There is, however, an…
March 24, 2007
So, hands up: who likes to think of themselves as stupid?
Pause for crickets and tumbleweed...
Huh. Apparently, feeling dumb is not particularly popular. Who would have guessed?
Let's try a little experiment. I want you to imagine that you and I are in the same room, discussing something. You've just …
Pause for crickets and tumbleweed...
Huh. Apparently, feeling dumb is not particularly popular. Who would have guessed?
Let's try a little experiment. I want you to imagine that you and I are in the same room, discussing something. You've just …
March 22, 2007
Watch this video. Right now.
This is the most honest, brutally true-to-life, and transparent glimpse into the realities of the game development world that I've ever seen.
There's a vague sense of deja vu for me, watching this. The intense crunch pre-E3; the tense, half-pissed off meetings where every…
This is the most honest, brutally true-to-life, and transparent glimpse into the realities of the game development world that I've ever seen.
There's a vague sense of deja vu for me, watching this. The intense crunch pre-E3; the tense, half-pissed off meetings where every…
March 17, 2007
I have descended to the darkest depths of bachelor geekhood: I just stayed up all night on a Friday night, and my breakfast consists of Taco Bell Fire Sauce packets squeezed onto stale Fritos Scoops, because I haven't had a chance to go grocery shopping yet this week.
Rahh.
Rahh.
March 14, 2007
I was over in a thread and got all introspective and thinky and such. So I'm going to empty my brain before I go back to work.
I don't tell people what I do - at least, not if I can help it. Whenever I meet people, the conversation goes something like this:
I don't tell people what I do - at least, not if I can help it. Whenever I meet people, the conversation goes something like this:
Them: So... what do you do?
Me: Menial compu…
February 19, 2007
In an uncharacteristic spate of motivation, I've mucked around a bit on the TKC project and ended up with a site mockup. Oooh, XHTML strict, CSS prettiness, blah blah blah.
The client is downright functional now, tracking clicks, keystrokes, wheel scrolls, and mouse cursor distance travelled (in kil…
The client is downright functional now, tracking clicks, keystrokes, wheel scrolls, and mouse cursor distance travelled (in kil…
February 16, 2007
After a spirited night of impassioned Wii bowling hackery, we have made the following discoveries:
- Contrary to popular Internet bullshit lies from the evil terrists, it is fully possible to control both the direction and amount of spin on the ball. Several variables are involved, the most notable be…
February 01, 2007
Gregory slouched over the railing, idly listening for the lapping of the water against the hull, in the darkness below.
The Hyperion had been a good ship, but her days were over. In the morning, the salvage crew would arrive and finish the long process of disassembly that age had begun. All the pape…
The Hyperion had been a good ship, but her days were over. In the morning, the salvage crew would arrive and finish the long process of disassembly that age had begun. All the pape…
January 30, 2007
Every now and then I spend a few spare minutes on a major programming forum participating in various discussions and helping with some questions. I've been idle there quite a bit lately, mostly due to having my energy and attention focused elsewhere, but once upon a time I put a fair bit of effort …
January 29, 2007
There's something I've been trying to get around to doing for quite a while now - long enough that the time span is now measured in years and I can't quite remember the chain of events that got me to my current situation.
Specifically, I want to get around to revitalizing the Tiny KeyCounter project…
Specifically, I want to get around to revitalizing the Tiny KeyCounter project…
January 15, 2007
Here's a little hack I cooked up for VS2005 that lets you do all kinds of fun things. The hack follows a little later, so if you're the impatient sort, you can skip my dreadfully boring account of how I came to need such a hack in the first place.
A Little Background History
One of the pernicious pro…
A Little Background History
One of the pernicious pro…
January 09, 2007
It's now 2007. The Internet has been around for many, many years now, and has been a popular fixture of the common man's life for over a decade.
So why do highly eminent tech leaders like Microsoft still produce crap content on the web? Why do we continue to make idiotic, bone-headed site designs as…
So why do highly eminent tech leaders like Microsoft still produce crap content on the web? Why do we continue to make idiotic, bone-headed site designs as…
December 28, 2006
My game development company could totally beat up your game development company.
I mean, seriously. Take a look at this shot, from Star Trek: Legacy, a relatively new, as in released-in-2006 game.
Got it? Good. Now take a look at this shot.
That second one is from X: Beyond the Frontier.
BTF was releas…
I mean, seriously. Take a look at this shot, from Star Trek: Legacy, a relatively new, as in released-in-2006 game.
Got it? Good. Now take a look at this shot.
That second one is from X: Beyond the Frontier.
BTF was releas…
December 11, 2006
A certain somebody once said that code doesn't rust. In the six years after that remark, many people have rushed to defend this perspective, and many others have torn it to shreds.
Today, I'd like to add my own noise to the furor, not with any real hope of improving the situation, but mostly just as…
Today, I'd like to add my own noise to the furor, not with any real hope of improving the situation, but mostly just as…
December 01, 2006
This is kind of random and pretty intensely morbid, so if you're here for some game-related stuff, sorry - check back next time.
There's a reason why I bring this up, but the details aren't important. What's important to me at the moment is setting the record straight.
Suicide is a touchy subject. Th…
There's a reason why I bring this up, but the details aren't important. What's important to me at the moment is setting the record straight.
Suicide is a touchy subject. Th…
November 26, 2006
I decided to break out of my hefeweizen rut tonight and give a stab at something darker (the steak just seemed to call for a darker beer). I asked the waiter for his recommendation and he came back with a Grimbergen Optimo Bruno.
I didn't realize until later, when looking it up on Ye Olde Interwebe,…
I didn't realize until later, when looking it up on Ye Olde Interwebe,…
November 24, 2006
How It All Started
Games burned themselves permanently into my imagination at an early age. It started with classics like Zappa Roids and chunky, solid-color-blocks imitations of Pac Man. The Kroz series factored in heavily; the blunt and simple yet evocative ASCII graphics held a fascinating charm.…
Games burned themselves permanently into my imagination at an early age. It started with classics like Zappa Roids and chunky, solid-color-blocks imitations of Pac Man. The Kroz series factored in heavily; the blunt and simple yet evocative ASCII graphics held a fascinating charm.…
November 10, 2006
News Flash: Programmers and Managers Don't Get Along Perfectly
Pull up your favorite aggregator of programming and software-project content, and do a quick survey: what percentage of recent articles are in some way about bad managers, dealing with management, how to appease your developers, how to s…
Pull up your favorite aggregator of programming and software-project content, and do a quick survey: what percentage of recent articles are in some way about bad managers, dealing with management, how to appease your developers, how to s…
November 07, 2006
Technology prototyping... time to develop: less than 24 hours.
Simulation population: 50,000 naive agents.
Simulation tick size: 1 second.
Simulation ticks executed: 5,000.
Total time elapsed: 33.7 seconds.
Estimated tick simulation time (per 50k agents): 7 milliseconds.
As the office jukebox currently s…
Simulation population: 50,000 naive agents.
Simulation tick size: 1 second.
Simulation ticks executed: 5,000.
Total time elapsed: 33.7 seconds.
Estimated tick simulation time (per 50k agents): 7 milliseconds.
As the office jukebox currently s…
October 31, 2006
This is going to be long, pointless, largely sappy, and generally totally not in keeping with the culturally established stereotypes of how a red-blooded "man" is meant to act. So if you have a problem with that, just click Back right now and get the hell out.
I don't really know why I'm posting thi…
I don't really know why I'm posting thi…
October 27, 2006
I believe that searching is a hard problem. Although today the term "Google" is virtually synonymous with search, we still tend to obscure and ignore the real difficulties of information retrieval. In fact, Ask Jeeves has recently been exploiting some of this for marketing purposes, although they h…
October 18, 2006
Today I took delivery of my first proper pipe, a half-bent billiard by Tsuge. I just returned from giving it its inaugural smoke; I used JJ Fox's "The Banker's" blend for the leaf.
The pipe itself smokes like a dream, with an easy light and satisfyingly even and thorough burn. There was virtually no…
The pipe itself smokes like a dream, with an easy light and satisfyingly even and thorough burn. There was virtually no…
October 11, 2006
Being a game programmer leads to some awkward questions in life. Like, "So what do you do for a living?" or anything involving rotted fish. I've seriously started dreading the obligatory little section of the social dance where the other person asks how I afford my used car and all my beat up off-b…
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