Update
This has all been checked, rechecked, and triple checked.
It appears to have been nothing more than a coincidence.
.. That tried to steal my password.. And then another coincidence that caused me to reset my iPod for the first time since Xmas.

Haven't started on this week's game, or the new music engine, yet, and am already thinking of even more "other" things that must be done. (To be fair, my todo list has about 15 items on it! So I'm hopping all over the place doing lots of different things)
You might've noticed that I'm not linking to the Archive, lately.
That's because it isn't quite doing it's job at the minute, and it all needs fixing up.
There's a whole bunch of stuff that needs updated, including a YouTube video embedd...

Eeek..
It's scary to even consider this, but there's no free-forming games for a while.
We're in a zone now, and I can't stop it even if I tried!
Tomorrow's game is about ready, although I'm still missing 4 little parts that I might wimp out on!

What week are we on, again?! Um.. ?
Let's go for 24! I think that's right!
Week 24, Game 32, first proper game from the new engine.
Hopefully things run smoothly, let me know how it goes!!

The framework's coming together nicely, and things are looking up.
But there were Audio issues with various versions of Ubuntu (or rather, with the SAME versions of Ubuntu!!) that were causing the game to be silent, and then crash!
Hopefully I've managed to fix that, now.
There's a whole list of audio drivers available to the game, and all are nicely selectable in the nice Tab box.
Unfortunately, you will have to close and restart before it'll change the driver, or el...

AGameAWeek 2010 - Game Number One!
We'll call this a test game, because the whole framework thing still isn't quite up to scratch, with all kinds of missing features!
Plus I've put in LOADS of little quirks, things that should be quick have been made extra lengthy, and there's a bunch of redundancy.. This is half-done on purpose so that I can see what the available systems can and can't cope with.
Hopefully we'll find that they can!!
<a href="https://AGameA...

Uhoh, titlescreen's still not quite done, yet!
With a game to release on Tuesday that's yet to be thought of, never mind started, I'm really cutting it a bit fine, here!
If a game doesn't appear on Tuesday, this is the reason why!!
I've yet to do the following.

<a href="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/argh.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/argh_thumb.png" style="float:right"></a>
Because there may or may not have been resulting copyright issues, I've left this post on the backburner until the magazine went off the shop shelves. Usually I'd happily scan in a bit of a page if my games are mentioned, but this time it's a whole entire page, and that's a completely different kettle of fish. (Although, to be fair, I'...

As well as all the 12 Games of Xmas (starting Friday) I've finally got around to opening up BlitzMax, and getting that whole new system going.
Plenty to do, and it'll probably kill the whole point of my Xmas Week Off, but no matter.. Lots to do, let's hop to it.
First up, I want everyone who can be bothered to try this out.
It's a couple of little programs that stress tests your system, and tries to draw as many things onscreen at once as it possibly can. Or, at least, as fast as BlitzMa...

Christmas is literally just a week away, and things must be done. 'tis the season to be busy, and all.
Meanwhile things are still kinda messed up, and I'm still awaiting that blinkin' Router. Probably should've just gone into town and picked one up.. It's been 5 days since Play.com sent it out, and still no sign of it.
Hopefully it doesn't end up taking 2 months like the PC did!!
Meanwhile, I've started on a rather lengthy project, and am hoping to get it done in time for Xmas day.
...

This week has taken many twists and turns.
I started off making a nice game with a snowman, then that turned into a game with Greenie, then the new PC turned up and I spend a day or two playing with that but the whole network's down, and now I'm waiting on a new Router being delivered! blimey!
Meanwhile it's a chore getting from one system to the other, and that means I'm relying on a slightly-dodgy-not-quite-Win7-compatible edition Paintshop Pro 7 and a slightly-dodgy-not-quite...

Absolute chaos at the house of Jay, this week.
First up, good news, that new PC I ordered MONTHS AGO (October 19th) has finally turned up.. *sigh*
Annoyingly Windows 7 - 64bit refuses to work with either of the two USB->Ethernet connectors that I own, which basically means my entire network is now in a total mess.
The new PC is lovely, and will do many things nicely, except that I can't access ANY of my stuff from the other PC.
No coding templates, no music, no sound, not even a P...

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Socoder Newsletter
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This week, I've decided to try something a wee bit different.
If you're a fan of previous AGameAWeek games, you'll notice that I'm more than a little crap at designing levels.
It's a slight issue, but one that I've never bothered to care about.
Usually, any games that NEED levels will include a built in level editor. And folk who like the games will spend minutes trying to make one, and that'll be half the fun.
The trouble with this theory, of course, is ...

A nice and simple game, this week, inspired by this week's Wednesday Workshop (#224) Board Game challenge.
Rather than having plain Questions and Answers, I've taken all the results from Socoder's daily polls, and rounded them up into the game.
Can you select the option that the most people at Socoder did?!
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Guesstimates_20091027A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Guesstimates_20091027A_thumb.png"></a>
...

This week, due to popular demand, Blockman's Getting More.
As you may have read, I attempted a new art style (fweeDee!!) last week, which really didn't work out at all.
So, this week I'm aiming for the Pseudo popped-out-a-bit art style, and all seems happy in the world of Blockman.
<img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/blockmangetsmoreb.png">

Prepare for disappointment!
This week's been a bit of a disaster, really.
I started with Arcade Slots, and actually managed to get quite far into it, but eventually realised there wasn't anything new to add to the mix. So that got scrapped.
After that came a brand new Blockman graphic style, which was far too angled, and resulted in the maze being completely obscured. No good!

If you're currently coping with a bad bout of depression, it's probably not a great idea to download this week's AGameAWeek game, because.. quite frankly.. it sucks!
As I type this, the game currently consists of a badly drawn dog, a badly drawn bit of grass, and a few badly drawn birds.
I've hit a dead end as far as this game goes.
I also hit a dead end with Arcade Slots, and I even hit a major blockage with Blockman Gets More.

Ok, let's try that Munky thing again, shall we!?
I've scrapped the "Portal" style stuff, and am instead focusing on a Munky Blocks styled affair.
Munky's Block seems an apt title, so we'll stick with that.
Currently I have only 1 setpiece, and 1 silly simple test level.

And so another week trundles by.
I had hoped to finish off the ever elusive games, this week, (the RPG and the Patent Wars), but that doesn't appear to be happening at all.
Oh well.
If they happen, they happen. If not, carry on.

This week's Wednesday Workshop suggests we should make a Pacman game.
I've already done "Blockman Forever" this year, so I'm going to avoid retreading old ground.
Instead I'm going the Puzzle route.
Already I've got a lovely little set of graphics going, and am obviously reusing Blockman because.. .. well, why not!!!

Trying to add puzzle elements into a shoot-em-up never seems to work out as well as the idea in your head.
I should know that by now!
And yet, this week, that's what I tried to do.
<a href="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Webdings_Fighter_20090922A.png"><img src="https://AGameAWeek.com/complete/Webdings_Fighter_20090922A_thumb.png"></a>

I'm sat here at 11pm on Sunday night, trying to think of a game for Tuesday.
It's not happening..
I've spent all week long adding games to the archive. That's to say, I've spent all week playing all my old games, and having a whale of a time..
I guess that has a disadvantage, being that I haven't coded jack all, all week.

If you've been keeping track, you'll have probably noticed an ever increasing number in the folders of my games.
These are the weeks of the Wednesday Workshop, and as you trace through my games, you'll see a whole lot of matches between the WW and the game's basic idea.
WW is fantastic for ideas, but sometimes things don't quite work out.
Take this image, from a basic engine, all the way back in week #142.. (That's 76 weeks ago!)
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/Incomplete.png">...

I'd better get this game done, this week! It's getting a wee bit unruley. I need to pull in the ideas a bit and just get the game finalised.
Today I've been playing with the map again.
(URL "https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap.png"><img src="https://socoder.net/uploads/1/superQuestMap_thumb.png">

The ball from Pong, the gameplay from Tetris. The name seemed blindingly obvious to me.
But over the course of the past few days, I've received an inordinate number of complaints about the name.
It should be Breakout, it should be Asteroid, what!?