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2017 - Tasks Complete Blog
7th December 2017
A brief roundup of the things I've managed to accomplish, during 2017.

1. Online Scoreboards


It's been a long time since I last had online scoreboards in my general AGameAWeek games. iOS's GameCenter made me lazy, and I could never be bothered to implement anything more complicated into my Framework.
But this year, I opted to take on the challenge, so right at the start of this year I added an "Enter Your Name" thing into my framework, and tied the scoreboard system to the server.
A number of games from this year have had Online Scoreboards added to them, and can all be found here.

-=-=-

2. SoCoder Rewrite


I've been putting this one off for YEARS, but I finally decided that it was time to push the boat out, and create a brand new/old SoCoder.
The script's total size is about 1/4 of what it was, and is averaging a 50% reduction in execution time.
The bottleneck of the sidebar is still dragging that time down, but it's nothing "bad", so I'm willing to let it slide.

3. AGameAWeek Rewrite


After managing to do SoCoder, and getting my server running at a much better speed, I then decided to do-away with the other great big evil element that was clogging up the server.
Wordpress!!
The AGameAWeek site wasn't "one" site. It was about half-a-dozen scripts, all struggling to interact with one another.
I spent ages looking into all kinds of "Content Management Systems", but nothing seemed suitable, so I did what I had to do.

Just like SoCoder, I left the content in place, but I rewrote the entire site from scratch.
Now everything fits neatly into the one script.
Games, Music, Pixelart, Blog.
It's all handled by one script, with one big database, and one nice comment section.
The site is insanely smaller than the insanity of Wordpress. Sure it doesn't have nearly as much functionality, but I was barely using Wordpress as it was. It was simply there as a basic Blog engine, and no more.
But what I've lost in Wordpress power, I've gained in overall connectivity, with all the parts easily linking to each other, and (hopefully) a much more logical user experience for readers.

.. And, boy is it better for the server's CPULoad!!!

4. New Game Engine


Having managed to refresh SoCoder and AGameAWeek's sites within the space of the year, I then made the somewhat baffling decision to try my hand at an even larger task.
Rather than using Mark's wonderful Blitz and Monkey languages, I've decided to try to use the much more "compatible, apparently, but it isn't" language of C++.
I'm currently midway through getting a brand new Framework up and running in the language, and it's mostly been a smooth process, so far.

I've managed to get things working so far that I could possibly release a Windows game using the current "Framework". But I'm determined to make full use of the language and will be trying to get it working on Linux, MacOSX, iOS and Android TV, too.
Whether I can, I'm not sure. You can keep your eye on the 2018 Framework tag to see if I do!!

5. 139 pieces of Music


Over in the Music Archive, there's 125 pieces of Music that I've created this year.
A complete Sonic The Hedgehog Remix AL Bum, a Pulp Remix AL Bum (which will be complete in 3 weeks time), and a great big selection of my own oddities that have been used randomly in some of my games.
My musical alter-ego AL, has certainly had a busy year.

6. Daily Pixelart and Poetry


Back in 2015, PixelArf started a Daily Pixelart Challenge, and I decided to join in, using Platdude somewhere in each Daily Platdude Pixelart reply.
Nearly 3 years on, and it's still going strong, with a random doodle being added to the site, each and every day.

I'm not really sure why I started doing the short 4-line poetry things, but they're now officially part of the site, too, so I guess I can't stop doing those either!!

7. Only 29 Games


It seems odd that "Only" 29 games is probably the low point of this year.
Usually I'd pad that out with a nice big Xmas Advent Collexion, but what with tackling the new framework, I've just not had the time to do that, this year.
So, instead, we're down to Only 29 Games.
Having said that, however, some of this year's games have been absolute stonkers.

If you'd like to see the best of the bunch, RSKGames has written a list of the Top 15 games from this year.

-=-=-

So, that's my year.
2 entire websites, online integration, the start of a whole new framework, Music, Art, Poetry, and oodles of games.

That's a good year!!

Join me next year for more of the same, and hopefully a little more oddness, too!

And thanks for playing.
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