Wowa look at the dust!!!

Hey, sorry for the 5 months of silence, basically I ran into a problem which required a massive rewrite, and tbh I didn't feel like slogging though another monster problem, but now 5 months later I am ready to have another bash, using a completely different approach, hopefully thing time I will be able to get something working. When I have something to show, I will post again, though I may randomly post other stuff in the interim. 12:23 PM | 0 Comments

Gogo Quadtree

Hey, got managed to get my quadtree scripts working correctly, the following image was rendered in FF3.0 using the canvas tag to graphically display the information. Admitedly this whole block of functionality was evil nasty feature creep, but now that it is almost complete I have a nice warm feeling inside that you only get form writing something you've never done before :D

The above image took about 1000ms to process, the 1000ms includes loading and processing the whole level. This basically involves a generating 1024x1024 2d array and then populating that array with 1000 rasterised polygonal shapes. Each of these shapes are around 64x64 cells of data. As you can tell quite a lot of processing is done within those 1000ms. It's also worth noting that the map only needs to load once per level/zone/area, meaning its very quick considering some desktop games take minutes to load.
Go me :D 03:16 PM | 0 Comments

/me Goes over the top

Right, delays and going over the top, /me hugs feature creep :D
Basically I've decided to take this experiment in JavaScript programming to a new level, I am currently implementing a Quadtree, the goal for this is to optimise the A* path finding, so that each level can be larger, as there is less data to sift through, meaning bigger maps :D.
So what does this mean, no video yet :D but when the video does land the underpinning technology will be all the more impressive, and hopefully more speedy, or just bigger :D
So far its looking quite possible that the maps can be quite large :D, though there is still the problem of streaming blocks of map data down from the server to the browser. One possible solution to avoid any bandwidth issues due to people streaming map content from my domain is Amazon's S3 service, which once everything is working on my development box I will be looking into :D So with the current feature creep should be around the time of the apocalypse. 02:01 AM | 0 Comments

Ctrl+Z 'Given up :('

Hey, everyone who reads this trash, I've decided to re-re-re-start work on my 'Java Script' game. For those interested, the reason behind this monumental decision on Friday the 11th like all 'Apple-whores™' I fully intend on buying a iPhone 3G, and what better way of motivating myself than to write an application that I can actually touch and use :D. Also I need a reason to justify the £729* it'll cost me.

Now within this new state of fanboyisum I've decided to roll the idea back to something vastly more simplistic. Rather than trying to write an MMO-esk game I've opted to go for something more realistic. My goal is to write a Bomberman clone, then alter/hack the basic game-play mechanics to try and craft something fresh and original. Who knows once a single player version is up and running I may have time to add multi-player, though that's likely to blow up in my face :D
I've managed to get smooth translation working within the 'Engine' so my goal now is to link in my existing path finding stuff and hopefully, within the next few days I'll be able to post a video of some really ugly sprite running around a really simple maze :D

*(That's £99 for the phone and 18 payments of £35, though £729 looks more impressive.) 07:16 AM | 2 Comments

Given up :(

I had a feeling this day would come :( I got stuck on a problem that I can't be asked to resolve so I'm giving up, gonna spend my evernings handing out with my Wife, watching TV and playing games.
Maybe in a couple of months I'll get back into working on it, but I dont see that happening any time soon :(

Iain out, ttfn.... 12:55 PM | 0 Comments

Dropr and reBlog

oooo I've been Reblogged :) my good friend Mark of famfamfam fame has Reblogged my blogging, and thus the circle of life is complete. :)
Upon discussing my current implementation, Mark pointed out that hammering a poor lowly text file with all of my user action requests wasn't the best idea in the world. He then proceeded to enlighten me on more ideal methods for keeping track of user requests. One of the mentioned technologies was dropr, which is basically a messaging stack that allows messages to reliably be parsed from one script to another, without having to worry about data becoming lost within the server, and no data loss means a better more reliable server, i hopes :) 06:44 AM | 0 Comments

Realtime programming..../me pains

Right... so I've been playing around with some real time programming, tbh i think this is going to be a pain in the ass :(
This evening I started working on a communications system so I can parse information from one system, the user input AJAX stuff, to the server, which runs 4evr in an while(true) loop, and I have the basic stuff working. You'll probably notice I used the word basic, and boi do I mean t3h basics :D I'm basically spamming a file using file_put_contents :D go Iain for creative usage of PHP /me dances and to read the file :O I'm using file_get_contents /me faints.....


Right I really should start taking this seriously, someone out there on gods green earth might be reading this, and if you are I'm sorry, for what I'm not 100% but sorry none the less :)
The plan is to use a simple text document to keep a record of user inputs, as the system is real time I needed a method of feeding my while(true) loop with information, which it in turn will use to change the world.
The next task is to allow the inputted information to make changes to the world, and as a start I'm going to write a chat client/server, I think i may have said this before, but that’s the point of blogging, to waste you the readers time with mindless words :D /me out. 02:01 PM | 1 Comment

Working server, fixed JavaScript

W00t managed to fix my problems with JavaScript, and I am now the proud owner of a fully functional development server :D "/me puts Stanley knife away, and returns the my chemical romance album back to the shop"
Currently Meteor is streaming wonderful JavaScript back to the browser :D how all I have left to do is....

• write a zone based server, or something simular
• some nice scalable AI that isn't retarded*
• workout how the hell to tackle security seeing as my client code is effectively open source
• finish writing the client code which is a monumental task, seeing as I am yet to implement the most basic features, such as animation, movement, timing..., though I have written a nice path finding algorithm, and a collision detection system :D
• And countless other bits and bobs that I have planned, but am to lazy to type up here :D, also it would spoil the surprise of seeing it working for the first time, and trying to work out how the hell he got THAT working in JavaScript :D

Hummmpf when you look at it like that I think I may be working on this for the next 15 years, though if I can get it working I really do think I can make a meaningful gaming experience. Hopefully within a month or so the majority of the client code will be working, this includes some basic code to handle communication with the server, maybe a chat client or something :D ummm I could call it MSiaiN :D

*note that the author has nothing anything against retarded folk, it's just annoying when you play an MMO and EVERY monster reacts to player interaction in the SAME EXACT MANOR!!!! 01:04 AM | 0 Comments

Working server, broken JavaScript

Well after a weekend of cocking about with my VMware'ed Ubuntu I managed to get all of the server side technology working seamlessly together :D
The only problem is that Meteorserver's JavaScript isn't playing ball, and I really can't be asked to debug it :S, could this be the stumbling block that makes me lose interest in writing a browser MMO? quite likely :(
The other idea I've been mulling over it just writing a C++ game, but that involes me learning C++, then SDL/OpenGL, then learning how to actually write a game :S tbh I may resign to the fact that I'll never become a games developer, and be happy with the fact that I'm a well paid web developer, oh wait I'm not :( "/me downloads some my chemical romance and acquires a Stanley knife... time to go to town on the old wrists". 09:11 AM | 1 Comment

Ubuntu Server

Just messing about with VMware and Ubuntu server edition, hopefully everything goes alright, the reason I’m playing around with these programs is that I am attempting to get a fully functioning server running, which can be used to hopefully make a semi workable MMO.
I know the idea of trying to write an MMO when you are of little experience is probably as likely to succeed as trying bend a spoon with ones mind, even more so when there is no spoon to bend and your name isn’t Thomas Anderson, but stranger stuff happens daily, and if you don't try you cant succeed, and if you dont succeed you don't eat :D 12:00 AM | 0 Comments

Maybe this time I shall....

Hey random person out there on the interwebs, nice to meet you :)
This is the personal blog of Iain Carsberg a web developer within the Telford area(currently).
Within this blog I plan on discussing stuff that is going on in my life, both professionally and personally, well when I say personally you wont hear me bitching about home life, as that rocks.
It's more to do with my random programmings, for example, the fact that I dislike working with BT's XML systems, mainly due to there inability to develop to there own specifications, and that I've been toying with the idea of developing a browser game, which is destined to fail, as I have a notoriously bad track record for starting stuff and then letting them die a horrific death :D 08:40 AM | 4 Comments