Tekijä: TJuTZu

DS Gamemaker

DS Gamemaker

Get XtenDS the free NDS Gamemaker!

XtenDS is a free DS Gamemaker for Microsoft Windows! The current version supports sprites, backgrounds, splash screens, sounds, conditional ifs and PALib scripts.

Maemo development platform

Yesterday I finalized the installation of Ubuntu and Maemo platform. At the first time ever I manage to get it work.

On my first attempt I was using 64 bit version of Ubuntu and I found out that s was not suitable for Maemo development environment. In that time Ubuntu was installed as secondary platform on my WinXP machine.

On second attempt I tried to reinstall Ubuntu again as secondary environment on my WinXP machine but something went wrong and instead of using the fresh blank, unpartitioned area which I made available for installation, Ubuntu was installed on a small chunk installation application made at the end of NTFS partition. I got so frustrated that removed Ubuntu completed and reallocated the free space back to NTFS.

On third try I used separate laptop but this time I ended to use modified Red Hat package. Red Hat was OK but it was impossible to get the Maemo  development environment up and running.

Finally this week I cleaned the laptop again and installed Ubuntu 7.10 from the scratches. I followed the instructions "Howto : Scratchbox + Maemo 4.0 + Ubuntu Gutsy = Nokia N800 Dev Environment " made by debug and finally manage to get it up and running.

So it took awhile and required an excellent  instruction but I finally made it.

MindRover

MindRover is 'the Intelligent Robot Simulation' or perhaps you can call it a 3D strategy/programming game. This is a new genre that encompasses the depth of play found in strategy games with a new concept in player control. You get to program the intelligence of robotic vehicles.

There is a demo version available from the developer site.

Programming games

There seem to be some programming games out there Tongue out

I will store some links in here so that I can come back to those when I have a bit more time available.

Robot Odyssey is a very old game written back in 1984 by The Learning Company for the Apple ][ computer. It's an educational game that teaches the basics of programming through wiring together logic gates. Within the game you solve puzzles by programming robots so they can move around, grab objects, and communicate with each other. 

DroidQuest, Java port of Robot Odyssey. Download and play the complete version or join in on the play testing. See the latest screenshots, and discuss the game with other players.

And even more cab be found from wikipedia programming game article. There are some links to lists of programming games.

Educational games

Colobot (Colonize with Bots) is an educational real-time strategy video game featuring 3D graphics. The objective of the game is to prepare 9 fictional planets for colonization by the human race by establishing basic infrastructure on the surface and eliminating any alien life forms endangering the expedition. The main feature of the game which makes it educative is the ability of the player to program his robots using a programming language similar to C++ or Java. (text from Wikipedia )

From the same company

CeeBot is a brand new concept that will introduce you to programming while having fun. The programming language you'll use is very similar to those used by professional programmers to develop their products. CeeBot introduces many modern concepts found in today's most popular environments like C++, C# or Java.
After teaching you the syntax of CeeBot, progressive exercises will lead you to use important concepts such as variables, loops, conditional branching, functions, classes, objects, etc. (text from developer site)

Stella Awards

uimapaikka.gifThe Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald’s coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, but that’s not the whole story.