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johnhattan
April 23, 2001
Hey, I'm not dead yet!
Hey, I'm not dead yet! Working on my new project. Just got a copy of Ernest's book, if that'll give you any clue to the type of thing I'm putting together. I'll let you know more as it becomes available.

Good deal alert: If you're planning to do games in Java, check out my eBay auction. Two of these…
433 views
johnhattan
April 04, 2001
Ricochet Robot
Gotta report on my latest obsession. . .



Ricochet Robot!

It's a puzzle game of sorts, and it's an addictive monster. The object is to try to move a chosen color of robot into his home space by bouncing him off the walls and other robots. There's a web-version here that I play regularly, but it doesn'…
509 views
johnhattan
April 03, 2001
Activision Sold?
Fatbabies is reporting that Activision has been sold to a Chinese company.

Ya know, I don't think I'm ever gonna see that $41 that they owe me :)
387 views
johnhattan
April 01, 2001
Stock your office with eBay
Time for another piece of sage office wisdom for all you one-person dotcoms out there. . .

eBay is a terrific place to stock your office

When we were setting up Shelly's office, we were faced with the problem of getting equipment for an engineering office, and some of that stuff is pretty expensive. …
386 views
johnhattan
March 29, 2001
More San Jose goodness
Oh, just a quickie today. On the last day of the GDC, I was a bit tired and needed a break, so I took on The Tech Museum in San Jose, which is just a block away from the convention center. It's a worthwhile trip if you find yourself in San Jose, especially if you've got kids.

Anyway, they had a disp…
476 views
johnhattan
March 27, 2001
Howdy doo. I'm back from San Jose
Hope you enjoyed my coverage of the GDC. If you've got comments, feel free to send 'em to me. I actually enjoy criticism, positive or negative, as it helps me improve things in the future.



Thinking of doing a game-related project. Might be coming out of retirement. We'll see.
338 views
johnhattan
March 18, 2001
Very quick update to keep
Very quick update to keep this from being stale. Did a quick trip to vegas for a family wedding. It was a living, breathing nightmare. Let it never be spoken of again. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for San Jose and the GDC. I'm sure you'll be seeing updates of my stuff on www.gamedev.net. Hope you e…
434 views
johnhattan
March 08, 2001
Got a couple of answers
Got a couple of answers for the "all your base are belong to us" thing. Thanks!



I'm preparing myself for the GDC thing. I'm doing the expo coverage, even though not many folks in the poll were interested in it. I promise to add lots of scantily-clad booth-bims, so the kids out there can engulge the…
338 views
johnhattan
March 07, 2001
If you haven't read Brad
If you haven't read Brad Wardell's comments, read 'em. He's wise beyond his years. The computer game industry is currently a colossal mess, and things are probably gonna get worse before they get better. It's enough to make you want to become a civil engineer.

One point, though, about his article. W…
448 views
johnhattan
March 01, 2001
Yeesh, March is coming in
Yeesh, March is coming in like a soaking-wet lion here in Texas.



Just finished an article for gamedev on PocketPC development. I didn't go crazy with technical stuff (heck, my wife understood it) in the hopes that everyone will get something out of it. It's here. Enjoy!
428 views
johnhattan
February 24, 2001
I finally completed my third
I finally completed my third and final class in AutoCAD. It's rather fun, but from a software engineering viewpoint I don't envy the Autodesk folks one bit. AutoCAD is such a mind-numbing patchwork of old and new that I don't know how they update the thing. For example, there are three different wa…
372 views
johnhattan
February 16, 2001
Think Tank and Activision hatred
I don't know who sent the International I-Hate-Think-Tank Society an email, but whoever you are, you must've said something interesting. He's now insisting that I wrote your email. Good work!



I got a call from Activision a few days ago. They're trying to put together a 300 game pack, and since most…
376 views
johnhattan
February 15, 2001
Think Tank hatred!
I got another fun email from the chairman of the huge movement that's dedicated to running me out of the business for putting all of those cheats into Think Tank. He now seems upset that I didn't print his earlier emails --apparently they are much more grammatically robust and coherent than his lat…
465 views
johnhattan
February 09, 2001
Cybiko
I just got an email from Cybiko. On the 12th and 13th of February, they're expanding the number of stupid-bucks I get for folks buying stuff using my secret code, and they're raising the referral discount to 20% for those two days.

I'll make you a deal.

If you go and order a Cybiko here on the 12th o…
581 views
johnhattan
February 07, 2001
New look. . .again
I changed up the bitmaps a bit above. Never really liked the old ones, because they were too dark. Also made the links bigger and gave Common Sense its own space. Just making things look a bit different. Change for change's sake. The kind of stuff I warn others about :)
429 views
johnhattan
January 29, 2001
Stuff on eBay
Still cleaning out the closets. Here's some stuff you might be interested in.
Visual Basic 5.0

SoftC Database Library

VTune 4.0

Eight issues of a British game magazine

A cute little Windows CE handheld gizmo

Two issues of The Cursor and three issues of CGDA Report

Design and Evolution of C++ by Stroustrup…
375 views
johnhattan
January 26, 2001
Very quick update to keep
Well,it's officially the end of an era. I just sent a letter to the Activision legal department, exercising my right to cancel the contract for 24 Games for Windows 95 after five years. I killed the contract for a few reasons, the biggest of which is to stop the sub-sub-licensed games that are sell…
504 views
johnhattan
January 25, 2001
How to be a game producer!
I'm going to reveal some industry secrets here. Don't spread this around, but here are the official instructions on. . .

How to be a game producer!

1. Get a terrifically kEwL idea for a game. Make sure it's gigantic in scope and would require millions of dollars for a big studio to implement it. Shor…
422 views
johnhattan
January 23, 2001
Think Tank Hatred
I don't know if you remember, but a few months ago I got several funny emails from a bored kid who claimed that there was an active group afoot dedicated to running me out of the business because of the dozens of cheats that I allegedly built into Think Tank. Needless to say, he had some comments a…
451 views
johnhattan
January 20, 2001
Still more eBay goodness
Just a quickie here. I did another pass through my collection, and I'm dropping some stuff off on eBay at bargain prices. The whole list is here, but here are the highlights that might be of interest to game programmers. . .


Artificial Intelligence by Patrick Henry Winston
LISPCraft
Mix Database Too…
378 views
johnhattan
January 11, 2001
Announcement
Awright, listen up, because I've got an announcement. Many of you have figured it out already, so I'm gonna make it official.

I'm getting out of the game-development business as a full-time vocation.

Don't worry, it's not like I'm broke and I'm slinking away from the business. As you've probably noti…
426 views
johnhattan
January 07, 2001
Things that Suck
I'm in a bad mood today, so here's a list of

Things That Suck

  • The CueCat. It's a solution to a problem nobody had. They will go bankrupt. Period.
  • Computer add-ons that allow you to add smells to games. Bad idea. 100% doomed.
  • Game-pads and handheld games that vibrate. It doesn't add a damn thing to th…
430 views
johnhattan
January 05, 2001
Cybiko cuteness
Just thought I'd post a screenshot of Cybiko Bulldozer in action. Since the screenshot was so tiny, I made a little graphical Cybiko around it so you could see the shot in-context.

Once again, kudos to TANSTAFFL, the man who's fast becoming the finest Cybiko-hacker in the industry, for coming up wit…
477 views
johnhattan
January 03, 2001
Happy new year
A belated happy new year and such to all.

TANSTAAFL got Bulldozer working on the Cybiko. He's a genius. Probably give you a screen-grab if I ever figure out how to do one. Windows CE has a nice screen-grabbing utility that lets you take snapshots remotely, but I don't think Cybiko's got one.

Anyway, …
440 views
johnhattan
December 20, 2000
Season's Greetings
Hope everyone has a happy holiday and such. For those who didn't get a Christmas card from us, here's the picture and text:



Season's Greetings!

Things are going very well for the Texas Hattans this year. We are healthy and happy in our first year of both living and working out of our home.

For the fi…
446 views
johnhattan
December 19, 2000
Infocom
Some guys at MIT wrote a terrific long-format article on Infocom (PDF here). It's a very well-done chronicle of the rise and fall of a successful company, with some good commentary on how Infocom made its money and the critical mistakes it made that killed 'em.

There are plenty of lessons to be lear…
420 views
johnhattan
December 11, 2000
Israeli Bulldozer
I got an email from Israel today. Somebody wanted the solution to a Bulldozer level, of course.

I tell you. I've met more people from that game than you can believe :)
436 views
johnhattan
December 08, 2000
*sigh* RealMyst
I saw something disappointing on the web this morning. It's a review of RealMyst, and I was saddened to see what the reviewer had to say about it. He started out by unfavorably comparing Myst to 7th Guest. Why did he consider Myst to lag behind? Because 7th Guest had nice animated transitions from …
573 views
johnhattan
December 06, 2000
Visual Studio CE Download
Just a quick note. Visual Studio for Windows CE is now available for download here:

http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/BeginnerDev/tools.asp

It includes Visual C++ and Visual Basic for Windows CE. Don't know what emulators it comes with. You can download most of 'em elsewhere on the site.

Of co…
532 views
johnhattan
December 04, 2000
Vacations and closure
Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been on vacation for about the past ten days. Went down to Orlando to visit Disney, Epcot, and the like. Also headed down to Fort Lauderdale and the keys. Had a really good time but, but like all good vacations, I got no rest at all.



Activision still owes me $4…
489 views
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