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Developer Blogs
October 24, 2000
So, am I the last person to discover this gizmo?
This is a Cybiko. It just had a huge launch in big retailers. I found mine at Target for $99. Here's some of the specs. . .
This is a Cybiko. It just had a huge launch in big retailers. I found mine at Target for $99. Here's some of the specs. . .
- 256k RAM and 512K of flash ROM
- 16 Mhz Hitachi H8S processor running a stack-based VM to run apps
- Radio antenna to communicate wi…
October 20, 2000
The wife and I got to take a short vacation in fabulous Las Vegas over the weekend. Had a terrific time --ate too much, drank too much, and gambled too much. What fun!
I now have an official favorite hotel and casino. Actually, two of 'em, but they're 50 feet apart so I consider 'em to be one place.…
I now have an official favorite hotel and casino. Actually, two of 'em, but they're 50 feet apart so I consider 'em to be one place.…
October 13, 2000
Haven't gotten a lot of game work done recently, apart from reading documentation. Mostly running errands for Shelly, who's trying to get a huge subdivision done up north of us. It's still quite rewarding, though, so don't cry for me. If you haven't noticed, I don't live and die for gaming.
A pal o…
A pal o…
October 03, 2000
Interesting discount-rack-related news.
Mattel, after buying The Learning company (formerly Softkey, the old king of discount publishing) for $3.6 billion, dumping the board, firing everyone, and looking for a buyer less than a year later, is giving away The Learning Company to a holding company in …
Mattel, after buying The Learning company (formerly Softkey, the old king of discount publishing) for $3.6 billion, dumping the board, firing everyone, and looking for a buyer less than a year later, is giving away The Learning Company to a holding company in …
October 02, 2000
Something I'd been meaning to do for a while. In the progress of building and filling an office on the house, I bought a ton of stuff over the internet. Everything from filing cabinets to pencils to bookshelves to books. Here are my impressions of the online retailers I patronized. Hopefully it'll …
October 01, 2000
Am I the only one who doesn't get a lot of the "gamer" in-jokes out there? Lots of those gamer-oriented websites just leave me in the dust, and I only understand about half of the comic strips devoted to 'em.
*sigh* I guess I'm no longer l33t.
Thinking about it, though, I never was. The cool guys had…
*sigh* I guess I'm no longer l33t.
Thinking about it, though, I never was. The cool guys had…
September 19, 2000
I'm working on something secret.
No, really. Non-disclosures and everything. Somebody asked me to try something out for 'em. We'll see if it comes to anything.
Cool, huh?
I finally found my latest game-pack in the stores. Found 'em in a Staples not far from my house. It's no big deal; just the Cosmi …
No, really. Non-disclosures and everything. Somebody asked me to try something out for 'em. We'll see if it comes to anything.
Cool, huh?
I finally found my latest game-pack in the stores. Found 'em in a Staples not far from my house. It's no big deal; just the Cosmi …
September 11, 2000
Just thought I'd share. Somebody just sent me the coolest pictures of my rocket here and here. The first is the Perfesser Fate waiting in line. Shelly's attending it. I'm a couple of spaces behind holding the launch rod for the beast.
The second shot is the rocket taking off on an Aerotech K550.
Pret…
The second shot is the rocket taking off on an Aerotech K550.
Pret…
September 06, 2000
I got the weirdest email today from someone who owns my games.
Basically, he's insisting that ThinkTank cheats. He didn't get into any specifics, but he claims that it's impossible to get a score over 40,000 (boy, you'd think he wouldn't play it so much if he hated it), and he even videotaped the ga…
Basically, he's insisting that ThinkTank cheats. He didn't get into any specifics, but he claims that it's impossible to get a score over 40,000 (boy, you'd think he wouldn't play it so much if he hated it), and he even videotaped the ga…
August 31, 2000
I'm a draggin' and droppin' fool here. Got the drag-n-drop stuff working beautifully. It was basically a line-for-line translation of the drag-n-drop code in the older games. Seems to be working nicely, which is a Good Thing, as debugging drag-n-drop is quite difficult (click mouse, breakpoint fire…
August 29, 2000
Got a couple of new screen-shots on the future-page here. I replaced the old Wari screenshot with a newer one that looks a bit better (the old one was admittedly ugly as mud). Also, I added a new screenshot for Brain Bones. I look forward to getting this one running on a handheld, as it's one of my…
August 24, 2000
A quick addition to the Expert Games swan-song.
The last shall definitely be first in this world. The only games that seem to be on the shelves anywhere are the originals, 24 Games for Windows. They are still on the shelves in Germany as a sub-license of a sub-license (translation: I'm receiving alm…
The last shall definitely be first in this world. The only games that seem to be on the shelves anywhere are the originals, 24 Games for Windows. They are still on the shelves in Germany as a sub-license of a sub-license (translation: I'm receiving alm…
August 23, 2000
Well, if my latest royalty statement is any indication, the era of my Expert/Activision games is at an end. My colleague Bryan asked me to put together some rough numbers as to how well the games did. These numbers are pretty rough (likely on the low side), but here they are. . .
24 Games (a.k.a. 24…
24 Games (a.k.a. 24…
August 21, 2000
Just got an official "very cool piece of hardware" here.
It's a Linksys 4-port DSL hub that I decided to get after reading a review on Ars Technica. It's basically a 4-port ethernet hub that knows how to split up an internet connection among all of the machines connected to it. Since my DSL box know…
It's a Linksys 4-port DSL hub that I decided to get after reading a review on Ars Technica. It's basically a 4-port ethernet hub that knows how to split up an internet connection among all of the machines connected to it. Since my DSL box know…
August 09, 2000
Just got a "statement of earnings" from Social Security, showing how much I've contributed since entering the workforce in 1981 and how much I'll get back. Turns out that if I stay at my current rate of income, I retire at age 62, and I live to be 100, I'll get back about 13.6 percent of what I put…
August 07, 2000
Ugh. Two weeks. Forgive the lateness of my reply.
Started on another game, as the whole preferences business is turning out to be a can of worms. It'd be simple except for the fact that there are sometimes preferences that depend on other preferences (like in Minesweeper, you can choose a canned siz…
Started on another game, as the whole preferences business is turning out to be a can of worms. It'd be simple except for the fact that there are sometimes preferences that depend on other preferences (like in Minesweeper, you can choose a canned siz…
July 22, 2000
I have a confession to make. . .My name is John Hattan and I. . .. . .think C# is a good idea.
OK, lemme clarify. C# isn't a great idea, but the technology behind it has serious promise. Lemme explain.
Java was an idea who's time had come. It very successfully fixed a lot of flaws in its predecessor …
OK, lemme clarify. C# isn't a great idea, but the technology behind it has serious promise. Lemme explain.
Java was an idea who's time had come. It very successfully fixed a lot of flaws in its predecessor …
July 17, 2000
The bug is fixed!
Big thanks to Larry Hannay who manifested the bug on his machine, provided me with the exceptions that the applet was throwing, and verified that the fix I made did indeed fix the bug.
Turns out it's a problem in IE's Java class library. When laying out your components with the AWT …
Big thanks to Larry Hannay who manifested the bug on his machine, provided me with the exceptions that the applet was throwing, and verified that the fix I made did indeed fix the bug.
Turns out it's a problem in IE's Java class library. When laying out your components with the AWT …
July 14, 2000
I need to ask a favor. Could everyone reading this go to the following page and help me test something. . .
1. Go to http://www.drdavebarnett.com/online_b.htm
2. In the applet, enter your name in the top box, any number in the second, and testing for the username and password boxes. This should log y…
1. Go to http://www.drdavebarnett.com/online_b.htm
2. In the applet, enter your name in the top box, any number in the second, and testing for the username and password boxes. This should log y…
July 12, 2000
Ugh. Sunny and 101 degrees. Welcome to summer in Texas. It got here a bit late because of the freak rainstorms of June, but the five-day forecast is calling for sunny and 100+ until Sunday.
It's here.
Interestingly enough, though, the TV news never truncates the weather forecast, even though there's …
It's here.
Interestingly enough, though, the TV news never truncates the weather forecast, even though there's …
July 02, 2000
Congrats to Mark (my little brother) and Karen Hattan who, on the 29th, became the proud parents of an 8 pound 14 ounce meatloaf named Joseph.
That's my folks in the background.
That's my folks in the background.
June 26, 2000
Linux is working on the iMac. Biggest problem is that I haven't been able to install the development tools or the Mac compatibility box (so I can run ordinary Mac apps without restarting), as the installer crashes whenever I check 'em. Not that big a deal right now, as I can get my feet wet with Li…
June 25, 2000
Had a brilliant idea a couple of days ago. I'd always been planning to put Linux on the main development box so I could start on doing a port of the class library (boy, I've gotta think of a codename someday). Suddenly it dawned on me. . .I've got this stupid purple iMac sitting here that does noth…
June 13, 2000
Wow. The CGDA and the IGDN have merged to become the IGDA.
This is exciting news. That means that instead of having two competing game development trade organizations that do nothing, we now have a single blanket game development trade organization that does nothing.
It is my hope that the new combin…
This is exciting news. That means that instead of having two competing game development trade organizations that do nothing, we now have a single blanket game development trade organization that does nothing.
It is my hope that the new combin…
June 12, 2000
I'm happy. My code's happy. Everyone's happy.
My new polyglot self-growing data-structure that I mentioned in my last entry is working nicely. One bug that took a while to track down was a one-off error that was causing the [] operator to return zero for the last item in the structure. After about a…
My new polyglot self-growing data-structure that I mentioned in my last entry is working nicely. One bug that took a while to track down was a one-off error that was causing the [] operator to return zero for the last item in the structure. After about a…
June 10, 2000
Finally broke down and got myself a DVD player. Through the americangreetings.com and flooz.com "we'll match any gift up to $50" promotion, I figured out that I could get a really nice one for $95 with shipping, so I couldn't resist. Just arrived a couple of days ago, and it's awfully nice. I went …
June 01, 2000
Well, my copy of eMbedded (their capitalization, not mine) Visual Tools 3.0 arrived today. I was hoping that it'd arrive significantly earlier than the "early June" that they'd been claiming, but I guess I can't complain --you can't get much earlier in June than today.
Anyway, the following stuff is…
Anyway, the following stuff is…
May 25, 2000
Have you ever played a game that was absolutely mind-numbingly stupid. . .then you played it again and again?
Well, I just found one of those. This one's called Pug Wars, and it's about as stupid as they come. You are an ugly little dog traveling around ten different locations in a city. You're also…
Well, I just found one of those. This one's called Pug Wars, and it's about as stupid as they come. You are an ugly little dog traveling around ten different locations in a city. You're also…
May 24, 2000
Well, the wife and I have officially crossed over into the "pathetic" category. We just took delivery of a big buncha groceries from HomeGrocer.com. For the uninitiated, it's a new service that home-delivers groceries that you buy over the web. Well, despite laughing about the fact that we no longe…
May 18, 2000
Phew. I finally came up with an elegant way to draw to bitmaps.
Drawing to bitmaps has always been a bit of a pain, especially if you've got a custom bitmap format. The Windows GDI functions are pretty limited as to what they'll draw to (i.e. HDC's), but they're so nice and robust that you don't wan…
Drawing to bitmaps has always been a bit of a pain, especially if you've got a custom bitmap format. The Windows GDI functions are pretty limited as to what they'll draw to (i.e. HDC's), but they're so nice and robust that you don't wan…
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