RIPPLE SOFTWARE

Small update here, been working on Screeb. Had to redo a lot of code to allow me to make new ships easier. Got all that done over the weekend and its working sweeet. Next is to rework the weapon code so I can do the same thing, I want to be able to make new and more interesting weapons too so that is next. At this point you wouldnt see any visual changes.

Once I have the code rework done I am going to start adding “Needs” to the AI so the ships will have to gather energy to stay alive. This should make for some very interesting behavior like ships attacking other ships and stealing energy, or fleeing and hiding if they are low on energy or health. I have also started adding in asteroids and planets. These will introduce a new steering behavior called orbit.

I have some fantastic ideas but not enough time to get them done. Got some time off work over Christmas so I look forward to getting a lot more done then.

PS. I hope you like the new site banner at the top, made that a week or two ago.. its cool.

As terrible as this sounds, all my blog updates will get posted on my facebook wall via RSS. This will give my huge fanbase regular updates.. (Ok 1 person isnt huge but dont crush my fantasy ok!).

Well I have put this one off for a while in the hope that I can add more to it, but it got to this point and now Im just sitting watching it instead of coding in more. Some of the cool things I have added in this patch are:
I noticed a crash when Screeb is minimised, I was handling some resources wrong, and now it seems stable enough to minimise and restore as needed.

One of the coolest things I added this version are the swarmers. These are small ships that group together. At this point they dont do much more than that, although they do try not to crash head long into the larger ships, and they all scatter if one of them gets shot, but I have plans for the future for them.

I also added a ship that wanders around and repairs the screen craters, got a new particle effect working with this guy too.

Ok the last but possibly the coolest things I added were animated rotating bitmaps. This allows me to animate anything now. So I added better looking health pods, and the police cruiser now drops mines instead of shooting lazers. The mines will zap the closest ship with a new effect weapon, electricity!! Its cool looking, and it kills.

So that is about it for the main fun things, if you want to read more and even download it for free, Click Here!

I have felt the need to do this for a while, but I can honestly say I have been trying to think of a more appropriate way to do it, I wanted to do more than just make a post here. I would like to take half of Bill Gates fortune, mix it with some of Steve Jobbs Mansion, add in a few fast cars and that might be enough.

What I am talking about here is a Guy called Marc from 4SS (See my URL). I met Marc many years ago in a programming chat room on IRC, and have haunted him ever since. Although both our programming skills have grown and changed directions over the years, he has always been way too quick with answers to any technical questions I throw at him. Im thinking he is at least partly machine.  This guy has helped me with problems ranging from low level C++ programming, .NET coding, to problems with DNS and Web Hosting, hardware, and is always willing to share his knowledge.

I guess the point of this post is in support of 4SS ( Stands 4 Short and Simple) and Marc. I would and do recommend Marc and his company to anyone and everyone. So if you need software, web design, web hosting, or anything else, I reccomend you talk to Marc at 4SS.

This is not an advertizement, just host your site with 4SS you bastards.. dont make me slap you!

I uploaded a new update to screeb on the Screeb Software page. This update introduces some more work to the particle system, added particle jet streams to the ships, although Im not totaly happy with them and am still working on a new design. I have added some other extras in too but nothing much you might notice.