New year, new beginning

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I announced that I’d be joining Adobe as a Platform Evangelist. As a lot of you are probably aware, due to the change in focus at Adobe a measure of restructuring was needed. Sadly my role at Adobe was one such casualty of that restructuring. Even though I [...]

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Sprite Sheet Maker (Preview)

One process that has survived in game development is the process of 'blitting'. In simple game terms 'blitting' is where you combine two or more bitmap objects in to a single object to increase performance. Remember all those cool 2D games from the mid 80s through to the mid 90s like StarCraft etc used this technique. However that is only half the story. Before you can 'blit' bitmap data you have to have some images to work with.

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• This was an interesting item to appear recently at CES 2011: the Fling controller for iPad (although I'm sure it will work fine on other touch devices with the right amount of screen real estate). As you can see it just attaches by the two suction cups and allows you to easily interact with games that use virtual joysticks. Check out the video below to see it in action. I have to admit, while it kind of goes against the whole idea of a touch screen - by adding a physical controller - it does look like it provides a richer experience when playing games. Will this lead to a set of attachable buttons for pressing fire etc? I doubt it, but never say never :p. If you want to know more about the Fling, head over to Ten1's site and have a look. [more...]
• For those of you who are still wondering whether or not to submit your work for the MAX Awards 2010 you only have a few weeks left. Submissions close on Friday 13th August 2010, at 11:59pm PST, so don't dally. Head over there and register right now! To learn more about the MAX awards and submit your work click here. Remember, you've got to be in it to win it :) [more...]
• Earlier in the month I blogged about the up and coming Adobe Intel Application Lab event at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. If you are like me and don't happen to live in the bay area but really wanted to attend, don't worry. We've created a connect room and will be broadcasting the event. So if you can't make it in person but would love to attend virtually, then point your browsers to http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/applab and enjoy the event in the comfort of your own home / office or in the case of us Europeans, probably bed. It is a West Coast evening event so times are in PST (Pacific Standard Time) as I jokingly mentioned it will be the middle of the night for a lot of us. However I'm sure the recordings will be on AdobeTV very soon after the event, so don't feel you have to stay up half the night to attend - although it'd be cool to see you all there :). The sessions covered and the times they will be broadcast via Connect are below: Agenda (all times in PST) 5:30 PM - Flash Platform Services Overview (Adobe) 6:00 PM - Intel AppUp Center Business Model and Opportunity (Intel) 7:00 PM - Technical Deep Dive (Adobe) 8:30 PM - Staffed Open Lab (Adobe and Intel) If you're not sure what time these session commence where you're located you can check your local time compared to PST here [more...]
• For all you developers and designers out there who like to play the odd hand of cards, you'll be excited to hear that Poker Coder 8 - London has been announced and will be on Tuesday 13th July at the Loose Cannons casino. There are loads of prizes to be won and don't forget the top ten players get a winners t-shirt; and the first ten out of the tournament get the now coveted Loser t-shirts. Don't worry if you've never played poker before as there is a ten minute orientation game for those who have yet to get the bug.This is a free no money tournament and you'll need to be quick though as places are limited and go very quickly. There are only 100 places for this event so you'll need to be quick. To find out more and register head over to the Poker Coder site [more...]
• My friend and colleague Serge Jespers has declared this week Android week. What with the up and coming GoogleI/O conference and the fact that Serge is a generous soul, he has decided to celebrate this event by giving one lucky visitor to his blog a free Google Nexus One. You'll need to head over there every day to find out what you need to do to be in with a chance of receiving one of these cool Android devices. Oh and if you haven't tried one yet - man they are sweeeet. So stop wasting time here and head over to Serge's blog and may the best (or the luckiest) person win :D [more...]