After some time and quite some expectation, a new version has been released that includes the single most awaited feature in the history of the game: Multiplayer!
At this point the multiplayer feature is reduced to the bare bones, but it works. We are hoping on the community to help us test it 🙂
“If only windows had a multiple desktop system, how happy would I be!”, I have thought to myself quite a few times… I wish I could have a tidy desktop, free of the zillion files that clutter almost all the available space, but if I moved those files I would surely lose track of them.
So, is there any app out there that could allow one to keep several different desktops within the same computer? As far as I know, the answer is “yes and no”, but at least the “Yes” side of the story could be enough for many users: Continue reading On Virtual desktops in Windows
http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/
Every key of the Optimus keyboard is a stand-alone display showing exactly what it is controlling at this very moment.
Designed by russian Levedeb Studio, the Optimus Keyboard will make use of cutting edge technology to redefine the peripheral’s functionality.
As we know, a computer keyboard is bound to whatever was printed on the keys when manufactured. This is something we usually don’t pay much attention to, unless we Continue reading The Optimus keyboard
Kurt Busiek is (among other things) a comic scriptwriter. Not so many years ago, Image Comics started to publish a work by him: Astro City. If I can remember correctly, since my memory is made of cork, Busiek had been already working for some time in the human perspective of the super-heroic experience. With his work, he tried to answer questions such as, how does a journalist view super heroes?, or, what are the feelings of someone who suddenly acquires great power? Continue reading And, finally, fly
A video game is not that different from any other software development; it perhaps depends more on hardware, but even so it is very similar. When you describe a program you need the client’s opinion and plenty of information to determine how the issue was being taken prior to the new development. In the end it is obvious that albeit there won´t be much relation between the analysis and the final development, that relation will still be more or less recognizeable.
But, what about video games? To start with, Continue reading Game design as software engineering
http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
NetLogo is a programmable modeling environment for simulating natural and social phenomena. It is particularly well suited for modeling complex systems developing over time. Modelers can give instructions to hundreds or thousands of independent “agents” all operating concurrently. This makes it possible to explore the connection between the micro-level behavior of individuals and the macro-level patterns that emerge from the interaction of many individuals.
3.1 features a new suite of link primitives, configurable world topologies, randomized agent ordering, and a new tie primitive.
NetLogo is one of those cool, easy-to-understand program languages, like Processing, that I keep in my linkshelf with the hope to learn one day and become a really cool artist.
Based on the famous (at least when I was a kid) LOGO language, NetLogo really IS an impressive programming environment for at least three reasons: it is easy to learn so students can use it; it is written in java, which means that the programs can be executed from within the web browser, like the examples here; and it has a very wide scope of applications, from biology to art. All in all, this is a highly interesting and worthwhile environment that I’ll keep on wanting to try for a long time. 😉
http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/java/smoothteddy/index.html
You can make round 3D models such as teddy bears quickly, and paint them in an integrated environment.
Smooth Teddy is a small, yet highly amusing program by Takeo Igarashi. A sort of “3D playground”, it allows you to fiddle with 3D models by scribbling shapes that are automatically given volume. Once you have your first amoeba on screen, adding pseudopods is just a matter of painting shapes over it: once a secondary shape is given volume, you can displace it over the first one, clone it if you want, and finally merge the two into a single piece. Modeling in this way becomes an intuitive process, and though it is not very precise nor very quick, the program has a high cuteness factor which will Continue reading Intuitive 3D modeling with Smooth Teddy
In case you haven’t read my previous articles on it, Glest is a Free, open-source 3d Real Time Strategy Game, designed in a way so that it is easy to customize and expand. Glest has been in continuous development for several years, and has received awards in the Art Futura and Mundos Digitales spanish international festivals. Finally we have released the official 2.0 version, which includes many add-ons that we hope will enhance gameplay. Continue reading Glest 2.0 released
With the free Digital Designer software you can build absolutely anything with virtual LEGO bricks right on your computer. Then you can buy the real bricks to build your creation and you can share it with thousand of other LEGO fans.
One of the problems I used to face every time I wanted to make my own lego models was that I never had enough bricks of the kind I was needing. It must be one of those “Murphy´s laws” that the brick you just need is the one you lack!
Until now, there was a partial solution to this issue: the L-cad program allowed you to design your model in the computer so that you could afterwards order the pieces you wanted. This walkaround was (is) very useful, but if there were an easier option to custom design-custom order models which was backed by lego, that would be amazing, and if it were user friendly… whoa!
Well, so a big WHOA! to lego, since they have done exactly that. Besides giving the users an easy way to design models on the computer, they have made it just as easy to order those models as custom sets. Again, WHOA!! 😀
The antialiasing is real-time and perfect (no really it is) while the textures use conformal mapping which means no stretching or mapping artifacts like you get with typical projective mapping.
Jeff Anderson has updated his blog with some new videos showing Groboto, the 3D organic art program, in action. It seems that the hopes I showed in my last article on the beta are being confirmed. The interface proves to be friendly and powerful; you can rotate the model effortlessly at any moment, and manipulating the seed (the little shape you start with) or the lighting is also very easy. Everything casts shadows over everything, and the textures have a crisp look due to the special kind of bump mapping used.
There are still many things about Groboto that remain a mystery: will it feature predefined shapes like the previous version? will it have a genetics lab? what will the export options be? When the beta testing is open I’ll be able to answer those questions. Until then, the expectations are getting pretty high 😀
Related Article: Groboto 2.0 in the works
Related Article: Groboto-beta: new screens
