Lots o Stuff

So.. once again it's been a while since my last blog post. I really need to do these more often, it's a great way to keep myself motivated and working, and to take in account of all the various things I've done and been working on.

So a quick recap since the last blog... 2006, wow I really need to do this more often.. I've continued to have a few contract jobs while working the boring day job, and simultaneously working on various personal projects also. This has kept me busy and out of trouble, and I've finally gotten to the point were I feel that I've reached the level that I can make a true concentrated effort at moving Trihex Software forward, and make a living at this whole independent game programmer thing. I have a number of different plans to move forward with, and just need to talk it all over with the wife and see how we can proceed. I want to have a final plan of action in place and working on it by mid August, so stay tuned.

On the project front, I've put quite a few irons in the fire, so I always have something interesting and fun to be working on, and ways to allow my mind to work on complex problems, while not sitting idol. One of the things I've learned about myself through the years is that I have to have more than one thing going on at a time. When I hit a stumbling block, or something I can't figure out, I have to step away from it and give my mind time to sort it out. So I'll often be jumping from project to project, doing little things here or there, and then going back to the big issue and plowing through it.

So with that in mind, I'm currently working on:

Four Falls
This is a fantasy RPG I've had in my head for quite sometime. This is my current focused project, and so the one I've made the most progress on. The back end RPG system is one of my own creation, and it has a unique battle system that I've never seen in a game before. I can't wait to get that prototyped to find out if it is actually any fun, but I think it will be.

By Mine Own Hand
This is an action Gauntlet type game that I'm making in TGB. Been working on this one for a while but progress has been slow. I'm currently in the process of moving all the previous development to the latest build of TGB, and getting everything done in behaviors. This is currently the lowest priority project, but it will cycle through in the coming months, and I'll have some things to show at that time.

Cyberfuge: Second Battalion
So, as some of you may know or not know, I work very closely with Idryonis Studios, and a couple of months back I received permission from them to sort of "resurrect" Cyberfuge. Basically, I'm just taking what was there from way back in the day and moving it into TGEA, and filling in a lot of missing game play elements. I've made some decent progress on it, I've moved all the HUD graphics and most of the functionality for that over, and have started a small game play test level. None of this is really official stuff, but so much was done on it way back when, it just sort of seemed like a waste to let it all sit there in SVN with nothing being done.

I'll be making some more updates to that in the near future also, and I'll check with the guys at Idryonis and see if it's OK for me to post some shots.

Unnamed Java Engine
So the final thing I have in the works is a Java based game/engine I've been working on. I'm currently using the JMonkey engine as the core of it. My day job is Java development and it's probably the language I am most familiar with, so I just kind of wanted to see what I could do with it. The JMonkey engine is a nice framework to build off of, and Java has come a long way in what it can do, and how fast it can do it.

So that's what I have going on at the moment, oh and of course on top of all the above, I've been in the process of revamping the Trihex Software site. It's still very much under construction, but you can go check it out, and I should have the forums up and running in the next day or two. You will be able to track the progress of all the above projects and whatever else I have going on there.

One final question for you all before I end this update. Four Falls is currently built on TGEA 1.7.0, and I'm going to update that to 1.7.1. One of the things I was planning on doing was starting to record my development sessions. Since I'm starting "fresh" with Four Falls on 1.7.1, I figured I would begin recording with that first session. My question to all of you is do think that would be something you would be interesting in watching? It might be kind of boring, I don't know, but I do a lot talking to myself as I code, about what I'm doing and what I'm trying to accomplish. It helps keep me focused and clear on what I'm doing. I thought it might be of benefit, but don't know. So what are your opinions? Is that something some of you might find useful? I'll probably start recording them either way, just so I have a record for myself, but just wondering if it would be worth putting them online or otherwise available to others.

Let me know what you all think.