Thursday, May 27, 2004

Game Development Status

Moving along. I got the A* code debugged this evening so that units move to the line of attack. Two immediate problems showed up:

1) There are collisions during movement execution, as some units are plotted to move through a hex occupied by a unit. I need to write some collision detection and resolution code.

2) The logic that positions the line of attack assumes that the command is in contact with the enemy. I need to add code to allow it to recognize a movement to contact scenario.

I am within a couple of hours' work of resuming the other bullets from my 4/27/04 post. At this point I consider that list to be the minimum required functionality to demonstrate the Opening Moves scenario.

Monday is a day off of work...hmmm...Diedrichs is open on holidays...yessss...I will work on the game Monday and see how much I can catch up.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Game Development Status

Another hour-plus of effort expended this evening. I worked on debugging the work I did on integrating A* with my existing movement code. It turned out that the existing AI code was plotting lines of attack at the objective; the code that was supposed to locate the line of attack within the limits of the command's movement was broken. Also, the A* path generator includes the unit's current hex in the path, which breaks the code that translates the A* path to a valid movement plot.

Other Dev Notes

I started reading Martin Fowler's UML Distilled 3ed this week as part of my continuing education. A very good read, much improved over the second edition. My intent in reading this is to familarize myself with the UML (again) in preparation for playing with Visio for Enterprise Architects and .Net. I want to see whether I can make use of the much-touted round trip software engineering features of these tools to aid in my software development activities at the office.

Personal Notes (a.k.a. Dear Diary)

Another 4 mile run today. That makes a total of 68 miles so far this month. My running log shows I havn't run this far in a month since I lived in Albuquerque. That I am able to do this as I increase my pace without injuring myself is just icing on the cake. I've even had the impression a couple of times lately at 24Hour Fitness that some of the looks coming my way are somewhat more positive than "ohmygod-you-bloated-sack-of-protoplasm".
Game Development Status

With 4 weeks left until I get on the plane for Origins, we are behind the power curve. Last week I got the A* algorithm to work as a proof-of-concept. This week I have been hooking up A* to the code I was using to move units in the AI. Once I have completed this, I will work to integrate assaults and charges, fire attacks and artillery.

I hope (but cannot guarantee) that we will have a demo by Origins. It won't be for lack of trying.

Monday, May 03, 2004

Personal life/luv life update: Two steps forward, none back (over the last few days). Alimony officially down to 5.6 months left. I ran 20 miles last week, including a 5 miler on Sunday. Holding off on the NASA resume for now...I really want to stretch my tenure to 4 years with my present employer.

I've decided to bypass the "lose 5 pounds and try again" 'tween dates thang in favor of "lose 25 pounds and do (or do not, there is no try)". I've come across the profiles of a number of very attractive and compatible girls at Match who seem to be looking for a guy with a six-pack. OK, can do. After all, I have a six-pack. Somewhere in there. I did well enough last week, dropping from 256 at the start of the week to my first peek under 250 this year. "Up the voltage!"
You are 37% geek
You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator.

Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend.


You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines!


Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals!


You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.


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