Firefox



I started using Firefox this week. It's a very good browser. The features I like best so far are the support for tabbed browsing and the bookmarks toolbar. Tabbed browsing allows you to create multiple independent browing windows within the Firefox app; each browsing window is located in its own tab, and you can click between tabs or use Ctrl - Tab to move between tabs. The bookmarks toolbar allows you to configure a toolbar with URLs. One very cool feature is the ability to open all the URLs in the bookmarks toolbar at once, each in a separate tab. A great thing, if you have a "usual suspects" set of sites you browse each morning, for example.

I signed up for the New York Times ad today. It cost $30, but the browser is worth it, IMO, and the opportunity to get my name in the Times is a good one.

Game Development Status

October total to date 14 hours 48 minutes. Yearly total 315 hours.

Latest changes include:

• AI now makes its turn 1 plots based on post-setup situation. Previously, the AI's turn 1 processing began as soon as the AI was started up, based on the setup positions.
• AI shuts down gracefully when the game ends. Game always shows the confirmation dialog, whether the user uses File Exit or presses the close button in the upper left.
• Sync code copies more data between AI and main thread, and properly limits that data according to the limited intel rules.
• Assaults work. We need to tweak the code that decides whether to assault or not, infantry units assault very frequently now.
• Fixed a few more memory leaks. There are still more leaks, but I'm OK with going into Beta with a few leaks.

At this time the game is beginning to show some decent behavior, as long as you're into "hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle". The basic building blocks are in place to make the units do everything that needs to be done. The next few sessions should see us into the implementation of basic divisional-level tactics.

Game Dev Status

Monthly total around 4 hours; yearly total approaching 310 hours.

I'm working on the AI code for plotting Assaults this evening. I just spent the last 20 or so minutes re-reading the PC version of the rules in order to come up with a first draft prioritization scheme for choosing targets of an Assault.

Have I ever mentioned what a bloody joy it is to be working on the AI for a game system involving facings (especially vertex facings combined with hex sides) and multi-hex formations? It's not terribly fun sometimes. When my brain is fried, as it is now, I do wish AH had stayed in business. A few years back we were working on the fourth installment of their World at War series. No facing at all! Much easier to design AI to handle basic combat for such a game.

Ah well, if it was easy, anyone could do it. The caffeine has started to kick in, back to work for me.