Category: Software

Software of various ilks that I’ve written.

Interested in 3D modelling? Check this out!

Interested in 3D modelling? Check this out!

On and off I’ve mentioned my love of modo, the great 3D modelling software.

I may have mentioned the Los Angeles modo User’s Group (LAmUG) and the incredibly brilliant people that hang out there (people who, among others, produce the special effects for many of the films we see today).

Well, if you’re interested and you can get to LA the weekend of March 16 and 17, you can learn from pros how to use this great product (and get a 25% discount on the purchase price of modo).

For more information check out Scott Robertson Workshops.

Dragon – Repost

Dragon – Repost

This is a revision of a post I made back in December 2006.

I thought I’d provide you all with some amusement and/or distraction with this very simple game called Dragon.

Sadly, it only works on Windows — my apologies to all those other system users but the games engine I’ve been playing with is currently Windows only. You can get a copy of the game here (the file is 1234 kB large).

The rules are pretty simple:

1. You have to flame the thread out of the sky. For every Thread you flame, you get 5 points. If Thread falls unchecked, you lose 10 points. If Thread hits your dragon it makes a piteous noise and looses health points. When your dragon loses too many health points, your dragon goes out of the game.

2. You have three “lives” (you may think of this as different dragons if you choose).

3. To flame, press the bar. To move, use the arrow keys. You may go between by pressing the ‘b’ key but be warned — if you go between you will return anywhere on the screen.

The trick is to obtain the highest possible score with your three lives (for some of you this will be huge, for others it will be challenging).

The graphics, sounds, and programming are all mine (all the sounds are modified recordings of my own voice). The games engine is GameMaker which is available as a free demo or as a fully registered version for about $20. (It took me about two hours to roll this game; it’s based off of the 1945 tutorial). Many thanks to the “other” Gigi Johnson for her recommendation of GameMaker.

Happy flaming!

Todd

Lunar Lander

Lunar Lander

Some of you may recall that I was a software engineer in a former life.  Recently, I had a chance to re-acquaint myself with Java and so, naturally, I coded my favorite learn-a-new language software program, Lunar Lander, in Java.

For those unfamiliar, the object is to land (not crash, not run out of fuel, not ram) on the Moon.  You, intrepid pilot, start up 2500 feet above the surface, with 600 pounds of fuel, and are descending at 450 feet per second (that’s -450 fps relative to the Moon).  You succeed if you land (that is, your height is 0) with a velocity between 0 and -5 feet per second and without having run out of fuel.  Your engines can only burn a maximum of 75 pounds of fuel a second.  You can specify the length of your thrust from 1 to 10 seconds (beginners are advised to stick to 1 second each burn).

To run this, you’ll need the Java runtime (you have it if you’re using Java with your browser) and you’ll need to unzip the file into a separate directory.  Switch into the “dist” directory, then, just click on lander.jar and the program should pop up.

File Attachment: lander.zip (146 KB)

Happy landing!