So! I Have a Retro Video Game

I have the recent couple of months been building a classic 80’s video game based on a clone of Atari Asteriods from 1979 that I have coded in Rust. I have made it with a couple of extra twists compared to the original though still retaining the original style. My plan was to build a classic arcade style game using a Raspberry Pi a monitor and some classic arcade buttons.

So I ended up making a stand for the game too. I took the original button placement design and modified it to have a reverse thrust as I have added to my version of the game. It is real fun to fight the pseudo AI of the UFOs when they attack and be surprised by the fact the the asteroids bounce of each other when they collide using the model for volume based collision I have implemented.

I recommend trying out the Raspberry PI universe it is quite educating and I loved going to a bar playing video games in the 80’s 🙂

Released ‘A Focus Game’ for Android

I have long gotten mail and read on my developer’s console at google that one of my Android games where kind of obsolete. So I disabled it, and then I migrated the original eclipse project into Android Studio. Android Studio allows you to Import Old projects and I did just that. No major problems and Now I have released the game under a new name and with a price tag. The game needs some modernization which I will do in the coming time.

Some of the preference dialogs looks to be out of date and the graphics might need an overhaul, a nice little improvement/refactoring project. And the chance to get up to speed on how the newer interfaces in Android coding works 😉

Find out more here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.schwartzengine.afocusgame

Simulating the Original Explosion

Merry XMAS everyone, I just noticed that I had forgotten to implement the original explosion in my clone of the 1979 game Asteroids made by Ed Logg.

I had just made something that split the Asteroids with no effect or removed the spaceships making some faulty debris simulations, but now it does something that imitates the original. A fun thing that also made the code a little more straight forward and simpler to read. All finished in my breaks this XMAS.

Now I am just sitting here feeling quite full from eating all that XMAS food, drinking XMAS beer and Peated Scotch Single Malt, could a man ask for more! 😉

Act like you seriously mean it

I just bought myself an pre-XMAS present, my parents always give my money, so I thought I’d grab one of IFIXIT’s Pro Tech Toolkits that was on offer for around half the price. Contrary to a message that almost sounds like BS from the climate fanatic winds that blow in this era, these guys have a more serious take on taking care of our planet.

I do not se this message amongst what looks like the hypocrites of the climate crusade, which seems to have become more religious than fact based. Well done IFIXIT guys. There is an almost ignorance towards repairing computers, phones and other devices, amongst all the climate complainers that are part of the buy use and throw away society we live in today.

Asteroids – now with Manual

My Asteroids Clone know has a manual I just added to give some instructions during play. In fact it is 3+ years since I touched the code, but it was easy (like in less than an hour) to add. Nothing beats modular code, and of course I made a new class for the manual, making it easy to insert to the Game State machine ;-).

Coding is like therapy for the soul, you think of almost nothing as you sit and implement new features focusing on making it easy to maintain. BTW this clone is a tribute to Ed Logg who made the original!

I am Back!

Had some problems since the PHP version of the WordPress Site was updated to 8.0, which caused problems bu know I can create entries again. Lately I’ve been working as a DevOps handling PHP sites and it puzzled med that my provider not was more informative around this update, you cannot expect ‘normal’ mortal bloggers to understand the consequences of PHP upgrades. Now I have to figure out how to migrate my blog entries.

There are tools in the Word Press Administration part where you can update your installation but it is not obvious that you need to update to make things work. Now I am up and running after switching back to PHP 7.4 and the updating in the Administration Part.

Gaming is Therapy

Things have been a little slow here since I’ve been and am still partly going through a rough patch at the moment. some 3+ months ago I suddenly was converted to a single because my wife left me from one day to the other. I am getting used to handling the house and the kids alone and needs a break from this know and then to relax. So the other night I found the game Hate that I had bought a while ago and this is really good stuff playing this game really make you relax as you think of the most nasty strategies to deploy to win the game.

The game is brilliant and has many good mechanics that makes it fun and gives very good replay value, two games will never be the same. After finishing the session I felt even better – recommended 🙂

Going through something like a divorce sets things into perspective. I have come to realize that you gain most from the situation by being positive and try to work things out in a constructive manner. One thing is certain; you are not happy if you get angry or bitter. And it makes the world an easier place to live in when you have an optimistic approach 😉

Cheating Leoric, The Undead King

What can I say! I am a sucker for Retro Games. I have just been playing Diablo I via Windows XP running in Virtual Box, and I found a little cheat action you could some extra gold and experience from. I have reached King Leoric’s Tomb, and by Luring the King forward to the Closed Gates, I can get him to raise more Undead Minions by pacing back and forth in front of the Gates.

This is a great little trick, that allows me to:

  • Get more experience points by killing the raised minions
  • Get more Gold and Items (that more often than normal are magic) when the minions drop some thing as the are killed
  • Have fun ‘cheating’ the King

Great hilarious stuff and probably the next step towards being an Über Geek 😉

And you can get a lot of minions raised by teasing the King: