Limitless Quest Developer Diary 096001

If you are following along much at all with this little RPG you may find this update of some interest. There are a few new monsters lurking about, and if you manage to run into them the battle screen pops up with the correct monster on the left. It's almost like a real (sucky) RPG ... More updates soon.

From Makers of AdventureQuest comes MechQuest

If you enjoy AdventureQuest and DragonFable, you'll want to sign up now to get in on the beta of MechQuest - a fantasy robot fighting type game. Seems like Artix and friends are really branching out and creating a great series of games.

Adobe AIR App Showcase

This is a pretty nifty listing of interesting and cool Adobe AIR apps.

Adobe's AIR may leave customers deflated... (and my responses)

This is a particularly nasty article about Adobe AIR talking about how it seems very limited in features and useful only to a limited set of developers and users. Given that there is no comment area available on that site (what's up with that?) I wanted to give my 2cents here.

The article implied that HTML applications should be kept in the browser. I see no problem with that only that AIR applications are not simply "HTML applications with some extra junk" they can be full apps that are indistinguishable from a regular standalone application. The only difference being that you created the UI and interaction using HTML, js, and CSS. Far from being hobbling and limited I see this is incredibly empowering for web developers. Of course you aren't going to just copy and paste your website into an AIR app and say "done" . Instead what the author of this article doesnt seem to understand is that AIR apps are a new kind of entity - neither fish nor fowl but an amalgam of the two. The article claims that the feature set is "hobbled" and there's no "native library support". I wonder what kinds of native libraries the author is needing that they cannot access via Flash or the new Artemis Java bridge.

It's always interesting when something new comes out that it gets compared to everything else that resembles it and folks focus on the shortcomings or ignore the intended audience. To me, AIR (and Flex) are like the Visual Basic for the Web - allowing folks like me who aren't hard core C++ developers to finally be able to touch the desktop with something that is a first class "citizen".

I'm sure that it is possible to point to whole classes of applications that Adobe AIR is not suitable for, but I can also point to a huge amount of apps that are interesting and timely that it _IS_ suitable for.

The main plusses for me are 1) I dont have to learn yet another language (just have to learn a bit about the calling structure for file access, etc. ) 2) It's fast and easy to deploy to many different platforms 3) It is able to talk HTTP and XHR and other methods to take advantage of Web API's as well as local filesystems 4) It's free and open enough to allow anyone with a pc and a net connection to start creating cool stuff.

So anyway, I feel that the author of that article just doesnt "get it" but that's ok. I think many really smart web savvy folks do "get it" and I foresee there being some really amazing things being done in AIR in the future.

CG Movie Trailer Winner for EON CGChallenge

CG is really advancing quite a bit. Graphics that would be state of the art just a few years ago are showing up on gaming consoles. This movie gives you a glimpse at what can be done with advanced CG today.

Amazing 3D AIR App: Paperpreview

The world of AIR apps is really heating up! This is an application which uses the amazing Papervision 3D api to create an AIR based application to preview *.ase and *.dae formats.

I wonder, will it be possible to create an HTML based AIR app that could tap into the power of Papervision 3D?

35 + Air Examples for Javascripters

If after reading the book from the previous post you find yourself looking for more, then head over to this site and grab still more javascript AIR examples. If you want to just jump directly to the examples scroll to the bottom and look for the zip file link.

Ajaxian has Free Adobe AIR for Javascripters Book

If you are doing any AIR development like I am, you should head on over to Ajaxian and pick up this free OReilly book. It has some handy information and a few snippets of sample "cookbook" code.

Limitless Quest Developer Diary v095

Lots of progress tonight! I have the beginnings of the battle system in place - you can install this version and click the "show battle" at the bottom to see a preliminary battle screen.

Also a huge event - I have the installer badge working! You can bookmark the link above and it'll always point to the latest version! This will install now via the localConnect way instead of the buggy manual download.

This is starting to get kinda cool...

argblargs.com - avatar based web mmo

From the site:

Argblargs is a web based multiplayer game where you create your own character and explore the world of Arglia! Play mini games to gain experience and find tons of new cool items!

Customize your characters appearance as you see fit and constantly become stronger as you level up. Challenge friends and other players and make your way to the top.

Argblargs is all about you and your avatar! Chat with friends, acquire sweet pets or simply just enjoy yourself and have fun, that’s what we do!

Internet Radio Day of Silence

Today's the day for the internet radio day of silence in protest of the new higher fees that web radio broadcasters will have to pay soon. Show your support.

What's Going On at Conduit Labs?

I'm looking over the attendees of the Virtual Goods Summit and ran across another intriguing entry for some place called Conduit Labs. Wonder what they are doing...

Looking for some PHP help...

If you are a php guru or someone who at least knows enough to make your own php - based site, I'm looking for someone to help out with a site I'm working on. I dont really know if its a paid thing - at first I just need someone to ask a list of questions to and to help me get some things like logging on and stuff working.

If you like web games and would like to help out a client - side developer stuck on the php stuff, please drop me a line.

PleoWorld - Furrbie meets Dino

Imagine a cute little plastic dinosaur that has an aibo-like brain. Perfect for that kid who has everything.

Adobe AIR Showcase now with Badges

We don't need no steenkin... Yes we do! Check out the cool new feature of Adobe AIR where you can install apps straight from the webpage (without the browser download intermediary hassle).

Very cool!

Limitless Quest 094 for web

In case you haven't tried out the Limitless Quest AIR examples, I've placed the web version up as well. Try it out in Firefox, Opera, etc. The idea is to allow for both AIR and plain HTML versions to go concurrently. Anyway, give it a try if you are so inclined.

Silverlight on Linux

Looks like some very ambitious engineers have created a version of silverlight on Linux. Check out the demos and stuff. Crazy time.

Limitless Quest Update 094

New version. Splash screen improvements, beginnings of a status screen at the bottom. Trying out dialog boxes (disabled for now).

Limitless Quest update 093

I've made another incremental update to Limitless Quest -- now with a splash screen and I fixed the issue where the characters would "float in"

Actionscript 3 Core Library

As I am working on an AIR application - I'm looking at what kinds of interesting things can you do with an HTML - based AIR app. Apparently there is a collection of things you can do via Actionscript even though you are in HTML. I need to check this library out and so do you if you do Flex or AIR app dev.

AIR Express Install Example

One of the really cool features of AIR will be "express install" which means that you'll be able to install AIR apps w/o the downloading of installers and searching your hard drive for the install.exe etc etc.

This is a cool app in and of itself as well as you can click on a link to download a free ebook and it immediately will trigger the app to go fetch the file instead - again - of having to download an installer from your browser. (Only works on some of the demo books - others you have to download the old fashioned way).

WeeWars - Web Based Advance Wars

This game looks really interesting as it is web based and suited for "office play" meaning you can hop in, play for a few mins and leave for the day. Now if I can just get an invite..

What's Pixverse?

Ok Internet folks, I need someone in the know to send me a note or comment here. I found this site through my various web wanderings ( They show up on the list of attendees for this great conference) And for some reason I'm intrigued about what they are about... Is it a mobile thing?

How to Build the Next Ultimate Application Platform

In my wanderings on the net I ran across a nifty article about elements that need to be included in order to have the "next ultimate app platform". It's interesting to place SilverLight and AIR in this view and see how they measure up. (What? JavaFX? What's that?)

Limitless Quest v 0.92

Another big update behind the scenes. I have added a "heartbeat" to the game, and anything that needs to move periodically or keep track of time can listen for the "heartbeat" custom event. I've hooked the monster movement into that now.

I wonder if this embedded version of my shared folder will show up..



I'm going to post versions via box.net since it helps with bandwidth issues. Please let me know if anyone is checking these out..

Rainbow9 - javascript IDE

This is an interesting project to create a web-based javascript editor. It's got plenty of DHTML goodness so check it out.

Limitless Quest AIR 091 update

Another big breakthrough in limitless quest tonight. Download the AIR file and check it out. You can now travel from one room to another - unfortunately the monsters dont fare well when you do this - but that's fodder for another night.

This is big also in that the battle system will be kicking in soon. When you encounter a monster you'll be "zoomed in" to a turn based battle with that monster - similar to Final Fantasy I type games.

Developing HTML Based Applications in AIR

I really need to read this from beginning to end. There's some amazing stuff in here... Posting for your benefit as well if you are working with Adobe AIR using HTML.

Ning Facebook App Creator

This is an excellent idea! Ning allows you to take your existing social networking app and embed it in Facebook. Ok, can someone who hosts multiplayer games please do this also? I'd love to be able to create a multiplayer game for facebook using my LLQ stuff.

Limitless Quest Notes

As I've been digging through Adobe AIR documentation I have seen some really interesting features that I want to incorporate into the AIR version of Limitless Quest.

1) Save/Load games. You can write to the filesystem - duh.
2) Drag and drop editor. RPG Maker, eat your heart out.
3) Browser - AIR communication. This gets really interesting. Imagine having a tiny Flex widget on a web page which could communicate with the locally running LimitLess Quest game - you could load up new levels, or you could transfer your LLQ settings into the browser based game (IBRPG?)
4) Self-updating. Every time(or perhaps just once a week) the app is run it'll check to make sure it is the latest and greatest version. Killer!
5) more stuff! gotta read the rest of the docs.

All this just with using the HTML version of AIR !

SearchCoders Dahboard - AIR app

Here's a cool example of what some folks are doing with Adobe AIR. I like the sliding drawers and other nice effects - definitly gives me ideas about my own app.

Limitless Quest Update - now in AIR!

I managed to get a few moments today to fire up Limitless Quest inside Aptana. This is such an excellent IDE built on top of an already awesome IDE eclipse. After a few minutes of tweaking directory paths, I was able to get my game working. Check out the current air file for a look at what I hope to be an awesome RPG engine.

3D Mailbox - Sims Meets Outlook

I mentioned a while back about an idea to make everyday applications more "playful". This appears to be an attempt to do that for mail. Imagine a Sims style game where each character in the game is an email. Spam emails are mean looking folks and regular emails seem to just want to sit in the sun or go swimming. Interesting idea, though this seems a bit cheezy.

Retro Gaming: Dark Tower

Are you old enough to remember this game? I remember seeing the commercials for it but I was never able to get it. Now you can play the classing board game on your PC! If you know of someone who was into DnD in the 80's they may get a kick out of this...

A JavasScript Module Pattern

This pattern of developing functions and properties in javascript immediately changed the way I write my js code when I discovered it. It's simple, elegant, and can bring a measure of order to the chaos of javascripting. I recommend it to anyone writing js code - from simple functions to complex coding.

Amazing Hi-Res Space Photos

Ever want to play scientist? You now can with these ultra-hi resolution images from HiRISE. Who knows? Perhaps you'll find water on Mars or something.

Limitles Quest Update 8 : Events

More behind the scenes work on my little RPG engine. I had a few moments so I added tile events. They dont do anything yet but whever anything moves on the screen I check to see if the player is above a tile that has an event. If you move the player down to the shadowy box in the lower left corner you'll see the log window announce that you hit a trap door..

More to come.

Aptana + AIR + YUI + FTP = Seriously Cool!

I just spent a few minutes poking around the Aptana IDE and it's simply amazing. I was able to stumble around and not only get my first AIR file running flawlessly, but I was able to auto include the latest YUI libraries into the project without having to figure out directories, etc. etc. I then wondered how I might upload my air file to my ftp server to test things out and come to find out Aptana has FTP support! This is huge for Eclipse users as the native FTP support sucks with a capital S. I was able to deploy my air file to my desktop then drag and drop it via the side bar to my ftp site...

I don't know if the folks at Aptana are reading my mind, but it seems they are. If you have tried this app in the past and dismissed it as half-baked, you might want to give it another try now. Aptana is to HTML coding for AIR as Flex Builder is for Flex/AIR apps.

So, anyway the AIR file I point to does nothing amazing except it runs, it has the YUI libraries in it, and it changes the dom of the page to say "Hello World". Incredible.

Aptana Editor for Adobe AIR

This is mentioned on the Adobe AIR site, but I want to call it out. If you have been struggling with building AIR files or wondering what do to after your Flex Builder expires, you might want to check this out. Aptana is a very cool set of additional features for Eclipse which enhance your HTML , CSS, JS and other capabilites. It looks like with the launch of Adobe AIR that Aptana now supports AIR files creation and deploying.

Adobe AIR is HERE! (Formerly Apollo)

Techcrunch get's the scoop (at least that's where I first heard about it) Apollo is now called Adobe Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) (no that's not a typo). Check out the official site for tons of information. Now I REALLY got to get this RPG engine up and running.

Transparent HTML Windows in Apollo

One of the main reasons why I'm working on an HTML-based RPG engine is so that I can place it inside an Apollo window and create a freaking cool RPG for your desktop. I just learned that it'll be even more snazzy with the potential for non-rectangular windows. I need to get cracking on this engine - I can't wait to see it working as a desktop app.

Killer Apollo Apps that Haven't Been Built Yet

I was sitting down to think about Flex and Apollo and thinking to myself what I might build if I had the time (which I don't - *SIGH* ). Here's a short list of ideas:

• Infinite Drive - create a application which acts as an abstraction layer between a virtual hard drive and all those free hard drive sites. You could subscribe to 10 or so of them and have probably enough space to store the entire library of congress :) It would do cool things like have redundant storage for sites that go down, and allow you to segment files and split them across storage spaces. Seems like with Apollo this would be an "easy" thing to do
  
• Social Constructor: an implementation of my socially constructed interface app. You start off with a blank app, and a friends list, and you build up a cool app by sharing widget components.
  
• Infinite Web Space - create an app which lets you create a large website that is distributed across many different "free web space" sites.
  
• Tag Messenger : an instant messaging app for "types" of people. Instead of messaging a specific person, you send messages to a cluster of tags - like "star wars fans over 40" or things like that.
  

I have tons more ideas, but even if I could create one of these apps I'd be insanely happy. Time is my enemy right now...

What about you? Do you have ideas for a killer Apollo app? Send me comments and I'll write up the top 10 ideas in a new post.

Limitless Quest update 7: more monsters, custom events!

It may not seem like a big deal but I now have another monster walking around in the dungeon with you, as well as custom events every time you or a monster takes a move. I am using this to determine if you are colliding with a monster and for now it just sends a "collision" message to the log, but this is the triger for the battle system that will be folded in soon.

Actionscript Data Structures for Game Developers

If you are a game developer who is using Flash you might find this of some use. Developing games via Actionscript is becomming a more popular option for indie game developers.

Amazing Flex Book Demo!

I remember seeing a pretty cool book demo done in Silverlight, but this one puts that to shame in my eyes. Just the vividness and responsiveness of the pages makes this an extremely cool demo of a custom flex component...

Limitless Quest Update: Log window

Not much of an update, but it will help me greatly. I've added the YUI Logging window so that I can trace what's happening in the internals of my game engine. YUI is great.

Web Developer Toolbar for Opera

Although web developer tools on Opera seem to have a long way to go (very odd since Opera has always seemed to be a champion for web standards) you can ease the burden by installing this collection of bookmarklets and tools in Opera.

Limitless Quest Update: Smooth Motion

Tonight's update was fairly simple yet it seems to make a huge difference in the performance of the game. Instead of jumping from one location to another when you move, I now use the YUI animation utility to move the character and monsters. The easeOut animation really adds a sense of real motion to the game. You can even see the characters slide evenly from one location to another as you change directions in mid motion. Enjoy. I really like how this is taking shape.

FlashDevelop 3.0 Beta Released

FlashDevelop allows you to create flash applications w/o having to purchase the Flash IDE. Given how hot Flex/Flash/Apollo development is right now, this is a must download for web developers to check out.

Text* Snippets - Open Code Snippets Repository

If you find yourself with a collection of code that you use quite often, or wishing you could find a snippet of code to do some common function, you will find this site useful. You can create your own collection of code which you can either share with others or keep to yourself. Very handy!

Limitless Quest - Update : monsters!

Latest update: now with wandering monsters! Next comes smoother movement, and perhaps the start of a battle engine.

Fabjectory: Create Real 3D Models of your Game Characters

Imagine if you could take your Second Life or Wii Mii and bring it into reality as a cube decoration or a gift to a friend. You can now with this interesting 3D printing service...

Create Games for the Wii

I read in a forum somewhere about a game system that is going to support Wii development ( Unity ) and they mentioned the website that folks can go to to apply to become a Wii game developer.

I know I'll probably never actually create a game via this (although its very tempting) it's fun to imagine oneself going through the process.

UNITY 2007: Unity 3D Conference - October

Unity is a 3D game building system that is simply a beautiful piece of software. Not only that (I think) it uses javascript for the scripting language and you can create PC, MAC, and Web based games! Since their community has grown so much in the past year they are going to have a conference in October for anyone interested in Unity. If you haven't given the Web Demos a try you should check it out and give the app itself a spin.

Now if someone would please create a 3D Zelda style game I'll be extremely happy.

Blast from the Past: CanvasQuest

It's funny that I got a comment about someone also trying out creating a web-based rpg using the Canvas tag. I too worked on something like that and got pretty far before the spotty support for canvas tripped me up. Click the link above and check out how far it had gotten. This will be pretty much like Limitless Quest looks like at first, before a graphical update. Graphics are just placeholders right now.

LimitlessQuest Update: characters, collsion, and safari fixes

Hurray! I got another hour to code on my tile engine. Tonight's episode adds character movement with collision detection. All you have to do is create a tile element and add collision: true for the block to stop your character in his tracks. I updated the tile engine demo a bit with a few extra walls. There's nothing of real interest to anyone other than the few of you who care about eventually playing a web based RPG soon. I plan on taking the battle engine from the "Sword Magic Kung Fu" work I did and add it to this engine. Tomorrow night: monsters!

An Apollo Brainstorm

I've been playing around with Apollo some, and I've come to a realization that I wanted to share with other folks. This is something that is plainly mentioned in the Apollo documentation, and it is something that you have to simply have repeated to you several hundred times before it sinks in. You can make Apollo apps with just HTML and javascript. You dont have to learn Flash, or Flex (although it helps). This is why I'm creating my RPG engine in HTML and YUI. YUI seems to work just fine in Apollo btw.

So let me just be the repeater for you. YOU DONT NEED FLASH/FLEX. You can make your Apollo app with just HTML and JAVASCRIPT. That means you don't have to learn anything new - just a few api calls if you want to access Apollo features. Its like finally being able to join the ranks of the C++ coders in terms of creating applications. Imagine if you had some need to create a simple tool that some of the folks in your team needed for some customized need - like perhaps typing in a product and having the special code displayed - or you wanted to distribute your latest novel in a format that could be self-updated and have special controls and save the spot where the user stopped reading. You could do this with just the free Apollo SDK and some HTML / CSS / JS.

You don't get why I'm excited about this? Don't worry - you will after you repeat it to yourself a few dozen times...

Limitless Quest Update

So, I'm working on this RPG tile engine. I finally got a few more minutes to spend on it and I now have a little character that you can use to walk around on the map. There's no collision detection yet, but that's coming soon. I dont know why I never realized that doing this in DHTML would be not only trivial but something I could build on for a long time.

If you click on the map and use your arrow keys you can move the little guy around. Whee!

Im using YUI for everything, even setting KeyListeners via YUI. It's da bomb.

300 Mechanics: 300 Gameplay Mechanics you've Never Seen

Every so often I run into a site (or it's recommended to me - thanks Philip!) that just blows me away. You dabble in ideas and think you are creating things that no-one has ever thought of and feel so satified with yourself that you're the only one with an ounce of creativity. I never thought that way, but sometimes I thought I was at least doing something new on the web. This site however has more amazing gameplay mechanics and ideas than any one person should have, and they have the graphical skills to demonstrate the game ideas in a visually interesting way. Definitely a site to bookmark and use for inspiration :)